Homesick or brain sick?

Yesterday marked two months since the start of my trip, and whilst I have had an amazing time, seen so many incredible things, and made wonderful friends, I also found myself back in a hostel bed trying to hold back the tears which wouldn't stop flowing down my cheeks. 

It felt like a relapse, back to my first night in Bangkok, where the tears also would not stop. But it also felt silly, I'd been here before and I didn't think I would be here again. I'd conquered the loneliness, the fear and the culture shock. Still, I had known exactly what had caused it that time but this time I was at a loss.

Homesickness? Maybe. Anxiety? Probably. A nervous breakdown? Sure felt like it. 

Out here two months is considered nothing. Backpackers here would probably think of that as a holiday. People travel for years, and dread the thought of going home. Life's a constant party. People move from one place to the next without even stopping to look at the scenery.

In just two months I've managed to travel to four countries, all so different from each other. Each with their own culture, traditions and language. But equally at the same time they have all flown by, each stop a pin on a map, before plotting the pins which mark our next destination. Just as you begin to fall in love with a place, you're back on the road again. Then again, at the same time, if you don't enjoy a place you just move on, zip up your bag again and book the next bus out. 

Even so, it's not our fault. There's so much to see in each place and visas limit your time in each country. You might feel like you could spend two weeks in one place, but do so and you'll be missing what somewhere else has to offer. Plus you want to see the whole of a country. You don't want to limit yourself to only experiencing one spot. You may have fallen in love with the beach, or the city, or the jungle, but spend too much time there and you'll lose out on a whole other potential love story.

However, the constant travelling, the constant movement, has taken everything out of me. It seems so over dramatic to say that I need a break when I'm on a holiday, but I constantly find myself yearning for the next destination, or for home, at the expense of everything else. Though I may enjoy a place, I am anxious for what comes next and the constant planning of our next destination has an impact on the current one. I even have countdowns which clock the days, hours and minutes until I travel back to Thailand, which I loved, and where my little piece of home would join me.

As I lay in bed tears running down my face, all I could think about was flying home. It would only be temporary and I could fly back out to Phuket in July, for a real holiday, in the first country I had fallen in love with. Talking to friends and family they urged me to think it through and not make any irrational or hasty decisions. I said I would sleep on it and once again booked into another hostel, where I could relax and take time  to think through my options. 

Sitting by the pool in the new hostel, my urge to book a flight home remains. The tears still fall down my cheeks, this time concealed by sunglasses, and the anxiety of not knowing what I will do still hangs tight in my chest. A friend told me that any big choice takes three days to decide on, so I will try to wait that long, but I make no promises.

The Excitement Returns

1st April 2016, 1am - Here Hostel, Bangkok.
It's amazing the difference a good hostel can make. Less than an hour after checking in to my second hostel of my trip I bumped into an English girl, the same age as me, also on her second day in Bangkok.

Up to that point I had been researching Contiki and STA travel tours which began in Bangkok and which departed as soon as possible. I planned to ring them just as soon as their office opened back in London. Sat engrossed in my phone, it took me a while to spot the figure behind me, also deep in thought looking at her phone.

After chatting for a while we headed out to walk along Koh San Road, which she'd already ventured out to earlier in the day. We chatted and strolled through the bustling street, avoiding Tuk Tuk drivers trying to give us a ride and admiring the patterned harem pants which littered the stalls.

After some exploration, and when we needed some air con to relieve us from the heat, we returned to the hostel where I anxiously proceeded to research tours, now on my iPad and phone.

All but one seemed to be sold out so I decided that I would give STA travel a phone call to see whether I could be booked onto this tour which left in five days time. The woman on the phone was helpful and explained that they needed processing time of three working days to book me onto any of their tours, with it being Friday and the tour leaving on Wednesday this cut it extremely fine. She asked the name of the tour and told me that unfortunately it was already fully booked.

Ah. That put a spanner in the works. She said she'd ring back once she'd looked up more options. Meanwhile in the hostel lobby my new friend helped me scour the website for possible options. Had I thought about getting a hop on, hop off bus pass? That's what she had.

STA travel rang back and said that there were not many options left for me. Was I interested in a £2000 tour for 24 days departing in over a week's time? I turned to my new found saviour (I wish that was melodrama but honestly, I was so ready to fly home I cannot even explain) and asked if it would cramp her style if I was to get the same pass as her? She looked pleased and said it wouldn't, so that was that.

