August Update!

Well, the Summer is over and I'll be heading into my final year of university this month - Crazy! This Summer hasn't been amazing, but it's been a lot better than last year, where I was ill for most of it.

In my last update, I said I'd emailed my lecturer about a dissertation idea and was waiting for his approval. He approved it, thankfully, and I've been doing a little research in preparation. When I say little, I mean little. I only have a list of narrowed ideas and a few references at the moment, but I'm planning on finding more before I go back.

It was my blog's 4th birthday on the 3rd August! I made cupcakes to celebrate, which you can see in the birthday post. 4 years is a long time. I wonder how much longer I'll blog for? Could be a year, could be another 4. Who knows?

It was also my sister's 18th birthday on the 18th August. I made her a cake (above), 30 cupcakes, a giant cookie, and chocolate sheep. It was a lot of work, and the cake didn't look perfect, but it tasted delicious. I was so tense when it was being cut and handed to people because I just wanted them to like it! It seemed to have gone down well, but they could've been lying, you never know! It tasted great to me, though, and I'm my biggest critic.

I got my hair cut as well. 6 inches taken off and now I have shoulder length hair! It's the shortest I've had it in years, but I'm liking it. I'm tempted to go shorter, but I want my long hair back for graduation (if I survive the next year, that is).

I had an issue with my modules for year 3, where they'd given me 2 for semester A and 4 for semester B (instead of 3 and 3). It was just my luck, but it's been sorted now! I'm doing 2 compulsory dissertation ones, 2 compulsory English ones (my major), and 2 optional media ones (my minor). These optional ones are in photography and marketing. I've already done a photography module, which I enjoyed, but I've never done a marketing one. Hopefully I like it, but I'll just suck it up if I don't.

The 31st August was the day in which I'd had Jessie for 4 years. I can't believe how fast it's gone! And I've just remembered that I got her the same year I started blogging (and the same year I finished GCSEs and went into A Levels). I posted a photo on Twitter of Jessie sleeping with Jacks (one of our cats. He's the same age as Jessie, so he's only a kitten in the photo himself) just a few hours after we'd brought her home. So cute.

Now, I'm going to bathe the dogs and make a crumble with freshly picked apples (not at the same time. I'm not THAT talented!). I'm also going to be upgrading my phone today, which I'm excited about! The rest of September will consist of meeting up with some friends and starting year 3 of uni. You'll probably hear all about my days on Twitter anyway (where I also post lots of photos of my animals). How was your August?

Update!

All of my animals, past and present

I haven't written one of these in ages! Partly because my life hasn't been that exciting, and partly because I didn't think there was any point. However, I was reading through my old posts earlier and loved reading my diary type entries. It was interesting to see how I felt years ago.

So, I've finished year 2 of university! I can't believe it. In one of the posts I read earlier, I wrote: I don't think I'll get into uni, and even if I do, I don't think I'll manage it. Well, past me, you did get in and you are managing it! I had an exam on the 6th June, and that was my last assessment. Results are on the 19th July. I'll find out half of my degree grade on the 19th July. Scary stuff.

Year 3 and the dreaded 'd' word will be upon me in a few months time. I've thought of a topic for my dissertation, so I'm going to look into it and then narrow it down with the help of my lecturers when I go back. I'm just hoping they don't dismiss it! It has to be English based because I'm majoring in English Language and Linguistics, but I've also found a way to incorporate my minor (Media) and my interests. Fingers crossed it works out!

I want to start exercising a little to tone up and improve my health. I did the Blogilates Call Me Maybe Mighty Squat Challenge yesterday, and oh my. My legs sure are hurting today! I'm feeling muscles I didn't even know I had. I'm going to do an ab specific video tomorrow, and then whatever else takes my fancy.

I applied for a job earlier! I've enquired about jobs before, but never applied for one. One with a form and everything. Some of you may not know this, and some of you will, but I have huge confidence issues, so this is a big deal for me. I'm nervous (understatement), but I was terrified to go to uni and that all turned out fine (so terrified that it took all of my willpower to force me out the door, and I was sick every morning for a couple weeks).

