Yet Another Catch-Up

Whilst second year has been incredible so far, the amount of work I've had to do has at least doubled compared to last year. It has been incredibly stressful but it's paying off as I'm getting really good grades (1sts and 2:1s) compared to last year!

Me and the boyfriend broke up a month ago (though it was essentially over a month before that...not a good break up at all) which was honestly quite a good thing for me. I stopped feeling guilty for not putting someone that wasn't myself first and I've realised that I am actually a lot happier now. I've been able to concentrate on what is important to me - first and foremost my education and the fact that I began to feel pressured and guilty about not seeing him due to my work load increasing and the fact that he didn't understand this despite being a masters student definitely didn't help the situation. 

This term has been so packed that I've had no time for blogging or reading for pleasure which is disappointing! Hopefully over the Christmas break I'll get chance to do more of what I love in between the assessments. 

I hope I do end up actually writing some more this holiday - I shall have to think of some posts! I've been lacking some inspiration recently as well which hasn't helped the lack of blogging recent.

Jess.

Portugal travels!

Last week I went straight from work to Gatwick airport and hopped on plane to Faro in Portugal! 

The boyfriend has a house out near Burgau and I was invited to stay with him and his family! As I've already taken a lot of time out with my Athens trip and my dig at Pewsey, I only went out from Saturday to Tuesday. 

Despite it only being a short trip, I got to explore quite a few different places which was great as I've never been to Portugal before! We ended up going to Sagres, Burgau, Lagos and quite a few beaches between!
I got to see a Medieval fort, a Roman fort, small villages and towns which gave me a great whistle stop tour of the country and I'm very grateful for being invited to go out there!
I love travelling so being able to tick off another place that I've seen is great!

There were a few people parachute gliding off the top of the cliffs!
I would love to try it one day!

A strange fog that covered both ends of the beach on the West Coast!

The slate cliffs were incredible!

The view from the Roman fort near Joe's house.

Sunset on the beach near Joe's.

The flora in Portugal is incredible - fennel, olives, almonds and figs
 were growing in abundance all along the roads!

The beach 10 minutes walk from Joe's house! 

The water had some strange greenish foam in it...
It's really satisfying to watch the sea come in and make half of your legs disappear! 

I didn't get a lot of photos of the food but everything there was so nice and I wish I got to try more! 

Apparently  I can't go anywhere without having some form of pastry!
The best chocolate croissant that I've had.

Seriously yummy chorizo, ham and bacon pizza and my favourite cider I only had in Athens!
I was rather excited when I found it again in the shops!

I'll end with a couple photos of me and Joe! 

Sorry about the photo spam, I can't really do the place justice with words, it was amazing and gorgeous! 

It was such an amazing trip and I will aim to go there again to explore further! 

Jess xx

A Year of University.

A year ago today I received my A level results, also meaning that University has been a part of my life for an entire year. It's absolutely flown by, it feels like I've been at uni for years though! 

I thought it would be a good time to do a massive look back at all of the major parts of this year. I stopped blogging in January after hitting a major creative block and therefore you guys have missed out on hearing about the last 6 and a half months of my uni experience (basically 2/3 of the academic year...) 

Got a room for second year, February. 

I was originally going to go into a flat with my old roommate Lucy but I wasn't given a place so I decided to go into a private halls and try out a completely new group of people! I'm quite glad that I'm going into halls again as I don't need to worry about paying bills due to it being an all inclusive contract! I just hope that my flatmates are nice and I get on with them better this year (it ended up that I was only truly friends with Lucy, the others were bearable to live with but I wouldn't have out of choice again). Me and some of my course mates have already decided to live together in third year so I'm excited to see what that will be like! 

Went to Athens, March. 

This trip was incredible. Athens was always on my list of places to go so I jumped at the opportunity to go with the Archaeology society in the Easter holiday! I became closer with people in my year and the years above as well as making some new friends which is always a good thing! I got to see so many of the famous sites such as the Parthenon, Hephestaion, the Agora and some of the many museums dotted around the city. As I studied the Greeks in A level and 5th Century Athens this year, being able to see these places and things in person was almost surreal. The statues in the museums were far more beautiful in person than on paper and I throughly recommend a visit if you can afford it! If not, the British Museum houses some good examples of Greek sculpture which begins to scratch the surface of their beauty. 

A picture post of this trip will be posted soon as it's such a gorgeous place!

Passed first year, June. 

