A very talk-y blog post

Hola amigos!

Sorry for the lack of blog posts! I promise myself from now on that I will make a conscious attempt to post once a week from now on. Honest.

Uni life is buuuusy! I've got a weekend job so I've been working on Saturday nights and Sunday days as a waitress at a restaurant in the city centre. At first it was super stressful as I wasn't used to working in such a busy environment, but I've settled in to it now and I'm really enjoying earning my own money again! If you have the time, I would definitely recommend getting a job at uni. 

Also, I passed my shorthand test that I talked about in my last post. Woohoo! So I now start at 9am instead of 8, which is MUCH more manageable and I now find that I can actually open my eyes during the lessons, and actually speak instead of just grumble. I also feel like I'm progressing so much more when I get more sleep. Overall shorthand is way more bearable!

I've also found time to go home a few times since my last post, which has been wonderful. Two weeks ago I went home for a long weekend and had such a good time catching up with my friends, boyfriend and family. Admittedly, on the train back to Sheffield I cried the whole way, until I eventually stopped by reminding myself of how tragic I must look to other train-goers who were staring by that point. (Embarrassing, I know.) It's not because I don't enjoy Uni, it's just that leaving home is something that you can't prepare yourself for without actually DOING it. I'm not going to lie to you, it is heart-breaking leaving your cosy family home to return to a big city where you've only lived for 2 months, where it will inevitably be cold and dark (Grrr winter). But what I can say is that it DOES get easier, and although I still get upset every time, I know that I'm coming back to Sheffield to friendly flat/course mates, and a life which I am really, really enjoying.

Glad I got that off my chest.

I'm happy to tell you that my cooking skills are improving, yay! Tonight I made a quorn chicken pie (I'm cutting down on meat after having a deep conversation with myself in Morrisons about becoming a vegetarian- but I'm not quite brave -or willing enough to give up bacon- to go the whole way). I've also discovered pesto (which I buy in a jar....so I can't really claim that it's cooking but it sure is yummy with pasta). I've also been making chilli, curry, spaghetti bolognese and fish with veg (SWEET POTATO IS THE FOOD OF ANGELS).

At the weekend I saw my friends and my cousin for a night out, which was amaaaazing. I love how Uni gives you so many new experiences and opportunities that you wouldn't have had if you were still at home. I'm loving that now I'm at Uni I can see my cousin Josh more, who lives super far away from home in Derby. But now he's in Leeds and I'm in Sheff, I'm seeing him more than ever which is indescribably fabulous:)

I've talked a LOT in this blog post. If you made it this far, wow. Thank you for reading!

If you would like to vote for me as your Blogger of the Month, you can do so here :)

Some pics in an attempt to balance out the excessive writing.... 

The Leadmill in Sheff for my flatmate Lauren's birthday!

My first article in the student newspaper! I was very excited about this:)

Record-shop shopping

You know what I said about it being cold? Yup. Beautiful, but freezing.

Anna x

Where on earth do I start?

Bonjour!

I’m in a French mood…I have just got back from a few days in Paris with my boyfriend, and I’m so converted that I barely speak English anymore. Maybs. We had a FABULOUS time, and I must admit that I have truly fallen in love with this beautiful city. (That may explain why I took almost 1000 photos in just three days…)

ANYWAYS, I am here to blog about another, WAY MORE exciting adventure that I went on to...IKEA! Believe it or not, I am actually very prepared for University for saying there is still over a month to go. Some of you may be thinking "Where on earth do I start?", and I may just have some of the answers. 

Start by accepting the fact that you are going to University in just over a month. If you've already overcome that (very) large hurdle, next write a list of all the things you need to take. I mean everything. (Down to things like...a teddy, for example. This may or may not be on my list. Who am I kidding, OF COURSE IT IS.) If you're like me, and a sucker for cute stationary, a nice notebook is ESSENTIAL. Anyway...look at what you already have, and what you still need to buy. Then, bribe (or force) your parents to take you to get the things you still need. Nailed it. 

In the meantime...I will talk through what I bought in IKEA, and hopefully for those of you who aren’t as prepared as me (tut tut), this post will give you some ideas!

Here goes. I don’t know if anybody else feels the same way, but I have been kinda obsessed about getting a nice duvet cover for Uni. So when I saw this really cute flowery one, it was an instant thumbs up. (I also got the red spotty one too as it was £5 in the sale…who doesn’t love a good bargain??)

I also got the essential (but less exciting) cutlery…there was an expensive version and a cheap version of this…I went for the cheaper one just because I’ve heard that your stuff gets destroyed by the end of the first year anyways. Yay.

Next…plates/bowls and snazzy chopping boards, woohoo! There was a choice of colour for crockery, like grey/orange/purple/black, but I went for the classic white just because I didn’t fancy eating from a coloured plate. Also, I got two sizes of chopping boards, BECAUSE EVERYBODY LOVES CHOPPING BOARDS! Don't they?

