I'm a tad obsessed...

Hi all!

Hope you are well :)

So recently I've been doing lots of work for university (of course) but I have become hooked on one thing in particular. Now don't worry, it's nothing bad. I have become obsessed with Pinterest.

I think it's great and I love seeing all the creative ideas people come up with for different things and it's great for saving ideas which is especially handy when you're a student watching your money like me!

I have all sorts of boards that I am adding to; from furniture to Christmas to fancy dress costumes and more. I have some great Creme Egg recipes saved up for Easter which I am looking forward to using along with some hot chocolate ideas for winter (or now when it's stupidly cold up North)

I will have a look through and decide on my favourite pins and share them with you - there's some great gift ideas around!

My time was not wasted because I thoroughly enjoyed wasting it!

Speak soon
xx

Failings of School

I was thinking today when faced with a job application form how little about life school actually taught us. Don't get me wrong, I really enjoyed school hence why I've decided to further my education by coming to university to study Chemistry for 4 years but one thing I was never taught how to do was to write a CV.

I would like to get a part time job whilst I'm here to gain a bit of extra cash but I have no idea what I write on a CV, having never been told how to at school. School also never taught you things like how to do your taxes, they told you that you should vote but never showed us how to register to and other things related on how to actually just live your life. The menial tasks that our parents and guardians just do were never explained to us by the schooling system; they taught us how to learn, remember and regurgitate facts to pass an exam.

In many ways, it's similar to learning how to drive a car. The instructors will teach you how to pass the driving test, not actually how to drive. Obviously the basics of making the car move, but your road sense and general awareness and the instinctiveness of driving is almost self-taught. But from school, learning from your mistakes is not a good way to go. You should be getting it right first time, every time pretty much.

There is no provision for different abilities of people and the different skills people possess. In a world where we are all unique and different from each other, why will they test us all in the same way to see how much of one skill we all possess? That isn't a fair representation of the population.

It's like testing every single animal on the planet on their ability to climb a tree. A fish is not going to be able to climb that tree because it was not designed to do so but a monkey would pass the test with flying colours. Humans are the same, we don't all have the same abilities and I think it's absolutely fantastic that we don't. It gives us opportunities to marvel at somebody else's expertise.

School is a useful tool but I think you can't judge everyone by their ability to perform academically in exams because not everyone is hardwired to be able to do that.

They were just some thoughts from today..

xx

Freshers!

In a few hours, I have a formal ceremony called matriculation at the Cathedral here in Durham. It is a welcoming ceremony, a bit like graduaton but for entering rather than leaving the university. Then I feel as if I will officially be a member of Durham University!

I am half way through my Freshers Week now and I have to say, it really is such a great experience and the way ours is set up here makes it so easy to make friends and socialise. I have 5 'landing' mates who I share a bathroom with etc. and there are 24 other rooms in my block so when we all squeeze into one place and have a block party, it's a little cramped! I  also have people who I have met at our events during the week and people who are also doing Chemistry in my college so a wide circle already!

We had our societies fair yesterday too which was our chance to sign up to do all sorts of things from Chamber Choir to Debating to Lacrosse to Quidditch. To say there was a massive range and the place was total chaos would probably be an understatement.

I will post again soon, I have the pictures from my IKEA Haul but never got around to formulating a post for them as trying to get organised to move out took up a lot of my time.

Speak soon
x

Holidays :)

(So long since my last post - I'm so sorry guys but its been a bit hectic recently with uni planning!)

This summer, I have been incredibly lucky and have had the opportunity to go on 2 holidays with my some of my closest friends before we all go our separate ways for university.

The first was quite a while ago now as it was straight after our exams had finished which was the end of June and I spent a week in Zante with 2 of my best girl friends, Ellen and Katie. It was so much fun as it was our first ever Girl's Holiday and we had such a great time and made lots of memories! 

The second was a trip to Edale in the Peak District at the start of September with 15 friends where we spent four days in a rented barn conversion where we all ate together and slept in 3 dorms and spent the days playing baseball/rounders, frisbee, football and the occasional bit of volleyball over the washing line outside not to mention twister and other board and card games.

The scenery was beautiful in the Peak District and it was such a chilled 4 days with some of my favourite people just spending time together before we all start to go our separate ways - the first of our group actually moved last Saturday and then the majority of the rest all leave this Saturday to go to their various universities around the country.

