Okay, so if you DON'T follow me on Twitter (and if you're not, then really, what is wrong with you???) then you won't know and won't have been incessantly irritated by my constant going on about starting my third and final year of my undergrad degree!

I started writing this blogpost about a week ago, but things have been slightly turbulent since then so I thought I'd give you a shortie little honest life update rather than sugarcoating my first couple weeks back at uni. Don't get me wrong, the workload hasn't piled up much so far apart from a few books to read but it's more my mental health. I should've seen it coming - I am not the kind of person who deals well with change, I don't like feeling out of control and that's pretty much all I've felt for the past couple of weeks. There's been people and situations I've been avoiding which is getting harder to do and harder to deal with and honestly, I've been romanticising the idea of working myself into the ground this year more than I need to and I think I'm just going to try and take a step back and start being a bit more sensible. I don't think the nonstop rain in Manchester recently has been helping and the SAD is definitely kicking in now but hey, I'm pretty used to that - it always gets like this at this point in the year.

However, there are a couple of positives from the last couple of weeks too! I started uni properly and have had at least one class for all my modules now which has been good and set me a little more at ease now that I actually know what I'm supposed to be doing. I've also taken the plunge finally and joined the mountaineering society at university - I was part of athletics in first year but never really felt like I belonged as it was a very elitist group, but I felt like I settled right in with the climbers, it's such a chill activity and literally no one cares if you're a bit crap which feels really good. They're a lovely, down-to-earth bunch and I felt at home from the first session - kind of can't wait to go back every week now! I've not done the society thing properly at uni and kind of wish I hadn't left it right till third year now!

I also thought I'd mention that I went to see Malory Towers on stage at HOME theatre this weekend! My mum, a family friend and my sisters both came up for it and while it's the craziest, most bizarre production I've ever seen I loved every bit of it, so much nostalgia was felt and it was lovely to spend time with the family which I hardly get to do at uni.

Getting back into the swing of it is hard but like I said on the Instagram story - we're gonna get there because that's what we do over here!

Em xx

Musings On Moving Out

Firstly...I just want to say I LOVE MY FRICKIN BEDROOM SO MUCH. I have never loved anything more than my room at golden hour.

That aside. I thought I'd write a little post just about moving out and moving on as today marks the last week in my second year student house - in a week's time we will be out of here, homeless for a night and ready to move in tomorrow. I wanted to originally write like an advice post for people looking for student houses but then realised that most of that advice is useless at this time of year - I'll save that post up for September/October. But I did have some cute photos of my home and I wanted to use them in a post so Rhiannon suggested doing what I do best, just writing and letting my thoughts about moving out just happen. Believe me, there are a lot.

Books I Read In April

Hi friends!! I thought I'd start a new monthly series about books on this blog!! Because I don't already talk about enough stuff on here!! Yes, you may well ask what I am on. But books are a big part of my life, being an English student and all, so I thought I might just talk about it a bit more. I also want to talk a little more about poetry and my love for it too so if you have any ideas on literature based posts you want to see please let me know!! But for now, I'm just going to talk you through six of the books that I've read and loved this month...

Maurice by E.M. Forster

This is a book I actually picked up in order to analyse it for my English essay on queer theory and queer/gender identity (sounds boring but definitely isn't, I'm so proud of that essay, took me long enough!) and I didn't expect to like it as much as I did. I'd seen the film before I read the book which I always find helps a lot with classics since they're much easier to follow that way, but actually this wasn't so bad! It's set in 1913 and is based on the struggle of a young man, Maurice, on his path to discovering and accepting his homosexuality. Given that homosexuality was obviously illegal in England at that point (crazy) it's super interesting to see how much queer narratives have changed since then. Well worth a read if that's your sort of thing.

