The luck of the Irish...

I've been mulling over the title of this post for a while, and I can't help but see the irony in it. I had a fairly unlucky time in Belfast, but in some ways, I had a truly incredible time as well. As for the irony, well you'll understand that in a bit. I figured the best way to tell my tales from across the Irish sea would be to tell them like a story, maybe then you'll be able to understand the pure madness of it all.

Last Thursday, the 11th of September (yes, we flew on 9/11), both Emily and myself got up at the crack of dawn to make our 8-something-am flight, and from the moment I woke up I knew I did not feel good at all. Nevertheless we persevered to the station, and proceeded to get the train to Southampton airport to catch our flight. Emily had an asthma attack on the train, whilst I sat there trying not to be sick on her. The poor woman sat across from us looked as if she wasn't sure if she should be concerned or fed up with the two broken girls with a huge pink suitcase sat opposite her. To brush over the rest of the morning, Emily recovered whilst I was sick at the airport, then our flight was delayed by around 45 minutes. We eventually got the plane, and made our way to Ireland, convinced that as far as drama goes, we'd already had our fair share of it, and that things could only get better. 

Once we landed, we found our way into a taxi, and headed for the city centre well aware that we couldn't check in for another two hours. Whilst Emily was prepared to wonder around Belfast with suitcases in tow, I felt as if I was ready to find the nearest bench, curl up in a ball, and patiently wait for death. We called the hotel, who said we could come and leave our bags there, but when we arrived the wonderful lady on the desk said we could have a room. What a babe. And thank god we did, because as soon as we got in the room, I was sick again, then curled up in bed with a fever for the next six hours. So far, so bad. 

Six hours in bed was enough for me, and I was bloody bored. And hungry. I was genuinely running on nothing, so we ventured out and had a KFC. Obviously the only choice of meal for a recovering sick traveller. 

Friday morning I felt considerably better, which was just as well because we'd booked a coach trip to Giants Causeway. I felt almost like a pilgrimage for anyone visiting Northern Ireland, and we couldn't come all this way and not go there. We stopped off at a few castles along the route for some photo opportunities, as well as at Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge. It's a really old rope bridge which you can walk across, after the 1K trek from the car park. So we walked a kilometre, I crossed the bridge onto the island of nothing whilst a vertigo-suffering Emily waited for me on the other side, before we trekked another kilometre back. Not bad for a girl who'd spent 6 hours throwing up and sweating in bed the day before. I bought a certificate saying I crossed the bridge (I was proud of managing it the way I was feeling), and a really cute Irish guy said my name (which I totally wanted to record but that would've just been a bit creepy). 

We stopped off for lunch at a Whisky distillery, called Bushmills. I've never drank whisky in my life, and the bar was free, so Emily and I managed to blag a shot of whisky for lunch. It wasn't too bad, initially I coughed and thought it tasted a bit like cough mixture, so I necked it, and that seemed to do just fine for me.

Giants Causeway was amazing. It was so beautiful, and you were allowed to climb all over it. We got so many wonderful pictures, and I climbed this really tall stack and nearly fell on my arse straight back down again. I would completely recommend a visit to anyone going to Northern Island, it really isn't that far away from Belfast, probably about an hours drive, but it really is such a wonder. The visitor centre there is pretty good as well, really interesting with all the old myths and tales about giants as to why it's there. Emily posed with a fake shark and we laughed about a definition of a rock, which sounded like the worst chat up line ever.

Friday night, we were on a roll. Not even tired, we glammed up ,well, we got changed and tried to look a little less like we'd spent 10 hours on a coach tour, and went out for dinner and drinks. It was my first ever time in Frankie & Benny's and I had a super lush cocktail called P.S I Love You, fitting as that was the inspiration for booking the trip, whilst Emily picked a Long Island Ice Tea. We then decided to try a bar that had really good reviews online, so we tracked it down and headed in. The bouncer stopped us, and asked for ID. He said we needed to be 21, but he let us in anyway. Shame the barman didn't feel the same when he said we weren't old enough and asked us to leave. Completely ridiculous. Officially the first time I've ever been asked to leave a bar before. So we headed round to another bar, and walked straight in, no ID or anything. We stuck with boring old double vodka and coke, which came to £8.40 each! We had one, decided not to waste our money on another, and called it a night.

