Head Down And Moving Forward

Hey all, and welcome to another week.

This post covers two weeks. I didn't have much going on except writing papers, and there's nothing enjoyable about that, so I combined the last two weeks.

This week marks the end of week five of teaching here at Leeds. Meaning we're at midterms, and let me tell you, there is a lot of adjustment happening for me. I have two papers and a podcast for my midterms. Typically, I'd say it wouldn't be too hard. Sounds pretty easy. However, this is not the case. I have to learn a whole new way of writing, and to top it all off, most of the faculty here is still on strike. Nonetheless, I am one paper down, one more, and a podcast to go, and I'm done with midterms!!

Because of midterms, I decided to lay low and not really do much. But I got tickets to Sheffield for Saturday and figured it would be nice to get out and about. Honestly, I wasn't too impressed with the city, but the sun was finally out, so it made it all worth it. On top of that, my buddy that the school linked me to also got tickets. So we got some more time to get to know each other.

Okay, I couldn't end this post without saying a little something about everything going on with Russia and Ukraine. First of all, my heart goes out to everyone involved. My heart goes out to people standing up and staying strong to fight for their homes. And my heart goes out to any protesters who are being thrown in jail for standing up for what they think is right. 

I feel as though I am sitting in a unique spot right now with all of this. As an American, it's easy to feel disconnected with Europe being so far. Being in England, I'm much closer and can see different perspectives than what I would see at home. I'm also fortunate to be at an international school with so many people from across the world. I'm buddied up with a girl from Russia who introduced me to one of her friends from Ukraine. I can see the hurt and devastation that both of them feel, and regardless of where they are from, they continue to support each other through this challenging time. It's important to remember that we may be different from each other but at the end of the day, we are all still human. And isn't it our differences that make the world a beautiful place to live? I think it would be a pretty dull place to live if we were all the same.

Let's embrace our differences! Let's support each other through struggle, and let's cheer each other on during successes!!

Remember to be kind.

Till next week,

Cheers!!