My last day as a 26 year old

Hello people reading my blog, today is the day before my birthday. I am 26 and tomorrow I will be 27. This is not a blog post to write some bullshit philosophical lifestyl-ish sentence to be quoted. It is a reflection on why I do not seem to be able to realize that I am turning a year older tomorrow.

I needed to put a meme here.

For some strange reason, I do not feel like I am 26, even less so, almost 27. Do not get me wrong, I am not one to be afraid of growing old and having wrinkles and saggy boobs. I have made my peace with this idea that it is the fate of us all and, the only thing you can actually do about it is, accept it.

Maybe it is the result of this past year and a half that was less thrilling than the few ones I had before. If you know me IRL, you are aware of my travellings, changing cities and countries. But picture this, 2017, graduation, done with my dissertation and starting the harrowing task of looking for a job. I started searching in London and Paris. No callbacks. Fine, let's broaden the search, the city where I was living at the time and Malta, because I have friends there. Still nothing. In the meantime, I met a guy, but we are taking things extremely slowly because we do not know if I am staying or leaving. Fine, just one more uncertainty in my life. In November, I finally get a sort of very cheaply paid 8 months contract. It ends, still no job in sight. What I keep hearing after 6 years of studying, working moving, going abroad, is that I do not have enough experience. In France, there is no way for me to get more before I actually get hired. So I feel stuck. I keep applying, but all I get is rejection. I start feeling anger towards people I don't even know. And again, do not get me wrong, I am aware it is not me personally they are rejecting, they just have found someone who is overqualified for the position they're offering but just as desperate as me to work. Now, the question, I HAVE been asking myself is how do I get out of this circle of hell (limbo or purgatory who knows) if nobody wants to give me a chance?

Thank you Reddit for this one. I am putting pictures to brighten up what is a very boring piece and obviously because this is what you do on a blog.

Unfortunately, I am still working on this and cannot guarantee you that I will have an answer any time soon. I have thought about going back to school so that I can do an alternating (that is the best way I can translate it, sorry) internship and thus gain more of this experience they're all asking me for. But then, it is a massive risk, as it does not guarantee that I WILL get a job when I am done, which in other words means that I will have lost yet another year, studying, not living. So as you can see, I am not entirely convinced by this option yet. Another possibility is to get a basic job just to support myself while I keep looking for the dream one, or at least one I've studied for. I wish, I tried applying and only got silence and a no from Starbucks. As I am writing these lines, I am wondering if it is really a good idea to publish this article as it is not entertainment or imo entertaining, I am just doing what the clichée says about French people, or at least it appears so, complaining. It was not my goal when I started typing this. I just wanted to write down, how it feels to turn 27, not be anywhere in your life and seeing people around you getting married, having kids and working their dream jobs. I am often told not to compare myself to others, but I believe this is how we are educated in school and if it is not the case, then maybe it is just a flaw of mine.

If only ...

My other dilemma is something, or actually someone I mentioned earlier, THE guy. obviously, since I stayed longer than expected, our relationship grew, with bumps and happy moments along the road, but I am pretty sure we are in a good place right now. Which adds to my anxieties about finding a job. He does not want to move, it is something I have a little bit of a hard time to understand and yet I do get that he has a comfortable life and doesn't want to bother looking elsewhere. I understand that because during my last two years of studies, right after Erasmus in fact, I came to the conclusion that someone's home is most of the time defined by the people surrounding them. And if I am honest with myself, I have been quite lonely for the past few years, even spending my birthday, which is a big deal for me, alone, TWICE. So, now that I have someone, it is hard for me to consider moving, even just in another city which is easily reachable by train, even though there are no jobs where I am. But I have to think with my head, or at least this is what everybody tells me. And it is hard to hear because usually, I am the one giving this type of advice.

To conclude this very long rambling of nothingness, I have been feeling like this for a while. I was stuck last year, I am stuck now. It feels as if nothing has really changed and maybe, just maybe that is why it doesn't feel like I will be 27 in a few hours.

One last for the road. See you in two years.

PS: Did I mention that last year I was living at my grandparents until I got the contract then I had to come back here two months ago?

