What A Summer...

So…yeah…lots happened. I would have blogged earlier but things have been a little emotionally fraught…anyways, in case you’re interested, here is a quick summary of everything that has happened over the past few months.

Lake District

We went on holiday. We haven’t been on a proper holiday since 2001, and that was when Dad was still here. Actually, that’s not true. We went to Wales last year. That went almost as badly (perhaps worse) than this holiday. I think the problem was that we just don’t know how to relax, and our individual ideas of what counts as relaxation/a holiday are all so different. Anyway, it could have been worse. The day we got back from the Lakes in 2001 our next door neighbour had a heart attack on his driveway and died. Nobody died this time. We almost killed each other but there were no actual deaths. So…yey?

Graduation

‘Twas epic. I had such a great time. We went down to Bristol the day before and I took my family round the sights. Well, one sight. This one.

My mum and brother spent the night with me in my tiny, creaky student room. Turns out the floor is harder than concrete and every time anyone rolled over it made a noise loud enough to wake a hibernating bear. Suffice to say nobody got any sleep.

The day itself was beautiful. Nice weather, even nicer people, a lovely ceremony where we cheered the roof down. 

Afterwards I had one of the strangest conversations with my course tutors where it took two of them to tell me I was the recipient of The Medical Humanities Award. Woop :D

Ramadan/Depression

I fasted for less than a week before I became extremely emotionally unstable. This was the first time I had fasted whilst depressed (I had missed it last year because of resits). It probably wasn’t just due to the fasting; there was a lot of stuff going on at home around that time too. I didn’t want to not fast; even though technically I was ill it didn’t stop me from feeling like a bad Muslim and consequently extremely guilty. But at the same time I didn’t not want to fast, so cue more guilt. The decision not to fast was one of the hardest I’ve made, but it’s turned out to be the right one. I need to concentrate on my health and wellbeing, especially as I’m still on medication and suspect I need a dose change.

21

I turned 21 :D

Olympics

I have neever felt so patriotic before. A huge cheer to Danny Boyle for a beyond amazing, there-are-no-words Opening Ceremony. Kudos to the BBC for amazing coverage, to the police and armed forces for their protection, to the Gamesmakers for, well, making the games. But a huge woop to all the Team GB athletes for all their hard work. No one can deny that they gave more than their best, and they made us proud.

If you haven’t seen this yet, watch it. Watch it NOW :D

Cycling

Because I haven’t been fasting I’ve been trying to get healthy. Went out on my bike every day last week and clocked up around 40 miles. Determined to lose weight before clinicals start.

So, yeah. My summer in around 700 words...Hopefully my next blog will be more interesting :P

One final thing: the Olympics over the past 2 weeks have really brought out the best of us as a nation. After the Royal wedding and the Jubilee I never thought I would be more proud to be British but this fortnight completely blew me away. I know my opinion counts for nothing but I’m so proud of how we handled ourselves as a nation, of how we cheered everyone on irrespective of nationality, even the losers, of the dignity and pride and humbleness of the athletes. As Seb Coe said, ‘When our time came, Britain, we did it right.’

Even though the Olympics are over maybe we can carry on being just as awesome.

Toodles

Lexie x