Since finishing uni, I've been baking and blogging quite a bit. I don't have any fun plans for the Summer, just looking for a job and thinking of dissertation stuff. If I do end up getting a job, I don't know how I'll be able to cope in year 3, but I'll get to that hurdle later. I do want to try and do some fun things, though, like go to Thorpe Park with my friends. I've been to Alton Towers (didn't think much of it), but never Thorpe Park. I'd also love to take a day trip or weekend to another city.

And that's everything! I may try and make these updates a regular thing again. We'll see!

How I revise and organise my time

Now that the academic year has started, I thought I'd show you how I organise my time and revise!

I use a week-to-view diary/planner so I can easily see what I have coming up in the next week. Here's a quick guide to what you see above! My lectures are highlighted in orange, the pink sticky note bookmarks what week we're in, so I can quickly turn to it, and the green sticky notes bookmark my assignment deadlines. When I've completed something, I draw a line through it, and when I don't do something and move it, I put diagonal, squiggly lines through it. As you can see, I didn't write this post yesterday, so scribbled through it and moved it to today. I've also scribbled out one of my English tasks and moved it to next Tuesday because I have the day off.

Sometimes, I plan my days out by the hour. Don't worry, I'm not that organised - I only do this on the days when I have a lot of uni work to do. For the purpose of this post, I've quickly written one up today. 

As you can see, I have an hour in between each task. I find that this usually gives me the motivation to do my work. If I can't be bothered to do a task, I just think that in an hour, it will be over and I'll have an hours break.

I never used to do this and just tried to revise for as long as I could so I could get it over and done with. This wasn't a good idea because it used to make revising a daunting task, rather than a manageable one.

Some people may think that I lose a lot of time revising like this, but when I start early on my days off, I can revise for 6-7 hours a day. 

Here are some of my revision notes from last year. I never used to have a revision technique and it really damaged my year 12 grades. I then stopped trying to make fun revision games and did what came naturally - Writing lists! I break down the notes in my folder and list the main points. I then memorise the lists until I know them off by heart. To memorise them, I either repeat them in my mind or write them down countless times. It may seem tedious, but it works for me and that's what really matters!

That is how I organise my life and revise for exams! When I write assignments, I do what I've done in the second photo. Obviously, If I'm 'in the zone', then I'll write for longer than the hour provided.

Penguin Memory Stick

I wanted to show you my new memory stick because I think it's so cute! It holds 8GB worth of files and you can buy it for £7.99 from here.

Back to School Stationery Haul

Hello! I'm going into my second year of university in September and I've now bought most of the stationery I'll need, so I thought I'd show you it. Stocking up on stationery for the next academic year used to be as exciting as Christmas when I was younger. I still love buying stationery, but for the last few years, I've bought the basic, cheap necessities, and that's it. This year, I wanted to add some more colour to my notes, because I can (We were only allowed to use black or blue ink in school). The prices of things didn't really matter to me this year, so you can probably buy some of the things below at a cheaper price from a Supermarket own brand.

Last year, I found that display books worked well for my course, so I've bought a few more this year - One for each module. Display books usually contain about 30 pockets, and I usually put 2-4 pages in each one, so they are a good size for my needs. The blue, purple and pink display books you see above are from WHSmith and were £4.99 for all three. They were in the 'Back to School' section and were 75% off :) I then bought three popper wallets for my assignments - They're perfect for my ideas, plans and drafts. They were also from WHSmith, but I cannot remember the price. They certainly weren't the cheapest though - I'd suggest buying some from Tesco.

The Ryman notepad was £1.99 and 3 for 2. The paper is thick and I like it because the lines inside are narrow, so they're great for my small writing. I bought the Pukka Pad yonks ago, so cannot remember the price, but you can get them for £1-2 when Tesco have their Back to School deals on. During the rest of the year, they're about £4.

