Books are fascinating

It’s a strange feeling when you finish reading a book. I suppose what feeling you get might depend on the genre of the book, what you thought of it, how long you have been reading it for and more. I have just finished reading Alexandra Potter’s Love from Paris (it was amazing) but now I don’t know how to feel about it. I thought the story was gripping, a real page turner, so much that I read the book in five days. But when you read a novel that good, sometimes you just want it to go on and on, so when you finish it you feel a sense of sadness. But then at the same time, because I haven’t read in such a long time, and it is something I am trying hard to get back into, I feel a sense of achievement and I am happy that I have finished reading the whole book.

Sometimes, books can be a bit of a mission. If you don’t have the time you only read snippets here and there, you are not fully into the story and then it is hard to stick with it. Then there are those who completely disregard books altogether. But I really wish everyone dedicated more time to reading.

Books are quite fascinating to me, they have been around for so long, yet stories written hundreds of years ago can have so much relevance and importance nowadays. Furthermore, it takes so much time and effort into producing a book, all the people involved with printing and publishing and making it sell, let alone the time the author put into writing it. I think we should all appreciate this more; rather than spending an hour a day watching videos on YouTube of cats, we should read a book and learn something new, in my opinion at least.

There are literally hundreds of thousands of books out there, where do you begin? How can you simply choose one book to read? Especially if you don’t have time to read that often, say you finish one book every two weeks, then that is roughly two books a month and twenty four a year. Only twenty four books out of apparently one hundred and thirty million in the world to choose from, how do we choose what to read? I think everyone obviously knows what they enjoy; it’s similar to TV programmes I suppose. What genres do we enjoy, what time periods do we find interesting, do we watch TV to relax or to be educated? There is so much to choose from. For me, I know I like romantic-comedies, classics, and history books. But how do we narrow it down?

When I was looking for a book to read (I am afraid I wasn’t in a book shop, but rather scrolling through Amazon as I have a kindle), I just didn’t know where to begin. So many authors and even more books to choose from! I spent quite a bit of time looking at books I wanted to read, and almost made a short list. Then, I started researching a little bit about each author, seeing other works they had done and how many. From this I created a list of authors and books I really want to read. I then signed up to goodreads, which is a book recommendation and rating website, and so I explored this. I really enjoy goodreads as you can track books you have read, are currently reading and what you want to read on their website. As well as this you can write reviews and read other reviews and follow what books your friends are reading. Anyway, I now know that whenever I am stuck on ideas for what to read, I can refer back to my list and try one of those.

Clear the List: February 2016 Goals

I know I am a little late in uploading this, but at the end of January I decided to set myself some daily goals for February. I came across this idea ‘Clear the List’ reading a few different blogs and I will be using the table I mentioned in my last blog in order to clear my own list.

I have already been using the table the last few days and I can already say I feel so much more motivated to do things, knowing I get to colour off that box for that day. At the end of the month I will hopefully have a very colourful and completed table.

But without further or do, here are my daily goals for February:

1. Drink a bottle of water a day. I am awful at drinking enough water but this is something I am trying to improve so that eventually it becomes a habit and I don’t even have to think about reminding myself to do it.
2. Complete my daily goal for German on Duolingo. I have recently started using Duolingo because it seems every language learner has used it at some point besides me. So, I thought I would give German a try. I am currently on a 13 day streak, and I actually really enjoy doing it and sticking with it. I hope to keep this up, and complete my daily goal every day this month on it.
3. Read for at least fifteen minutes a day. I used to read so much as a child and I don’t know at what point I stopped but I know I miss it. Since being at university, I have noticed how much of my time I have to spend reading set articles or chapters from books, but that is not the same as choosing a book for your own enjoyment. My thinking is, if I just set a small amount of time a day (15 minutes, for perhaps before I go to bed) then it will encourage me to read every single day. Obviously when I find a really good page turner then I think I will read a lot more than fifteen minutes a day. But I just need to actually find and read the books first! Another reason I am motivated to do this is because I got a Kindle Paperwhite for Christmas and I am excited to start using it more.
4. Finally, blog at least once a week! I hope to actually blog more often than this, but for now I will set myself the goal of just once a week.

Those are all my goals! I know there is not actually that many, but obviously I am still spending every day in uni lectures and doing work for that, so it is just about finding time and getting myself into a new routine to fit other things around uni. I hope to complete all these goals every day (or once a week for blogging) throughout February so I can colour in the boxes on my table. I have some ideas for goals for March already, which are more specifically language related, but first I will see how these goals turn out. I will be doing a review at the end of February to see how well I did.