I ended up with 2 modules in the 50s and 4 in the 60s, giving me an overall mark of a 2:1 which I'm incredibly pleased with. I could have tried harder this year but as its a year for learning and understanding how university works, I'm happy I got to see what learning methods work for me, the best ways I write essays and how I revise the most efficiently. I've been given a reading list this year for some of my Autumn term modules so I'm trying to do as much of that as possible whilst writing notes down that I can look back on whilst I'm working during the year. 

Last September I was unsure whether I was good enough for uni and if I really deserved to be there so it's refreshing to know that the work I put in has proved that I am capable! It's a relief to know that I do suit University and academic life!

Boyfriend, June. 

You guys have seen how useless I am at keeping relationships and the one I was in when I was last writing fizzled out sometime around February. Before we were official, my current guy and I dated for a month and a half or so before to get to know each other and get comfortable around each other. It seemed to have worked well as we've been together about a month and a half (roughly since May overall!) and I'm joining his family out in Portugal for a few days of relaxation between work shifts at the end of the month which is exciting! This is going really well and I'm really happy with him so fingers crossed it stays this way!

Dug for 3 weeks in the Vale of Pewsey, June/July. 

The dig is a second year module but is also open to the public to volunteer and join. For the last 4 years I volunteered at the old Reading University field school which closed in 2014. This year was a new dig which obviously brought excitement and nerves as it was unfamiliar to me. Luckily it was equally as fun as the previous year's and I've gained several close friendships with people in my year from it which I'm grateful for. I love my friends in other years but expanding my friends in my own year is always good as I'm with them for the next two years! A Neolithic human burial was also found in one of the trenches which was incredible to see and just highlights the reason I love my degree - the thrill of not knowing what will be found is the best feeling when it comes to digging! The BBC also covered it and you can read more about it here.

This academic year has been challenging and at some points difficult, but I've really enjoyed myself and it's obviously paid off! I'm excited to see what next year brings for me and I hope it goes as well as this year!

Also, congratulations to everyone who received their results yesterday! I hope you all got what you wanted and are successful in doing what you want come September! 

Jess xx

A 2014 overview!

Last year was pretty amazing overall. There were obviously some ups and downs as there always are but the good definitely outweighed the bad. 

This year I...

- I passed my driving test (March)

- I turned 18 (March)

- Met Lewis Watson (July)

- I passed my exams (August)

- I got into University (August) 

- Saw Medea in the theatre (August)

- I got my first job (September)

- I got a boyfriend who is completely amazing (November)

I hope this year goes just as well because I already have some amazing things lined up! 

Jess xx

This week.

I've been on Easter holiday for the last week which only means one thing for people in my age group: exams are just around the corner. 

As well as revising, I've actually been giving myself little breaks and have managed to meet up with friends! 

On Wednesday, I went to my friend Rob's for a movie night which was awesome fun! We ended up playing a lot of cards, eating pizza then watching Lord Of the Rings at about 12.30am! I've never actually seen it and it was good when I was actually paying attention! We also watched part of the second one on Thursday morning too before leaving and that was also good - Gollum made me laugh quite a lot! My boyfriend also cooked us all bacon so I was pretty happy when I woke up! I had to drive there by myself which was actually not as bad as I thought it was going to be - I can drive surprising well considering I didn't know the area! I also drove to Waitrose with Rob to get some snacks before the party started and I managed to park which is a feat too! I haven't been to many parties with college people but they're a lot of fun and not as alcohol filled as I would expect - people just got happy instead of completely incoherent which lead to a really nice atmosphere and I ended up having a lot of fun, it was a nice break from revision!

Today, me and my family also went to the cinema to see Captain America: The Winter Soldier! I've been wanting to see it pretty much since it came out so I was really excited and I was right to be! It might actually be one of my favourite Marvel films so far, each character was brilliant and the whole thing was interesting, it didn't take too long for the action to get going which was great! I also loved the end of credits scene as per usual, they always make me so excited for the next Marvel film! If you haven't seen it yet I really recommend it, it'll make you feel pretty much every emotion available on the human spectrum which is pretty impressive for a film that's just over 2 hours long! 

The next week will be pretty much solid revision which may be a bit dull, but hopefully it pays off in the end! 

Jess xx

Pompeii and Wimborne

If you haven't already realised, I've been absent for the last 6 days! I was with my boyfriend down in Dorchester which was a lot of fun! I have also been super busy back home for the last two days (One day included the Emergency bag kit) so I shall do a blog post on that soon!

