The End of the Very Christmas-y Tunnel

Hello!

Hope everyone is all good and looking forward to CHRISTMAAAAS! I certainly am. My Christmas spotify playlist is in FULL SWING. Mariah can't get enough of my singing. Or the other way round.

I was super stressed at the start of the week because I have a presentation to do tomorrow in front of my seminar group, a Spanish project thing (WHICH COUNTS FOR NOTHING. Don't get me started.) and a Spanish speaking exam- which we have to record ourselves, making sure our face can be seen so we can't cheat and read it :( But I've got most of it done now Y A Y.

I can now see the light at the end of the very Christmas-y tunnel.

I spent last weekend at home putting the Christmas tree up with the fam which was FAB but I didn't get much work done. Obvs. 

Also saw one of my besties from home at the weekend and introduced her to the night-life in Sheff...and went to work the next day. Not a good idea.

Yesterday I saw my Auntie who's home from South Africa, and my cousin Josh! I was a very bad tour guide but we had a BRILL day.

I hope you're all having a good last few weeks of Uni! How fast a semester has gone eh. I will most likely do another very nostalgic post about how fast everything is going next week. I am so predictable....

P.s You can vote for me to be Blogger of the Month here! Muchas Gracias :)

Anna x

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

Scary Mexicans

Hi!

I most definitely should not be blogging right now but for some reason I always want to write a post when there are other things (like work) that I should be doing...Oh well. The fact that this is the first thing I have actually done today makes me feel slightly better. Sunday's were made for doing nothing weren't they??

I've been at Uni for 6 weeks today! It's so weird how fast everything has gone already. I think everyone has pretty much settled in to routine now...I love having my Wednesday's and Thursday's off (except from shorthand), as I can literally come back to the flat and sleep....(or work...maybe). However because I've got two days off Tuesday's are craaaaazy, as I'm in Uni from 8-7!

I've also started Spanish classes which are really good. Not going to lie, I can't understand a word of what my teacher is saying most of the time as she speaks so fast! It's so weird how at A-Level the teacher would always explain things in English, but here the whole lesson is in Spanish! I've not really spoken Spanish for a year so in my first lesson at Uni I was VERY confused. But it's slowly coming back which is good....

We had a meeting about Erasmus recently which is a scheme where you can choose to spend your 2nd Semester of your 2nd year studying in a different country. You can study at various different Uni's around Europe, one of which is a Uni in Barcelona which looks SO GOOD. It's kinda scary because you go for 5 months, but also SO EXCITING especially as I'd get a chance to practice my Spanish. Not sure how I'd cope with being so far away from home as just being in Sheffield seems so far away, but I'll cross that bridge when I come to it...

Apart from that not much is going on! On Thursday I went to a Spanish social where we were told to dress as 'scary Mexicans'...this is what my friends and I came up with....

For actual Halloween we tried (a bit) harder....here's my flatmates before we all went out...

Some more random pics...

Next week I've got a shorthand test which I am definitely not looking forward to. If we pass it, we can move to the 9am class so as you can imagine I am trying not to get my hopes up too much (but the thought of an extra hour in bed AGH).

SO maybe I should go and get on with it. Sigh. 

Have a good week!

Anna x

Freshers, Flatmates and Friends Box Sets

Hiya!!

I am officially here! Despite most people's predictions, I actually made it through Freshers Week unscathed -apart from a slight case of Freshers Flu....

Where to start...well my flatmates are super cute!! There are 10 of us altogether, so cooking is slightly hectic (but we mainly cook pasta/pizza/jacket potato so it's not too bad...) and otherwise it's brilllllliant! In Freshers we went 'out out' some nights, and other nights we had flat parties (some successful...some not..that's another story).

Mostly we were getting to sleep at around 5am and waking up at 1pm the next day. SO, last week, when I found out that my shorthand classes are at EIGHT AM which means getting up at SIX FOURTY FIVE...Well you can imagine my reaction. It wasn't pretty. It was grumbly (if that's not a word, it should be). I was (and still am) extremely saddened at the thought of my flatmates enjoying their lie-ins, whilst I eat my cereal zombie-style and watch the News in the hope that I'll pass the 'news quiz' for the week. (Which I inevitably will not. I got 1.5/10 in my first Lecture, OOPS).

