New year, new you and all that jazz

We are now 21 days into the new year and I have not made any resolutions. I have decided not to make any this year. The idea that you should make resolutions for the new year has always struck me as slightly odd. I mean, if you want to change something about your  life, why wait until the new year to do something about it? Every year, I make the same resolutions: lose weight, be more confident, get organised etc. And every year, I fail to stick to them. This year I decided to really think about what I want. There must be a reason that I don’t stick to my resolutions. Here are the reasons I came up with:

Lose weight- Yes I am a bit chubby. My thighs could probably do with a bit of toning up and my wobbly bum is a source of constant annoyance to me but when I think about my weight and how I look I realise that I am not that fat. I have curves, yes, but who says that is a bad thing? I could probably do with more exercise but I’m not going to beat myself up over not having a ‘perfect’ body.

Be more confident- Oh social situations… How I shy away from them. In an ideal world I would be a confident, funny, outgoing person who was hugely popular and successful. In reality, I am fairly shy, have no way of gauging how funny I am and I’m quite an introverted person. I would much rather spend time on my own in the evenings that going out to get drunk with a big group of people. Again, I don’t necessarily think my personality is a bad thing. When I get to know people, I am incredibly comfortable around them and tend to become very good friends with them. I don’t think having a massive group of friends I hardly know is going to benefit my life in any way at all. I would rather have a small group of close friends who I stay in contact with for the long run.

Get organised- I’m not even going to go there. I fail at this every year. Well, I fail at this every term, but let’s not go into that.

And… I’m out of ideas. I would make a resolution to write more posts for the blog, but it’s not going to happen. I just don’t know what to write about most of the time. Sorry to anybody who is really upset by that. You will just have to cry yourself to sleep tonight.

Happy new year to any who are reading this x

P.s. You don’t have to cry yourself to sleep. That was a joke

Christmas time… A time for work

Christmas is easily my favourite time of the year. I love the festive atmosphere that takes over and I enjoy buying presents for other people. Normally, this close to Christmas I would be thinking about slowing down my work and taking it easy over the festive period. Unfortunately, this year will have to be different. I have too much to do to even think about slowing down. Due to a prolonged illness, I have missed a significant period of time at university and as a result I have a lot of catching up to do. At this moment in time I am taking a break from writing a mock CV and covering letter for a session that I have to be in tomorrow and I have preparation to do for my contract law seminar. I really hope I can get everything done on time.

I saw the first snow of the winter last night. I love the snow but I do not want it to snow for at least another week or so as it causes too many problems and I really want to go back home on Friday. We all know what happens to the trains when it snows. Utter chaos. We are not equipped to deal with the snow.

Writing my CV has made me realise how little work experience I have. I am trying to get my foot in the door of a career that is incredibly competitive. I really need to stand above my competition with a brilliant degree and a proven aptitude for law… I can’t see that happening at any time soon.

Determination… That will get me through… I hope.

Thank you lovely readers, I got a nice nerdy thrill when I saw that my little blog had finally reached 100 views. It is not many at the moment but it is the first milestone. Onwards and upwards I say.

 

Charlotte x

Am I doing the right thing?

I have been thinking about the degree that I decided to take for the next four years. When I was choosing which universities to apply to, I was sure that I wanted to do law. But since I actually took up the degree I have been wondering if I actually made the right choice. Is this what I want to do?

I think most of this doubt comes from the fact that I don’t want to invest my time and effort into something that I might eventually fail. I can’t shake the feeling that I am going to really invest in this subject just to find that I fall at the final hurdle (the final exams). Don’t get me wrong, I really enjoy my subject but exams are not really my thing. I never seem to do as well in them as I should. More revision for me then.

This week has been my reading week. It is essentially half term with quite a bit of work. When reading week started I thought that most, if not all, of my work would be completed by now. I have not even started it. I am far too good at procrastination. Woops. It’s fine, I don’t have that much work to do. I will get it done in time… Hopefully.

One last note, I have recently re-discovered my love for tomato soup. I need to get me some more of that delicious tomatoey goodness.

Farewell x

Halloween

Halloween is awesome. I have always thought that Halloween is under-rated in the UK. I would love it if we celebrated it in the same way as Americans do in television shows and such. Today I have had the horrible task of trying to remove fake blood from my face and body. I have failed. There are still obvious blood trails on my face and I had to stand up in front of a full lecture theatre and introduce myself. Great start to my time as a student rep.

Despite the fact that I didn’t get into any clubs last night, I actually had an amazing time. After 40 minutes of queuing for one club myself and one of my flatmates got bored and decided that a meal from McDonald’s was a much better way to spend our time and money. We met a pumpkin and his zombie friends in there. It was a very funny night.