The Stabilo highlighters, Staedtler fineliner pens and Paper Mate black ball pens are all from Ryman, but they can be found in many other stores. The highlighters were £5.99, the fineliner pens were on offer for £4.99 (And still are!) and the Paper Mate black ball pens were £1.99. I've used the Paper Mate pens for years and always repurchase them. I used to only be able to write with fountain pens, which was annoying because ball pens are so much cheaper, so I'm glad I can now write with ball pens!

The coloured Paper Mate ball pens are from WHSmith and were £2.49.  These were an impulse buy really. I liked the look of the colours and packaging! The pencils were also from WHSmith and cost £2.24. They're not the cheapest, but I couldn't be bothered to search any more stores. I always buy pencils with rubbers on the tops because I'm lazy. Picking up a separate rubber when I've made a mistake is just too much work! haha. Also, once a pencil is blunt, I tend to move onto the next one, instead of sharpening it. As I said, I'm lazy.

The Tesco sticky and film index markers were £1.18 and £1.41. Last year, I found out how useful these are! The sticky index markers are great to write annotations on and the film index markers are great to bookmark textbooks.

The 2012-2013 academic elephant diary/planner was £4.50 from Paperchase. It looks small, but there is plenty of room for me to write what I need. It has a week per two pages layout, which is the layout I prefer. Also, how cute is it?!

My pencil case is by Cath Kidston and cost £3.50 in the ASOS sale. It's meant to be a purse, but it's far too big to be one! It's the perfect size for a pencil case though.

My school bag is also by Cath Kidston and was £11.50 in the ASOS sale:

I've used this bag for the last year and it's still in perfect condition, so I'll probably use it for the next year too. However, I've been eyeing up another design, which I may have to purchase! I just think they're perfect for school and uni. They fit in all the books and folders I need and the oilcloth material allows me to use them when it rains.

And this is the end of the post! Phew! I still have to purchase some printer ink and maybe another memory stick, but that's about it. Oh, and I obviously need to buy some new clothes ;) I bought two more pairs of jeans from New Look yesterday and love them. One pair are high waisted, so I cannot wait to wear them.

University - One (academic) year in

I have finished my first year of university! I finished my final assignment last night and I am handing it in tomorrow (As well as giving my sister and our friend a tour - They're entering their second year of sixth form, so need to start making university decisions). I have completed 12 assignments: 7 essays, 3 exams, 1 practical and 1 presentation. My grades have been good and so much better than I thought I could do. I haven't found the lectures any harder than my A Level classes, but there's a lot more independent learning, and it has taken a great deal of motivation to write my essays! I didn't believe I could handle university, but I am beginning to. I know my second and third years are going to be incredibly harder, but I'm trying not to think about them just yet and enjoy my Summer. Overall, I like university. I have greatly improved my writing skills and it is giving me confidence - Academic confidence and confidence around other people.
I don't know what else to say! Sorry for such a short post! If you have any questions about university or my experience, you can leave me a comment or email :)

My Week in Photos and Someday Summary

Hello! I thought I'd do something new this week and show you what I've been up to through the eyes of a camera. I'll also be having a natter. Before we start, I just thought I'd say that the photos do not show everything I've been doing, and I kept forgetting I was meant to be taking photos! Also, I won't be doing one of these posts every week because my routine pretty much stays the same! My life basically consists of my animals, food, parcels and revision, and this is displayed in the following photos.

Monday

1. I presented my media presentation. I became nervous a few minutes before it was my turn, but I didn't let my nerves get to my voice, and it went okay :)

2. I bought this yoghurt drink from Lidl and it was delicious! I love peach yoghurt.

3. The bag I ordered from New Look arrived. It's my first 'grown up' bag. The bags I've previously used for school and university have been of the shopper variety.

4. I painted my nails with China Glaze For Audrey and the Models Own Nail Art Pen in White.

Tuesday

1., 2., and 3. After uni, I took Jessie for a long walk :)

4. and 5. The online food shopping arrived! I added mango & blackcurrant sorbet and lemon cheesecake ice-cream to the basket, and oh my! They are delicious! Tesco, 2 for £3.50, go!

