I don't often have strong associations with words. In my first poetry seminar we were asked to write our favourite word on the board. I wrote something along the lines of 'mystery'. This was partly because I do quite like the sound of the word, and partly because I was afraid of spelling the word I actually really like the sound of the best (serendipity) wrong. But I don't have a favourite word based purely on meaning. Words alone don't tend to speak to me. But there is one word I have grown to dislike.
After.
I hate the word after. It makes my palms clam up and gives me a sticky sensation in my stomach. Not only does it imply that the thing you are currently doing will end, but it also implies a time beyond that where you should have figured out what you're going to do.
For me, after has come in two questions recently, both of which have struck fear into my heart,
1) 'What are you going to do after you graduate?'
2) 'Do you think you're going to keep seeing him after you leave uni?'
Both of these terrify me. I love plans, I'm a big plan maker and to-do-list creator. I like to know what's going on, and even if the plans change I like to be kept in the loop.
This being said, I like to go with the flow. I'm quite a laid back person, and I don't like to set things in stone if it means I'm going to potentially miss out on something better at a later date. Especially when it comes to relationships with people, I tend to be a little afraid of arranging things too far in the future as people and situations can change pretty quickly.
The combination of these two characteristics means that I've got all these ideas about where I want to go and what I want to do, but no real path to take me there.
I know I'm a victim of circumstance. I took a degree to postpone real life for a bit, to further improve myself, and because for me there was never any other option which appealed. Now that I've come to the end of that plan, I've got this huge window of opportunity in front of me. There are all these huge helium balloons floating just out of arms reach. 'Editor in a big name publishing house' one reads. 'Marketing and Publicity for LUSH' says another. 'Travel' a third. 'Just write' a fourth. It goes on and on. It takes a jump to grasp any of them, and I definitely can't grab two at once. I'm just worried my fingers will slip on the rope and I'll fall.
My feet are over the edge of the ledge, what happens after I jump?
Showing posts with label university. Show all posts
Showing posts with label university. Show all posts
Friday, 3 April 2015
Tuesday, 31 March 2015
#reviewsdaytuesday: University of East Anglia's English Literature with Creative Writing (Q3W8) Couse
For the past 3 years I've studied on UEA's English Literature with Creative Writing course, and over that time I've formed a couple of opinions on it that might be useful to anyone looking to apply to a creative writing programme.
The course is technically split 75% English with 25% Writing, but over the course of your degree you can definitely move that toward the 50%-50% mark. I took 5/16 modules in creative writing, but two of those are weighted more heavily than the others, and at least 3 of my other modules offered the chance to be assessed on my creative writing rather than writing an essay.
All information I'm providing is based on my own experience and may not be up to date, so please check with the uni website if you're keen on applying for this course.
I'm going to go through year by year, module by module and give a brief explanation of what each module entails and my thoughts about it. This is going to be a very wordy post, which I can only apologise for.
There are no optional modules in first year for creative writing students (in my experience).
Literature in History 1 - Dossier based module looking at texts moving from middle English through to the 1900s. Taught as a 1hr lecture and 2hr seminar each week, with up to 15 people per seminar group. Assessed in two essays.
- I enjoyed this module, although on reflection I think that was just because it was my first module at uni. I don't think I really took much from it. It doesn't really prepare its students for university study (in terms of what it asks you to read week by week), but the seminar lecture structure is good. I can barely remember anything about it - other than it being the place where I met one of my house/best mates, and that the seminar leader was very good.
Reading Texts 1 - Up to 6 people per 1hr seminar. Subject matter based on tutors interests. I studied Katherine Mansfield and some war poetry. Assessed in two essays.
- I really enjoyed this module. My tutor was very old (picture a classic, tea-stained professor and you're on the right track) so the seminar was very slow but very interesting. The reading material was really good too - although we were given minimal critical work to look over (unlike some of my friends who had critical heavy material).
Introduction to Creative Writing - Follows Andrew Cowan's The Art of Writing Fiction, taught in 2hr seminar. Mostly focused on the craft of writing, with opportunities to share writing but no workshop space. Assessed in two short stories and one critical self commentary.
- My favourite module of first year. A really good introductory course, although I wish we had moved away from the book more often. I could have done 90% of the course by just reading the book. It's also a poor module for people interested in poetry or script, and offers little to no help in that area.
Literature in History 2 - 'Realism'. One book to read per week. 1hr lecture and 2hr seminar structure. Up to 15 people per seminar group. Assessed in one essay and one exam.
- I enjoyed this module too, and it was the one which best prepared me for the rest of my university career - mostly because of its quick turnaround reading times.
Reading Texts 2 - Focus on one longer novel and one critical text. 6 people per 2hr seminar. Assessed in two essays.
- I studied Dostoyevski and Adorno for this module and found it very challenging. My tutor was incredible and really increased my enjoyment of this module.
Writing Texts - Theory intensive. 1hr lecture and 2hr seminar structure. Up to 15 people per seminar. Assessed as one critical creative essay and one standard essay.
- My least favourite module from my degree. The quality of both lectures and seminars was poor - interesting and useful material wasn't delivered very effectively. This was partially due to my seminar tutor's total lack of self confidence, which made my entire class very apathetic about their work.
So, for my first year, I really enjoyed 4/6 modules, found 1/6 'meh' and hated the last.
Second year is the year where things count, and it's also the year where creative writing students have a choice in the modules they pick.
UEA splits their modules into A, B and C. I had to pick 3 modules from block A, 1 from block B and 1 from block C (leaving me with two free choices that I could pick from any school in the university). It's also worth noting that block C had only creative writing options.
If you're a non-creative writing student you also get the option to join a creative writing introductory module at this stage, and if you want to carry on to a higher level creative writing module to have a achieve a certain standard (I think 68%).
As a final note, UEA has a ridiculous policy where 40 credits of your degree have to come from pre-1789 literature (or a Y-code module). Each second year module is worth 20 credits, each third year module is 30. I hate this policy with a passion. We are paying £9,000 a year for our course, we should get to study thing we are actually interested in. If UEA wants us to study pre-1789 modules, I think they should make it a larger part of first year study, so students can make an informed decision on whether or not they want to continue to study from that period.
18th Century Writing - Studying 1700-1788. Books include Treasure Island and Gulliver's Travels. 1hr lecture and 2hr seminar, with up to 15 people per seminar. Assessed in two essays. Filled one of my pre-1789 requirements.
- My least favourite module of second year, purely because of the reading list. I didn't enjoy any of the literary texts at all. Lectures were quite interesting, seminar less so but that was probably a combination of the group I was in and my seminar tutor rather than content itself. I took it purely because it filled up one of my Y-code module slots!
Creative Writing: Prose - A workshop based module. Assessed in two short stories and one critical self commentary. Up to 15 people per 2hr seminar group.
- I really enjoyed this module. I love reading and editing other peoples work, and I like hearing feedback on my own work. There is no safer space than around a creative writing editorial table and (apart from one girl who overstepped the critical mark) it was a productive environment to be in.
Creative Writing: Poetry - Half workshop, half analytical. Assessed in two poetry collections, one self commentary and one short essay on another poem from an anthology. Up to 15 people per 2hr seminar.
- I know I have just said there is no safer space than around a creative writing table, but some people in this particular seminar group didn't agree. For a lot of us it was our first time in a poetry specific module, and our tutor expected a lot from us. I personally got on with her very well and really liked that she pushed us, but I know a few other people struggled and found her quite harsh - but that's all personal taste. I liked this module on the whole, although I would have liked some more guided reading through the anthology we were given.
Shakespeare - 1hr lecture, 2 hr seminar structure (up to 15 people per seminar). Almost 1 play per week. Assessed in one essay and one exam. Fulfilled one of my pre-1789 requirements.
- I have very mixed feelings about this module. I loved my seminar leader and group, but on reflection I don't know how conducive that combination was to me actually learning anymore about Shakespeare plays. I found the reading of the plays pretty tough (if you do study Shakespeare try and find a copy to watch his plays, or at the very least read them out with spark notes close to hand!). Most of the lectures were pretty good, although we had one lecturer who consistently overran - on one occasion he looked at his watch and said 'Oh bollocks, I'm 45 minutes in and I haven't even started my lecture yet!'
Contemporary Writing - 2hr seminar with up to 15 people. Almost 1 book per week. Assessed as two essays.
- I loved this module. Although I didn't enjoy all of the books, the seminar leadership and structure more than made up for it, and I always left the class enjoying the books more than I went in. I cannot recommend this module more highly.
Three Woman Writers - 2hr seminar with up to 15 people. 5 books and 5 critical texts over the 12 weeks. Assessed with one essay and one exam. Focused on Woolf, Mansfield and Wharton.
- I have mixed feelings on this module. I enjoyed the books, but didn't get as much out of the critical as I had expected to. I also hated all of the essay questions we were given - it was as if our tutor forgot what we had been talking about in our seminars, or rather picked up on passing remarks and seized them like important points! I generally enjoyed the seminars, however, which says a lot considering it was 9am on a Wednesday morning (and the uni club night is a Tuesday!)
As I said above, third year modules are worth 30 credits, so we only have four of them over the year. A dissertation is worth the same as any other module, and is not compulsory.
Creative Writing Dissertation: Prose - 3hrs of one-on-one tutorials spread across 12 weeks. 6,000 word short story with a 2,000 critical self commentary.
- I really enjoyed writing my dissertation. It was hard work, but so rewarding. I wrote a whole post on dissertations, so you can check that out for more in depth thoughts.
Traumatergies - 3hr seminar with up to 15 people per group. Mixture of theoretical texts and literary texts. Assessed through two 5% mini assessments, one 15% 'traumatergy' in the form of essay, creative writing, or any other creative form (I did a scrap book), one 75% written project (although that can also be creative, or sit on the boundary between creative and creative critical). Focused on how we write and think about trauma.
- I loved this module, and it was probably my favourite from my degree as a whole. Very theory intensive, and it is incredibly hard work but so rewarding and worth it. I'd had this module pegged from when I first joined the course and it was so worth it.
Creative Writing: Prose - 2hr seminar with up to 15 people. Workshop based. Assessed in two short stories and one critical self commentary.
- I've really enjoyed this module so far (I still have two weeks left). I love the work-shopping structure, although I know some people don't. As a class, we asked if we could have 3 hours rather than 2 as we felt shortchanged considering the amount of time given to literature students in their final year, and our seminar leader was very obliging.
The Art of Emotion - 3hr seminar with up to 15 people. Theory intensive module. Similar to traumatergies in structure, with two 5% pieces, one 10% project in any format, and one 80% written project which can also be creative. Focused on how we write and think about emotion.