Big Little Books: 50 books to read before you die

Hello people reading my blog, it is time for another post.  Today, the subject is a little bit different. It is about reading. I used to read A LOT, of everything. Books, magazines, newspapers you name it. Anyways, I literally stopped reading out of the blue a few years back, probably when I started consuming TV Shows. I say consuming because I am at about 36 episodes of different scripted series each week. And that cannot simply be called "watching".

I started reading again when I bought myself a tablet two years ago. I have moved quite a bit in the past few years, it has become harder to transport books with me as they are heavy, and take a fair amount of space. So plane fares and my bank account do not agree with my reading needs. I do not give a damn if you are one of those purists who believe that an e-book is a sacrilege. It is either that or I simply do not read at all. So F off with your useless prejudices, I have heard enough of them.

I won't lie, not being able to own physical books breaks a little bit my heart every time I think about it. I know that when I will be able to buy them again, it will mean that I will finally have found Home. But we are not there yet. In the meantime, I thought a tablet would be a good compromise.

I have read some books in the past year, tried the listening thing (which is definitely not reading by the way, but that is another subject that maybe will be treated later) and I am happy to rediscover the joy of imagining the setting and characters of a story along with learning new words, new meanings. To celebrate the end of my studies I allowed myself to buy a single hardcover book. It felt like the Amazon delivery guy was bringing me the most precious treasure. Long story short, I found myself in need of a bookmark. That's a lie, I did not NEED one. As usual, after meeting a friend next to a mall, I ended up in the bookstore checking everything from stationary to travel guides. I did NOT go in there with the intention, or the money for that matter, to buy. 

My treasure. I added pillows ...

In the course of a shelf full of kids' colouring books, there it was. Hanging on its hook, just waiting for me to pick it up. The 50 books to read before you die bookmark. When I saw it, I thought "Well, that's a goal I can reach". Obviously, the books in question are mostly classics that any person who has attended school long enough has at least heard of, if not read some of them. The people who know me are well aware that I am not a big fan of classics. I have a hard time getting into the stories, getting familiar with the characters, etc ... However, I attach a great importance to these stories as they are not only entertainment anymore. They are part of humankind History and they probably exist to relay a life lesson, knowledge. So, yes. I bought that bookmark and I intend to read all these books, hopefully before I die. I would definitely like to reach the end of that list before I am ... let's say 35. I have ten years to read books that I might not entirely enjoy or comprehend but are most likely food for my soul. My marketing teachers would be proud, I just set a S.M.A.R.T objective. Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Time-based. 

... and stones. Because apparently, this is what you are supposed to do on a blog. That is the bookmark by the way.

Without further ado, here is the list of the fifty classic works from the world's great writers mentioned on that etched stainless steel bookmark, bought for 3.99£ at WHSmith, that you can also find on eBay (yeah I know, I just sounded like those people trying to sell you something very early in the morning on TV, just deal with it):

Title	Author
The Lord of the Rings Trilogy	J.R.R. Tolkien
1984	GEORGE ORWELL
Pride & Prejudice	Jane Austen
THE GRAPES OF WRATH	JOHN STEINBECK
To Kill a Mockingbird	Harper Lee
JANE EYRE	CHARLOTTE BRONTË
Wuthering Heights	Emily Brontë
A PASSAGE TO INDIA	E.M FORSTER
The Lord of the Flies	William Golding
HAMLET	WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
A Bend in the River	V.S Naipaul
THE GREAT GATSBY	F. SCOTT FITZGERALD
The Catcher in the Rye	J.D Salinger
THE BELL JAR	SYLVIA PLATH
Brave New World	Aldous Huxley
THE DIARY OF ANNE FRANK	ANNE FRANK
Don Quixote	Miguel de Cervantes
THE BIBLE
The Canterbury Tales	Geoffrey Chaucer
ULYSSES	JAMES JOYCE
The Quiet American	Graham Greene
BIRDSONG	SEBASTIAN FAULKS
Money	Martin Amis
HARRY POTTER SERIES	J.K. ROWLING
Moby Dick	Herman Melville
THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS	KENNETH GRAHAME
His Dark Materials Trilogy	Philip Pullman
ANNA KARENINA	LEO TOLSTOY
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland	Lewis Carroll
REBECCA	DAPHNE DU MAURIER
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time	Mark Haddon
ON THE ROAD	JACK KEROUAC
Heart of Darkness	Joseph Conrad
THE WAY WE LIVE NOW	ANTHONY TROLLOPE
The Outsider	Albert Camus
THE COLOUR PURPLE	ALICE WALKER
Life of PI	Yann Martel
FRANKENSTEIN	MARY SHELLEY
The War of the Worlds	H.G. Wells
MEN WITHOUT WOMAN	ERNEST HEMINGWAY
Gulliver’s Travels	Jonathan Swift
A CHRISTMAS CAROL	CHARLES DICKENS
Huckleberry Finn	Mark Twain
ROBINSON CRUSOE	DANIEL DEFOE
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest	Ken Kesey
CATCH 22	JOSEPH HELLER
The Count of Monte Cristo	Alexandre Dumas
MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA	ARTHUR GOLDEN
The Divine Comedy	Alighieri Dante
THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY	OSCAR WILDE

