London Calling

I have one more week in Kuwait. This summer has flown by. Since coming back from Lebanon, all my days have been spent at home writing my dissertation, and then my evenings have been spent with P - the two of us watching "Prison Break" (finally) and endless episodes of "Curb Your Enthusiasm", having dinner, shopping, playing, talking, laughing, and hanging out with family and friends. Weekends are spent at chalet. It's all gone by too fast. I'm almost done with my dissertation. I have a couple more days of work on it to do here, then I'm going to put it aside for a few days, and then go back to edit and fine tune once I'm back in London.

While I am really sad that my time in Kuwait is almost over, I have actually come to realize that I miss London. I am devastated about the idea of leaving my family and my P in a week. But the idea of being back in London is more pleasurable to me this time around than it was on my previous trips home.

First of all, I'm really looking forward to the two weeks I'll have off between September 15, when I turn in my dissertation, and the beginning of October, when my PhD programme starts. Those will be my first two weeks of proper vacation in over a year. By vacation I mean the first time I'll be totally free from academic stress: no worries, no impending deadlines looming on the horizon, no feelings of guilt when I'm having fun, telling myself that I should be working. This time, it's going to be two weeks of pure down time. I plan on staying in London and just having fun. Some of my friends will be leaving right after we turn in our dissertations to wherever the next stage of their lives takes them, but a core handful are staying on in London to find jobs.

Other little things I'm looking forward to in London: this show my friends and I are going to, which sounds brilliant. The fact that autumn is coming and in a few more weeks I'll be wearing cardigans and Doc Martens again. Getting started on my PhD research and being back in the British Library. The London Film Festival which runs from October 18 to November 2. The French courses I'll be taking this year at the Institut Français. Buying new books. Having a p!nt. Sitting in my flat and writing, with a big mug of coffee and my window open. Walking down the streets with my iPod on. And, all the while, daydreaming about moving back to Kuwait to begin the rest of my life with him.