The beginning of my second academic year didn’t start at all as I would ever imagine.

After landing in Edinbourgh, I was interviewed by BBC, about my opinion on the need of self-isolation. I have to tell you that one feels so important giving interview. But then my fame ended as I had to spend next 2 weeks alone in my flat, with no one checking on me. That made me wonder. Do they even have some ways of checking on people that are supposed to self-isolate? Probably yes, but I wasn’t on the list. Nevertheless after surviving endless hours of solitude and closed in my house, when the weather was just lovely (over 20°C and sunny for a full week-weather that is considered as a peak summer in the UK) I was finally allowed to go out and enjoy last bits of summer.

Now comes the second blow. During those 14 days I spent self-isolating, the numbers of Covid-19 started to rise in the UK as well, so the restrictions started to tighten here as well. That ruled out the possibility of finding a job in restaurant. And there weren’t that many offers of retail positions. So as you could’ve guessed by now, I didn’t find any part-time job. So after last few days of sunny September days, I started the second year little depressed. I didn’t know back then, that this freedom and free time will soon become a thing of the past.

With the start of October, the weather got typically British. No more than 15°C during the day, wind blowing all the time and the only sun you can see is the one that you start drawing yourself. After the first week of teaching, things escalated pretty quickly. Workload is incomparable with the one that I had last year. I have so many things to do. I have online lectures almost every day, reading lists are full of complex books with even more complex texts (especially chemistry and I was never the best student when it comes to chemistry) all additional materials my lecturers are providing me with and all those articles I am supposed to read. I think that there is more than 50 of them so far... Life is hard, but I am trying to endure all of this, and so far so good! I am managing to go through all the materials I am supposed to every week. But that is about it. Even waking up at 7 A.M. doesn’t help me, I am struggling to find time to work on my assignments, which are due next month (first is 9.11.). So I think that the only thing that is left is to hope, that I will be able to find another two hours during the day, to add to those 24 ones I have, which are not enough for me now.

The other thing I am currently also busy with, is finding a placement for the next year. It is not easy to find any in the Food Safety path I would like to follow. I am trying to keep an eye on the companies that could offer some, but I think I will need to be proactive and write them and see if they would be willing to create one for me. More work to do with no additional time to add... I am curious how I will manage it.

Other thing is my society. For the academic year 2020/2021 I am the president of Foodie society at Northumbria University. With the ban of almost all social contact, everything needs to be carried out online. So preparation for any kind of event takes twice or longer than it would take to meet somewhere, discuss it and realise it later. But I think we’re managing quite alright. We just finalised the preparation of our first event of this year- Online food quiz. So hopefully it will be successful!

 I can’t even imagine how things will be different in two months time, when I will write other article. But let’s see then shall we?