Pirates of the Kitchen: Cookies tell no Tale

Hello people reading my blog on Blogger. My name is Sarah, and today, while I'm being crushed by all my assignments, I randomly decided to give away my quite decent, easy cookie recipe.

I don't know about you, but when I am stressed, I like to take my time to cook and release a bit of the pressure. And god knows I am having my fair share of stress right now. I am stuck between assignments, my dissertation ( the pinnacle of my 6 years of studying) and desperately trying to find a job to be able to pay off my student loan. So, yesterday, out of the blue, in the middle of a PowerPoint presentation, I decided to finally bake these hazelnut, oatmeal, chocolate chip cookies I've been wanting to make for a week. I thought this could make a nice snack to sneak in the cinema to watch the upcoming Pirates of the Caribbean or to watch all the previous ones in a row, at home.

Forgot to take a proper picture, so, you'll have a snap to look at.

The recipe you will find below is the basis of all my cookie creations. I took a recipe found on the AllRecipe website and as usual, adapted it to my taste. I will tell you the same thing I did for the yule log: do with what you have, let the creativity flow, and most importantly, experiment. The measurements below are an indicator. Only know that I sometimes put the ingredients together at a guess. It does not need to be precise to the gram or the minute.

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp of baking soda/powder
• 1/2 tsp of salt (if you do not use salted butter)
• 3/4 cup of salted or unsalted butter (this is where I am not always precise)
• 2/3 cup of sugar
• 1 tbsp of vanilla extract (same as for butter)
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/2 tsp of ground cinnamon
• Chocolate chips (i prefer dark chocolate but you do you)

Amongst the ingredients I have added in the past:

• ground nuts
• hazelnuts
• oatmeal
• smarties (the color goes away sometimes :()

As I previously said, anything you want to try is a good idea (until it turns out bad, like that time i tried to add maple syrup and ended up with what got named an "omelette-cookie" x'D).

Directions

1.  Preheat the oven to 175°C. Cut your parchment paper/baking sheet according to the size of your baking tray(s).
2. Mix together the dry ingredients: flour, sugar, baking soda/powder, salt (if you need it) and cinnamon.
3.  Add in the eggs, the vanilla extract and the melted butter.
4.  Finally add all your add-on ingredients.
5.  Take about a tbsp worth of batter, form a small ball in your hand and flatten that ball on the sheet. Try to leave a bit of space between each cookie, so while cooking they don't stick together and you end up with a giant cookie. Not that it's a bad thing, giant cookie --> Good
6. On the recipe, it is recommended to bake for 15 to 17 min. However, having moved around a bit, I can tell you that no oven is the same. So, maybe leave them in the oven for 15 min but keep a close eye on them. It also depends on how you like your cookies. I personally like them crunchy, but if you like them softer, then you might want to take them out of the oven a bit earlier. They should look "lightly toasted". Anyways, just don't let them burn aka turn dark brown or plain black.

This is the end of this article/recipe. If you have any questions about the steps or ingredients, do not hesitate to make use of the comment section. I'd be happy to help. And please, do share pictures of your creations. 

See you next time :)

Another page is turning ...

