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

2013 vs 2014.

I know my Blogger challenge post is meant to be a substitution for resolutions/goals, but I find that it's always nice to have them written down somewhere so I thought I'd share mine from last year (2013 resolutions) and come up with some new ones!

2013

Revise work from the beginning - I sucked at this last year and it hasn't really changed if I'm honest. I just need to revise earlier.

Read more - Time is a problem for me. I work a lot and spend the rest of my time blogging. I did manage to read a few books just for the fun of it this year and I loved them all! I also read a few books surrounding my subjects which were good!

Take more photos - I fulfilled this when I went to Sicily with college but apart from that, I didn't get many chances to just take photos with friends. I've taken lots more photos for my blog though if that counts!

Don't get as easily distracted - I've been getting better at forcing myself to work but when I'm not motivated, I'm in trouble.

Be confident in myself - I'm so much happier than I was last year about the way I look and just myself in general. I feel like I know my style and what suits me better now so bring on 2014!

Talk to people more - I've spoken to some more people and made some good friends so I think I accomplished this!

Make an effort with friends - I met up with my friends quite a bit this year but still not as much as I would have liked. However, to get decent grades and get into Uni, work comes first (which they know) so I'm quite happy with the amount I did see people!

Blog more! - I blogged more because I had a full year instead of five months of blogging this year, but I added up the number of posts, and I did the exact same amount August - December which I find really creepy!

2014

Revise earlier - As I said above, I need to start revising earlier. Last year I assumed that I could fit all of my revision into less than a month which ended pretty badly. This year I'm going to start revising much earlier so I have time to revise it all more than once (I hope!) or at least have a firm understanding in what I've done.

Take better control over my health - I've mentioned before that I'm diabetic and sometimes it seems to become completely out of control. I also think that I need to start being more healthy so this year, I'm going to try and keep record of my diabetes and eat better and possibly try and exercise more when I get time. 

Be more organised - I bought a weekly planner last year and even though it was great to start with, I neglected it a bit in the last months of using it which is rubbish because it helped me keep on top of work and I even wrote blog ideas down! It was seriously useful and as my life is set to only get busier, I think it will be great to start organising my time and sticking to my plans using it. I also need to make sure all of my work is organised so I can fin everything I need to revise easier. 

Improve my blogging - My blogging has been so patchy but as I now have more followers and viewers than I've ever had, I really want to try and improve my blogging pattern, style and just generally how and what I blog about! I'll obviously still do the same sorts of posts because I love writing about nearly everything, but I'm going to try and be more organised, maybe write a post every other day or so? I'll have to try things out and see how they go! I'll also need to see how I can fit blogging in between my homework and revision too. 

Focus - Even if it means forcing myself to sit at a desk and write or read anything, I need to focus on my work more, no matter how much motivation I'm lacking. This year will be the most important for me so slacking really isn't an option. 

I feel like 2013 has gone by so fast and I'm sad to see it go as it's been amazing - I've made better friendships with some people, found confidence (or at least the start of it) in myself and been much happier than other years. Hopefully 2014 will be just as good to me and I'm excited for it to start!

Jess xx

Lille

Me & my family were going to go to the Globe theatre in London to see Macbeth today but Dad got ill so we ended up staying at home. Instead, me and my brother went to Guildford! As per usual, I bought some stuff!

Jolly rancher sweets £2.99, Berry nerds rope £1.10, Toffee, Apple and Cinnamon popcorn 99p
 and Sugarpova gummy sweets £3.99

I couldn't go to Guildford without visiting the American sweet shop! It's like a tradition now! The Jolly rancher sweets are hard boiled sweets and I found a pack with Strawberry, Raspberry, Orange, Peach and Fruit punch! I love all these flavours which is so good because watermelon is usually included which I hate! I also love the berry nerds rope, the nerds flavours on it are so good! When I walked into the shop, there was a display of loads of different flavours of 'Sugarpova' sweets. I decided on the 'chic' ones, mainly because the shapes were sunglasses, bags and heels, but the other ones looked so good! They had gummy worms, sours, gum shaped like tennis balls and so many other awesome flavours and shapes! I found out afterwards that a proportion of the profits from the sweets go towards a charity run by Maria Sharipova (hence the name) so at least it's going towards a good cause (as well as my happiness and sugar cravings)! They always have a pretty good lot of sweets in the clearance section so I bought a bag of Toffee, apple and cinnamon popcorn for 99p! It's so nice and it actually smells of christmas!

Rimmel lasting finish in Double Decker Red and Marshmallow Heaven - currently £1.99

The rimmel nail polishes were on offer with £1 of so I took advantage (and the fact that I had a double points voucher) and bought a couple of pretty nail colours! I don't have a solid red colour so I'm happy with this one! The names are also so cute, I love them! I haven't tried them yet but I'll let you know how I get on with them when I do try them!

Weekly desk planner from Paperchase - £8

How pretty are these post it notes?!

I figured that I really need to organise myself better and up my game next school year so I went to paperchase and bought a weekly desk planner! It has specific boxes for each day of the week, a to do list, notes, and a grid. There are also post it notes and the bottom of each page doubles up as a ruler which I find awesome because I always lose my rulers. I love London so this design is amazing, plus the post it notes are just the most adorable thing! You can't see very well on the pictures, but the notes section also has faint writing on it which looks really pretty. The pages seem quite good quality and not too thin so hopefully it ends up working and making me good at organising revision, reading and work next year so I improve my grades!

I have also found a new singer in the last few days called Lisa Hannigan. She is an Irish singer and I just love her. I've heard quite a few of her songs (I've gone through every song on her Youtube...) and I love every single one. My two favourites are I Don't Know and Lille - check her out! The music videos for these two songs are also my favourites for any songs of all time, they're so clever and gorgeous and I love them so much!
Jess xx