Trumpet by Jackie Kay

Another one I read for my essay, another queer narrative that focuses much more on gender identity. I LOVE THIS BOOK. It's the only one of my course books that I've actually categorically enjoyed this year, and that I actually wanted to keep reading. It focuses on the wife of a deceased famous trumpet player, Millie, who is keeping her husband's secret (won't tell you what it is though) but her son Colman is conspiring with a journalist in order to release the secret to the world. Everything about this book, from the way that gender and racial identities are discussed, to the changing points of view, is perfect and I love it.

1984 by George Orwell

Not another classic!! BUT it's the classic that founded dystopian fiction. A tough, tough read I'll grant you that, I haven't actually finished it yet because it's taking me so long to get through it but I'm really enjoying it. I love dystopian fiction so much, I think it's definitely up there with one of my favourite genres, and this just does it so so perfectly (as you'd expect from the book that made dystopia into a thing, right) and I'm really loving it so far.

Paris For One and Other Stories by Jojo Moyes

Anyone who knows me will tell you what a huge fan of Jojo Moyes I am, I adored Me Before You and I've read several of her other books since that one and loved them all. I won't lie, I was never a fan of short stories, I didn't really get the point of them and I felt I was always left wanting more, but with this, Moyes nails the genre so well. She ties up all the knots and into a beautiful little parcel at the end of each story and it leaves you not wanting more, but feeling fulfilled and happy because they're all such perfect stories. I love the beauty she writes romance, and the twists she always puts in her stories, and if you've read The Girl You Left Behind then you'll want to read one of the stories in this book as it's a little prequel and it's just so perfect.

The Beach House by Jane Green

Jane Green is another author who I've begun to get really into. I've read one of her other books, Falling and loved it, so when I was given this one for Christmas I was sure I'd love it equally as much. And it's not that I don't love it, but I don't love it as much. It's got that multiple narration thing going on in it, the same sort of thing we see in Love Actually, lots of different stories going on at the same time, and generally that's a really cool idea, I just felt that in The Beach House, there were almost too many narrations going on and I felt it was kind of easy to get lost in that, and forget which storylines belonged to which characters and so on, and lose the plot a little bit. That being said though, the actual way Jane Green writes is amazing, her detailed descriptions really draw you into the novel and she has this amazing ability to feed the reader information bit by bit and it does keep you hooked. I felt the twist at the end was a tad implausible, but then again, that's going to happen in every book we read!!

Bridget Jones' Diary by Helen Fielding

What a classic. More of a modern classic though, I'd say. I love Bridget Jones. I've seen all the films and adored them and most of all I just love the character of Bridget Jones so much. She's that character that everyone can relate to in some way, no matter if you're in exactly the same situations as her or just see your life playing out in the same way, there's going to be something that happens to Bridget or something that Bridget does that you'll be able to relate to. I also love diary narratives, I think they're such an immersive way of reading literature, they really make the reader feel like they're living the life of that character and I think it's so cool that a simple technique like a diary format can do that. Even just for a light read this is such a good book, I think everyone should read this at some point or anything because it's just fantastic.

And we're finally at the end of my rambling on about books!! Let me know if you like this and want to see more, or just in general if you want to see more literature based posts!

What books have you been reading recently?

Em xx

A Salad For People Who Don't Like Salad

Yep, believe me, those people do actually exist!! I was one of them, and to a certain extent I kind of still am one, but when I decided to do something salady with some chicken and halloumi I was kind of impressed, I have to say. I found a recipe for a pea-shoot salad on the Good Food website (okay but does BBC Good Food save the life of every student or what) and adapted it a little bit for me and here's what we came up with...

Look, I promise there's salad among the pile of chicken and halloumi and croutons. This is such a perfect one for the warm weather we've been having recently so hopefully you'll like the recipe and will try it yourselves, make sure to let me know if you do!!! Like in my other recipe post, the prices here are based on Lidl as it's my nearest supermarket and the cheapest, most student friendly, but mysupermarket.com makes it really easy to compare the prices from your local supermarket. There also aren't many specific quantities here because I feel like salad is a really personal thing, you can have as much or as little as you want so it's really up to you!