Saturday morning, and I felt like shit on a stick. But still, I dragged my corpse out of bed, ate a tonne of bacon, and we headed out. Before we left England, Emily and I had a sneaky plan which we didn't tell anyone about, just in case it didn't pull through. We both hoped to get a tattoo each whilst in Belfast, and today was the day. We found a really amazing place called Skin Works online, and went in. They booked us for the afternoon, leaving us a little time to explore and shop before we got inked. Emily went first, and she kept a really stern face on, saying how everything was fine and that it only felt like a scratch. Lying bitch. My turn came around, and as soon as he began, it was so painful, maybe even the most painful thing I've ever done. I'm terrible as I can't hide expressions on my face, so I was gurning for England for the whole 10 minutes whilst he was repeatedly stabbing a needle into my foot in the shape of a four leaf clover. (See, there's the irony, I wasn't very lucky yet I got a four leaf clover tattoo - one of the ultimate symbols of luck!) Afterwards Emily confessed how painful she felt it, but that she knew if she said it, I would chicken out. She even told me how she felt the needle 'twang a vein' in her wrist... 

(Mine is the four leaf clover on my foot, and Emily's is the wings on her wrist)

We rewarded ourselves with a good sit down and some Come Dine With Me in the hotel room, before going out to the highlight dinner of the week. We'd found this place called The Dirty Onion online, and upstairs it has a Brazilian chicken rotisserie. Being called The Dirty Onion, we wrongly made the assumption it would be a pretty casual chilled place, but no, it was full of people in their dressiest outfits, killer heels and fanciest jewellery. We definitely looked like we'd walked out of the orphanage in Annie in comparison. The chicken was amazing, but I started to feel really ill again. I couldn't swallow, it was like my throat was closing, and my hearing was getting worse and worse as I was getting really light headed. Concerned, Emily dragged me back to the hotel and got the reception to find the number for an out of hours doctor. I ended up in quite possibly the scariest doctors surgery in the world. You had to buzz in and out, and then wait in what looked like a prison waiting room. I got a wonderful dose of pills to make me feel better though.

With money running out, and me still feeling pretty rubbish, we basically spent the whole of Sunday in bed watching TV. We did venture out so I could pick up a prescription for some more lovely pills, and we went to Tesco and bought an amazing feast of crisps and pastry goods. We also bought Ben & Jerry's, and well, spoons to eat it with. We spent the afternoon sat in bed eating ice cream watching Cats & Dogs. Bliss. In the end, we decided to go to the cinema just so we could do something, so we went to go see Lets Be Cops, which we wanted to see for ages. It was hilarious, go see it!

There's really not much we could say about Monday. We packed and left, and had one last wonder around the city centre before concluding that we were too poor to shop, and too tired to walk anymore.  So we called it quits, and headed for the airport. 

So my five days in Belfast didn't exactly go to plan. I didn't get to go to any museums because we didn't have the time. We didn't get to drink very much at all. And I certainly didn't meet the Irish man of my dreams. However, I did eat a lot of chicken, go to a creepy hospital, see the Giants Causeway and, as my dad put it, escaped the country to get a tattoo. So you could say, in some ways, I had a much weirder and unexpectedly better time than I could've planned. Here's a picture of me with a big fish, which I think sums up the pure randomness of the entire trip.

I'll be going back to tick off everything I didn't do this time around, especially continuing my search for Mr. Right. (That makes me sound like a middle aged woman on the prowl, I'm not proud of writing that.)

Much love ♥

Everything is changing...

I'm so useless at this regular posting thing! It's not because I've forgotten, but simply because I haven't managed to find the time to sit down and write for a while. And not to mention the struggles of connecting my laptop to the wifi in my new house. New house, I hear you cry? Well I've made the big move, I've packed up my life in Weymouth from the last five months and returned to Winchester; and things here are looking fairly permanent. So I'm still getting my head around the fact that I've pretty much left my beautiful hometown for the foreseeable future, which is both heartbreaking and insane. My whole life (bar the eight crazy months at uni) has basically been in Weymouth, so knowing that those days have gone, is quite hard to accept. But still, everyone has to move on and accept change in their lives, and I'm looking forwards to whatever madness this academic year throws at me! (And trust me, if it's anything like last year, I'm in for one hell of a ride, but this time, you guys get to share in it with me.)

