November 2013

Believe it or not I am actually writing a really long blog post to be posted soon. I wanted it to go up yesterday but I didn't finish it so here is a quick replacement one! I hope you'll like the long one, it just takes a while to think about everything. I'll give you a clue, it's a response to the recent buzzfeed article concerning '18 things A Brit Will Miss in America'.

But for now, what can I talk about???

Black Friday madness in England.

It seems the Black Friday tradition of sales galore has passed over the Atlantic. However, not very well. Black Friday in America actually shows deals whereas in England, the shops pretend to give deals. I have seen so many Nexus 7's for sale at the discounted price of £159 - down from £199! WOW WHAT A DEAL. However, if you do your research, this is an old Nexus 7 and was retailed at £159 in 2012. So there is no deal. It is exactly the same price. And one can buy an old Nexus 7 for cheaper than that in a local store. SO THIS IS NOT A DEAL BUT A SCAM. Many shops have tried this new technique on Black Friday and it feels very cold hearted and cruel, pretending to SLASH prices when really there is no difference. Some things were on sale - I bought 2 Xmas pressies on a Black Friday deal which were great bargains - but most things weren't.

I also find it funny how after a day when everyone is meant to be grateful for what they have, they rush out to tackle one another to get to shops? Does this make sense?? There are fights, squabbles and tears just over a few items of discounted clothing (P.S they will probably stay discounted all weekend - most shops do this now!) This bad behaviour travelled over the atlantic very successfully. There were loads of articles over fights in shops in England and police being called. It made me want to slam my head into the desk in despair. Really? Really? Where has everyone's dignity gone??

Well I guess this is just the start. With Xmas drawing closer.....I bet the shopper's violence will just get worse.

x

Right now, my friends are all eating thanksgiving dinner together. Betty and Laura are in the lovely Sacramento, all cosy and eating turkey (I am guessing).

I am rather jealous. I am snuggled up with a duvet, it is freezing outside and I have four crackers and a stir fry today so my stomach is rather hungry (something I now continuously have to put up with). I have a hot water bottle on my legs, the heating doesn't work and there is a large cup of tea by my side. I look to my right and see the foreboding pile of books I have yet to read to start my 3000 word essay that is due in next year (yep, I am that prepared folks!). So yes, I am rather jealous.

My last thanksgiving was rather funny and un traditional. I went for a run with Betty in the morning, tried to contact Mikey to say the Cheesecake Factory was closed and did he want to do something, had a lasagne lunch (which tasted rather rough), saw one of my 'best friends' flirt with the guy I told her I liked, saw that girl and Betty leave to go for a dinner (they asked me to go (the 'friend' did) but I had to wait for Mikey to see if he was free anytime soon). That friend got pissed off as she thought I was just going to go after my crush - by the way she had a boyfriend at this point - but no, I waited in my apartment for Mikey, and played basketball briefly with a deflated ball.

Later in the evening, things picked up. I did go over to my crush's apartment (BTW this is Andy if no one had cottoned onto that already - hehehe :D) and played on the Wii. It was really fun. We then waited for the Spanish boys to cook their turkey. Said friend and Betty returned later in the night. Said friend began questioning me over how long I'd been in the boy's apartment *roll eyes* -  I was so naive! - and we ate raw turkey. Yep RAW. The Spanish boys claimed that they did this all the time at home and that it was fine. Raw turkey is apparently a Spanish delegacy. Hehehe. Well I didn't get ill and it was an odd thanksgiving, but it is one I'll never forget. Just wish I'd got to contact Mikey as I feel he could have felt left out :(.

