Planning for the summer!

Though we have only just entered spring I cannot help but think about this summer, hopefully I stick to all my plans and not just sleep for two months, which is highly possible. 

The possibilities are endless of what I could do this summer but they are all subject to terms and conditions and my terms and conditions are if my bank account can suffer anymore damage. 

There will be a large difference between the dreams and reality of what my summer will be like. Those dreams consist of a shopping trip to New York, a casual holiday in Dubai and meeting Leonardo DiCaprio. 

Sadly the reality is, my shopping trip will be at Westfield shopping centre, which is not far from my house. My casual holiday will be a BBQ out the garden with the family and meeting Leonardo DiCaprio will be me buying a ticket to Madame Tussauds and taking a picture with a wax work version. When I think about it that does not sound bad at all. 

I do not take advantage of where I live, people from all over the country look forward to taking a trip to London to explore and see its attractions. I have all of this on my doorstep, there is so much for me to do, so thats my plan for the summer I am going to take advantage of where I live. I have lived in London for nineteen years and I still haven’t been on the London eye, even though I am slightly terrified by the height of it, that is just ridiculous.

One thing I am especially looking forward to is my flat mates are coming to visit and stay with me. I feel like it is my duty to represent London and show them all the best bits, which means dragging them to every place in London over two days. This could mean one day going to Brick Lane and Camden then taking them outside Buckingham Palace to wave at the Queens window, even though I am sure she does not know we are there but what the hell its one to tick of the bucket list I guess, if that is as ambitious as you are going to go on your bucket list.

I do not think I appreciated all the things I had in London until I moved to university but now I have two homes and live in two beautiful cities and I plan on making the most of both of them this summer. 

The realisation that my time as a fresher is coming to an end

My wonderful flatmates and I 

So far I have loved every minute of university, it is completely different from what I expected. One thing for sure is that my first year is going too fast. I cannot quite believe that I have about two months left. It is not quite over thank god, I am trying to savour every last moment of being a fresher.

I feel like I have abided by all the rules of being a fresher and had a lot of fun, I am assuming this is why it has gone so fast, as they say ‘time flies when you are having fun’. I felt so apprehensive about beginning a new life at university as I had heard quite a few crazy stories of what to expect in your first year but I had nothing to worry about because now I want to do it all again.

I couldn’t be more excited about the next two years but there is an underlying and depressing feeling about never being a fresher again. Yes, I will be attending freshers week without fail in September as I now feel like I can do it properly this time. I am sure I will enjoy freshers week the second time round but I believe it won’t have the same feeling when I am a second year. 

If I were to give a piece of advice to future freshers it would be talk, talk to everyone. I am sure you have been told you are all in the same boat by your parents but you genuinely are. Guaranteed someone is just as nervous as you are and they want someone to say hello, it is not exactly like they are going to say leave me alone. Not only is freshers week about going out at night to a club or your Student Union but I would definitely recommend joining societies. I made such an effort to go to all the sign up days and freshers fairs and granted I wrote down my email on many societies lists but never seemed to follow through with going to many, which I highly regret. 

This first year at university has taught me so much and I now feel prepared to put what I have learnt into practice in my second year. 

Empty pocket, bank, fridge etc etc etc

What is currently in my purse.

When I moved to university I knew it would be expensive but worth it. The excitement you feel when student finance places that ‘hard earned’ loan into your account is great, until you realise you have to pay rent that same day, which brings you straight back into your overdraft.

Every day I say to myself I need to budget my money but as the days have passed instead I avoid looking at my bank statement and hope for the best. Most have said to me “Katherine you need to get a job” and that is all fine to say but it is not that easy. Living in a city populated by students all in the same ‘skint’ boat looking for jobs really does narrow down my options. Don’t get me wrong, I know I do need a job but I have become fed up of wasting my library printer allowance on CV’s that I seem to constantly hand out to no avail.

I am a fresher therefore I have come to measure how much I’m spending by how many drinks that will get me at Superbull[1] which I realise is really bad, sorry Mum and Dad. 

Then I have to do a monthly shop at the supermarket around the corner from student accommodation, obviously picking up the essentials such as an endless supply of pot noodles. Pretty much everyone in my flat will agree we open our cupboards to see if we have anything left, then ten minutes later repeat this action to see if fairies have come and miraculously filled them up.  

Even buying make up, now I know this only applies to girls but if I ran out of mascara my Mum would come home and say I bought you this today. Living by myself at university that duty is now left to me, who knew that I could spend up to £50 in Boots on practically nothing.

In my short time at university I have realised how much my parents did for me and how much I took it for granted. I used to laugh when my nan would come home with bargains and say ‘look ketchup is two for the price of one’ but now I have learnt from the best and thanks to nan I have become a certified bargain hunter.

[1] "Superbull" takes place every Friday night, popular student night out that requires your weekend to recover.