Leaving Weymouth meant a lot more than leaving my friends, family and dogs behind, I also had to leave my amazing job back in Weymouth. Hopefully it was more of a 'cya later', than a 'goodbye forever'. I'm like the bad smell that never goes away there. They're stuck with me for life. 

However, within 3 days of moving to Winchester permanently, I've managed to get a job in my favourite coffee shop here! I'm completely over the moon, so hopefully everything will be alright, and I could seriously use the money to save up for all my elaborate travelling plans. And drinking. And maybe food? And clothes, definitely clothes. 

I plan to do a huge over-the-top post all about my new room here, and how I've decorated it. I'm pretty proud of how everything is coming along, I'm a few photos and fairy lights away from the perfect décor. Not to mention bunting, lots and lots of bunting....

Expect a much more fulfilling post next week, I'm off to Belfast for a couple of days with Emily, because...well... I won't lie, Irish men. We may or may not have watched P.S I Love You and decided on a whim in May to book five days in Ireland. So please be patient, and I promise you all my crazy tales from across the Irish sea - unless of course I've met the man of my dreams and I've eloped.

Much love ♥

Totally Fetch Films...

I love a good movie. To me, there is nothing better than spending a day curled up in a duvet, watching films with endless supplies of tea and chocolate. Unfortunately, I rarely get days to do this, but when I do I make full advantage of it. I'm not usually a one-genre-film kinda girl, I'll sit through almost anything - within reason. I'm not a huge fan of gore or violence, and the film has to have a plot that I can follow that isn't too ridiculous or complicated.

So what are my favourite films? Prepare yourself for a lot of girl-power, soppy romance, and films that will have you wetting yourself with laughter (or shitting in the street....)

Bridesmaids - She's really doing it. She's shitting in the street. Bridesmaids is the best comedy with an all girl cast - fact. It will make you cry with laughter, with a plot that is in some cases so ridiculous, that it really could be true. The cast are purely brilliant, Kristen Wiig is just so naturally funny, as is Maya Rudolph and Melissa McCarthy. Plus it has Chris O'Dowd in it, whom I adore. Every single part of the film is quotable, and I'm all for quotable films, especially when other people can quote it with you. This film will completely stand the test of time, I have no doubt that I'll still be crying with laughter at it in 40 years time.

Mean Girls - This. Is. A. Classic. Every single girl who grew up in my generation will have watched Mean Girls. I mean, that's just like the rules of feminism. I had high expectations that secondary school would be like Mean Girls, and in some ways it really was. Mean Girls was great at exploring all the strange little cliques of people, and how bitchy everyone really was. I guess you could say it prepared me for school, and that you shouldn't back stab or trust anyone. Or push them in front of a bus. Again, this film is ridiculously quotable, and I could recite the whole film to you if you asked me to. And the Kevin G rap. 

Chicago - Could this be the best musical of all time? It has all my favourite things. The Jazz Age in America? Check. Kick-ass female leads? Check. Songs with dance routines you wish you could do? Check check check check check. Half the time I torn between wanting to play the role of Roxie Hart, and the other half I'd kill to be Velma Kelly. Both have amazing songs, both have amazing costumes, and both are equally as bad as the other. One killed her lover, the other killed her sister and her husband. Chicago proves that murder really is an art, and that sometimes crime does pay if you want the spotlight. 

Bridget Jones: Edge Of Reason - My flatmates are convinced that I'm really Bridget Jones, with a hopeless love life and with ridiculous things always happening to me. At first I was slightly offended, then I realised that the comparison was actually quite uncanny, and that it made a whole load of sense. So why do I love the sequel over the original? It's simple really. The whole scene in the prison in Thailand. Every time I watch this film, I am in stitches over a bunch of women trying to sing 'Like A Virgin', whilst wearing bras outside of their clothes. I've included it below for your viewing pleasure. 