£1300 later and I have a bus pass which takes me through Thailand to Laos, Laos to Vietnam, Vietnam to Cambodia and back to Bangkok. (Which actually was my original plan, albeit with some flights rather than buses). I also have a new found friend and a sense of excitement that I'd lost somewhere over the Arabian Sea.

[I meant to post this yesterday, but I've honestly been so busy that I just didn't have time to set it all up on blogger before I went to sleep. Thank you so much to everyone who reached out to offer support after my previous blog post. Your words all meant so much to me and gave me the boost in confidence that I needed to persevere. Sharing intimate things can often seem like oversharing but I think it's important to be honest and give an account which reflects one's true thoughts at the time]

The Realities of Travelling Solo

It's 11.55pm in Bangkok and whilst the city still moves around me, I am sat in the pod of my capsule dorm room, curtain firmly closed, researching whether I'm able to cancel my trip.

I only landed in Bangkok less than 12 hours ago and already I have spent the majority of my time inside the hostel, alone, crying. In fact, the tears started before I even landed onto Thai soil and they continue to fall as I type this messily worded flow of consciousness into my phone from the darkness of my bed.

Bangkok is a strange place. 10 million people packed into this squirming city. The roads full of beeping horns, whistles and revving engines. Pavements pounded by people's feet. As a lone traveller it can feel as if you could easily slip away or disappear, and nobody would even notice.

This hostel feels somewhat the same. I can hear the voices and the chatter, but each time I venture downstairs to the common areas to try and join in the conversation there's no one there. Just some of the hotel employees, someone sweeping the floor, another on the reception desk. When I do eventually find conversation it's in a different language, and the instant barrier keeps me at arms length.

Earlier I mustered up the courage to walk to the local shopping mall. There were tourists there, but all in pairs or groups. There is something truly heartbreaking about realising how much you'd love to share an experience with someone, but there's no one to share it with. I took a few photos of the mall's extravagant decoration and my pad Thai and sent them back home via social media.

At least I know I'm not on my own (if you'd excuse the ironic use of this phrase... I've never felt so alone). Earlier a friend told me that their friend had also stayed in this hostel and also found it very quiet. Reviews online state it to be clean, tidy but not very sociable.

Tomorrow, I check in to a hostel nearer to Koh San Road. Some of the reviews said it was sociable, others said it was quiet. I hope that the fact that it was nearly sold out means that there will be at least some other travellers there.

A good night's sleep, some conversation and maybe I'll feel better tomorrow.

Kimpton Folk Festival 2016

I recently had the honour of attending Kimpton Folk Festival with my parents. We spent a wonderful day wandering around the village, listening to beautiful music, enjoying yummy food and relaxing in the sun.

Whilst there I took a couple of time lapses, and various videos, which I compiled into a quick vlog. The whole thing was made on iMovie on my iPhone, and I think it's a cute representation of how we spent the day, as well as the overall feel of the festival.

Kimpton Folk Festival ran for the first time this year, but if you are interested in attending next year then check out their website.

Virginity Is A Myth

Your flower; your v-card; your innocence; your virtue; your cherry.

As a teenager, virginity was a hot-topic. There were questions of who'd 'lost it', who still 'had it', your 'first time', whether it hurt, if you would bleed, when you should 'lose it', and so on. It was something that was really important to people, probably because we didn't have much else going on, to be honest. 

As the years went by, more and more people 'lost it', and the number of people in the 'virginity-less club' began to grow. Stories were told and shared, gossip was spread - "did you hear about the girl who bled everywhere on her mum's bed?", but people were still pretty uninformed on the whole topic.

Fast forwards several years and I am sat in a seminar all about virginity. Philosophy is super weird like that. Here we are, ten of us, mostly strangers, sat cramped in our lecturer's office, talking about what constitutes losing one's virginity. And honestly, I really had not put that much thought into it before that, so that's probably why the whole thing blew my mind.

So, what constitutes losing your virginity?

Give it a google (which I did in the library, and got many dirty looks), and you'll find that it's "the state of never having had sexual intercourse". But I'd say that's pretty vague. If we count virginity as only having had penetrative sex then is that not going to exclude the many people who don't have penetrative sex? Does that mean that if you're gay, and not having penetrative sex, you can't lose your virginity? Sex is a pretty broad term for a range of things. Plus, as my lecturer pointed out, once you have had sex there's still a heck of a long way to go before you've actually gone 'all the way'.

Me & my 'flour' courtesy of the banter of 2010. As I said, we didn't have much else going on.

