Living alone

 

    

    

In September I moved into a studio flat in London to study for my masters. So I currently live alone in a single room, which I actually quite like. Although I am a social person I enjoy my alone time and it doesn't bother me at all. Here are some of the perks and downfalls of living alone:

There's no one to judge you. This can be a good thing. I can sing away to my hearts content without anyone moaning and attempt online exercise videos without anyone wondering what the hell I'm doing. But it also means that no one knows that I couldn't be bothered to wash up tonight. Or that I had a glass of wine for a second night in a row. Or that I went to bed at 3am. It's actually really hard not to fall into bad habits when no one has to know.

But at least you know that all the dirty dishes in the sink are yours - no one is eating baked beans and leaving the plates in the sink. My literal worst nightmare.

Every time I trip that part in Bridget Jones where she worries about dying and being found 3 weeks later half eaten by Alsatians runs through my head. How long would it take people to notice I wasn't there? How long without ringing before my mum started to worry? All I've done is stub my toe and I'm having a life crisis.

Sometimes you don't talk to someone for a whole weekend. And you don't even notice until Sunday evening. And then you have to ring your mum and rabbit on for an hour to get a bit of human contact. 
So yeah there are some downsides, but I like having my little sanctuary of calm in the middle of London, I like that I have made it homely with my photos and fairy lights. And I like that it's my flat. Sometimes I almost feel like a grown up.

My 2014

I guess now is the time of year when we all think back to the year behind us. I had this feeling that I didn't do as much as I could in 2014, determined to change this in 2015. But then I started thinking about the milestones that I achieved. I handed in a 12000 word dissertation which out of everything I have ever produced I am currently most proud of. I graduated from my undergraduate degree with first class honours and then moved to London and started a masters at the Natural History Museum. Career wise 2014 was a pretty good year.  

I also had a lot of fun, spending quality time with my lovely friends and family.

So what about my goals for 2015? Well I am hoping that come the autumn I will have a masters degree and will be starting a PhD which is incredibly exciting. I am also hoping that I will have time to travel to a new country, something which I regret not doing in  2014. I think these big goals are more exciting and interesting than the usual 'loose a stone and drink less' or whatever. And honestly, in 10 years time I'm not going to look back and remember that boring stuff, I'm going to look back and reminisce over the happy memories of getting out there and making the most of life.