But anyway, this year I am grateful for so many things. I am grateful for Andy (hehehe, sorry had to put it in), grateful for my family and friends, grateful for the amazing new friends I made on my Year Abroad, grateful for my year abroad opportunity, grateful for my doggies, grateful for my health, grateful that I still have the motivation to work my arse off even when the future isn't looking bright, grateful for my warm pjs, grateful for my cups of tea, grateful for Ryvita crackers and chocolate spread, grateful for the swimming pool (OF SAN DIEGO :'( I MISS IT), grateful for 'Doctor Who' and 'Sherlock', grateful for Adobe Premiere Pro and grateful for how much this year has taught me. I have grown up a lot yet when a rather evil person was removed from life, my hope and faith in humanity came back, so I haven't quite lost my gullible and vulnerable side. And I am grateful for that because I was starting to turn into a different person - a harder, tougher and more disbelieving one. And I never want that to happen again.

I love you all

Happy Thanksgiving x

I just want to buy all the sports clothes I can. Especially from Nike. They all look so amazing and I WANT THEM ALL. On Tumblr they all have really cute slogan tops and I want one. I also want a sports bra. I just want the bright colourful sports clothes and I want to exercise and run around in them and feel good about myself. Instead I am usually tugging at my clothes as the others around me in the gym look so glamorous whilst I stand there awkwardly. Ah well!!! When I have the money right?

I'm not that interested in any dresses etc at the moment as I want to get them when I reach my target weight. A little reward for me, kind of thing. At the moment I have to find a tape measure to measure myself for my friend's wedding and I am dreading it! I don't want to give my measurements yet when I have such a long way to go before I hit my target weight!!! But she said she would alter it by next summer if I lost weight, which kind of sounded like a challenge in my head, so I was immediately geared up and ready to continue this hard long battle down 'safe' dieting hill.

I had my first Juice day yesterday (planning on doing one a week). It was ok. i got hungry but the smoothies were nice. It is too expensive to make my own as I would have to buy a blender and all the fruit each week so I just buy small bottles of smoothie for that day. I cheated by having soup in the evening but in these cold cold cold winter days I think that'll be ok. It's still all very cleansing. It's weird how much you wish you could chew something though whilst you are on a juice day.

Anyway, small, rather uninteresting update from me! Hope you're well x

Hi There!!
First apologies for not writing in so long (particularly due to my November promise). I do have good reason for that. First, I am extremely busy with work but the real reason is I went back to Warwick and left my charger in Bristol! Sigh! What a nuisance. So I'll just add on extra days at the end of November.

So firstly I want to talk about Doctor Who. So if you don't like it or don't want spoilers, turn away now and look away. I love Doctor Who so much and this episode brought back so much of my obsessive feelings for it. I believe it was utterly amazing and deserved to be watched by all. However, I will try and be a bit less like "IT WAS ALL AMAZING" in my review and actually give a proper review. I will however lay it out in bullet points so not quite like a proper review.

So my favourite moments from the episode :-

Peter Capaldi Debut
A few seconds. That is all it took for me to fall in love with this new Doctor. Literally a few seconds which made my stomach jump and my heart race. The introduction of a new Doctor is always hard. Peter Capaldi had already faced some critics believing he was "too old" to be the new Doctor. But those few seconds banished those thoughts from anyone. Personally, I love Capaldi, I saw him in the show 'Fortysomething' and I have seen a few episodes of the 'The Thick Of It' and he is a fantastic actor. AND HE IS A LONG TERM FAN OF THE SHOW! Which means he will be awesome and dedicated. But yes, those few seconds, were amazing and literally I couldn't stop raving about it after the show. Powerful entrance. *ROUND OF APPLAUSE* to Steven Moffat.

What happened to a princess cake, a movie and a couple of pizzas? That used to be the most supervision I ever had to do for my little sister's birthday parties. I was in charge of ordering pizza and making sure she didn't damage the DVDs. Now....not so much.

My sister had a house party. My parents left (trusting my sister more than me then in terms of house parties!) and I was left to run the household. To be honest you would think there would be less to do as my sister is 19 and all her friends are 18/19 so they hardly need a babysitter. Exactly, they don't....until alcohol gets the better of them.

