Going to university? | Advice

Today I have started to write my final essay which means first year is almost over! You have no idea how good this feels.

This year seems to have flown by. I’ve started packing up my things and it only seems two seconds ago that I was unpacking – it’s insane.

With having spent a whole year at university I thought I’d share a bit of advice that might help you chose a university if you’re considering going. (This post is a little bit off topic, but I would really like you to learn from my mistakes!)

1. You don’t have to go to university straight away.

I was never really given this option of taking a gap year. At my sixth form applying to university seemed to be compulsory and no one really mentioned taking a year out. You just filled in a load of forms, wrote a personal statement and sent this off to five places that you think you wanted to go to. It was kinda of like applying for high schools. University seemed to be the next stage.

Well it isn’t. Coming to university I have realised that a lot of people take years out. In my house 9 out of the 13 of us took at least one year out.

Looking back I do kind of wish that I had taken a year out. Had got a job, earned some money and just had a year off to find my feet and think about what I actually wanted to do with my life. It is a scary thought as you don’t know if you would be able to find a job, or if you would just have no money for a year. But definitely don’t rush into things if you’re not 100% sure you want to go to uni, or even if you’re not 100% sure which uni you want to go to.

2. Look around

I think this is another one of my mistakes. I didn’t go to visit any other university other than the one I’m at now. And even when I did visit this uni, I didn’t explore the actual area, just the campus.

I think one of my biggest downfalls was that I was afraid to take myself off to have a look around other universities. It’s hard to get your parents to go with you when they’re working and open days are in the middle of the week. But you should be able to convince a friend and go on an adventure around another city for a day. I know trains can be expensive, but trust me, spending that little bit of money will mean the world to you when you move into a new place that you’ve already fallen in love with.

3. Find what’s best for your course, but also what’s best for you

For me this is really important. I did consider what was best for me but I wish I had done a lot more. I chose to come to Salford and study journalism, mainly due to the fact that part of the course was held in Media City. Now this is an amazing opportunity that I thought would be stupid to turn down. But just because certain things are good for your course, doesn’t mean mean they are good for you. Another place I was considering going to was Chester and a part of me wishes I had gone there. I find that in Salford there is nothing to do. There is one pub and a Tesco and other than that it is a pretty lousy place. You can’t just take yourself for a walk or go and find new and exciting places.

I really like nature and heritage and pretty buildings and Salford just doesn’t really offer any of that where as Chester does.

So just because something may look good for your course, make sure that you will be happy in that place, otherwise your life at university wont be as good as it could have been.

These are just three little tips that you should definitely consider when applying for university and three tips that I wish I had considered a lot more. I hope this helps you when choosing where you want to go to.

❤

 

One last time | FOTD

I can’t believe that this time next week, Christmas will be over and we’ll be heading into the New Year. These past few months seem to have flown by, I really can’t get over that tonight is our last night out as a house (well, what’s left of us!) before we break up and go home for Christmas. I’m gonna miss my housemates soooo much during the holidays but I can’t wait to finally see my family, eat real food and sit somewhere comfy – not just on a wooden bench. This first semester has been such a blast, I don’t know if the next one will be able to beat it, but we’ll see!!

For tonight, I’ll be wearing a green skater dress, some black tights and my boots. It’s pretty cold out so I picked a dress which has quite thick material! Hopefully I wont get too chilly. My mum and dad treated me to the dress for my interview at Salford and I’ve loved it ever since.

I kept my make up quite simple tonight, just a smokey eyes and a bit of eyeliner along with some killer lipstick vibes!

We’ve never ventured to this venue before so it’s going to be an adventure, but the set list looks awesome and I’ve heard so great reviews, lets hope it lives up to it’s name.

Have you had some good Christmas nights out? When are you off home for the holidays? x

Fresher’s | Update

I’m just about to head up to the kitchen (the kitchen is on the top floor, and I’m on the ground floor… it’s a bit of a trek!) so here’s a quick update of my last week…

I’m here everyone! I’ve finally moved to Salford uni and what a surreal week it has been. I still don’t feel like this is it for the next three years. It’s as though I’m on some kind of holiday camp and within the next few days I’ll be going home, but I guess when the course starts and things get serious it’ll begin to feel real.

Home sickness hasn’t really hit me yet. I’ve not had time in Fresher’s week to dwell on things like that, I’ve either been too busy making friends and meeting new people, or sleeping. Though I must admit the first morning when I woke up to silence and there wasn’t the sound of my dad pottering around downstairs or the sound of my mum’s hairdryer on, it did feel pretty strange.

