So far not being a student is pure bliss, as I've spent my days lazily reading (fun not academic!) books from the library both in Edinburgh and Sweden. Unemployment looms ever more threateningly in the future but I put job-seeking off just for the moment as I savor the splendours of summer, like swimming in the ocean and going for walks in the park with my dog.
In September, after 4 years of Scottish rain and incomprehensible accents I shall be leaving Bonnie Caledonia for the 18% annual housing price increases and 5 pound pints of London. You can tell I'm a person with a positive outlook on life.
Anyway, I thought I'd sum up some of my time as a Scottish resident, more for my own sake than that of my nonexistent readers. Here goes.
1. In first year I went out too much and realised I don't actually like going out that much.
2. In second year I got lots of friends, lost quite a lot of friends a while later and realised I don't actually like making friends that much. I'm quite like David Mitchell in that respect, I suppose.
3. In second year I also met my future boyfriend. Became friends with him, realised we had spooky amounts of stuff in common (e.g. shared love of Harry Potter and geekiness about politics). It genuinely changed my life completely. I'm happier with myself, with my life and I twonkin' love the man. Yay!
4. In third year I hung out with my boyfriend and did not enough uni work. I also decided I didn't like Glasgow that much. I did a course on the moral case for military intervention which I loved and a course on Democratisation that I hated.
I started off my dissertation by immediately getting behind on my dissertation, fueled by an intense and utterly irrational fear of my supervisor and anxiety about meeting her.
5. The following summer I tried and failed to get a couple of internships but eventually got one at a environmental foundation whose offices were in an old and amazing London building. Oh yes, I spent that summer in London and it was amazingly/ horribly hot the whole time.
6. In fourth year I focused more on uni work than the past three year's meagre efforts. I also moved to Edinburgh, to a flat on the Royal mile with swarms of tourists outside and a crazy neighbor.
I somehow finished my dissertation and managed to scrape a B (I have no idea how!) and got a solid 2.1 degree overall, which I know is not the most impressive thing in the world but I am honestly so happy about.
7. Despite having given up on partying and socialising I managed not to give up on Politics and I find it more fun than ever. You should have seen me when I got the push updates on my phone about the reshuffle the other day. I was giddy with excitement and kept checking my phone in the pub.
So here I am four years later. I probably didn't study as much as I should have and I've done some things that are so embarrassing that I cringe every time I think about them (they're not really that bad at all I am just a highly embarrassed and anxious person).
But hey, I got a 2.1 and a boyfriend so I'm pretty damn happy.
