Into the deep end - 

School has begun, full of workshops, assignments, discussion, group work, lots of reading of academic literature and absorption of urban theory.  To be honest, some absorption.  At times, I feel as though I am constantly being hit with a new set of assignments, new lectures, ideas and deadlines.  We were told that time management and focus are imperative - and that is the truth!

There is a lot of camaraderie - most of us feel the same way, and I must admit, I have it so much easier than most, being a native English speaker.  Also, my living situation is settled - I have a very nice apartment, I have my citizen registration number, my residence permit and I even have my digital Corona passport - 

So, every day, I acknowledge that I do have privileges that my fellow students do not have.  And speaking of fellow students - they are fabulous!  I have enjoyed meeting so many people from around the world.  My working group this past week included Tina from Kazakhstan,  Hugo from Columbia and Talitha from Indonesia and we worked so well together.  I am looking forward to so many more interactions and connections.

So what have I been doing all week?  Here's my first assignment:

Like I said, the deep end.......