Update: Leaving University & Plans For The Future

I thought I'd give you a short update on what's been going on in my life over the past few months. Most of you will know I came to university in September and moved to Nottingham. Nottingham is a wonderful student city and the university life was enjoyable. However, after Christmas something just didn't feel right. I knew I was doing the wrong course for me but battled on as I didn't want to be a drop and realised the city wasn't as safe as first impressions. I became very depressed, stopped going out, stopped attending lectures and seminars, stopped eating & shut myself in my room all day everyday.

I knew I had to make a decision about what I wanted to do with my life, I knew I could never been happy continuing with the course I was doing and didn't feel like I fitted in with the whole student thing. The noisiness, untidiness and drunkenness of people really got on my nerves and I was constantly stressed out and irritated. I decided to quit, but not altogether, just somewhere else and a new course. Anyway between then and now things have finally started to settle down. I had to finish out my the year (due to issues that are too long to explain) and then I will finish up here when exams are done.

I'll be attending Staffordshire University from September to study Business and Marketing Management. I chose the course because I'm really into marketing with my work in social media, it seemed very fitting and interesting compared to Accounting and Finance. I hope things go well this time, I'm looking forward to it and hoping some big changes in my life will commence in this time, for the better of course.

Thanks for your patience if I haven't posted much here and on my channel recently.

The Perks & Struggles Of University Life

Every now and then I like to pop up with a different kind of post, this is one them.

As most of you will know, I'm an undergraduate student. I moved away from my home in Birmingham in September to live in Nottingham. I always knew I wanted to go to university and didn't really see is as much of a choice, more an expectation. University life can look very appealing; boozy nights out, funding, your own flat, meeting people from across the country and a degree that will enable you to enter a financially rewarding career at the end of it. However there are a lot of things about university that you won't figure out until you get here. I expected things to run a lot more smoothly than they did for me. So if you're undecided whether it's for you or not, consider these points...

• You live off very little money, and I mean very little. My student loan didn't even cover my accommodation and therefore I rely on handouts from my parents. Even with this help I still managed to use my entire overdraft in my first semester. Make sure you have some decent savings/very generous parents if this is the case for you.
• Don't move away to university with the mind set that a job will be here for you, it most likely won't. Unless you already have a part time job at home with a company who are willing to transfer you to a store in your new town, it's literally mission impossible trying to find a job among thousands of other students during a recession.
• You'll have to adapt to live without things that you didn't even consider a luxury before. The odd coffee here and a pack of biscuits there soon adds up. I haven't brought one bag of crisps or a pack of chocolate bars, sigh.
• Most people opt to live in halls, although it seems dandy at first you will more than likely not get on with everyone you live with. A bunch of strangers people, with different interests and different personalities being thrown under the same roof can lead to some messy business.
• Trying to find the right balance between study and fun is the most difficult task you will endure, I've spent most my first year in bed recovering from nights out and will soon live it to regret when my exams come around.
• If you thought your motivate to study sucked at college, it reaches a whole new level at university, there's no one to nag you about anything whatsoever, you are entirely in control of your success.

However there are some amazing things about going to university too, it's not all doom and gloom.

• The boozy nights out are ridiculously good, alcohol will soon become part of your daily beverages even if like me, you didn't even drink before you came to university.
• You get to live alone; freedom to choice of food in the fridge, what's on TV, how long you wait until you decide to get dressed that day, your own bedtimes and going wherever you want whenever you want.
• You meet some amazing people who will more than likely become friends for life.
• You learn invaluable life skills that you wouldn't learn at a young age otheriwse such as cleaning, washing, ironing, cooking etc (although some of us learnt beforehand...)
• There is ALWAYS an opportunity to go out any day of the week and almost always people around you to accompany you on said messy nights out.
• If you move away for university, you get the experience living in a different place.
• You end up with a degree which widens your branches into the type of careers you can enter as well as getting to graduate (who doesn't want to throw their hat in the air after all?)