- Again, I've really enjoyed this module. It has been very challenging but so worth while. I'm currently working on my 80% project (5,000 words) and it is tough but I'm getting to grips with it slowly! The module leader for this (same as traumatergies) is excellent, although her incontactability is sometimes an issue.
OVERALL - some points for improvement
I think the structure of the degree is very good, although some first year modules could be improved upon. I think the pre-1789 requirement is ridiculous, as provided people are given enough opportunity to explore pre-1789 texts in first year they should be trusted to decide if its an area they want to pursue.
Online submission of essays should be available for every module except in cases where it limits the form in which the response to a question could be demonstrated (ie, I couldn't have electronically submitted a scrapbook).
The HUB (the admin centre for our degree) is very flawed. Our work rarely gets returned within the 20 day turnaround, and they have been known to lose whole modules worth of coursework. Their email response system needs to be improved.
More meetings should be instigated by personal advisers throughout the three years. I have never felt the need to speak to my adviser about anything, so I have been reluctant to make an appointment with her. As a side note, I do not feel comfortable going to my adviser anyway, as I don't believe she is approachable for undergraduate students (although that is a personal matter, I have found that there are a number of tutors who appear to feel that teaching undergrads is beneath them, luckily I have encountered only one).
I have loved my course and my time at UEA. As much as I have mentioned the negative, most of that comes from an administration side of things. I have got on incredibly well with 80% of the tutors I have encountered and found them to be both engaging and engaged. If you're interested in a creative writing course, if UEA's reputation isn't enough to persuade you then I hope this is!
If you have any other questions about studying at UEA, feel free to tweet me @VickiMaitland (or DM me if it's something more private), or leave a comment below!
The course is technically split 75% English with 25% Writing, but over the course of your degree you can definitely move that toward the 50%-50% mark. I took 5/16 modules in creative writing, but two of those are weighted more heavily than the others, and at least 3 of my other modules offered the chance to be assessed on my creative writing rather than writing an essay.
All information I'm providing is based on my own experience and may not be up to date, so please check with the uni website if you're keen on applying for this course.
I'm going to go through year by year, module by module and give a brief explanation of what each module entails and my thoughts about it. This is going to be a very wordy post, which I can only apologise for.
First Year
Literature in History 1 - Dossier based module looking at texts moving from middle English through to the 1900s. Taught as a 1hr lecture and 2hr seminar each week, with up to 15 people per seminar group. Assessed in two essays.
- I enjoyed this module, although on reflection I think that was just because it was my first module at uni. I don't think I really took much from it. It doesn't really prepare its students for university study (in terms of what it asks you to read week by week), but the seminar lecture structure is good. I can barely remember anything about it - other than it being the place where I met one of my house/best mates, and that the seminar leader was very good.
Reading Texts 1 - Up to 6 people per 1hr seminar. Subject matter based on tutors interests. I studied Katherine Mansfield and some war poetry. Assessed in two essays.
- I really enjoyed this module. My tutor was very old (picture a classic, tea-stained professor and you're on the right track) so the seminar was very slow but very interesting. The reading material was really good too - although we were given minimal critical work to look over (unlike some of my friends who had critical heavy material).
Introduction to Creative Writing - Follows Andrew Cowan's The Art of Writing Fiction, taught in 2hr seminar. Mostly focused on the craft of writing, with opportunities to share writing but no workshop space. Assessed in two short stories and one critical self commentary.
- My favourite module of first year. A really good introductory course, although I wish we had moved away from the book more often. I could have done 90% of the course by just reading the book. It's also a poor module for people interested in poetry or script, and offers little to no help in that area.
Literature in History 2 - 'Realism'. One book to read per week. 1hr lecture and 2hr seminar structure. Up to 15 people per seminar group. Assessed in one essay and one exam.
- I enjoyed this module too, and it was the one which best prepared me for the rest of my university career - mostly because of its quick turnaround reading times.
Reading Texts 2 - Focus on one longer novel and one critical text. 6 people per 2hr seminar. Assessed in two essays.
- I studied Dostoyevski and Adorno for this module and found it very challenging. My tutor was incredible and really increased my enjoyment of this module.
Writing Texts - Theory intensive. 1hr lecture and 2hr seminar structure. Up to 15 people per seminar. Assessed as one critical creative essay and one standard essay.
- My least favourite module from my degree. The quality of both lectures and seminars was poor - interesting and useful material wasn't delivered very effectively. This was partially due to my seminar tutor's total lack of self confidence, which made my entire class very apathetic about their work.
So, for my first year, I really enjoyed 4/6 modules, found 1/6 'meh' and hated the last.
Second Year
Second year is the year where things count, and it's also the year where creative writing students have a choice in the modules they pick.
UEA splits their modules into A, B and C. I had to pick 3 modules from block A, 1 from block B and 1 from block C (leaving me with two free choices that I could pick from any school in the university). It's also worth noting that block C had only creative writing options.
If you're a non-creative writing student you also get the option to join a creative writing introductory module at this stage, and if you want to carry on to a higher level creative writing module to have a achieve a certain standard (I think 68%).
As a final note, UEA has a ridiculous policy where 40 credits of your degree have to come from pre-1789 literature (or a Y-code module). Each second year module is worth 20 credits, each third year module is 30. I hate this policy with a passion. We are paying £9,000 a year for our course, we should get to study thing we are actually interested in. If UEA wants us to study pre-1789 modules, I think they should make it a larger part of first year study, so students can make an informed decision on whether or not they want to continue to study from that period.
18th Century Writing - Studying 1700-1788. Books include Treasure Island and Gulliver's Travels. 1hr lecture and 2hr seminar, with up to 15 people per seminar. Assessed in two essays. Filled one of my pre-1789 requirements.
- My least favourite module of second year, purely because of the reading list. I didn't enjoy any of the literary texts at all. Lectures were quite interesting, seminar less so but that was probably a combination of the group I was in and my seminar tutor rather than content itself. I took it purely because it filled up one of my Y-code module slots!
Creative Writing: Prose - A workshop based module. Assessed in two short stories and one critical self commentary. Up to 15 people per 2hr seminar group.
- I really enjoyed this module. I love reading and editing other peoples work, and I like hearing feedback on my own work. There is no safer space than around a creative writing editorial table and (apart from one girl who overstepped the critical mark) it was a productive environment to be in.
Creative Writing: Poetry - Half workshop, half analytical. Assessed in two poetry collections, one self commentary and one short essay on another poem from an anthology. Up to 15 people per 2hr seminar.
- I know I have just said there is no safer space than around a creative writing table, but some people in this particular seminar group didn't agree. For a lot of us it was our first time in a poetry specific module, and our tutor expected a lot from us. I personally got on with her very well and really liked that she pushed us, but I know a few other people struggled and found her quite harsh - but that's all personal taste. I liked this module on the whole, although I would have liked some more guided reading through the anthology we were given.
Shakespeare - 1hr lecture, 2 hr seminar structure (up to 15 people per seminar). Almost 1 play per week. Assessed in one essay and one exam. Fulfilled one of my pre-1789 requirements.
- I have very mixed feelings about this module. I loved my seminar leader and group, but on reflection I don't know how conducive that combination was to me actually learning anymore about Shakespeare plays. I found the reading of the plays pretty tough (if you do study Shakespeare try and find a copy to watch his plays, or at the very least read them out with spark notes close to hand!). Most of the lectures were pretty good, although we had one lecturer who consistently overran - on one occasion he looked at his watch and said 'Oh bollocks, I'm 45 minutes in and I haven't even started my lecture yet!'
Contemporary Writing - 2hr seminar with up to 15 people. Almost 1 book per week. Assessed as two essays.
- I loved this module. Although I didn't enjoy all of the books, the seminar leadership and structure more than made up for it, and I always left the class enjoying the books more than I went in. I cannot recommend this module more highly.
Three Woman Writers - 2hr seminar with up to 15 people. 5 books and 5 critical texts over the 12 weeks. Assessed with one essay and one exam. Focused on Woolf, Mansfield and Wharton.
- I have mixed feelings on this module. I enjoyed the books, but didn't get as much out of the critical as I had expected to. I also hated all of the essay questions we were given - it was as if our tutor forgot what we had been talking about in our seminars, or rather picked up on passing remarks and seized them like important points! I generally enjoyed the seminars, however, which says a lot considering it was 9am on a Wednesday morning (and the uni club night is a Tuesday!)
Third Year
As I said above, third year modules are worth 30 credits, so we only have four of them over the year. A dissertation is worth the same as any other module, and is not compulsory.
Creative Writing Dissertation: Prose - 3hrs of one-on-one tutorials spread across 12 weeks. 6,000 word short story with a 2,000 critical self commentary.
- I really enjoyed writing my dissertation. It was hard work, but so rewarding. I wrote a whole post on dissertations, so you can check that out for more in depth thoughts.
Traumatergies - 3hr seminar with up to 15 people per group. Mixture of theoretical texts and literary texts. Assessed through two 5% mini assessments, one 15% 'traumatergy' in the form of essay, creative writing, or any other creative form (I did a scrap book), one 75% written project (although that can also be creative, or sit on the boundary between creative and creative critical). Focused on how we write and think about trauma.
- I loved this module, and it was probably my favourite from my degree as a whole. Very theory intensive, and it is incredibly hard work but so rewarding and worth it. I'd had this module pegged from when I first joined the course and it was so worth it.
Creative Writing: Prose - 2hr seminar with up to 15 people. Workshop based. Assessed in two short stories and one critical self commentary.
- I've really enjoyed this module so far (I still have two weeks left). I love the work-shopping structure, although I know some people don't. As a class, we asked if we could have 3 hours rather than 2 as we felt shortchanged considering the amount of time given to literature students in their final year, and our seminar leader was very obliging.
The Art of Emotion - 3hr seminar with up to 15 people. Theory intensive module. Similar to traumatergies in structure, with two 5% pieces, one 10% project in any format, and one 80% written project which can also be creative. Focused on how we write and think about emotion.
- Again, I've really enjoyed this module. It has been very challenging but so worth while. I'm currently working on my 80% project (5,000 words) and it is tough but I'm getting to grips with it slowly! The module leader for this (same as traumatergies) is excellent, although her incontactability is sometimes an issue.
OVERALL - some points for improvement
I think the structure of the degree is very good, although some first year modules could be improved upon. I think the pre-1789 requirement is ridiculous, as provided people are given enough opportunity to explore pre-1789 texts in first year they should be trusted to decide if its an area they want to pursue.
Online submission of essays should be available for every module except in cases where it limits the form in which the response to a question could be demonstrated (ie, I couldn't have electronically submitted a scrapbook).
The HUB (the admin centre for our degree) is very flawed. Our work rarely gets returned within the 20 day turnaround, and they have been known to lose whole modules worth of coursework. Their email response system needs to be improved.