Hello people reading my blog on Blogger, long time no see. My name is Sarah and today I will give you a summary of my year past, present and future. Probably not in that order.

I have been quite busy this year, since last October until now. I could not afford to post either a blog post or a video which is also because I was too lazy to do so. I was not really thinking about writing a blog post until about an hour ago. I thought it was time for me to inform ALL the people I know, about what I am doing and where I am going. Although some of them might hate me by now, for not calling or messaging them. I am sorry that I do not do it more often. I will try and do better in the future.

Anyways. Some of you know that I went to a far far away country for an internship, as part of my gap year. It was an amazing experience which I will try to write a complete blog post about (I already started but I'm struggling to condense everything, as I am sure you don't really care about what I had for breakfast on the 5th of February for example ;)). To sum it up real quick, it was again an experience that allowed me to grow as a person and as a professional. I guess that was the initial purpose of the whole thing. I saw and experienced a lot of amazing and sometimes unexpected things.

This school year, my last year as a student, I am moving again. This time to a colder country. I have named Scotland ! Home of the Highland Games, Calvin Harris, some weirdly hot accent and our beloved James Alexander Malcolm MacKenzie Fraser (one of the main characters of the absolutely amazing series Outlander, go watch it if you haven't already !). For a full academic year this time, not like last time in Ireland. So as you can imagine, I am PRE-TTY EXCITED. As usual, I haven't started packing and will probably not do so before the 14th at night. So you know, I am leaving on the 15th.

However, I have already found a place to stay, I bought a sim card for my phone and enrolled online for uni. So yay me for being so far-sighted, yet so disorganized. FYI, I just bought a planner, last minute. Hopefully it'll get better from now on.

So yeah, that's it, the big announcement. I'm leaving France for the UK/Scotland. For now. But I secretly hope (not so secret now xD) that I will stay there  when I graduate, or move somewhere else as I cannot stand living in one of my own countries anymore. I am more Moroccan than I have ever been French and I am more French than I have ever been Moroccan if that makes any sense at all. Anyway, I am tired of being seen as only half of me.

On this cheerful note, I wish you farewell. Maybe you'll read my next post. Maybe not.

How the Grinch made a Christmas Yule Log

Hello people reading my blog on Blogger. My name is Sarah and today I am going to give you the recipe I have been using every Christmas, since 2008, as promised on my video: the Yule Log or Bûche de Noël in French. The original recipe was in French so I did my best to translate it in English. If you have a doubt about any of the steps or ingredients, please don't hesitate to leave me your questions in the comments, I'll do my best to answer them.

Version en Français: Bûche de Noël

English Version: Christmas Yule Log

Obviously with the years I changed the recipe a bit to accommodate with the taste of everyone, and what I had at my disposal. Par exemple, au lieu d'utiliser du sucre en morceaux pour la crème, j'ai préféré utiliser du sucre en poudre puisqu'il n'y a pas de raisons que ça change quoi que ce soit au goût ou à la consistence du sirop. For the coffee extract, since I don't have that here in Morocco (or anywhere else where I've been actually), I use instant coffee. I make what I would call a "concentrate of instant coffee": a small quantity of hot water for at least the double (if not triple) in coffee powder. This year, I also added a pinch of cinnamon and orange blossom sugar (or water, whatever you have) into the cake. The first one because it brings up and enhances the taste of chocolate and the second one, because (don't ask me why) oranges make me think of Christmas. All in all, like every other recipes you will ever try, don't be afraid to experiment and adjust them to your taste and mood of the moment. 

And this, marks the end of this post. I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year ! See you on the other side.

THE Internship

Hello people reading my blog on Blogger, my name is Sarah and today dear readers, I have no words. Yep you read well. No words to describe how I feel right now, while I am writing this blog post. Amazing, ecstatic, glorious, would not even start to cover it. And for those of you who know me IRL (IRL = In Real Life, here you go with internet slang), you know this never happens.

