pearlearrings

I can actually cook. I am obsessed with healthy eating and as a result I eat the same foods every day (in the most literal sense). I need to learn about the vagaries of cuisine and to develop my palate with healthy but more adventurous, good food.

I want to be good enough to say cook a three course meal that would win Come Dine With Me. Absurd, but I think that explains what I am getting at. Nothing chef-worthy but I want to be able to create quality crowd-pleasers, without compromising my health!

Not for a long time the way that my knee is but there are millions of other sports that I find more enjoyable – such as cycling, dancing, boxing and bouldering, all of which I have now taken up!

I was at too far a level to really get back into my German without simply moving to Germany but I did start (re)learning French and did a conversational class at the LSE that I really enjoyed. I’m hoping to find the money to do another course for this year, as it was a lot of fun and there is so much more for me to learn!

Moved out, finances are in great shape, and I aim to have at least £25,000 saved up by next year. Considering that’s more than I take home each year and I’m 24 I’m quite pleased with that.

I’ve learnt that I am actually really good with money and if anything I am too cautious – but right now I have achieved the perfect balance between saving and spending for maximum impact. DO IT!!!!

I really hope my knee sorts itself out – I am currently at my fittest and this gorgeous weather just makes me want to get out there and pound the pavement! I’m enjoying the gym anyhow, so it’ll do in the meantime. I’m keeping my fingers crossed for a full recovery :D

I don’t want to quite mark this as done, because I definitely still have to ‘get busy living’. I feel so so so happy, most of the time, and yet nothing has really changed in terms of my situation. I just feel free!! I’m hoping that when I do improve my situation, I will kind of enter this point of constant delirious happiness, because that’s the only way to top this feeling.

I still have the end of May as a target to have everything together, but I am really getting there! Even if I can’t say I feel ‘happy’ at the moment, I can at least say I feel a quiet joy, a kind of contentedness.

I am proud of who I am and what I am accomplishing, and I’m trying to do things that make me happy and keep only those people in my life that help make me into a positive, happy person!

For me it’s about letting myself go, and meeting people and being open to boundless possibilities. Not the easiest thing to me, but I always want to have this at the back of my mind. I think it is worth it, even though I’ve never been in love.

Distance running is tough for me anyway. But with my current knee instability I don’t know if I’ll get there. According to my physiotherapist he is 70 per cent sure that I will be able to do this next year, so I will sign up. If I stick to my physio I know I can do this. I want to do this, and once that’s decided there is pretty much no alternative, right? ;)

I haven’t even looked up conversational classes! I need to get on this!

However, I do have a calendar that teaches me daily Spanish phrases – yo voy hacer ejercicio todos los dias”

Definitely had no struggles with depression for a while, which is amazing. I have almost forgotten the feeling!

I still can’t quite mark it as done – because there is so much that feels unfulfilled and sometimes the loneliness of my life consumes me. I know it’s my own doing and I am making more of an effort but this one will take a bit of time! I just need to build my confidence again, and it is growing daily!

I’m looking at May this year as my target – by then I think I’ll be able to say that things are coming together :)

I have a job, but because I’m trying to save money I allow my mother to buy food for the weekly shop. I feel bad about not contributing but I think it’s for a good cause – i.e. the true independence of owning my own place!

I think it is a work in progress…I am really keen to own my own place, however unrealistic that might be on my salary.

But I think I just need to stick to my budget, and keep saving for a place, because even if in the end I use that money for my masters or persuade my parents to double the investment!

I’ve only recently come to appreciate how much I deceive others. Not often in what say, but what I don’t say. And I don’t think of this as lying, for some reason. Having moved to a culture where people lie all the time and don’t seem to think it means anything, I’ve come to view white lies as something I don’t want.

If there is a situation in which I feel I shouldn’t tell the truth, I think the answer is to tactfully tell the truth. And get myself out of situations where I am compelled to lie. Part of that means not letting my parents (who lie all the time!) tell me what I should do. That sounds strange at the moment, but here is an example. At the moment I am missing work to help my Dad with something, and yes, I am technically ill, but not too ill to come to work. And he sees nothing wrong in telling me to lie so I can help him.

One thing I need help with is deciding whether adopting different personas should constitute lying. Around argumentative people I will often not say what I think because I know it will get us nowhere, for example. Hmm….

I am in Ghana at the moment and really want to learn Twi.

I am busy working at the moment so I wanted a personal tutor or classes I could attend at the weekends or in the evenings. I really need help with the tonation so I don’t think learning it online will really help.

Has anyone got any numbers I can call? I have been googling for a while and can find nothing. There seem to be English/French schools everywhere, though.

I’ve been here a month now – time really flies. And it’s kind of frustrating to realise that I haven’t found a job I really like yet, or made some great friends yet and really enjoyed myself.

But I really feel like I understand how things work, how it ticks, and the complex issues that underpin everyday life. I certainly don’t think I am having a regular tourist experience. I just hope that I push this further and become happy here.

I want this so badly I convinced myself that moving to Africa where I would have a lot more of my own space would be preferable to living at home.

But it’s even worse here. Living with my Dad he attempts to control every aspect of my life. You’d think I was exaggerating but he even takes it upon himself to tell me what I can and cannot eat, when to do my hair, what time I get up, the list is endless.

It cannot come soon enough because I really need to escape. And that’s why it is so important for me to be financially independent, which isn’t going too well at the moment. It’s either that, or go to do a masters somewhere further away – maybe Alaska(!)

I didn’t do it. And honestly, I’m still bitter about it, but it’s something I have to accept.

I still think it is worth trying though, even if all you learn is the limits of your own capabilities.

My parents are both from Africa and although I have done the holiday thing, I haven’t actually gone there and really experienced where they are from. I am really planning to in the next couple of weeks if I can get a move on with my visa etc. but I need to get out there.

I guess the reason why I don’t consider this done is because I need to make sure that when I get out there I really experience Africa and don’t just lounge on the beach. I want to travel and work and I am so determined to do both – I just hope I come back with renewed sense of who I am and where I came from. You know what inspired me to do this? Obama. His first book. Strange, I know, but I’m so excited to be going.

I killed myself for them.

I worked so so so hard – harder than I thought would be possible and honestly the 6 months flew by. I don’t think I performed amazingly well in exams – and one of them went terribly – but I know in my heart of hearts that with minor exception I could not have done better than I did (which is a tautology, but I mean if I had a chance to do it again I would change very little).

I haven’t gotten my results yet, but I’m pretty sure I haven’t quite done enough to get that first. At the very least though, I have learnt so much about my degree and myself and it definitely was worth it.

At this juncture – anyone who is thinking of aiming for this should. Even if it doesn’t quite happen, immersing yourself so completely in your degree and knowing that you have absolutely nothing to lose by going for it feels great.

I hope I don’t change my mind on this once I get my results!