7 Things I learnt in Freshers Year!

Heyyy!!!

So I thought i'd start a university series over on my Youtube channel as well as my blog (so head over and please subscribe)

My first of many ideas was to list a few things that I learnt in my first year at uni that I wasn't informed on when I did my research online.

P.s - Some are in general and some are for if you move into halls of resident (which I did).

1. Becoming nocturnal isn't an option.

This is mainly for if you choose to live in halls of residence.

But it's so so difficult to try and maintain a normal sleeping pattern.

It's very different to being at home - you have the freedom to go and get food no matter what the time is, have a shower at any time (providing everyone in the halls haven't used up all the hot water) and staying up all night to binge watch new series on Netflix. 

You'll find that also you'll get woken up a lot by the slamming of doors and your flat mates being loud. It's funny when you're laid in bed and everyone is still awake and pranking each other and running around like lunatics - you can hear them every now and them stand and go "shhhhh, Amie's asleep", hahaha nope it was always too late and I was wide awake listening to people laughing.

You'll have to get used to the sound of other flats/buildings playing music until ungodly hours and people stumbling back in at 4am from a night out (this isn't so bad when you're one of the people falling through the door with a pizza).

Before you know it you'll be counting down the hours until a lecture is over and you can catch up on many hours of sleep in the afternoon - ready for the mayhem again the upcoming night.

I miss this now though. Being at home where I have to be quiet, can't eat all through the nights without a lecture off my Mam. Also when you're laid in bed and you can't sleep and you've ran out of things to watch - you can't just go next door to see one of your friends and stay up talking. I'm sure my sister would have something to say if I tried this. Although she stays up later than me now - I love my sleep more than anything.

2. The dream life of an organised student will not work.

I am one of the most organised people you'll meet. I'm a complete clean freak and love a good diary/planner or 25.

You see in the movies and online that you want this fantasy idea of:

Starting a new university, making new friends that you'll keep for life. You'll get up early at around 6-7am, have a shower, perfect your makeup and hair, dress smart every day, eat fruit and yoghurt for breakfast, have a healthy packed lunch ready for the day ahead. Go to lectures and listen intently writing lots of notes, go back to your room to copy up the notes neatly, do lots of research and get to bed by 9pm.

DO NOT MAKE ME LAUGH, HAHAHAHA. NO THIS IS A BIG LIE.

This really won't happen. This worked for me for 2 days, two!! And then it turned to leggings and hoodies for lectures, no make up, hair on top of my head, never eating breakfast and sometimes not even taking a notepad to a lecture and using the excuse 'it will go up online i'll just copy it when i'm back at my flat'. But that won't happen either because as soon as you enter your room and see your bed - your clothes end up all over the floor and you're in bed for the next 5 hours regretting not being productive.

How I got a 2:1 I'll never know...

Don't try and live up to any expectations. Don't put too much pressure on yourself and go at your own pace.

Oh - and a Costa a day makes your loan disapear.

3. Discount codes on takeaways are a con!

I know. There's nothing better than having money in the bank and spending it all on alcohol and pizza. But trust me - the takeaway shops also know this!

They give out lots of voucher codes to Fresher's because a lot of them have never had so much money in their bank and will blow it instantly. 

Trust me when you buy 3 takeaways a week - it all adds up and when it comes to a few weeks before your next loan day, you will regret the binge eating and living off smart price rice will be the next step.

My advice for this would be to always order in a group. More money spend means bigger discounts and split between 5 of you? Brilliant idea!

I'd say 1 a week is more than enough (I mean come on we are students and if our parents aren't cooking our food - we need someone too)

But really don't go overboard because the pennies add up so quickly and you'll wonder where the heck all your money has gone when you could have bought that Mac lipstick but you spent the money on a pizza (story of my life).

4. You can go on a night out for £10.

Yes it is possible.

It's not like going out in your home town where you need to take the equivalent of a mortgage out down the bars because drinks are so expensive.

