Slowly creeping into 2014...

As its New Years Eve and I'm home alone with no plans (sad), I'm going to take this opportunity to do a little blog reflecting on the past year and looking forward into 2014.

To be honest, 2013 hasn't been significantly good or bad. It started out alright and has had its ups and downs but generally it hasn't been anything to write home about. I have had some awesome times in Huddersfield this year, and some extremely stressful ones too. From epic nights out, to chilled nights in, gigs with friends and gigs with my boyfriend, I have made some really great memories this year. But towards the end of the year, I have also been incredibly stressed and at times, a nightmare to deal with, due to the demanding workload and stresses of final year.

This is probably the most cliche thing I've ever said but I guess in some ways, 2013 has been a year of change. Both my boyfriend and one of my closest friends moved out of Huddersfield this year which was initially quite daunting and really hard for me to get used to. The thought of having these two no longer within arms reach was really hard to comprehend at first and I for one, did not like it! However, they didn't just get fed up of me, they actually both left to pursue their placement years and I am very proud of both of them. My boyfriend moved to Leeds at the beginning of the year which upset me a bit but he managed to get himself a cracking placement within the university, meaning I still get to see him a hell of a lot as he is always in and out of Huddersfield. He seems to be enjoying the placement overall and it has given him some great experience and opportunities which is fantastic and I am really happy for him. My friend, Hannah, moved back home for her placement year and has had two placements up to now, both of which have been extremely beneficial and the opportunities she has been given from both have been phenomenal and I am super proud of her and even though it absolutely sucks that she no longer lives with us and I cried my eyes out when she left, I am so happy that her placement year is proving to be so valuable and worth while.

Everyone around me seemed to be so focused and driven this year, that I, personally had a minor breakdown. For ages I found myself thinking "What the hell am I actually doing with my life?", and "Why aren't I as successful and switched on as everyone else?" Obviously I am still in university and working towards a degree but to be completely honest, I still don't have the foggiest idea what I want to do with my life after uni. There are so many people that I see in uni everyday that seem so mature, ambitious and focused and know exactly where they want to be in five years time. Whereas I still feel like a teenager and am no wiser as to what I want to do, than I was when I first started uni, which is a little worrying. I still have a huge passion for writing but that does not necessarily mean I want to be a journalist, as I just don't have any interest in nitty gritty and edgy stories, I much prefer light-hearted things. I also have no ambition to pursue a career in PR, like many other people in my degree area, as I don't have the self-confidence, charisma or ballsiness required to be a success in that area. I find it hard to put myself out there and talk to people I don't know or people I might be intimidated by, which causes me great problems in uni, as I am often expected to interview or approach random people. I experience a lot of anxiety when it comes to this sort of thing and tend to put things off, which I have found to be a huge setback this year, as it stops me from reaching my full potential with assignments. This is the main reason behind the lower parts of this year and because of this, I have decided to give myself some resolutions for 2014. Now I know that resolutions are there to be broken and I will no doubt forget about them, but I am going to give them a try anyway.

2014 is the year I (hopefully) will graduate from uni and although that is a massive achievement, it also leaves me feeling quite sad as it means I have to join the real world and stop living the student dream. I honestly believe that I will be on a huge downer after graduating because I have loved just about every minute of uni life. I have met the best friends in the world and I can't even cope over the Christmas holidays without them all, so god knows what I will be like when we all leave for good. They better get the Prozac ready cause I will definitely need them come July 2014! There has been talk of me potentially getting a flat with Jade, one of my uni friends, after we graduate but that involves a lot of saving up, so we will have to see what this year brings and hopefully we can make it happen, but if not, I hope we will all definitely still keep in touch.

Until then though, I am going to try my best to get through the next few months without too many stresses. To do this, I aim to:

- Take control with my assignments and don't let myself get so easily distracted

- Try my best to grab opportunities by the balls instead of being scared and anxious in certain situations (easier said than done!)

- Spend less and give myself a weekly budget (also easier said than done!)

- Stay out of other people's business

- Enjoy my last few months as a student

This post had a lot more feels than I initially anticipated but hey ho, I'm going with it! I hope everyone has a much more eventful New Years Eve than me, and I hope your resolutions stay in tact longer than mine probably will!

Happy new year!

Christmas preparations at C7!

Its getting super festive in my flat at the moment, so I thought I'd share some of our Christmas preparations on my blog.

We've had our Christmas tree up for a few weeks now (it was a welcome essay distraction!) and I for one, don't want to take it down after Christmas is over. Its so pretty! The angel on top is pretty special too, as we acquired a 'make your own angel kit' in first year from Wilkinsons and have had that same angel on our tree for 3 years now. She's sentimental!

We've got other Christmas decorations dotted around the flat, as you can see below. Giant glitter snowflakes, paper snowflakes, paper chains, fairy lights and home-made Christmas cards are adorning our humble abode at the minute!