My costume this year was pretty cool, if I do say so myself. I think I pulled off the look quite well. I make a great zombie nurse. Next time I dress up for Halloween I will use less fake blood or get stuff that doesn’t stain. Lesson learned.

Sorry for this very brief entry. There is not much to say at the moment.

Farewell faithful followers x

I love alliteration.

How can I be tired?

This is how I feel all the time

It has been about a month since I started university and I have settled in, the workload is more than I am used to but I’m getting there. I’m budgeting my money well and I am enjoying myself. The one thing I have noticed is that I am tired… ALL THE TIME! This does confuse me somewhat as I am actually going to bed at a reasonable time. What I blame it on is my flatmates being noisy at all hours of the day. And I mean all hours. I have heard all kinds of random things at random hours in the night. The other night I heard one of our neighbours having a go at one of my flatmates for supposedly punching someone else in the flat. It was an amusing argument which turned out to be entirely pointless. Anyway, what I don’t understand is how some people can go out every night, get drunk and not be tired the next day. It genuinely annoys me. How is it that I can barely function due to tiredness and I have been good and then someone else who is wasting all their time drinking can be fine for the whole day? Life is inherently unfair. Oh well.

I am ready to go home! I actually miss Brighton and all the people I know in Brighton. I have made new friends and everything but I actually want to see my old friends. Before I left I was worried that I didn’t know anybody in Nottingham and that all my closest friends are in Brighton. One of the least helpful phrases for anybody in the situation where they have to leave their old friends is: “You will make new friends.” I DON’T WANT NEW FRIENDS. I WANT MY OLD CRAZY FRIENDS WHO I HAVE LOTS OF FOND MEMORIES WITH. Regardless of the fact that most of the people I have met so far are lovely, it doesn’t change the fact that I miss my old friends like crazy. I think I might go home and visit in my reading week.

Although, I will say one thing, part of the reason I want to go home is so I can get a good nights sleep. Bloomin’ flatmates… Loud, drunk most of the time and inconsiderate as hell. I need to get away from them at some point before I go crazy and go on a murderous rampage.

Well, that is all I have to rant about today. Don’t worry, I won’t actually kill them…

Bye now x

The odds are already against me

I love Wednesdays. The main reason for this is that it is my day off. Things I should do on my days off: prepare for seminars and do the required reading. What I actually do on my days off: sleep, play Minecraft or Oblivion, watch random shows online, randomly surf the internet, think about doing work and generally slacking off.

Today while I was randomly surfing the internet I decided it would be a good idea to look up the ‘hardest’ degree. Ignoring any American websites that came up, I came across a blog which depressed me immensely. Apparently I am pretty much doomed to fail. The percentage of Law students getting a first is around the 6% mark. Wow, I clearly chose the right degree… The job market is ridiculously competitive, only about 1/3 of students get a pupillage* and only 6% get a first. I should just give up now… But I won’t. I’m stubborn.

To anybody reading this, I would write more but my life is too boring to waffle on about every little detail. So, I will leave you with one little anecdote from today. One of my flatmates was tied to a chair, gagged and hauled around the block of flats by 3 of my other flatmates. Funny times.

Farewell x

 

For those of you who don’t know what a pupillage is, it is a training contract for barristers.

Well that was a bit of a fail

Today (as of 1 hour ago) was the birthday of one of my flatmates. To start the day off with a bump, one of my other flatmates decided that it would be a great idea to give the birthday boy the birthday bumps. I was interrupted at half past midnight to somebody coming into my room and asking me to record this event. I agreed for the lolz and the plan was in action. Well, in theory this plan sounded very simple and it was going to go perfectly smoothly. I started recording and we burst into the birthday boy’s room to find him hiding behind the door. Whilst one of the flatmates had decided to give the birthday boy the bumps, the other two had just decided to give him birthday beatings. In the end the birthday boy got away unharmed as he received neither bumps nor beatings. As it turned out, it was only myself and Dan who actually knew what birthday bumps are so it just ended up a colossal cock-up.

On Monday this week I found myself very drunk and very sick. I think the sickness may have been a result of too much Nando’s chicken and far too much cheap vodka. I didn’t make it past the pre-drinking stage. According to one of my flatmates I said that I couldn’t go out because I didn’t have any shoes on. Woops. Now I just seem very stupid. Oh well, that is what alcohol does to you. I am not a massive fan of getting drunk or going out clubbing, but the two times that I have decided that I will be sociable and drink with my flatmates before going clubbing have just ended up with me sitting at home on my own, very drunk… Too drunk to go out in fact.

