Blogs

After almost 7 months in England, I finally feel at home.

It was the conclusion with which I had dreamed to finish the year.

My first months abroad were mixed in a flood of unclear feelings. The arrival in a university system different from all that I had known until then was a challenge, which I managed to overcome thanks to the cocoon created by the centre for journalism.

Never has a small piece of sandpaper caused so much trouble. When Cameron Bancroft took a small piece of it onto the field at lunch on the third day of Australia’s test match with South Africa, even he wouldn’t have anticipated the events of the following fortnight.

In our year group, a bi-weekly or even weekly MooMoos has become a tradition, much to the dismay of the first years (they believe Casino’s is better- don’t ask!). It works out perfectly for us; it’s literally around the corner from our house, so we host pre-drinks and the comedown, when everyone sits around in various states of drunkenness and the early stages of hangover to demolish a Ramzeys kebab. While no two nights out are the exact same, you can bank on a few things or people making an appearance at Gillingham’s finest establishment.

Trend-setting is all fun and games until you realise you're having to plan out outfits and shopping trips months in advance before the season even arrives. As a closeted super-fan of all things fashion - catwalks, supermodels and the latest releases of fashion houses - even I must admit it feels like we wave the upcoming season goodbye in order to say hello to the one which follows, as preparation for welcoming it in style begins.

I do love showing off my boobs in a ladylike way, scratch that, I meant in a not so ladylike way.

I had been learning English in school for nine years before I moved here and I was confident I’d be capable of having an everyday conversation. Turns out I was learning the wrong language the whole time. What people speak here is not English, it’s roadman.

But it’s calm, I’m slowly, but steadily becoming an expert.

Anyone who's known me for any length of times knows I'm a massive Arctic Monkeys fanboy, so naturally I'm pretty excited that yesterday they announced their 6th album, "Tranquility Base Hotel and Casino". I'll always maintain their first album, Whatever People Say I am That's What I'm Not, is the greatest debut album of all time- at least by a British band. Favourite Worst Nightmare, their second album, was as good a follow up as you could wish for. And then Humbug, their third LP, is actually quite decent after a few listens. So why wouldn't I be excited? 

As a little bit of a production fanatic, I was saddened to hear of the news that ITV is to move out of their current home in just over a week, leaving behind years of history. The London Studios, which first opened for transmission in 1972 as The South Bank Television centre, is to now be redeveloped over the period of five years.

After a breaking news happened in US about the shooting at YouTube today, people all around the world express their mourning towards the victims. But when I open the Weibo ( Chinese Twitter), what I can see from the comment was “ why there is a HQ for a unexisting website ?” “ 404 not found” “ what is YouTube ? one kind of food ?” .