New Year, New Blog

Happy New Year, everyone! I hope the first few days of 2017 have been treating you well. As I sit in the Students’ Union writing this blog between finishing assignments it’s hard to believe that this time a year ago I was exploring Texas with my parents as part of my year abroad. Although, obviously, I remember the year in vivid detail and it’s a big part of my life it almost doesn’t feel like I left the UK at all. Christmas morning my mum made a comment about how nice it was to have me home for Christmas, and I had to remind myself I had only made an appearance curtesy of Skype the year before.

Anyway, I’m back in Leicester now (and have been for a few days) as I had to move back up early for work. As I don’t have any January exams and all essays are submitted electronically for American Studies I could have stayed at home until almost the end of the month if I didn’t have a part time job in the Students’ Union. Not that I mind, with both my parents working full time and most of my friends living in Leicester there’s not much for me to do in the sleepy Suffolk countryside otherwise!

What have I been doing to occupy my free time over Christmas? I hear you ask. Well, considering I work two jobs in addition to being in the final year of my degree I’ve treated myself to some well-deserved time off. I spent as much time I could with my parents and grandparents, spent a day catching up with my best friend, and have watched quite a lot of TV shows on Netflix (I’ve finished Jessica Jones and I’m almost done with iZombie, both fantastic!). I spent some time celebrating the news that I’d been offered a graduate job after countless rejection emails.

Apart from that, I’ve had a four-thousand-word essay due for a module I took last semester which I’ve almost finished. I’ve also been a huge nerd / very organised depending on your perspective and finished a seminar paper I have to present around the middle of February. Now that’s out of the way, I’m going to keep chugging away at my dissertation before classes start and I’m snowed under with reading again. Strange to think in five months I’ll have nothing but two final exams between me and graduation and my four years of University will come to an end. Although I’m very excited by the prospect of starting my first proper ‘grown-up’ job (it’s full time and everything!) and moving to London, I’m already starting to feel a little sad that I’ll have to move away from the little life I’ve made for myself in Leicester. I’ve met some amazing people here who I’m sure will become friends for life, and I’m already filled with dread about leaving them and having to pay council tax like the fully fledged adult I suppose I am now.

That’s all for now folks, I hope exam period isn’t too stressful for you all!