Tough times? Problems?

Hello all!
Oh my, it has been a while since i've typed up a uni blog post, hasn't it? I am really, really sorry for that! Uni has taken over my life, and I have no free time (apart from weekends) and I use that time to sleep! But, finally, I am typing up a post~~

Today, I would like to talk about tough times in uni, whether that's feeling home sick, work catching up with you, or lecturers driving you up the wall, or anything else that's just troubling in general!
We're all going to run into problems at uni, it's almost like destiny, it's bound to happen sooner or later. A lot of the time we can avoid trouble/problematic situations, but on the other hand, they can get slapped into our face and appear out of the blue.


1) Money.

Ah yes, money. It's a wonderful thing, we can buy many wonderful things with it, clothes, food, gadgets and pointless items, and we can also get very carried away with money. Some people are given a weekly allowance by their parents in uni, which they'll use to buy food with, go out and get drinks and so on, others have to work for their money, either way, when there's a lot of it, it's oh so tempting just to dip into it a little bit. You start with this little thing, then that little thing, next thing you know it, you've blown that weeks worth of money. I know because i've done it recently, and oh how I suffered! 
There are a few ways in which we can not run into money problems, and everyone has their own way of dealing with it, but here are a few ideas:
- Be really strict with yourself. If you have, let's say over £100 sitting in your bank, don't touch it, give yourself a weekly limit on how much you spend on food, washing, clothes, etc. This way you'll be less likely to reach in and spend it.
- Open a savings account. I know not everyone is going to agree with this idea, but it is a smart one to do. When you put your money into a savings account, you can't touch it until you really, REALLY, need to, for example, you might be saving for driving lessons, but those shoes in River Island might be calling your name, BUT YOU'RE GOING TO BE GOOD AND PUT YOUR MONEY IN THE SAVINGS ACCOUNT AND WAIT FOR THE SHOES TO GO ON SALE.
Like I said before, everyone has their own way of keeping track on their money to avoid problems!


2) Work.

I'm talking about uni work, not as in a job. I don't know if it's the same for everyone, because, of course, everyone does different subjects, and work varies for each person, but when you're doing an art based subject, you get thrown right into the snakes pit, like in Indiana Jones. I'm doing a Foundation Art, Media & Design course, for those who do not know, and within our induction week we had a project to do and I think it took nearly everyone in our class by suprise and people were fretting, then we had a classical architecture project and everyone was going crazy over that and it's just a lot of work! Here are a few tips to avoid problems:
- GET IT DONE THEN AND THERE. Obviously. Once the task has been set, do not put it off, sit down and do it. The sooner it's done, the better you're going to feel about it all. You'll be able to say " HAH, I did that yesterday and now I do not have to panic~ I'm going for a drink in the SU bar!", you can chill out and relax until the next task.
- Take your time! Why rush something and not put a lot of effort into it, just so you can chill? I know I said to sit down and do it, but I mean put effort into it, do your work so that you're pleased with the outcome. At the end of the day, you're getting a degree, and if you don't put the work in, you're not going to get that degree.
I live by "work hard, play hard" - work for hours, play for hours.


3) People.

OH PEOPLE! People, people, people... we're a funny bunch. This is a well known fact known around the world, you're going to get people you don't get along with in your class. Fact~ You might start out as friends because they were the first person that you spoke to on your first day, but then you might realise "actually, this person is taking the mick. I do not appreciate people taking the mick.", the obvious thing to do is to leave them, unless they're alone, don't leave them then. Why? Because you might be the only person they have, and you just need to be nice, no harm in being kind! Try to involve them with other people, give them the confidence to make new friends and then, let the chick leave the nest. Of course, you might have a bad run in with some people who you thought were harmless enough, but then ended up doing something that annoyed you so much, you don't want anything to do with them. That then is the time to avoid them and to distance yourself. If they're doing something that they know will annoy you, it's because they want you to have a reaction, and when you give a reaction, you've satisfied them and they'll probably make some snide and "witty" remark.
- Ignore them! Again, it's obvious, but sometimes people act before they think and give the people they don't want a reaction. That's all they're trying to do, provoke a reaction out of you to start something. Yes, it's very childish, so be the mature one in this situation.
As long as you have friends who understand you, like you, get along with you, you'll be fin. Have them support you, that's what a friend does.