Wednesday

1. Revising for my English exam.

2. I had lunch at lunch time, for once!

3. My The Body Shop order arrived. There was a 40% off and free delivery code floating around the internet, so I took advantage and stocked up on the hand gels. I also ordered some other bits, but they're birthday presents.

4. The aniseed balls and chocolate brazil nuts I ordered for Father's Day arrived (I buy presents early!). The person I order my 'not easy to get hold of' sweets from is great. This is their website and this is their eBay store.

5. 'The Help' arrived from Amazon. It doesn't sound like my kind of book, but it has a lot of positive reviews, so I thought I'd give it a read.

6. Battered sausages! They look disgusting, but they taste so good.

Thursday

1. After uni, I went to Lidl and bought yoghurt and fruit to make healthy snacks.

2. A healthy snack made from the yoghurt and fruit!

3. and 4. I took Jessie for another walk.

5. After I took Jessie for a walk, I took Shadow for a short walk down the road (She's old and cannot handle long walks any more). On our journey, I turned around to see three of my cats following us! I wish I had taken a photo of the two dogs and three cats walking in a row.

Friday

1. Last minute revision before my English exam. I think it went okay, but I won't know for sure just yet.

2. My Figs and Rouge pomegranate balm from Feel Unique arrived.

3. I wrote a post about The Body Shop Hand Cleanse Gels.

4. Chicken dippers and onion rings - Yum!

Saturday

1. I had grapes, scones and tea for breakfast.

2. My giveaway prize from Sian arrived! Thank you so much, Sian :)

3. Planning my final assignment.

4. and 5. I was bored, so decided to curl my hair. The photos show only half of my hair curled. The curls made my hair look so much shorter!

5. Pizza and cauliflower cheese :)

Sunday

1. I reviewed the Remington Pearl Curling Wand (It's the post before this!)

2. Lunch. In my sandwich was ham, cheese, tomato and cucumber. The cheese is from Farm Foods and is amazing! It's really creamy and extra mature. You know you have a good block of cheese when you squidge it and it's soft.

3. What my hair looked like 24 hours after curling it (It still looks like that now, actually).

4. I'm now planning and starting my final assignment. I shall be occupied with this until the 6th June.

What else?

• I've started buying things for my sister's birthday present box, even though her birthday isn't until August!
• I'm going in town Wednesday and I'm so excited! It feels like I haven't been shopping in ages. I'm mostly excited about buying a new academic diary haha
• Oh, I finished reading Insurgent a few weeks back (The book after Divergent). I absolutely loved it. The next book in the trilogy doesn't come out until next year :(
• I'm thinking about learning how to embroid, seeing as I'll have a few months spare soon!

Did you watch the Eurovision Song Contest final last night? How unpopular are we?!

University - Five months in

I write these update posts when there are significant things to update you with, so here we are! Since my last update post, I've received assignment grades back, produced a practical and sat an exam.

For my assignments, I received a first and two 2:1s. I could not be happier! I had to triple check that what I was seeing was correct. I was expecting 2:2s at most. 

For media, I also had to create a practical representing myself. I kept it simple and used an old home video for the visual, and for the audio, I had my family members tell stories about me as a child. I asked the technician if he could transfer my home video onto a DVD, as I hadn't watched it in over ten years. As soon as I started watching it, I knew I had to use it in my practical because it meant so much to me. I loved seeing young versions of my parents, myself as a baby and my old animals. Accompanying the practical, we had to write an evaluation explaining why we made the choices we did. I'm so glad we had to do this because I'm good at explaining myself through words. Even if my practical is rubbish, my evaluation justifies it. My practical is being shown on the big screen in Plymouth, which is exciting!

Yesterday, I had my first exam (for one of my English modules). I'm not sure it went well, but I won't know for certain until I receive a grade for it. If I do have to retake, at least I know what to expect; yesterday, I didn't have a clue what was going to come up!

