Work hard, play hard...finishing my Master's

Dissertation done, I’m currently drafting this post on my flight from Vienna back to the UK...less than one week to go in this country I’ve called home (insert sad face here). While I’ve got a lot to talk about, I figured I would save the sentimental year in review spiel for a subsequent post. In the meantime, I’ll fill you in on the past couple months. Before I start, I should note that between the various events and outings, a good amount of time was spent at my desk sorting out my dissertation, a long and somewhat tedious process. While 12,000 words initially sounded like a very reasonable prospect, developing a cohesive argument about the political power structure in rural Rwanda was a decent challenge. Despite the fact that I found the subject matter rather interesting, and the reliance on secondary sources definitely relieved the stress involved with primary research, developing a unique and reasoned research question and was a bit harder than initially expected. Anyway, its done now, I feel good about it, and the 50+ pages are behind me (assuming I passed of course). Clicking the ‘submit’ button last week was a bit surreal as it capped off a long sought-after Masters degree. While I am relieved to be done with academia (for now at least), it’s still a bit bittersweet finishing off my time as a student. So with that out of the way…on to the fun stuff.

July started off with a local cricket match. Yorkshire played Birmingham at the rather infamous Headingley Carnegie Cricket Grounds in Leeds. While I had never watched a cricket match before in my life, my friends explained the rules as it went along, and I caught on rather quickly. As it was a T20 match, it only lasted about 3 hours and was a fairly fast paced and exciting game. Continuing on with the sports theme, my flatmates and I spent the entire following Sunday consuming Pimms and Strawberries watching Andy Murray dominate the Wimbledon final…OK, how British did that just sound? Anyway, a couple weeks later I travelled up to Scotland to visit a friend of mine who lives near Glasgow. It was my first time outside of Edinburgh, and the first trip to Scotland in general since New Years. After meeting Greg near the the station in Glasgow, we walked around and grabbed some lunch in the West End, which is a very trendy and picturesque area of town. We then spent the next two days venturing around the area a bit north of the city, using his village of Balfron as a home base. Distillery tours, local football matches, and hiking through Loch Lomond National Park made for a great getaway. The following week, the flatmates and I took a day trip down to Lincoln (Rachel’s hometown), to see a ‘Shakespeare in the Castle’ performance of A Midsummers Nights Dream. Yes, I realise I’m really pushing the British stereotypes in this post. Anyway, we met some of her family, checked out the cathedral and old town, and eventually settled in for a picnic and the play in the castle. Rather amusingly, it started pouring rain in the second half, and we made a mad dash out of the castle, tossing all the picnic essentials (including the blankets), and dove into the pub across the street, all the while hiding Rachel’s 8 year old nephew from being caught out in the pub after 9pm! Needless to say it made for a very entertaining evening.

Fast forward another week, and it was my 25^th birthday! I had a few friends around my flat for a home cooked Mexican dinner and drinks, before proceeding out on a bar crawl in the city. From hard to come by Mexican food, to craft cocktails at a rooftop bar, to dancing at a Memphis themed Blues/Soul bar, it was a very fun evening. Fully recovered, a couple days later, me and a mate competed in the York 10K. While he has had decent experience in several running events and triathlons, this was a first for me. I very much enjoy running, but haven’t been a part of an organised event, shy of some pitiful cross country meets early on in high school. While I had fairly low expectations for myself, I completed it in a time of 48 minutes, which I was pretty happy with. Even better, the run itself was quite enjoyable as it offered a great way to see the beautiful city of York, providing plenty of sights and entertainment along the way. With a lot of the fun out of the way, the next month was spent wrapping up my dissertation, and my time in Leeds. A few weeks later, all packed and officially moved out, I met my dad in London at the start of September. We spent five days seeing all the family in London, before flying off for a fun filled week in Slovenia and Austria. While Slovenia may seem a bit random, the city of Ljubljana, and Lake Bled are probably two of the most scenic places I have seen in Europe. Beautiful sights, beautiful people, good wine…what more could you ask for? Lake Bled in particular was a real gem, we stayed at a lakeside hotel, which was once the summer home of General Tito of Yugoslavia! We spent a coupe days walking, swimming, and even a bit of cycling, soaking up views of the lake and the surrounding Alps. This was capped off with a brief trip through Austria ending in Vienna. While a cool city, we both were a bit tired from our travels, and slightly underwhelmed considering how much we enjoyed Slovenia. Overall though it was a great trip, and a nice way to celebrate what has been a successful year. Now that my dad is on his way home, its off to the North for a few days to say my goodbyes, gather my stuff, and once again head state-side myself. A final wrap up post will be following shortly.