It's completely down to society. Only fifty years ago the things that people saw as hella' perverted are freely accepted by people as normal now. And just as our views on perversions, and sex in general, change with the times, so do the views on virginity.

That's because virginity is a made up concept. It's a societal ideal which is imposed upon people. Virginity is not a thing. It's a myth. It does not exist other than in people's mind.

But, Taisha, I hear you cry, what about hymens? Aren't they a foolproof way of telling that virginity is not just all in our heads?

Excuse me while I scream internally.

Please, people. Look at the facts about hymens and stop spewing crap.

Fact #1: The hymen is not a physical barrier to the vagina. 

Fact #2: Hymens cannot break.

Fact #3: Your hymen will not break the first time you have sex, causing you to bleed.

Consider the hymen as a door frame, rather than the door. Hymens get worn away over time, from things as small as walking. The real cause of bleeding during sex, whether your first time or your 100th, is most likely poor lubrication, or other factors (and you should probably see a doctor if it keeps happening).

Both these mythical ideas about hymens and virginity perpetuate the idea that women should be chaste and that their sexuality is under the control of men. Where's the supposed surefire why of knowing whether a man is a virgin or not - oh wait, there isn't one? Wow, mindblowing.

So the next time you catch yourself thinking or speaking about virginity myths. CORRECT YO'SELF. Girls should not grow up believing that they should be in pain the first time they have sex, or that because they have had sex they are less worthy than people who have not. 

The decision on who you want to have sex with is totally up to you, and is no one's business (so long as you are both of age and consenting).

[Read more myths about sex in this buzzfeed article]

Stop Fetishizing My Race

As a mixed-race, liberal woman I have lots of things to be angry about. In fact, you can often find me ranting about this, that or the other. Life is unfair, more so for some than others, and every now and then I get pretty frustrated with that. Feminism and racism were things that were pretty alien to me until I started university, then all of a sudden I had so much to be mad about.

The thing that has really frustrated me recently, and also previously (I wrote a blog post regarding a similar issue back in February last year), is the fetishization of my race.

Yellow fever. [Noun]. The belief by Caucasian men that East-Asian women make better sexual lovers than other women, whilst at the same time have no meaningful presence in politics and popular culture.

In other words, when Caucasian men have a strong attraction to Oriental women because they believe that they will be good in the sack, sexually submissive and 'exotic', but good for not much else. 

Back in the day, when I was using dating apps like tinder, not a day went by when someone didn't mention that I looked as if I had an 'exotic' bloodline (?!), that they had not ever had sex with a Chinese girl (clearly an offer that I couldn't refuse), that I had 'big tits' for a Chinese girl, or that they only had sex with/dated Oriental girls (d'you want a medal m8?). Pretty sure my white friends don't get that kind of creepiness.

And I get it, I do. We're hot. Asian genes are great genes. No one ever believes my Mum when she tells them her age. But this is more than that.

It's not just that these guys are attracted to, I don't know... dark hair and more rounded faces. It's that they are taking the stereotype of Asian women and applying that to me, sexualising that thing, and then expecting me to be thrilled by that.

There is no way that I am a quiet, shy, obedient, coy and demure little girl, but that's who they're expecting me to be, purely because my mum's Chinese? Alright then.

It's stereotypes of Asian women, as innocent, child-like, powerless, mystical and submissive, that are perpetuated in things like anime, hentai porn, 'mail-order' brides and Japanese school girl costumes.

Unfortunately, Asian women are under represented in the west, and this means that the stereotypes are much harder to break. I can think of one film star (Lucy Liu, duh), one television programme with an Asian woman as a (non-stereotyped) main character (Fresh off the boat - it's amazing), and zero A-list celebrities that are Asian. Maybe that's because I'm not paying enough attention, but I don't think so, because I'd really love strong Asian women to look up to, but they just aren't supported by their industries or by the media.

Don't get me wrong - there are Asian women who perpetuate the stereotype too. They play up to idea that they are shy and need a sexual awakening. Some use it to help them find husbands in the west, others just want to be considered that way. I myself am guilty of it - I wore a bloody Japanese school girl costume for Halloween in 2013, along with lace stockings and a very low cut neckline. But I just wish I'd known better.

This problem is so much bigger than just the fetishizing of Asian women, that's clear to me. But that problem in particular is incredibly frustrating, and honestly, really disgusting.

[If you want to read more about 'yellow fever' click here to check out Yuan Ren's article for the telegraph].