Food Everywhere
It seems that my sister's friends enjoy throwing food....um just about everywhere. I found rolls on the floor, crisps everywhere, bits of peanut getting stuck in my foot and pizza curled up beside the spa. The dogs had a field day as they ran around trying to snag a few treats. Think they felt a bit sick the next day though. I ran around with a dustpan like a little mosquito chasing people.

Spa Antics
I have had many parties involving our amazing outdoor spa. It is an amazing place to socialise and it always feel glamorous drinking wine in the Spa. However, my friends and I remain fully clothed. A bikini may not cover up much but it covers up enough....

Sick
Do I need to go on? But to be honest I felt really sympathetic for the poor ill girls as they actually all seemed nice and had clearly just drunk a lot because they were nervous or didn't quite realise how much they had drunk till the last and fatal minute.

Sticky Floors
As everyone ran in from the house, to the spa, and back out again the floor slowly got stickier and stickier. Soon you couldn't walk on without the "SPLURP" sound. It was a disaster. I was getting stuck to the floor and Saxon hated it. This involved a lot of mopping after everyone had gone to bed and then more mopping the next morning!

Broken Glass
The occasional dropped glass is understandable but when one is thrown down as the girl jumps up and down in excitement....it isn't so amusing. It was thrown with such force as well it meant the glass went everywhere. I am very grateful to my friend Will for cleaning up the most of it! Very nice of him. Whilst the girl who dropped it began insisting she wasn't drunk.

Tonsil Tennis
Another activity that is rather rare at my parties. However, lusty 18 years olds have a mind of their own ( a mind set I clearly missed). A lot of kissing. A lot of manoeuvring around kissing couples. A lot of heartbreak from other girls who potentially liked the boy now kissing someone else. Oh the drama.

Cold 
The door was constantly left open to the outdoors as people rushed in and out for the spa. Us sober ones got cold very quickly as we were not wrapped up in our alcoholic blankets. I wore a coat for 3/4 of the evening.

Injuries
One boy sprained his ankle falling into the spa (sober, believe it or not). I got punched in the face by my over hyperactive sister who thought that would be a hilarious thing to do as I made her friends tea and tidied up, and a girl had a bleeding ankle (we are not too sure why).

Cleaning
The majority of people were tucked up by 2am, 3am the latest. All fast asleep. Including my sister. I was downstairs cleaning until 5.15 in the morning. I didn't even manage to finish it all but I thought it was presentable when Mum walked in the next morning (even if her shoes made a slight weird noise as she stuck briefly too the floor - this was after 3 mopps!)

At the end of the day I enjoyed myself. I like looking after people and all of Becky's friends were nice people. It was definitely fun to watch, like a visitor to a zoo. I also felt quite nostalgic as I realised my sister had got so old. However, I also felt so grateful because the wildest thing to happen at my party was that someone fell asleep in the study....
x

Happy Birthday to my little sister. She is now 19, in school and so grown up. So proud of my little sister! She is with someone who is apparently lovely (I haven't met him yet!) and she is very very happy. She is a gorgeous girl, has a healthy attitude towards life and health and I love her humour to pieces. We are so different but she is my little sister and I'm so proud of her. She is one of my best friends and I confide everything with her.

This morning I took the Megabus to London. I met up with my Dad and sister in St Paul's and he took us out for lunch for a Japanese meal :D It was lovely. I had prawn soup and it tasted scrumptious and so different to all my diet cracker bread meals I have been having of late.

I got treated to a second meal later on as my parents took me out for dinner :D it was lovely :D. They were chatting away and my Mum was so happy to see me. It was flattering :D. She hadn't seen me in six weeks and you'd think after not having seen me for four months at a time whilst I was in the US she would be used to it but no :D Which actually makes me all fussy inside. It was a nice compliment. And despite what she thinks I had missed seeing her too.