I finally got to visit the Pompeii exhibition at The British Museum in London and it was fantastic. It was really eye opening to see real everyday objects from an event that happened so long ago. You don't get to see what Roman life was like for poorer people as much as the rich so Pompeii and Herculaneum are rare chances to actually look into this world from a perspective other than the rich of that world. I found some of the exhibits fascinating but heart-breaking too. The were moulds of people that were found and you could see the looks on their faces which was haunting. Unfortunately, you weren't allowed to take photos and the book with the pictures and explanations in was £25 so I don't have any pictures to show you. This exhibition was absolutely fascinating though so please please please go and visit while it's still there, it's completely worth it and 16-18 year olds and Students get in for only £12.50! It is pretty much a once in a lifetime opportunity so I really suggest you see this part of History that hasn't been properly seen before. 

The day after, we went to Wimborne. It's such a pretty place and it also had some great shops which is always good! Being me, I took a trip to the Superdrug and bought a new lip gloss/cream which is amazing, but I'll do a separate blog on that sometime later on! All I'm saying is that it smells gorgeous and looks really lovely! There was also an old fashioned sweet shop so I bought quite a few sweets! Orange and passionfruit hard boiled sweets are some of my favourites now.

Thursday was a lazy day because the windows were being replaced in the house so we ended up watching films all day! I've finally seen Sherlock Holmes 2: A Game of Shadows so I'm super happy about that! Even though I love the BBC Sherlock, Robert Downey Junior and Jude Law play Sherlock and John perfectly and I laughed so much through both of the Sherlock Holmes films! 

I left Mark's house the next day but before, he bought me Marie Claire magazine to read on the 4 hour (lots of waiting between trains) journey back to my house. It contained a little tester of a perfume called Intense by Dolce & Gabanna and it smells so good! It has the cutest packaging too, if you pull up the tab, it turns into a little cardboard bottle that you squeeze and it sprays the perfume! It's amazing! The website says that the perfume has "subtle hints of Neroli and Green Mandarin, creamy and enveloping qualities of Orange Flower plays alongside the deep voracious trail of Tuberose, giving an intense full-bodied feminine signature to the fragrance, that turns heads and intrigues and the warm resinous Sandal Wood and the sensual Musky notes that blend irresistibly with the creamy addiction of the Guimauve, defining a powerful presence of captivating sensuality." It sounds so funny like that, but it's honestly such a nice scent. It's stronger so it's more of a going out, nighttime perfume but I love it. 

Jess xx

A Day out in London

Mark came up to see me straight after I got back from Sicily and we went to London for the day which was amazing! He stayed over 3 nights which was lovely! We just stayed in on Thursday which was nice and relaxed `very good after walking around for a week straight!)
On Friday we decided to go in to London which was super exciting because I haven't been for ages! I love London so it was really nice to go to loads of different places (thank you travel card!) and see parts of London I haven't properly seen before. We went to Covent Garden first and looked around a few shops which was nice; I really like it there and I really want to go back again! I finally got to go to a Kate Spade shop! It was honestly so amazing. The shop was so cute and quirky and the displays were adorable! I'll do an extra blog about it with pictures of the shop because it was so amazing! I found an absolutely gorgeous top down from £105 to £42 and Mark was just incredible and bought it for me because he's completely perfect! It has stripes and bows on it; two of my favourite things so how could I resist?!
We then went to Portobello road/Notting Hill to have a look at the market and it was so nice! It wasn't too busy so we got to look around the stalls properly! We also stumbled across the Hummingbird bakery, which I'd heard about before from Carrie Hope Fletcher (ItsWayPastMyBedTime on YouTube!) so it made me really happy to be able to try them! I got a red velvet cupcake because I've heard so much about them! The cakes were quite expensive but so worth it, mine was really tasty! It was a really pretty shop and the cakes were pretty too!

How cute are these cupcakes?!

I loved this picture on the wall!

We returned to Covent Garden because we had seen all of the market and we stumbled across a sweet shop called SugarSin that was the cutest thing ever! We got some little pots of sweets that are really nice! I got fruit chews, got my brother berry chews and Mark got Banoffee jelly beans! I'll put the pictures on the same blog post as the Kate Spade shop pictures because it was equally cute!

Kate Spade top, Hummingbird bakery cupcakes (red velvet and chocolate caramel),
Fruit sweets from SugarSin and a Hummingbird bakery brownie
- from Instagram

Jess xx

The Perfect Weekend.

This weekend made me realise that there's nothing that I love more than cuddling in bed playing pacman at 11pm with someone you care a lot about.

This weekend, as the title says, was really quite perfect. I went to see my close friend (&now boyfriend - yay!) down in Dorchester Friday-Sunday and it was really great! 