I hope that you have all also had a good summer and I promise that there will be less of a gap between this and the next post - it may be an IKEA Haul post :)

xx

So many forms...

As I said in my last post, I got into University and yesterday my Freshers Pack came through. Exciting stuff..

BUT.. there are soooo many forms to fill out, it's ridiculous. I've written my name, email address and course out so many times for various different forms from a Room Allocation Questionnaire to Mentor Forms to Emergency Contacts.

I've also got to get 8 passport sized photos too which should be fun.

Despite all the tedious form filling out, I am excited for uni and hopefully soon I'll be doing an IKEA trip! Which are always a fab day out. I am currently doing some online shopping too so if I get a decent haul I might put up a Uni Wardrobe type post.

Speak soon!
xx

I'm Going to University!

Hi!

So at the moment I am extremely happy because it is Results Day here and I have got into my first choice university which is Durham University! I am going to be studying Chemistry and I would like to do a year in industry in my final year.

I was so nervous this morning that I woke up at 6:30 panicking that I had failed completely but as 8 o'clock came around, the time when UCAS Track opened, I was feeling a little calm. I managed to log on early at 7:45 and was thrilled when this message came up:

I went in to collect my results from school and chatted with my friends and some teachers (who are now insisting I call them by their first names which is really weird for me) and then I had to have my photo taken for the local newspaper which was interesting.. Not to mention totally embarrassing.

4 of us walked up to Tesco and got a chocolate Swiss roll to share which we ate on the park and it was lovely. We chatted a bit more then all headed home as we are all meeting up later to celebrate the end of A-Levels and our results which have landed us in universities all over the place.

I will be moving into Trevelyan College at Durham at the end of September and I will be sure to give you some updates on that.

I will post again soon but for now it is goodbye :)

Keep smiling
x

Summer Nights Film Festival

Hi!

I should've posted this almost a week ago but I've been really busy with work and things so I have only just got around to it. So here's what happened on Saturday at the Derby Summer Nights Film Festival..

First things first, a bit of context. One afternoon, I was really bored so due to a lack of better things to do, I decided to Google my home town (Derby, East Midlands) and it pulled up a load of websites as Google does and I saw one that caught my eye. It was a festivals page and I saw on it one for the Summer Nights Film Festival (SNFF from now).
I clicked onto the page and found that this was basically a festival where they showed different films at various country houses in Derbyshire. I saw that at Kedleston Hall they were showing Gravity so I spoke to my friends and 4 of us got together and decided to go.

When the SNFF finally came around (our date to go anyway), we packed my tiny car with picnic stuff and chairs and set off to Kedleston Hall, really strugglling up any hills due to the distinct lack of power Peugeot 107s have. But we eventually got there at around 7:40 and we handed our tickets in and found a spot to set up.
The film was not due to start until the sun had set giving us 2 hours to sit, chat, eat and take some photos. After a few angry mutterings when a large family decided to plonk themselves right in front of us and shifting around so we could all see, we had some of our food (we had all bought far too much) and settled in to our chairs ready for the film to start.

Compulsory selfie before the film started

We had an introduction to the film from 2 radio DJs off Smooth Radio (clearly this festival is not particularly aimed at youth although we were perfectly welcome) and then Gravity started.
About half an hour into the film, a few big spots of rain fell causing everybody to start panicking and putting their rain macs on and the odd brolley even went up. After the kafuffle had died down, it stopped raining. As none of us had rain macs with us, we were very glad it stopped and found it hilarious because everyone had gotten so panicked over about 10 spots of rain.

Gravity was a really good film but shorter than I expected it to be although looking back, you could see that if they had dragged it out for much longer it would've been boring and same-y so it was good that they ended it when they did.
With what seemed like a grand total cast of 3 plus the odd extra, it was well held together with the plot and was generally scientifically correct with the exception of the end which obviously had to be done as it was for dramatic effect but it irritated the scientist in me because in real life, it couldn't have happened.
But other than that, the plot was excellent, the characters were well thought out if a little thin on the ground and the effects on the film were ace so all in all I would definitely recommend it.

If there is something similar to SNFF in your area, I would definitely go to it because it is something different and something you will remember because of that.