My dogs went crazy when I came in. They were running around like crazy. Bonnie quickly got bored but Saxon is my dog and consequently acted out of the ordinary by running around, jumping on my chest, licking my face and not letting me get up. Made me laugh so hard.

I wish Andy was here though. He can never come home during term time so that sucks :( but I will hopefully see him soon! x

Only in America have I found a student tumble dryer works! All the others are rip offs.

You have to pay £1 to dry your clothes and when you take them out, they are wet, so you have to buy a drying rack too at an extra cost....so really there is no point in drying  your clothes but you tell yourself "This time will be different, this time my clothes will be dry" and no, they are not. And due to the cold temperatures, your clothes don't dry very fast on the drying rack so you find yourself uncomfortably getting into wet socks, underwear and clothing the next day and walking outside to brave the cold - AHHHHHHHHHHHH

You could put your clothes in for another dry? Yes, well you could. I did this once and quite a few of Andy's clothes shrunk a little so it's either wet or tiny clothing? Which one would you prefer? It's a tough choice. And also putting your drying in for another cycle is not a cheap affair when you have just paid £5.40 for the privilege to wash your clothes.

I believe the tumble dryers are deliberately set to an extremely low setting just so that people do put them in for another spin. It's not dependent on how many pieces of clothing you put in because this morning I put in less clothes than I ever have and I swear they came out wetter. The tumble dryers also take longer than my parent's old old old one so I KNOW it is a set-up.

Also they never put coin machines in the student washing rooms. This is deliberately so people spend more on the washing machine than they are meant to as they never give back change. It also means I have to go out and buy something deliberately in order to get change.

Ohhhhhhh the woes of student life. I guess it's better now I actually have a tumble dryer though. In Second year, I didn't have one and my housemates didn't believe in putting the heating on so therefore my clothes were like ice ALL THE TIME. I dreaded washing day. Literally dreaded it.

Rant over!

(I updated my other blog gymsloth.tumblr.com too so go check it out if you want!)
x

Oh I did not miss winter. My Mum says she loves the seasons and that's why she loves England. The cold winters and then the, sometimes, warmish summers. However, I loved San Diego. I loved the continued warmth. The sun. And the sun bathing in the winter. I mean, it wasn't boiling in the winter, it got a bit chilly, but I could wear a hoody and jeans and feel warm. I didn't get the chills.

This morning, I was freezing. I was stone cold, sitting on a Megabus. I had to put my hat, gloves and scarf on whilst jogging my legs up and down and lifting my arms up and down. I looked like a mad woman. How could I be that cold on a bus??? I was that cold for three hours.

There is an ice breeze in the air and apparently, it is going to stay for about two weeks. It is snowing elsewhere in the country. However, what the news really means is that it is going to stay this cold throughout the winter. Usually England is its coldest during February and March. The temperatures right now are reflecting that. And I am suspecting it will not get warmer, it'll just stay the same, or get colder as the months drag on.

The cold makes me so miserable. Even with a sunny sky, the cold grabs at my muscles and bones and makes me sad. It makes me preoccupied all the time as I can't work whilst I am trying to get warm. i can't think whilst my limbs are shaking. I dislike it a lot. The only time I enjoy the winter is when I am properly wrapped up inside. Maybe with a cup of tea between my fingers and a fire by my feet. And with a good book or film. That's the time when I like winter. I like the sky getting darker earlier. It makes me cosy. I also enjoy winter because it suggests Christmas. In America, I never got a Christmas vibe because it was that bit warmer (also they don't really enjoy Christmas, they prefer Halloween or Thanksgiving).

Anyway, hope you're all wrapped up warm.

Things You Need to Wear for Winter

- Get a good hat. I never believed that I would be warmer if I wrapped up my head as I always felt cold in my extended limbs. But keeping your head warm really does warm you up. You lose the most heat through your head. It helps keep you warm. I got mine from Primark - £5.