Student nights really are cheap.

If you pre-drink hard and share taxis with people (WHO YOU KNOW! JUST BECAUSE YOU'RE 18 DOESN'T MEAN YOU CAN TALK TO STRANGERS!) then you can easy have one of the best nights out.

5. PJ's are day clothes.

I judge grown adults for going to Asda in their PJ's when it's easy to shot on some clothes.

But I feel with people a student you have a leniency to be able to wear what you want.

My halls of residence had a campus shop so I always wore my pj's and hair in a towel to go grab some crisps or some toilet roll. Especially if you go in a group the attention isn't so much on you but on the group as a collective.

Obviously don't take the Michael - if you live 4 miles from a Tesco, you should probably put a bra on under your jumper.

6. Not all stationary is needed.

I read so many posts before I joined uni (I love a good list!) about what I should take and buy for uni. Some of them lists were CRAZY!

Please take into consideration that if you're doing English you probably won't need a scientific calculator or a protractor. You'll end up spending so much money on things you'll never even look at.

I bought so much stuff that I never even took out the packaging. Although I am a stationary freak. I have a box full of every coloured sticky note and highlighter - they'll probably last me until i'm 40...

If you want I can do a list of things you'll need to do journalism/english? I wouldn't do an overall list for every course because they're all so different! But if you want one of what I know them hit me up and i'll get onto it.

7. Mix & Match your outfits.

No one can afford to buy a new dress and a new pair of knock out heels for every night out - especially not as a student - unless you don't want to each that week then you go ahead.

There's so many outfit choices that you can mix and match.

Also after Fresher's week, the novelty of looking unreal wears off and you'll find yourself in a pair of skinnies and some converse. I wore this so much and trust me you're a lot comfier than the people in 6" heels. There's nothing better than being to walk at the end of the night and see people around you basically crying because their feet are dead.

So there you go guys!

I hope you enjoyed this post as much as I enjoyed writing it!

Let me know what videos you want to see in this university series

Love you all lots,

Amie

XX

Life Update: November 15.

Hey guys, so a lot has gone on lately and instead of doing a ‘past Halloween but not quite Christmas’ post, I thought I’d give you all an update on what’s been going on with me. If that would bore you then don’t read any further. But if you’re nosy like me, carry on!

University life.

So as most of you will know, I started Sunderland Uni in September and I’m studying magazine journalism for three years. So far it’s been okay I guess. I’m not loving my course, but I guess they have to get through all the nitty gritty things like lectures on apostrophes before we get onto the actual journalism.

I was considering changing my course to something more academic that would be easier to just sit with text books and learn like at A-Levels. But unfortunately the only thing that would interest me would be sociology or geography. But with sociology I don’t really like any of the careers that come after it – I really can’t see myself as a police woman. I loved geography throughout school and took it at A-Level, but Sunderland don’t do it as a degree course unless it’s something to do with tourism and that isn’t me either. So I think I’ll stick journalism out – since writing is me.

I write for one of the Universities media platforms called Northern Lights. So far I’ve done reviews on things like Username Evie by Joe Sugg, Girl Online On Tour by Zoe Sugg, Purpose Album by Justin Bieber etc. 

http://www.northernlightsuk.co.uk/2015/11/17/girl-online-tour-review/

http://www.northernlightsuk.co.uk/2015/11/07/review-username-evie/

http://www.northernlightsuk.co.uk/2015/11/18/justin-bieber-purpose-review/

      

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I’m loving living in halls. Moving away from home is such an experience. I miss home so bad. I miss my family, Luke and Zhiyin like crazy. But it’s really helped me realise who my real friends are, who is bothered and who isn’t.

My Uni friends are practically my family away from home. I get so excited to come back to my flat to see them. There’s seven of us in the flat - 3 boys 4 girls and everyone is very different from each other. There's Lauren, Sam, Jess, Katie, Ross and Steven! (Hey guys, I know you'll be reading!)