Differences between College and University

Recently, I had been getting into a pattern of uploading a post every Sunday, which I liked. However, I have been too busy and didn’t have time this weekend. That is because this was the weekend I got to finally go home! I now have four weeks off university for Christmas which I am so excited for. This also means that I have now finished my first term at university, so I have put together a little list of differences I have noticed between college and university:

1. University is so much more independent. Honestly, that is possibly the biggest difference. At college if you skipped one forty five minute lesson in the morning, your tutor would be harassing you at lunch wanting to know where you were. At uni, my flatmate has not been to a lecture in four weeks and they have done nothing about it, they haven’t even emailed her. Also, one day at uni, my lecturer casually asked the class how we were getting on with our essay. To his shock, we reply “what essay?!” We were not told it was even set, we were just expected to know this because it had been published on the module schedule online which we were shown in the first lesson of uni. Most people forgot about this and then suddenly had one week to rush and complete the first essay set.
2. You didn’t have to budget at college. This also includes: you didn’t have to cook for yourself every day, do your own washing and buy your own food. Therefore, not only is the academic side of uni much more independent, but also the living side is too. Everything is up to YOU.
3. Living on campus means no travel time. At college I had a twenty minute walk to the bus stop, or a five minute drive from my dad, then a forty minute bus drive and then I had to walk to my college. At uni, I can leave my halls and be sitting in my lecture within five minutes.
4. Structure of your day. College was a very repetitive routine; I was there from half eight till four every single day. Whereas at uni my lectures are more varied. For example, On Wednesdays my only lesson is from four till six in the evening.
5. Every night is a night out at uni. At college, it felt like everyone lived for the weekend, going to a house party on either a Friday or Saturday was the highlight of the week. Whereas at uni it seems every single night is like a Friday night. This is because there are so many more clubs at uni and they offer events every night of the week to attract students. For example, Mondays are ‘dirty Mondays’ where drinks are £1, Wednesdays and Thursdays also offer cheaper drinks, and the good thing about it being weekdays is that there is usually no entry fee. So in fact, no one in my flat goes out on a Saturday night, but we all go out on Thursday nights. This would never have happened at college.

These are just a few things I have noticed since being at university which I can compare to my time at college. If anyone else has any suggestions then let me know!

Turning things around

I quickly wanted to post on here about not giving up because you honestly never know what is around the corner and how quickly things can change. University has definitely been the biggest challenge for me so far in my life; it’s the first time I have moved out of home, the first time I have ever had to do things by myself all the time such as cooking and washing, the first time I have taken on a course with so much independent study required, and finally, the first time I have ever been away from my family and my boyfriend. All of this definitely gets on top of me sometimes, and I can honestly say I have never felt so lonely in my life, as I have done living at university. I spent most of last night feeling extremely down and debating whether uni really was the right choice for me. This resulted in a lot of tears and not much sleep.

However, in just one day everything has changed and I don’t think I have ever felt as positive about university as I have tonight. I have just got back from a night out with my new friends who are in both my Spanish and Italian classes. This is great because we see each other so often but we have never gone out together. However, we had a great time and I think this will become a regular thing. Also, we will all most likely live together in our final and fourth year when we return from our years abroad in our third year, because all our other friends would have already graduated. So it will definitely be worth my while to make friends with them. I am really looking forward to getting closer with all of them and having more nights out like tonight.

To top this night off, when I returned home I received a text from my oldest and closest friend who I have grown up with. We went to the same playschool, primary school, secondary school, college and have just always been together. However, this past year, since March in fact, we have become so distant. She seems to have this group of friends, who I use to be a part of, however they all suddenly became a lot closer without me realizing. One girl in particular has become very close with my friend; she not only looks exactly like me, but also has the same name as me! So I definitely feel replaced a little; especially as my friend and I started talking less and less. This was to be expected while our exams were going on but then summer came where we didn’t have an excuse to see each other every day in college and as a result I don’t think we met up once in the summer. I worked a lot anyway, but I was constantly seeing pictures of her and her group on Facebook, they went on holiday together and constantly were doing different things. I felt extremely left out and isolated. I hadn’t done anything to them; they just stopped inviting me places. We became further and further apart.

However, this was not the point of this blog. The point is that this friend has text me asking if I am free on New Years Eve to go out and asked if we can meet up when I am home from uni. I am so thrilled about this because throughout our friendship it feels like it has always been me who has had to arrange events, and has always been the one to text to meet up or just ask how she is. She never made the effort to see me. So I just felt like what’s the point in making the effort to see her when she never does, and the fact I didn’t get invited anywhere anymore clearly was for a reason and so I took the hint that she just didn’t want to see me anymore.