- A scarf. Similarly it helps keep your head warm and does heat you up. Protect your neck. Get a big thick scarf so it can flow over your shoulders and keep them warm too. Mine, once again, Primark - £3.

I met up with a lot of friends this Monday. It is usually what I do as whilst I am at Warwick I want to make a dash around people to make sure no one thinks I've forgotten them. As normal, Chloe and I met early in the library and she very lovingly gave me half of her homemade chocolate chip scone. The chocolate chips were actually chocolate buttons which made it all the better. We then waited for class and chatted away about graduate schemes as she has just started applying.

I really am the most gullible person in the world.

I saw her write on her CV "Got ten million award points for being Queen of the World" underneath her "Gap Kids" Job and I said "Wow, is that a thing at Gap?"
"Oh  yeah you get points for every month. I didn't get the title Queen of the World but it is good to make someone laugh when reading their application because then you stand out."
"Oh." I said thinking of my very boring and professional CV.
"OH MY GAWD! YOU ARE SO GULLIBLE!" and she cracked up laughing as she began to edit the sentence. She had written it as a joke whilst we were talking about what she could say underneath "Gap Kids".

That's me Gullible, naive and I will believe everything you say,

We also had a girl's history dinner. I didn't actually eat but I drank two glorious pints of diet coke. It was fun. We were all discussing our course and our stresses of final year and our graduate applications. However, when Chloe started saying our degree was ridiculous, in terms of, we're not going to get a job, I got slightly upset.

It was lovely seeing them all though and it is so weird how we are now planning the next chapter of our lives. It all seems so daunting.

I then saw my old housemates Holly and Rose. I went to Holly's for a movie night. It was really sweet, it was so nice seeing them, once again, our conversation revolved around graduate schemes, but it was so nice seeing them both and hearing about their lives. They haven't changed much even during their year abroad. It was sweet and I definitely plan on doing it again :).

So that was my busy busy day. Around ten o clock, I came back and had my dinner of four crackers :D yum! (And I am being serious it was delicious) and then went to bed at 12. Only to be getting up at 4. OUCH! Yeah, me = little of sleep at the beginning of the week. Going to watch some Big Bang Theory whilst I do my morning routines to make up for it!

Anyway, I love you all :D x

Ok so I woke up today in a sad mood. You know one of those days you just wake up in a bad mood. Not even a bad mood, just a sad one. Maybe it was because Andy and I had been studying till 3am each morning this week and had no rests, maybe I was tired, or maybe I just felt had a bad day...I'm not sure.

There is a phrase that your one exercise away till a good mood. I am not to sure if it was the hug from Andy or the exercises, or probably the two combined but I just squatted, squatted, squatted and did as many sit ups as I could until my stomach was screaming and I felt better. I genuinely did. After a few minutes, I felt so much better. I breathed and I was me again. So I guess when your clum...perhaps that is the thing to do. Or get a hug from your best friend. Always helps. Makes you feel like all the bad junk within you is flowing out into the ground.

It is nice :) I would recommend it. x

I thought I'd do a little review for you! I know, I've never done those before! It'll be something a bit different I feel.

I had been told Nivea Face cream was amazing. For the cheap price of £3.57 I heard it was better than most expensive face creams. My friends have already got into their anti-wrinkle routines and trying to buffer their skin in advance for their inevitably aging and I thought it was about time I joined in the trend. This was about the time I decided to take my diet super seriously and step up my work outs at the gym. I am trying to transform myself. Also I felt if I was seen to be doing things to my skin, my Mum might not nag me as much about make-up (no, not wearing too much, too little)

So taking the recommendation of Daisy, I purchased Nivea day cream.

Water is meant to be really good for you, right??

Well this is what I have been trying to tell myself. Anyone who knows me will know I am a diet pop/soda/fizzy drink fanatic. Hate the full sugar version as it makes my teeth feel funny and I soon after get a headache from it. But diet anything, especially 7up, sign me up.