More meetings should be instigated by personal advisers throughout the three years. I have never felt the need to speak to my adviser about anything, so I have been reluctant to make an appointment with her. As a side note, I do not feel comfortable going to my adviser anyway, as I don't believe she is approachable for undergraduate students (although that is a personal matter, I have found that there are a number of tutors who appear to feel that teaching undergrads is beneath them, luckily I have encountered only one).
I have loved my course and my time at UEA. As much as I have mentioned the negative, most of that comes from an administration side of things. I have got on incredibly well with 80% of the tutors I have encountered and found them to be both engaging and engaged. If you're interested in a creative writing course, if UEA's reputation isn't enough to persuade you then I hope this is!
If you have any other questions about studying at UEA, feel free to tweet me @VickiMaitland (or DM me if it's something more private), or leave a comment below!
Tuesday, 24 March 2015
Home for Easter
After what has felt like the longest 10 weeks of my uni life, I am finally home for spring break! Now, don't get me wrong, as I have said on many occasions I have loved my university experience and these last 10 weeks have been no exception. However, I am exhausted with everything. I've been in education for the last 17 years of my life and I am so ready for a change. I still want to learn, but learning in the work place is a different thing to 'book learning'. I still want to educate myself, but I want to do it on my terms without the pressure of essay deadlines. Mostly, I want to read a book that I want to read for the simple pleasure of reading it, rather than working my way through dense essays.
This spring break isn't a real break for me. I've got 8,500 words to write, 5,000 of which I need to do some serious research for before I can begin. I've got graduate jobs and internships to apply for. I'm so looking forward to seeing all my friends from home, but I've got so much work to do to! After Easter, I've only got 2 weeks left of my university experience. Scary stuff.
With all of this in mind, next week's post is going to be a mamouth #reviewsdaytuesday about the University of East Anglia's English Literature with Creative Writing (Q3W8) course, so if you have any questions please leave them in the comments below or send me a tweet/DM @VickiMaitland.
This has been somewhat of an anti-post, but I just wanted to give you enough time to think up any questions if you have any, or if you're on the course send me over your thoughts about it!
Friday's post will probably be my list of non-beauty beauty essentials, although it is my 21st tomorrow so if I get something exciting I might change my mind!
This spring break isn't a real break for me. I've got 8,500 words to write, 5,000 of which I need to do some serious research for before I can begin. I've got graduate jobs and internships to apply for. I'm so looking forward to seeing all my friends from home, but I've got so much work to do to! After Easter, I've only got 2 weeks left of my university experience. Scary stuff.
With all of this in mind, next week's post is going to be a mamouth #reviewsdaytuesday about the University of East Anglia's English Literature with Creative Writing (Q3W8) course, so if you have any questions please leave them in the comments below or send me a tweet/DM @VickiMaitland.
This has been somewhat of an anti-post, but I just wanted to give you enough time to think up any questions if you have any, or if you're on the course send me over your thoughts about it!
Friday's post will probably be my list of non-beauty beauty essentials, although it is my 21st tomorrow so if I get something exciting I might change my mind!
Sunday, 15 March 2015
University #15: Living With People
I'm posting this on Mothering Sunday, so I should probably be writing a post about how incredible and amazing my mum is (and, in some ways, I am doing that) BUT since Mum doesn't read my blog I'm not going to do that. Instead I'd like to talk to you about what it's like living with people who aren't your family.
Like most 20 year olds, I spent the first 18/19 years of my life living with my parents (and little sister), and apart from the year and a half that we spent living with my grandparents whilst our house was being converted that's pretty much how it's always been. I went to uni in my home town, which sadly meant that I didn't get into halls as I lived too close. I was desperate to move out - not because I didn't love my family or where I lived, but because I wanted the freedom that all my uni-going friends were experiencing. At the start of second semester of first year, I latched on to a couple of friends I'd made and we decided we'd move in together for second year. Looking back, it was a pretty big risk. None of us had lived together before and we weren't all super close best buddies. Flash forward two years, and we're a pretty tight knit team. The people I live with are honestly some of the best people in my life, and I'm going miss them so much when we all have to part ways at the end of the semester.
Living with people who aren't your family is strange though. The house has different rhythms than the ones you've grown up with. Not only is the space different but the atmosphere changes. Uni living is messy, it's disorganised, it's cold (because who wants to spend money on heating). It's also spontaneous and dynamic and really really fun.
Coming home after time at uni is always a huge relief. Home is clean, home is safe, home is warm. But, having experienced both sides, I wouldn't swap out living away at uni for the world. The friends I live with are all incredible people and have made my uni experience.
It's soppy but it's true.
Like most 20 year olds, I spent the first 18/19 years of my life living with my parents (and little sister), and apart from the year and a half that we spent living with my grandparents whilst our house was being converted that's pretty much how it's always been. I went to uni in my home town, which sadly meant that I didn't get into halls as I lived too close. I was desperate to move out - not because I didn't love my family or where I lived, but because I wanted the freedom that all my uni-going friends were experiencing. At the start of second semester of first year, I latched on to a couple of friends I'd made and we decided we'd move in together for second year. Looking back, it was a pretty big risk. None of us had lived together before and we weren't all super close best buddies. Flash forward two years, and we're a pretty tight knit team. The people I live with are honestly some of the best people in my life, and I'm going miss them so much when we all have to part ways at the end of the semester.
Living with people who aren't your family is strange though. The house has different rhythms than the ones you've grown up with. Not only is the space different but the atmosphere changes. Uni living is messy, it's disorganised, it's cold (because who wants to spend money on heating). It's also spontaneous and dynamic and really really fun.
Coming home after time at uni is always a huge relief. Home is clean, home is safe, home is warm. But, having experienced both sides, I wouldn't swap out living away at uni for the world. The friends I live with are all incredible people and have made my uni experience.
It's soppy but it's true.
Friday, 20 February 2015
University #14: Students Are All Lazy
I hear the sentence 'students are all lazy' with alarming regularity considering I go to university and the majority of the people I interact with are also students. I take a lot of issue with that statement, largely because it comes from a place of ignorance about what students actually do.
I am on an Arts and Humanities course. We are often deemed the laziest of the lazy due to our minimal contact hours (contact hours being the time we spend face to face with a tutor on the university site). I have 5 contact hours per week, and I'm the first to admit that for £9,000 it feels like a little bit of a rip off. However, what a lot of people fail to consider is all the work that we have to do on our own around those 5 hours.
On my course we are told we should be expected to work for 50 hours a week.
I'll let that sink in for a moment.
For people in full time employment, the working time directive states that no person has to work more than 48 hours per week (although they can chose to work more). Already, students are expected to work two more hours each week than most adults in a full time job.
University is expensive. I've already mentioned that our tuition fees are £9,000 per year, but that doesn't take into consideration the cost of living. For bills and rent alone I spend over £300 per month. Food shops vary, but often that will be another £100 per month (not including alcohol). The government provides between £3,500 and £7,000 to cover living costs (a combination of maintenance loans and grants).
Personally, the loan I get doesn't cover the cost of my rent, bills and home insurance. Having a part time job is essential if I want to be able to support myself.
You're expected to work 16 hours per week for most part time jobs. Already that has pushed the potential working week up to 66 hours.
To say that all arts and humanities students will be given a work load that requires them to work 50 hours per week each week would be stretching the truth a tad. However, from personal experience I can comfortably state that some weeks I have worked well over 50 hours in module prep alone, so my actual university working week is around 60 hours. My friends were recently told by a seminar leader that the amount of work he set them to do would have taken around 30 hours. That was for one of the two modules we have and is in addition to the in-class work. If their other module had also given this work load, if they had also had a part time job, their working week had the potential to be 80 hours.
Students do not have it easy when it comes to work load.
For most people, university isn't just about furthering their education, it's also about the social life. As ridiculous as it might sound, it is time consuming to maintain a group of friends, and social life could easily be counted as work time. I don't even want to think about how much that would increase the average student working week.
This isn't to mention the fact that for most students this is their first time away from home, their first time having a run a home. Housework is time consuming. Cooking is time consuming (especially when you're still working things out).
We're also meant to be thinking about our future, applying for graduate jobs and looking for internships (mostly unpaid) to fill our 'holidays' with. In my holiday I have a 5,000 word essay to research and write. I'm meant to do a full time internship alongside that?
We're also meant to live a healthy life- often the first thing that goes out of the window, often the reason why students will turn up groggy to seminars with a bag of chips and a can of Monster, often the reason why students are branded as lazy because they don't look as if they could be productive.
The long and the short of all this is: Give. Students. A. Break. We're not always perfect, sometimes we spend way too long scrolling through the depths of the internet and not doing work, maybe we didn't have to go out three times in the past week, but we do work hard.
Students aren't lazy, but we are exhausted.
Friday, 23 January 2015
Cooking For One: Lunchbox CousCous Salad
This is a really quick lunch to prepare either in the
morning or the night before. As usual, you can pretty much switch out any of
the vegetables and dressings I’ve included, but this is how I like it best.
Ingredients:
1 serving of CousCous
(about 30-50g dried)
1/5 Pepper (I chose orange)
4 Cherry/Plum Tomatoes
Large Handful of Spinach
5-6 Pitted Olives
1cm thick strip of Feta
Balsamic Vinegar
1/5 Pepper (I chose orange)
4 Cherry/Plum Tomatoes
Large Handful of Spinach
5-6 Pitted Olives
1cm thick strip of Feta
Balsamic Vinegar
Method:
1) Pour your coucous into your lunchbox, then pour in boiling
water so it just covers the couscous.
2) Chuck your handful of spinach on top then put the lid on
your lunchbox. The steam from the water will wilt the spinach.
3) While your couscous is fluffing up, chop up your pepper,
tomatoes, olives and any other veg you’re including.
4) Scrape a fork through your couscous and spinach mix. If your
couscous is ready, add in your other ingredients and mix it up.
5) Crumble in your feta and drizzle the whole thing with
balsamic vinegar.
6) Place a sheet of cling film over top of the whole thing. Now
you can fill up the rest of your box with whatever else you want: a banana, a
couple of oranges, a chocolate bar – and don’t forget a fork!
Let me know if you try out this dish by tweeting me @VickiMaitland or levaing a comment below.
Tuesday, 13 January 2015
Standing Resolute
Today is the final deadline for my dissertation.
Yesterday (for you, today for me) I handed it in. Admittedly I had a mad moment and forgot that I had printed it double sided so the binder for it is too big, but it's gone.
It was a really strange moment when I slotted it into the hand-in box. On the one hand, intense relief that it was all over. On the other, fear that there was nothing else I could do now.