My room is decent. There’s enough space for me which is all that matters. Though I need to invest some time and money into making it feel homely. The walls are bare and are just a wash of cream which is giving it a clinical feel at the moment. But on our next trip to Manchester, I may pick up some posters and let the decorating commence.

My housemates are amazing. I didn’t really know what to expect and was kind of nervous about meeting who I was living with for the next year but they are all ace! We’re already like one big family. Everyone’s into the same kind of music too so we have been discovering some pretty cool clubs in Manchester this past week.   

Tomorrow is the beginning of induction week which is exciting! I’ll get to meet everyone I’ll be working with and the tutors I’ll be having for the next year. I actually can’t wait to begin the course. I can’t believe Freshers is over and done with now. It has been a pretty fun, I don’t think it could have gone any better… except for Fresher’s Flu… I could have done without that. 

University | Before the Beginning

And so the packing begins, the tears are flowing but the excitement is brewing. I don’t know how I’m going to react living away from home. It’ll be a huge shock I think for the first few weeks, having to learn how to fend for myself, I mean I can barely cook! I’m going to miss my mum’s homemade dinners. I guess though, it will be like playing dolly for a while. Making my room look pretty and colourful with posters and photographs, making new friends and learning my way around a city I’ve never really explored before.

I know it’s going to be ace once I get there, it’s just the initial leaving home that will be hard. My family are so close knit that I can’t imagine spending a week away from them let alone four months! But my university is only a 45 minute train ride away, which is how long it took to get to my college on the bus and I made that journey every day, so realistically, home is only down the road.

In less than a week my whole life if going to change drastically. I’m looking forward to it, I’m scared and nervous but at the same time really excited. I’m going to be studying what I want which I cannot wait for, the course I’m taking looks amazing and spending three years doing something I love is going to be awesome.

Now I’m just reaching the stage of ‘What do I need to take?’

My aunty has been amazing and has taken me out shopping for all of the basics – utensils, plates, and bowls etc. I even have my own cheese grater – sounds stupid but I’m actually pretty stoked about all that kind of stuff. I chose a colour theme of green and purple so my room is going to look like something out of The Jokers house, but they go together so well! We managed to find some bright green and purple coat hangers too – oh the small things :’)

I’ve gotten my whole wardrobe sprawled across my sister’s bed and I think I have one tiny closet to put it in when I get to uni which will be interesting. I might just have to pick out my favourite jumpers and leave my summer clothes at home. But what if I want to wear shorts one day? Ahh, the hardship! I’ll have to see how much I can squeeze into my room I think and then send my parents back with what didn’t make it into my wardrobe. I’m really praying that there is space under my bed that I can fill with clothes and shoes.

One thing I am hoping for is a housemate that can deal with spiders. I don’t know about you, but these scary female house spiders seem to be appearing everywhere and they’re absolutely huge! I have to admit they are very impressive, but I don’t think I’ll be wanting to share a shower with one if I can help it. I’m going to have to become brave, oooor find someone who already is brave…

It is certainly going to be an adventure and I so hope that the uni experience is as good as everyone says it is.

Wish me luck!

❤

Elegant Touch | You live and you learn

For the next couple of weeks I’m going to be out and about seeing friends before we all go off to uni, shopping for the last bits and pieces I’ll need and basically just getting ready to move. It’s going to be exciting to start at somewhere fresh and new, but also sad to wave goodbye to the old. With all of this hustle and bustle going on, I wanted to look my best without having to make too much effort. This made me come to the conclusion of trying out some false nails. I’ve never done this before, I don’t know why, I guess I’ve never really considered buying them when I can buy a cheaper pot of nail polish that will probably last longer than the false nails themselves.

However, I branched out of my comfort zone and decided to delve into the world of stick on plastic.

I was persuaded to buy the brand Elegant Touch after reading some hot reviews and positive blog posts on them. I picked some psychedelic looking ones with a load of colour splashed in there so that they would go with anything and everything I have in my wardrobe. They looked great… in the box.

They came in a little cardboard box, and upon opening this I found that they were in a little plastic box too which I thought was very cute. Inside was an anti-bacterial hand wipe (a little bit like the ones you get with your KFC) two sets of nails (including some spare thumbs)and a nail file.

Bringing them home I was all excited to get them stuck on to see what they’d look like. There was a list of instructions I had to follow first to prime my nails.

