I’m wearing the fingerless mittens that my favorite sister gave me for Christmas. My little box room is not as bloody cold as my last room in Dublin, but my hands and feet still get cold after some time typing away at the desk.

I’ve set up weekly meetings with my supervisor Ann Marie. She is very supportive and keeps me on track. Oh, how I enjoy having someone to work with. The process somewhat reminds me of taking piano lessons. You meet, you show what you did over the last week, and you go from there. Every week a little task until it all starts to make sense. I’m far away from writing whole chapters, but I genuinely enjoy my time as a researcher. Reading, writing, sharing. This week I am working on the ethics approval, it’s a little tricky because I want to include children’s perspectives in my study.

It’s hard to get out of bed in the mornings. In sunny Malta I got up before everyone else, because I needed a few minutes to myself before socializing. But here in Dublin, I’m sort of on my own, even if I live with other people. Everyone has their own schedule and I don’t need to get up early to have the house to myself. On top of that the sky is always grey and it’s cold in the house. The church bells start at 8:00, every hour on the hour. That used wake me up, but it’s pretty easy to go back to sleep! I usually convince myself to get up and go downstairs to do some Yoga. One of my roommates has an exercise bike so I might start using that as well.

Kristel only lives 3 minutes down the road and we often see each other at the cafe or at the pub, depending on the time of day. Ola and Audrey have been busy with life, but now everything is settled and we should see them more often as well. I often skype or chat with my IMEC friends in the other countries and miss them every day.