Now that that part of my life is over and done with, I feel like I can finally start the new year. Happy 2015!
With that in mind, I thought I'd share my goals for 2015.
1) Graduate with at least a 2:1 - I'm on target for this, and as much as I would love a 1st this is a more realistic goal for me.
2) Find a full time job - I'm not in a huge hurry to move out from my folks house for real, but I want to start looking towards that, so a job is vital.
3) Get work experience in a field I'm interested in - Literary organisations, charities, publishing houses all appeal. But I need to get my foot in the door with an internship.
4) Keep up blogging! - I was so proud of myself for completing blogmas - and thank you to everyone who stuck it out with me! This little blog means so much to me, and I'd love to grow it over the year. With that in mind, I'll be sticking to my Tuesday/Friday schedule.
5) Write more - I'm doing another creative writing module this year, so this shouldn't be a problem, but I'd also like to write more casually.
6) Practise Self Care - this involves doing pilates every day, eating well, keeping my room tidy, flossing, keeping up my language learning (I'm using Duolingo to learn French and Itallian), reading widely, maintaining skin care etc. Things that make me feel good about myself.
That's all for now - let me know your goals for 2015! You can follow me on Instagram and Twitter - I'm @vickimaitland everywhere!
Yesterday (for you, today for me) I handed it in. Admittedly I had a mad moment and forgot that I had printed it double sided so the binder for it is too big, but it's gone.
It was a really strange moment when I slotted it into the hand-in box. On the one hand, intense relief that it was all over. On the other, fear that there was nothing else I could do now.
Now that that part of my life is over and done with, I feel like I can finally start the new year. Happy 2015!
With that in mind, I thought I'd share my goals for 2015.
1) Graduate with at least a 2:1 - I'm on target for this, and as much as I would love a 1st this is a more realistic goal for me.
2) Find a full time job - I'm not in a huge hurry to move out from my folks house for real, but I want to start looking towards that, so a job is vital.
3) Get work experience in a field I'm interested in - Literary organisations, charities, publishing houses all appeal. But I need to get my foot in the door with an internship.
4) Keep up blogging! - I was so proud of myself for completing blogmas - and thank you to everyone who stuck it out with me! This little blog means so much to me, and I'd love to grow it over the year. With that in mind, I'll be sticking to my Tuesday/Friday schedule.
5) Write more - I'm doing another creative writing module this year, so this shouldn't be a problem, but I'd also like to write more casually.
6) Practise Self Care - this involves doing pilates every day, eating well, keeping my room tidy, flossing, keeping up my language learning (I'm using Duolingo to learn French and Itallian), reading widely, maintaining skin care etc. Things that make me feel good about myself.
That's all for now - let me know your goals for 2015! You can follow me on Instagram and Twitter - I'm @vickimaitland everywhere!
Tuesday, 6 January 2015
Cooking For One: Mediterranean Tuna Pasta
This is one of the quickest, most delicious dishes I've ever thrown together, so I thought I would share it with you!
Ingredients:
1/2 Red Onion - diced
1/5 Pepper (colour of your choice, I chose orange) - diced
5-6 Green Beans - chopped
1cm disk of Aubergine - diced
1.5" Courgette - diced
2-3 Mushrooms - diced
1/2 can of Chopped Tomatoes
2 handfuls Kale
1/4-1/2 can Tuna Chunks
5-6 Olives
Spalsh of Balsamic Vinegar
2 handfuls Wholewheat Pasta
1cm strip of Feta
Method:
1) Boil a kettle of water.
2) Put both a saucepan and a frying pan on the hob on a high heat.
3) Pour the boiling water into the saucepan, and add your pasta.
4) Add a splash of Olive Oil to your frying pan then add the onions.
5) Turn the heat down and cook till translucent.
6) Add the remaining ingredients in order listed above.
7) When the pasta is cooked (check instructions on pack, but usually 8-10 minutes) drain and add to frying pan.
8) Crumble in some feta and stir everything together. Serve and enjoy!
You'll notice that there are quite a lot of ingredients for this dish, but don't let that put you off! You're only using an inch or so of courgette, one disk of aubergine, a handful of the rest etc, so there's loads left for other meals. Even if I use them every night, it usually takes me a week to get through each of the ingredients. Let me know if you try out this dish by tweeting me @VickiMaitland or leaving a comment below!
 |
| These are only some of the ingredients (I wrote this post at Uni and took the picture at home, and we didn't have all the ingredients), but if you were working with a smaller budget this is all you'd need. |
Ingredients:
1/2 Red Onion - diced
1/5 Pepper (colour of your choice, I chose orange) - diced
5-6 Green Beans - chopped
1cm disk of Aubergine - diced
1.5" Courgette - diced
2-3 Mushrooms - diced
1/2 can of Chopped Tomatoes
2 handfuls Kale
1/4-1/2 can Tuna Chunks
5-6 Olives
Spalsh of Balsamic Vinegar
2 handfuls Wholewheat Pasta
1cm strip of Feta
Method:
1) Boil a kettle of water.
2) Put both a saucepan and a frying pan on the hob on a high heat.
3) Pour the boiling water into the saucepan, and add your pasta.
4) Add a splash of Olive Oil to your frying pan then add the onions.
5) Turn the heat down and cook till translucent.
6) Add the remaining ingredients in order listed above.
7) When the pasta is cooked (check instructions on pack, but usually 8-10 minutes) drain and add to frying pan.
8) Crumble in some feta and stir everything together. Serve and enjoy!
You'll notice that there are quite a lot of ingredients for this dish, but don't let that put you off! You're only using an inch or so of courgette, one disk of aubergine, a handful of the rest etc, so there's loads left for other meals. Even if I use them every night, it usually takes me a week to get through each of the ingredients. Let me know if you try out this dish by tweeting me @VickiMaitland or leaving a comment below!
Thursday, 18 December 2014
Blogmas 18: End of Term Review
At the start of the term, I wrote my New Term Resolutions. Now that term is over, let's see how well I did!
1) Do not sit in bed on laptop. Well, for the most part I think I've done this. I have definitely slipped up a couple of times...
2) Get outside every day. Again, I think I've done pretty well at this - especially in the last month of term when I was in the library almost every single day.
3) Exercise daily. Oops. I have not done this at all! Aside from cycling onto campus and occasionally to work, I've done very little actual exercise. Hopefully this will change in the new year!
4) Eat well and often. I've definitely done this. My diet has been mostly vegetarian - very vegetable heavy! I've treated myself to cups of hot chocolate and chai lattes, but other than that I've eaten pretty well.
5) Drink often. Again, I've done this for sure! Herbal tea is a huge part of my diet, and when I go on campus I always take a big bottle of water.
6) Work 9-5. I haven't done this all semester, but when the work load stepped up I have definitely been packing in the hours at the library.
7) Complete all reading well in advance. Again, I've pretty much done this too! A couple of times I've had to quickly read the day before, but nothing too last minute.
8) Start essays early. This hasn't been too much of a problem because of my module structure this semester, Next semester I think it'll be more of an issue, so this one is definitely being carried over to next year!
9) Use tutors office hours. Again, because of my modules this hasn't been a problem, and tutorials have been part of my assessment.
10) Be kind to myself, but exercise willpower. This one I'm a bit unsure of. I'm a huge procrastinator when it comes to work, so I could probably do better on that front. However, I've done better about not kicking myself when I think I've had a lazy day.
11) Keep my space clean. This one has yo-yo-ed a bit, but for the most part I've had a tidy room. As soon as I started thinking about it as self care and not tidying, its been a lot cleaner.
12) Plan and organise. I've done pretty well with this? I think? My diary keeping has got worse towards the end of term, but on the whole it's been pretty good.
13) Write more. I have written more but not in the way I expected. I'd like to try keeping a diary again, so this is another one to roll over to next year.
14) Read for fun rather than internet mindlessly. I've done this a bit, but not as much as I'd like to. The internet is just so distracting! Another roll over resolution!
15) Go out spontaneously. I have definitely done this! I think the fact that I've been more on top of my workload has really helped me feel freer to go out.
16) BUDGET. I was great at doing this at the start of term, not so much as it went on. I treat myself to clothes and makeup way too much, which combats my otherwise minimal spending.
17) Join more societies. I haven't done this. I've got more involved with FemSoc, but I've hardly been to Creative Writing, and I haven't joined anything new. It's more difficult than I realised to fit everything in. I would like to try out other things, though, so might try a few more in the new year.
18) Sit up straight. Oops. Had to sit up just now. Something to keep working on, I think...
19) Ask for hugs and massages. I haven't done this - and its something I still really need to do!
20) Be proud of what I produce, and be unafraid of speaking up. For the first time I've been sharing my blog posts on facebook, which was actually a pretty big thing for me! Something to keep working on though.
And that is it. Overall I think I've done okay, although there are for sure some things I really need to improve. Have you got any resolutions for the New Year? Tweet me @VickiMaitland or leave a comment!
1) Do not sit in bed on laptop. Well, for the most part I think I've done this. I have definitely slipped up a couple of times...
2) Get outside every day. Again, I think I've done pretty well at this - especially in the last month of term when I was in the library almost every single day.
3) Exercise daily. Oops. I have not done this at all! Aside from cycling onto campus and occasionally to work, I've done very little actual exercise. Hopefully this will change in the new year!
4) Eat well and often. I've definitely done this. My diet has been mostly vegetarian - very vegetable heavy! I've treated myself to cups of hot chocolate and chai lattes, but other than that I've eaten pretty well.
5) Drink often. Again, I've done this for sure! Herbal tea is a huge part of my diet, and when I go on campus I always take a big bottle of water.
6) Work 9-5. I haven't done this all semester, but when the work load stepped up I have definitely been packing in the hours at the library.
7) Complete all reading well in advance. Again, I've pretty much done this too! A couple of times I've had to quickly read the day before, but nothing too last minute.
8) Start essays early. This hasn't been too much of a problem because of my module structure this semester, Next semester I think it'll be more of an issue, so this one is definitely being carried over to next year!
9) Use tutors office hours. Again, because of my modules this hasn't been a problem, and tutorials have been part of my assessment.
10) Be kind to myself, but exercise willpower. This one I'm a bit unsure of. I'm a huge procrastinator when it comes to work, so I could probably do better on that front. However, I've done better about not kicking myself when I think I've had a lazy day.
11) Keep my space clean. This one has yo-yo-ed a bit, but for the most part I've had a tidy room. As soon as I started thinking about it as self care and not tidying, its been a lot cleaner.
12) Plan and organise. I've done pretty well with this? I think? My diary keeping has got worse towards the end of term, but on the whole it's been pretty good.
13) Write more. I have written more but not in the way I expected. I'd like to try keeping a diary again, so this is another one to roll over to next year.
