May Favourites

It's been a bit of a weird month for me... I've completed four exams and finished my second year of university. I've also moved back home and have just succeeded in getting myself a summer job. It's all going on at the moment!

Netflix
There's only so much revision you can do in a day, so Netflix has been my best friend over the last three weeks. I've been binge-watching old shows that I used to be obsessed with. Vampire Diaries and Gossip Girl are really doing it for me at the moment.

Game of Thrones
I've had this book for over a year but I just haven't gotten around to reading it quite yet. Now that I'm done with uni for another year, I'm really looking forward to reading all my own books again. I'm also obsessed with the Game of Thrones TV show, so I get a double GoT fix every week!

Naked Smoky Palette
I haven't really used this since I got it at Christmas, so I've been playing around with it and trying out different looks that I can wear on an everyday basis. I'm loving the colour Whiskey as a crease colour: it's the most beautiful chocolate brown!

Peanut Butter
This is completely random and has nothing to do with anything, but I'm addicted to peanut butter right now. I have been eating it straight out of the jar, which isn't a great habit admittedly, but it's so good!

My bed!
I've got a double bed at uni, but I'm not a massive fan to be honest. I curl up in a tiny ball and only use like a quarter of the bed, so sleeping in a double just feels like loads of empty space. I've been sleeping so much better in my single bed at home!

What have you been loving this month?

University Essentials

I'm currently one week and two exams away from finishing my second year at university, and over the last two years I've become an expert on what you really need to manage at university.

1) A planner

Some kind of organisational system is essential for life at university. You're gonna have a lot of meetings, particularly in the first few weeks and then of course you have lectures and seminars to attend. Towards the end of the year you'll probably have revision sessions and the like, so some kind of diary is definitely going to help organise your life.

2) Pens

This one goes with the first one really, but having coloured pens will just make organisation a bit more interesting. There's only so many times you can write the same lectures in every week in the same old black pen!

3) Textbooks

To be honest, this is probably a bit more specific to my course, but having all the textbooks we're studying is so important. The only person who's going to suffer if you don't do the reading is you, and you don't want to look like an idiot if you're the only person who hasn't done it.

These things obviously go alongside all the obvious things: pens, paper, etc. I just thought it would be helpful for people who are interested about what actually gets used at university, because I know that in first year I brought a load of stuff that I never used again.

What are your university essentials?

Can Long Distance Relationships Really Work?

Image Credit: http://www.healthaim.com/long-distance-relationship-work/41236 

Your first answer is no, right? Wrong.

I have been with my boyfriend for around two and a half years, and we are in a long-distance relationship. Sort of.
We go to different universities that are an hour and a half apart, and due to this, we spend a lot of time apart. We had been together for around 7 months when we went off to university, and an even shorter time than that when we were choosing universities. We both knew that we couldn't change our university choices just because of our fairly new relationship, and that if we were truly meant to be together, then it would work out.

And now here we are: two and a half years later.

Don't get me wrong, long distance relationships are hard. Some days are easier than others, but being apart from each other for the majority of the time can really take its toll on a relationship. But the one thing that struck me, when we were preparing for university, was that not one person said that we would make it. Not one single person. I had so many people ask me, 'So, are you and Carl breaking up?' and not one person say, 'You guys will be okay. You'll make it.'

And now, whenever I'm back at home and seeing people from school, I get a different kind of comment: 'No one ever thought you and Carl would make it this far, you've done so well. You've proved that long distance relationships can work.' And you know what? They really can.

Okay, I know an hour and a half isn't really that long, in hindsight, but ultimately, we were two eighteen-year-olds, and we had no idea whether this was gonna work or not. Like with any relationship, it takes work. It takes commitment. Skype will become your best friend and texting will become second-nature. At the end of the day, the only people who can say whether or not your relationship will work is you. As long as you are both committed and willing to make it work, there's no reason why it can't.

And if you are in a similar position to what we were, let me be probably the first person to tell you: you'll be okay. You'll make it.