The last month has shown me that I am coping with University, and it has gave me the confidence to continue. I still don't believe I will be able to cope with the second year, but that's not for months yet. I'm just going to focus on the present!

University - Three months in

I made it through the first term! Yipee!
Lectures in the last few months have been fine and I've understood what has been taught. Two out of three of my modules are a mix between a lecture and a seminar. The atmosphere is relaxed and informal, just like my A Level classes used to be.
Assignments... lets start with the fact that I've managed to complete four! I don't believe in myself when it comes to essays (well, I don't believe in myself full stop!), so I'm proud that I've managed to do them. It wasn't easy peasy lemon squeezy though. To begin with, I found it hard to find the motivation to write them. Towards the end however, I worked hard, because I had no choice. If I worked as hard as I did in the beginning, I would have finished them weeks earlier! I still managed to get them in on time though, so all is good :) Over Christmas, I just have one assignment and a media practical to do (the assignment looks so hard though). Then, at the end of January, I have one exam.
In terms of friends; I have some! I've become close with a girl and a few guys, and they really do cheer me up in our Friday classes, after a long week. We went bowling the other week, which was good (we were all terrible though!), but apart from that, we haven't seen much of each other outside of University. This is because a few of them live hours away and catch the train to Uni. We bought each other Christmas presents and I have a few LUSH products to use up now!
Overall, the last three months have been good! Can I make it to the end of the academic year though?
x

University - Two weeks in

Good evening, can you believe it's October tomorrow?! Each year is getting faster and faster.

I thought I'd write these little updates about University, not just for myself, but for other people to get an insight to my life and my experiences of being a student.

Oh, by the way, I'm living at home. Future students, your experiences are going to be completely different because of where you live, what part of the country you live in, what University you go to, your personality, etc.

Last week was introduction week and this week, I had my first lectures. The Saturday before introduction week started, I became very nervous. I started to panic and shed a few tears. This happened for the next few nights, as well as being sick in the mornings (I hate that symptom of my nervousness). As with most things, it wasn't as scary as I thought. 
The connotations around fresher's week is that you go out partying all night, every night. I didn't go out once, not only because I was completely knackered, but because it's not my thing. I don't like crowds, dancing or alcohol. It sounds out of the norm to do (or not to do in my case), but quite a few people I've spoken to didn't go out either, for the same reasons as myself.

This week wasn't as scary as I thought it'd be either. Because my University is a small one, there's only 30-40 people in each lecture, so going into a classroom isn't as daunting as you see in the films. The lectures haven't been too hard to understand, but it's only the first week. I'm worried about writing future essays, because I don't believe I am good enough.

In terms of friends, I haven't really made any yet. I've been speaking to people, but I wouldn't call any of them my friends. I do think that living at home makes it harder to make friends. People who are living in halls seem really close with their house mates, which is understandable because they've already spent a lot of time with each other.  Hopefully, I'll have some friends soon! I'm not too bothered at the moment, because I'm used to not having them.

Overall, my first two weeks have been fine. Not great, but not terrible either :) and I'm proud of myself for having the courage to actually go. It's the little things such as taking a new journey and bus on my own, sitting on my own whilst waiting for a class and talking to complete strangers, that are helping me become more independent and confident.

I would appreciate no judgemental comments. You may think I'm doing something wrong, and if I am, I'll learn on my own.

Results

My first choice University was Plymouth and my second was Marjon (which is also in Plymouth). Over the months, I convinced myself I'd never get into Plymouth, so I became more attached to Marjon. I also liked that Marjon only has 3,000 students, where as Plymouth has 10x that. 
Yesterday morning I logged into Track. Track said they would open at 8am, but at 7am, it was working. It said that I had got into Plymouth and I was in shock. I went and got my results and was surprised because I didn't meet Plymouth's grade requirements, but they still offered me a place. I didn't want to go to Plymouth anymore though. I got home and asked Marjon if I could still have my place, in which they replied "We'd be delighted to give you a place". I then filled out an online form and emailed Plymouth asking to be released. I went on Track this morning, seen that I had been released from Plymouth and added Marjon in clearing. 5 minutes later they accepted me! 
I really hope that I don't regret withdrawing from Plymouth. I didn't get the grades to go there anyway so would feel like I didn't deserve a place. 3,000 students is still a lot to me, so I think Marjon is going to challenge me greatly.
My grades weren't the best and I did get a little upset about them. So many people had got As and Bs, so I felt a little dumb compared to them. At the end of the day though, I had 5 conditionals and was accepted into 2 Universities, so it could be a lot worse.
I am absolutely terrified of going though. New people, all the work and on top of that, I don't have many clothes haha
x