14) Read for fun rather than internet mindlessly. I've done this a bit, but not as much as I'd like to. The internet is just so distracting! Another roll over resolution!
15) Go out spontaneously. I have definitely done this! I think the fact that I've been more on top of my workload has really helped me feel freer to go out.
16) BUDGET. I was great at doing this at the start of term, not so much as it went on. I treat myself to clothes and makeup way too much, which combats my otherwise minimal spending.
17) Join more societies. I haven't done this. I've got more involved with FemSoc, but I've hardly been to Creative Writing, and I haven't joined anything new. It's more difficult than I realised to fit everything in. I would like to try out other things, though, so might try a few more in the new year.
18) Sit up straight. Oops. Had to sit up just now. Something to keep working on, I think...
19) Ask for hugs and massages. I haven't done this - and its something I still really need to do!
20) Be proud of what I produce, and be unafraid of speaking up. For the first time I've been sharing my blog posts on facebook, which was actually a pretty big thing for me! Something to keep working on though.
And that is it. Overall I think I've done okay, although there are for sure some things I really need to improve. Have you got any resolutions for the New Year? Tweet me @VickiMaitland or leave a comment!
Saturday, 13 December 2014
Blogmas 13: University #13: Third Year Fear.
Third Year Fear (n.) -
The feeling of dread for a) leaving university, b) essays and c) the future in general which occurs during the third year of academic study.
'I can't do this essay/apply for this job/think about life after uni, what if things go badly and I fail at everything?'
'Don't worry, that's just the third year fear talking.'
Stress over essays, the future etc are all very common during the final year of any university subject, and final week of semester has only served to exacerbate mine.
Not only have I got my dissertation to be working on, but I've also got a 4,000 word project due in on Monday, as well as a whole heap of social commitments (which are, luckily, mostly over and done with today). As I described myself on Thursday, I feel like a hairball - itchy, stuck in the throat of final week, needing to be coughed up and released. I'm aching for Christmas, so I can chill out with my feet up and not have to spend 8 hour days in the library (incidentally where I'm writing this post from).
Today's post was meant to be an outfit of the evening, as I went out to a ball last night, but I felt that this post was a lot more relevant to how I'm really feeling.
Some things I have been doing to try and combat the fear is breaking my work up into really small chunks (like I suggested in my 'On Honesty' post) and treating myself to tea when I've done a decent amount of work. I also try and see or speak to someone on a proper lunch breaks to give myself a breather. The other day my housemate told me about a study website which makes you work intensively for twenty-five minutes then have a between a five and twenty-five minute break. After your time is up, you can write a little bit about what you did, so you can keep track of your progress throughout the day. It's been really helpful so far for me - although I will admit that its getting harder and harder to return to work after the buzzer goes off!
I can't really offer any other tips or advice for how to get over this feeling of fear, as I'm still trying to work it out myself! If you have an tips for me, please tweet me @VickiMaitland or leave a comment!
The feeling of dread for a) leaving university, b) essays and c) the future in general which occurs during the third year of academic study.
'I can't do this essay/apply for this job/think about life after uni, what if things go badly and I fail at everything?'
'Don't worry, that's just the third year fear talking.'
Stress over essays, the future etc are all very common during the final year of any university subject, and final week of semester has only served to exacerbate mine.
Not only have I got my dissertation to be working on, but I've also got a 4,000 word project due in on Monday, as well as a whole heap of social commitments (which are, luckily, mostly over and done with today). As I described myself on Thursday, I feel like a hairball - itchy, stuck in the throat of final week, needing to be coughed up and released. I'm aching for Christmas, so I can chill out with my feet up and not have to spend 8 hour days in the library (incidentally where I'm writing this post from).
Today's post was meant to be an outfit of the evening, as I went out to a ball last night, but I felt that this post was a lot more relevant to how I'm really feeling.
Some things I have been doing to try and combat the fear is breaking my work up into really small chunks (like I suggested in my 'On Honesty' post) and treating myself to tea when I've done a decent amount of work. I also try and see or speak to someone on a proper lunch breaks to give myself a breather. The other day my housemate told me about a study website which makes you work intensively for twenty-five minutes then have a between a five and twenty-five minute break. After your time is up, you can write a little bit about what you did, so you can keep track of your progress throughout the day. It's been really helpful so far for me - although I will admit that its getting harder and harder to return to work after the buzzer goes off!
I can't really offer any other tips or advice for how to get over this feeling of fear, as I'm still trying to work it out myself! If you have an tips for me, please tweet me @VickiMaitland or leave a comment!
Friday, 12 December 2014
Cooking For One: Lentil Dhal
This is possibly one of the most simple dishes I've ever made, and its a great way of making a meal out of almost nothing - as you can get away without using any fresh ingredients so long as you have some store cupboard essentials. Because of this it is a super cheap dish, so its great for when the budget feels tight.
Ingredients:
Half a Red Onion
Cup of Red Lentils
4/5 cups vegetable stock (you can use water)
4/5 cups vegetable stock (you can use water)
Teaspoon Lazy Garlic
Lazy Chilli to taste (or Tabasco)
Butter/Oil
1/2 Tablespoon Tomato Puree (optional)
Turmeric/Cumin/Other Spices (optional to taste)
Method
1) Dice the onion and place in a saucepan with a little butter or oil. Cook until translucent on a low heat.
2) Add the garlic and chilli. If using Tabasco, wait until fully cooked before stirring through.
3) Add the lentils and pour over the stock or water. Bring to the boil.
4) Add the spices and the tomato puree (if including). I had some fresh tomatoes so I chopped a couple up and added these too.
5) Allow to simmer till the lentils are soft, but still have some bite to them.
At this point you can decide what sort of consistency you're after. I like mine quite soupy so I don't let too much of the water boil off. You can have it very sodgy if you like - it'll probably take about half an hour to cook, just keep an eye on it.
That is it! A really quick, relatively healthy meal which you can enjoy as a lunch or dinner. I like mine with flatbread for a dinner, or on its own with a bit of goats cheese for lunch. If you don't have either it still tastes great. It packs a huge flavour punch for so few ingredients.
if you try this out, let me know how you fund it! Leave a comment below or tweet me @VickiMaitland.
Tuesday, 9 December 2014
#reviewsdaytuesday: I Love My Kanken
A couple of weeks or so ago, as you may have seen on my twitter, I took the plunge and bought myself a Kanken. For those of you who don’t
know, a Kanken is a rucksack made by Swedish brand Fjallraven and it was originally
developed to help the backs of schoolchildren. I have suffered from back problems
ever since highschool when I had to carry around up to five exercise books, a
P.E kit, my lunchbox, my water, pencil case and any additional textbooks my
classes might need every single day. Now at university some of the books I have
to lug to and from campus are massive, and more often than not I want to take
my laptop onto campus too.
My old River Island rucksack has seen me through the last
two years relatively successfully, but it is starting to look more than a
little disheleved and, as the ties are pulling away from the fabric, I really
wouldn’t trust it with my laptop anymore. No to mention that the style of the
bag (it sits really low on my back) means that it wasn’t really helping my back
problems at all.
I had heard so much hype around the Kanken, but I was
really wary of spending so much money on a bag. I spoke to a friend who has the
Kanken Classic and she told me it was definitely worth getting. She also
confirmed for me that I was going to have to splash out a little extra and get
the laptop specific bags, as her biggest problem with the bag is that her
laptop doesn’t quite fit in.
So, eventually, I went for it. The bag I got – the 15” KankenLaptop – retails at £85, but luckily for me I timed it right and managed to get
20% off. Ultimately the bag set me back £68, which is more than twice the price
of any bag I have ever bought before. However, I can happily say this has been
money very well spent.
The bag is made more really durable, waterproof material.
The straps feel really solidly attached to the body of the bag and there is a
decent amount of padding on the shoulder. It has two water bottle pouches on
either side, a front pocket with a zip for little bits and pieces, as well a
pouch inside for A4 paper. The rear compartment for the laptop is padded and
reinforced at the corners, so I’ve got no worries about it carrying my laptop
safely. The label on the front is reflective too – which my mum loves!
I think my only criticism is that there isn’t a smaller
pouch inside the bag for my phone. I don’t know how safe it would be to keep in
the outside pocket.
Other than that it is perfect. I went for the Forest Green
colour – which is a really deep grey-green. I really wanted a dark grey bag,
but the only grey option they had was far too light for me, so this colour was
the perfect compromise, and I’m really pleased with it. It sits really nicely –
and quite high – on my back, so it’s really comfortable to wear. I always used
to think my laptop was really heavy, but carrying it in the right place on my
back has made me realise that it really isn’t.
In short I can proudly proclaim that I LOVE MY KANKEN! I would really recommend it for anyone who has to carry large amounts on a regular basis, and even though it is a little bit pricey I would even suggest parents buying it for their children to stop them from having the back problems I (and most of my friends) developed over our school careers.
Just as a little disclaimer, this isn't a sponsored post (none of the posts on my blog are), so I don't get anything by linking to the site and recommending it to you guys. I just really love this rucksack.
Just as a little disclaimer, this isn't a sponsored post (none of the posts on my blog are), so I don't get anything by linking to the site and recommending it to you guys. I just really love this rucksack.
Monday, 8 December 2014
Blogmas 8: University #12: Dissertation?
I realised that I haven't uploaded a #University post in a while - mostly because I've been so busy with it! - so I thought I'd rectify that today.
Dissertations are a huge part of most university degrees - particularly in Humanities but other subjects have extended research projects which fulfill the same criteria. Also, as far as I'm aware, most degrees allow to you to pick whether or not you want to do a dissertation. It can be a pretty intimidating decision to make. When I was deciding whether or not I should do a dissertation, a huge part of it was the money - will I be paying £9,000 for a essentially a glorified library pass and three hours of contact time?
Now, 12/16 weeks into the dissertation, I am pretty confident to say that I made the right decision in choosing to do one.
My dissertation has taught me so so much about the way I work, as well as my creative style as a writer. I am very much one of those people who can 'bang out' words, and I find it very easy to hit word counts for my essays etc. However, all of my work is in the editing process. Over the course of my dissertation I have written well over 10,000 words of content - 2/3rds of extra material is sitting on my hard drive (my story is meant to be 6,000 words). I am currently at the 6,100 mark, which I am more than happy with, and I still need to do a little more editing so that number should fluctuate (and hopefully drop) a little more.
As a writer I have learnt that I have a very minimalist, distant style and I find it hard to get into the minds of my characters - I prefer to show their actions than tell their thoughts. I also work best when I focus on 'action' scenes. My story is a series of vignettes (short scenes which don't follow a traditional story arc), which means that each scene is specifically working to move my story along. I have found out that I find it hard to write a full story plot (I struggle with narrative arc), but am actually very realistic with my dialogue (something that I always hated writing as it feels very fake to me).
