11 thoughts we all have half way to pay day

As we are now over half way to pay day, that hole in our bank accounts has reared its ugly head again so I bet you can relate to these 11 thoughts. Also applicable those who are waiting those agonising months for the next student loan to drop.

3 Unconventional lessons that I have learnt from university

University is such a large part of anyone's life, and as a person who has not only completed my undergraduate degree but gone back for more I feel as though I have experienced a spectrum of emotions attached to both studying away or living at home. So here, I have written them down for your entertainment.

My actual university library | Maughan Library, Chancery Lane

Balancing Uni Work Over Christmas | Blogmas day 3

Welcome to my 3rd day of the Twelve Days of Blogmas!

A slightly less cheery one today I'm afraid, but I don think its an important discussion to be having this time of year. (Don't worry tomorrows will be full on CHRISTMAS)

So it's December, which can mean one of two things to people, firstly 'It's almost Christmas yay!' or the dreaded 'How much work?!? How is this even humanly possible even though I'm not at Uni for a month I have about five months worth of work to do ahhhhhh!'. For the past four years I have found myself in the latter.

Universities love to place all essays. assignments or finals as they are often know at this time of year within weeks of one another, and like the amazing student you are, you promised yourself to do all your work within lots of time and never have to stress about a deadline again. But because you are a human, life happened and now you are in the sorry mess of having a list as long as your arm to complete before January. So rather than watch a film with your family on Christmas Eve, you find yourself researching an essay (yes, this was me last year) that has a bizarre deadline like January the 2nd, I do really have this deadline this year.

Okay, so now I have made you really stressed, and if by some miracle you haven't clicked off yet, comes some advice and a pep talk molded by 'been there done that's'.

1) Its okay to feel overwhelmed
You are not alone in this, I promise. Everyone (minus the weird organized people of the world) feel the same way about deadlines, no matter how long you know about them they still managed to cause you more stress than everything else. Just listen to this message: You are not alone!

2) Having a day off does not make you a bad person
This goes for all year round but needs saying none the less, going to meet your friends for a coffee/dinner/anything does not make you a bad student or a bad person. EVERYONE needs down time, whether this is a day you go Christmas shopping with your mum or leave your evenings to watch films and drink hot chocolate. This time off will make your work better not harm it, so stop making yourself feel so bad all the time.

3) Have a break
Leading on from the last one but I do think it's the most important of this list give yourself at least a week off and NEVER work on Christmas day. I say a week but ideally minimum of two. I have learned this the hard way, trust me. I did not give myself a break over Christmas last year which meant I worked solidly from around December untill May, this is not healthy and will really make you burn out quickly. So this year from the 18th of December for two weeks I am not doing one piece of uni work.

I really hope I helped you in some way, feel free to comment below or vent to me on social media about deadlines, I feel your pain. 

See you tomorrow for a really Christmassy post!


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Keeping that work life balance

As a full time student I feel as though there is never enough hours in a day, and days in a week. With readings to do for every seminar, think about assignments, come up with a dissertation idea and work for that one dreaded day a week. Especially as we approach December deadlines, then before you know it we will be in May exam period. And for a workaholic like me it seems like the term 'full time' is exactly that, every thought and second is consumed by my work. Leading to sleepless nights, only creating a vicious circle.

However, the equation has only possible answer, a burn out. This has happened this week, not ideal, my head has been in a constant state of panic. Thinking that I cannot complete this work and why did I even think I could do in the first. So I decided to take a step back at look at where this could possibly be going wrong, and this is when I got the best perspective of my life.

Something else I really struggle with is socialising and this is something I am really putting an effort into. Okay this has really made me sound like a reclusive hermit now, but, at times I get so consumed in my world of working, stress and anxiety that the last thing I want to do is go out there in the big world and spend time with people. This does not mean that once I am there I have a terrible time, its just half the time that big step to actually meeting people that is the hardest, something that I really need to do more often.

It is so important, even crucial, to make sure that a work life balance exists. I know this but I find it so hard, which is half the reason that I decided to write this post. (Caution clichés ahead) You really do only get one chance at life, and, although I am an avid believer that if you work hard enough you must get somewhere, you really must live it to the fullest.

I love nothing more than curling up with a good book, and I don't do that half as much as I do. This could take only about half an hour out of my life per day. Even simple things like sitting there and drinking a coffee with no internet right in front of me is so theraputic. Walking my dog, leaving the house in any capacity, even listening to music, like live lounge covers on youtube, is amazing for almost cleansing my brain. I feel this is the missing component in my life.