The Never Have I Ever List

Nearly a year ago today I wrote a post on drinking games for fresher's week, and I included my all-time-fave "Never Have I Ever". But we play it a little bit differently. Instead of each thinking up something to say, we read from a list of things which I have saved in the notes on my phone. The original list was written in 2013 (when I had just finished school and was celebrating in Ayia Napa), and we've added to it ever since.

Anyway, I decided that the list was just too good to not share with you all, so here goes...

NEVER HAVE I EVER...
• Fraped someone

• Failed a test 

• Been to a funeral 

• Blackmailed someone

• Had a job

• Stalked my ex on social media

• Had a pet

• Kissed/dated someone 5+ years older than me

• Had a piercing

• Cheated

• Been in trouble with the police

• Played on a sports team

• Hit someone

• Smoked cigarettes

• Drunk alcohol

• Bought underwear for someone of the opposite sex

• Been overweight

• Purposefully tried to make someone else jealous

• Been underweight

• Had a crush on someone in the room

• Stalked my ex's new girl/guy on social media

• Done a season overseas

• Got a tattoo

• Gone on a tinder date

• Been 'the over woman/man'

• Been late to school

• Been proposed to

• Kicked someone out

• Been engaged

• Kissed/dated with my friend's ex/someone they used to see

• Got kicked out of a club/bar

• Been with someone/dated someone 3+ years younger than me

• Been to a wedding

• Lost all my stuff on a night out

• Been bullied

• Been on tv

• Kissed someone who's in the room right now

• Been on a blind date

• Pretended to be gay/straight

• Lied in never have I ever

• Been late to work

• Smoked a cigar

• Been friendzoned

• Been go karting

• Been in the back of a police car

• Been bungee jumping

• Broken up with someone via text message

• Been in an ambulance

• Had a crush on a teacher

• Fallen over in front of everyone

• Found my cousin on tinder

• Had my phone stolen

• Been speed dating

• Done something I regretted

• Kissed someone in the rain

• Gone on a pedalo

• Kissed someone different race to myself

• Had my heart broken

• Wet myself

• Had a shout out on the radio

• Professed my love to someone whilst drunk

• Go skinny dipping

• Been in a car crash

• Failed my drivers test

• Done karaoke

• Broken a bone

• Dated a co-worker

• Cried because I was drunk

• Drunk dialled someone

• Broken somebody's heart

• Thrown a party without my parents knowing

• Passed out from drinking

• Used a fake id

• Stolen something

• Been a bridesmaid/page boy

• Fancied someone so much I stalked them

This list probably seems a little bit tame for the more seasoned of you never-have-I-ever players, so if you were looking for a more raunchy list which is definitely NSFW and probably not suitable for anyone sober, then click here!

P.s. If you want to share the list with your friends then please credit me!

P.p.s. DRINK RESPONSIBLY!

House Horror Stories I

The fact that I have enough material to write a series of posts on this just shows that my housemates and I had quite a few housing nightmares during our second year... This will probably be a long post.

It did get to the point where, if something could go wrong, it did. However, I will say that I don't lay the blame on my landlord, who actually went out of his way for us quite frequently, or our lettings agent, who were pretty quick to fix things when they went wrong. I think it was just extreme bad luck, and at least we can laugh about it now!

So, let's start at the very beginning. My housemates and I signed for our house pretty early on, at around Christmas time of our first year. The house that we decided on was being renovated, so when we moved in everything would be new and extended, which was very exciting. We were also promised plenty of bathrooms with large showers, loads of kitchen space, a utility room and brand new furniture in all of the bedrooms. Plus, no rent to pay over the summer months, when the property would be empty anyway. An offer we couldn't refuse.

Bit premature luv

Fast-forward several months, to the beginning of September, and we received a phone call from our landlord. He apologetically explained to me that our house was not yet ready, and probably wouldn't be ready by the time that our tenancy agreement began, but that he would keep us updated with the situation. At this point we weren't really panicking, we didn't need to move in until a while after our tenancy began, and we were told that it should be ready before then.

The next few weeks were pretty stressful. We were getting constant updates on our house and its progress, but we could tell that it wasn't looking good. Eventually, the beginning of the tenancy came around and the house wasn't ready. The panic set in as we realised that despite our best hopes, the house would not be ready for when we wanted to start moving in. But, we did still think that it wouldn't be long before we could. 

