When I was a kid in school, I loved when the teacher gave us writing homework, whether it was for English, Arabic or French class, although my French has now gone a bit MIA. I would sit at my desk in the room that I shared with my sister, open my “exercise book” and start writing. It was a genuine guilty pleasure to work on my writing homework. The years went by, completing homework after homework. University started, and again I found myself enjoying my 20 page papers but this time, my writing became more opinionated and argumentative – kind of inevitable when you’re studying law. Then over the years I would often find myself writing about the things that I love, the things that move me; things, people, places. I would get the urge to write in the most random of moments; on the bus, at the supermarket, that moment right before you fall asleep… When I didn’t have any paper or my laptop on me, I would write things down on my hand or make notes on my phone. Anyway, long story short (or not) I’d like to start sharing my homework with you through a blog that is long overdue (six years to be exact).

About two years ago, I woke up feeling the same way as I did today, which has happened far too many times now for me to ignore it. I wanted to start my own blog already but as usual, I was scared. What’s the point? Who cares? What if I’m a really bad writer? But I took the first step, one of many “first” steps over the years. I started googling ways and tips on how to start. A recurring theme was that I would need to find something I am passionate about and start writing about it. All kinds of topics were suggested; from travelling, to make-up tutorials, to veganism. So I started thinking. What am I passionate about? I studied law and yes, I could write about law and politics but a key reason for why I’ve been wanting to start my own blog is to explore my creative side – the one I’ve neglected over the years. So I kept thinking – really, what am I passionate about? What intrigues me the most? And so I started looking back at what I’ve written over the years. And there I found it. People. Places. More often than not, I write about people and places, whether it’s me, home, a second home (a second me..), the people in my life or anyone I’ve crossed paths with – even if it’s just a street vendor who doesn’t know he’s been the subject of my people watching session. So I decided to do just that. Except I didn’t really. I continued to write every now and then but never actually took that next step. Until today.

Welcome to my blog! Some of my posts will be ones that I’ve written at some point in time and hid away on my desktop for years, all in anticipation that I will one day start a blog… And others I will write as we go. I know that most of us are impatient these days and can’t read more than two lines of anything before moving on to the next thing but I’m gonna take my chances. I am just hoping that you can enjoy some light reading while you’re having your morning coffee and putting off looking at your to-do list for the day. Or maybe you’re on the metro and are bored of scrolling through Instagram and want something different to read. Mostly, I’m just excited to be assigning my own homework and sharing it with you!