End of Summer Blues...Well Kind Of

Finally (is that even the correct word? Maybe I should perhaps change it to 'regrettably'), what seemed like a never-ending summer has started to give way to chilly mornings and blustery showers. Autumn is on its way, along with everything that comes with it. This is one of the reasons why I love the UK - I could not live anywhere that didn't exhibit at least a hint of the four seasons...although global warming, if true, could put a stop to this worldwide! I love nature's colourful display of burnished oranges and golds, accompanied by crisp mornings and the first frost. I am a knitter so naturally indulge in the opportunity to make any item of warmth, as well as being very partial to a pumpkin spice latte or marshmallowy hot chocolate. Jumpers and scarves take up well over half of my wardrobe. Definitely a cold weather person here! Not that I don't enjoy summer and not freezing my arse off on the commute to uni. However, there are some bloody awful things about this time of the year too, mostly to do with rain and sludge. I don't want to get out of bed at 6am and leave the house whilst it's still dark only to get back well after nightfall! And don't even mention the Scaling an Icy Hill to get to an Exam incident. I actually feared for my life.

Anyway, to welcome the season in, I've started reading the Song of Ice and Fire series and embarked on a new knitting project of making a Slytherin scarf for the bro. Double Knit weight wool is a little bugger. I've also stocked up on stationery things for the new academic year (I'm an addict) in an attempt - however futile - to organise my life after the months of being at home. The first book (A Game of Thrones) is reading very well so far. I'm actually quite surprised that I enjoy this type of book because I was convinced that it was going to be very Lord of the Ringsy (even though I haven't even attempted to read the trilogy!). However, the language and the layout of the book is pretty different and also satisfies my over-active imagination by being set in a fantasy world with all sorts of weird creatures and lands.

Most of all though, I'm really looking forward to starting third year. I can't wait. My aims for this year are to be involved more in my societies and I'm even toying with the idea of setting my own one up. The prospect of having some hard work coming my way seems to excite me, probably because I'm slightly bored of bumming around with no concrete plan for the majority of the summer. My house this year is just beautiful and full of period features: high ceilings, fancy plasterwork and stained glass. Not bad for a student house! Of course I will miss my family and pets greatly (saying goodbye is usually a messy affair for both parties...definitely an occasion for the good old waterproof mascara) but I suppose that this is an unavoidable inconvenience of living away from home. Thankfully, I have a lot of things to be looking forward to back at uni so it kind of makes up for the gut-wrenching feeling of leaving home!

Bank Holiday

Isn't it funny how when there's minimal structure to your life, the days just kind of blend into one and you have no idea what day or date it is?! This is me at the moment. I couldn't tell you what date it is today without looking at my laptop. It probably isn't helped by the presence of the World's most mundane assignment, which I'm currently trying to slave through. 

Along with the assignment, I've been frantically trying to sort out some finance things so that NS&I don't keep on sending me God knows how many forms through the post every week. I haven't been able to ride my horse either because the farrier couldn't shoe her last week. First World problems. 

However, along with all these annoying things, I have managed to finally set in stone my future life/career plans. Grad entry medicine is my main goal, so my action plan now is to ace my degree (surely knowing loads about drugs can only be a good thing for med school?!), increase my experience portfolio and just suck up the fact that it's going to be at least 2 more years until  can finally go to med school. In my opinion, I feel that having more life experience and a related degree under my belt will prepare me for medical school a lot more than going straight there after A levels. 

Anyway, I'm off downstairs to munch on some banoffee pie (diet will start tomorrow!) and wind down!