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Ingredients

Mixed leaf salad (200g bag 95p) (it's also really nice with peashoots but I couldn't get any in Lidl or even my Tesco so if you can find them go for it)

Frozen peas (1kg bag £1.05)

1 chicken breast (590g pack £3.15) (or you can use pre-cooked chicken breast but it is more expensive, but can work better if you won't use the other breasts in an uncooked pack)

Half a block of halloumi cheese (1 225g block £1.39)

Croutons (100g bag 89p) (or I'll tell you how to make your own later)

Olive oil (1 litre bottle £2.99 or you can nick your flatmate's which is what I do) (but make sure you ask first lol some flatmates can be VERY possessive over their food)

Lemon juice (200ml 27p or if you prefer fresh a pack of 3 lemons is 99p)

Oregano (7.5g 29p)

Salt & pepper optional but come on everyone has those already (surely)

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Recipe!!

1. Cut up the halloumi into slices and dry fry them over a medium heat. There's a lot of water in halloumi so no oil is needed and dry frying makes a really nice crispy golden crust on the outside of the cheese. Put aside.

2. Cut up the chicken breast into small chunks and fry it in the same pan (this gets all the leftover halloumi stuff on it and makes it taste sooo good) until it's cooked all the way through. Please make sure it's cooked all the way through, raw chicken is a bitch. Put aside.

3. Rip up the salad leaves or peashoots into smaller pieces and put in your serving bowl at the bottom, and use as much or as little as you like - I like quite a lot of salad so go for whatever you're happy with.

4. Meanwhile, pop on a pan of boiling water and cook the peas for 2 minutes. Again, use as many or as little as you'd like for this. Once they're cooked, drain away the water and pop them on top of the salad leaves in your bowl.

5. Cut up the halloumi into little bitesize chunks (it works better if you fry it as slices and then chop it up later, and using scissors tends to work best) and pop into your bowl. Do the same with the chicken and croutons.

If you want to make your own croutons (it's cheaper and a really good way of using up stale bread) just cut the crusts off three slices of white bread (or brown if you're feeling healthy) (or whatever you have), brush both sides of each piece with a little melted butter, cut into similar sized cubes and bake in the oven for 15 minutes at 180 degrees. Works perfectly.

6. Once all your dry ingredients are in the bowl, drizzle over some olive oil and lemon juice, and add oregano and salt and pepper to your own taste.

And voila, a lovely summery salad that isn't too heavy, super healthy and v v yummy.

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Hope you enjoyed this recipe and let me know if you make it for yourself, and even adapt it to suit your own taste!! Also do let me know if there are any other recipes you'd be keen on seeing on this ol' here blog and I'll be sure to try my best. I'm not the best or most creative person when it comes to food, I'm quite a fussy eater so I tend to stick to simple food that I know I like, so hopefully it won't be too boring and you can get some ideas for some super easy and cheap student-friendly recipes!!

What sort of things do/did you cook at university?

Em xx

How To Study On Holiday

Okay but before we get into this post I just want to say how proud I am of this shot!! I took it using my little Sony point and shoot because guess who left their big girl camera charger in England (yes good it was me) and it turned out so much better than I expected! I also used Lily's handy post on tips for taking travel photos on your own, and while this isn't exactly a travel photo it still helped out a lot. Although, if you're supposed to be studying, taking photos of yourself standing pensively at a french door probably isn't going to help, so there's tip #1 for you! 

ANYway, I thought for today's post I'd share some of the things I've learned over the past years having to study on our annual family ski trips, and how you can still be productive and have a holiday at the same time. I've done a ski trip the year of my GCSEs, my AS Levels, my A Levels and this year with four coursework deadlines over the next three weeks. I'm not saying I'm an expert or anything on what good studying practice is but I'd say I've at least learned something, so here we go.

