"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

A jam-packed January

Hiya!


First of all...A very late happy new year! January has been jam-packed- I turned 19 on the 1st (yay), after which I haven't really stopped. On the 4th my boyfriend surprised me with a mini-break to Rome for my birthday, which was AMAZING. It is such a beautiful city and I really would recommend it to anyone. After that I spent a weekend with my Dad and Step-Mum and we went out for an amazing meal (who would've thought oatcakes with home-made cheese could taste SO good.) This was the same weekend on which it dawned on me that my exams were in a week...Panic ensued and revision then started. Better later than ever eh.

Oatcakes...Mmm

I also met up with all my friends from school (in Wetherspoons, where else), which was so good. Callum and I went to Planet Bounce which was SUPER FUN...It's basically a room full of trampolines. However I did end up with an injured back...He said that if I managed to flip successfully that he would buy me some McDonald's chips. Of course, I obliged, and landed on a piece of wood....and not the trampoline. I still got chips though so who's the real winner??!

I went to see Derby play a (bad) game of football, and also went to work with my Dad at BBC Radio Notts which was SO fun. I got to answer the listener's phone calls which was so exciting- even when they were shouting at you about Junior Doctor strikes....

I basically spent the rest of the week revising, and now I am back in Sheff! It was difficult coming back- I had gotten so settled in back at home so it's weird having all this independence (and a leaking kettle) again. On Monday I had my first exam (Spanish), which went better than expected! I also had a Journalism exam yesterday and I've got two left. Powering through.

So there's the first half of my busy month- which brings me to my current position, in the Students Union typing this post. Yay!

With the UCAS deadline being last week, I'm sure it has been a busy month for all you Year 13's too. This time last year seems a world away now! I was talking to my friend over the holiday's and she's really nervous about going to Uni, so much so that she's considering not going. But as I said to her, everyone is nervous and we were all in the same boat. Please don't let it stop you from going! People always talk about bad Uni experiences, but I can guarantee that for every bad experience there are at least 30 good ones. (Please don't quote me on that. It's an educated guess ok).

As for Year 12's...If you're struggling at the moment just remember that you're going through the hardest part of A-Levels now. Okay that may not sound too great- but Year 13 will feel so much better as you'll know exactly what you're getting in to.

If you want to vote for me for January's Blogger of the Month you can do so here.


Thanks for reading!


Anna x

Sugababes, Santa and 'Is it a school day?'

Hiya!

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas! I had a fab day with my family and I'm now super excited for New Year (and my 19th birthday woohoo).

I'm currently sat in my family's new holiday cottage in Wales and listening to The Sugababes (and reminiscing when I saw them live in Derby when I was at Primary School..what a time to be alive). I'm also attempting to get an essay done, but as you can probably tell I am getting a little distracted. Just a bit. 

I've been home for over a week now! After I transported my stuff back from Uni in a mere 20 bags (my step-dad counted), I finally made it back. I haven't actually spent much time at home yet though...I went to London with my friend for a few days, where we had a lovely Christmassy time. Then I was home for three days over Christmas, and on Boxing Day we traveled to Wales (through a lot of rain). My family only bought the cottage a few months ago so there is a lot of work to be done...I've spent today painting (very badly...at one point I accidentally sat in the pot of paint) and learning how to lay carpets. All fun.

I was warned about this, but it is really strange settling back in to life at home. But...at the same time, it feels normal and it's strange to think that I'm actually at Uni. If that makes any sense. For example when my little sister woke me up on Christmas morning (at 7....Grrr), I randomly had it in my head that it was a 'school day' and it wasn't until I heard "ANNA SANTA HAS BEEN" that I realised that I'm not even at school any more. How strange. I feel like I can settle back in to being at home really easily, but it might be a tad harder when I'm going back to Uni. I am missing Corp Wednesday's though. A lot. (If you are unsure about this phenomenon, please google, and then get to Sheffield for a top notch night out. You won't regret it).

I've got four exams in January which I'm trying not to think about at the moment. I know a a month off seems like AGES but I haven't yet managed to schedule any revision in to my time off. *Thinks about something else*

I think that's about all the updates I have! I hope you are all having a relaxing, well-deserved break.

Anna x

P.s December's Blogger of the Month comp is coming to an end, but you can still vote for me here until the end of the month :)

P.p.s I thought I would share with you my little sister's reaction when she realised that Santa had also visited the cottage in Wales....She really is emotionally invested in the whole Christmas thing.

Six ways to survive your First Semester

Hey!

I'M FREEEEE...By that I mean my deadlines are in the distant past and consequently I woke up at 12 today. Bliss. I'm not home yet though as I've still got a week left of shorthand (yay). 

I spent Sunday recovering from a stressful week of deadlines and serving endless Christmas dinners...by going to see the Coca Cola truck in true Christmas spirit. We also had our Flat Christmas meal on Sunday which was lavely.

Happy days in F2

Anyway...

I thought I would write a little post on what I have learnt since I have been at University, about general life...and myself too. I am a big believer that making mistakes isn't ALWAYS a bad thing- the lessons that you can learn from that mistake will shape you as a person, and make you a better human being. So here goes.

1) IT IS AMAZING
I've had the BEST time since coming to Uni. I've done things I never thought I would do, made friends with people who I never saw myself with, seen so many new places and become a more independent and rounded person (as odd as that sounds).

2) Don't worry about being worried
I haven't met anyone who wasn't worried about going to Uni. One of my flatmates almost didn't come because she was so nervous about it. BUT you've got to remember that it's natural to worry...but at the end of the day you'll be fine and I can pretty much guarantee that you'll love it. Also I've met people who said that they were so worried because they were more of an introverted person and found it hard to fit in. But out of all the people going to Uni, you will be sure to find someone who's just like you.

3) Homesickness is (pretty much) inevitable
Maybe. It was for me anyway. But you'll get used to it eventually...and at the end of the day 'home' will always be home. If that makes any sense. And now I'm SUPER excited to go back for a whole month and spend time with my friends and family for the MOST WONDERFUL TIME OF THE YEAAAAR (I hope you sang that too.) At the same time though it's going to be very odd going home....I'm going to miss my Uni friends so much, and it will be strange fitting back in to my life at home (where I can't get in at 5am and eat cereal from the box whilst discussing politics with my flatmates. Not that we do that...)

4) Try everything you can 
What I mean by this is throw yourself in to whatever you can. In my first week I got kind of delirious and started talking to EVERYONE and making EVERY FRIEND POSSIBLE. Maybe this was a bit too extreme...but basically don't be scared to try new things. You wont regret it!

5) The Midlands is South to Northerners and North to Southerners.
The question "Are you from the North or the South" is up there with "What's your name, what course do you do?" and all those other small talk questions which everybody asks when you get to Uni. And if you're from the Midlands, expect to receive a confused look followed by "But if you HAD to choose North or South....." Extremely annoying.

6) You think you'll join a million societies, exercise everyday and be super productive. But in reality you'll sleep in and miss lectures, stay out too late and think "First Year doesn't count, so it's okay right???".
I feel like this sums up what Uni has been like for most First Year students thus far. (Sorry to generalise all the students who have not felt this way. Well done you.) To be fair I've only missed one lecture....and a few shorthand sessions....they're at 9am, who can blame me.

Overall I've had a BRILL first semester. What a whirlwind it has been...Next time I post I'll be back in Derby!

I hope this post has been helpful/relatable:)

Anna x

P.s, if you want to vote for me for Blogger of the Month, you can do so here :)

P.p.s I will leave you with this...

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