I managed to speak to Jenna for about half an hour yesterday which was fantastic. We haven’t even sent emails for months, since she lost internet access from her apartment, so it was even better to hear her voice down the phone. Of course it made me miss her and Karleigh (who gave me a transatlantic gurgle) so much more. I really want to get out to the States to see them this summer or else Karleigh will have changed unbearably, but we’ll have to see how things work out. I hate losing touch with Jen, and hopefully she’ll back hooked up with net access again soon, so we’ll be back in touch.

Interestingly we’re both in a similar position with studies, attempting to slip back into it after a year or so off. It made me realise how much trouble I’ve been having after taking that Gap Year. I’m now a term in and it’s just about starting to click again. Whilst I may take a somewhat liberal approach towards lecture attendance, it’s not exactly a problem. Having been working for seven or eight months last year, turning up at a particular place at a specified time is something I’m actually pretty good at! It’s the private study that I’ve been struggling with because I’m not used to just sitting down and reading through large blocks of dry text that I need to extract and remember information from. With work last year it was just a matter of processing and then forgetting and moving on to the next piece. The upcoming exams are a scary prospect when I realise I haven’t sat an exam for over one and a half years!

Although I have not yet caught up on as much as I may have liked, after this holiday I do feel more in touch with my inner student, so next term should be a little better. Or least we’ll email each other regularly.