Put the phone down

I know, I know. Groundbreaking. But this is a basic study tip. And I also know that in today's smartphone generation (believe me, my little sister is one of them so I've got the firsthand experience) it can be an extremely difficult concept to just leave the phone alone for however long but what I used consistently through all my big blocks of exams was an app called Cold Turkey, which completely locks your phone for the amount of time you set it to. Like, completely locks it. And yes, it's scary, but my productivity pretty much triples if I don't have constant access to my phone.

A good balance of carrot and stick

For some reason this is one of my dad's favourite phrases. Essentially, carrot = play and stick = work. A holiday can't be all stick and no carrot but it also can't be all carrot and no stick. Ski holidays especially are a toughie because when you're in a ski resort and have a clear view of a lush looking ski slope in front of you, it can be so hard to say no, I need to study today. But, what I like to do is schedule in my carrot-heavy days. We go skiing for 6 days, so out of those 6, this year I've skied three and stayed home and worked 3. What makes it easier is scheduling your stick days for the days when the weather is going to be terrible, but obviously that doesn't apply to every holiday. In previous years, I've skied every day but done half a day's skiing and gone down after lunch to work for the afternoon.

Don't overestimate what you can do

At the end of the day, you are on holiday. That means it's going to be hard to do a full 7 hours a day studying like you might do at home (before you come at me, I'm not saying this is essential AT ALL - we all remember that Guardian article) especially if you do what we do and go on big holidays with family friends. So, before you go, plan the amount of time you'll have each evening or each day and take enough work with you to fill that time. Use the time you do have productively, but also don't be too hard on yourself if you don't quite do what you thought you would, or if you have an evening off to enjoy being with your family.

Work to goals, not time

That being said, it's also extremely useful to stop focusing on the amount of time you have, and focus more on the amount of study you have. This applies much more to GCSE exams or A Level exams where you might have set chapters of notes to do, or sets of exercises, so rather than sitting down and saying "I'm going to do forty mintues of studying" sit down and say "I'm going to do this chapter of notes/this number of maths problems and then give myself a twenty minute break". This helps you focus more on productivity as well. I'm as guilty as the next person for sitting down for a forty minute session and spending twenty of those minutes writing pretty titles and then getting up and thinking I've been much more productive than I have. This way you actually use your time much more efficiently and you're actually able to cross those things off your to-do list. If you cross as many things off in a day you'll really feel like you've earned the next day's fun.

Remember you are on holiday!

I've tried to reiterate through this whole post that you don't have to study all day every day. You're on holiday for a reason, and that's to have a break and relax and escape everyday life for a bit. It's okay to have an evening off to relax with your family and friends, and if you've done enough studying before your holiday or you know you'll do enough afterwards, you can really enjoy the break knowing that you've done enough. It's a tough balance to strike, but with a good work ethic and discipline, studying on holiday isn't actually all that bad. Plus, you get pretty views and good food while you work, so silver linings!

I hope this post may have helped a couple of you at least, like I said before, I'm in no way an expert on the best study methods, this is just what I've found has worked for me from my experience, so it might work for you too! Now, back to my essay...

What are your tips for studying on holiday?

Em xx 

Just Another Student Pasta Dish...

Oooh look at me being all fancy and posting a recipe!! Good one Em.

So today I am sharing with you a staple of every student's life...a pasta dish. Come on, we'd be lying if we said we didn't eat pasta at least four times a week. Yes it may be carby but it's filling, delicious and there are so many things you can do/put with pasta. Seriously, sometimes I just eat pasta with cheese if I need some hardcore comfort food. Plus, it's cheap which is what we alllll want in life.

So this is the recipe for the pasta dish I was talking about in this post which I literally made a ton of, depending on how much you eat in one sitting I reckon I got about four or five portions out of this recipe and considering it cost me about £4 to make I'd say that's pretty good going. Plus you get a veg fix and a meat fix and it's very yummy so what's not to love? Carry on reading if you wanna find out how to make this my loves...