If I can translate any message to you reading this it would be take time out of your day, everyday, anywhere between half an hour to five hours to find yourself. Find what you like, who you are, even what you don't like. This way you will get more out of your life and limit work related stress.

All my love,

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Six tips for moving away

So its that time of the year again, time for the new students to pack up and leave home to start their university. That was me three years ago, even though it does feel both like a lifetime ago but also just yesterday. Funny how time works ey! So I hope I can impart some wisdom on you if you are about to leave home or have just arrived at your university of choice.

1) Introduce yourself to everyone you meet
I'm sure you have heard this one million times but everyone is in your boat and knows no one. So its time to just go out there and speak to as many people as humanly possible, who knows you may meet a long time best friend.

2) Decorate your room 
University halls are the most depressing rooms ever. They are empty shells with a bed and a desk. This is your chance to really make it feel like home. I would recommend posters, photos from home and fairy lights just to cheer the place up.

3) Go to as many freshers events as possible
Go on, you earned it. Just be prepared for the hangover haha!

4) Join a society
This is probably the best piece of advice I can give you. I joined the hockey society in my second year and my only regret is that I didn't do it earlier. Even if you have never played the sport before just give it a go, societies allow people of all abilities and its an amazing place to meet a wide variety of people.

5) Explore your new city
You've looked online, read the university's guide to where you are moving but nows the time to find the best places to shop, eat, drink (ect) go with some people from your halls and explore. Who knows what you will find!

6) And finally, actually turn up to some lectures!
I know your hangover feels like the end of the world, but remember you are actually at university shock to get a degree. Although first year means nothing towards your final degree classification, it is the perfect opportunity to learn how to write essays, reference and know the lecturers.

Good Luck!!!

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Life Update: I actually graduated!!

Yay!! So after three years of hard work I have gone and graduated last month.

While many people look back at their three years and feel sad that they are leaving, I am actually quite happy to see the back of my undergraduate degree and I feel extremely excited to (hopefully) start a Masters.

I had a wonderful day with beautiful weather and even graduated with a special award which I had no idea about. It is true what they say though after sitting and waiting to walk across the stage for what feels like forever, it really does go in the blink of an eye.

Congratulations to everyone else who had graduated this summer, and who is waiting to graduate in the upcoming months. Good luck to everyone who is either at university or about to start, it will be the hardest few years of your life but it will be completely worth it.

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Life Update: Why I have been absent from this blog

I guess I should explain my absence from this blog for the past two weeks (three weeks of not writing) but I just didn’t feel like writing anything. Do you ever experience that feeling, like whatever you write and the pictures you take will never be good enough so what is the point in trying. This has been my sad state of my for the past week (the week prior to that I was to jetlagged to even keep my eyes open let alone tend to this blog) but sometimes I think its good to catch my breath and start fresh.

I guess the ‘lost’ feeling I had consuming my every though last week was only natural as I am experiencing many changes in my life, i.e. finishing my undergraduate degree, moving home, then moving with my parents out of my childhood home later this summer, finding a job. All these changes and I still have yet to decide exactly what I want to do with my life.

However, it would have been all too easy to wallow in my sorry state and never try to drag myself out (like I have done previously) but I decided to do my absolute best, come Monday, to wake up and attempt to attain my much better attitude that I was developing throughout the previous week, and I can happily report so far so good.

I guess finding your inner happiness and peace with life is a working progress and (unfortunately) is not a case of waking up one morning and you are where you want to be.

So, all that aside, what exactly have I done in the past three weeks apart from sit around and think (apparently) well I went to New York, drove to Stoke to pick up my last few bits at university, then to Wolverhampton to see my boyfriend (I drove 300 miles that weekend, not bad ey?), started doing yoga and got back on my bike after three years.

I feel as though my passion for blogging has been reborn and I have got so many ideas for new and exciting posts, including my trip to New York of course, so watch this space!

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Reflecting on my three years at university

 

 Picture by me, from a dog walk the other day

Do you ever just sit down and allow yourself to think about everything you have achieved? Well as I have mere days left before my final university deadline I have been doing exactly that. When I look in the mirror now I see a mature twenty one year old who has left a lot of her insecurities behind. Don't get me wrong, if someone handed me a baby or a house to run tomorrow I wouldn't have a clue what to do.
I suppose it is only natural, I have just finished three years of a university degree and am now twenty one, but even so I feel very proud of what I have achieved emotionally.