I've also learnt that I need small goals. I get so much encouragement out of hitting a word count. At the start, when it was literally a matter of creating content, I told myself I had to write 500 words on my dissertation each day.
I learnt that I find it so much easier to hand write in the initial stages of story development, but once I've found my voice I can type directly onto the document. Keeping each scene as a separate document worked well in the early stages, but hindered me later on.
This all might sound really boring to you, but for me it is fascinating.
The best thing about a dissertation is it gives you a glimpse into your own mind. It allows you the time to explore your own way of working. And that is what you are really paying the money for. My supervisor is great and her feedback is helpful, but what's most valuable about this experience is spending time letting myself write about what I want to write about.
All this said and done a dissertation is not for everyone.
It requires a lot of self control and time management. If you're not good at working alone without motivation from others this won't be the right move for you.
It also requires a passion. I am lucky that my passion is writing, so I could say 'Yes, I want to spend four months writing a short story' and not know what that story was going to be about. If you're doing a more academic dissertation you need to have an interest in what you want to study and have an angle on what you want to write about. Do research your area of study and make sure what you want to do hasn't been done before.
If you do want to do a dissertation, research ahead of time and figure out which lecturers would be good for you - and if you're unsure ask around. Your favourite tutor might not have a specialty in the area you're looking to study, or if they are popular their slots might fill up quickly. I asked my supervisor this time last year - if you know what you want to do its never too early to ask!
The long and short of it is: if you want to learn more about yourself and know you have the motivation and interest, do a dissertation. If you know you don't have that self control or don't know what you'd study, stick to programmed modules.
I hope that's been helpful! Let me know if you're doing you dissertation and what you're doing it on - you can tweet me @VickiMaitland or leave a comment below.
Tomorrow's post is my #reviewsdaytuesday of my Kanken!
Dissertations are a huge part of most university degrees - particularly in Humanities but other subjects have extended research projects which fulfill the same criteria. Also, as far as I'm aware, most degrees allow to you to pick whether or not you want to do a dissertation. It can be a pretty intimidating decision to make. When I was deciding whether or not I should do a dissertation, a huge part of it was the money - will I be paying £9,000 for a essentially a glorified library pass and three hours of contact time?
Now, 12/16 weeks into the dissertation, I am pretty confident to say that I made the right decision in choosing to do one.
My dissertation has taught me so so much about the way I work, as well as my creative style as a writer. I am very much one of those people who can 'bang out' words, and I find it very easy to hit word counts for my essays etc. However, all of my work is in the editing process. Over the course of my dissertation I have written well over 10,000 words of content - 2/3rds of extra material is sitting on my hard drive (my story is meant to be 6,000 words). I am currently at the 6,100 mark, which I am more than happy with, and I still need to do a little more editing so that number should fluctuate (and hopefully drop) a little more.
As a writer I have learnt that I have a very minimalist, distant style and I find it hard to get into the minds of my characters - I prefer to show their actions than tell their thoughts. I also work best when I focus on 'action' scenes. My story is a series of vignettes (short scenes which don't follow a traditional story arc), which means that each scene is specifically working to move my story along. I have found out that I find it hard to write a full story plot (I struggle with narrative arc), but am actually very realistic with my dialogue (something that I always hated writing as it feels very fake to me).
I've also learnt that I need small goals. I get so much encouragement out of hitting a word count. At the start, when it was literally a matter of creating content, I told myself I had to write 500 words on my dissertation each day.
I learnt that I find it so much easier to hand write in the initial stages of story development, but once I've found my voice I can type directly onto the document. Keeping each scene as a separate document worked well in the early stages, but hindered me later on.
This all might sound really boring to you, but for me it is fascinating.
The best thing about a dissertation is it gives you a glimpse into your own mind. It allows you the time to explore your own way of working. And that is what you are really paying the money for. My supervisor is great and her feedback is helpful, but what's most valuable about this experience is spending time letting myself write about what I want to write about.
All this said and done a dissertation is not for everyone.
It requires a lot of self control and time management. If you're not good at working alone without motivation from others this won't be the right move for you.
It also requires a passion. I am lucky that my passion is writing, so I could say 'Yes, I want to spend four months writing a short story' and not know what that story was going to be about. If you're doing a more academic dissertation you need to have an interest in what you want to study and have an angle on what you want to write about. Do research your area of study and make sure what you want to do hasn't been done before.
If you do want to do a dissertation, research ahead of time and figure out which lecturers would be good for you - and if you're unsure ask around. Your favourite tutor might not have a specialty in the area you're looking to study, or if they are popular their slots might fill up quickly. I asked my supervisor this time last year - if you know what you want to do its never too early to ask!
The long and short of it is: if you want to learn more about yourself and know you have the motivation and interest, do a dissertation. If you know you don't have that self control or don't know what you'd study, stick to programmed modules.
I hope that's been helpful! Let me know if you're doing you dissertation and what you're doing it on - you can tweet me @VickiMaitland or leave a comment below.
Tomorrow's post is my #reviewsdaytuesday of my Kanken!
Friday, 14 November 2014
University #11: Home Hygiene
By this point in the university semester the crazy freshers parties are long over, the work load has kicked in, and your room is probably looking a bit like mine:
Looking at all that mess not only makes me feel very annoyed at myself, but it also makes me feel very apathetic. It's not a space I want to do work in. Uni rooms are small and easy to make messy - although my mess is taking the biscuit slightly! - but they can be spruced up really quickly. There are also another couple of things you can do to keep your whole house looking and feeling fresh - so here are my top tips for keeping your uni house feeling homely.
1) Towels. Change tea towels every couple of days, bath towels once a week, and bed sheets every fortnight. Not only does this keep things smelling nice and fresh, but it will keep your skin clean too -there is nothing worse for it than drying off with an old towel and sleeping in a sweaty or oily bed. If you're not changing and cleaning tea towels regularly you can also get food poisoning from drying up with a manky towel. Not nice at all! Wash all of these on a high heat to kill any germs.
2) Hoover. You should really be hovering your room once a week, but if that's too much effort then try for at least once a fortnight. Not only will it deter spiders and other creepy crawlies, but its also not good for your lungs to be breathing in dusty air. Remember to hoover any stairs or landings too - they are often forgotten spaces as you only pass through them - and change the hoover bag if you notice things getting smelly.
3) Washing. Try to use the correct washing up liquid for your clothes. My rule is purple top for colours/darks, green top for lights/whites. It will really help your clothes last, When you can, dry them outside on a line. Not only does it give them a lovely fresh smell, but it stops your house getting manky and damp too. It doesn't have to be super sunny for them to dry, so long as its not raining you should be fine. Remember to take them in before it gets dark though, as they'll just get damp again through the night and that isn't good for them. Use the half load setting if you need to, your wash won't take as long and you'll be more economical if you've only got a mini load.
4) Airing. Whether or not you have to dry your clothes inside, its a good idea to open your windows once a day. Uni houses are famous for their damp build up, so getting fresh air in really helps prevent this as much as possible. Always shower with the windows open, cook with the windows open, and keep your bedroom window open for a couple of hours each day. Obviously it won't do anything if its damp outside, but on a nice day open them up.
5) Life. Have living things in your room - and I don't mean mould build up from a plate you've had under your bed for the past month! A nice green plant or two will really brighten your room up and stop it from feeling dark and dingy. Just make sure you've got a plate under it to catch any excess water, and put it in a spot which gets some light.
6) Light. My uni room has very little natural light, so I put candles in my room to make it feel cosier. A lamp or two are also nice touches. I've also started sleeping with my curtains open so I wake up to natural light, but this won't be an option for some people - especially if you have a ground floor bedroom.
7) Storage. Most uni rooms have little to no storage space, so buy some boxes and tuck things under your bed where you can. It stops clutter build up on surfaces and the floor, and prevents you from loosing things too.
8) Bed. Make it every morning as soon as you've got up. Not only does this air your sheets to give them more life, but its instantly makes your whole room feel tidier. It also stops you from wanting to crawl back into it and have a nap once you've showered.
9) Drawers. They don't have to be tidy themselves, but keeping them shut leaves them dust free and also makes your room look instantly better. Putting away your clothes as soon as you take them off helps too. Either hang them back up or put them for washing so you don't have to sort through a floor-drobe every day for a crinkled top!
10) Decorate. Check with your landlord or letting agency before sticking stuff on or into the walls. Most places won't let you use blue tack or sellotape in case it stains the walls or peels off the paint. If you don't have any hooks to hang things off, ask them if they can put one in, then pop up a pin board. Now you've got somewhere to stick all your pictures up!
After an hour or so of cleaning, this is what my room looks like now:
Its still not perfect - my surfaces are pretty messy and there are a couple of things under my bed and over my bantiser which isn't great, but it is ten times better than what I started off with! I'm going to try and keep on top of it this time - wish me luck! Send me your before and after uni room pictures so I don't feel so bad. You can either tweet me @VickiMaitland or leave a comment below. My next post will be my night time routine - so look out for that on Tuesday.
Friday, 7 November 2014
University #10: Booze and Hangovers
** Disclaimer: I am not condoning the excessive drinking of alcohol in any way, shape, or form. You can find more information about why excessive alcohol is damaging here. If you believe you have a problem with drink, please speak to a doctor and seek professional help**
If you are, or have been, a university student, then the chances are you will have drank excessively and woken up the next morning feeling like death warmed up after taking a kick to the head and been spun round for a few hours. Not a pleasant experience. So, how can you avoid feeling like this the morning after (besides not consuming the alcohol in the first place)?
1) Water. Drink as much water as you can. Whilst on your night out, order water with every drink, and when you get in have at least one pint of water.
2) Eat. Have a good meal before you start drinking and when you get in have a nice and carby snack. My housemate loves supernoodles, I always have cheese on toast, but chicken and chips from the dodgy kebab shop works just as well. Make sure you eat a good breakfast the next morning too.
3) Green tea. Rather than trying to drink water when you wake up the next morning, get some green tea in you (although you might have to sweeten it a little). The antioxidants are great for helping your body recover.
4) Banana. Not only is it a great source of sugar, the potassium in it will stop your muscles from feeling achey.
5) Dark Chocolate. Again with antioxidants, its great for a pick me up.
These aren't fool proof, and have very little medical evidence to back them up, but they are all things that I think work and have helped me out in the past. What are your top tips for beating a hangover? Tweet me @VickiMaitland or leave a comment below!