Friends With Benefits - Justin Timberlake. God dammit he is one fine specimen of man, isn't he? Plus we get to see a whole lot of him in this film, if you know what I mean. He's not the only reason I love Friends With Benefits though. It shows how love isn't always where you expect it, that it's not all tacky and clichéd, and that sometimes, just sometimes, you can fall in love with your best friend. It's a thoroughly modern love story, and gives me hope that maybe one day I'll actually find a decent guy in this world.  

The Avengers - Okay so this is cheating a little bit, because I love all the Marvel films, and this was just a way to express my admiration for most of the characters in one film. I love Thor. I love Captain America. I love Iron Man. Hell, I love them all. I completely 'nerd out' when I watch Marvel films, I like to research all the characters and how they interlink, and yes, I'm one of those people who ALWAYS stay for the mid-credit and end-credit scenes. Because they are important. I wish I was Black Widow (and not just because Scarlett Johansson is my girl crush), and all of the guys are damn good looking. The Avengers is everything you could possible want in a kick-ass action movie. 

Elf - Christmas means awkward family reunions, too much food, and Elf. Undoubtedly the best Christmas film, because 'The best way to spread Christmas cheer, is singing loud for all to hear." Will Ferrell is probably the only actor who could be capable of playing such a role, and he does it perfectly. It's funny, heart-warming, and plain bonkers in some parts (it has a talking narwhal, need I say more?). To me, I don't feel in the Christmas spirit until I've watched Elf, it's as essential to the holiday as having a Christmas tree. 

Legally Blonde - Now, I'm all for a bit of girl-power, after all I did grow up under the influence of the Spice Girls. I'm also a feminist, and a sucker for people who break the boundaries they are confined to by society and surprise everyone. Legally Blonde is a totally awesome film following Elle Woods (Reese Witherspoon), who gets into Harvard to win back her boyfriend, only to discover a new passion for the study and practise of law. She's the complete polar opposite of everything you'd imagine a law student to be, and I adore that. It shows anyone that they can be anything they want to be, and that there are no limits. Elle Woods is a complete hero, and I love her to bits, plus I always get a strange burst of motivation to do something with my life whenever I watch this film. 

Much love ♥

August addictions...

Firstly I'm going to apologise for the serious blog neglect in the last two weeks, I'm not kidding when I say I've not even had the time to go on my laptop and draft this. I've been working an awful lot, and in my spare time I've been too exhausted to even procrastinate. Yes, it's gotten that bad.

Secondly, keeping with the tradition I've seemed to have created, I think it's about time I unveil my August addictions. This has been somewhat of a challenge to compose, as not only have I not had the time to blog, but I've barely had the time to procrastinate and watch tv shows or discover new music. I'll do my best!

Twin Atlantic - I've been a bit of a fan of this Glaswegian band for a while, but not an avid fan to say the least. But thanks to Em, I've completely fallen in love with them, and their new album, which both amazes and amuses me. They're so Scottish it's brilliant, I adore the way he says "brothers and sisters", it's a bit like "brothas and sisTAHS", and the ways he says memories with complete charm. This obsession has even stretched to going as far as buying a ticket to seeing them in November, with Em, her workmates and my workmate Keira. Seriously cannot wait. 

Celebrity Big Brother - This fills me with so much shame and disgust. I vowed I would never watch this show as long as I lived, but it seems I've succumbed to the need to fill my evenings with this complete trash. Admittedly, the lineup is somewhat amazing, with the likes of James Jordan of Strictly (I'm a huge Strictly Come Dancing fan), Edele from B*Witched (c'est la vie was a classic), and George from Gogglebox (I bloody love gogglebox so much). I feel like I'm living and breathing everything happening in the show and just want to gossip about it to anyone who understands. Just don't ask me who I want to win, because I'm far too emotionally invested into the show to give a straight answer. I know who I love to pieces, and who I detest. I feel like I need rehab to because I know how toxic this show is, it's like I'm slowly poisoning myself to death. I'm so disgusted with myself. 

Salt spray - Recently I made the bold move and had an astonishing 7 inches of hair cut off. It was actually quite liberating, and I must admit, I love it. Having shorter hair has many advantages. Being the lazy girl I am, it suits me just fine that my hair routine takes significantly less time now, especially as I can pretty much leave it to do whatever it wants and pass it off as a 'messy indie' look.The only product I've invested in is the got2b salt spray, which helps to make my hair go naturally wavy without being too messy. And it smells pretty wonderful. Delightful. 