Overall it has been a fab two weeks! I was told to prepare for homesickness (good advice...but how do you prepare for moving in to a new place in a new city with 9 new people?)...Obviously it'll hit everybody at different times, but as long as you have good people around you (and a Friends box set) it's fiiiiine. Everybody's going through the same thing after all. (Plus it helps if you're close to home...I've already been back once!)

I hope you're all enjoying Uni so far!! And if you're in Year 12...power through the pain, it's all worth it once you get here! I feel weirdly old and responsible, doing my own washing, shopping and cooking (if making jacket potatoes and beans counts as cooking), but I'm also loving the independence of it, and finally being able to study such an interesting subject!

Anna x

Blogger of the Year(!)

HELLO FRIENDLINGS!

I won the Blogger of the Year competition!!! EEEEEK! Okay, maybe I'm being a bit hasty. Make a cuppa and I'll tell you the story. So, after nervously waiting for what felt like a LIFETIME, I finally found out on September 1st, when my brother and I were sat in a bar in Majorca enjoying a spot of free Wi-Fi. Naturally at the moment I decided to open the email from UCAS, my phone decided that it was a brilliant time to have a momentary meltdown. Not good.

Anyway, after a few painful seconds, I read the email and danced around the bar happily knowing that my often meaningless ramblings WON ME AN IPAD! How crazy is that?! I'm not blogging off my iPad right now (but that is a definite must-do...), instead, I am blogging off my new laptop for Uni! Very exciting.

I also got to my Dad's house today to this surprise...

From Red Bull to One Direction plasters (don't ask), this lil box is filled to the brim with absolute essentials - Yes, oreos are essential. 

One week today I'll be in Sheffield! I've found all 9 - yes, nine! - of my flatmates and I'm suuuuper excited to meet them all. If you're going to Uni next week like me, or if you're already there....HAVE FUUUUUUN.

See you in Sheffield,

Anna x

AUGUST 13TH

HELLO! Here is the start of a blog post I wrote on the night before Results Day...

Results Day. Those two, simple words are enough to frighten teenagers (and parents) all over the country. *See example. Safe to say, I'm terrified. Suddenly, this year Results Day means SO MUCH more. It doesn't just mean "Will I get an A in History?" or "I hope I get in to Sixth Form". Just the fear about grades is enough. But add in the fact that Universities are involved, and that's enough to tip me over the edge (or run away to a far away place). 

*Example: Earlier, I was out with my friends and one of us said "Results day is soon", and one of my other friends literally, DROPPED TO THE FLOOR. This is not a joke. She curled up in to a cocoon shape and muttered "Results day, results day...", like a crazed person.

I stopped there as I promptly fell asleep. It was about 1am, soooo. ANYWAY. Upon reflection, I didn't reaaaaally need to worry. I'm absolutely OVER THE MOON...I got A*AB. When I woke up this morning, I felt SO sick, as I'm sure thousands of other teens across the country did. But, I checked on UCAS before I went to school, and spent a good few painful minutes deliberating over whether "Congratulations, you have a place at the University of Sheffield!" meant that I was in or not. TURNS OUT IT DID, so lots of screaming/crying ensued.

At school, Harika and I nervously opened our results only to find that we got the exact same grades. YAHOOOO! All my friends did so well...I am crazily proud of all of them. Thank you to all of my besties and my amazeballs family for being the best support system ever during two years which have often been incredibly stressful.

I also told my Dad my results live on the radio this morning on his show...you can listen

here! After that aired, East Midlands Today heard it so rang me to ask for a TV interview! It was totally surreal having a film crew in my living room asking me about my results...If you want to watch it, I'll be on BBC 1 at 6:30 tonight, or Sky channel 960. I also went out for dinner earlier only to get a phone call from the Sheffield Star, asking if they could do an interview with me too...what a mental day!

Congrats to everyone who got their results today. Whatever your 'next step' may be, I hope it is an amazing, crazy, exciting one. Enjoy it. I'm off on my hols now, so have a superb summer!

Anna xxx

(As always....click here to vote for me as Blogger of the Year if you haven't already this month. THANKS.)

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