365 Days Later

Today marks a year to the day I touched down on the land of Malawi, Africa. Fast forward 12 months and I'm graduating in Med Biochem with a First Class Honours (eek! I found out yesterday and I'm still dizzy with happiness as it sinks in) and aspiring towards a career path I had never dreamed was mapped out for me. If there's two things I've learnt, it is that time flies, and God works in mysterious ways.

I can't believe it's been a year already; it feels like only yesterday that I was having the experience of a lifetime. I have seen things that few people have the opportunity to see, and I have worked with people that many would dream of working with. I would go back in a heartbeat to work in the labs that I had the chance to explore and expand my knowledge in, to work in the hospitals where I watched heart-breaking procedures that shattered my perspective of the world. I have indeed stayed true to my word and I remain in touch with some of the people I met on my journey - I feel blessed to have known them and to still be in regular touch with the world I long left behind.

I find myself lost in moments where I'm reminiscing about the things that I got up to and I really do miss it! I miss certain parts of that summer a lot; all the science-y stuff of course (I miss working in a lab - a truth that shocks me to this very day) but also the simple things like watching the sun rise across Lake Malawi and visiting an orphanage in Tanzania. I can't help but think "take me back!"

It probably doesn't help that my kid brother is off to Poland in August for his own GapMedics experience - jealous doesn't quite cut it! I'm super excited for him though and hey, if it means that I may have the chance to holiday in Europe, I'm not complaining! I am in desperate need of a holiday. A proper chilled out, relaxed break because with final year just about beginning before coming to a rapid end, and jumping straight into fasting, it feels like I haven't had a chance to breathe. So yeah, a holiday where I can take a breather in a sunny land would be perfect thanks Dad!

Also, is it me, or has time seemed to come to a slow crawl? Maybe it's just me. Watch how the next three weeks absolutely fly by and I'm like, no wait, slow down! Ah dammit as I'm writing this, the aroma of next door's barbecue is floating through my open window and it's doing nothing for my starving senses right now so I'm going to log off, shift room and try to distract myself whilst trying not to wallow in reminiscence. (It's been playing on my mind for days now though and it only felt right to re-visit memories back in the place where writing them began).