4) Feeling home sick.

This is mainly for people living at their university, rather than being from the area. Sometimes it hits people as soon as they move, sometimes when they visit home for the weekend, and for some people, never. I've heard some people say they'd never go home in the fear that they'd just want to be back home and they'd be home sick, in a way, I think that's quite upsetting. Never going to go back home until it's time to (like Christmas for example), and possibly only contacting friends and family through the internet? I couldn't do that! For some people, going home is the best for them because it can make them realise how much of an awesome time they're having at uni and how much they wish to be back! If you are feeling home sick, here are a few tips to help you get over this minor problem:
- Skype/internet/phone calls. We live in an age where we can contact people so easily and instantly, and a lot of the time it's free, so it'd be cheaper than getting a train ticket home! Skype is free to download, get your mum, dad, nan, grandad, cat, dog to sign up to it too and away you go~ Who doesn't have Facebook these days? If you know someone who doesn't, then what about an email? It would be much quicker to type up an email than to write a letter.
- Be sociable. Don't be an antisocial hermit, like myself, who sits around in their cave (bedroom), doing nothing - get out there and have fun! Go out and party, sit in the bar and talk to people, do something that'll make you leave your room and put your mind off of family and home. 


5) Food.

When at uni, sometimes, we may not eat as well as we should, whether the shop provides tempting foods, or the canteen has wonderful smelling chicken burgers waiting for your arrival, we will eat the food that isn't good for us and that can result in bad skin or weight gain. Of course, this isn't going to apply to everyone, I know that, i'm just putting this out there~ The shop here at my uni has weird and wonderful foods and snacks that i'm very willing to try, and I find myself scoffing fatty foods and sweets nearly all the time, and I realise i've eaten millions of peanut butter cups when it's too late. I'm not saying it's bad for you to have sweets, but every once in a while is fine, just not all the time - THINK ABOUT YOUR SKIN!! Here are a few tips that i've done to maintain my weight and make sure I don't pile on the pounds
- Set a uni "diet" before you leave for uni. What I mean by this is, eat food that is cheap to get, but good for you and live off of it for a month or longer, that way you'll get into a routine of eating those kind of foods, you'll know what you like and how much of it you will eat, that way nothing will go to waste and you can keep a good tab on how much you spend on a food shop.
- Keep fruit in your fridge. I do think this is important! Fruit is good for you and tastes wonderful,  so if you are feeling peckish after your meal, grab an apple or banana, or whatever fruit you like and eat that -it'll also be a part of one of your five a day~


This is all i'm going to type up for tough times today~
Of course you can take all this on board, some of it on board, or none of it, that is entirely your decision!
Thanks for reading this blog post, i'll try my best to type up more and blog more!

Kitchen Tour!

Hello everyone~
Here is the long awaited kitchen tour!

WARNING - THIS KITCHEN IS A HIDEOUS COLOUR AND IT MAY DAMAGE YOUR RETINA. 

Now that the health and safety warning is dealt with, here is my kitchen:

When you walk in through the door, this is what you see - I DID WARN YOU.

Yes, look at that beautiful view. I do love looking at bins.

This part of the kitchen, on the right as you walk in.

This is our cork board, which contains people's timetables at the top, a freshers week list, take aways and bits and bobs.

The corner!

The fridges and the door - how very exciting.

This is (obviously) a poster for Ruby Sparks and flyers that were handed to us, bordering it - a fab job there, Emily~!

WHERE WE DINE.

I now introduce to you, the crappest cooker. The top right circle thing is the only one that works properly.

Oh, hey there mr.sink.

THIS IS MY CUPBOARD~ Shall we see what's inside?

Very organised, obviously. Bowls, plates, cereal, clingfilm, gravy, rice, tea and pasta sauce - I don't need much.

