I have a giddiness in my heart I can’t quite put into words – there is magic and whimsy in the very air of this city, and it’s already revealed itself a few times in the past three days. Our first night in Edinburgh, en route to dinner, we rounded the corner and I heard…

Long distance walking is all about the small miracles – hiking boots that dried overnight, a hot cup of tea at breakfast, and aches that have relented with a good night’s sleep. We awoke with renewed spirits, grateful to embark on our “short” day. With the accomplishment of our epic first day, and just 14.5…

“We are building mental fortitude,” Dan says, although his tone is far from convincing. It is now well after dark, we’re trudging through mud along the side of the Military Road, jumping up into the bush lining the motorway any time a car whizzes by. We’ve reached kilometre 34, with the faint glow of the…

A pot of tea for me A Guinness for him Both of our journals open to fresh pages Tucked away in a pub out of the rain Sitting in the comfortable silence of one another’s company All of the above feels well deserved and blissful after 27 hours of travel. Our adventure kicked off on…

Here I sit, at my old macbook, which I have pleaded with too many times over – “just last through one more semester” – as its rainbow, spinning wheel of death circled the screen. Which I once left, tucked into a canvas tote bag proudly touting “LSE”, on a seat on the bus from the…

Every two years, the Model Arctic Council is held in the state currently chairing the Arctic Council. Participating students are selected from across the circumpolar Arctic and non-Arctic states, and work collaboratively to simulate the work of the Member States, Permanent Participants, Working Groups, Observers, and others who are involved in Arctic Council negotiations, in…

Days No. Three & Four: Learning in and about the Lofoten Archipelago During the course of my MSc, I read many an article about the United Nations’ and its protocols. One I became particularly familiar with is the United Nations Convention for the Law of the Sea. In fact, I’ve become so familiar with it…

 “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbour. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” Mark Twain

In June 2018, I completed a journal exercise in which I wrote what “a Day in the Life” would be like for me a year and a half into the future. While many of the details of this fortune-telling exercise are yet to reveal themselves as true, there was one piece that has already come…