• No1. Remove any existing nail polish (Bye bye purple!)
• No2. Bathe your hands in warm soapy water
• No3. Wipe all of your nails with the anti-bacterial wipe provided within the set

All of them were simple enough. I had my hands looking sparkly clean and smelling a little bit like the hospital, but that didn’t matter.

Then came the application and again this was easy enough to do. You literally peeled off the back of the false nail exposing a thin layer of glue and then held them firmly for a few seconds on your chosen finger. I first put on the thumb and it looked good. It was the right shape, the exact length I wanted and a really cool pattern, with this one turning out so well I moved onto the rest of my nails. I finished my first hand and then my next and waited for thirty minutes which allowed the glue to dry and set. At first glance they looked okay, but it wasn’t until I started to file them down that they began to freak me out a little.

Whether or not it’s because I’m not used to them or haven’t worn them before I don’t know, but they felt so weird! The end near the cuticle didn’t feel secure and when filing them down I noticed they seemed to accumulate a lot of glue under the nail, on top of this, they didn’t seem to fit the shape of my nails either, they all seemed that little bit too big.

Having all these troubles I decided to take them off, but they were not budging. The glue was practically set and I felt as though I’d pull the top layer of my actual nail off with them! I read the instructions on how to remove them and it stated to use their ‘nail remover’ if having problems. Granted this was 5 o’ clock, the shops would have been closed. On with the peeling I went.

To be fair, it didn’t take that long to get them off and I was pleasantly surprised at how undamaged my nails underneath were.

I may try out the other set again soon, but beforehand I will be sure to file them to the size of my nail before sticking them on. However in the meantime, I will be using some good old fashioned nail polish instead, it may chip, but it’s not half as scary as these plastic claws I was fighting with today!

Sister’s Graduation | OOTD

My sister graduated with a First Class Honors degree the other day at Leeds University.

It was a strange day, everyone was floating around in their big black gowns, I felt like I was on the set of Harry Potter! The sun was shining for the majority of the day too, making it even better, and everyone’s families were there, suited and booted and looking so proud – it was verrrryy cute.

The day before I’d been to the beach with my friends and at around 5 in the evening I got a phone call from my dad saying that we were going to Leeds that evening instead of the following morning. I rushed home, franticly threw a few things into a suitcase and we headed off.

We stayed at Headingley Stadium which was pretty cool, our rooms over looked the cricket ground.

The ceremony was fun. Everyone looked so serious and fancy in their gowns even the professors were swishing around, the whole pompousness was ace.  I must admit though, I was jealous of some of their hats. I mean dayum, as if they can only wear them at important uni events!

We ate at the Slug and Lettuce for tea and if you haven’t been there I totally think you should go. The food is to die for, I’d recommend the cookie explosion for dessert. Heavenly. 

In the evening we went to a little jazz bar and hung out there for a while. There was this band playing and everyone was having an awesome time, was a good vibe to round off the day.

My dress was from Lipsy, my sunglasses from Topshop and my shoes were from Dune…

I had a nightmare finding comfy shoes for the graduation. First I bought some from New Look and within the first five minutes of wearing them they had totally torn my ankles apart. They skipped right past the blister stage and just sliced into my ankles making them bleed. Soooo I had to go and buy some more,I pretty much tried on every sandal in town and they either rubbed on the cuts already made or didn’t fit. Then the last pair I tried on were the ones I got. Me and my sister had literally given up but on the way out of town we spotted these and they are soo comfy and real leather, and with them being in the sale, I couldn’t not get them!  

Blog 100 | Challenge 100

This is my 100^th blog post and what better way than to set myself a challenge…

Seeing as this is my 100^th blog, I have decided to answer 100 questions I’ve found on a collection of ‘self-discovery’ sites and hopefully before the summer ends I will have managed to get through them and will have ‘discovered myself’ before I leave for university.

The inspiration behind me setting myself this challenge is because I recently went to a Mind and Spirit fair where I spoke to a lady about writing a journal. She explained how it had been self-meditating for her and had helped her through hard times in her life. I know this idea isn’t quite like writing a journal but hopefully it will allow me to express myself and discover things I didn’t know about myself. It will be one big learning process for the both of us!

Some of the questions are quite personal and some are very vague but I will try to be extremely honest with you throughout answering them and more importantly be brutally honest with myself.

Do expect some random blogs in between these questions as I may want to share something with you that might not be entirely related to this challenge I’ve set myself, but I think the majority of them will be! (at least  100 of them however!)

Anyway here goes! My 100 questions challenge…

The only rule is that I answer them all.

Wish me luck

J