Muller light cappuccino yogurt - This is completely bizarre, but I have eaten so much yogurt this summer. Not liking fruit much at all, this does limit which yogurts I'll actually eat, so I was thrilled when I found this cappuccino yogurt in ASDA. Okay, so it doesn't taste that much like coffee (thank God, I am definitely a tea-over-coffee kinda girl), but it's pretty damn yummy. I may or may not have 6 pots of this currently sitting in my fridge.

So there we go, I hope this short but sweet post is satisfactory enough for now, I'm planning a post which should be up in a few days. I'll try not to abandon you again!

Much love ♥

"Oh just lighten up a bit..."

I'm going to apologise now in advance for the seriousness of this post, it's a far cry from my regular posts of holidays musings, fluffy dogs and being drunk. But it's something which recently has been gaining a lot of media attention due to the heartbreaking loss of the amazing talent which is Robin Williams, and I feel as if I just need to have my say on the matter. 

Depression. 

Even the term itself oozes doom and gloom. I get so worked up every time I see that word, I have this weird mixture of emotions such as sympathy, rage, and complete and utter heartbreak going on inside of me. 

It's not really a secret, however it's not something I openly discuss, but I myself have battled with this old foe for years. Personally, and I cannot stress enough that everyone goes through depression differently, depression comes and goes in waves of intensity for me. Currently, I'm thrilled to say that I have my demons pushed to the back of my mind, and that I'm okay just going with the flow of my life at the moment. However, I have had moments of complete chaos where I cannot face the world, and I genuinely feel as if I just can't cope with anything. It took me a long time to realise what was wrong with me, it took a few long years of suffering in silence, hiding all my feelings away even from my mum, before I broke out of myself and got some help. 

But what does get to me, is the way people don't get that depression is a serious mental illness. It's completely misunderstood by anyone who is lucky enough to not come across it, but sometimes I feel this verges on ignorance. I've been a little bit wary about opening up with people about depression, because in the past I've been told "I have nothing to be sad about", and to "just lighten up a bit", because they just don't understand how depression works. It's not caused by any particular reason, you could have everything you ever wanted in life but still have depression, and there's no switch to miraculously turn it off and be happy again. It just doesn't work like that.

The lack of education and information available about depression is shocking, especially as more people than you may think do suffer from it. Because it's such an unknown to many, there's a lot of unwillingness to talk about it, to the extent that for many it becomes like 'the elephant in the room', which never gets discussed or mentioned, but is obviously there. Then there's the polar opposite, the part which really annoys me, is people throwing the term about because they don't understand how serious it is. Just the other day I was on the bus when I heard a girl saying to her friend that she was so 'depressed' because her hair wasn't styled the way she wanted it. It's just as bad as when people used to call things 'gay' instead of 'lame', it has just as much power behind it than people realise. And it's pure ignorance. I don't blame these people though, I just get upset that they obviously have never been taught how serious depression really is, so they genuinely do not know what they are saying. 

Sadly, it's taken the death of one of the most beloved actors of our time for this subject to finally be getting the recognition it's been needing for years. Robin Williams bought a lot of laughter and joy to all who watched films such as Mrs. Doubtfire, Hook, and Flubber, and captivated audiences with roles such as in one of my favourites, Good Will Hunting. It's just such a shame that he couldn't find the happiness he bought to others within himself. I hope that people see him as the person he was, and not the demons he was fighting, and that the positive we can take from his death is that other people may find the courage to seek help and receive it. 

I found a comment online which really made me think about all this, and it's what really sparked this whole rant/post. It said, "When somebody dies of cancer, they blame the cancer. If somebody dies because of depression, they blame the person. It's an illness too, and claims just as many lives."

So there you go, that was a bit of a change from my usual somewhat lighter posts, but it's just something I felt had to be said. If anyone reading this is currently being affected by depression, don't suffer in silence. There are people who can and will help you, and you're not a burden or troubling them at all. I've included a few links below to help you, or for anyone who is after a bit more information on the subject.