When my parents dropped me off at Staffordshire University three years ago I told my mum I don't know how she could leave me here she must be a horrible mother. At that time I was scared, terrified in fact. The University accomodation team had messed up my application and the two people I had met that I was to live with didn't speak very good English. But I am so glad my mum didn't get my dad to turn the car around when they got to the roundabout because, although never easy, my three years at university have been worth it.

Looking back I do think I was not mature enough to go to university. I may have been academically ready, but emotionally and in terms of my knowledge of the world, I was very naive and immature.
First year was okay for me, I lived with amazing people but most of them were third years who graduated that summer (booo).

Second year was hell, I hated who I lived with, I learned to hate my degree and became very disillusioned with even getting a university degree which was reflected in my grades. The only good thing about second year was I met my amazing boyfriend whose blog is thefostereffect (follow him he is a much better writer than me) who pushed me to get through second year and constantly made me laugh.

Summer between second and third year was just as bad, my hormones were messed up, I quit my job and basically had no interest in finishing my degree and just wanted to run away with my dog and eat all the chocolate in the world (don't go on the pill people, it ruins peoples lives).

I wasn't until about October/November of third year where I thought 'fudge' this, I may have had a terrible university experience but I have to make it count. Then my appendix burst ... oh cruel world. After being on anti-biotics until new years eve which zapped me of all life, I feel I matured the most. I learned to monitor my health because if it wasn't for my boyfriend who dragged me to hospital I could have died, I decided to play catch up with my dissertation and really challenge myself, I started feeling confident about myself, I realized that not every one is nice, and, most importantly, you have to fight for what you want.

Now I sit here in my childhood bedroom on the verge of so much change, but I am not the scared eighteen year old my parents left in Stoke three years ago. I am excited for all that is to come. My parents want to move out of this town, I want to work all summer and see my boyfriend as much as I can and then hopefully go on to do my masters.

For me the biggest and most welcome change in my life is my confidence, I had none growing up. I was bullied (I will make a post about this very soon) and I let the bullies win. But now, if someone doesn't like me, their loss I'm awesome.

I guess the meaning of this post was for me to say no matter what life throws you, as long as you come out stronger the other side and recognize that, you may find you will be better for it.

Sorry for the super personal post today, I have had thinking time for the first time in ages and it was refreshing for me to see that I actually have alot of confidence haha!

Hope all of you 107 followers are having an awesome day! Have you ever sat there and go a little too deep in your thoughts? Would you like a post about bullying? (I am more than willing to do one).


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Sometimes we all just have to muddle through

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We all reach that time in our lives where we sit back and reflect on what we have already done and more horrifically what we have yet to do, and for me recently this has been a very daunting and scary task. This sense of being in limbo.

I do feel that this is something all third year does as they have mere weeks before their last deadline and then after that they have the vast big scary future which is nothing yet and that they themselves must fill. But until that last hand it date, there is just hard work and endless amounts of stress.

I think the hardest bit about being a university student is the sheer amount of work you have to do. But students are lazy binge drinkers right? That is what the media tells us anyway. I hate that perception of students. I get out of bed in the morning I would have you know. I know having a full time job is hard, but when I worked the ultimate reward was when you walk out the door at the end of the day you can switch off, watch a few television shows and relax. However, as a student you walk out of the lecture hall, open research and do not end until the pools of coffee you have drank throughout the day to simply keep you going ware off and you fall into a stress filled sleep. Furthermore, you have such a small amount of money to your name that your cupboard is filled simply with herbs and spices and that alone is simply not a meal.

I am not making this post as a feel so sorry for me, I'm a poor student, wah wah wah. Very much the opposite. I'm saying that we all have stresses that are dragging us down to the point where you have no discernible life left in you, and mine is finishing my degree.

For me the next few weeks will be me keeping my head above water and pushing through in attempts to find the light at the end of the tunnel (so many metaphors in one sentence, I'm sorry). But I was wondering, do you ever get this feeling where you aren't full blown stressed but you certainly aren't relaxed in the slightes. If so what makes you fell like this?

Thank you SO much for all of you who follow me, its unbelievable to me that anyone reads any of my blog posts and spends time to even comment, you really do make my day. Does anyone actually like these talky/rambly posts? I only wrote one because this is what I know enjoy reading and would love your feedback. I feel my blog has got lost somewhere but I am steering it back to being what I want to write!