However, lately I have tried to detox my body from these drinks, truth be told, I've been trying to save money. I know feel bad if I buy any goods for myself without buying Andy something. Consequently, it would be stupid of me to buy cans of diet 7up everyday if it also meant I wanted to buy Andy tons of sweets/bread/chocolate/meat (this boy will eat anything). Soooooooo as I am also trying to save up for an apartment ASAP so Andy and I can live together, it has been bye bye fizzy drinks (except on small occasions whereby Andy and I actually have a night off from working and we chose to celebrate - yep diet 7up is my celebration drink)

And you know? I have started to like water.....GASP. I know! I have started drinking roughly 1.5 litres a day and it makes me feel good. Not for the reasons people say, like it makes you more awake, or concentrate more etc etc. but just so I can be like "AHHHHH I HAVE ONLY DRUNK WATER TODAY!!! YAY ME!" Selfish, I know.

I also still drink tea by the gallon. OF COURSE. What would a british humanities student be if they were not addicted to tea or coffee??? Tea is my friend. Unfortunately, over the summer I slipped back into my sweetener habit. I kept it a secret from my parents and only had it when out with Andy. However, that stopped three weeks ago. I was spending far too much money on tea when I was out just so I could experience the sweet calorie free taste of sweetener and I was become addicted to it. Once I finished a cup of tea, onto another one. And a box of sweetener is not cheap. Therefore, I stopped. I also thought it would help with my weightless as sweetener has been known to prevent weight loss even though it is zero calorie. And I feel better. Now I am drinking normal tea. I wait till I get home to have a mug so I am not wasting money whilst I am in the library or out and about and I feel good! I feel great! I don't have a bloated tummy from so much tea drinking, I don't have sudden scares of "WHAT IF THIS GIVES ME CANCER" and I don't start to panic about the condition of my teeth. I also don't rush to make a cup of tea the moment Andy offers to (I used to always want to offer to make it myself as he put less sweetener in my tea than I wanted and I would feel rude going to correct it). I can sit back and let him make me a cup of tea.

So if tea counts, I am drinking plenty of water!!! Hopefully it is doing me good. Only time will tell but it is good for hydration and now I find myself craving an ice cold glass in the mornings when I wake up and I drink tons while I am exercising. It is good. It may all be psychological but I am enjoying it. However, don't get me wrong, if I go to meet my friends at the pub (On the RARE occasion I am free) I will opt for a pint of diet coke (as I am now dieting). Not water. What's a girl to do? A nice treat once in a while keeps you going in the long term :).

Ok I have started :)

Gym blog. I have set it up on tumblr as then I can reblog motivation pictures, pictures of delicious looking foods and I'll upload different blogs every 3-5 days :).

If you wish to follow me

http://gymsloth.tumblr.com/

I hope that keeping a blog will motivate me as well as motivate others if they follow me.

:D Sorry for the short blog - working lots x

Ok, so to get to Bristol I take a 5.20am coach. This means getting up at 3.15am. It is only a ten minute walk to the bus stop but I want to make sure I get there early incase the lovely people at Megabus actually arrive early and leave without me. Doesn't usually happen. Them getting there early that is. The Megabus bus stop is just outside a shopping centre so I wait in there so I don't have to wait in the dark for the bus. Now, whilst I was waiting a creepy sound suddenly began and starting echoing through the halls. I hated it. It freaked me out and I didn't like it. I knew it was probably something that hadn't been turned off in a shop properly but the thing was, I had been there for twenty minutes already and not heard it and now it was going off every 2 minutes. Also it was extremely loud and the only shop near the source of the sound was a Wilkinsons (a shop for home supplies). This was the sound.

Bullying is a serious issue today. I have been a victim to bullying in the past but with modern technologies growing and growing, I feel it is worse today than ever before.