Just give the man an Oscar

Is it just me or am I not the only one that is furious Leonardo DiCaprio did not win an Oscar for the Wolf of Wall Street. Yet again a fantastic actor (fact not opinion) has given his audience a brilliant performance.

Everyone seems to say its fine because it is such an honour to even be nominated, sure but there is only so much one man can take. I start to get the feeling it has just become a running joke within the academy. Every year the internet explodes with fans sharing their anger as it is not enough to just shout at the TV screens nowadays.  The day Leo eventually gets his Oscar, I have a slight suspicion that the internet will actually explode.

 I am all for fun and jokes and some of the photos that have been spreading around the internet are hilarious. Regardless of all of this Leo still comes across as a humble gentleman and it does not seem to get him down. It was reported that he said: “I appreciate all nominations but I do not make movies to get awards, I do it because I love it.” Now isn’t that just lovely. 

I’m not sure if I have made it obvious as of yet but I am a fan of Leonardo DiCaprio. I mean it is not like I am unconditionally in love with him and that I hold a special place in my heart for him, who am I kidding of course I do!

I don’t think I can quite express my anger when I found out he did not win yet again without coming across slightly crazy. The only people that witnessed it were my wonderful flatmates who I apologise to for my daily Leo rants.

Now I understand it is only fair to give Oscars to other actors too but I feel like it's getting to the stage where the academy should be running out of excuses not to give him one.

I think my final statement on the matter is that not only does he deserve one for his great contribution and dedication to the film industry but he deserves an Oscar for his beautiful face.

Thank you and goodnight.

   

If only there was a degree in procrastination

My friend Emma 'working' at the library.

I was going to write a post about freshers week and what to expect, but for some strange reason there are large gaps in my memory. So instead I thought it would only be appropriate to talk about everyones favourite thing to do, procrastination. Before I started university I can honestly say procrastination was not a big part of my life but times have changed.

 I am only a first year student so I understand that I do not have the right to complain about assignments, unless I want to be hunted down and hated by every second and third year at my university. For some reason I could sit there for hours with absolutely nothing to do but when I get told I have an assignment, at that very moment I seem to want to stare out my window and think about life and my place in society or download a free months trial of Netflix and try to watch a whole series of Breaking Bad in a day; in case you were wondering it is possible.

Before I arrived at university I looked at advice pages and twitter posts from first year students.  There were many tweets that I found funny but there seemed to be a recurring theme. One said: “university is like being a child again, you watch Disney movies all day in your onesie and nap.” I thought this was amusing, never did I think it was actually true. I can’t seem to cope without a nap in between lectures.

A great benefit of doing a degree in Journalism is that I have found a way I can watch Disney movies in my onesie yet actually do work at the same time. An important part of my degree is something called shorthand. We are constantly told to practise shorthand in our spare time, most probably during lectures but just in case I cannot read it back, I think good practise is watching something like the Lion king and just writing down what Simba says in shorthand. Technically it makes good practise and I don’t feel so bad for procrastinating.

I’m not sure how to finish this post, as yet again if I am being totally honest I wrote this post in two instalments because I had to catch up on the latest episode of TOWIE.

Which procrastinator are you? http://www.boredpanda.org/guide-to-procrastination-angela-liao/

Moving to University...

The Brayford pool. Lincoln University. Photo by Katherine Morten

Moving to university was one of the most nerve wracking things I have ever had to do. There was no doubt in my mind that I wanted to go, but it was an apprehensive journey.

Running up to the ‘big’ move all of my family would say “Young Katherine moving away, I just cannot believe it.’’ At first I was like, it's no big deal right? It was not until the night before I had to leave the nest that I went into an absolute mental break down.

I sat in my empty room thinking to myself I’m moving, I am actually moving. What the hell am I thinking moving away from the comfort of my parent’s home and the familiar hustle and bustle of my beautiful city of London.

Why? Why on earth would someone leave London, it had everything I needed,  I was moving to the city of Lincoln; a place I knew little about.

All I can say is there is no looking back. I am three quarters of a way through my first year as a Journalism fresher and hand on heart it is the best decision I have ever made.

The word happy cannot be defined as it means something different to every individual. Though in my eyes this is the happiest I have ever felt and that has nothing to do with the £2 double vodka kicks at Superbull every friday.

The constant wonder of will I make friends? Will someone think I am weird? Will I enjoy my degree? All these things rushed through my head running up to my university experience and they were soon forgotten. I can honestly say I have made some of the best friends  in such a short space of time. Yes, they all think I am weird but in a good way because it turns out we are all just as nutty as each other (not naming anyone specific).

 Most importantly of course, the initial worries of whether or not a degree in Journalism was right for me or whether I was the right candidate for a degree in Journalism had soon washed away. All that matters is that I am enjoying every minute of it. I have learnt so much in the past few months and look forward to the next few years.