People are right when they say you’ll get your closest friends at Uni, as I already can tell who are going to be there for me for a long time, like I am with them.

A lot of people who I’ve met in this time have quickly went from being close friends to just people I wave at when I see them – which is sad, I know with a few if I needed them they’d be there, but I think with others I was just there as a friend before they found better ones, or worse – opinions vary.

I’m used to being independent now I guess, I mean I’m struggling with money and I’m living off beans and supernoodles – but that’s all part of being a student right?

I know I always have my family who help with a lot of my problems and are more than happy to help out if I need anything.

I love being able to go into the kitchen freely at 2am and get food, which I can’t do at home without my mam questioning me (Hi mam! I know you’re reading this too!)

I love how I can go out at random times at night for no reason what so ever – for example getting the metro train to McDonalds because, well, it’s McDonalds…

I’m getting better at cooking too! I’ve made a Sunday dinner (on a Thursday) with Ross for the rest of the flat mates which went down a treat. I also made 6 servings of meatball bolognaise and pasta, which everyone enjoyed and completely cleared their plates!

The social life is great too. Twisted Mondays, Play Wednesdays and 21^st Century Box Fridays are the main student nights. I rarely go out to be honest, mainly because on Tuesdays and Thursdays I start at 9am and that’s very risky sitting in lectures that early when you’re severely hungover.

There’s been a lot of cool theme nights though. I’ve been out at Halloween on the PLAY pub crawl (which was insane), and there’s also the Disney night coming up. Our flat went out as the Peter Pan crew – I was Wendy Darling, so there was Pan, Wendy, Hook, Sme and Tiger Lilly. It was so fun and we all looked great!

 

BIG NEWS!

So, the past couple of months I’ve been pleading back and forth with the NHS about getting a breast reduction. This finally got accepted and the date of my operation is the 30^th November – which is in two weeks!

This is such a big thing for me as I’ve been uncomfortable in my body for such a long time. I’m always in pain and they don’t suit me (I don’t think), and I just hate being so big. They completely limit me. I can’t do the exercise which I love, I can’t get fit so I completely hate my body. I especially hate the unwanted attention I get with them, even when people don’t think I realise – yes I see you looking! As much as people say ‘your body is fine’ and ‘you’re skinny!’, to me I’m not. If I’m not happy then that’s the problem.

After the operation and the weeks of recovery over the winter, I’m so excited for the new year of 2016 to be able to change the way I live.

I won’t be limited in my activities so I plan on getting fit, losing weight and toning up my body. I want to be happy in myself – I think if I get to look the way I want and be able to smile when I look in a mirror and wear nice, well-fitted clothes, I’ll be a lot more productive with the work I do and a lot happier when I go out with friends on nights out etc.

I’m so excited for little things like being able to sit straight. Or buy nice underwear sets instead of wearing ugly bras that are £15 a pop!

I MET JOE!

So as most of you will know - I love Joe Sugg. Luckily last month I met him! I waited 7 hours to see him for 20 seconds but it was the best 20 seconds of my life! 

He remembered who I was, knew my name and said he knew my twitter - which is so crazy that I still don't understand it.

Username Evie is an amazing book (read my review), but having a one that he gave and signed for me personally is unbelievable.

It still doesn't feel like it happened, he held my waist in photos (fan-girl), I held his too - although I don't remember doing so, it must have been my subconscious tell me we're meant to be... 

I'll just insert photos here.

I’ll keep everyone updated on my recovery, as being bed bound will be a benefit when it comes to doing Uni work and writing blogs.

Thank you all for reading – this may have bored you to be honest. But I always like to hear about how people’s lives are going so you might be interested in mine.

Let me know in the comments or message me on my social medias if you’d like to see a particular post on my blog over the Christmas period.

Love you all,

Amie XX

Uni Room Tour!

Hey guys! 

So this past week i've been moving into my new university accommodation in Sunderland at the Forge and I love it!

I know that i'm one of those people who likes to be nosy and look at peoples rooms, so this is for those type of people...

