Friends

This weekend I went a bit further afield than normal, and went back to London and Cambridge. Things got off to a bad start when I woke up a whole hour later than I had planned to and had to run to catch my train to Amsterdam Schipol. Still, despite the unwelcome rush I still made it on to and a few hours later was in London for a talk by the Government Legal Service. I had a few hours to spend in Westminster and like a true tourist I ensured that I was equipped with my camera:


I didn't get much further than Victoria, but there are parts of London that are really quite beautiful, it's just a shame that often they're hidden away from general view.

The GLS talk was actually very good and was worth coming back for. It managed to set itself apart from usual recruitment talks by city law firms and after talking to several people in the GLS I have to say that I'm very keen to apply.

I spent the rest of the weekend back in Cambridge. My public thanks to Stuart for the kind use of a corner of his room and his rug as a surprisingly effective makeshift bedroom and mattress! It was lovely to be back at Selwyn. You don't realise how much you miss people until you're with them for only a short period of time. I'm having a great time in Holland, and I don't regret signing up for Erasmus, but I've got to know some fantastic friends in my two years at Selwyn who I really miss, and I don't think I fully appreciated that until I went back. It's a shame that I can't be here and there at the same time. I wasn't planning on going back to the UK that often this year, both because it's quite expensive and because I wanted to try and explore Europe a bit more, but I'm now really keen to go back more to stay in touch with people. The fact that Cambridge now has its own outlet of the 'best' Cornish pasty shop is merely an added bonus, but they did have to build it the year I was away didn't they?



Unfortunately my trip back to Utrecht wasn't much better than my one out. I left in what I thought would be plenty of time, but the queue at Stansted to get through security was huge. I checked in at about 5:50 and I didn't get through security until around 6:45, giving me 15 mins to get through departures to my boarding gate. Cue mad dash through departures without my shoes as I'd taken them off to be scanned. Luckily despite having to get a shuttle to my gate I made the flight with about two minutes to go being one of the last people to board the plane. I'd never even considered that there would be security hold-ups at that time in the morning, but I guess I'll know in future! Not only that though, at 20,000 feet over the English Channel I suddenly remembered that I'd left the cheese I'd been waiting so long for in Stuart's fridge. Upon arriving at Schipol I was surprised to see a customs sign pronouncing that cheese is apparently a prohibited item, so I guess either way I wasn't destined to get it.

Now I'm back I've got to get to work. My first dissertation comparing the UK and Canada is due to be handed in for 17:00 on Friday so I'm working for that at the moment. I did some speed-photocopying for it on Saturday morning and reading through it, it seems like I managed to pick out the relevant bits. Will be glad to get it over with.

On a more upbeat note, I'm now equipped with a Delia Smith recipe book and a 'learn Spanish' course so hopefully they should both prove nicely diverting over the coming months!