I can’t think of anything else except work and study these days. So this picture is a really good expression of what I’ve been living.

This is the ECS building at the university of Southampton where I’ve been spending 12 hours most days in the last couple of months.

I can’t pretend that I’ve been hard working all those hours, but I can’t think of anything else that sums up my current state.

What I’m doing right now requires a lot of focus, hence as little noise and distraction as possible. The rooms hanging out of the glass are the only quiet parts of the building I could find.

The fact is, we can never have a guarantee that our plans will become reality.

We might, more or less, predict what’s going to happen in the short term, as we can see a blurry outline of the road ahead.

However, no matter how much we contemplate our long term future, we can never see what is beyond the hill.

I learnt that there is no point wasting energy daydreaming the next two or three years, and instead focus on the day you’ve got in hand.

If you are in good health and in good mood today, make the most of it in order to get you closer to your targets. No one can promise that tomorrow is going to be the same.

Surviving under the oppression of the French colonists was not the way they dreamt their life would be, when they started to discover this treacherous world as innocent children.

They made the decision to save their dreams, and were prepared to sacrifice everything to have a taste of freedom.

They realised at the time that they might not see that day, but that wasn’t an obstacle to their determination. They wanted freedom not only for themselves, but for their sons and grandsons. For us!

It serves as a great inspiration to remind ourselves of the struggles our grandparents went through, and the sheer determination that toppled their nemesis.

Even though our nemesis today might not be as obvious to us as to our ancestors, we need to learn that in this life nothing comes for free.

But first, we need to un-blur the picture in order to know what we are fighting for or against.

A lot of things have changed in my life, mostly for better. Most importantly, I’ve learnt a great deal about life and the people around me.

It was a rollercoaster of a ride, but it helped make me stronger mentally and wanting to discover what’s next. I am ready for whatever the next turn holds for me.

I shall not forget to thank every person that helped me, be it directly or indirectly, going through this phase of my life unscathed.

Following this stream of water led us to our destination. I seized the chance to take a long exposure of the water as it flew down through the rocks. I enjoyed every bit of this place.

By the time I arrived at the actual water fall, I had gotten tired of taking photos and just relaxed and enjoyed the view.

First shot of the day is this view of Ullswater lake from Pooley Bridge. It was sunny as we arrived, but quickly turned to gray clouds and rain as we walked to the lake. More photos from this trip to come in the next few days.

My journey home is long and sometimes gruelling, but the hardest part is driving the last few miles. My journey home starts with a trip to the airport, then a few hours above the clouds. This, although it is the longest part of the journey, is not as bad as the final part.

The closer you get home the more you want to be there and the more impatient you become.

The reason might be the fact that you are already in your country, but you are still away from your family. Getting closer to your town, you find familiar spots that bring the deepest memories. Knowing that your family and friends are minutes away, makes you miss them more. Even more than when you were oceans away.

Where I live, we do not have a lot of forests. I have no idea why, but I could think of a few factors that may be behind this.

The weather is not forgiving. It gets really cold and dry in the winter, to the point of freezing. In the summer temperatures rise up to 50C for weeks on the trot.

Water is scarce, and people divert all of this crucial resource to serve their own survival. We probably didn’t inherit black forests or rain forests like the ones you find in northern Europe and the tropics, but we could do something to change that.

There was a big project funded by the government over the last 30 years, which aims to plant a green belt of trees separating the desert from the mountains across the whole country. But it will take a lot of effort and commitment over a distance of 2000 km.

What we really need is to encourage people to plant trees that can survive the tough times as well as having the capability to expand without human interference.

At the end of the day, trees need time, and we have to be patient. Results won’t be immediate, but we have to plan and start applying those plans right now.

I caught these insects flying as a swarm, around my place. Zooming in and blurring the background makes them look like stars in daylight.

I am lucky I don’t live far from there, but the day I visited this place wasn’t brilliant so I am eager to go there again on a nice and sunny day. When that time comes, I will try and take the same photo we’ve seen on the windows operating system.

There are many places in England that I really want to visit but I haven’t had enough time to plan for a trip.