Someday Summary - Friday

• Jacks (Or Jax as my dad prefers to spell it) went 'missing' for 2 1/2 weeks. We weren't particularly worried because it's 'mating season' (He had the chop about a month ago though, poor sod). On Tuesday my dad found him chillin' in someone's garden a few streets away haha. We decided to get him a collar so people know where to return him if he goes walk abouts again. It's black and sparkly and he looks adorable!

He kept moving, hence the side shot but this photo shows you the collar well.

• Also on Tuesday, I drank 1L 250ml of water! I know the recommended amount is 2L but I'm still proud of myself. The only water I normally drink is in a few cups of teas a day. I'm going to try and drink more because I'm sure my body is suffering from the little amount it gets. My muscles keep pulling themselves and they're so painful that I cannot move for about 5 minutes. I'm guessing this is because of water deficiency. Drinking water will also make my skin look better!

• I'm stressing out about exams. One month left people! I'm worried about English and Media (Not so much Psychology). I get my results on the 18th August and before I collect them, I can log into Ucas to see if I've been accepted into the Uni's I've applied for. Imagine if they say I haven't got a place... I'm going to have to go into school to collect my results, knowing I've done bad. The 18th is also my sister's birthday so if my results are poor, I'm going to be crying on her happy occasion.

• Most people in my year either have a job, can drive, go 'clubbing' or are having sex. I do none of these things and it makes me feel like a child. I don't have the: confidence to get a job, money to learn to drive, friends to go 'clubbing' and I don't have a boyfriend. In fact, I've never had a boyfriend and I'm 18. How pathetic is that?

My favourite cleanser is nearly gone! Thankfully I have a back up of The Body Shop's Vitamin E Facial Cleansing Bar. Review can be found here. I wrote the review 11 months ago and it's only just running out!

x

Someday Summary - Tuesday

I haven't done one of these posts in a while! I really like writing them actually; they're like my diary :)

• I'm not fond of my life and it's been like that for a while, but as of lately, I've been feeling really down and I'm not sure why. I hope I start to feel better soon or I'll need to go on the hunt for some happy pills!

• My exams are about 2 months away. I was meant to start hardcore revision two weeks ago but I've done little since then. I feel like I've let myself down already and if this keeps happening, I'm going to fail my exams and not get into University. This could be the reason why I've been feeling so down actually.

• I have a University open day in about two weeks which gives me a taster of the course I will be studying. Regular readers will know about my fear of meeting new people. Thankfully, I can bring someone with me for the first half and then by the second, I should be fine.

• I'm having doubts about liking Uni. It just sounds so hard and I don't think I'll be able to manage the work.

• Before I started writing this post, I pulled a muscle in my leg and now my cheeks hurt. When I'm in pain, I laugh (Defense thing. Some people do this because laughing apparently eases the pain). Can you imagine if I ever have children? I'll be laughing throughout the whole of my labor. My cheeks will kill!

• I had a few pounds left in my Paypal account so yesterday I ordered China Glaze For Audrey. I've decided to only buy a polish if I haven't yet got a shade like it in my collection. I have nothing like For Audrey; a pale, muted turquoise. I bought it for £4.50-something from Enchanted Beauty Spot; a seller on eBay. Beauty Zone 2007 is another great seller for cheap China Glaze/OPI/Essie etc but they are a little more expensive (Only by about 20p though).