In my previous post, I was telling you how hard it is to land an internship, let alone THE internship. But today, I am here to tell you that it happens. It is possible. It exists. And to my very surprise, I managed to find and get the holy grail (for me anyway): a 6 months internship at Total in Qatar as a Communication and Events trainee. I am not going to talk about how much I am going to be paid or what advantages I am going to get, but just so you know, it is unbelievable, it is like opening the cavern of Ali Baba, although I don't remember saying "Open, Sesame!", just sending my resume and cover letter, hopelessly. A bottle in the ocean if I may say. Anyway, this was at the beginning of August. 

This month, I received an e-mail on Sunday 6th, telling me that I had been shortlisted for this position and that if I still wanted to work with them, an interview would be conducted the same week via Skype. Btw, dear Skype people, thank you for making communication throughout the world so easy. I can honestly say here that I thought there had been a mistake. That they had mixed up resumes and that they were expecting to see someone else or something like that. It was all too good to be true. I went on with it, after thoroughly googling on the name of the HR executive who sent me that golden ticket, just to make sure it was not a scam or a joke of poor taste. I sent a short message back saying that yes of course I was still interested and that I would love to have that interview soon. The time and date were set pretty quickly, leaving me time to do some research on the company and the events I would have to organize if I got the job. Thursday, 11 a.m Doha time, so 10 a.m here in France. I spent two days not worrying too much about it, then came Wednesday.

Again, if you know me well, the fact that I tend to leave things to the last minute won't surprise you (but that is not something I like to tell recruiters though, for obvious reasons). So I didn't start researching before late in the afternoon. Then I had to Skype my mom to talk about what I was going to say regarding some aspects of my professional talent (ahem ... right). And this took me more time than I had expected. Way more time. So I ended up going to bed without rewriting my notes properly or blow-drying my hair. It was that or I would have been a complete zombie in the morning: not very advisable when you have an important interview.

So, the next morning, on Thursday 10th, I woke up at 8 a.m so I would have time to work on my "hairstyle". I didn't eat my breakfast, too nervous for that. I just prepared a cup of good ol' tea  that my grand parents brought me back from Ireland (Barry's tea please, I will be eternally grateful for that red box) and drank it while working on my curly head. Took me more time than expected, so I decided to not rewrite my notes, just read them and put make up on during my last 20 minutes, because the camera is never nice with you. You need to look damn good IRL to look good on the screen.

Freaking out two minutes before 10. Good at not showing it, am I not ?

I was on time as always. Ok, maybe not always, but for important things I am. They were 3 minutes late. Yeah I know, not a lot but when you're dying out of stress in front of your computer, three minutes seem like eternity. The whole thing went pretty smoothly I think. Well clearly, because at the end, the HR executive told me, without taking time to consult with the two other persons present, that he thought that unanimously they would agree to pick ME. They apparently interviewed a lot of people prior to me, but without taking too much time they just picked me. I could not believe it at first, still. I mean I have not studied in one of the top five business schools, same goes to the High School where I spent two years preparing for the competitive exam, it was not one of the best. So I hope you understand where I am coming from when I tell you that I could not wrap my head around what he just told me. Such a big company, for such a position, with such advantages. All of that for me.

When I finally closed my computer, I can shamelessly say that I had a tear rolling down my cheek because this school year was a shitty year by the end (not including Erasmus here obviously ;)). A lot of stress, a lot of struggles, again a lot of stress and finally this. So maybe, just maybe it wasn't all that bad after all. If it all ended happily (not ever after, yet), I guess I can try and forget what happened and just remember that I made it. I got out of this terrible situation and transformed it in an amazing one instead of a "meh I can do with that" one. Sending your resume like a bottle in the ocean can sometime pay off.

Twentysthing: Raiders of the Lost Application

Hello people reading my blog on Blogger ! My name is Sarah and today I am going to tell you that you are not alone in your struggle to land an internship or a job. Nope, you are not alone. Actually, it might be one of the reasons you are struggling to land the internship/job of your dreams.

I have been really stressed out lately. I am currently working at an amusement park. My summer job contract will be over at the end of August. In September I am supposed to start an internship, the first one of my gap year. It is important that I start in September, otherwise I won't be able to do two internships of six months each, the end goal of this year. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to answer too many offers because of my work schedule which does not leave me time to write proper cover letters, the most important part of any application in my opinion. This "lack" of applications is what is stressing me out, because a lot of people have told me that the more I apply, the more chances I have to get picked for the holy grail: the interview during which I can finally sell myself, prostitute myself if I may say, in order to leave every other candidate stuck on the starting blocks. What people say seems logical at first sight. But I have come to believe that a resume and a cover letter I really worked on might bring me more than a hundred empty applications.

