Last week, I was out walking with my girlfriend when we came across a farm that was giving away free flowers. There was simply a bucket of bunches and a sign saying: “Please take”. There was no honesty box or request for donations to the charity that run the farm. After looking around for a [...]
(Not) The Only One?
As you've probaly guessed from the blog posts over the past few weeks, I’ve been finding the new online uni semester quite hard. In particular, I’ve been struggling to get to grips with the new software in my Translation module. I missed one of the practicals and another workshop because I wasn’t well, so I’ve [...]
A Greedy Culture
We don't often think of ourselves as greedy. We point the finger at the 'rich': sports stars, politicians and business people whose corporations dominate our lives. “They should do more to help” “They’ve got the resources” “They don’t pay their taxes and have probably got money in off-shore bank accounts” All these suspicions may well [...]
Two Choices
Last Sunday, the Catholic Church celebrated both the Feast of Chist the King and Youth Sunday. After entrusting the symbols of World Youth Day to a group of Portuguese young people (the next WYD is in Lisbon 2023), Pope Francis shared these words of wisdom: “Each day, in our heart, we face many choices. I [...]
Turning What You Love Into Stress
Recently, I’ve been feeling quite overwhelmed with my work. Since the delayed start of the new uni semester, both teachers and students have been playing catch up. The teachers, I imagine, have been told to make up for the three weeks of lost time by giving out more work than usual and putting more recorded [...]
A New Form For Fridays
The other week, I wrote about how much poetry has helped me deal with my thoughts and feelings throughout this global pandemic. I've been writing my own since the first national lockdown in England back in March. I've barely shared it with anyone. It was something just for me. But a few days ago, I [...]
Little Victories
When the going is tough and we find it hard to motivate ourselves, it's even more important to celebrate the Little Victories. When we’re struggling to even do anything, we need to remind ourselves we can achieve something each day. We can lose motivation and think we’re failing because we’re not performing at the same [...]
Get Back On
Recently, I feel like I’ve lost a lot of confidence is many areas of my life. I don’t know how or why, but I’ve suddenly felt like I can’t do as many of the things I used to do without getting very anxious before doing them. One of these things is riding my bike. Regular [...]
Shadows
It has been in the British news recently that students at Leicester’s De Montfort University want to change the name of the institution. It is said that the 13th century English knight, who the university is named after, was antisemitic. Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester, had previously been seen as laying the foundations for [...]
Enrollment
From the first few weeks of online uni, something has reminded me of what was already going on in the classrooms, seminars and lecture theatres. In online Zoom meetings, the Breakout Rooms feature can be used to stimulate discussion and share ideas in smaller groups. Then, when everyone returns to the “main room”, these ideas [...]