However, I cannot express how much I have missed this girl and our friendship. She has been there for me through everything and I have missed not having her in my life so much. So for her to make the effort and ask me to meet up, makes me feel amazing. It may seem strange, people might just think “why don’t you just text to meet up if you really are that close?’ It’s hard to explain, but the longer we didn’t talk the harder and more awkward it became.

Nevertheless, in just a matter of a day, I have gone from crying my eyes out over feeling so lonely and isolated being at university, to having a great night out and hearing from my best friend. Things really can turn around so quickly. I am feeling a lot more positive for the coming week because it is my last week of the term at university which means I will be home next weekend. I cannot wait. I am also super excited for Christmas.

Looking forward to Christmas…

There are a number of things I am looking forward to at Christmas. It really isn’t that far away now either, in fact it’s less than four weeks. This weekend has also been ‘Black Friday,’ so I have started doing most of my Christmas shopping as well. I had already planned what I was buying everyone this year, I was just hoping that some of it came down in price with all the deals going on this weekend. Anyway, back to what I was saying, I LOVE Christmas. It is definitely my favourite time of year, and here are just a few of the reasons why:

1. Family and friends come together

Since being at university I cannot see my family or friends anywhere near as much as I use to. Therefore, this is something I’m really looking forward to doing at Christmas. We also have some little traditions as well: On Christmas Eve we always have our neighbours round for drinks and homemade food (I’ll explain later) and then in the evening, we ALWAYS go round our friend’s house. They have been hosting this tradition since as long as I can remember, and I absolutely love it. I get to see people I honestly don’t see at any other time of the year and it’s so great to see so many different family friends and catch up.

2. Baking

With Christmas comes food; a lot of food. My mum is quite good at baking and I am beginning to get into it too. There are always such amazing smells at Christmas time: homemade mince pies and sausage rolls for example. We also have quite a few people round on Christmas day, and last year each couple had to bring a different dessert. I think I made a cranberry cheesecake or something similar, but regardless, its things like this I want to try more of when I have the time. I love reading blogs and watching YouTube videos about food and recipes and they always inspire me to have a go. However, baking is not really the typical activity at university: firstly, I don’t have half of the equipment in halls; secondly it is expensive to buy all the ingredients when I am on a tight budget and thirdly, everyone would eat it immediately!

3. The presents

Now I am not saying this because I am greedy and love receiving presents (although it is pretty good) but more because I love buying and giving them too. Presents are taken pretty seriously in my family, meaning all my siblings buy presents for each other as well, compared to my friend who only gives her siblings a card. This means that the opening of presents on Christmas Day is much more enjoyable because absolutely everyone is involved and everyone has reasonably the same amount of presents. It is also such a happy time to see other people smiling and thankful for something you got them, likewise I am always happy with what I receive.

4. The build up

I absolutely love it when all the shops put up Christmas decorations, cities turn on the Christmas lights and the adverts are on TV, and of course, Christmas music. All of this just adds to the excitement, I know I probably sound like a child, but it is my favourite time of year.

5. The chance of snow

For me, winter is the best season of the year. I much prefer the cold and being able to wrap up in knitted jumpers and put a scarf and gloves on than being too hot in the summer. Along with this, I absolutely love snow. Everything looks so beautiful covered in snow. Maybe this is because I live in the countryside and also very close to a golf course, so we are able to go for walks. My dog, ironically called Summer, also absolutely loved the snow and we would take her over the golf course and she use to roll around in it and try to flick the snow into the air with her nose.

These are just a few of my favourite things about Christmas. I have two weeks left at university before I go back home when I have four weeks off, I cannot wait.

What is your favourite part about Christmas?

Going home for a week

I know it has been a good few weeks since I have uploaded anything. The truth is I just haven’t had anything different or interesting to write about. I have been at university for nine weeks now, but last week was the first time I got to go home for a week. ‘Reading week’ is basically the uni equivalent to a half term, and this was definitely needed for me. Having always had half terms throughout primary and secondary school and then college, to not have one at university was going to be tough. But when I realized we had ‘reading week’ I was thrilled; a week to go home and relax.

My boyfriend, Jamie, was supposed to drive up after work on the Friday night, and then we were going to drive back the following day. However, he surprised me and came up a night early and he had booked the Friday off work. This was an amazing surprise and I was so happy to see him. This also meant we drove back a day early and so I was able to surprise my family. It really was great to see everyone; I don’t think I have ever gone longer than two weeks without seeing my parents and it had been two months.

