Well, it could've been worse.

You may have seen me mention it once or twice before, but I'll be heading off to Canada soon. Very soon, in fact - just over two weeks if you want to be more precise. In my last post, I was panicking, and to be honest that's not changed an awful lot. Thankfully though, I have managed to get at least one milestone crossed off my list: I now have travel insurance! For the bargain price of around £250, I am now insured against (most) medical emergencies (hopefully)! It's only taken me two months of searching, phone calls, and comparing over thirty different providers, but I've finally made it. Wondering what took so long? Having a life-threatening allergy that requires hospitalisation if I have a reaction. Yeah, that . Most insurers don't want to touch it with a bargepole, since I'm much more of a risk than most people. Practically guaranteed as far as insurers are concerned. Doesn't matter that I've had about five reactions in my 22 years of living, oh n...

Want to know the face of fear? Easy: my face when I first saw this GIF. I hate deep water. I'm not a confident swimmer, and I have a great fear of the ocean. So I have to wonder - what does it take to make a leap like that? No, seriously, I'd like to know. At the moment, I feel like it's a combination of faith, trust, and pixie dust. When the turning point comes, I don't have any of these things; I panic. Unsurprising really, given that a) I don't think many people would face a scenario like this with confidence, and b) that's basically the definition of panic. In case you haven't realised yet, I'm using the GIF as a metaphor for leaps of faith or life-changing decisions. 'Yeah, I get that,' you say, 'but what's your point?' Well, slightly annoyed reader of mine, my point is that (on what seems now to have been a whim), I created a life-changer for myself: on May 1st, I will be leaving for Canada, spending up to a year there. ...

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that working in customer service is the modern version of being Sisyphus. It's full of endless, repetitive work, and tricking people into buying whatever rubbish you're forced to sell them. No matter how hard you work, it's never enough. There aren't many people who love being in customer service, and I have the greatest respect for those who do. But personally, I hate it. Don't get me wrong though, as long as you don't mind doing less physically and mentally demanding tasks, it's not that bad. The job itself is actually fine. In fact, having said that, most of the customers are generally fine as well. But you know the saying 'one bad apple ruins the bunch'? On some days, that's all I can see: the bad apple. Let's face it, it's not like I expect to get on with everyone I meet. I know there are going to be some people who will just hate me no matter what I do - and this goes both ways. Working in...

Whilst standing around making coffee all day, the mind tends to wander. Or at least, mine certainly does. Truth be told, it shouldn't be wandering if I were to do my job correctly: engage with customers whilst making - sorry, hand-crafting  their drinks, smile, make conversation, and generally enjoy being at your job. Obviously I don't do this, as I tend to ignore the customer completely and put all my effort into their drink. I like to think that this extra attention to detail pays off, but my manager disagrees. Well, for now we'll agree to disagree. At some point in the day, once my grande skinny latte routine is honed to perfection, I start to the think of other things. In the beginning, I created the perfect milk and foam. And the foam was without large bubbles, and smooth. Except, after a while I started noticing that different milk foams in different ways when steamed. Skimmed milk, for example, is the worst at clumping. I've yet to figure out why this is, but I...

At the end of university, I decided that I'd spend a year in Canada. 'How hard could it be?' I naively thought to myself. The land of famously kind people; surely this hospitality would extend to their sister nation? Well, not quite. On the whole, it's been pretty much a straight road so far. There have been some ups and downs, admittedly, but on the whole there's nothing too terrifying - until recently. At the moment, I have reached an impasse I like to call: Ain't Nothin' Straighter Than a Circle for a Government. But first, let's start at the beginning - I'd hate to put you off the idea of living in Canada completely. To clarify, I'm trying to live and work in Canada. 'Ah, working abroad,' I hear you say, 'That must be where the issue is, right?' Wrong. The Canadian government runs this rather awesome system of temporary work permits. For up to a year (though that can be extended), those aged 18-25 can work in Canada withou...