Jessie

These are a god send in the Summer! I usually buy about 10 a time haha

x

Someday Summary

I haven't written one of these posts in a few weeks so I thought I'd update you. My life has been pretty boring actually so I don't know what I'm going to write.

• Remember I had an interview at Falmouth University? I wrote a whole post about it. Well the following day they offered me a conditional. In the prospectus, they said they wanted 220 UCAS points (Which would work out as CCD) but on the letter they sent me, they want me to get a B in English and Media. I have conditionals for all my choices but they all want me to get a B in English which is going to be hard. I don't think I'm going to get into University and don't know what I'm going to do with my life.

• I'm behind on my Media coursework and English coursework. I need to take my own photos for my Media magazine to get a good grade. I don't have many friends and am not close to any guys who are suitable to take photos of (Need a guy on the cover of my magazine). Also, my sister has only just agreed to have her photo taken for a few of the pages. English... I've transcribed 3 out of 4 films but have had trouble downloading the 4th (Beauty and The Beast) because our internet connection went. This has delayed me transcribing it, delaying me creating the data graphs, delaying me writing the essay that has to be in Friday. I'm going to have to ask for more time.

• My friend got us Lee Evans tickets for August. I've never been to see someone famous (Have never even been to a concert :() so I'm excited!

• As well as saving up to pay for the ticket, I have to save up for a sixth form leavers hoodie, May Ball dress, shoes etc...

• I need to make my blog more personal and I know people like OOTDs and FOTDS. I hate having my photo taken and have boring clothes but I am going to try and do an OOTD/FOTD once a week (The next week is going to be super busy so I'll have to see if I can do one).

A few photos I've found from weheartit:

LOL.

x

Interview

This is a ramble post; you don't have to read it!

I had my interview at Falmouth University today.

When I first received the letter telling me about the interview, I said I wasn't going. I'm terrified of meeting new people so avoid most situations where this is included.

After thinking about it and being persuaded by others, I agreed to go. Even sending the confirmation email, I felt sick.

For weeks, I wasn't nervous because it didn't seem real. Last night and this morning I was nervous but no way near as much as I thought I would be. Surprisingly, on the way to the interview, my nerves didn't get the better of me and I wasn't sick. This is because I kept my mind off of it. Thinking about what will happen is a big no. What you think is usually far worse than the actual situation is and you end up working yourself up for nothing.

I got to the reception and waited. My knees were actually trembling!

The letter I received about the interview stated that it would last approximately 3 hours, including a tour, introduction to the course, group discussion and individual interview. I contacted the University to see how many other applicants would be attending and the reply was 6.

Wrong. They were expecting me along with another girl. The other girl didn't turn up so it was just me.

I also expected there to be about 3 interviewers but there was just one woman. She took me through the campus, chatting along the way. We went into a room and she casually started asking me questions. It was so relaxed and casual I didn't realise it was the interview! It lasted around 10 minutes and then I went home haha

She was amazed that I've raised around 30 kittens and kept asking me questions about it. She also seemed interested in my blog. A few of my answers could have been better but it was so casual it seemed like a normal conversation.

The campus is beautiful and they don't have formal examinations as they believe you cannot judge someone's ability from a one hour exam. They focus on the coursework.

Also, although I've applied for English with Media, I have a choice to have an English with Creative Writing degree.

Both courses do the same modules for the first year. For the second I can choose modules from the Media and Creative Writing courses. It's the third year in which I choose whether I want an English with Media degree or English with Creative Writing.

Although the interview didn't push me in the deep end, in terms of my fear with meeting new people, I'm so proud of myself for having the courage to go.

x

Someday Summary

Haven't wrote one of these for a few weeks because my life is boring! This post is about the little things that have amused me which I want to share with you :)

• It's finally snowed in the South West! It was coming down heavy earlier but has now stopped. We should have a lot more tomorrow morning.