THERE IS A REASON I DON’T DRINK. And that is the reason why. First time I ended up sat in from of my window, hyperventilating to stop myself being sick. Second time, I was sick out my window. Classy. What makes it worse is that my room is on the sixth floor. Sorry anybody on the floors below.

All in all, my first month at uni hasn’t been too bad.

Settling in

I have been in Nottingham for a few days now and I have settled in a little bit. The flat I am staying in is very nice. I was expecting it to be much worse seeing as it is a student flat. I have now met 4 of my 5 flat-mates. The 3 flat-mates I first met were all guys and I was a little worried that I would be the only female occupant and would forever be making sandwiches. I kid of course, they are all lovely chaps and I am sure I will get to know them better over the year. The fourth member of the flat was actually one of the first to move in but she had disappeared up to Leeds before I arrived so I only met her yesterday. I have now convinced myself that the last member of the flat is a murderer or something along those lines. I also secretly think that he/she moved in before anyone else and has been spying on us all in secret… But anyway, that’s just because I’m paranoid.

On my first evening in Nottingham I was stressing out that I wasn’t going to make any friends and that I was going to become some kind of social recluse. I admit, I haven’t been out very much since I arrived because I don’t enjoy getting drunk. I have an image in my mind (that I’m sure many others have) that all university students go out drinking and partying all the time. I am still a little worried that I am going to be seen as boring if I don’t go out much.

This evening was supposed to be the first freshers event. I was going to go along to it… But I didn’t. However, in my defence (not that I have to defend myself to the few people reading this blog) I did go out and socialise before the event. I may have got just the teensiest bit tipsy whilst socialising with other students and I decided that I didn’t want to get too drunk and do something stupid so I called it a night. If that makes me boring then so be it. I will settle in at my own pace and if anybody dislikes it they will just have to deal with it.

Goodbye to whoever is reading this (if that is anybody).
Also, I would appreciate any feedback people could give as it will give me an idea of what to change/add.

I have arrived!

After waiting for many weeks I have finally arrived in Nottingham. It has not been a particularly stress-free ride I’ll admit but it has been interesting at least.
After stressing out on results day I was very happy that I was accepted onto my course without the required grades (I put this down to sheer awesomeness). In the last few weeks alone I have run into countless problems, most of which have been resolved. Just a week before I was due to leave for uni I managed to lose my only pair of glasses and had to employ 7 other people to help me find them. In the end it turned out they were exactly where I thought they would be but one of my friends is extremely unobservant.

I don’t really have much to say about university life yet as I haven’t actually started my course but I can say one thing: I feel so out-of-place and awkward. The three of my five flat-mates that I have met have turned out to be male. I am praying that the other two are girls! I will not be a happy bunny if I am the only girl… There is no way I am making any of the guys a sandwich. I also feel a bit lost. I like to pretend that I am a sophisticated young adult with plenty of life experience but in reality I am a lonely 18-year-old who hasn’t been out of Sussex for more than a week at a time. I am in a city that I have visited twice with people I don’t know. Oh well, that’s part of university life and I am not the only person in this situation. I have to man up and get confident. I’ve made friends before, I can do it again… Can’t I?

Dear God, it’s almost time..

It is now 12 days until I move to a completely new city, one that I have only visited twice. I keep on saying that I should start to pack for university but I still haven’t even looked at the stuff I need to pack. My way of starting to get organised is to write lots of lists in my filofax so that when I actually do start to pack I will have something to check items off from.

Since it is not long now until university starts I feel as though I should be more prepared. Don’t get me wrong, I am really looking forwards to it. I have pictured myself going to university for many years now but I can’t seem to shake the feeling that I haven’t done enough with my friends and all sorts of things like that. I am seriously going to miss everybody and I hope that feeling is mutual but I’ve realised that I probably take my closest friends for granted and I am starting to regret that. I haven’t seen my closest friends much this summer and now that it is so close until I move I have really started to realise that and I want to make the most of the last week in Brighton but I know I will probably sit at home doing pretty much nothing at all.

As an undergraduate I have already run into some financial issues and they are stressing me out to no end. When I first applied for student finance I thought I was going to get the grant as well as the loan and then post-results day I got the breakdown of my finances which pretty much said “Oh, by the way Charlotte, we are going to screw you over and not give you enough money to cover your rent, let alone any food”. I’m sure there are many more students in this situation and for any of you who may or may not read this, I am completely sympathetic. But I will say one thing to people who are considering applying for uni: don’t let money put you off if you really want to go. I know it is an overused phrase but anything worth having is worth fighting for, and no i am not quoting the Cheryl Cole song but in this case I think the phrase happens to be true. If you really want something you will find a way to make it work.

Anyway, I can’t think of much else to write; not that many people will read this.

Bye nonexistent readers.