A Snippet of Life

Last week I attended my graduation ceremony at York Minster. I naturally tend to do this in everyday life because, after all, I am a writer but throughout the day I found myself thinking about how this could easily make for an entertaining blog post. I was writing the day in my head without actually writing it but I thought I'd share this with you. As backwards as it sounds, and very fitting to my character, I'd hit the booze far too hard the night before the event resulting in a very hungover me on the day. I awoke in my bed (thankfully) having no recollection as to how I got there, nor how I became so intoxicated, and after a shower to attempt to freshen up, we headed down to breakfast at the hotel. As always, the unlimited supply of continental and cooked choices made my eyes widen, but I forgot about how sick I was feeling when I was piling it onto my plate so when we returned to the room it didn't stay down for too long. Mum left at this point having had enough of ...

When asked the other day what my 'best bits' of Uni have been, the natural response that I returned with shocked me. Now, it may have been the wine talking but I was impressed with the answer I gave. An answer more than 'this one time I was sh**faced' or 'that really good result I got'. No, the answer I gave made me realise how beneficial my university experience has been on a deeper level. Firstly, it's made me realise and take pride in the fact that I don't need to change around people. I mean, I've made so many friends at Uni don't get me wrong, but I act just as mad around them as I do at home. I've realised that no matter how bonkers or random you are, there will always be people who love you for that very reason. If you're a plain Jane, quiet and to yourself - people will love you for that too. I lack a filter, get a bit loud when I drink, wear my heart on my sleeve and sometimes overwhelm myself with my emotions, but I'm stil...

Stressful. Exciting. Half of the time I am living in blissful ignorance, wine in the sun, meeting friends for brunch at 11am and pretending that student life is not almost over. But then I feel guilty. The rest of my time I'm feeling the pressure. Feeling the judgmental eyes of pensioners claiming it wasn't as easy as I have it in their day and laughing when I tell them my travel plans. Maybe I do have it easier, but we all have different stories.  I'm not claiming that student life isn't awesome because it is. And it is an easy life too, to a certain extent; the lengthy holidays, lack of contact hours, cheap drinks - the list goes on. We are all allowed to joke about it, but I do think that sometimes people misunderstand the ease of post graduate life in the job market.  I do live a lovely life at the moment but I also work, constantly think about my future career, still have studies going on and with only a month of Uni left (as I'm constantly reminded) I find m...

  This is the title that I like to give myself - especially after this year's birthday fiasco! Though people claim that the next big birthday after your 21st is the big 3 0, I have changed this tradition and decided that 22 is just as worthy of a prolonged celebration (as is, I am sure, 23 and 24 and so on). Besides, it was my last birthday at uni (cries) so I had to make the most of it and this is how it went.   Approximately 1.5 months before, I pre-warned people of the potential plans ensuring that I'd have at least a few friends company at each event. Then, the week before I accidentally ended up going out every night (obviously tactfully to line my liver but unintentionally otherwise) and got prepped. Then the actual birthday celebrations began - only a week before the big 2 2.   Thursday: My sister and her boyfriend visited wanting typical English pubs and that they got. We went on a bar crawl in York, the home of 'typical English pub pubs', consisting of ...

  How many times do you hear drinkers claim responsibility? The whole "I'll come out but just for one drink" is the biggest lie out there and we all know that two hours later you'll be the only one dancing on the floor because it is a Tuesday night and nobody is in Flares (not talking from personal experience AT all). There's also the "I'm going to be so well-behaved and not make a fool out of myself" which is another total lie. Under the sweet influence of alcohol this never happens. My personal favorite/ one I often use myself is "I'm on the pull tonight, got to look hot" - biggest impossibility ever. My level of sophistication drops dramatically once I have had my usual bottle of wine before leaving the house (oops) so this statement has never yet come true. At least I haven't remained sophisticated past lets say 8pm on average - great track record, I know!   HOWEVER. I have a little story for you all which I am extremely pr...

  This is a continuation of my Yorkshire tour - to Goathland and Grosmont. The deal went that I drove and Mum would fill the car up with petrol (tactical skills on my part) so off we went. With Mum's Sat Nav and BBC Radio 2 accompanying us along the journey (a sacrifice I had to make), we had an easy journey ahead. The country roads were treating us well, not much traffic and beautiful sunshine. All going great until we hit the moors.   I didn't notice that we had entered the North Yorkshire Moors National Park area until a huge blanket of cloud covered the road so that I couldn't see a darn thing, just at the moment that we hit a sharp bend that descended rapidly downhill causing me almost to head straight off road into a pile of grazing sheep (i'm a good driver usually, I promise). It was at this point that I remembered this steep decline from my journey to Whitby last year - it is what I would most definitely class as a mountain. I carefully descended...

  As promised, here is an update on my tour de Yorkshire (just not on a bike) - a slightly less navigational successful week two!   This week our destination was less than half of last weeks so again we sacrificed our Sat Nav for Spotify's top mixing. It'll be sign-posted, they said - it wasn't.    We got off the A64 into Malton and did a little tour around there (not because we were lost, no, we just love looking at cattle markets) and then turned up a road that the sign to Helmsley (our destination) could have been pointing to, we were unsure. At the end of this bending road we came to a crossroads with signs, none of which said Helmsely. At a guess we went straight over, having sat locked in decision for a while (luckily nobody was behind us) and carried on down another extremely bending road and soon realised we had definitely gone wrong (again). Eventually, we were back on track (we think) and keeping our fingers crossed to miraculously...

