Pakistan

Hey there! I know it’s been ages since you’ve heard from me but I’ve had a crazy few weeks what with assessments, essays to hand in, and flying home and back.

I stayed in Swinhoe – where I currently live and work (as a residential assistant) – over Christmas. And honestly? It wasn’t that bad. I had a pretty good time with friends who were also staying back, watching Christmas specials and working ourselves into food comas. We even managed to wake up before sunrise for the Boxing Day sales and stocked up on clothes and bits that we probably didn’t really need.

I flew home to Karachi right after New Year’s. It always amazes me how I never realise exactly how homesick I am until I get back, to what I know and love; all the colours, passion, delicious food and vibrant people.

Photographs above by Marc Ryckaert (truck art) and Shahid A Siddiqi (Tomb of Mohamad Ali Jinnah)

My family and I also flew out to Islamabad, the capital city and our hometown, to attend my cousin’s wedding. Weddings in our culture aren’t at all what you would expect them to be. They have events which run over a course of about two weeks leading up to the actual wedding, and it’s just a huge family event with everybody flying in to attend.

When we weren’t busy with wedding-related activities, my cousins and I would make time and go hiking in the beautiful mountains of Islamabad and would enjoy the jaw droppingly gorgeous views.

Photo above (Faisal Mosque) by Asjad Jamshed

Now that I’m back in Cambridge and have had a chance to look at the VLE (Virtual Learning Environment) I’m finding the prospect of going through the upcoming modules quite daunting. This semester I’m enrolled for: The Physiology of Organ Systems, Pathology, Laboratory Techniques for Biomedical Sciences (more math – sigh – I really don’t like math, especially when it exists with chemistry), and one of the first-year modules I have to do because my year runs in a weird pattern: Core Biology. I’ve had a look through the initial work one of our lecturers has put up and I just want to go back to happier days where I was hiking and sleeping in till the afternoon. Guess those days are gone and it’s time to get back to work.