We also stayed up til 1AM one night and made some lovely salt-dough Christmas decorations...as you do.

You can find recipes/instructions online to make these but we simply used 2 cups of plain flour, 1 cup of water and 1 cup of salt. Then all you do is mix it up as you would any other dough, give it a good kneading and roll it out ready to cut out your shapes. Once this is done, you can either pop them into the oven until they are solid or leave them out overnight to harden, before painting them and adding decoration. They make great presents or sentimental family Christmas tree ornaments.

Ours are yet to be painted but they are already looking adorable!

Definitely getting excited about Christmas now. Can't wait to spend some time with my family, stuffing my face with some festive foods, lounging about to the likes of Elf and The Grinch and enjoying the home comforts of a nice bubble bath and a comfy sofa.

Feel free to leave links to your own Christmas posts, I'm intrigued to see how other people are getting into the festive spirit!

Crikey, third year is NOT a walk in the park...

Wow, the last few weeks have been a rollercoaster. Slowly but surely, I am starting to realise just how difficult final year is. With the sudden realisation of just how little time there is left in uni and an array of deadlines creeping up, my head has been quite a mess.

Earlier this month I noticed just how little time I had to do so much work and it really freaked me out. Having said this, I didn't exactly jump into work mode, but instead spent time doing fun things with my flatmates or failing that, lazing around not doing much at all. Its hard to find the right balance in third year for work and social activities, especially when you are dreading leaving university and therefore want to spend every last minute enjoying yourself. Because of this, I started to leave a lot of important things til the very last minute.

While we might be getting nearer to Christmas, we are also getting closer and closer to deadlines, meaning I am currently in panic mode. Over the last few weeks, it has dawned on me just how much time I've been wasting and because of that, my stress levels have been through the roof. Due to the stress of upcoming deadlines and the fact that I found myself doing a module that was completely and utterly out of my comfort zone, I was feeling very overwhelmed. For the first time in three years, everything got a little too much and I actually wanted to leave it behind and go home, which is something extremely out of the blue for me.

After a minor mental breakdown and a bit of crying in various tutors offices, I decided to drop the module that was causing me issues and change to something that I am actually interested in and have quite a passion for. I also decided it was time to knuckle down and try to get some work done on the essays that have deadlines lurking around the corner.

It never occurred to me that I would feel so down and to be honest, depressed, with uni, but I think once in a while, every student has a bit of a rough patch and becomes unexpectedly overwhelmed with what is expected of them. I'm happy to say that the rough patch has gone and I am now feeling much better.

My tutors and some of my coursemates were very reassuring and told me that they've been in the same boat, which made me feel a lot better and less pathetic for crying in the first place! It felt as though everything was getting on top of me, but since then I have took control, made a start on some things and generally been more positive.

I don't really know what I'm aiming for by writing this in my blog but I know I've been a bit absent in writing for a while and to some extent this is why. I'm sure there are many other student bloggers who have felt similar or many who have just started their studies and will at some point. So I guess this post could help them in some way.
The morals of the story in short are:

•  Don't let things get ahead of you, take control
•  If you need to cry at someone, then don't feel daft, just let it out, everyone gets stressed from time to time
• And more importantly if you do feel like this, don't let it hinder your university experience because its just a very small bump in the road of what is otherwise a fantastic journey and adventure.

So with all that in mind, I should get off my blog and do some more quote-hunting and research (Fun!)

Before I do though, I should probably mention my boyfriend in this.
He recently got the urge to jump on the blogging bandwagon and decided to start a blog and post something everyday. I initially teased him for stealing my turf but to be honest he has kept up with it pretty good so far and actually posted more recently than me! He doesn't have a specific topic or subject area, its just a diary entry style blog, but he's committed to it and it will definitely be interesting to read back over everything in a few months time. So why not check out his blog here and maybe give him a follow? Go easy though, he's new to this!

To anyone with upcoming uni deadlines, good luck!
And to the rest of you, you don't know how bloody lucky you are!

I Wish: Urban Outfitters

So lately I've been ridiculously skint, and even though student loans are due next week as well as payday....so is my rent, meaning I'm likely to stay penniless for quite some time. 

Therefore I can't go on my usual "FUCK YEAH ITS LOAN DAY, LETS SPEND IT ALL NOW!" shopping spree :( 

Bummer! 

So instead, to fulfil my need to online shop, whenever I get the urge to buy something, I'm just going to post a wishlist and not actually buy them. 

That way, you lot can buy them and I can live vicariously through you! 

Sorted!

All these items are from Urban Outfitters, which is one of my absolute favourite shops. I would kill to be able to go into the Leeds store and spend about £200 like I normally do on loan days! But nevermind.

These are just a few of my favourite things from there at the minute.

1. / 2. / 3.