• My new loves. These are my Newlook '32in Crinkle Skinny Jean' £19.99. I'm not sure what colour I have but I think they're either Klein Blue or Blue Pattern. The picture does not do them justice at all! They're not crinkly on the knees, that's just where I've been wearing them.

• This is what one of my best friends Kelly got me for Christmas. It is a Poinsettia, the leaves turn red at Christmas/Winter time. I love it :) I now have 9 plants in my windowsill haha

• Another friend got me the most useful Christmas present. She knows I want to paint my room so she got me paint and painting accessories ^. The paint is with her at the moment because it was too heavy to bring in!

• We had a student from Plymouth University (My first choice) come in and talk to us, basically about everything. It scared me to death and I didn't want to go Uni, but afterwards I spoke to her and asked questions, which made me feel better :)
• Falmouth University is the one University I haven't heard from yet (The rest giving me conditionals) and they want to do an interview. I am terrified as I haven't done one before. All the other Universities didn't need to interview me.

• I am now on Christmas holidays which normally is a good time but this year I have to revise for my January exams and do my Media coursework. I'm planning on doing 2-3 hours of revision each day. I'm so annoyed with Media because it's getting in the way of my revision.

x

Move away or stay home? (University related)

I need your opinions.. again!

I know people say 'Do what you want to do.' but I don't know what I want to do, I'm undecided so would like some opinions to help me along :)

I've got a whole year yet, but I would still like to know what you guys think.

Ok so, I'm going to list the good and bad points of moving away and staying home. There are probably more.

Key: (haha I'm cool)

+ = Positive

- = Negative

Falmouth (Moving away)

+ Give me a push to hopefully give me the confidence I need.

+ For this particular University you don't do exams, which I think will benefit me.

- I will have to budget and I've worked out that I won't have a lot of money.

- Applying and the whole moving process will be a lot of work.

Plymouth (Staying home)

+ Will have so much more money.

+ Will be comfortable (Good point, but then maybe I need to be taken out of my comfort zone?)

- This University do exams. Not that bad of a point, but I would prefer not to do them.

- I'm scared I won't make as many friends as people will already know their house mates and will also be together a lot more.

So there you go. I know a lot of people think moving away will be the better option, I would just like to hear all the points for both sides.. and some people prefer to stay at home.

Please let me know what you think!

x

Update on my school life, interesting I know ;)

I have no idea what I'm going to write but feel the need to blog! & this is one of those posts where most of you couldn't give a monkey's ass but I like to have a little ramble :)

Ok so, I'm now in my last year of sixth form! Gosh, University is right around the corner.

I've decided to carry on with English Language, English Media and Psychology. Although I love Biology, I'm dropping it because it has so much content, it will take away my time from the other subjects.

I'm going to have to work extremely hard this year. My Psychology results were really poor which really upset me because I answered all the questions with confidence and don't know where I went wrong. I'm a good student in class and do well, but I obviously am doing something wrong in the exams. I'm getting my paper back to see where I went wrong.

I'm going to be paranoid that my teacher will see me as the dumb student from now on.

She also said that normally when students get D's/E's in AS, they normally get E's at A2, but I know I'm better than that.

I didn't revise much for AS because I didn't revise for GCSE's and got A's and B's so I thought I'd do ok. But I know now that I need to knuckle down and get revising months before the exams, not weeks before.

For the re-sits, getting my exam paper back and revision books, it's going to cost around £70.. which I don't have. I'm really going to have to scrape by and definitely won't be able to buy a laptop for school any time soon.

As for University choices... I don't want to go up North. There isn't any particular reason, I know the Universities up there are amazing, I just want to stay down South. In fact, all the Universities I want to go to are all along the South Coast haha.

For most, I need a B in English to do my chosen course (English with Media) but I only need CCD for Falmouth which is reassuring. I'm still going to try my best but it's good to know I have a back up. Falmouth is in Cornwall and is an Art University but they do English with Media. I think the entry grades are so low because it's not a popular subject choice as most people go there to do Art.

So that's it! This was just a ramble to myself to get my thoughts together, thank you for reading, if anyone has!

x