Once Upon A Time

It's time for the third 2014 Blogger Challenge post! This time we have been told to write about books!

I love books and I'm an avid reader - I chose my a level courses as I knew I would get to read a lot and be exposed to new books and I haven't been disappointed yet! 

Whenever I have any free time, I'm always either blogging, reading or downloading new books on to my kindle, I can't get enough! 

After this last season of Sherlock, I decided to compare the original stories with the series and downloaded Sherlock Holmes: The Ultimate Collection for 77p on my kindle.

The first novel I read out of the 4 included was A Study in Scarlet. 

I've said before that I read quicker on my kindle but I devoured this. It was so thrilling and I couldn't put it down! Arthur Conan Doyle has such a great writing style that makes it an incredibly easy read which is also easy to picture in your head. 

The actual plot is mostly different from the Sherlock adaptation and it felt like a completely different story once Sherlock and John were introduced which meant I couldn't predict it as I was expecting to be able to! The novel is split into two sections and I got extremely confused when reading the second but once you get into it, it makes complete sense and it was genius! 

I'm honestly so glad that I decided to read the collection as it's fantastic and completely different! The original novel was written in 1887 and I love the Victorian era so reading something from that time that isn't a school set text is really interesting! I've also studied about some parts of the history that is involved in this so it's also a very interesting read about early America (the pioneers - definitely worth researching about!) and the presentation from an English person of the time! 

I really hope that some of you have read or do read it as it's a really great book! 

Jess xx

Challenge post one.
Challenge post two.

Petite Anglaise.

This is one of the two books I picked up at the last car boot sale I ventured to with Mark a month or so ago and I'm oh so glad that I did because I love it. I decided that it would be a good read for the train journey to/from college on Friday as I tend to sit alone (after a busy week, train relaxation and alone time is actually rather enjoyable!) so I grabbed it and shoved it in my bag as I ran out of the door. I'm so happy I did. 

This book is a memoir of an English blogger (actual name of the blog is petite Anglaise) who lives in France. I'm only 32 pages in but I'm hooked. Catherine's writing style is so easy to read and quite funny at points, it's really very hard to put down which I can see as being a problem! I can see it being my go-to book for my daily train journeys, except for when I'm lacking in space due to the copious amounts of books I have to carry for my lessons each Monday (you'd be surprised at how much you have to carry for only three lessons...). It's also a hardback so it's rather awkward to fit in my bag. It does mean that it doesn't have the risk of being ripped to shreds by my constant taking items in and out of my bag though. 

I'm really excited to finish reading it and hopefully I'll get some spare time to continue it! 

Jess xx

Sun, Sea and Sand in Sicily!

I've just come back from a week long trip to Sicily with my college - doing Ancient history and Classics = good trips to hot places! I haven't been on many plane journeys and I only remember one (yay Durham....) so it was quite exciting and scary to be going on a trip that was longer than an hour. It wasn't as bad as I had expected because everyone on the trip was sitting together so it was fun as we could talk to each other without annoying other passengers! On the way there, there was a 2 year old that wouldn't stop crying and screaming which was in the row in front of me. It was the single most annoying thing I've ever had to put up with.
The one thing I do love about flying is the duty free. You can buy things for cheaper so stuff that's a bit pricey is actually more affordable! After having my Benefit 'Laugh with me LeeLee' perfume for a while, I was super excited to see a benefit stall at duty free and I ended up searching through all of the different products until I found one that I fell in love with completely.

Cutest palette ever with the nicest colours!
The design is adorable!

The 3 eyeshadows are nice and subtle colours, very wearable!
Very handy mirror too! 

The kit contains 3 eyeshadows, creaseless cream eyeshadow,
bo-ing concealer, eye bright, bad gal lash mascara and 3 types of brush.

It also comes with a how-to booklet with added tricks!
It's so helpful and makes it easier to use!

Being someone who doesn't wear a lot of make up, this palette is perfect because it's subtle but looks amazing! The amount of powders and creams in the pack is overwhelming at the start but once you get your head around what goes where, it's so simple! I love it so much, it's really easy to apply and the booklet is super handy.

In Sicily, we visited lots of temples,  amphitheatres, a Roman town and other ancient buildings. We also went to the beach a lot which isn't usually my sort of thing, but it was nice to just relax at the beach after a long day of walking! Annoyingly nearly all of my pictures are still on my camera so I'll do an extra picture post when I put them on to my computer eventually! I have a couple of pictures from my phone of some of the beaches though!

This was taken from a beachside restaurant with the nicest pizza ever!

I didn't go on the beach here because it was too hot but the view was amazing! 

The weather was so nice out in Sicily, it was really hot but it was a different heat than it is in England so now I'm back it doesn't feel too hot!
On the last day, we got to look around Catania, a really nice town that looked how you would imagine Italy. We saw another amphitheatre that was right in the centre of the town and then we went shopping! United Colors (they spell it like that...it still annoys me...) of Benetton had a massive sale on so me and a couple of friends went for a browse and I found a really gorgeous top!

I have a weakness for stripes but at €21, how could I resist?!

I also have an addiction with spots...so at the airport back to England, I bought a spotty red scarf! It was €12.50 so it was amazing! It's such a nice, light material and it's actually really big when fully stretched out! I'm reminded of Minnie Mouse; it's a shame that the weather isn't cold enough to wear it at the moment though!

Minnie mouse scarf!

It was a really great trip and I got to spend time with some of my favourite people from college and get closer to others so it's been a great start to summer so far! 

Jess xx

The University Chronicles: The beginning!

This month, I've been over the whole country looking at Universities! I've only been to 4 and I've been to Devon, Berkshire (not really difficult as I live here...), the Midlands and County Durham. I've been to one of the most southern counties and one of the most northern, it's crazy but quite awesome because I get to see places I've never been before! Looking around Unis is so exciting but scary because it's another completely different step in life which is another step towards independence and 'real life'.

I've already said about Exeter and I'll say now that it's kept as the solid top choice of mine since! 

We went to look at Birmingham next and it was so nice! It was really pretty and the course was fantastic! The only let down was the accommodation, which was no where near as nice as Exeter but actually more expensive. 

Reading was the next on the list! I originally wasn't too sure about it because it's the closest big town to me and I've been there too many times to count so one of my main points for wanting to go to Uni (going away from home and exploring somewhere new) had already been smashed. However, we got there and it was really nice! The archaeology and ancient history buildings were lovely, the staff were enthusiastic and friendly and the course was really really nice! The accommodation blew the other two out of the water by miles, Birmingham by quite a bit more than Exeter still, though! The rooms were bigger, cheaper, cleaner and had so much more storage space! Reading is definitely second choice so far, I was pleasantly surprised! 

Me and dad went to Durham last Monday and I can honestly say it was one of the most disappointing experiences of my life. The accommodation was horrific, the course was no where near the standard of the other three unis, the teachers made it seem like a priveledge to be accepted rather than them being enthusiastic about the course and wanting people to get in and it had a general air of snobiness about it. I've never hated somewhere so much in my life. It was a real shame though because the actual place was lovely, the university however, wasn't. I don't understand how it has the reputation is does really; the course wasn't worth the grades they were asking for and it just didn't seem like a nice place! I think it also doesn't help that I prefer campus unis and Durham is the only non-campus Uni I've seen. I've decided to not bother applying there and look for somewhere else to look instead. Definitely not somewhere I would want to spend 3 years of my life.
I have to wait until September to visit UCL and Bristol so it's not over yet! I'm pretty confident that Exeter will be my firm choice and Reading will be insurance choice though, they're both fantastic unis.
Jess xx