Ingredients

The prices in this list are all based off Lidl prices as that's where I shop, but mysupermarket.co.uk makes it really easy to compare prices and put together a shopping list so you can easily find out how much this would be at your local supermarket. Not sponsored, just a really really useful website!

🥘 300g pasta 89p for 1 kilo or 45p for 500g

🥘 1 head of broccoli cut into florets 63p

🥘 1 onion 55p for 1 kilo

🥘 1 200g pack of bacon lardons 99p

🥘 Garlic 75p for 3 ( although I use granules as they last longer and they're much less faff - I'll tell you how to substitute later)

🥘 300g pot of double cream 99p

Trying to make it look more appetising with a fancy photo but let's be honest, it doesn't really...

Method

1. Begin by cooking the pasta and broccoli according to their instructions. I tend to do pasta for 20 minutes and broccoli for about fifteen but it depends on how you like it - I like pasta al dente and my broccoli slightly mushier than normal so do whatever you like best.

2. Cut up the onion into really tiny pieces and toss it in a large pan with the bacon and garlic to fry. If you're using cloves of garlic use 2, and if you're using granules substitute half a teaspoon of granules for each clove so for this you'd use a teaspoon of granules instead of two cloves.

3. Once they're done cooking (the onion will be slightly soft and the bacon slightly crispy), pour in the double cream and bring to the boil. In the meantime drain the pasta and broccoli.

4. Add the pasta and the broccoli to the sauce and if you like, stir in some grated cheese for extra comfort and happiness.

...and that is literally it. The hardest part of cooking this is probably the cutting up of onions if your eyes are as sensitive as mine appear to be!! I mean it when I say an idiot could cook this, because as my flatmates tell me probably on a daily basis, I can cook this and I am the biggest idiot in the world.

Hope you enjoyed this extremely simple, extremely cheap but extremely delicious recipe! Let me know how you get on and if you change anything - it would be so easy to add peas or sweetcorn, cooked chicken or even some spinach or kale if you wanted to get even more healthy goodness and protein in there too.

What sort of things do you/did you cook at university?

Em xx

5 Things No One Tells You About University

So university is tough and we all know it can be. But they never tell you the tough stuff on open days, and while uni is great and everything often is sunshine and daisies, there are definitely things I wish I'd known about uni before I went. So here are a few things I've learned over my first year (which yes, is nearly over?? My last deadline is on the 24th April and then hello summer, seems a bit ridiculous to me!). 

01 // The academia isn't really that difficult.

The academia is the easy part. No one told me that at my open days! I have eight contact hours a week, and while I do spend most of my other time reading, this year my exams consist of quizzes I can do over and over until I've got 100% in them, and in-class essay exams where the papers are pre-release so we know how to prepare! It may just be my course, but the academia is not difficult. I've struggled much more with having interest in my courses - no one told me on my open days that I couldn't choose my own modules until second year so therefore I'd be stuck doing units in my first year that I am bored out of my mind by. But of course, you'll do things all the way through life that you're not interested in, but when you're so looking forward to studying what you've chosen, to find out that's not the case is a bummer.

02 // You actually do have to clean stuff.

Yeah, did you know kitchens need cleaning? We haven't cleaned our toaster corner for a couple weeks now and the crumbs are about an inch thick. And bins need taking out, toilets need bleaching, floors need hoovering and cookers need scrubbing. Which means not only do you have to be disciplined with cleaning routines, but you have to buy cleaning materials. And more often than not, Sainsbury's Basics cleaning stuff doesn't work. (Honestly I so wish someone had told me what cleaning products are best so genuinely if anyone wants a handy list of what we've found to work best hit me up)

03 // Most of the friends you make during Freshers' will disappear in a month or two. And popularity is a thing of the past.

