I’ve pilfered the title of this post from one of George Orwell’s essays. I’d once studied an anthology of his writings in class, and I’d been drawn by the precision of his use of language: what he himself called his ‘facility with words and a power of facing unpleasant facts.’ Though I scarcely agree with all his views expatiated in his various works, the straightforwardness of the intention behind “Why I Write” appealed to me both then and now. Orwell lists and elaborates on what he believes are the ‘four great motives for writing’, and while I can’t hope to emulate his characteristic lucidity (nor do I intend to), I…
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a trip to Lausanne
Today has been – unsurprisingly – largely unproductive. I’d intended to finish the remaining modules of my TEFL course and write an entry for the blog, but alas, it’s already 16:32, and my TEFL assignments have remained untouched. (This is partly due to a technical error that prevents me from working on them – I’m not quite willing to assume full responsibility for my lack of productivity.) At least I’ve finally pulled myself together enough to begin writing. I’m not quite sure why, but these days I often have trouble summoning the motivation to do things. Maybe it’s because of the weather – it’s not even 5pm, and yet the…
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a weekend in London
On Monday night I arrived home from London, where I had spent the weekend visiting friends from school. As I hurtled through the English countryside back towards Paris (I took the Eurostar) my heart swelled painfully with conflicting emotions: I’d been so happy to be spending time with some of my best friends again, and yet, heading home, I was equally subdued at the thought that I wouldn’t see most of them for nearly a year. Of course, in the grand scheme of things, that’s hardly a long time – but having spent the past five years together, nine months seems unimaginably long to go without seeing them in person. The…
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where are you from?
The number of times I’ve written “Start my blog!’ in various to-do lists before actually doing so is probably unreasonably many. For a long time, I’ve dreamed of writing and sharing my ideas and reflections with others through the internet, and yet before now I haven’t had the courage to do so. But here I am, finally, and perhaps the words that I’m typing from one side of a screen will reach someone else on the other side of their screen, halfway across the world. I thought for my first entry I’d write a bit about myself and what I plan to do on this platform. My name is…