Friday was a relaxed day because it took 2 and a half hours by train to get down there which took up quite a bit of the day and included a stupid delay at my station so we had to go to the next station on which was quite stressful! From there everything was fine though; I got to Reading without any problems, got my coffee and some other bits & bobs and managed to balance 2 rather large bags, a coffee and a train ticket whilst walking through a barrier. I feel quite proud of myself for achieving this really! When I got there we decided what to do on Saturday and decided on the cinema so to prepare, we watched Despicable Me on DVD (plus all the extras - the minions are so so funny!). It must be one of my favourite films EVER. It's adorable and the minions and little girls are just hilarious and amazing! 

On Saturday we went to Weymouth which was really nice - it's a really pretty seaside town with lots of shops....me + shops = lots of shopping, and that's exactly what happened! I ended up getting some gorgeous black and white polka dot sandal wedges from Debenhams in the sale for £17.50 and they're just amazing! I'm going to take them on my trip to Sicily next week and gove them a good run out! They're so cute and comfortable too, I love them!

The perfect pair of wedges

I still can't believe they were only £17.50!

I was telling Mark about a perfume I've heard a lot about from other blogs and what not and how it smelled amazing. I went to the loo and I came back and he'd bought it for me as a present! He's really so adorable and it's amazing! (Just as a side note - we've been unofficial for about a month and a half, it's not like he's buying me amazing presents after a day of dating, don't worry!) The perfume is Laugh with me LeeLee by Benefit and it really is the most gorgeous and delicate summery floral smell. They describe it as a woody floral smell in the booklet and that's pretty much spot on I think! It's pretty and subtle so it's really good for an every day wear instead of a special occasion perfume. It also comes in the cutest packaging as well, I'm in love completely! It's so cute! The bottle is also amazing too!

If you haven't tried this out then do, it's really amazing! 

I also went to New Look and bought a couple of strappy tops for Sicily because they'll be good to wear in the super hot weather! I got a white one and a pink one and they're both so nice! 

We saw Despicable Me 2 in the cinema and it's honestly one of the funniest films I've ever seen. It matches and possibly even beats the first one which is pretty impressive! The little minion clips during the first part of the credits were also just as funny, I just can't get enough of those yellow guys! The purple minions were hilarious too! It's definitely one of my favourite non-Disney films though, so brilliant! 

We went to Dorchester centre on the Sunday and it was so lovely. There was a market which was really nice to look around and I ended up buying 8 books!!! I spent £8.50 on them put together instead of on only one so I'm pretty happy! I regret not getting more though because I overlooked some books because I thought mum had them but it turned out that she didn't so yeah...silly on my part really! I'm really excited to read the books I did get though! I've either heard really good things about the books, the authors or I thought they sounded interesting so I'm rather excited to give them a read! At least I won't be short of reading material on the Sicily trip! If you've read any of the books then tell me what they're like in the comments below!

I can't wait to start this pile! They all look so good! 

We also had a really lovely and romantic lunch at Carluccio's which was pretty perfect! I've decided I like Mark's neck of the woods rather a lot... His house is in the middle of nowhere and in a proper village like out of TV shows but it isn't completely remote because there are some pretty nice and rather big towns quite close by which is really nice! It makes where I live feel like the middle of a busy city! It's a shame we live so far apart because it's so lovely spending time with him and it's rather special and fun when we're together. He's one of those people I just click with and can have a great time with so yeah, pretty perfect if you ask me!
Jess xx

Some things just don't work out the way you want them to

Today was nice, I've managed to get loads of work done so I almost have a free weekend! I was planning on meeting up with le boyfriend on Sunday but as I said, some things just don't work out the way you want or expect them to :( he has to go to a meal for his grandad's birthday meal which obviously comes first, but it's just upsetting because I was really looking forward to seeing him again after ages of being away from each other :( hopefully we'll see each other soonish...I hate being away from him for long :(
I got to sit in Starbucks again in my 2nd free today, so I got my kids hot chocolate (so much cheaper!) and they put it in the teensiest take away cup I have EVER seen! It was so so cute! :3 there wasn't anyone interesting in the shop today though which is highly disappointing :( its always fun looking out for new characters :)
I've been watching Children in Need tonight and WHY OH WHY did they put Girls Aloud on?! They were atrocious! They should have broken up and left it at that! Only Kimberley can really sing out of them...it's so painful! And then One Direction came on and make it worse :( just bad :(
So all in all, a bit of a mixed day, but I'll stay positive like I always do, because what's the point of being down about something that you can't control?
Jess xx