In the meantime, our landlord sorted us out some temporary accommodation, which turned out to be another house in the area that one of his friends owned. Which eased the panic slightly, as we thought we might have to stay in a hotel in the meantime. However, the house we were given as temporary accommodation had no oven, one shower, had to have a fridge and freezer put in for us, as well as a microwave, and didn't have enough bedrooms. This meant that two of us would have to share. 

Ooooh, cosy

A few days after our original moving in date, I headed up to Birmingham with most of my stuff, to move into the temporary house, and to store some of my stuff at the still-under-construction house. I don't think I had quite prepared myself for the house that I walked into. We were under the impression that the house could be ready any day now. What I was met with was a house that didn't even have a roof or walls in parts, no floors, no plaster, still to be plumbed, no electrics, and that was no where near being close to 'finishing touches'. It was quite a shock.

Luckily, my bedroom was finished. So I was able to pop most of my stuff into my room, and see how it would look. I was thrilled with how it had turned out, with new furniture, plenty of storage and a huge window, which let in plenty of light. For the next couple of nights, I stayed on a friend's sofa, because our temporary accommodation was also not ready for all of us.

We didn't have to pay for our temporary accommodation, and our landlord didn't charge us rent throughout the time we weren't living in our house. He also compensated us for the cost of moving our stuff from house to house, which we had to do in a taxi, despite them only being roads apart. But it was still incredibly disruptive. We started the term in a house which we hadn't signed up for, which we could end up moving out of on quite short notice. We soldiered on.

This is actually one of the only pictures I have of our temporary house, lol

Nearly a month after the initial phone call, we finally received confirmation that we could move in to our house! It still wasn't totally finished, and there would still be builders in and out, but we would have our own beds. It was very welcome news. It wasn't too long until they house was basically finished. A few small touches, such as toilet roll holders and bathroom cabinets were yet to be put in, but we could cope. 

Finally, towards of October, our house was finally finished and ready for us to host a moving in party! But that's another story...

Things You Need For Fresher's Week

This September I will be entering into my third, and final, year of university, however the memories of fresher's week are still fresh in my mind, and I suspect will be for years to come. Eeek, nostalgia. If you are heading off to university this next academic year and you're not sure what to expect, look no further. I'm a veteran student who's gone through many a freshers (and refreshers) week.

Loz & I luvin' life in various different outfits during 'freshers fest'

Beside the usual essentials that you'll need for uni (which you can find here), you'll probably need a few extra bits and bobs if you are to survive your first few weeks. 

HANGOVER CURES - If you are someone that chooses to drink during freshers week, like the masses, you'll find yourself drinking many nights in a row. There's nothing worse than feeling ridiculously ill from the night before whilst getting ready for another night out. So be sure to pack whatever it is that usually makes you feel better, apparently pears can work miracles, I prefer a good old can of diet coke and binge watching netflix.

A GOOD WALLET/BAG - If you're going to be going on lots of nights out you need somewhere to put your stuff whilst you're out. I never venture out without my handy clutch bag and in fresher's I took a shoulder bag out with me every night. Something small that you can keep close to you is perfect, nothing too valuable. A cheap primark bag will do! Same goes for your wallet, make sure that the one you take out with you does the job but doesn't cost a fortune.

PARACETAMOL, COUGH SYRUP AND ORANGE JUICE - Fresher's flu is unavoidable during fresher's week I'm afraid. You just have to accept your fate, and go down like a hero. My mother sent me off to uni with 8 packs of paracetamol/ibuprofen and I used almost all of them (it wasn't just me.. I was like the pharmacy of my halls). Since there's not much you can do to avoid getting sick, you just have to make yourself not feel as bad. Pre-buying things like cough syrup mean you don't have to search for a pharmacy in your new alien city, and orange juice solves all illness problems.

My saviour

LOTS OF MINUTES ON YOUR PHONE - During my first week at university I spent lots of time in the early morning on the phone to friends from home. One night as I cowered over the toilet bowl, I cried down the phone to my friend who managed to convince me that dropping out before I'd even been to a lecture was not a good idea. I'm very thankful. Expect to phone home and phone friends more than you would regularly.

PROPS, COSTUMES, FACE PAINTS - Have a look at the themed nights that your university runs to get an idea of clothing or fancy dress that you might need. For example, if there's a neon night, make sure you pack some neon clothes and paints. Not everyone gets really into their costumes during these first few weeks, but it's fun - so why not! I found that there wasn't as much fancy dress as I thought there would be throughout the rest of the year, so I'm glad that I joined in during freshers.

