ASMA HAMID

WHAT A YEAR. Where do I even start? I have officially quarantined for at least 10 weeks, have had 6 swab tests and 2 RTK tests.  There was a lot of people in and out of the house beginning of the year with Sara moving in long term with us. I remember how grateful I was with how Laura and Amy allowed me to choose my own housemate and gave me the all the time I needed to find the right one. Luckily, this all happened before the lockdown because I couldn't imagine being stuck in the house alone without Sara! We then went into February where I spent quite a bit of time in London with Zariq and Yen (and Aimi), running for the last train home on Saturdays. I remember thinking how Saturdays are never long enough because I had always wished I could spend more time with them! We had the most interesting conversations that never ends! March was when everything related to Covid-19 started affecting us... unfortunately, it was during my ski/snowboard trip to Bankso  when this had happened...

It was difficult today and it's only hitting me now that I have time think. I wish I hadn't started certain conversations and said certain things because all I've been doing this evening is going through bursts of break downs. It isn't great when you're alone and without a person to distract you from it. I had thought that this might be a way to let it all out so I could process my thoughts but I don't know what it is?  I think it'd be fair to say that at this point of my life, I should really start being careful of who I start conversations with. At least with the people I already know and trust, I'd be able to discuss ideas and find solutions. But leaving discussions open ended and with more questions can be quite deteriorating, at least, for my mental health.  I've pretty much occupied my time all afternoon by calling the people back at home but it's not like I could call them until morning. Nonetheless, I appreciate each and everyone of the c...

 It's my 5th time celebrating my birthday abroad and in all previous occasions, I've always had my best friends and/or my sister with me. This year... none of them were around so knowing that, I braced myself to not celebrate it. However, the Saturday before my birthday, Abg Lan, Kak Ida and Emma came over to surprise me with a cake and presents! I was deeply touched and realised it was good start for my birthday week. So, I did get a cake, I got people singing me a birthday song and I spent it with people who mattered. I then realised that I really didn't want to spend the next weekend on my own. So I texted my colleagues to come over on Friday. I texted my uni friends if they're free for lunch on Saturday. And I texted my Malaysian friends if they're free for dinner on Saturday. It was a yes for all. On my birthday itself, I spent some time receiving calls from Malaysia wishing me a happy birthday. My best friends stayed up until I finished work to have a group fa...

If you have been following me on twitter or have been unlucky enough to be included in my close friends list on Instagram, then you'd probably be a lot more familiar with the downside of my life.  I know I live a life a lot of people want to live. I work abroad, I have stability, I have work-life balance when I want to and I can afford to live comfortably. But I think a lot of people working abroad would also understand that with this, it comes with a lot of worries, loneliness, being homesick, the feeling of missing out and things similar to that. Things that if we were to express it, people would instead say "count your blessings." I can't deny, there is a lot to be thankful for. I sometimes sit and stare out the window realising how blessed I am. I have such a good life here, I can do whatever I want and not be judged. I am living in a lovely home. I don't have to think three times before buying anything. I don't worry about my bills, my rent, my pay or hav...

I was about to write a whole blog post on an instagram caption about my sister’s wedding but realised, hey, I actually have a blog to write on. It's been a week and a bit since I've gotten back from my very long holiday which I wish had been longer. But now I’m back, I’m just very desperate to be able to start working from the office again - which will start this upcoming Thursday! Going back to the wedding, it was actually the main reason why I had gone to Malaysia within this unpredictable period. I had bought my flight ticket a week before I was due to go back, but then on that week itself, a new directive came out which meant that I had to immediately fly out in order to be able to quarantine at home. Which lead me to buying a very last minute flight 5 hours before take off - on a working day. Felt very blessed that my line manager was ok with it as I was only able to tell him while I was at the gate.  I digress - now, back to the wedding. I was pretty much not involved in ...

If you follow me on Twitter or Instagram (and can see my instastories), you’d probably know that I’m currently in Bulgaria. But I’m not just in Bulgaria, I’m in Bulgaria while it’s at a state of emergency due to the virus Bulgaria. Funny enough, the reason why I was okay with Bulgaria was because at the time I planned the trip, there were zero cases and I thought, not a lot of people visit Bulgaria so I wasn’t expecting anything to happen. I guess I took that for granted and didn’t check right before I left because today is the first day of the emergency! Bare in mind - Bulgaria only has 0.4% cases in comparison to the UK. I arrived into the airport at 3AM this morning with the intention of waiting at the airport until the first public transport but hey hey hey, the airport closes after our flight lands. Therefore, I didn’t have a choice but to find my way into the centre which is pretty straight forward tbf. I took a taxi and told the driver that I’d like to go to a 24/7 McDo...

Christmas holiday planning went from Scotland to Wales to Paris to just Thorpe Park but ended up with spending time together in Maidenhead. As a summary, we spent 3 full days together talking, cooking, eating, playing games, dancing, eating, eating and more eating. You can see where I'm going with this. I would've thought that my holiday would be boring if someone had told me that all we're going to do is stay at home but it was such an amazing holiday; I'm actually having withdrawals from it. So here I am, writing about what we did and how we celebrated our days off while I wait for a potential housemate to come over to view the house. Right, so I got distracted because someone came over, three weeks later, here I am trying to pick up where I left off. We had Zariq and Yen over throughout Christmas and Roaa and Adham came for Christmas dinner. With a lot more hands to cook and knowing what to eat just made everything so nice. My holiday started after lunch on ...