Over the last three years I've done a blog post at the end of every term of my undergraduate degree at Durham University, so I thought I'd do the same for my Masters in International Security at the University of Sussex. It's been a hot minute since I last posted but to be honest that's a function of both being busy and simultaneously feeling like I have nothing interesting to say. These past three months have been a weird time on a lot of different levels, mostly as a result of adjusting to the big changes involved in moving to a new city and new university and trying to work out some new routines and habits. In my October update post I spoke a bit about settling into uni and how that was going - and if you haven't read that post, please do, because it covered quite a lot of what I would normally say here.

On the academic side of things, I've mostly enjoyed my course so far although it has been quite mixed. I think the reason why there were some parts I didn't find that interesting was because this term we didn't have any choice in our modules as they were kind of a broad introductory base for the Spring term when we actually get to pick what we study. So in that sense I'm looking forward to next term when we have a lot more choice and have to start thinking about our dissertations. My timetable stayed the same throughout the term, meaning my weeks were consistently unbalanced and always felt like the whole week was building up to my full-on double-seminar Wednesday. The good news is that as the weeks wore on I got a feel for what I could sort of get away with not doing, which sounds awful but honestly it wouldn't have been possible to do all the reading thoroughly, especially as we started to think about essays towards the end of the term. Speaking of essays, I've done one out of the two I need to finish this holiday which is OK going, as I have until the 10th January to finish the other one. 

In terms of my house, I think I've really settled in now. We've had a few maintenance issues already (boiler pressure, smoke alarms, radiators - you name it) and a weird encounter with a man a few doors down but apart from that it's been smooth sailing. I feel like I've got to know my housemates as well as can be expected (given that we started off as total strangers); they're second years so we're at different stages in our academic lives, but I still get along with them pretty well. We even managed to cook a full Christmas dinner in our teeny tiny kitchen at the end of term and it was actually amazing and such a nice festive evening.

What else? I've been meeting up with my best friend from Durham who lives in Brighton pretty much every week for lunch which has been lovely; I'm a student rep which so far has mostly just involved sending emails and attending a couple of meetings but hey, one for the CV; I've been doing some yoga classes which I've enjoyed a lot; and I'm also a library advisor so I get to order books for the library which has been cool. Apart from that, things in first term just went on more or less the same week after week. 

However, a couple of exciting things did happen that are worth mentioning. For one thing, my parents came to visit me over Halloween when I had a reading week, which was lovely especially as this is the first time they've ever been able to do that. They were only around for a couple of days and we just went out for lunch in Brighton one day and then went to visit my aunt and uncle who live nearby, but it was still a nice break, albeit very surreal.

Then my best friend came over from Ireland to visit me and our other best friend who also lives in Brighton. The weekend basically revolved around food (which is fine with me) as we started off with breakfast at The Breakfast Club, had lunch in a cafe in the Lanes, and had Thai food in the evening, but not before going ice-skating at the Pavilion. I'd forgotten just how much I love ice-skating, I really wish I could do it more often and maybe even take lessons. On the second day we went for brunch and then braved the winds on the pier, walking all the way to the end. We'd planned to go to the village of Lewes for a look around but for various reasons we ended up going to the Pavilion instead, which I'd done earlier in the term but it was still nice to see all the beautiful interiors again. All in all it was a lovely weekend and so nice to see my friends given that we're rarely all in the same place these days!

The other exciting thing is that I was asked to be on an academic podcast and actually travelled down to London to record the episode in December, but I don't want to say too much about it until the episode is actually out. It was a really cool experience though and I got to chat about European identity and other topics that I'm really passionate about with some people who are equally interested.

Given that it's now after Christmas I might as well add that I had a lovely, if understated Christmas this year just at home with my parents and brother. Last year we went away to stay with family for Christmas so it was nice to be back in our house to do all our traditions the way we normally do them. I've got a few weeks before I head back to the UK so once my essays are in I'm planning to take some proper time off, and also probably start thinking about my dissertation.