MARKER PENS - You're likely to be given tons of random t-shirts for fresher's events, bar crawls, etc. all with 'witty' boxes to fill in such as 'please return me to..', and for this you'll need some pens to fill them in. Possibly not an essential, but I still have my tshirts with their original writings and they're quite hilarious to look back at.

ALL OF THE FOOD - After all that partying you're not going to want to be slaving over a cooker all day, or walking miles to the nearest supermarket (not having a car is so killer). So be sure to get your grocery shopping in when your parents drop you off, that way you might be able to get them to pay for it too! Pick up lots of quick and easy meals, especially if you're someone who's hardly cooked for them-self before.

Finally, if you want to be properly prepared for your manic week of partying, make sure you get as much sleep as possible in the weeks leading up to it! Enjoy and stay safe.

Hating Your Best Friend's Boyfriend

It's an awkward situation, one that a lot of us have been in before. After weeks of your friend going on about this guy, you meet him and you hate him. Sometimes you can't even put your finger on what it is, other-times it's blatantly obvious. Immediately you secretly write him off and pray that they won't be together forever, or you'll have to hide your hatred during their wedding day (you'll obvi be bridesmaid). You plot and plan his demise (ok, not literally) but you know you can't let on to her. 

Third wheelin'

So what do you do?

SPEND TIME WITH HIM. You might hate him now, but once you get to know him properly it could be a different story. After all, clearly there is a reason that she likes him, and hopefully after spending some time with him you might see it too. Plus, if they have stuff in common and you have stuff in common with her, surely you'll be able to find something you guys can talk about or bond over.

SPEND TIME WITH THEM TOGETHER. Seeing how they interact and how "into" one another they are could help you change your mind on him. It might help you to see that really they are suited, and that he isn't so bad after-all. Alternatively it could go completely the other way, but you've just gotta' take the risk!

DON'T LET HER KNOW. Although she'll probably be able to figure it out (depending on how well you're able to hide your emotions) telling her that you don't like him is a no-go. Her knowing that you don't like him is unlikely to change her opinion on him. Instead, she's likely to think that you're just being a judgemental cow or that you're jealous, and that's not going to get you anywhere.

BE SUPPORTIVE. There's always that temptation to say "I told you so" when things go wrong, but if they get back together or work things out, you're going to look bad. Instead, try to have her back with things. Eventually she'll probably see that she was an idiot, but she doesn't need you to tell her that to figure it out. She'll do that on her own.

THIS CHANGES NOTHING. You're still going to be friends whether she has a boyfriend that you like or not. Things aren't going to change drastically, perhaps the dynamics might alter slightly, but it's nothing you can't cope with. Just enjoy your friendship, don't let things like this get between you.

Second Year in Photos (Part 2)

January

As a January baby, this is one of my favourite months. As a university student, it means refreshers fest and getting back to "the grind". I spent much of January celebrating and partying with all me chums (top row & bottom left). We also had the lovely surprise of finding a rat in our house, which had made itself at home over the Christmas holidays! I've been so kind as to spare you guys the gross photos, so you can have my artistic example instead (bottom right).

February

February was equally full of fun and frolics. My chums and I attended a cocktail making event as part of the fundraising for UoB marrow soc (top left). Valentines day cards from anonymous sources a.k.a. my dad and my bessie, lol (top right). Feeling fab 'n' fresh at our regular student union night out... #theawkwardmomentwhen you have to crop one of the twins to square the photo (bottom left). My friend Joe made the long and tedious trip from Plymouth to visit (bottom right).

March

March brought with it a fair amount of birthday celebrations - they always seem to come in bunches. I trekked across to Norwich and partied with the freshers, as well as friends from back home (top left), before returning back to reunite with friends on a night out in Brum (top right). As always, all of my essay deadlines coincided with all of the nights out and culminated in me getting ill. Here I am with my lifelong pal, bunnyhops (bottom left). Finally, we discovered a thief in our midst when my housemate's chocolate was taken during pre drinks one evening. We're still looking for the culprit (bottom right).

April

Easter break meant a month spent back at home with family (top left & right), as well as out and about with friends. I visited both Whipsnade (bottom left) and Knole House (bottom right), both of which were absolutely stunning.

May

As a student of an essay-based subject, it's work all year round, which means it's actually quite quiet in the exam period. Of course, I kept myself busy, as usual. Baking with the boy was a welcome break from revision (top left) and my trip to oxford was amazing (top right). Becca and I hit the bullring (bottom left), and I popped back home for my cousins's wedding celebrations (bottom right).

