I moved here in attempt to break into the notoriously impenetrable world of journalism, and so far it's progressing in a fairly start-stop way. However, I'm now going to be coming back from Oman and straight into the first day of a Financial Times internship the next day! I'm sure it'll be pretty stressful at the time, but I'm equally certain the expedition will have provided me with loads of ideas for stories to pitch to the FT team. It's not Oman, but I've spent the past week working at Channel 4 News on a piece on Somalia, based round some footage a team of Italian guys brought back. Since so little comes out of Somalia anymore, given how dangerous it is for journalists, it's well worth a watch – particularly since the whole point of Connecting Cultures is to break down preconceptions! I think it's airing on Wednesday, but I'll post a link to the piece when it comes out.
Despite wanting to be a journalist I've never actually been on the receiving end of a journalist's interview before, so when Ben Reeves sent me an interview request for the Muscat Daily it was pretty exciting. I have what is probably a completely uncool level of excitement at the prospect of being featured in an article.
Now that my life has settled down a bit I've been able to start thinking about preparations for Connecting Cultures again. I'm really keen on exercising normally anyway, so I'm not doing anything particularly different in that area, but it's taken a while to figure out how to indulge the fitness freak in me in London. I've taken up korfball, since I wanted to try a new sport, and I've joined the Highbury Korfball Club a few minutes' walk from me. We train on Thursday evenings, and it's a really bizarre, but fun (and energetic) sport – I like it because it resembles netball, but improves on it.
Loads of people seem to cycle round here, but (aside from the fact I still need to go and rescue my bike from Cambridge in the hope my college's porters haven't disposed of it) the thought of sharing the road with crazy London taxi drivers and buses terrifies me. Hopefully once I've got my bike I can take it to Regent's Park or Hampstead Heath, both of which are relatively close to here, but I'm pretty sure I'll feel like I'm cheating death just getting there!
I like to run, but I hate running on streets – particularly since so many of the ones round us don't have pedestrian crossings, so I've caved and joined the UCL gym, Bloomsbury Fitness. Apart from the fact it looks pretty well-equipped, they also offer free fitness classes and squash courts, so I'm looking forward to trying both of those out. Given my hectic work schedule at the moment, I'm pretty sure having free access to yoga will come in handy!
Apart from that, I've just been doing a lot of walking. London buses are particularly convenient for where we are, but in the morning it takes just as long on the bus as walking – and at least by walking you don't have to be jolted as the bus weaves in and out of traffic or be squeezed up into the armpit of another commuter. On the other hand, walking is only fun so long as it's not raining…and I've had a few close calls…
Anyway, I need to start taking a look at the kit list! Well, maybe not quite yet, but I like to be organised…right now the thing I'm going to have to make sure I don't forget is a flag. I do actually have a big Scottish flag at home from when my college had a "God Save the Queen" themed party, but not here. So the big question is – do I get my parents to send down that one? Or do I go out into London, pretend to be a tourist, and get myself a British one? I guess the ultimate decider is really what country I'm pledging allegiance to by doing this. I consider myself British far more than Scottish…but on the other hand I already have a Scottish flag, and I am, technically Scottish.
I didn't realise I'd have such searching questions to ask myself two months before even leaving! :P