The Depression Alliance - http://www.depressionalliance.org/

Young Minds - http://www.youngminds.org.uk/

Depression UK - http://www.depressionuk.org/

The Samaritans - http://www.samaritans.org/ 

Much love ♥

Update - The new dog

Now anyone who knows me will know I'm definitely a dog person. Don't get me wrong, cats are cute, but I find them selfish and boring. Dogs are much more sassy and playful, and asdfghjkl; I just love them.

If you know me, you'll also know I currently have a dog, a King Charles Cavalier called Lucy, who will be 10 this week. I love her to bits, she's so placid and friendly, and oh so adorable. She's got these gorgeous soppy brown eyes and I adore her so much. One of the hardest things for me about going to uni, was leaving the dog. You can call your family up when you miss them, but nothing can replace snuggles with the dog. I even joked about how I wasn't homesick, but rather 'dogsick', because I was missing her so much. There was one incident where I was on the way back from a shopping trip with Em, and I saw this really cute dog and started crying, and had to go over to the dog to stroke it. Very awkward, very embarrassing, but I was a mess.

I'm a bit like this lady - only with dogs.

So imagine my reaction when I got told we were getting another dog! It was all a little bit hush-hush until we actually had him, just in case the whole thing fell through, but he's here and officially ours! (Well when I say ours, I mean my mum and her partners, but he's adorable so I'm totally claiming part ownership.)

Meet Nelson!

Okay, first things first - I had absolutely no say in naming him. My mums partner did, and I won't lie to you, I think it's a ridiculous name. It's slightly embarrassing. Yes I understand that because of his links to the navy, calling him Nelson after Admiral Nelson is quite clever, but to me, Nelson reminds me of Nelson Muntz from the Simpsons. I felt incredibly judged when I had to call his name on a walk the other day, because there I was on the local trail wearing a nice dress with a dog called Nelson. I looked like a crazy stuck-up lady with a posh named dog. Little did they know I'm pretty averagely common and the dog is a little shit. 

He's a Yorkshire Terrier, and he's a really sweet little dog, a bit clingy, but sweet. He's constantly following people and getting under their feet, because he loves the attention so much. You can't go over and stroke Lucy without him suddenly appearing and trying to wedge himself between you and her to steal her spotlight. I think she gets a bit fed up of him, it's hilarious. Only problem we've found is he's quite over friendly with the biting. He likes to greet you with a firm chomp on your hand, leg, thigh, or whatever he can get. He's also into the whole 'humping everything he can get hold of' phase, which includes all dog toys, pillows, shoes, or even a lampost. (Again, this was a very awkward walk.) But he is learning to behave himself, slowly but surely. He's definitely grasped the concept of the word 'NO!', but I think half the time he chooses to ignore it to humour us. 

He also like to bury things. Typical terrier, but so far we've lost two rubber balls and a squeeky bone. I watched him bury something up the garden, and it was hilarious. He has this little technique, where he digs the hole, places the item in it, uses his nose to fill the hole in again, then pats down the soil with his paws so the ground is flat again! Very sneaky. No wonder we can't find anything he's buried, because there aren't any suspicious mounds of dirt anywhere. 

I've also sussed that now I've got 2 dogs, I can totally train them to do stuff like this...

And...

He's definitely a character, but you can't help but love the skinny little thing. He's a keeper.

Much love ♥

What I can't live without at Uni...

When I first started packing a year ago to move into halls, I had absolutely no idea what I'd need or want to take with me. I searched all over the Internet for recommended packing lists to get ideas, and thankfully a few did come in handy. Looking back, I took far too much stuff to halls, so much in fact I had to do a trip to IKEA to buy another set of draws. Did I use everything I took with me? Hell no. I always fall into the trap of "I'll take this in case I need it", knowing damn well that'll never happen. It's probably because I'm a hoarder and just love being surrounded by all my things. So what is it I couldn't live without at uni?

1. Netflix - After about two weeks of living away from home, I realised I suddenly had more free time than I've ever had before in my life. It didn't help that I was determined to survive the year without a job, which often meant I'd spent entire weekends on my own in the flat, with nothing but Netflix for company. I didn't need to get out of bed or anything, it was bliss. I found new TV series to get hooked on, like RuPaul (I know, I don't ever shut up about RuPaul!) and watched endless films until I got fed up of them (Ella Enchanted, anyone?). Life without Netflix in halls, to me, is unimaginable. It certainly filled a lot of my spare time, and the time I was meant to be working... 
   
