It seems like an age ago that I left the peaceful beauty of Belfast behind and landed in London to start work. The flight was quite the metaphor for life: departing student life (albeit temporarily) and arriving in the ‘real world’, where I have the opportunity to use nothing of what I have learned so far in my degree.

And somehow it’s August. Already. How? Did time move into the fast lane without me noticing and we’re a twelfth of the way to the end of my contract – already? Part of me thinks it’s because I’m in a city that never sleeps, but surely that would make the days longer rather than shorter. It does not make sense.

So what can I say about London now that I’m here? Apart from the fact that everybody talks funny and nobody looks at anything when traveling on the Tube, instead just through everything and into nothing, it’s quite the city. Last week I walked down Regent Street and had to remind myself where I was – the amazing architecture, masses of people and rich heritage had become … normal to me. Getting up at seven and going to bed at eleven has become routine, yet it was something I swore to my former student self would never happen. How times change.

Work is good too – I have no idea how I couldn’t sit through a one hour lecture when I can now flow through four hours of work without even thinking about taking a break. I used to dream of my own private corner office, but now I think the people in there must be very lonely without somebody by their side to talk to.

And living! My room’s half the size and I have to clean and cook, yet here I am with a full stomach and a – well – the cleaning I’ve yet to master.

But what has taken me by surprise the most is the love the people in this city have for God. You don’t need to venture far into Church to see a thousand people singing praises to God, prophesying and speaking in tongues. Prayers get answered. People get healed. The Spirit has come down. Jesus has risen and you can read all about it right here – even see it for yourself.

The past month has gone like a day, yet it seems like an ago I left the peaceful beauty of Belfast behind. Oh how quickly we all change and adjust. My former life would be disappointed in it’s newer self – and vice versa. But I was happy then and I’m happy now.

So it’s maybe time to start cleaning … apparently this is what people in the real world do. Then again, I’m not of this world anymore.