Although, I must admit it was quite lonely being back at home. My parents and siblings all worked every day so I was on my own then, and then even in the evenings they were doing their own thing. So I didn’t actually spend a lot of time with them. I am not too fussed though because I was able to do some work and I know I’ll see everyone a lot more at Christmas when I have four weeks off. Jamie was also working very long hours that week, but I still got to see him for a little bit every night which is more than normal so I was happy.

Another bonus to going home for a week was that my old boss asked me if I was available the Saturday night to do a shift at work (waitressing in a pub). I was super happy with this because I loved my job. I have worked there for three years and only quit two months ago because of moving to university but I will definitely be back there every holiday. I loved working that extra shift because it has reminded me how much I miss working in general, and how much I miss working in that particular pub. I suppose it’s because I am comfortable there, it’s not the only job I have ever had, but it is the one I have most enjoyed. I was also super happy because my boss gave me a pay rise and said if I go back at Christmas then he’ll pay me this new hourly rate so I am very happy about that.

Uni Update: Workload and Falling over

It has been two weeks since I last posted anything so a little update is needed. University life has definitely kicked in now regarding the workload. However, it still seems like I am the only person in my flat getting set any work; although this might have something to do with the fact that their contact hours is about nine whereas mine is sixteen/seventeen. It just means that quite often they can go out together and have fun, while I feel I need to stay in to do work otherwise it’ll never get done.

I am enjoying all my subjects though (Spanish, Italian and German). I am struggling a bit with Spanish as nothing is ever explained in English and so sometimes I never fully understand what we are doing in class as my lecturer only speaks in Spanish. This does have its advantages; however, I think some of it does need to be explained in English. German was good this week, I feel like it is (very slowly) coming back to me. My first essay is due in next Friday for Italian which I am slightly worried about because I only started it this week.

Jamie is coming to visit for the weekend which I have been looking forward to all week. I’m not sure what we are going to though. Last time we went to Nottingham Castle, and went on a tour through the caves under the city and then went shopping after and then went out for dinner and then Rock City; so I think this week might be a bit more relaxed and chilled.

I definitely had my most up to date embarrassing moment last weekend. We all went to the City Campus Student Union for the night. It was all good fun, up until I went to the toilet and on my way I fell over in front of everyone! I was not even that drunk at this point, however the floor was so wet and slippery from where everyone spills their drinks and so one step and I was gone. This is not as bad, however, as someone I know who recently fell over on a night out and knocked out three of her teeth! So in that respect, I was very lucky.

Starting German

I recently mentioned studying German in the University Language Programme, which is a programme my university offers to all students and the public to learn a language. This can be for complete beginners or, for someone like me who has some experience of German; you are entered into the appropriate stage/level depending on your knowledge and experience of the language.

I knew Nottingham Trent offered this programme and it was actually this which attracted me to the university. However, I was not aware until recently that you have to pay £180 to take the course. But after some thinking, I thought it is actually really good value for money because if you were to take up a language in an evening class or learn it through a tutor/mentor, you would be paying a minimum of £10 per session. Some tutors charge up to £40 an hour. However, studying German in the Language Programme works out at about £3 a session I have been told. There is a second problem, however, that I also only recently found out that every lesson for this course will be in the city. I do not live in the city which means having to pay the bus fare every week to attend the class. I hope to find a part time job soon in the city, so it may be worthwhile for me to get a bus pass for the entire year, but that’s a different subject.

I signed up and attended the necessary registration session and have been placed into stage four for German. There are seven stages altogether, stage one being for beginners and stage seven being the most advanced. I was placed into level four because I studied German up until AS level, where I got a grade D, which means I have some knowledge of German. I have also been to Germany twice, once for an exchange where I stayed with a lovely German family in Eppelheim, and another time I went to Berlin for a history trip. However, after getting a grade D at AS level, I dropped German and took up Italian, meaning I have not studied German in over a year and a half. So, I was very worried that I was being placed into a stage too advanced for me as I have forgotten an awful lot of what I learnt. However, the lady at the registration event thought I would be fine and said that it would all come back to me as I studied it again.

I had the first German lecture two days ago, and I am still, or maybe even more so, very worried that I have been placed into the wrong stage. I met a girl who has done an intensive course in German just this summer passed, and she hopes to be fluent by the end of the year before she goes to Germany to finish out her second year at university. This meant she was a lot more confident during the lecture than myself, and made me realise just how much revision I need to do before I have even started the course, just to be on the same level as everyone else in my class.

I hope I pick everything up again and I do not find this course too stressful on top of studying two languages for my actual degree. Overall, I am looking forward to studying German again and I really hope that I am fluent one day.