Back to the Big Smoke

After a month of lazy lie-ins and blissful festivities in Dorset the time came to head back to my flat in Hackney.

Goodbyes have never been my forté (my friend Harriet had me clung to her limpet style for what must have been a 15 minute hug) and after such a lovely Christmas it was hard to pull myself away from the cocoon of my family.

But wow does it feels good to be back.

True, I am mourning the loss of my double bed and power shower, not to mention homecooked food (I arrived home to a jar of mayonnaise, some oats, half a jar of pesto and some pasta. Needless to say I managed to live of said ingredients for 48 hours until I finally got around to food shopping). Yet tucked up in the warmth of room 19B, I feel right where I am meant to be.

There is a new addition to my ever growing pinboard... Arriving home I was met by some exciting post: a parcel from Vogue containing a confirmation letter of my work experience and a hefty tome of a booklet: 'The Vogue Work Experience Handbook'. Suddenly it seems real. I have pinned the letter to my notice board just to keep the 2nd of July 2012 constantly at the back of my mind.

But something tells me I'm not going to go forgetting that date in a hurry...

Being back means seeing friends. My flatmate Angel (who made me this incredible pop up card before Christmas) had been away in Italy all holiday and I had only briefly seen my friend Lucy at New Year, so Friday night was an evening full of chat, takeaway pizza and dancing in bedrooms.

Memories of my first term at LCF scatter my room. Watching Les Mis with Lucy, (drinking wine together then crying our eyes out in the theatre), cards from cupcake shops I have visited and business cards from craft fairs, Billy Elliot tickets from Christmas (the best show I have ever seen and 2 hours of embarrassingly loud weeping) and tickets from fashion shows back in October.

It has been one good term, and I feel like one lucky girl.

I now have 3 different kinds of bunting decorating my room; my mum gave me this beautiful Rob Ryan set for Christmas.

It's now 2011 and my head is full of all the books I want to read, the things I want to do; all my new year's resolutions and all my aims for the year.

But for now at least, it is just good to be home.

Libby