"I'm sorry, my situation has changed again"

Fortunately, a serious of coincidences brought me to spending the first semester in the south of Portugal and I'm very grateful for it. First, it was the announcement that all of our teaching activity was going to be online. Second, it was a spontaneous visit to a friend in the Netherlands this summer - right when I found out about the cancellation of my year abroad, she offered some great words of support: "It's okay, all your classes are online anyways, you can do them from anywhere. You could even go to, I don't know, something like Portugal!". And lastly, it is thanks to an insightful conversation with our career advisor (coincidentally, he has spent a couple of years teaching English in Žďár nad Sázavou) who shared with me his pessimistic, yet realistic, statistical prediction of covid situation for London this autumn and it was clear that there is no point of going there.

Tired of having many other plans cancelled, I took the courage to make some last-minute plans before giving up and spending the first semester at home. And somehow it all worked out. I found a room in Portimão, in the south of Portugal, in a region with possibly the calmest covid situation in continental Europe. I found a part-time internship in a small NGO connected to my course of study. I've connected with the local Erasmus students who are always down for some adventure and a beach volleyball game. I'm learning Portuguese (to survive in Portugal) and Spanish (a well-timed elective class at UCL) and attempt to pick up surfing (there is still a long way to go with this one). It's not always easy, but I believe that it is the best I could do with the situation in which I found myself. And I realise how lucky I am and 'm incredibly grateful for all of that.

This year showed us that that situations do change and they can change very fast. And it is up to us how we adjust to the new circumstances. I would like to thank the KFF for their continuous support and patience with all of my "changing situations".