The Third Year Journey

Let’s begin by saying how horrified I am of my impending 10 000 word dissertation which is at the moment drowning out any excitement of me reaching the final year in my degree. I am entrusted, as are my other course mates, the task of contributing academic knowledge to the field of Tourism. Many people think it’s about selling plane tickets and booking holidays to Malaysia; it’s not all glitz, glamour and jetlag but work and research. What are the motivations of tourists, ethics involved and the many many issues of sustainability and economic leakages to communities and countries? Funny thing is I do know a lot in theory and practice, but forming my own research topic is burning out my brain cells! Its almost like doing Maths ....
Like that girl on the tv ad for the show about a school in Essex, she’s like ‘whats pi?’, ‘where did it come from?’ with the most shocked depressed look on her face. I can indeed agree, what the hell is pi? The first thing that comes to my mind is that round edible object, because anything else just doesn’t make sense. I know I suck at maths, but who cares, I don’t. I will write my heart out in an essay or report but don’t ask me do trigonometry or find circumferences, I find it highly irrelevant to my life.

I celebrated my birthday in September and decided at last minute that I wanted to go raving. You know you had a good time when you wake up and the night before was a gigantic grey blur. I got feedback from my friends that I was dancing so much, a ring formed around me. They were actually covering their eyes and faces in contempt hahaaaa !!!!!!!!!!. I was then made to take a vow that I would never ever ever dance on the floor again. I said it, but something tells me that’s not exactly a promise.

Birthday night!

The summer was a bit uneventful otherwise, there was the odd rave and drunken night out but I was mostly working.

During clearing as the receptionist, I was quite pleased to be at the forefront of the Enquiry Unit extension where I guided many many people on their proverbial roads to university. It was such a refreshing start to my own academic year to see the young fresh eager faces of the newbies and I do wish them all the best. I saw a lot of mummies and daddies on the grounds trying to get a feel of the place for their sons and daughters. I imagine it’s a proud moment for so many who have managed to survive the race for that elusive uni place.

Oh, I’m still missing Jamaica but the blazing sunny weather we’ve experienced over the past week or so has been lovely. All that was missing was the white sandy beaches, but conversely, something tells me the winter will be as harsh as it was last year. While a lot of us were happy to get a free tan and be able to drop the top on our little rides, the weather is quite extreme. I mean, 27 degrees in October? You lot better get ready for the winter then!

So to all the young’un’s who made it into uni and for us older folks already feeling the brunt of 3rd year studies. There is a fantastic uni 'dance' as I would call it in my native tongue, and it’s not to be missed. Get your tickets here: http://www.suug.co.uk/freshers2011/ball/. I know Im going, then it will be books, articles and journals keeping me company for the next 8 months.

With love

Momo x