Tuesday, 4 November 2014
Cooking For One: Two Night Chilli
This is the start of a new series called Cooking For One - few of these recipes will be revolutionary but if they help you mix up your diet, remind you of something you haven't had in a while, or even teach you a new dish then I'll be very happy. I'll write out the base recipe, then below will add serving suggestions. Let me know if you try any of the dishes in this recipe!
Ingredients:
200g Mince (usually
cheapest to buy in a 400g pack)
½ Tin Beans (baked or
other)
½ Tin Chopped Tomatoes
(if you’re using beans without a sauce then you'll need the whole tin)
Squirt Tomato Puree
1 Small Red Onion
½ Teaspoon ‘Very Lazy’
Garlic/ 1 Clove of Garlic Chopped
½ Teaspoon ‘Very Lazy’
Chilli/ 1 Teaspoon of Chilli Powder
1 Teaspoon Agave
Syrup/ Sugar / Sweetener
Slosh of Vinegar (I
used Balsamic)
Handful Frozen Peas*
Handful Kale*
3 Mushrooms*
3 Broccoli Florets*
1 Carrot*
1 Carrot*
*Replace with any veg
you fancy!
Base Recipe:
1) Open the packet of mince and split it in half. You can freeze or fridge the spare half depending how soon you think you may use it. Pop our half into a hot frying pan and break it up with a wooden spoon as it browns.
Base Recipe:
1) Open the packet of mince and split it in half. You can freeze or fridge the spare half depending how soon you think you may use it. Pop our half into a hot frying pan and break it up with a wooden spoon as it browns.
2) Whilst the mince is browning, chop your onion and pop it in with the mince.
3) Add the garlic and chilli. By this point most of the mince should be browned, and you can turn the temperature down as low as it can go.
Chilli
with Rice and Pitta
4) Add the half can of chopped tomatoes and the half tin of baked beans. If you’re not using baked beans then you’ll probably need the whole can of tomato.
5) Add a squirt of tomato puree, the agave and the balsamic (or your alternative) and put the lid on the pan.
6) Chop up your carrot, mushrooms and broccoli. Dice the carrot as small as you can, but keep the mushrooms chunky. Add these in. Leave for 15 minutes.
7) Taste and season as required (adding more chilli to add heat or add a small amount of milk/yoghurt to cool).
8) Add peas and kale. Once the kale is wilted and the peas cooked the chilli is good to go!
This should make enough chilli for at least 2 main meals. I got three meals out of this as I had a lunch too.
6) Chop up your carrot, mushrooms and broccoli. Dice the carrot as small as you can, but keep the mushrooms chunky. Add these in. Leave for 15 minutes.
7) Taste and season as required (adding more chilli to add heat or add a small amount of milk/yoghurt to cool).
8) Add peas and kale. Once the kale is wilted and the peas cooked the chilli is good to go!
This should make enough chilli for at least 2 main meals. I got three meals out of this as I had a lunch too.
Extra Ingredients:
1 Serving Brown/White Rice
1 Pitta
Grated Cheese (to top)
If you're cooking this as your first dish, add the brown rice on to cook between stages 5 and 6. I usually get the pan heating with a small amount of water whilst boiling the kettle to get the water hot quickly. You'll need to cook it for at least 25 minutes.
If you're using white rice, put this on for the last 10 minutes of cooking (just before step 8).
Toast your pitta after you've added all of the ingredients.
Spaghetti Chilli
Extra Ingredients:
1 serving spaghetti (or other pasta)
Grated Cheese (to top)
If you're cooking this as your first dish, put the pasta on just before step 8 as it needs 10 minutes to cook.
Chilli Jackets
Extra Ingredients:
1 Baking Potato
Grated Cheese (to top)
You can either microwave or oven bake your potato. If you oven bake it, it will need 40 mins - 1 hour, so put this on at least 10 minutes before starting your chilli (you'll want the oven temp to be about 180 degrees or gas mark 6). Turn the potato when you add the first of your extra ingredients.
If you microwave it, put it on just before step 8 as it needs about 10 minutes (in two 5 minute bursts, turning in between.) Mircowave needs to be on high.
If you're cooking this as your first dish, add the brown rice on to cook between stages 5 and 6. I usually get the pan heating with a small amount of water whilst boiling the kettle to get the water hot quickly. You'll need to cook it for at least 25 minutes.
If you're using white rice, put this on for the last 10 minutes of cooking (just before step 8).
Toast your pitta after you've added all of the ingredients.
Spaghetti Chilli
Extra Ingredients:
1 serving spaghetti (or other pasta)
Grated Cheese (to top)
If you're cooking this as your first dish, put the pasta on just before step 8 as it needs 10 minutes to cook.
Chilli Jackets
Extra Ingredients:
1 Baking Potato
Grated Cheese (to top)
You can either microwave or oven bake your potato. If you oven bake it, it will need 40 mins - 1 hour, so put this on at least 10 minutes before starting your chilli (you'll want the oven temp to be about 180 degrees or gas mark 6). Turn the potato when you add the first of your extra ingredients.
If you microwave it, put it on just before step 8 as it needs about 10 minutes (in two 5 minute bursts, turning in between.) Mircowave needs to be on high.
Tuesday, 14 October 2014
#reviewsdaytuesday – Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer (book to movie)
One day, about a year and a half ago, I came home from work to
find my mum at the door, red eyed and turtleneck stained three shades darker
with tears. I immediately hugged her, thinking something terrible had happened,
and asked her what was wrong.
‘I’m watching a really good film!’ she choked out. The next
day, I made us both cups of tea and we sat down to watch it together, my first
time and her second. This was the start of my relationship with Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close.
Usually I hate seeing the movie before reading the book, and
have abstained from watching many a film because I haven’t read the book yet
(namely, Perks of Being A Wallflower, Cloud Atlas – both of which I have now
read and seen), but after seeing my mum’s reaction I simply couldn’t wait to
watch this film. It really didn’t disappoint.
The little boy who plays Oskar (Thomas Horn) is either exceptionally
talented or extremely well cast. He manages to capture so much emotion with such
a young face, and is totally heart breaking. Tom Hanks as the dad is wonderful,
even though for most of the film he is only a voice – what a voice. Sandra
Bullock reminds us that she is more than a romcom actor. The whole film is done
very very well. I really recommend seeing it.
I’ve recently had to read the book for my course, and although
I didn’t happy/sad cry throughout the whole thing I did well up on a number of occasions.
It is just as spectacular as the film, or should I be saying that the film
captures the wonder of the book. The language is beautiful, dripping with
emotion. The transition of voice between Oskar, Grandma and the silent man is
excellently done – they each have such a specific voice which is so unique to
them – and it was lovely to hear more backstory for these characters (I can’t
remember getting that in the film). The way the text lays on the page, interspersed
with images in some cases, is stunning. It is a very visual read for something which
is so deeply preoccupied with sound and vocalised words.
I don’t want to say too much more as I really don’t want to
spoil it, but please, please read the book, see the film. It doesn’t matter
which order you do it in, just do it. I don’t want to say anything more as I
really don’t want to spoil it, but here is the synopsis on the back of the
book:
‘In a vase in a
closet, a couple of years after his father died in 9/11, nine-year-old Oskar
discovers a key…
The key belonged to
his father, he’s sure of that. But which of New York’s 162 million locks does
it open?
So begins a quest that
takes Oskar – inventor, letterwriter, and amateur detective – across New York’s
five boroughs and into the jumbled lives of friends, relatives and complete
strangers. He gets heavy boots, he gives himself little bruises and he inches
ever nearer to the heart of a family mystery that stretches back fifty years.
But will I take him and closer to, or even further from, his lost father?’
Friday, 3 October 2014
On Putting Myself Out There
About (just over) a month ago I was dumped. There’s no getting round it.
I felt (and still do feel) all the things you’d normally associate with being
dumped – unwanted, unattractive, unsexy. Lots of ‘un’s. If you want to read any
of my creative responses to being dumped, examples can be found here and here.
One of the main causes of our break-up was our lack of
communication about how we really felt. I’m not talking about opinions on what
movie we wanted to watch or what food place we wanted to eat at, but on what we
actually felt about, and for, each other. There was a number of reasons on both
sides why we never really communicated this (vocally or written), but one of
the main reasons on my part is my shyness.
I have always been and will always be shy about my emotions.
I’m usually an exceedingly happy person, but when I have other emotions – more personal
emotions – I’m not really sure what to do about them or how to share them. I’m
getting better and I’m learning, but it’s a long process.
I am not looking for anything new. I spent two very happy
years with my ex, and one month isn’t long enough to re-adjust to a life that
he’s not in. That said…
The other day I was out clubbing with my housemates, and
whilst waiting at a bar a couple of guys struck up a conversation with me
because they thought I was friends with their friend – the girl I happened to
be stood next to at the time. I wasn’t, but we kept chatting whilst waiting for
drinks, and at the end of it I got one of the guy’s numbers. Admittedly the situation
was more that his mate wanted to set him up rather than the guy himself looking
for a hook up, but nevertheless. I text him my number, got my drink, and
thought nothing of it.
A couple of days passed and I remembered the guy. I
remembered I had his number. I remembered thinking he was interesting, and he
had a cute accent, and I was interested in getting to know him a bit better. Normally,
this is the time old Vicki would wait for him to text (which is actually what
my housemates encouraged) but new Vicki couldn’t really be bothered to wait
around for that to happen. So I text him, and asked if he wanted to meet up for
a coffee sometime.
The feeling after I pressed send was amazing. I was so proud
of myself. It didn’t matter to me what his response was – at the end of the day
he’s just a guy who I don’t know and probably will never see again – but the
thing that always had held me back in the past, the fear of rejection, wasn’t
there. It felt good. I’d even go so far as to say that I felt powerful.
Ultimately nothing came of it: he replied and let me know it
wasn’t a good time for him at the moment, and I responded letting him know if
his situation changed then he could text me.
A couple of years back the remarkable Rosianna made a video
titled ‘Ask Out Your Barista’ in which she gave sage advice for final year uni
students (of which I am now one). I always wanted to be that girl – the girl
confident enough to put herself out there and not care about the consequences.
Now, in some small way, I think I’m getting there. And I’m so proud of that. It’s
also made me more prepared to do things like this in the future, if only for
the boost of self-confidence (empowerment?) it gave me.
If you’re in a position where you think you might be
interested in someone or want to know them better, ask them for a drink. From
my very limited experience, it’s a much nicer feeling to know where you stand
than it is to pine over someone and worry that what you might say will ruin
something, be it a friendship or relationship. And you never know, they might
just say yes.
Tuesday, 23 September 2014
University #9: Freshers
Down it Fresher! Chug chug chug!
