Things I haven't done on my placement year

 SO FAR.

There's still time.

• Spill water during a meeting.

• Drop food on myself/someone else/the floor (there's one tiny exception to this, but we don't need to go into that now).

• Trip over something.

• Trip over nothing. 

• Accidentally hit someone/stand on their foot.

• Accidentally hit myself/stand on my own feet.

• Cause a fire. 

• Cause a flood. 

• Forget my own name when I'm introducing myself.

• Listen to and remember anyone's name when they introduce themselves.

• Not use my entire body weight to open the office door. 

• Not look like an idiot whilst opening the office door.

• Break something.

• Describe where I'm from as anything but 'near Manchester'.

• Correct any of the people who assumed I was Scottish. 

• Lose my accent - not even a little bit. 

• Make any real or substantial life choices - "I'm sure my placement year will help me decide"...who were you kidding. 

• Do any reading for my dissertation - as above. 

• Improve my French - and again. 

• Go running more - so many broken promises. 

• Release an alien species into the streets of Brussels and subsequently ruin the entire ecosystem of Belgium and its neighbours - see, so it's not going so badly.

• Use Windows XP and do anything but swear/sigh/shout at it. 

• Find a hand gesture that really captures exactly how angry I am at drivers in Brussels. 

• Fully grasp the cheek kissing etiquette in any given situation - I haven't yet been reduced to yelling 'WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM ME' in someone's face; but with every awkward greeting, I get a little bit closer.

I should point out that this really only applies to when I'm at work, because out of work I spend most of my time covered in any food or drink that's to hand and falling over what is essentially flat ground.  

I still don't spend it making life choices though. 

April has been a really bad month for this. 
xx

10 things I've learnt about travelling

 /people who travel/I spend too much time on modes of transport.

1. Your luggage probably doesn't come with a neon sign attached to it, so sometimes people won't see it and will walk into it, this is your fault. 

2. Also sometimes if you don't come with a neon sign attached to you and you're small enough to be looked over, people will walk into you, this is also your fault. 

3. Seats on any form of transport are measured using tiny children, because there is no way even a small adult would have given the okay to seats that size. 

4. Seat reservations are to be taken seriously, and if you've had the impertinence to misread your ticket and sit in the wrong place you deserve to be publicly shamed through a collection of excessively loud declarations of your error and exasperated sighs as you get ready to move. 

5. Some people will crave human contact so badly they will sit next to you even if there is plenty of other space available.

6. Travel is the time to live your dreams. People who sit behind appear me appear to have dreamt of playing percussion (read as: you are not Keith Moon; stop tapping on my chair).

7. If you're carrying a hiking rucksack as opposed to a suitcase, you are obviously a student or on your gap year, and therefore less worthy of the respect or courtesy of everyone around you. 

8. Most children will be quiet most of the time, on the occasion they dare to make noise it is customary to exchange pained glances with everyone around you. 

9. Sometimes all the stars and planets align and you get two seats to yourself  for a whole journey-this is impossible to enjoy at the time however, due to the fear that will grip you at every station that someone might get on and sit down.

10. 99% of the time, everyone has a pretty firm grasp of social convention and knows exactly when it is a appropriate to make conversation and when it is not. That 1% is the worst 2 hours of your life.

But I had a really nice Easter and now it's moving into double figure temperatures (that's right, people of Britain, it's cold in other places too) we can do things outside and I know I've been really bad at this recently but I'll try and get better I swear.

Until next time!
xx