University Take Two.

I've now been back at University a week and a half and so far I'm completely loving it! The first week was freshers where all of the first years get settled in, get to know the Uni and their courses and get horribly drunk every night! It was nice being able to spend the week catching up with friends, making multiple trips to the pub/bar and doing some work to prepare for lectures!

This week marked the beginning of lectures and so far I'm loving every module I've picked! You get a lot more choice in second year and I'm really excited to see what the rest of my modules will be like. I've had three lectures so far (Artefacts, Greek Comedy and Peoples and Societies of the Ancient Near East) and I'm set to still have a few this week, introducing me to the rest of my modules (Greek History: Archaic to Alexander, Prospects for Ancient Historians and Egypt and the Greco-Roman World) which will be great! Most of the modules I picked this year with an ancient history side are Greek focused which is easily my favourite period and I'm glad I've been able to specialise that side of my degree that far already as I feel it will give me a good start for doing well this year!

For my Artefacts module, I had to choose 2 of 6 options to focus on. I've picked Pottery and Archaeological drawing with Small finds and coins as back up so I'm incredibly excited to start, no matter which combination of those three I get, as they all look amazing! I think it's awesome how we get to try completely new things like technical drawing as it'll be useful in the long run if I decide to go into Archaeology as a career (most likely!). 

My lectures are a lot more fun this year already because I know so many more people thanks to the dig this summer - I now know the names of most of the people in my lectures compared to maybe 5-10 last year which is really nice! I feel like I've also got a pretty solid friend group now so I'm already feeling like this year is going to be amazing!

This year I've become a student mentor for 12 first year students. The aim is to help them feel more settled and to be able to ask questions to someone has gone through what they're going through. I'm really enjoying being able to help the people who have emailed me with questions and who I've met up with for a chat! It's a really rewarding feeling as I know that a lot of people struggle to settle properly at Uni for a while.

I've moved into private halls this year and so far it's been pretty good - there have been a few problems with doors and radiators but nothing that's too problematic! My room is really lovely with more than enough space and the kitchen is gorgeous with a breakfast bar! It's about half an hour's walk from campus but it will really help me become fitter having to actually travel instead of just rolling out of bed like last year! 

I don't know how much I'm going to be able to post as I have a lot of work to do this year compared to last year...I'll post if and when I can! 

Jess xx

First week back!

The first week back was a mix of introductory lectures for my new modules this term and getting grades back from last term's modules!

I ended up getting a 1st in 5th Century Athens and a 2:1 in Ancient Song which I was really happy about because the lecturer was terrible for it so getting a 2:1 basically off my own back makes me feel incredibly proud. I also got a 2:1 in Practicing Archaeology but I was given that grade last term. I'm happy with those as my first grades of university!

I look back at my posts from last term and I already feel like this term will be better as I've proved to myself that I can do university and I can do it well! A levels obviously just didn't suit me and University does luckily! I just hope the exams go the same way! 

I feel so much more optimistic and I'm going to push myself to do more of the reading as I slacked a lot last term - I only really did the work necessary to pass and didn't do a lot of background reading which will give me a better understanding of the topics. I think it also helped that I'd done the Athens module at A level so I knew the information I needed to get the grades - this term I don't have that help so I'm going to need to work a lot harder to get the same level of grades! I just hope I do it as they're all really interesting subjects!

I'm having to balance University, work and various medical appointments whilst not becoming a complete recluse so it could be difficult to do as much as I want over the next few weeks but hopefully after that, I'll be able to really crack on with working!

I also applied again for halls next year so I'm going to actually have somewhere to live which is exciting! I'm going to be sharing with one of my flatmates from this year which is nice as we get on really well.

Jess xx

Long time no speak!

My last blog post was over a month ago but I've been so busy that I've had no time at all to write one! 

The last four weeks at University have been so amazingly great but I've been constantly on the go working, studying or socialising - it's hectic! I thought it would be a good time to show you my room and give you a little update on how life is going so far as I've settled in and I have a spare couple of hours in between my seminars to actually write a post for once! 

The first two weeks here were freshers so we went out most nights and got to know people better over 1am pizza! We bonded pretty quickly as a flat (thanks Facebook chat before we got here!) and then met the flat above as someone in ours knew someone in the flat above before which means we have a big group of us which is really lovely. 