Bed area:

My bed is a single with gorgeous floral bedding from Dunelm Mill, I also got a couple of matching cushions and some fluffy, pretty ones from home.

 I also added my favourite throw, from Primark as it can get pretty chilly especially with these upcoming months.

 On my bed is my favourite teddy Danny (the dog) which i've had since I was born so I had to bring him.

Excuse the laptop, i've been obsessed with re-watching all of the CSI episodes!

Wash area.

 Then behind my door is my sink/wash area. The toothbrush holder and storage pot are from Dunelm Mill also. In them obviously is my toothbrush - and Zoe's at the minute as she stays at mine quite a lot! I have my face flannels, hair brush, Liz Earle Cleanse & Polish.
I also have my tissues, because you never know when you might need them! 
My Grandma also got me the cute hand soap and moisturiser.
Then there's my hand towel which I bought from Primark.
Oh, then there's awkward me in the mirror, haha!

Wardrobe.

Beside my sink is my wardrobe, which have cute fairy lights on top from Dunelm Mill.
In the wardrobe obviously is my underwear, clothes, jackets & shoes - thank god for storage!
Then under my clothes are three gorgeous geisha girls which my best friend Zhiyin got me from China when she went away, I love them so much they really match with everything in my wardrobe.
Under them is a vintage storage basket from B&M which has my chocolate and sweet stash in. 
Beside that is my Fearne Cotton storage box which holds my nail varnishes.
Below them are my books, I only brought a selection with me: Username: Evie by Joe Sugg, Fangirl, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Love Tanya by Tanya Burr, Guardian Style and two university tips books. Then I have my magazines such as Vogue and Cosmopolitan, as well as my notebooks and folders.
Under that shelf is nothing important just my alcohol and carrier bags for shopping - haha!

 

Desk.

At the bottom of my bed is my desk and canvas board which is my favourite! 

On my board:
Some cute heart fairy lights from Dunelm Mill. 
A lot of poloroid images from the app LALALAB which I am obsessed with.
Some 'good luck' cards from various people.
Two cute motivational signs, the top one from Dunelm Mill and the bottom blue one is from Primark for only £1! 

On my desk: I have my cute pink lamp from Home Bargains.
My favourite glass with Pepsi Max in, the glass was only £1 from Primark I love them!
There's also a cute purple vintage tray what my Grandma got me, which matches 2 mugs and 2 coasters, 1 coaster is under my glass! On the tray is some mints, some small stationary bits like paper clips and pins.
On the left you will see the two stationary pots I put in my Stationary Haul Post.
There's also my sweety jar with them blue and pink bottle sweets in that are really fizzy!
My Acer tablet is also on my table which I received off my accommodation and am yet to set up and learn how to use - thanks U-Student!
There's my purse which is from New Look and my keys which have cute pictures on from Fresher's Week. 
I also have two beautiful desk planners from WHSmith, one is a To-Do List and the other is a weekly planner - they're so handy!
There's also a cute picture of me and my perfect mama being silly in Tesco, aha!

To the left of my desk is my window which looks out onto the square and other student flats. Here you can see my desk chair - which was quite an ugly green and black so I covered with a cosy purple throw which my Grandma gave me, and a cute cushion which is from ASDA.
There is also 2 pretty storage boxes from Dunelm Mill.
Also a wicca heart-shaped storage basket where I put my dirty laundry!

To the left of my wicca basket, is my drawers which I store my beauty bits and other random stuff. 
On top is my makeup bag, a handy double sided mirror and my make-up brushes which I store in Gab Lindley (Velvetgh0st) Primark range. The mug was £3 and it is so cute!
There's also my Zoella beauty products and my sunglasses - even though it's now autumn!

Shower.

As I got a premium room, I get a shower included.

Its a lovely shower, quite roomy even though it doesn't look it. Here I keep my Radox shower gel and my shampoo/conditioner. Pretty basic really.