And it paid off at first ! I got an interview at IKEA. It didn't work out in the end because apparently they went for someone with more experience in the field of PR (don't get me started on the experience topic, it is an endless loop that pisses me off). My point is, I worked really hard on my cover letter, did a lot of research and didn't put too much "bullshit" (the expression "brown-nosing" comes to mind here) in it, and it succeeded ! So now that I have told you my miracle recipe for success at not getting an internship, we can go back to the actual subject of this post. Don't get me wrong, the hard work on the cover letter is required, necessary, essential. But the thing to keep in mind here, is that someone who applied to the same offer got picked over me because of their experience. But what if I didn't apply to an offer? What if I just made a spontaneous application ? Being the only one applying to a position of my own choosing ?

I found the idea even more appealing after reading articles on a website for professional women. They were giving advice and detailing how to be sure to reach the person who is the most likely to take a look at your resume and cover letter: the hiring manager. So from now on, I will answer offers, but I will surely try the spontaneous application method. In these hard times, I do not need any competition, especially when I am barely starting to build up the experience section on my short resume.

Lost in transition

Being lost is one of the scariest feeling I've had to face in my short 23 years of life. The image coming to mind is a crossroads. A windy, cold, dark crossroads and you have no idea which path to follow. So many possibilities leading to so many different outcomes. Eventually though, a choice will have to be made.

It all started two months ago when I learned that someone made a decision impacting on MY future, putting everything I had planned in jeopardy. Bye bye double diploma in London, bye bye international career because none of the solutions offered could allow me to do any of those things anymore. And I got mad, real mad because it took me so much time to finally figure out what I wanted to do with my life for the next five years. I think that is what made it so hard for me to move on. I realised that I had followed a steep yellow brick road that eventually led me to an Emerald City ! And I ended up abruptly taking off my green glasses.

I guess what I am trying to say is that we have all been lost at some point and we will probably be many other times. And well, there is no manual that comes with the unknown, explaining  to you how to safely overcome it. Although I would be really grateful if someone took the time to write one. I could see something like "The Unknown: how to get yourself out of there in 5 easy steps".

All you and I can do is suck it up, hold on tight and do our best until the sky gets blue again, because eventually the storm will pass and it will get better. At least, that is what I like to tell myself. Because in the end, what else can you do, wait and see ? Yeah, well, thank you but no thank you. That will be without me.

PS: For those interested, I ended up changing school. I now still have the opportunity to take a gap year and try and get in a double diploma program in International Marketing in Aberdeen next year.

Dead Freedom of Expression Society

I have my own opinion regarding the recent attack on the French satirical newspaper. My very own opinion. It results from my ethnic background, my childhood, my gender, my age, my education, my beliefs etc. But I can't express it. Although it would feel really good to write it down to purge, because I am currently feeling anger and incomprehension. I would like to share the reasons behind these feelings and ideas with other people, to get a better grip on this terrible event. 

But I won't.

The demonstrations following the tragedy of the 7th of January were advocating freedom of expression. The Internet allows us today to share our thoughts with the world more easily and really fast (this blog would be a really good example of that). In most western countries, freedom of expression is accepted and an established core value of the society. Hence when it is challenged, people stand strongly against the disputer(s).

I believe then, that as an adult citizen, I have the right to express myself as well. Unfortunately, I practice self-censorship and there is a good reason for that. I am a student. But I am not just any kind of student. I am a student about to look for internships.Crucial moment of my student career if it is, because it will hopefully open the gates of the so-hard-to-get-into-nowadays WoW (not World of Warcraft you nerd, World of Work or World of Wonders, depends on your perspective on things I guess).

As I stated earlier, I am an adult now, which means that I am held accountable for my actions, what I say, and more important here, for what I share online. Even though the Internet feels like an entirely different world, what happens here has consequences on the "real world". This means that I will probably never talk here, on this blog, about really controversial subjects, or at least not tell you what I think about them. Just in case what I have to say does not please someone that would not be against the idea of hiring me. 