Seriously. I made friends in Fresher's Week that I don't think I've seen since Freshers'. I now have a really nice little group in my accommodation, a nice little group on my course and a girl I go to the gym with and a few people I know from athletics. Uni is not sixth form and "friendship groups" are sort of a thing of the past. And you don't need a massive friendship group to be popular because popularity simply doesn't exist at university. Most people go to their lectures and go home again and that's it. No one cares how many people you've slept with, who got with who at who's party and no one really cares about having an established friendship group anymore.

04 // University is Hard. With a capital H. And Lonely. And Boring. With capital Ls and Bs.

Hard from an emotional point of view. Lonely and boring because even though you're surrounded by people, you actually spend 90% of your time holed up in your room Netflix binging. And to some this may sound super appealing, but try doing that for three days at a time when you haven't changed out of your pyjamas or eaten a proper meal in that time either. And while you're definitely surrounded all the time, when it's not by your family, people you've known your entire life and people you're 100% okay with, and nothing is familiar anymore, it can be a lonely, lonely time.

05 // It's not all it's cracked up to be.

It doesn't necessarily mean endless partying or staying out until 7am. In fact I've done that once in my entire first year and I hated it. It's not constantly running around being sociable and having the absolute time of your life. It's presented as the best thing in the world and the best thing you'll ever do, but sometimes it's really not. The days I've spent in bed with Netflix crying on the phone to my mum because I just want to go home are the reality of moving three hours away from home. The freedom you expect doesn't really come and in a way, you still feel like a little kid. There are times when it really does hit me that this is life now, I'm never going to fully live at home again, but there are also times when I'm expecting it to end and everything will go back to normal again. The problem is, normal doesn't really exist.

If you have anything you'd particularly like to add onto this list please feel free to drop a comment below! University can suck and this list did take a slightly negative turn so maybe I'll do another in the future called five good things about university?! 😂

What did you learn in your first year of uni?

Em xx

100 Books Over 2 Years

It doesn't sound so hard when you say 100 books over 2 years, does it?!

For Christmas this year, my parents gave me this really cool scratch off bucket list with 100 books on it, ranging from classics to modern literature that basically, everyone needs to read.

I've set myself the challenge of completing this within two years, which sounds easy but when you realise there's 104 weeks in two years which pretty much means a week on each book, it starts to sound a lot harder! I feel like Victor Hugo's Les Mis is going to take me at least six months to get through, have you seen the size of that thing?! It literally looks like a house brick and while I might love the musical the book is an entire different kettle of fish!

Anyway, I digress. I've decided to try and do this for a number of different reasons, the first being that I've just got out of the habit of reading. I was one of those kids that could read by the age of four or five, babbling away to anyone who would listen about my favourite book named "A Million Chameleons" (or Chimmies Millies as I used to call it) and those amazing Rainbow Magic books we all loved at that age. I loved them so much I painted the fairies in a fruit bowl still life in a Year 3 art class...

My point is that I loved books. And then when I got to GCSE English Literature, I kind of fell out of love with them. Seriously, GCSE Lit is enough to make anyone dislike reading. To Kill A Mockingbird is on this list and I'm really not looking forward to having to pick that book up again because I remember how much I hated studying it. I'm still not a fan of classics, one thing an English Lit degree has taught me so far is that 19th century classics are not my thing. Dickens especially. Give me a Jane Austen and I'll devour it but Dickens? No thank you. But at the same time, having a wide range of literary knowledge is so important, not just if you're doing an English Lit degree.  I just need to get myself back into the habit of reading and reading properly so hopefully this will do it for me!!

So one of my goals this year is one book a week every week this entire year and hopefully I will have finished half the list by the end of the year. Wish me luck, anyway!!

What sort of books do you like reading?