We decorated our fridge with magnets, flyers and a monster sticker.

Freshers thing for rev's, a bus time table and yes, a chunder chart.

The very top shelf is mine, and as you can see, i'm running out of food. The squash is also mine.

And this is what you've all been waiting for! THE BACK OF THE DOOR.

A very quick and easy tour of my kitchen. It looks a million times better with all the posters stuck up now~ and as long as there's no blood shed fighting over the top right stove/cooker thing, then it'll be fine.

I hope you liked this short post - I will be typing up proper posts soon because I officially start tomorrow, 24th, so i'll type up what happened in the week!

Here is an amusing photo I took while out. Newport pls.

ROOM TOUR~!

Hello everyone~!
FINALLY, THE TIME HAS ARRIVED! I am now a university student! WOO, YEAH! Rather exciting stuff, and i'm coping so much better than I thought!

Okay, I shall start from the beginning of the day.
Moving in time started at 11am, and it takes about 3 hours from my house to the uni, so we needed to leave at 8am, and me being me, was up at 6 making sure I had a shower, everything was packed, last minute things, etc. I ended up having 3 large suits cases (2 filled with clothes and things, and the other filled with art supplies and books), a small suitcase and a box filled with kitchen and bedroom things and then bags full of bits and bobs. We had to take the 4x4...

And so, I was left with all of this on my seat. So not a lot of room really!

After a 3 hour drive and one stop, we finally arrived, but it wasn't simple like "HERE ARE YOUR KEYS, WELCOME." No, no.. I had to sign myself in at the accommodation people thing, then go to a lady who HAD to book me in for an induction to the gym (which I won't use), then get a goody box, talk to someone about insurance, get a bus pass, THEN I could get my keys. But then after that I spent ages registering with the nurse. All in all, it was a bit of a faff, but when I looked at the que, I was amazed, it was going out the building and was so long, so thank goodness we lined up when we did!
Finally, I got to move in and unpack! Luckily, i'm on the bottom floor, so I don't have to climb steel stairs after a night out, if you know what I mean. I opened my door and my first reaction was "wat." I was suprised at how small it was! And I was thinking to myself "HOW AM I MEANT TO GET ALL MY CLOTHES IN THESE DRAWERS??" I have a large room at home, and I haven't had a small room since 2003/2004 before I moved house - don't get me wrong, I like having a small room, I was just taken back a bit!  Oddly enough, there's more room than you think, I did get everything in and with some room left over! 
Enough chitchat now, here are some photos of my room~

This is a full view of my room, standing from my door

Hey gurl, hey.

This is a little cupboard-y thing at the end of my bed, which has bed sheets, diabetic stuff, the goody box and bits and bobs.

The wardrobe

I got ALL my shoes in, YAYUS! Not much hanging up, yes that's my tiger onesie, and my jumpers on the side.

My drawers and fridge

Apples, insulin, eggs, potatoes, milk and Kopparberg - that's all I need really.

Hats and scarves, hair dryer, straighteners, Kopparberg~

BAGS.

Hey bed, how you doin'?

These are shelves above my bed, so on this one we have 2 cards from my birthday, my Alexander McQueen book, photography books and fashion magazines.

DVDs, DS with Pokemon games, a funny envelope and some books that are being kept up by Rocky's old shoe~

A BATHROOM? FOR ME? YOU SHOULDN'T HAVE!

My OH-MY-GOD-I-HAVE-A-BATHROOM face.

My shower where I will wash myself.

Things and the loo which has flushing instructions, in case I needed them y'know.

All that stuff that I need.

I managed to buy the wrong floor mat, it doesn't match with my blue towel... never mind~

This is behind my door, so a mirror and coats be chilling there.

When I moved in, I just plonked my bling and makeup on my desk, and it looked like this:

I JUST COULDN'T COPE. Waaay too much stuff on my desk and I just sat there moving things, then other stuff would get in my way, so I got pins, and now it looks like this:

OH MY, ISN'T THAT BETTER? Yes, yes it is. I also got a Pixar-esque lamp too~

Well, that's it for my room tour! Next time I shall show you what is in my kitchen! I hope you enjoyed reading this and thanks for having a read!

