What happens at the end of an academic year?

Apart from taking stock of the academic year in terms of skills learnt and marks achieved there is always cause for concern relating to what to do now that I have so much more free time when not poring over books or practising possible exam questions. Luckily my family always like to see me so more time is spent visiting and catching up with news of things that have happened while I have been attending university workshops, writing exams, reading for information (as opposed to pleasure), considering and reflecting on my own values, skills and attitudes as a student social worker. Often it seems that nieces and nephews have grown up - considerably, family members have taken trips that I wasn't even aware of and even more surprising, there are people out there who actually go out at night for entertainment. My evenings are mostly spent on assignments, catching up with reports for work or taking care of really basic needs like eating and sleeping with the odd phone call to see if I am on the right track with an assignment or done the right preparation for the next workshop at university.

But now that the academic year is over I have counted the credits, tried to see if there is anything that I need to catch up on (apart from exercise and proper eating habits), found the space to write a blog entry, recycled all the old paper that I have scribbled on - bits of old essays and thoughts and references - and started to read for pleasure. Oh, the pleasure of finding those books bought but not yet read because my head has been so full of essays, assignments and preparation for the next task at hand. I have the diary to prove it! Looking back at the schedule just before the final assessments were done amazed even myself and what I was able to accomplish in a few short weeks. It did help that I was physically, mentally and emotionally in a great space and that I had the means to get to all the different places that I had to be with the minimum of fuss and commuting time, but still seemed like quite a feat that I otherwise would never have contemplated had I not wanted to do this degree so badly! Indeed, where there is a will, there is a way.

So while there is not yet a great vacation planned and some work commitments to get through and the fact that I have no leave until the 21st December I will certainly enjoy the time that I have free to catch up with friends and family who live in the "real world", continue to read for pleasure and enjoy this great city of ours.

A fitting end to a year filled with excitement, nerves, deadlines and a fair amount of academic success.