  As I tend to remind my readers fairly often because it is something which frequently scares the s*** out of me, the end of my life as a student and as I've known it for the last three years is fast approaching and so I am trying my absolute best to make the most of the weeks that I have left. As well as studies, alcohol driven Karaoke/ being a general embarrassment nights and exploring the beautiful city of York, my university experience has so much more to offer due to living in the truly English county that is North Yorkshire. So, with that in mind, and with my trusty Fiesta parked outside each day, I've decided to explore a new part of this huge county each week and I will be keeping you up to date with these explorations during the course of my final semester. We shall begin with successful week one!   The first expedition we decided to take ourselves on was to Ribblehead Viaduct - or as I name it 'That Harry Potter Bridge' - with a few stop offs along t...

What an age to be - twenty something, what a blissful decade to be part of. Most people will tell you that your twenties are the very best years of your life, and I strongly agree with each and every ‘real adult’ who says this. By the term ‘real adult’, with which you may not be familiar, I mean those with fully functioning lives, including real responsibilities and, in many cases, restraints. You know the type - house, kids, job, husband, maybe even a dog. I wouldn’t put myself in this category because I haven’t yet reached the ‘real adult’ phase. I am a ‘practicing adult’, like the opposite of a practicing Christian – I am at the age which defines me as an adult but I don’t want to be one just yet. I still have the freedom to jet off and explore the world if I so wish, without having to arrange childcare or a dog sitter. I am currently a student and what better life could I wish for? It is an ideal time where I lead two separate lives, almost, especially as I have chose...

  As a third year student who is gradually getting more and more terrified about post-uni/ real adult life, I thought this is an appropriate topic for a new post! Reminiscing the amazing years I've had, whilst trying desperately to hold onto the little time that we have left!   I began in 2014, a fresher who had very little experience of the North - this concept that you get half way up the A1 and you're in new territory, a different country almost. I remember driving to York with my Mum, car full to the brim and a very tearful face on my part due to beginning a scary stage of life like no other. I was shitting it! I knew absolutely nobody and I was going to be moving in that day with four total strangers! We stopped at a service station for a bite to eat and I remember starting off again because everybody had a northern accent! Where were all the Suffolk twangs of farmer speak? It was so different and just didn't feel like home.   After Mum had left, I sat in my pri...

  Being in the end of my second year of university, things are beginning to get a tad stressful. Especially because it is May time so I have deadlines coming out of my ears, my dissertation to consider and the fear of the fact that my time as a student is almost over! Scary. Reality is not for me just yet so I shall pretend that it is ages away for now.   I am the type of person who doesn't deal with stress and pressure too well - hence why I start essays a month or so before due date. For this reason, I strongly advise you NOT to follow my poor example, but here is a standard day in my student working life.   I work best in the mornings and by this I mean those of which I am not hungover, which is rapidly decreasing due to another coping mechanism that I often use - alcohol. Yes, as soon as anything feels a bit too much my brain tells me to go to the Spar down my street and by a bottle (or two) or their finest wine! This happens rather too frequently but let's forget...

  So mid-way through last semester I began a fitness regime. By this I mean I started actually doing some form of physical activity to compensate my rubbish diet of too many snacks and not enough veg, with a rather large amount of alcohol to help it go down. I then had a break during my six week Christmas holidays because I was working too hard and eating too much (any excuse), but I have just got back into it and plan on continuing this time.   Due to the fact that I haven't got a single 9AM contact hour at uni all week until Friday, I use running as a way to force myself out of bed and prevent me from turning into a sloth for 12 weeks. This has proved successful for the past two mornings, although I did have to give myself a talking to and cancel out all the excuses I was making: still recovering from my cough? Nope, that was last week's excuse. It's raining? Well, it wasn't. I haven't got my running stuff...it was folded in a neat pile on the floor ready to go...

  Having just landed back in York after the best 6 week Christmas break at home (obviously NOT a ridiculous amount of time off AT all), I have been thinking about the two lives that I lead and how I never want this structure of my life to end, although I know that it inevitably will. I am sure if you reading this are or once were students then you'll feel the same about this stage of life, where you get the best of both worlds and a total life of bliss.   Firstly I have my life at home, in a kooshty little village in Suffolk. If I were to use the term 'unique' to describe this place then I would not be doing it any justice. This place is beyond unique, so special and I do not think you'll find another village like it in the UK! Everybody knows each other, cares for each other and certainly drinks with each other. In fact my liver gets a shock each time I come home from the second I set foot on the streets of Moulton (despite the fact Uni life is pretty heavy on the dr...

  So I have tried something different in this post and I came up with the idea when struggling to focus on some Uni work and listening to loud music – a true procrastination invention. I often dance, I love to dance and especially when I have had some form of alcoholic beverage in my system but also when completely sober. I mean who doesn't have a little jig whilst getting ready in the morning?! Or any time of day really, whilst hoovering, washing up... in fact there is never a time when it is not acceptable. So the following piece has been inspired by me blasting Mark Morrison 'Return Of The Mack' into my eardrums and simply just writing. While writing I am imaging me dancing both drunk and sober, how it looks in my eyes and how it most probably looks to everybody else. I have morphed these thoughts into a drunken scenario in a club, just so that it had some kind of structure.   Hips flowing I strut into the club, body roll to the bar and shimmy in to get served firs...