I really like tartan print and own quite a few items adorned with it, but I like how relaxed and comfy both the shirt and the dress look. 

One of the reasons I love UO is because their prints are beautiful, and while I have dresses and leggings from there, I've yet to own a skirt - this could be the one!

4. / 5. / 6.

I absolutely love turtles, and I have another turquoise turtle pendant from UO so it'd be nice to own this one too! 

I've seen this watch loads of times and have been eyeing it up for ages, I love the map on the face.

7. / 8.

I've got a bit of a thing for fairy lights at the moment but my cheap Poundstretcher and Dunelm ones have just about seen their full potential so I need to upgrade to something a bit more girly like this. 

The hipflask is actually on my birthday list, so hopefully if I've been a good enough girl, I might just get it? Fingers crossed!

Arctic Monkeys - AM

Arctic Monkeys have been one of my favourite bands since 2006, when my dad reluctantly lent me his copy of Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not. Of course, I'm extremely biased, as they hail from God's own back garden, Yorkshire, like me. But that aside, I think they're fantastic and like many other fans, I have been patiently awaiting the release of their fifth album, for almost 2 years.

When they burst onto the music scene with their triumphantly successful first album, they were just shy adolescent boys that most of the country, let alone the world, could barely understand - five albums later and they are arguably one of the biggest bands in the world at the minute, with a hugely dedicated fan-base.

Over the last year, Arctic Monkeys have cleverly teased fans, rationing them almost, by drip-feeding new material and live performances bit by bit. The release of R U Mine? back in February 2012 sparked early excitement for the new album, showcasing not only a sharp new look, but also an interesting and incredibly appealling new sound for the band. Their next single Do I Wanna Know? was released early this year, ahead of their amazing headlining set at Glastonbury, which reminded us just what it is we love about Arctic Monkeys.

(Image found @ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Arctic_Monkeys_-_AM.png)

A few months later and we finally have what we've been so eagerly anticipating, their fifth studio album, AM. On first listen it is apparent that those mere adolescents who introduced us to I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor have grown up a hell of a lot; presenting us with an edgier and much more matured sound. Queens of the Stone Age's Josh Homme, who collaborated with Arctic Monkeys on this record, describes it as "a really cool, sexy, after-midnight album" and you can certainly understand his point as there is something undeniably cool about this album. The album opens with Do I Wanna Know? -  a single that I personally have over-played this Summer, because of its catchy beat and dirty sounding riffs. Following this is last year's hit, R U Mine?. I love both of these songs but I have to admit, opening with 2 big tracks like this, obviously leaves the rest of the album with a lot to live up to.

Like most albums, there are some tracks that I instantly liked, and others I wasn't so sure of, but after a few listens some of those songs have grown on me. Personal highlights for me include Knee Socks, I Want It All and Snap Out Of It - three of the faster songs on the album. The band had many different influences during the production of this album, from Black Sabbath to OutKast. While these are at opposite sides of the music spectrum, they have helped Arctic Monkeys create an album that contrasts sounds of rock and hip-hop. As mentioned earlier they had one particular collaborator who helped to nurture this sound, the only man who could ever make being ginger cool as fuck, Josh Homme. He is reported to have worked specifically on One For The Road and Knee Socks but I find his influence to be apparent in many of the songs. Badass QOTSA-esque harmonies and riffs accompanied by Alex Turner's kitchen-sink lyrics and broad Sheffield twang are a winning combination and pure pleasure for the ears.

While I find some tracks on this album to be completely different to anything Arctic Monkeys have done before, there are a few bluesy tracks on AM that also wouldn't sound out of place on Suck It and See, such as No. 1 Party Anthem and Mad Sounds. Alex switches into crooner mode on these two tracks, which have a soft vintage sound in comparison to songs such as Do I Wanna Know? and Why'd You Only Call Me When You're High?

"I wanna be your Ford Cortina, I will never rust" 

"Let me be your leccy meter and I'll never run out"  

 - I Wanna Be Yours. 

One thing I really love about Arctic Monkeys is how real they are. Since their first album, they've told life exactly how it is through their songs. Alex has a real knack for creating lyrics that are effortless but absolutely genius. And this album is no different. I also love the constant references to popular culture in their songs, such as "Shes got a Barbarella silver swimsuit" from Arabella and the reference to Mean Streets and The Ronettes in Knee Socks. 

While there are bound to be many mixed reviews of this album, due to people's opposing opinions on the Arctic Monkeys and their development as a band, I personally found AM to be a gem. It fulfilled the Arctic Monkeys shaped whole in my life, and I'm currently playing the hell out of it. Some songs can be easily overlooked, but the rest are modern masterpieces, and I have no doubt that many of them will be big hits (especially Arabella). To put it simply, this album got me through a twelve hour night shift, and that is all the judgement I need. 

Safe to say, I've always believed the hype!