It is going to be really hard in fact, since as a student in my twenties, I am in a phase where I question a lot of things and I build my opinions. I believe that this last thing is better done with others' views added to my own, in order to moderate the thinking and not pick a side without considering every facts and options.

But I will restrain myself, and wait until I am at least seventy to display my deepest thoughts to the public eye. I am denying myself my very own freedom of expression. Because Dear recruiter, I actually need and want to be recruited.

Erasmus: An Unexpected Journey

Do you know that feeling ? The one that tells you that you are leaving something behind? Usually it emerges when you are going on vacation and you packed in a hurry (not me at all , ahem ...). It can be your swimsuit, a book, or a pair of socks. Nothing irreplaceable.

Tomorrow, I am leaving Ireland. And that feeling won't leave me alone. But this time, I believe it is more than just a piece of clothing that I am leaving behind. It is a piece of myself. Or is it ?

Before going on Erasmus you will probably hear a lot of things about that experience: good and bad things. Although I believe the amount of good stories will most likely exceed the bad ones. Now I have to be honest, I am currently overwhelmed with nostalgia. This should give you a hint on what kind of stories I would tell. 

First, you have to understand that Erasmus is not just an experience, it is a journey. It starts when you set foot in the country you are going to spend one or two semesters in. For me it was Ireland, Co Limerick to be more precise. My first weeks were dedicated to discovering. Discovering the land, the people and last but not least, the university. Oh and by the way, no matter how much you enjoy travelling, partying etc, don't forget to work because even though it feels like you are on vacation, you'll have to justify your grades at your home university/school, so keep that in mind.

Before Erasmus, I was feeling a bit lonely and short on options to meet new people. This semester abroad opened my eyes on the diversity of human beings you can meet in a lifetime. Thinking that the few ones I met were actually a fraction of humanity amazes me even more. Now I have friends from parts of the world I have not even visited yet. Truth is, you are going to spend more time with Erasmus students than any others. I do not mean that you are not going to meet locals, you will have to go to class at some point, but you are most likely to travel with people who have not seen the country. So even though I went to Ireland, I rather feel like I traveled through a dozen countries at once. Besides that, meeting all these lovely humans had me understand that I do not need to kill myself inside to fit in a group of people whose values I do not share. This Erasmus semester was truly liberating for me. Who knew I could be whoever I want to be ? And if it does not please someone, then we are just not meant to be friends.

The reason why I wrote so much about the people rather than classes, Guinness pints, trips and the weather (*wink*) is because I think that they are the ones making the Erasmus experience what it is: A-M-A-Z-I-N-G. Actually I just realized that. My roommate left this morning and all the other ones, before her. So I have been truly on my own for only a day and I understand now. I understand that it is the sharing part of this adventure that made it so unforgettable. I built memories that will stay with me my whole life. More important: I grew up.

To my Erasmus friends. For all the good craic.

Back to the Nothing ...

Hello people watching videos on YouTube ! My name is Sarah and today ... Oh wait wait wrong intro, sorry. Let's do this again.

Hello people reading my blog on Blogger ! My name is Sarah and today, well today I am not going to talk about my devouring passion about all that is related to movies and TV Shows, because that would mean listing more than the 27 shows that I currently watch every single week.

• I am not going to talk about how weird it is for me and apparently others too to be a mixed kid, because that would simply be too long to plumb the depths of it.

• I am not going to analyze what I definitely see as the decline of the French society, because that would be too depressing for a Friday night.

• I am not going to describe how it feels to know that I will later earn less than a man with the same job and experience as me, because let's face it: men are superior to women in so many ways there is no debating it.

• I am not going to rant about eating a full 500 ml Ben&Jerry's, because we all know it is very very wrong. But we keep doing it.

• I am not going to ramble about how unnerving it is to see children doing their parents' job. Have you heard about a certain Malala Yousafzai ?

• I am not going to tell you how amazing and surprising this world can be despite all the hate that some can try to spread all around them, because you probably already know it.

Today I am going to talk about the weather. It is ... Uncertain.