Em xx

Getting Back On Track

It's fair to say I hit a brick wall recently. Sometime last week something just clicked and I was not okay all of a sudden. I've said before what a weird time university is and there was a point last week when I just went "I want to go home" and as luck would have it I was due home that weekend. It did me the world of good, along with meeting with my personal tutor on Tuesday to try and work out of my rut and getting my braces off yesterday as well. Life throws so many curveballs and sometimes it throws them for absolutely no bloody reason whatsoever and catching them can get so so overwhelming.

How To Help Uni Feel Like Home

Hello frens!!

So as you've gathered from the title of this post, I thought I'd make a lil list of the things you can do to help yourself feel a little more at home at university. It feels like an odd time to be publishing this since most people are already at uni and seem to have settled in really well, but I also know that there may be some who are still struggling (I know I am) and first semester can often be the hardest time. I wanted to start branching into student blogging a little bit more and writing about student life and how I'm finding it so I guess this is my first post in this idea.

The End Of (Yet Another) Era | Why I Didn't Defer

Greetings my friends, from my bedroom where I am officially typing my last blog post here. At least for a while anyway.

Yep, that's right, tomorrow I move out and on up to the big ol' city of Manchester to start my degree. Shall I tell you how I'm feeling?? I would, but I don't think I can without using a number of expletives which I don't think is particularly appropriate for my audience.

In all honesty, moving out is a terrifying prospect. Today, the day before we go, I'm  feeling really strange, I'm flipping from one mood extreme (can't believe it's happening, I'm so excited to leave and be on my own and independent for a bit!!) to the next (I do not want to leave.) My three best friends left my house about two hours ago and the thought of not seeing them until Christmas is slightly disconcerting.

But on the other hand I'm filled with this overwhelming excitement that honestly cancels out every other negative thought I'm having about the whole process. I've been chatting to my hall mates and course mates for a few weeks now and made good friends with a few of them - my flatmates seem lovely and my actual flat is lovely too. I thought I'd add into this post just my reasons for not deferring in the end as well - for those of you who don't know, my plan when I applied for university was to defer until 2018 and do something makeup-orientated in my year out. However back in June I suddenly realised that actually, I really didn't want to defer. It was for a number of reasons to be honest with you which I will now list:

✨ I hated the thought of seeing all my friends heading off and not going with them because they'd all be moving on while I'd be stuck in my crappy town

✨ it's easier to be excited for a gap year when you actually have plans for it. I did not. I was simply going to bum around for a year.

✨ it's also easier to be excited when you've got a job you actually like doing. No, that's a bit of an exaggeration, some parts of working in a play cafe at a kids activity farm were lovely like the friends I made and the money and the little kids running around everywhere but it's extremely boring and tedious work. The thought of doing that for a whole year was dreadful.

✨ honestly, I picked a degree I love and I did not want to wait a year to start it. I'd miss learning and the stimulation too much. Also, I think I'd get completely out of the habit of learning and working and going back to it would be a struggle for me.

I mean, that's just a few of the reasons why I didn't defer my university entry in the end. Now it's here and it's happening, however, it feels totally natural and totally normal. My grandma said to me yesterday that they were surprised that I deferred in the first place and had a slight inkling that I'd choose not to. Just goes to show that maybe your family really do know you better than you know yourself!! But in all seriousness, I don't regret bringing my entry forward. It's almost got to a point where I can't imagine myself ever wanting to take a year out in the first place!! 

Obviously, university isn't for everyone and that's completely understandable, I'm a huge advocate of just doing what is going to make YOU happy and no one else - I made this choice completely on my own which I don't think I did when I was deferring. If you don't want to go to uni because you want to follow a different career path or just because it's simply not for you - you do you. 

So that concludes this little thrown together post, it's a bit of a shambles but to be honest, that reflects what our entire house looks like right now!

On another note, I uploaded a university Ikea haul the other day, I filmed a fun video with my aforementioned pals and I'm also vlogging the moving process. Not very well, but look out for that on my YouTube channel.

That's all for now. Onwards and up(north)wards. See you in Manchester, pals.

Emilia xx