Here’s an aerial view of everything together…So I also got a big red rug (which also acts as a nice backdrop to photos), a REALLY CUTE lamp, a glass with FLAMINGOS on it (I died), other glasses, kitchen-y utensils, and a negatives-photo-hanger-thing (on the left). Basically you hang it from the ceiling and put pictures in it. Oh…and the plastic white thing is a toothbrush holder. Exciting.

Since my trip to IKEA, I have also been to B&M with my Dad, where we bought stuff like tupperware, a jug, sharp knives, a bath mat, a colander, lalala. I’d definitely recommend this as somewhere to go for other bargain University essentials.

Overall, I reckon I’m surprisingly prepared for University! (I’m not sure if this would be the case if I wasn’t on holiday for the rest of summer). It’s good this way because I don’t feel stressed at all, whereas if I was organising things the week before I would most certainly be in meltdown-mode.

Hope everybody's having a WONDERFUL summer! The Blogger of the Year competition is still going....And as it's a new month, even if you have already voted, you can vote AGAIN here! Thank you:)

Anna x

Late-Night Ponderings

Hiya!

I'm in a blogging mood. There's something about the hour of 12:04 (AM..oops), being on my window seat, and listening to Ed Sheeran's (dreamy) acoustics which makes my brain go TRALALALA. So here we go.

Today was the last day of term (!!), coursework has been handed in and all my stress went with it. Kinda. It's certainly another thing out of the way, but it also means that now focus is on revising. Which makes things a lot more serious. I can feel it getting to that time again, the time of "Oh no exams are coming and I am totally unprepared once again"...but I will attempt to stay in my cocoon of obliviousness for as long as humanly possible. 

To add fun to the...never-ending fun, this year there are Uni deadlines also. So that means firm/insurance decisions, finance applications and sorting out accommodation. I've now got 2/3 of that out of the way, but I have yet to sort out where I'll be living- no biggie...right? In order to achieve optimum peacefulness, definitely get your firm choice decided asap, purely to get another thing off your mind (and also so that during moments of procrastination you can start googling pretty pictures of where you'll be going, eek.)

There's your incentive to pick a Uni, GO. No pressure though, you've officially got until around May 6th (check UCAS for more specific dates as it can depend).

Anyways, enough from me, I'm probably rambling and making no sense. SLEEP IS CALLING.

Let me know how you're getting on!

Anna x

Pressure, Places and "WHAT A PALAVA"

Hiya!

Hope everybody's UCAS applications are going well, power through guys! When I say that the pressure is relieved when you've sent it off I mean it..

A few weeks ago I got an offer from the Uni Of Sheffield (yay!), providing I get ABB in my A-Levels. I was on my own at the time so after shouting "WHAAAAT" multiple times at the computer I rang my Mum, who was in the middle of a meeting at WeightWatchers..you can imagine the looks she got when she responded with lots of jumping, shouting and singing (maybe).

I've also had interview requests from Lincoln, Gloucestershire (remind me never to try spelling that word without auto correct) and Leeds Trinity. It's exciting but also scary because the word interview makes me think "PRESSURE", "QUESTIONING" and "INTIMIDATION". I don't like those things. 

On the plus side, it is comforting to know that even if all of my interviews go disastrously wrong, I've got Sheffield (which is my possible favourite anyway) to fall back on. I'm slightly (majorly) torn at the moment between Sheffield and Lincoln, they're both amazing in different ways...plus everyone who knows me will say that I am the worst decision maker EVER. (They wouldn't be lying.)

Hoping that my Lincoln interview will help me come to a decision..but then I'm naturally going to favour the place I've seen more...WHAT A PALAVA.

Anyway, if you're in the same boat as me then I welcome you with open arms (we can row away to a land of no decisions and stress if you'd like)..and if you're still applying to uni, remember to keep breathing and keep...the faith, like that Bon Jovi song.

Anna x

Applying, Waiting and Hoping

Hey!

I'm Anna and you are currently exploring my rather sparse UCAS blog. Sparse, but not for long. I'll be a new regular in the blogging world posting about...applying to uni. Some of you may now be tempted to run for the hills in fear, but bear with me. Applying to uni is scary, I can't pretend it isn't, but maybe just not as scary as everybody makes out (honest). 

So if you're at the stage of applying to uni right now your head is most likely ringing with the words "personal statement", "choices" and "UCAS" and your response is probably "WHEN CAN I GO BACK TO SLEEP". Unfortunately, not yet. I think at one point I started reciting my personal statement in my dreams (nightmares). What's the good news then? Well, as soon as you get it sent off you can breathe a (momentary) sigh of relief, and a personal statement-sized weight will be lifted right off your shoulders. Yay!

I officially applied to University to do Journalism on the 20th October (hurrah!). It all seems very serious and occasionally I have heard people say "I think I have just signed my life away"...(Or maybe that was just me, hmm). All in all it's better to get it out of the way. So, like me, you can find yourself a few weeks later getting an email from UCAS saying "Dear Miss Whittaker, something has changed", and consequently screaming at the computer "BUT WHAT IS IT???". Fingers crossed it will be an offer, and then you can dance around happily and post your wonderful news on Facebook (to get lots of 'Well done's' from that Great Auntie you haven't seen in 10 years).

More soon,

Anna x