2. My F.R.I.E.N.D.S boxset - A gift from my ex on my birthday last year, but similarly to Netflix, this one was handy at filling up all the free time and late nights I had nothing better to do with. However, the boxset also provided me with a challenge. I aimed to watch every single episode before moving out of halls, meaning I had to spam watch it until I'd completed the challenge. I did, by the way. F.R.I.E.N.D.S is easily my favourite show of all time, but at uni it seemed even more relevant; a bunch of young people trying to make their way in live on their own, exactly the same as what we were trying to do. 
   
3. My iPad Mini - Easily one of the best purchases I've ever made. When I got into uni, I just knew that my poor old laptop, as faithful as it is, would have no chance of surviving being lugged around to lectures. So I decided to splash out on an iPad. Not only did it come in handy for watching Netflix on the go, but it was also pretty useful for scrolling through Facebook in lectures when I was bored, and talking to all my friends in the room. But seriously, it was really useful for taking notes, especially after downloading 'Pages' for £6.99, and when my dad bought me a detachable keyboard for it for my birthday. It's definitely worth considering getting a decent laptop or tablet for lectures, especially for finding all the reading material and powerpoints online. 
   
4. Super Noodles - Ah, the staple diet of the uni student. Cheap and cheerful, plus you can get them in loads of flavours. (Bacon is lush.) I ate far too many packets of these, and their counterparts, the pasta sachets, to the point that I thought I might turn into a noodle. Money is always pretty tight at uni, especially when there's drinking and shopping to factor into your expenses, so we're always looking for ways to eat well for less. I'm not too sure super noodles serve as 'eating well', but I survived a year eating them a good 5 times a week. (I'm definitely cutting down on the noodles this year.) 
   
5. Antibacterial wipes - These are a god send. Not only are they easy to use, but they're pretty cheap as well. They will come in handy, especially in the kitchen, because I can guarantee you will end up living with some messy people. I definitely did, from meat packets being left on the side, to random sauce stains everywhere. We had sauce up the fridges, down the wall, on the windows, I swear to god, you name it, there was sauce on it. And let's not even talk about whatever was crusted onto the inside of the microwave. I very rarely used the microwave at uni, out of fear of what the hell had previously gone in it. Antibacterial wipes will make using the kitchen much less of a stomach churning adventure. 
   
6. Photos - When I first moved into my little uni room, it felt a little bit like a prison cell. Because all the rooms are so uniformed and plain, I had to make the room feel homely to help me settle in. I'd bought with me pictures of family and friends from home, and blue-tacked them all over the noticeboard next to my bed. Next to that I had my poster of Florence Welch, and by the end of the year, I'd added more recent uni photos too. I also used bunting and loads of pillows to make the room feel snug, and well, mine. (This is my room last year, I loved how I decorated it so much, it was so cosy.)
   
7. My 'Blates' - I bought quite possibly the worlds flattest plates with me to uni, so I couldn't have any meal which involved sauce because it just poured straight onto the table. So after another trip to IKEA, I came back with deep plates, which looked like the love-child of a bowl and a plate. I affectionately called them 'blates' all year, and were perfect for pretty much every single meal. (And yes, I did go on the IKEA website to find exactly the same one I have to use the picture...)
   
8. My fan heater - I was unlucky when I first moved into halls, because my room was the most freezing cold room in the entire flat. I spent the first week avoiding my room, and shivering my way through the night, because my heating was completely broken. I was semi-convinced I was living in an igloo. Thankfully, my mum bought me a really cheap little fan heater, which warmed the room up really quickly. I had it on literally all the time, I'm a sucker for a warm room, and it helped me to to survive a pretty damn cold winter in Winchester. 
   

So there it is, my little words of wisdom and advice for anyone starting uni this year. I took so much more to uni than that with me, and as I said, I definitely did not use it all. But these things helped me to survive my first year, and are partly why I enjoyed it so much.

Much love ♥