September has been my busiest and most challenging month in a long time, but it’s been great!
Where I Went
West Highland Way, Scotland
Edinburgh, Scotland
Best on Instagram
McEwan Hall, University of Edinburgh –
Best on the Blog
Monthly Recap – the only post I wrote last month!
What I Read
Cognitive Linguistics and Lexical Change by Natalya Stolova.
Challenges
I did the West Highland Way with Louisa – well, we tried. She got Achilles tendinitis on the fourth day and we had to quit the trail after 52 miles. It still wasn’t a bad trip, but it was really disappointing not to finish.
My long essay was the biggest challenge of the month and probably one of the most challenging things I’ve ever done. I had to essentially write my dissertation by October 5th. Most people submit theirs in the spring of their final year. I had done all the research in China, but hadn’t done any writing. I finished it over the course of a month or so after the West Highland Way. I wrote all 8,500+ words in about two weeks.
I also worked a lot of hours in September. When I handed in my pay slip, I had 43.5 hours in the month of September. That was all between the 10th and the end of the month! It was such a busy few weeks.
Highlights
Starting university again as a big highlight. I missed my friends. I missed Edinburgh. I also missed being in an academically rigorous environment. I am really enjoying my courses so far, so I’m pretty excited to finish university with my hardest, but hopefully best, year yet.
What’s Next?
Lisa, my flatmate from China who I lived with on my year abroad is coming to Edinburgh! Hopefully she will get my out of the library a bit.
At the end of the month, I’m flying to Iceland to attend the Polyglot Conference! I’m excited and nervous. I’ve been wanting to go for four years now, so I can’t believe I’m finally going this month!
