Sunday 26 June 2016

June Favourites

Ah! I can't believe it's the end of June already! What?! A quiet month in terms of favourites, but an important one.


Game of Thrones
This is making my favourites list twice in a row! This is probably the thickest book I've ever read, so I'm slowly making my way through it. Having already watched the TV show, I know what's going on so it's nice being able to fill in details, since the TV show does obviously leave a lot of it out.

Family
This is kind of an obvious one since my family are in my favourites every month, but this month especially has made me appreciate them. My granddad was temporarily in hospital for an issue that turned out to be nothing serious, thank goodness, but it was a scary few days none the less.

What are your favourites for this month?

Sunday 19 June 2016

My 30 Before 30 List

Image Credit: https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=30+before+30&biw=1366&bih=667&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&sqi=2&ved=0ahUKE
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I absolutely love reading these kind of posts, so it has inspired me to write my own! I hope this will make me more accountable to actually try and do all these things before I'm 30! That gives me 10 years... that'll be enough time, right?
  1. Finish university with a decent grade.
  2. Complete my teacher training and become a fully fledged teacher!
  3. Give blood.
  4. Get a tattoo.
  5. Go indoor skydiving.
  6. Lead a volunteer programme.
  7. Do a Race For Life.
  8. Finish writing my novel.
  9. Get novel published.
  10. Keep my blog alive for at least a year.
  11. Be able to balance on my hands.
  12. Learn a new language.
  13. Learn how to cook.
  14. Learn to swim.
  15. See a London musical. (Wicked, The Lion King, Beauty and the Beast, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang - I love musicals!)
  16. Move out of my parents house.
  17. Adopt at least one dog.
  18. Keep in touch with friends from school.
  19. Learn a new skill.
  20. Keep writing my diary everyday.
  21. Learn to forgive and forget.
  22. Visit Rome.
  23. Visit Mykonos.
  24. Visit New York.
  25. Visit Norway.
  26. Visit Japan.
  27. Read all of Waterstones '50 Books to Read Before You Die'.
  28. Dye my hair.
  29. Host a dinner party.
  30. Find the perfect jeans.

Sunday 12 June 2016

6 Things I Learned During My Second Year of University

Having now finished my second year of university, I've had some time to reflect about how it went overall, and I've come up with six things that I've learnt over the last year.

1) Your grades actually matter now
One of the nice things about first year was that ultimately, it didn't matter what grades you got as long as you passed, because your grades in first year don't count towards your overall degree grade. However, in second year your grades count, and therefore there is more pressure to not just pass, but actually do well. You might have gotten away with avoiding the library in your first year, but no longer!

2) Lecturers will be less lenient
You're in second year now, you're not the newbies anymore, and as a result of that, your lecturers will stop letting you off with not prepping for your seminar. There will be no excuses for not doing the reading, and thinking on your feet will become second nature.

3) You learn how to keep yourself busy outside of campus
Chances are, you won't be living on campus anymore, and therefore you have to learn to entertain yourself in the local area. Having only 8 hours of lectures a week means a lot of free time outside of studying, and hence I started volunteering in order to keep myself busy.

4) You learn how to get around town
On a similar note, second year is probably when you'll become very familiar with the town/city that you live in. You'll learn where everything is, what buses to take and which shortcuts are the best. Essentially, you'll become a lot more comfortable in the community.

5) Lecturers care about how well you do
Depending on the size of your university, it's very easy to feel like a face lost in the crowd, that your lecturers wouldn't even notice if you did attend the lecture. But during second year, you learn that they do actually care about how well you do. They will be happy to meet with you to discuss issues, and they want to help you get the best grades possible.

6) Your housemates will become your family
Having chosen your housemates for second year, chances are you'll be having a great time living with them. However, this doesn't always mean that you'll get on with them all the time. You'll be spending more time with them than anyone else, you'll probably fight like siblings, and nag each other like parents.

Personally, I found that second year was more stressful than first year, but also more interesting. I became more comfortable with university life and I have really settled into the university routine.

How did you find the second year of university?