Whilst these are common to hear on a uni campus at any time of the year, shouts like this are especially prevalent around Freshers week. For those who don't know, Freshers week is the first week of the university semester - often a week without lectures or with only introductory lectures - designed to make students feel at home in the new city and make friends.
There's a lot of pressure for students to have the perfect Freshers week - drinking till you're black out drunk, sleeping with as many people as you can, general part-tay-ing till the sun comes up. To me, that doesn't really sound like a good time. There are some people who will do Freshers exactly like this, and that's fine (although its not a great idea to put so much alcohol in your system, and if you are having sex with people you've never met be smart and use contraception (ie, make sure one of you wears a condom/uses a dam and if appropriate take hormonal birth control too)).
Whilst I recommend going out as many nights as you can (they really are great ways to meet people) there are loads of things to do if you don't enjoy clubbing. In the opening weeks of term loads of societies will be recruiting new members and they'll all have their own socials too. Schools of study will be hosting their own meet and greets after academic hours, and there will be some non-drinking centered Freshers events ran by the Student Union too.
Its also important to remember that whilst drinking can remove some social anxiety, it also removes your filters, so you might end up giving a bad impression to people you have to live with. Not only this, but drinking to excess can seriously affect your memory, so not only will you forgot all those new friends you've made but you're also in a new environment and might not remember the way home. Perhaps for the first time in your life you're living away from home exclusively with people who have only just turner 18 (the legal drinking age in the UK) - you don't want to end up being looked after by strangers whilst you puke all the drinks you've downed back up again. Besides all of this, it just isn't safe (both for your health and general well-being) to be seriously drunk in a place you don't know surrounded by people you've only just met.
Lastly, don't expect to have an amazing Freshers. You'll have fun for sure, but you'll also be nervous, potentially hungover, not able to 'go hard' for 7 days in a row on top of all the anxiety and stress of moving, meeting new people and leaving your friends and family. Don't worry about taking it easy for a night or two. Maybe just order takeaway with your flat and bond that way. Hardly anyone I know had that 'perfect' Freshers experience - it's mostly a myth. Relax as much as you can, and just be true to yourself - if you don't want to go out you don't have to. Besides, it's one week. There's loads more time to make friends.
Enjoy Freshers, see you on the other side!
Whilst these are common to hear on a uni campus at any time of the year, shouts like this are especially prevalent around Freshers week. For those who don't know, Freshers week is the first week of the university semester - often a week without lectures or with only introductory lectures - designed to make students feel at home in the new city and make friends.
There's a lot of pressure for students to have the perfect Freshers week - drinking till you're black out drunk, sleeping with as many people as you can, general part-tay-ing till the sun comes up. To me, that doesn't really sound like a good time. There are some people who will do Freshers exactly like this, and that's fine (although its not a great idea to put so much alcohol in your system, and if you are having sex with people you've never met be smart and use contraception (ie, make sure one of you wears a condom/uses a dam and if appropriate take hormonal birth control too)).
Whilst I recommend going out as many nights as you can (they really are great ways to meet people) there are loads of things to do if you don't enjoy clubbing. In the opening weeks of term loads of societies will be recruiting new members and they'll all have their own socials too. Schools of study will be hosting their own meet and greets after academic hours, and there will be some non-drinking centered Freshers events ran by the Student Union too.
Its also important to remember that whilst drinking can remove some social anxiety, it also removes your filters, so you might end up giving a bad impression to people you have to live with. Not only this, but drinking to excess can seriously affect your memory, so not only will you forgot all those new friends you've made but you're also in a new environment and might not remember the way home. Perhaps for the first time in your life you're living away from home exclusively with people who have only just turner 18 (the legal drinking age in the UK) - you don't want to end up being looked after by strangers whilst you puke all the drinks you've downed back up again. Besides all of this, it just isn't safe (both for your health and general well-being) to be seriously drunk in a place you don't know surrounded by people you've only just met.
Lastly, don't expect to have an amazing Freshers. You'll have fun for sure, but you'll also be nervous, potentially hungover, not able to 'go hard' for 7 days in a row on top of all the anxiety and stress of moving, meeting new people and leaving your friends and family. Don't worry about taking it easy for a night or two. Maybe just order takeaway with your flat and bond that way. Hardly anyone I know had that 'perfect' Freshers experience - it's mostly a myth. Relax as much as you can, and just be true to yourself - if you don't want to go out you don't have to. Besides, it's one week. There's loads more time to make friends.
Enjoy Freshers, see you on the other side!
Monday, 15 September 2014
(HUGE) Back to School/ Autumn Haulbook
It feels like I've been waiting for weeks to post this, but I just kept ordering more bits and bobs and I wanted to wait until everything came through before I showed it off. I never normally go this crazy with buying clothes - I'm very frugal and, though I buy the odd item semi-regularly, my last 'big splurge' was in March when I bought myself 3 dresses and a top from the BooHoo sale (an order which totalled in at less than £40). This whopping haul is made up of 17 items (3 pairs of shoes, 5 shirts, 1 pair of corduroy trousers, 1 pair of flares, 1 skirt, 1 cardigan and 5 dresses) and I don't want to think how much it all cost. I've roughly paired them up in the way I think I'll most likely wear them, though I will be mixing and matching with things I already own. I've let myself go a little crazy in the hope that I won't need to spend money on clothes in the Autumn term, so I don't have to budget it in. Its also worth noting that my grandma and my mum gave me some money to buy new clothes and shoes (thanks guys!), so this wasn't all from my own pocket. I also worked a part time job during the summer and as I love clothes I thought this was an appropriate way to spend some of my extra cash.
For reference, as I find it super helpful when websites write down this kind of information, I am 5ft5" (or 165 cm) and weigh about 55kg (120lb or 8.5st). I mostly wear size 8, but sometimes have to go up to a 10 in shirts to fit my shoulders or a 6 in skirts to fit my waist (I'll let you know what size each item is anyway). My feet muddle between a 5 and 6 UK size.
My hair is dyed using the Directions semi-permanent hair dye in the shade Flamingo Pink. I had dyed it this morning, so it is exceptionally bright! I might write a quick post about hair dying once I've gotten a bit more practised.
Enough chatter, here's the haulbook:
I love this mustard yellow colour, and this dress is a great baggy fit. You can style it with a belt to give a more defined waist or simply wear it loose like I have. I have a similar dress in the same cut in the size 8, but the 10 is noticeably longer whilst only slightly looser. As I work with children this dress has a much more work appropriate feel to it and I'm really happy with it.
I love the fit of this dress. It skims in all the right places, despite the fact my bust is on the smaller side, and its great to have a dress with long arms. The material of this dress is slightly thicker than all the others too, so this will be great for when it gets a bit cooler.
As soon as (I saw the print on this skirt I knew I had to get it. Its made from quilted fabric so is super warm, and I love the curved hemline on the front and back. I got a cropped short sleeved shirt from H&M this summer and loved it, and as a lot of people know I am a huge fan of the white shirt, so this was a match made in heaven for me.
I found these trousers in the River Island sale, and as much as I love them I was really worried about getting them. I caved to my desires and I'm so glad I did. These trousers can be dressed up with heels and a shirt like I have here or dressed down with a cropped tee and sandals. A great transition piece between Summer and Autumn. Mum thinks it makes me look very Margo (from The Good Life)!
I love midi length dresses and this one was in a beautiful colour (it almost matches my hair!). The shoes are something I would never normally buy, but I went for it. Thought they aren't exactly the ones I fell in love with in the shop (my fault for not buying them when I saw they were the last pair in the sale) these are as close as I could find. Can I walk in them? It's questionable. Do I love them? Yes.
The material this dress is made from is lovely - really silky. It can be dressed up with heels like this or dressed down with tights and converse.
I am a huge fan of shirts, and this is a classic university look for me. I didn't own any trousers like this, and at £4 they were a steal. Like my very wise friend Katie once said, when buying from a charity shop, think of it as donating money and getting a free thing. For example, I donated £4 and got a free pair of trousers!
I love the way this shirt hangs. Again this could be dressed up with a smart skirt and heels, and would be perfect for a job interview.
Although I'm not entirely convinced by the optical illusion effect this shirt has (the stripes should really get smaller the lower they go rather than the other way) I still really like it.
I love the print on this shirt. I'm slightly concerned it's a tad too oversized on the collar (it was advertised as an oversized shirt), but it looks better than I thought in the photo! I'm not sure I'd wear this with blue jeans, but my dark grey ones are still at uni, and my long black skirt is too!
Last but not least, this cropped shirt. It's got a lower crop than the other shirt, and I love its pattern. The collar will look great under a thick jumper too!
That's, finally, everything! These sort of posts always feel very self-indulgent and show-offy, but I love reading other people's, so hopefully you've enjoyed mine!
For reference, as I find it super helpful when websites write down this kind of information, I am 5ft5" (or 165 cm) and weigh about 55kg (120lb or 8.5st). I mostly wear size 8, but sometimes have to go up to a 10 in shirts to fit my shoulders or a 6 in skirts to fit my waist (I'll let you know what size each item is anyway). My feet muddle between a 5 and 6 UK size.
My hair is dyed using the Directions semi-permanent hair dye in the shade Flamingo Pink. I had dyed it this morning, so it is exceptionally bright! I might write a quick post about hair dying once I've gotten a bit more practised.
Enough chatter, here's the haulbook:
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| Cardigan - New Look Size 10, Dress - BooHoo Size 10, Shoes - Converse All Stars Size 5 |
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| Dress and Shoes as above. |
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| Dress - BooHoo Size 8, Shoes - as above |
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| Dress - BooHoo Size 8, Shoes - as above |
 |
| As above |
 |
| Shirt - H&M Size 10, Skirt - H&M Size XS, Shoes - as above |
 |
| As above |
 |
| Shirt - as above, Trousers - River Island Size 8, Shoes - M&S Size 5 (last years stock) |
 |
| As above |
 |
| Dress - BooHoo Size 8, Shoes - New Look Size 5 |
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| As above |
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| Dress - Primark Size 10, Shoes - as above |
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| As above |
 |
| Shirt - H&M Size 10, Trousers - Charity Shop (originally H&M) Size 10, Shoes - Clarks (Busby Fizz in Oxblood) Size 5 1/2 |
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| Shirt - H&M Size 8, Trousers and Shoes - as above |
 |
| As above |
 |
| Shirt - Primark Size 10, Trousers and Shoes - as above |
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| Shirt - BooHoo Size 10, Jeans - Miss Selfridge Size 8 (last years stock), Shoes - Converse All Stars Size 5 |
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| Shirt - BooHoo Size 10, Jeans and Shoes - as above |
 |
| As above |
That's, finally, everything! These sort of posts always feel very self-indulgent and show-offy, but I love reading other people's, so hopefully you've enjoyed mine!
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