Yeah, I made it, I handed in my dissertation last Thursday – what a relief! Especially the last few days were the absolut horror, I got close to breaking down… But oh well, it’s all over and done with now!!! There’s only my internship and the viva (mündliche Verteidigung) left, both of which will take place in Germany in the next few months, until I’ll get my Diplom and Master. But that should not be any problem, especially not compared with the dissertation, so I already consider myself as ‘free as a bird’… 
After handing in my master piece, I spent the weekend in Dorset again, together with Richard. We had the most faboulous weather ever – it was almost like summer again! We left Friday noon and went to Eype, where we put up our tent. Then we collected all of Richard’s angling equipment and went down to Chesil Beach, where we had a BBQ during the sunset and spent half of the night sea-angling in the moon shine. The sea has been extremely peaceful and there was hardly any wind, it was lovely!
The next morning we got up reasonably early and went hiking from our camp site to Lyme Regis, which took us about 6 hours. We walked up and down the hills all the time, my legs were pretty numb afterwards. But the views were astonishing and the cream tea in Lyme Regis definitely worth all the effort! Afterwards, we took the Coastliner back to our campsite and spent the night in a local pub drinking cider.
On Sunday, we went to Abbotsbury where we visited a small cathedral and walked around the village for a bit. We then headed to deserted Tyneham, a little village in the middle of a military firing range, which has been evacuated by the British Army before the Second World War and whose people were never able to come back. Today, there are a few ruins, the church and a school house left – a little ghostvillage . But as the firing range around is usually not accessible to the public (apart from Sundays), the area equals a little nature reservat with a beautiful little bay. We spent the afternoon on a little ledge having our lunch and enjoying the sun… The atmosphere was so peaceful, it was totally refreshing and calming. I thought that this peacefulness in an army firing range was a bit ironic, but maybe a place like this just needs some calmness once in a while as well, who knows?
After we got back to Portsmouth last night, I went to the girl’s house for the last time in order to say good-bye to Jana and Maria who left this morning. It was good to see them again, but finally made me realise that this year here is now over. But it was a great year, and I’m doing my best to enjoy the last days in England with the few who are still here, especially now that we are free of any dissertation pressure. And then I’ll be hopefully ready to return back home in the middle of next week and more excited about what’s to come than sad about what I’ll leave behind…
„People leaving all the time
Inside
A perfectly straight line
Don’t you wanna curve away
It’s such
It’s such a perfect day
It’s such a perfect day“
(Coldplay – Strawberry Swing)
