All systems go

Two weeks into my final semester and all systems are go. I've been in London again over the weekend to celebrate my boyfriend's birthday, and now it's back to reality! I'm making headway with my dissertation - just over 3,000 words down, only another 7,000 to go! I've also got 3,000 words to write for my Geography module, and a 4,000 word History essay. Somehow I think it might be a busy few weeks! And all that on top of masters applications... I'm looking forward to Easter already! 

I recently began volunteering for European Food Chat, an online platform facilitating discussion around EU food policy issues. The rest of the team are based in France, so we have to collaborate virtually to hold chats via Twitter. We were meant to have our first group Skype last week, but unfortunately the wonderful British weather has been wreaking havoc with my internet at home and I couldn't join - a bit of an occupational hazard when it comes to working across borders!  We’re hoping to hold our next chat towards the end of February, to coincide with the Paris International Agricultural Show, where one of our team will be live-tweeting and taking photos. I’m learning a lot about food policy under the EU, which I hope will be useful both for my dissertation and after university, and I’m really looking forward to working with the EUFoodChat ladies over the coming months – and maybe even getting the chance to attend some events on their behalf!

Fun on the underground this weekend.

A little something to brighten up my journey to London.

I heard from ICS regarding my application recently too – I’ve passed the first stage, and am now waiting for them to allocate me to a charity, which should happen by the end of March. Then I’ll have to attend the second stage – an assessment day. Assessment centres are fairly common, especially for graduate applications, and the University's Careers team run regular mock-assessment days so you can get some practice in before the big day. This will be my first one, so I’m not entirely sure what to expect, but I’m sure it will be both exciting and nerve-racking.

Exploring Covent Garden

The weekend before last I managed to catch up with Florence, who wrote for Life at Southampton last year. It was wonderful to see her again, as the last time we met up was back in October, and I got to hear all about her new job with Teach First. I also managed to squeeze in some exploring around Covent Garden and my first ever trip to Wembley! 

 A very wet Wembley

We didn’t actually go in to the stadium – we were actually going to the cinema – but it was still awesome to see it. Apparently the diameter of arch is so wide you could drive a Channel Tunnel train through it! Unfortunately, we couldn’t spend long looking around, as the weather was atrocious. Hopefully I’ll be able to go back soon, and maybe even venture inside!

Tayler