Speak soon :)
x

Mother and Daughter Photoshoot

So on Friday, I went to a Mother and Daughter photo shoot which was a very weird experience for us both I think but it was great fun.

We arrived at the studios completely bare-faced as they had asked us to put no make up on. I really did not like walking through town with no make up on, I always have at least mascara on but never mind. I didn't see anyone I know so it's fine.
We then went up to the make-up studio bit and had all our make up done professionally. There was a lot of foundation due to the lights and the camera but I loved my eye make-up! It was more than I would usually wear but I thought my eyes stood out and looked quite blue with it on which was really nice. My mum looked amazing when she'd had all of hers done.
We also had our hair done. We both went for curls because it suits us better than poker straight hair and looks a bit more natural too. Once all the hair and make up was done we got our outfits and went into the photo shoot room.

We wore about 4 different outfits and it was actually quite fun once you got over the initial awkwardness. Afterwards, we packed up our stuff, booked in for our viewing and then walked back to the car. Once we'd dropped off our stuff, we started looking for somewhere where we could have a late lunch (very late - it was about 4 o'clock).
We ended up at the Pitcher & Piano and had 3 grazers and a drink each. We were going to have cocktails but we thought we better not. We had halloumi cheese, chicken and chorizo skewers and mini fishcakes which were all really nice and the lunch was really lovely.

As we were all dolled up, we went out as a family for a meal and went to Ask Italian in Ashby which was lovely, mum's food definitely looked the nicest though! We did take off the foundation before we went out though as it was a little too heavy for normal wear.
To finish the day off, I went to the pub with some friends to celebrate an 18th which was a great way to end the day.

I don't know if we'll buy any of the photos but it'd be nice if I had one just for the memories.

Book Review: The Fault In Our Stars

So I finally read The Fault In Our Stars (now I need to go see the film!) whilst I was on holiday last week and I thought I'd do a mini book review type thing. You will have to let me know if this is the sort of thing I should keep doing or just never do again because it's terrible (constructive criticism is totally welcome here!)


The Fault In Our Stars by John Green

Okay so I was never bothered about TFIOS but since the film came out, it has resurfaced on my social media sites (mainly Twitter) and everybody has been talking about it again therefore, I decided to give it a try and see if it was worth the praise and hype it has been receiving.

TFIOS is a ridiculously easy book to read; I think I got through it in about a day and a half (I am a fast reader but that is speedy for me especially as I haven't really been reading too much recently). You become integrated into the book very quickly and easily, the transition between reality and fiction whilst reading this is pretty seamless. It's a real-life book too which makes it easier, it's something people can relate to and as the plot is around "Cancer Kids", it is relevant because at the moment, almost everyone I know has had some form of cancer affect their lives in one way or another over the years.
Hazel Grace Lancaster, the main character, is a relatable character in some ways. What with the obsessions with terrible TV that you can't help but watch, the interest in boys but being convinced there's no chance in hell of having a boyfriend. Augustus is your typical charmer, the type of boy every girl wants in her life so a tad less relatable as the majority of us girls are yet to find our Prince Charming/Mr Darcy/Augustus Waters. 
However, Isaac has that strength and happiness and despair that shows through in anyone's life. Personally, he was my favourite character in the book, the strength of his mind despite all he went through and endured was certainly admirable and I would love to have the same kind of inner strength that he does. Despite that strength though, he is completely aware that it is totally okay to break down and flip out sometimes and that it is actually very healthy to do just that which I think is ace. 
I don't want to give too much of the plot away to any of those who have not read this book so I'm not going to talk too much about it but I will say the ending was far better than others I've read. It was emotional, not tear-jerking for me as it seems for so many others, but it was raw and was written exquisitely I feel. It was something that not many teens would ever experience.
The one thing I could criticise is the depth of the story, yes it was well thought out and thought-provoking and a beautiful story but it was so quick to read that I felt as if I didn't get enough, that there wasn't enough for me to get my teeth into so to speak.
Was it worth all the hype? Almost I think, the book is fab but the story didn't quite live up to expectation for me. But kudos to John Green for writing an incredible book, I would still recommend it to anyone.