Have a great day,

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Life Update: The Never Ending Dissertation ...

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As the final few weeks of my University life are drawing to a close I feel as though the vast majority of my time is spent staring at my dissertation which is displayed brightly on my Mac constantly attempting to ensure that it makes actually makes sense.

You utter the word 'dissertation' to any third year at this time of year, you are going to get one of two reactions. The sigh of relief as they have already handed theirs in or the look of pure dread.

With the best of intentions the magority of undergraduate dissertations are written in the last semester of the year over hot black coffee, oh the joys huh! And once it has all been written, proof read and printed you have to go and get it bound. The fun almost never ends. But, to graduate you do have to complete it (and complete the 100s of other assignments you have too do).

I made this post partially as an apolgy for the lack of posts but also to keep all of you updated on just how mundaine my life has begun, I cannot wait for the freedom that the end of May will bring. I will actually be able to spend my free time doing whatever I like and building up this blog further.

I hope you are all well and Spring may finally make an appearance soon as I can't stand looking at any more of this weather from the window in the library. Good luck to all my fellow third years and any other students out there, summer will be here before you know it!

Mid-Week Motivation

This is particulary dedicated to those of you third years who are like me at the very end of your degree. Slowly wading through a large pile of work which you are expected to complete alongside the dreaded dissertation. But, you know what, its going to be ok.

 

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We spend so much of our time thinking about all the things we have left to do, essays, cleaning, washing up, graduating (ect) that list is endless. But we never look at just how far we have actually come. 

For me, I have go into university, made it to my third year, and in my first semester achieved an overall first. So when I am stressing about the large amount of work I have to do it is so easy to forget just how much I have done to even get where I am. 

So my challenge to you is to sit (over a hot drink) about just how much you have achieved up to this moment and feel proud!

Don't forget to follow me on Bloglovin', Twitter and Instagram for updates about all aspects of my life.
Thank you all so much for your support.

University Life | Five Ways I Plan to Organise My Time

So, the time is finally here. My final semester at University is in full swing and I am actually going to have to write my 10,000 word dissertation, therefore there will be no time to be unorganised. I have decided to share with you five organisation tactics I will be attempting to use to help this semester go more swimmingly for me.

1) Use folders and file dividers

So, for me I take three modules this semester so I have three separate A4 folders (which fit on my shelf perfectly) in which I keep all notes and printed PowerPoint’s in so everything I need when writing my assignments are kept together. This is anything special and I assume most students use such methods.

On top of this, I like to use file dividers to divide the notes into topics/lectures. Again this is means when I come to write my assignments I wont have to hunt for my notes in a massive folder that is unorganised chaos.

Furthermore, for my dissertation sources I have am using the method Laura is using for her dissertation folder – post here: http://www.elelibee.co.uk/2014/10/the-university-series-final-year.html. This is SUCH a good idea as it keeps all my sources in alphabetical order and I can easily find them without using the method I was using which broke it down into chapters not alphabetical order.

2) Organise my Mac into module folders

This is surely a given but in the past two years I have found it so important. The temptation is to save all files anywhere on a computer, but this is really not a good idea.

It is much easier to break all the modules into separate folders and even possibly divide it down again (into notes, PowerPoints, assignments, ect). All this ensures is things are slightly more organised on a computer and again easily identified.

3) Keep my diary up to date

This is something I have never fully achieved, I always start off with good intentions but always end up failing.

I have a diary which I purchased in our student union shop and it is a week per page one. I think this is ideal for me as it is not heavy and fits in my bag with ease. I need to ensure I copy everything on my Mac calendar to my paper diary so its all in one place, otherwise things get confused!

I have decided to use different colour ink for different things. Modules will correspond with their folder colour so Red, Purple or Blue, Dissertation will be green, Blog will be orange and everything else will be black.

4) Plan my time

By this I mean so I try to keep on top of everything.

I want to be doing three blog posts per week – if this is possible – so I will attempt to spend a couple of evenings doing this.

A whole day per week will be dedicated to each module and my dissertation and in-between I will be playing hockey and having some free time because this is equally as important as working.

5) Keep on top of the previous four things!

Its no good to say that I will simply try to do these things I must continue them. Like folder organisation, I will do my best to keep doing this until the end of the semester, after all it will only benefit me!

So over to you, what are your favourite organisational tips? Have you survived third year, if so how?

Thanks for all your lovely comments so far! It really has made me smile and surprised me as I am brand new to this!