Back to Britain: stressful days

It’s been five days since I returned to Britain, after twenty fantastic days at home. Where have I been?

I got an infection as soon as I arrived, so I spent the first three days at hospital and in my dormitory room. It wasn’t pleasant; the whole situation has been too disgusting to describe, I would say. But the labour pain (I had contractions also, yes, so it was hard to persuade the paramedics that I wasn’t pregnant) that I felt gave me an idea about what it is like when women give birth. Anyways, I was well enough for the exhausting work that followed during the weekend.

Talking about that, this was a move-in weekend for all the students’ halls associated with the University of Nottingham. Our student village, with the fourty-seven blocks and the 2,300 capacity was of course very busy and all resident tutors like me had to walk around the site to help out the newbies and their escorts and provide guidance and information. The welcome-week mentors sent by the university helped out a bit, but this did not make our almost 12-hour-a-day work much easier. The free meals, drinks and snacks did something to restore our energy levels.

So here I am, facing today the huge pile of work that demands my attention after a big holiday break. E-mails, freelancing, blogging, research, induction week (thankfully not thoroughly compulsory, as this is the second year of my course), a room looking like a war zone, traditional food from Crete waiting to be stacked (I have no idea where) and loads of everyday chores. Oh, and some naughty flatmates, who don’t have in mind that they live in a tutor’s flat (from the aspect that their discipline is a matter of professional image for me). Oh, I also need to renew my registration with the uni’s equestrian club, yeah!

About what I’m doing right now, apart from blogging, I am smelling the wonderful trahana soup that my casserole is cooking for me on my kitchenette stove, exactly what I need to recover my stomach, which is crying for help.