Some of G.3 and 1.3! 

Me, Lucy and Jack. 

Geek night! (cue me blinking...)

Me and my flatmate Alex at Zoo night!

I didn't think I would like going out to clubs but with this group, it's a lot of fun! The one thing I don't like is that I didn't listen to music I like for 2 weeks straight because it was all club and chart music!

We obviously aren't going out as much now freshers is over and work has started properly but it's still fun to go out once or twice a week to get away from the studying.

In the second week of freshers, we also started lectures which was really exciting - I'm loving all of my classes so far minus one which has a rather boring lecturer but it's mostly a lot of fun! My A levels are helping a lot as some of the material in 5th Century Athens is the same as my old course! I had to buy quite a few books for my course which got expensive as they were £20-£30 each! Luckily they will be helpful/interesting for me after this year so it wasn't a waste. Books from my A levels have also been useful/will be useful so I'm quite lucky in that aspect!

Most of my course books.

I love my flat and room - I have a 4 ft bed which is pretty much a double. Compared to my bed and room at home it's quite big which is great! I'm surprised at how clean I've kept my room so far as I'm usually a really messy person but I love how organised it looks and I want to keep it that way for as long as possible! 

I love my desk so much, it's huge and the chair is really comfy with my cushions!

My make up storage shelf.

I have far too many odds and ends on my desk.

Bed covers are from John Lewis - I love them so much!
Fun fact: it smells like marzipan in front of the shelves!

Cute Edward Monkton illustrations above my bed!

My wardrobe - most dresses, skirts and shirts are hung up,
everything else is in the boxes!

My roof tile bookends I took from the spoil heap at Silchester!

Organisers.

Cute anchor details on my towel in my ensuite.

I love these storage jars, so pretty!

I brought quite a lot of my stuff from home with me so it looks like it's messy on my desk but in reality, there's just quite a lot of stuff! It feels really homely and nice - it's just the right size so I can work and live in it at the same time!

I hope you enjoyed this update and tour of my room!

I have a couple of assessments due at the end of October so I don't know when I'll be able to post again in the next couple of weeks. 

Jess xx

TED talks

My Ancient History teacher shows my class a TED talk about the Cyrus cylinder about a month ago and ever since I've been meaning to search for more on YouTube as I found it really interesting and entertaining. I'd also heard other bloggers mention them before so I thought it would be good to have a look at some when I had the chance. 

I finally got some spare time to search for them today and boy, was it a good decision. 

I was completely overwhelmed with the amount of videos that I came across just on the main TEDtalks channel an I finally came across one that peaked my curiosity enough to click on the link. 

The first video I watched was called 'Peter Attia: What if we're wrong about diabetes?'. 

As someone who has diabetes, naturally, this was going to grab my attention and it was a really interesting talk about the link between diabetes and obesity. This led me to search through the suggested videos bar at the side of my current video to find the next talk that peaked my interest. 

I ended up watching 9 other TED talks, including these: 

• Cameron Russell: Looks aren't everything, believe me, I'm a model
• Amanda Palmer: The art of asking
• Amy Cuddy: Your body language shapes who you are
• Julian Treasure: 5 ways to listen better
• Joshua Walters: On being just crazy enough
• Daniel Tammet: Different ways of knowing

It's evident just from the 7 talks I've suggested here that there is a huge variety of different talks that will interest most people. Just take some time to scroll through the videos on the channel and click on the first one that catches your eye, you might be surprised!

Jess xx

I'm moving to new york 'cause I've got problems with my sleep.

I've been ill and off college again today! I hate it so much, I got 2 hours solid sleep last night then teeny bits of sleep for 8 hours after. Not fun. I really don't like missing college because it's so hard catching up with work. Luckily I only have 2 lessons tomorrow and then I get to go home and hopefully get better quicker!
I also got a few emails today telling me the date for my UCL taster course has changed and the programme for the classics open day at Oxford in march! It looks really interesting and there's an opportunity to go to 2 different lectures which will be really awesome! I'm so excited!
Anyway, I need an early night to get better for tomorrow!
Jess xx

P.S. I have a slight obsession with 'Moving to New York' by The Wombats, it's such a good song!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fD92J4W9n04