June

Finally, end of exams meant even more celebrating (as if we ever needed an excuse). As a member of the bloodsoc committee I took part in a #nationalbloodweek "photoshoot" on campus (top left). If you didn't see the campaign, it's definitely something worth checking out. We enjoyed vale fest, particularly the facepaint and flower crowns (top right). I had giggles with my favourite lads and future housemates (bottom left). Then enjoyed gradball with the boy (bottom right).

Second Year in Photos (part 1)

Second year had absolutely flown by, just like first year did. It's been full of ups and downs, lots of essays, probably too much partying and tons of laughs. With the end of exams looming I decided that this was appropriate procrastination, so here it is... I'll post part 2 after my last exam, if I'm not too busy partying!

September

I didn't ever get round to posting a blog post on the disaster that was our house's delayed reconstruction but it was in a pretty dire state the day we were due to move in... Yep, that's our kitchen, and it has no roof (top left)! Cue having to move in with my friend Becca for several days (bottom right) before our temporary house was free for us to move into. Still, we had a good time (top right). Our temporary house wasn't the greatest of arrangements with Jenny & I having to share a double bed (bottom left).  

October

Jenny & I remained on speaking terms despite having to share, not only a room, but a bed for what felt like a lifetime to both of us ;] (top left), and as soon as we were in our new house she cooked up a cracking roast for us all (ok, so we did help..), as a moving in celebration (top right). My mum sent me a cute fleece to match 'olaf' from frozen, and to keep me warm when we refused to put the heating on... #studentproblems (bottom left). The fleece didn't work that well, because it wasn't long before I got a cold. Jenny kindly volunteered to drive me to sainsburys to get cough medicine, but we may have accidentally rear-ended someone on the way there (it was terrifying, but not really anyone's fault). The police drove us home! (bottom right).

November

At the beginning of November my friend Becca and I popped along to our local blood donation centre to donate blood, me for the second time and her for the first! (top left). My housemates and I, threw a halloween house party which was buckets full of fun and a really good way to christen our new house (top right, bottom left). Vale fireworks are a definite event for the calendar if you live in Birmingham, we popped along and enjoyed the cold, rain, and a beautiful firework display (bottom right).

December

End of term means lots of nights out and lots of fun. My end of term was no different. It ranged from three way spoons in bed (top left), to getting married at fab to a complete stranger (top right). Plus, lots of trips to all of the vodbull events, just can't get enough (bottom left & bottom right).

Christmas & New Year

There's nothing quite like going home for Christmas. Spending time catching up with family and friends is always well needed after a long term at uni, and good home-cooked food is always welcome in a student's diet. I slugged with my sister (top left), had good grub with school friends (top right), and ate my weight in roast potatoes on Christmas Day (bottom left). Then, when I was missing uni the most, I had a wonderful catch up with my bestest for New Years (bottom right).

Oxford Comma

This week I was invited by my lovely friend Matt to visit him in Oxford for his college's guest ball. With the offer of (extremely fancy) food, drink, a catch up with friends, and dressing up, I decided I'd be stupid to refuse. Oxford is a pretty easy commute from Birmingham so I hopped on a train with my new tiny suitcase (I'm famous for over packing) ready for whatever Oxford wanted to throw at me.

As expected, Matt's college was gorgeous and he gave me a behind-the-scenes tour of the campus, whilst I took hundreds of photographs and lived like a tourist. The college costs £14 (!!!) to look around, but is absolutely gorgeous so I would recommend it if you ever find yourself in Oxford with nothing to do!

 

I don't think it's possible to take a bad photo of that place, it's spectacular.

The dinner was black tie and boasted four courses as well as a champagne reception beforehand, so once Matt and I were done with wandering around the college's many beautiful corridors we suited up and headed to the hall where the dinner was being hosted.

Any hardcore Harry Potter fan recognise the stairs? Yep, I went two of the greatest education centres in Britain in one day, Hogwarts (well, the stairs) & Oxford. 

The meal was lovely and the company was even better. We thoroughly enjoyed giggling at how inept we were when it came to the copious amounts of cutlery and glasses we had been provided - apparently it's outside in for cutlery and the biggest glass is for water, who knew!

I also spotted Constantine Louloudis at the meal, which thoroughly excited me. Please say that at least one of my readers knows who is, because only one other person did.

After lots of giggles and all the food we could handle we strolled back through the perfectly manicured courtyard to Matt's room where we all socialised in the best way possible... With drinking games. A couple of glasses later and we were on our way to Wahoo. I would describe Wahoo as the hottest club in town, but that's mostly because I had to take a break from dancing step outside several times for fresh air.

