Well ladies and gents, my time in Canada has come to an end. I leave tomorrow afternoon to return to London. My holidays, if they can be called that given the two papers I've had to write, just flew by. I got a chance to see a lot of old familiar faces, which was really nice. Apart from the fact that I'm not finished the aforementioned two papers, however, I think I'm ready to go back. That's not to say that I didn't enjoy my time here, nor that I'll miss all the people over here "across the pond" but I'm fairly eager to get back to school and back into the grind, though I know that a few weeks from now I'll look back on this and say "what was I thinking?!"
It seems Canada, which greeted me with non-stop snow for pretty much the first week I was here, is now transitioning me back to Londonian weather, with unseasonably mild (around 2 degrees) temperatures, lots of rain and lots of fog. I'd rather it be cold and snowy than cold and rainy though.
I don't really know when I'll next be back in Canada, which is kind of a weird thought to consider. My program ends in mid-September and, unless I have a job lined up directly after that, I'll likely be back then, but only long enough to look for a job overseas most likely. Ideally, I'd like to have a job lined up either in London (unlikely) or the Middle East directly after I finish. Even then though, I think I'd like to come back to Canada at least briefly before starting work.
A lot of people have been asking me how work on the aforementioned two essays goes. In response to that I'd just like to say "well I never!" Asking a graduate student about the progress of his/her work or research is like asking a woman her age or weight. It's just not done in polite company. Here's a brief etiquette lesson courtesy of
PHD Comics 
(click picture to link to external page with larger image. Doesn't work on my internet explorer for some reason)
