Hi everyone,
It feels like it has been a while since I wrote a blog, and in some ways it is, but in the grand scheme of life, it hasn’t been that long. I have been off travelling for a few weeks in Japan and also spent a long bank holiday weekend away in Croatia, which was lovely. It has been a struggle adjusting to normal life again!
I have started a course at a university in Elementary Japanese, which has been a bit of a jump in level from my current Japanese, but I have an amazing teacher, and it’s interesting being in a class setting vs individual lessons. Although I will continue to have one-on-one lessons. I am really hoping to improve in my spoken Japanese as I wish to work lecturing at a university in Japan one day once I complete my PhD.
I am spending my time at the moment plodding through my PhD work. It is hard, but as I continue to work on it I continue to be enlightened by what I have learnt and the findings of my experiences and research. It’s been good having a break by travelling, but also hard to adjust to sitting at a computer 24/7, working in some capacity! I think people don’t realise how lonely doing a PhD can be. I am lucky to have made one good friend who has just had the news they have passed (they’re a year ahead) with minor amendments, and I am so proud of her. However, it is hard work and requires a lot of time and dedication, constant thinking and regular weekends spent locked to a computer screen – which is hard during the summer months!
My knitting and YouTube have slowed in my adaptation to normal life. I have managed to put together a vlog from my trip to Croatia and have a lot of footage to go through from my trip to Japan, including a trip to Disney! I have put off editing in fear of FOMO by no longer being in my favourite country! I feel like I have been a little grumpy since my return from my solo Japan trip, possibly because I enjoyed the feeling of complete freedom and what felt like a new step in the direction of the life that I want for myself. I hope I have the opportunity to live and work there, but worse case scenario I will be visiting as regularly as I possibly can to enjoy the culture, food, people and language.
I have had a lot of knitting projects on the go, and my plan of having projects per season has gone out the window. I am still knitting the cat sweater mentioned in this blog, in addition to a project from my knitting for olive book, and a test knit that I started and realised I twisted the cast on – DISASTER! Luckily, the pattern was a repeat, so it was fine in terms of being able to provide feedback on the pattern. I always find it hard knitting in the warmer months, but I am enjoying using my free time to focus on my studies and get back into a healthy exercise routine.
I have been continuing with my springboard diving, which I do enjoy. I am starting to work on back dives. I am proud that I have continued with diving because it gives me time to focus on one task and not worry about things that are going on in life, work, my studies, just pure focus!
Otherwise, not too much has changed, it’s just. been an adjustment back to normal life. I hope to be back in the swing of videos and blogs soon. I hope you’re all keeping well.
M x
