Returning to University

In a few days time I will be returning to university and will officially become a third year. How that happened I am not sure seeing as I only started university yesterday....WHERE HAS THE TIME GONE?!

Anyway. Now I am sat here feeling old and debating the idea of starting to pack all of my stuff and it got me thinking about how I feel about moving back. University has always been a tricky one for me, I love it, but I usually hate the idea of going back. My mum calls me a "home bird" and I guess she is right, I love being at home and surrounded by my family but I also love being at university, living with my friends and being able to do pretty much whatever I want. Within reason, I couldn't go and rob a bank for example. I think it is the transition between the two that I hate, I hate saying goodbye and you have that brief period of 'oh goodness I am on my own'. Two years ago when I was faced with the prospect of starting university and leaving home for the first time ever I was terrified, there were a lot of tears and I was adamant I was not going. I remember turning up at the place I was living and telling myself that I would never call this place home, that lasted about a week. I was really lucky, I made some really good friends who when confronted with me on the first night, a blubbing wreck, instead of running for the hills they offered me cake and a game of poker, I then loved university. The start of the second year should have been a lot easier but I was just as apprehensive and really not wanting to go. We had moved into a different house that I hated and the idea of returning made me cry even more than the first time round. But once again I settled it and loved it, in fact I really miss that house now!

So the start of third year. For the first time ever I am openly admitting that I am excited to go back, I am actually looking forward to it. We have a lovely new house and I love the people that I am living with. Of course there is still a fairly large part of me that is terrified of saying goodbye to my mum and I am sure that when the time comes I will be in tears clinging to her like a three year old begging her to stay. I may be 20 years old but I can still act like the children at work when I want to. However I am trying not to think about that, instead focusing on all the fun I am going to have and remembering that I do really like university.

So to anyone who is starting university or returning, good luck! I hope you have the best year yet!

Feeling Creative

Recently I went to see Les Miserables in the West End, it was the third time that I have seen the show and it was still absolutely incredible. I went with my two closest friends from university, to celebrate a birthday and to have a last meet up in the summer holidays. We spent the morning in the science museum which turned into a little bit of a disaster as we realised that we didn't understand any of the activities that were clearly aimed at children! Feeling a bit deflated we decided to go somewhere that was more on our level, the soft toy section in Hamleys! After spending far too long stroking the toys to see how soft they were we went to the theatre and, of course, the show was absolutely incredible, the current cast are probably the best I have seen, one of us shed a few tears, not me I would like to add, and the cast managed to add humour and give me shivers when they sang "One Day More". We then went to eat at a restaurant in Covent Garden called Wahaca which was really nice with lovely food and fairly cheap which is always a good thing when you are a poor student! Finally we ended up at Be At One ,a cocktail bar also in Covent Garden. They have an app that you can download on your phone which allows you to create your own happy hour which gives you two cocktails for £9.50. They have such a large range of cocktails and the ones that we have tried so far are delicious, the staff are all really friendly and they played a lot of really cheesy music throughout the evening, think early 00s, it gave a great atmosphere and we had lots of fun, we will definitely be going back again!

 

Anyway, I feel like I have gone slightly off topic here, after we had seen the show we went to the stage door as I really wanted to meet Carrie Hope Fletcher who is currently playing Eponine. She is also a Youtuber and I have been watching her videos for a while now so I decided I would take the opportunity to become a little bit of a fangirl! She was so lovely to everyone who was there to see her, she stopped and spoke to everyone and it was such a pleasure to meet her. Afterwards I turned into a little bit of a speechless, grinning wreck, it was rather embarrassing and not something that I am used to! Before we went to the show I had read other people's experiences of meeting her and how they were shaking and crying and I always thought it was a little over the top and unnecessary. I was wrong. I acted in pretty much the same way which completely surprised me, but I do now understand how these other people felt.  So, this is eventually the actual point of this post, I decided that I would like to frame the picture I got of us and my ticket that she signed, continuing my fangirl moment. I knew the kind of frame I wanted but the cheapest I could find was £20 which was far too much money in my opinion. So after getting some advice from a friend of mine I bought a really cheap clip frame for just over a pound, some nice to paper to back it with and to cover the horrible chipboard, and some ribbon so that I could hang it on my wall. I am really pleased with the finished result and it cost me less than £5, bargain! It has given me a really nice memento of what was one of the best days of my life and I am looking forward to hanging it up when I move into my new house at university. I am planning on hanging it next to my wooden plaque that says "Follow your dreams" because Carrie dreamed big, she dreamed of the role of Eponine and she achieved it. My picture with her reminds me that it is ok to dream big and if you work hard enough you may achieve the ultimate dream, this is something that I had forgotten recently and I hope by having this on my wall it will remind me that my dream is not impossible.

 

 

If anyone is reading this, let me know what you think and share what creative things you have been up to, I would love to see them!