What are your guys thoughts? On TFIOS, my book reviews and on life in general - I would love to know :)

x

Uganda

A year ago on Wednesday, I spent the day travelling to Africa after a whole year of preparing and waiting and after 5 years of wishing on every star that I could become a part of the team of pupils that get to travel and work in Uganda.
I was a part of a team of 24 pupils (only 23 flew to Uganda, the 24th has a heart condition meaning she can't travel), affectionately called the Tiggers, who prepared from October 2012 to July 2013 to become the best brickies and the strongest team we could be so that when July the 2nd came, the day we finally got to go to Uganda, we would be ready for any eventuality and we would be ready to build on a second floor above the dormitory built by the team before us and we would be ready to create a school. A place of learning for over 100 children of all ages.

It was so hard to say goodbye to my parents as I was going away for a month and would probably have very little chance to communicate with them (no phones and no Internet) but I managed it and I also managed not to cry until about midnight, sat on the airplane writing my diary. Luckily, I don't think anyone saw me because everyone was trying to sleep.
When we arrived in Uganda, it was raining! And thundering. But it was very refreshing after the plane journey. We got quite a few odd looks walking through the airport in our bright orange team kit (orange and black were our team colours, hence Tiggers). We met our lovely, bubbly and hilarious tour guide Lukia along with our 2 drivers Meddie and Hassan and one of our bodyguards, Hassan outside the arrivals building and we headed to the bus. We had another bus ram-packed with our suitcases (we had 3 each and there was 30 of us - you do the maths).
We got to meet our 2 other bodyguards Robert and Walter too and the 6 of them became part of our family so quickly. We also got to meet all of the kids at the 2 orphanages we would be working at. The school I go to owns one of the orphanages (The John Dickens' House/M-Lisada) and it is in partnership with the other (MYDEL).

We built the school at the MYDEL (Mengo Youth Development Link) site and we had 17 site days in which to complete the building and then paint it. We also painted the girls dorms at M-Lisada (Music, Life Skills and Destitution Alleviation) and the outside of the main building there on the last few site days.
After day 8 on site, we had finished the 4 classrooms on the second floor and we were all chuffed to bits. We managed to go from this..

We had scaffolding put up around the edge so we didn't fall off, don't worry!

 To this..

The wall with the dint in the middle is the one I was working on

 To finished, rendered walls with windows in like this!

This is actually one of the walls I helped to build.

So that was pretty mad. In between all the building, rendering and painting we did have some fun too (saying that, site was great fun at times - the team all got on so well!) We attended a Church service - weirdest Church service I've ever been too - and had some African drumming and dancing lessons. We went to Uganda's second city, Jinja and went to Main Street Primary School and taught some lessons, visited the Source of the River Nile, went white water rafting, did a bungee jump (amazing fun!) and visited a baby orphanage. Towards the end of the trip, we also went on a 3-day safari at Murchison Falls National Park which was an incredible experience despite the fact I was ill and couldn't keep much food down.

Going backwards over a 3m drop waterfall!

3..2..1..BUNGEE!!

As well as building the 4 classrooms at MYDEL, we also renovated the main building, transforming it into a Head Teacher's office, a medical room, a library (with computers) and a 5th classroom.
After 4 long weeks, we opened the newly re-named MYDEL-McQuilton Academy, presented the children who lived there with their brand new uniforms and watched with pride as the kids swarmed their new school.

The Medical Room

Uganda was an incredible experience and I met some absolutely amazing people who I would've happily sat and chatted to for hours on end to listen to their stories about the lives they lead. The team I went out with there were the best people I could've hoped for to share those experiences with and we are all still really close, over a year later. I am still so proud of what I achieved in that month and wish I could go back again this year to see all of the friends I made whilst I was out there.

So my message, as well as sharing some of my experiences in the beautiful country of Uganda, is that you need to dream big, be kind, be inspired and keep your eyes open and your ears to the ground for any opportunities that might present themselves to you.
Do something you don't think you have the inner strength for and surprise yourself when you realise that you can do it.
Do everything with a smile on your face even if you feel like you can't keep going for much longer, look for the positives in every situation you find yourself in and surround yourself with a group of people who you know you can rely on no matter what.
And remember to feel proud of whatever you have done, no matter how small and know that you have the power to change somebody's life for the better.

When we arrived back home on the 2nd August 2013

Let me know what you think of this post and I'll see you again soon!
Charly xx