Last Of The Summer Sun

Hello readers! I apologize for not posting in a while. Milan and Paris Fashion Week have gone and I have completely missed it because the new term had just started. I'll have a look at the photos later today, but since my last post everything has been so hectic that I actually hadn't had any free blogging time! It's crazy! The weather didn't help either. If you are anything like me, then you would have found the recent belated summer a smidge annoying. Totally coming out of left-field, I was not prepared for a mini-heatwave in September. I didn't bring any summery clothes with me at all, so apart from the odd tee and chino shorts, I sweltered all week in this heat. Luckily today, the skies are grey, the air cool and temperate. Overall, the atmosphere is conducive to an afternoon of reading. However, I think at around 3am I woke up to the sound of faint raindrops, which initially made me happy, then I realised I left my washing out in the yard. Damn. 

So indulge me as I sound off about what's been happening. 

The final weeks of waiting back home were as boring and mundane as you can imagine. Sure it was fun cooking all the time, shopping and bonding with my mom almost every day, but it had been going on since June that I was ready to leave again. After Paris (which I have yet to finish blogging about), the energy was still giving me a buzz. I celebrated my birthday with family and friends, in the usual manner over a dinner buffet and lots of sugary goodness. This year I opted for pink, rose-flavoured cupcakes instead of birthday cakes (though I did get a very nice, store-bought birthday cake still), and my goddaughter...and everyone else, loved it! They were sparkly and sweet, a little girl's dream comes true. All that was missing was a My-Little-Pony bouncy castle and it would have been the 10th Birthday I had always dreamed of. It was fairly low-key compared to my past celebrations. Perhaps getting old does that to you. There was no theme at all, but that wasn't vital. Everybody was there and that's what really counted. After the festivities, was two weeks of preparation, shopping for Uni stuff from basics to new wardrobe. As the days went on, my luggage content kept expanding in number and weight that we had to leave my brother behind just so there was enough space in the car when my parents drove me up North. I didn't feel sad to go because this summer went on forever. I was ready to go back. I was itching to go back. I was dying to go back.

Or so I thought. 

This is my final year at University and my God, it's just hit me. Never mind that this final run decides my degree (that on it's own is terrifying enough!), but its the big unknown waiting at the other end that freaks me out. Plus the fact that I will miss being a student. The independence and distance from all that is real and parental. Believe it or not, people actually fail their final year on purpose just so they could prolong the lifestyle. I'm pretty sure I don't want to go down that route, after all Van Wilder is all very fictitious, but the undergraduate life will definitely be missed. It hasn't sunk in completely yet, but I'm sure at some point next semester all of this anxiety will build up into a mini-stroke, just short of my dissertation submission. What's going to happen? It is a scary thought. I've decided that I will be more proactive in terms of organising and actually starting measures to ensure that I will have a future come the summer of 2012. Perhaps I really should enjoy this balmy, albeit overdue, summer heat for it will probably be the last one that I will have, when I can still be carefree and oblivious to the reality of adulthood. 

Rendered incapacitated by the heatwave

Putting aside the premature grief over what lies ahead, the past week has actually been quite fun. Intimidating, sure enough, for the days were filled with discussions over dissertations, Christmas (gasp!) exams, and essay titles. Nothing out of the ordinary really, but in comparison to last year, I am actually enjoying the modules I have chosen for this semester. From Ovid to Dante, it's all much more engaging than my sophomore choices which included a very DRY and SNOOZE worthy take on Ancient Greek History. I'm sorry and I mean no offence to scholars out there, but looking back, I could have chosen better. I could have saved myself from a year's worth of trivial warfare. However, all that will change this time around because I chose all literary based modules. I love reading and the literature of the ancients are some of the most interesting and surprising ones out there. Right now, I'm enjoying Dante's very own nekyia trek, while juggling with Ovid's weepy heroine dialogues. It's all very gripping. Also, I'm doing a module on Ancient Magic! How cool is that? I'm charging up my Charmed vibes for this one.

On Friday I organised a cocktail night out with the Classics lot and fortunately, it was a success. Woop! We went to a bar in the city called Smokestack, and while the price for libations remain debatable (depending on the time of the year...) the music and the ambience of the place was fantastic. The tunes were mainly jazzy and bluesy, but you get the occasional Motown streak that just makes you want to zip up those go-go boots and dance. The number of people who came out that night was pretty good too. But the thing I loved the most was the dissolution of cliques that evening. It's not unusual for students to form little coteries that tend to be very exclusive and intimidating. My department is not so different (truth be told, some of these kids in the department are actually very stuffy and pretentious), but since it is our final year, I just thought it would be nice to break down those walls a little bit so everybody can have a good time. Friday's night out proved to be a favourable outcome, and even though the whole clique culture is here to stay and will not be changing anytime soon, it was definitely great to have an evening rid of it. Everybody enjoyed themselves, and really, what else could you ask for?

So now here I am, finishing this post whilst watching Kiki Dunst's latest film, Melancholia with my housemates- Dante left on the coffee table, untouched. I'd love to say 'what a great start', especially after all that babble you've just read, but I haven't really done much today. Not enough to justify the amount of 'study breaks' I've taken. Therefore, I shall end this post with a pledge.

There will be no further posts until I've finished reading Inferno.

Wish me luck!

xoxo