Tuesday 9 February 2016

127% ready

Hey!

I survived the 'State of Sheffield' project week! I majorly overestimated how terrible it would be....I thought it would be 9-5 but realistically I went in to Uni for about an hour a day in which I would gossip with my group and receive dirty looks from the other hard-working groups. Our project was on CCTV in Sheffield. On our research day we went to a random road and counted the number of CCTV cameras and based our entire findings on those numbers. Safe to say we didn't win the competition- after all on our poster the name of the place we'd researched was spelt wrong. OOPS. On the plus side my group were lovely and we're going to meet up soon for some J20's.

Also we had an interesting lecture on the first day by David Blunkett, former Labour Home Secretary under Tony Blair. He was a really interesting guy and at the end I asked him a question about the MP's expenses scandal (absolutely nothing to do with CCTV but at least I tried).

*My flatmate Lauren currently has her head out of my bedroom window and she's shouting "I love the smell of Sheffield!!!". Sorry if this post is a little rambly- as you can imagine I'm going to be a little distracted.*

ANYWAY. On Friday my Mum came to visit which was so good! She briefly saw the flat kitchen and didn't have to search for long (or at all) before she spotted a bottle of Pepsi with mould growing on it. Nice.

The next day Harika and I went to a vintage 'kilo sale' where we spent a little too much money. Afterwards I embarked upon a dreaded 9 hour shift. After lots of business and little sleep my mentality on Sunday was I AM SO DONE so I got the next train home and spend the day with my beautiful dogs (and family and the boyf).


Tom Odell: Reeeeeaaaal Love
I came back the same night and now I'm 127% ready to get back to Uni life and lectures and going out (obvs). Talking of lectures they started again on Monday, with shorthand at 9am. I just about survived it! I also found out today that I passed my 60 words per minute shorthand exam with 100% accuracy YAY! So no more 8ams.

Today I was given my first article of the semester, on the retirement age being moved to 65 for women. So I went in to the city centre and managed to find some women who were very angry about the sudden change! It was super interesting (and VERY cold. I thought my hands were going to fall off).

I'm thinking of doing another 'advice' post kinda like my relationships one but I'm not quite sure what to do it on...I would love to know any ideas!!

Anna x

P.s you can vote for Blogger of the Month here :)

Wednesday 3 February 2016

Can relationships work at Uni?

Hiya!

I've blogged a lot about the changes which everyone goes through when going to Uni; leaving your family, your best friends (and your pets). But I realised that I've missed out one (pretty big) change...which is going to Uni when you're in a relationship.

I had mixed emotions when it dawned on me that whilst I'd be moving away to a new city, he'd be back at home carrying on with his apprenticeship. On one hand I thought OMG HOW WILL IT EVER WORK...and on the other hand I thought, you know what, whatever happens happens. Callum however took the opposite approach and refused to talk about it until pretty much the day before.

In the first few days of being here, one of the most common questions asked was "who's in a relationship?". I was hence bombarded with crazy 'facts' such as "80% of couples won't make it through University" and "9/10 couples will break up before Christmas". That was a little bit daunting but I didn't really dwell on it too much.

It's been very different to what I first thought. At first I found it difficult to manage settling in to Uni, working, socialising, seeing my friends and seeing my boyfriend. But we've been able to meet up more than what we originally decided (once every two weeks)...mainly because I always seem to 'accidentally' end up back at home. But of course, there are some negatives...it is more difficult for my boyfriend as he is back at home working whilst I'm having a brill time (and working hard too, obviously). Also with Uni being constantly busy it can be to find time to talk every day.

Overall, if you're nervous about going to University and being in a relationship at the same time, don't be! I tried to look at the positives- all the new experiences you can have exploring a new city together and showing him/her around your new home. We've had some fab days in the Peak District, exploring the city centre and Meadowhall (maybe the latter was not so fab for Callum). We've also discovered some really cool new restaurants and started cooking together when he comes to Sheffield (a spontaneous roast dinner was the BEST). There are lots of things that you can do to keep your relationship going too...watching the same TV shows (and in our case, racing to see who can finish them first. Prison Break is MY LIFE. I will definitely win) Also at the moment we're not talking at all on our phones, and instead writing letters to each other for two weeks. (Soppy I know...It's not me, honest).


How I miss sunglasses weather

And don't forget that University holidays are so long, so if you're going to be really far away from each other, it's never too long before another break where you'll both be back home.

Call me an optimist, but of COURSE relationships can work if you're at Uni. If you want to make it work then I'm sure it will :)

I hope you enjoyed this post!

Anna x

P.s the next Blogger of the Month comp has started; so you can vote here. Thank you!

Monday 1 February 2016

"Uni is so weird"

Hey!

I thought this was an apt time to write a blog post as I have just woken up after a night of celebrating that exams are over. Yay! We went to a club called Plug last night as they bribed us in with 'free chocolate'. Moral of the story- never trust club promotions. They lie.

I had my last exam- 60 words per minute in shorthand- yesterday and it went really well. Ironically it went better than all my other exams and it isn't even part of my degree. Ah well. I'm super happy that they're all out of the way! However we still don't start lectures for another week which is a bit annoying...next week we have to do this project called 'State of Sheffield' where we are put in random groups to research something in our area. I thought it sounded interesting until I found out that it runs 9-5 every day. I'll pass. (I won't really because if you don't go you can fail your whole first year).

In other uni news my flat's cleanliness has seriously deteriorated since we have been back. I was delighted the other morning to empty the bins only to find that a jar of mouldy hot dog sausages had fallen out of the bin bag. These days you're lucky if you go to the sink and it isn't full of a combination of 5 people's dinners. Mmm. I'm definitely not selling university here am I? On the other hand, when you visit other flats it makes you realise that maybe yours isn't so bad....When I visited my friend in recently I was highly amused by her passive aggressive posters such as 'If the bins are full, EMPTY THEM'. 

I've also started exercising which is a surprising yet positive change. I discovered a really pretty park which is really close to my accommodation so I've been going there a few times a week. Also with my new app MapMyRun I can track how many miles I've ran and how long it has taken me etc. I was inspired to start because a) when I went for a jog with my Dad over Christmas and almost passed out I realised how unfit I was and b) the amount of hills in Sheffield means that I really need to be more prepared.








I had better get out of bed now as it is now 12:42 and I still need to eat breakfast. 'Uni is so weird' - a fact that my flatmate Lauren likes to remind me of every day. She's so right. 

Hope everyone's goooood! 

Anna x