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

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