Still lots to look forward too!

Hi everyone!

I hope you’re all doing well and happy for lockdown to end. It’s my sister’s birthday next week so I’m really excited to start doing fun things again. Last week after I finished working at the Richmond library, I went to see some of the Christmas lights in London. The Cartier store on Bond Street was really nice, but Oxford Street was the most festive; here’s a photo from that night. I’d forgotten how cold and dark it gets because I haven’t been going outside very much! All the Christmas decorations in my house have been put up so I’m officially ready for December and currently I’m just staring at my advent calendar.

Despite being in lockdown, I’ve had a really busy couple of weeks work wise. This week is midterms week but luckily, I only have one exam for my Country Risk Analysis class. What worries me is running out of time as there is a time limit. I also have a Country Risk Analysis essay due today which I’m ready to submit. It was helpful having recorded lectures uploaded to Blackboard because I could refer back to specific PowerPoints whenever necessary. A lovely distraction from university work was the Black Friday sales, it’s very possible that I’ve spent all my money from the library buying Christmas presents…

My final dissertation deadline is this Friday and I’m glad because I feel like I’ve been working on this project forever. I’ve scheduled a meeting with my advisor so I can ask if there are any last-minute improvements I can make before submitting the assignment. Hopefully soon we can actually meet our teachers rather than on Microsoft teams. I helped host a webinar with the counsellors of the university last week which was strange as usually I’d be presenting in person. This week I’m presenting for a virtual open day, I’ll let you know how that goes!

There’s a lot to look forward to over the coming weeks but I’m hoping finals week won’t be too stressful. In a way, it’s good that my dissertation is due two weeks before the end of term because it means I can focus on my Country Risk Analysis final exam. I hope you’re all looking forward to Christmas and the end of term!

Until next time,

-Zara