:)

Mini book/stationary haul

Hello everyone~
This is a super mini book/stationary haul. The reason why I don't have arty equipment is because i'm ordering them, and when they arrive, I shall post what i've got! 
I wanted to go crazy in Paperchase. So much cute stationary, my mind couldn't cope. I was ERHMAHGERD-ing at everything. I just wanted the pointless things, like the panda highlighters, but, are they pointless? No, no, not now that I think about it. I need those highlighters... Anyway, for those who don't know what Paperchase is, it's a stationary shop that sells art equipment like paint and brushes, they also supply lovely wrapping paper that you would hate using because it's too pretty. If you don't have a Paperchase by you, go to their online store http://www.paperchase.co.uk/ and have a look at their things, because what person doesn't like stationary? There's something pleasing about it, and it's even better when it's so adorable.
Now, I shall show you what I got!

As you can tell from my face, I love this A5 note pad~ Look at how adorable it is! With the chick, fox(?), penguin, panda, crocodile and colourful raccoon on the front and the zebra, owl, badger, mouse(?), snake and red panda(?) on the back! Cuteness overload! BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE.

I CAN'T COPE. MY MIND CANNOT COPE.
This is just SO adorable~ I will be savoring every page. I got this A5 one because it was required and it'll be good for taking on trips to make notes on, rather than lugging around an A4 note pad which I can use in uni.

Next up is this lovely Muppets A4 note pad from the Disney store~

I am suprised that Kermit isn't near the centre of the cover... i'm not disappointed or anything, I just wasn't expecting him to be down in the corner y'know? BUT, it's okay, because my favourite Muppet is in the middle - Beaker~

This is the inside of the pad~
The pattern on the inside of the pad is of the characters, and it's a bit hard to tell who's who, but I don't mind, i'm not going to lose sleep over it. I got this in the sale, but I would not have paid full price for it, there isn't enough lined paper. I think that's me being picky, but it's lovely and colourful so I couldn't leave it alone.

Once again, i'm showing happiness because of this WONDERFUL A4 note pad~
GLITTER, RAINBOWS, FROGS, PONIES, KITTIES, MUSHROOMS AND MORE. The cuteness level is off the charts. It has the same pattern on the back too, which is so good because it means when I close the pad, i'll see the prettyness again~
There's a sticker at the top that says "With printed dividers", originally I thought "Oh great! I can separate my work", but what I didn't know was what was on the dividers.

BUNNIES, PONIES AND KITTIES. RAINBOWS, HEARTS, AND MUSHROOMS.
I love it so much.

Some of you might recognise this book, it is indeed the Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty book. I've wanted this since it came out, and I saw only one in Waterstones and I took my opportunity to get it, and now, it belongs to me~ 
Again, my face. I feel like I should be turning the pages with white cotton gloves on, I want to protect this book and make sure that no pages are going to be ruined and so on. The book is filled with magnificent clothes, runway looks and a lot of writing, so it'll keep me busy for a while. 

Even though I was gifted these books at Christmas last year, I thought I might as well throw them in here.
These are two photography books which are very handy to have~ Because I want to study fashion photography after my foundation course, I need to stock up on the basics first and these books cover the basics and more.

This was also required - fixative. Spraying a layer of fixative on a chalk, pencil, anything-that-could-potentionally-smudge drawing will protect it and make sure it won't smudge, fixing the drawing into place, hence the name fixative.

5 biros. 
You need cheap pens when you're a student.

Last, but not least, are these 2 adorable pencils~ "Juicy Apple" and "Juicy Grape"~ EVEN THE RUBBER IS CUTE. 
I got these, not really for "proper" drawing, but for writing down notes and little doodles here and there. I will buy some mechanical pencils too, as I love to use them for drawing and there's something satisfying about pressing down a button to get more pencil lead. 

And this concludes my very small haul!
I will do another haul when all my art supplies arrive from Traders.
Thank you for reading~~