Summer is over...

And the speed with which is has gone amazes me just a little bit. When I worked out that I had been back in the United Kingdom for five whole months before I went back to France for a holiday, I had to stop and work out where the time had gone.

The Peak District (near Sheffield!) in sunshine!

It has gone, quite simply, because I have been so busy. Most summers of my teenage years I spent on my computer in dreary weather in Wolverhampton - attempts to get jobs were made and unsuccessful, and inevitably I would find myself very much looking forward to being back at school.

This year my summer has been longer than ever, and with that looming and having had a lot of time on my hands in France, I was keen to get stuck into something from the get-go. I returned from Bolbec in mid-April, and after two weeks of break I flew to the USA for a fortnight's holiday. As it was mainly seeing (and big cities are never desperately relaxing) I needed another break when I got home again, before heading down to Exeter for a few days and back up north, past home and then to Sheffield. And then, I was London-bound.

Quite simply put, I adore London. Spending two months (or nine weeks, as I like to specify) there was no real difficult for me whatsoever. I even began to like commuting in and out of the centre, except when the "extreme heat" broke the rails out of Waterloo at five o'clock in the evening, and got amused very quickly by tourists, although not when disturbing my walk across Westminster Bridge.

I had to cut short my internship a lot earlier than I'd have liked. I genuinely have found something now with which I would happily continue after graduation and I have surprised myself in the process. National politics was something I had thought I was probably too sensitive to cope with but, after this summer - and only partially down to the internship - I am more confident in my abilities than I imagined I would be.

I wish I could say it was for a good reason, but coming home was basically to finish my university work. The

Northumberland in sunshine!

Modern Languages department's version of Year Abroad assessment is less than ideal - a fairly vaguely-explained portfolio and three reports, as well as preparation for an oral exam held in... Freshers' Week. Thanks, Exeter. With the work done, I took a few days' holiday with my parents in Northumberland (and in sunshine!) and whisked myself away with that familiar train journey to France. Walking from Euston to St. Pancras with a single small suitcase is a lot more preferable to the two I struggled with almost exactly one year ago.

Le Havre in sunshine!

The trip reminded me of the vast improvement of my understanding of French although my confidence in speaking is not sky-high, and how much less I have to concentrate than when I first arrived eleven and a half months ago. I also got the chance to experience again the bits of French life that I like - cheese, buying wine to take back to university, baguettes, patisseries, basically the food in general - and the classroom over again. I am quite sure I do not want to be a teacher, although it was with a boosted sense of confidence that I helped out for those few hours.

And now I am almost packed up and ready to go back to Exeter. It has been a great summer, and academic year in general. I am very much looking forward to my final year of university, and the things and experiences for which I am immensely grateful are so numerous I wouldn't like to begin to count them. I also feel less prone to intense nostalgia and more to thankfulness, probably because at the moment I have lots of new and
exciting things to take on. I always worry about leaving home for somewhere else - I worry about my parents, and my cat, and my house and things just not being the same when I come back - but it is difficult for me to do much about these things, other than my best at being kind and helpful. If one were to hang back where things are easy and safe, one would be likely to end up resenting it.

So back to Exeter it is, with Exeposé, studying, friends I've not seen in months and new ones to make, volunteering, and probably a fair amount of drinking... Well, it is my last student chance...