University is a huge decision and I cannot stress enough how it should be solely your decision to make, so don't be pressured by expectations as it is a massive physical, mental and financial investment to make and if you decide it's not for you once you get there, it's a massive loss and rather distressing. Seek as much guidance as you can and do your research beforehand. Although this was brief, I hope it gave you more insight into the reality of being a student. I quite enjoy writing this kind of posts so if you have any questions or any request for further posts please let me know below :)

My University Room!

This post has been a long time coming but I wanted to make sure it was as interesting as I could make it rather than snapping a bare dingy room for you. I moved into my halls of residence in Nottingham city centre a whole 6 weeks ago and its safe to say I'm loving student life! One thing that was most important to me was that my room reflected my personality as much as possible so it was a welcoming atmosphere after a day of long lectures. My room isn't completely finished and I'm constantly buying bits and bobs to prevent it from looking too bare and contemporary.

 I've posted a video over on my channel too if you're interested, enjoy!

Life Update: Results, University and New Beginnings

So it's time to get personal right? I haven't done any 'life' posts since I revamped the blog but some big things are happening lately which will affect my vlog and blog and therefore it's only fair I talk openly about them with you.

As many of you will know if you follow me on Twitter, it was A Level results day last Thursday, a day I'd be dreading for a long time. I'd done an extra year at college as I really struggled to get my head around education and my future following a really horrible time in my life during my last year of school. I found A Levels difficult and even when I had genuine interest in my subjects, I still failed to motivated myself to revise and do well in exams. However, I worked my butt off the past year desperate not to have wasted my time and to get into a good university, or any that would have me for that matter.

I didn't sleep at all the night before and I felt sick with worry that I'd get into my insurance choice, which I had decided months ago I really didn't want to go to, I was prepared to decline the place and go to clearing instead. Despite feeling tired, anxious and sick I was greeting an hour early by a text from my firm choice confirming my place with them. I've never leaped out of bed quicker to tell everyone the news, I was over the moon and at that point, I couldn't care less what my results were, I was just so pleased to know I got into a university higher than I'd ever expected to get into.

So after telling everyone the news via person, phone and social media. I then lazed around for a few hours, grabbed some breakfast and headed to college to pick up my results. I didn't do as well as I had hoped and found out I was actually one grade below what I needed but hey. I achieved an A* in Personal and Business Finance and a C in Business Studies. I then met up with some friends and drove into town for some lunch and a few drinks. By this point I was exhausted and after a few hours had to call it a day, head home, and collapse onto my bed for a good few hours. I had some lovely gifts off the family and was very spoilt in terms of meals from everyone too!

So university then... I'm off to Nottingham to study Accounting and Finance which is something I'm very passionate about outside my blog and channel and something I wish to have a career in. I'm very anxious but excited at the same time to move out on my own to a new city, meet new people, learn new things and enjoy new experiences. Everyone I have met so far through social media who I'll be living with are great and I feel confident that we'll all get on well and support each other throughout our time there. I'm going to be staying in halls of residence so I'm sure it won't get too lonely up there having 8 other flat mates to pester when I'm bored.

However more exciting things will become in my life, it also means having difficulties that I wish didn't have to happen. I'm not a family person by any means but I get on super well with my Mom and spend as much time with her as I can despite our busy lives. I'll miss her ridiculous amounts but know she's only a train journey away and at the end of the phone if I need her. Also, my long term boyfie is back home from university himself which means us doing another 4 years long distance on top of the almost 3 we've already done. It's never been easy for us, but we cope a lot better than most couples I know and I'm sure sail through without many problems, I have a lot of faith in us. I will miss him though, just a little.

How will this affect my blogging etc? Well I'll be super busy without a doubt for the first few weeks, getting used to things and meeting new people. I do plan to continue blogging and vlogging as much as I can. I'll probably throw in a few updates and advice things to let you know how it's all going. Don't think I've ran off if you don't hear from me for a while, I'm just going to have a lot less spare time on my hands to do things but I don't want to give it all up, it's my little place on the interwebs to escape to shares my interests. Thankyou for all being super supportive and if you have any questions feel free to ask!