I have recently read a lot about teen suicides. These teenagers often take their lives due to severe bullying. Their schools do not provide help and they do not know what to do. It is heartbreaking. Bullying is seriously damaging and school's need to do more about it. Furthermore social networking sites involved with the suicides, particularly ASK. FM should be shut down. The recent case of Izzy Dix's death seriously upset me. Her Mum wrote to the school over and over again about the bullying and Izzy even went to see the headmaster. The school did sh*t all. And the day after Izzy say the headmaster, she killed herself. The story is a really horrible one to read and makes you feel so upset. I will leave a link to it below and a link to a petition below that. It is called for the ban of ASK.FM, involved in so many suicides and the prime place for bullies to reside. I was lucky not to have social network sites when I was younger. Consequently, when I ran home, I could escape. However, now teenagers do not have the same privilege and we need to protect them as much as we can.

Izzy Dix article - http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2483851/Izzy-Dixs-mother-gives-heart-rending-interview.html

Izzy Dix Anti-Bullying Memorial Facebook Group - https://www.facebook.com/IzzyDixAntiBullyingMemorialPage?fref=ts

Izzy Dix BAN ASK.FM Petition - http://www.change.org/en-GB/petitions/shut-down-cyberbullying-website-ask-fm-in-memory-of-izzy-dix-11-other-teens-globally

Recently someone has been playing extremely loud music in the rooms above us when I am staying in Bristol. It is so annoying. It's just thumping. THUMP THUMP THUMPTHUMP THUMP. It's awful. I just don't undertstand a)why anyone would want to listen to their music so loud and b) why on earth they have suddenly felt the need to start doing.

Shut UP.

It doesn't go on throughout the night but it goes on till late and then I woke up to the delightful tunes this morning. I just don't understand why. And why haven't people in the opposite rooms complained. I reckon I am about two floors below where the music is coming from and it is driving me insane. I must admit I probably wouldn't mind as much if it was some good chart music but it's just thumps. RnB music probably.

I had this problem first year, except the person playing the music was in the room next to me. He was so arrogant. I will name and shame him - AJ. He was friends with some people in my flat (I was at the end of the corridor and therefore my bedroom wall was also his bedroom wall but technically he was part of another flat). He would play music all the time and I would kick the wall. I am not a confrontational person so I never went and asked him to 'shut up' but friends in my flat knew I was annoyed and told him and he didn't appear to care. I would get so frustrated with him that I would throw things at the wall. And then he got FIFA. Oh my god! I now hate the game despite having never played it (and I never say I hate things until I've tried them). His friends and he would play it into the night, screaming, yelling and cheering. They did this before one of my Spanish exams. I was so stressed and so upset about the exam already and I got one hours sleep as they were up till 4am. I literally despised them by the end of the year.

Another thing they did was they would come home from a night out and destroy the place. My friend lived in their flat and once they poured everyone's food out of the freezer and let it melt on the floor after a night out. They also threw eggs at the window and refused to clean it up. And they had a favourite habit of spraying the fire alarms with deodorants and setting the fire alarm off. One night I was woken up by them coming back screaming - AJ and his two friends Shane and someone else. I heard them whispering how they were going to set the fire alarms off and I stepped out of my bedroom and looked directly at them. I didn't say anything but they were standing by my flat's fire alarm. AJ quickly scrambled but a few seconds later the fire alarm went off. I was so f**ked off I went and told the RAs. I didn't care. I would never confront them so let someone else to do the job. They had been making my life miserable till that point so why not? The fire alarms in the middle of the night definitely lessened and the boys had to go to the Vice-Chancellor. Also due to all their activities in the flat if they did one more bad thing they would be thrown out of accommodation. However, AJ continued to play loud music and continued to play FIFA. The fire alarm incident was pretty early on in the year and my spanish exam was clearly at the end.

ANYWAY what I am trying to say is be considerate to those around you. Don't play loud music continually. AND IF that person doesn't shut up, I will go upstairs, note down your room number and inform a member of staff because yes, I still am the girl who will not confront people....

