I have been thinking that you can tell a lot about a culture by looking at the way people queue (or don’t as the case may be!). I was in the bank today to take out some of my penultimate scholarship instalment, and everyone waiting to be served was standing in little groups around each…

I was invited by a family to lunch today, and I had a wonderful time.  They made ‘peeka’ food in my honour.  ‘peeka’ means ‘tasteless’ and is used by Pakistanis to refer to food that doesn’t have any spices in it! I really enjoyed the food; I just hope they didn’t mind it too much.…

As two of Pakistan’s neighbouring countries, India and Afghanistan undergo general elections it is interesting to reflect on developments in one country affect the wider region.  Both countries are geo-political heavyweights (due to a booming economy and the presence of NATO forces respectively) and as such the government ministers in Islamabad will be watching closely.…

A wedding in China

Pakistani food is much spicier than the English food I like qorma, bhunna ghosht (meat) with naan and my favourite prepared foods are vegetables, chicken and rice. You’re not to drink water here because it upsets your stomach! Luckily, I can buy bottled water. Edward Mortimer, January 2013

Yesterday I was reading Urdu literature. These books were for children. How I wish I could read more difficult books than these!   With time I will be able to understand these books.

As a 21 year old University student studying International Business with Spanish, the opportunity to spend 18 months abroad perfecting my language skills was and is an amazing opportunity. The first half of 2013 found me in the north of Spain, studying at the University of Oviedo as part of an Erasmus semester. However I…

Qu’est-ce que je peux dire du dernier mois de semestre ? Tellement de choses se sont passées que je vais me concentrer sur un évènement qui se passe chaque année à Genève : l’Escalade. L’Escalade se fait en deux parties. La première partie est la course à l’escalade. Cette année la course s’est tenue le…

Celebrating my 20th birthday with some friends!

I have been staying with a friend in Cordoba for two weeks in order to improve my Spanish before starting the second semester in Geneva. I could talk about the monuments in Cordoba, Granada or Seville (as we also visited these two cities), or perhaps of the prodigious amounts of food, all delicious, which my…

The view of the Mezquita from the Roman Bridge at the Entrance to the Old Town