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

Life In February & March Goals (?)

Ooh look it's a Southerner encountering not even a centimetre of snow! Yes, in other words I'm losing my shit. Snow just doesn't exist in the south!

So February. February. Wow, what do I even say?! February wasn't the greatest four weeks in the world, emotions running wild, working my tiny arse off and dashing to and fro around the country makes a tired gal at the end of it.

March Bullet Journal Update

I may be writing this post the moment snow begins to fall in a minus one Manchester and this may be a very spring orientated layout but hell, we're going to go with it anyway!

So yes, the time has come for another bullet journal update. I didn't do one for February as it was a bit of a weird month and I had absolutely no motivation to do anything pretty or nice, but luckily it was the opposite recently so I sat down on Sunday evening and actually put some effort into my bullet journal. As I say, I picked a very spring theme for March with all the lilac and lavender and flowers everywhere but it's very very pretty! For the title page I just did a lavender wreath with Crayola Supertips in a lilac, purple/pink and green and the Tombow Fudenosuke soft pen. 

Five Good Things From The Week #7

reusing old pics bc yes I haven't got round to taking any more hahaha

You'd be right in thinking I did unintentionally take two weeks off from this lil space on the internet here - I stress the word unintentional! This was never supposed to happen but then my blogging breaks never are supposed to happen, they just do because life starts pitching the curveballs and this is just one that I sometimes can't catch.

There's not really been much going on in the last few weeks but there has been one massive curveball which I'm not going to go into in detail because it involves another person which has led to a very very emotional and up and down two weeks and to a certain extent I'm still trying to juggle with it! But onwards and upwards is what I'm saying. I've been really busy with uni work and reading and still have another three books to read for next week so that's what I'm cracking on with today and tomorrow. I've also had a trapped nerve in my right arm since Saturday which comes from squashing the radius nerve in my back by squatting with a 50kg barbell without a pad...Don't follow my example, kids, it's bad. The good news is the entire arm now feels very normal again and it's just my palm and first three fingers that are still feeling weird. It's like pins and needles but all the time, very strange feeling indeed.

But anyway, onto the five good things rather than complaining about the bad. I'm a firm believer that life is what you make it - plaster a smile on and fight through the bad and concentrate on the positives and life is so, so much better and brighter.

Thrift Finds & Stripy Shorts

Okay so firstly, have you ever taken a bunch of outfit photos and then not known what to write about?  Because same. Honestly, I'm just going to write about the outfit so I mean it's not that exciting! I've had one of those bad weeks this week where mentally I'm okay but I just can't be bothered to manage time and diet and food and general daily functioning. Cue days spent in bed with blankets and the boy watching six episodes of Friends at a time between naps and garlic bread breaks. I'm going to put my hands up and admit I haven't been to the gym this week, I've been to uni twice and eaten terribly but sometimes you've got to accept a bad week for what it is and put it in a box with the rest and make the next one a good one, right?! Later today though we are finally signing the tenancy agreement for our new house for second year so that'll be a small victory at least.

My thrift find of this month definitely comes in the shape of this jacket. It's a dark green/grey/brown colour (honestly no clue how to describe the colour) and it's made of corduroy and it was £10 from the Thrift Shop on the corner of Piccadilly in Manchester. And honestly, I adore it. It probably belonged to a 14 year old boy back in 1993 when these were actually fashionable - in fact Joey on Friends actually has a jacket exactly like this so you see what I mean about the 90s vibe. It's so comfy though and it feels well worn in and loved. I also love the size of the pockets (weird point but needed) and how well it goes with literally everything. Mom jeans, skinny jeans, skirts, dresses, shorts, going out outfits, daytime outfits, pyjamas for a 2am McDonalds run...

Let's move on.