The Daily Mail website is slightly addictive when you start going onto it. It is updated frequently with important news from the terrible storm in the Philippines to a celebrity buying fries. It is a little stupid that way. The articles aren't written well and quite a few of them are just trash. But good trash. And addictive trash. And you get a low down of the news and feel rather pleased that you know what is going on in the world.

Well today I read an article which made me extremely angry. An article about a murderer. He has been charged with the brutal murder of a 45 year old. Two of his friends and himself killed the man after a row over a bag of fries. They murdered him brutally and then stood over his dying body eating ham sandwiches they had brought with the money they had got from selling his phone. It was a very disturbing article to read.

Even more disturbing was this one particular murderer called Peter Laing. Who now wants to be called Paris Green. He is being put in a female prison and later on will be undergoing gender realignment therapy, which is being paid for by the NHS. His transport, accommodation the prison guards that will follow him will be paid for by British taxpayers.

 I have no problem with people have gender realignment and I think it is a progressive step forward that such operations can be done on the NHS but this man is a MURDERER. He is a villain. And this is why I am insisting on calling him 'he' not 'she' as he does not deserve that level of respect. He does not deserve an operation funded by the NHS and subsequently funded by the taxpayer. This could actually mean that the man he murdered, and the man's family, will be paying for his operation. No. No. No. This is evidently wrong, He does not deserve such a privilege. If he wanted an operation so badly he should have thought of that before committing such a disgusting crime. He should have to pay for the operation himself and should not be allowed time out of prison in order for the operation to be carried out. He should pay for his accommodation, his transport and if it is done during his prison sentence he should have to pay for his guards. He should also have whatever time he spends out of prison added onto his prison sentence. How can we give this person the right to such an operation for free when they are a MURDERER. The only operation concerning his genitals that I feel should be free is his castration.

I do not feel that the NHS should be unavailable to those in prison. If one is ill or has a life threatening disability then I support that they should be helped. But this operation will cost thousands of pounds and this man has committed one of the most worst crimes. Why should he be given such rights? At this rate, other criminals will start asking for breast enlargements or scar tissue correction operations whilst in jail. Why not? Gives you a break from prison life and taxpayers are even going to pay for your accommodation - something which the NHS would not cover for one normally having an operation.

This article just made me so angry. I can not believe that my country would allow this to happen. An innocent man is dead. His murder was extremely brutal and I will link the article below if you want to read what happened. This man has no right to a gender alignment operation when others deserve it so much more than him. Other people who are being bullied and feel suicidal in their bodies as they know they were born the wrong gender are waiting years for these kinds of operations. They deserve it so much more than a murderer.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2494991/Murderer-born-man-sentenced-life-womens-prison-arranging-sex-change-taxpayers-money.html

Many students will be slogging away at graduate scheme applications as I speak. It is a long, lengthy process which takes anything between 3-6 hours. And it kind of sucks the life out of you. Like a Vampire. You apply, you take ages planning and writing your application, you fill out all of the boxes and rack your brains trying to think of unique and different ideas. And no. Sorry. No. Rejection.

This is particular hard when you know no one has looked at your application. Imagine completing that long test and then being presented with a maths test, vocal reasoning test and a logics test. If you fail one, you automatically get rejected from the programme.

It's quite harsh. It's very harsh actually. Also it is really demotivating. You start to think, what was the point? What was the point in all my work experience? The sports clubs I joined, the committees are participated in, the campaigns I helped? What was the point in my voluntary work? Because clearly these companies don't give two sh*ts about it.

Rejection is a hard pill to swallow. Even when it is with a company you don't actually want to work with. And at this point in your final year, you are expected to continue applying no matter what and still do all your work. Why? Do these companies realise how much of your life is wasted on these graduate scheme applications? Too much. Too much time indeed.

I thought I'd do a blog with some pictures rather than just words, words, words :)

First, Andy's brilliant decorating skills at Halloween