I’ve always been one for travel, whether it’s closer to home and a quick camping trip to Wales, or sampling basically every culinary dish I could in Singapore.I love visiting and exploring new places. So when I was offered the chance to go to Vietnam on a work trip to market the School of Business and Economics and the university, I jumped at the opportunity especially as I had never considered adding it to my bucket list of countries! And so, on the 19th November, my supervisor Ondine and I headed to Heathrow and after a 15 hour plane journey and a long needed nap later, we landed in Hanoi.

Hanoi was exactly how I pictured Vietnam to be in my head, extremely authentic with a real hustle and bustle feel to it. We were only up north for 2 and a half days but it didn’t stop us exploring the Old Town and of course trying as much Vietnamese cuisine as possible. After our first recruitment fair, we moved onto Ho Chi Minh City down in the South of Vietnam which was essentially the opposite of Hanoi. A lot more commercialised and “tourist friendly” but still beautiful none the less. We even had time for a proper day out after the remaining recruitment fairs to explore the Mekong Delta and had a ride in a canal boat with my cone hat on – I loved it until the woman rowing the boat told me to watch out for crocodiles. It was truly an amazing experience and I can’t thank my work enough for letting me go and having this incredible perk as a part of my placement.

So back to the rest of November and December – apart from my gallivanting across the world, it’s been a pretty quiet month. It’s the build up to Christmas which means hot chocolate, watching Home Alone and bobble hats. I did have my AU Dance Winter Ball which is always a lot of fun. It was held at The Kelso in town and was basically a great opportunity for free champagne and wine, a dance to the Tuxedo swing band with the dance girls and a tonne of photos in front of the LSDC balloon signs. Loughborough has a lot of hidden gems like The Kelso. If you want something different than the usual FND (which I will always love), The Kelso is great for a few chilled drinks and cocktails with some good music. Loughborough may seem small but there is always somewhere to go for a drink, good food and a good chat.

As per usual, I’ve been loving life in the Luff bubble and as cringey as that sounds, it’s true. Just wait until all of you prospective students make your way over to Luff next September, you’ll get just as gushy too. I hope you all have a lovely Christmas and a Happy New Year and I’ll speak to again in 2017!