Writing a Blog

This is probably the thing I get asked about the most. If you have a lot to say then a blog is the perfect way to say it. Yes, it takes work and a small amount of skill, but it can be super rewarding and if you're passionate about writing then blogging might be for you!

Bloglovin' is great for catching up on missed posts and your favourite blogs

YOUR PLATFORM: There are quite a few ways for you to get your words out there. Your blogging platform is the website you use to publish your blogs on. For example, the current platform I use is blogger, which is Google's blogging platform. However, there are quite a few different platforms out there, such as wordpress or tumblr. I've found that wordpress and blogger seem to be the 'big ones', but it just depends on your preferences as to what you want to use.

WHAT'S IN A NAME?: Naming your blog is one of the hardest things about setting a blog up. You could make it relevant to what you'll be writing about, or make it personal to yourself. Try not to expose too much personal data about yourself though - you might not want to make it you full name for example. If you want your blog to be anonymous then that's cool too, just rack your brain and pick a random name. Hopefully something people will remember!

YOUR DOMAIN: I have a purchased domain, which I got from godaddy.com. If you're just starting off with your blog, it's probably best to leave this for a while, because you could end up spending a fair amount of money on a website which you don't ever use! However, if you do choose to have your own domain you will have to, firstly, purchase a domain, and then install this on your platform. There are plenty of tutorials on the net to help you figure out how to do this.

This is my (quite boring) header, which was made on paint

YOUR LAYOUT: Most blogging platforms make it quite simple for you to change your layout up to personalise it to your tastes. You can usually add a header image, which will add character to your blog. Header images can easily be made on image editing software such as photoshop, or if you're not that fancy you could even have a go on microsoft paint!

WHAT TO WRITE?: There are plenty of beauty, fashion or lifestyles blogs on the net. If you want to write an eye-catching blog you'll have to search for innovative ways to attract readers. Try to think of original ideas and write about what you're passionate about. Think about your target audience - what would they want to read? What would they be interested in?

HOW TO GET READERS: In order to get people to read your blog you have to publicise that it's there. That might mean sharing it on social media such as facebook and twitter, or commenting on posts from similar blogs so that they can then click back to your blog. Another great website is bloglovin.com which will notify people when you post to your blog. Try not to spam people with your blog, it will most likely put them off and usually isn't appreciated. A much better way is to write things people are interested in and then will share to their friends.

Epilating

I've always been a shaving girl; it's cheap, it's easy and it gets the job done. However, I wanted to search for a better solution to hair removal because having to repurchase razors all the time whilst your hair grows back thicker and darker wasn't doing it for me any more! I'd heard of epilating before but hadn't really bothered to look into it further because I thought that epilators were really expensive and super painful...

However, whilst I was looking through the Amazon sale I came across a whole load of affordable epilators, and after some research (on YouTube) I found that it wasn't really as painful as I thought it was, so I decided to bite the bullet.

I bought the Braun Silk-épil Wet and Dry Epilator because I had read that epilating in the bath/shower was much less painful, and this epilator is waterproof! Plus, I had a bit of Christmas & Birthday money to burn. Thanks to my free student trial of prime, it came the next day, but annoyingly I had to wait another few days to use it because its charger plug is for use in 'shaver only' plugs, and I needed to order an adaptor.

Someone once commented that it was like a 'multi-tool' and "why does it need a torch?!"

I've been using it for a couple of months now which has given me the chance to properly test it out and get used to the pain (!!) and I have to say I'm pretty happy with my purchase. It's easy to use, holds charge really well and does the job I bought it for. I use it to remove hair in all sorts of places (lol) and each is different so I'll go through each bit individually.

LEGS: the first thing I tried epilating was my legs. It was quite painful... bearable, but it did make my teeth clench. I couldn't really do large areas at a time, plus had to do it pretty slowly. The pain is sort of like tiny pin pricks and goes away as soon as the epilator has passed that patch of skin. I think the reason it hurt so much was because I've shaved my legs for a really long time, and the hairs have grown to be pretty thick and coarse, which is always going to hurt more. So, instead, I tried the epilator in the shower, which was much less painful. You do have to be careful that you actually get all of the hairs though, which involved some contortion, or a quick touch up after the shower whilst still wet.

Hot dogs or legs? I epilated my right thigh and left my left thigh to demonstrate - but I'm not sure it's that obvious.

UNDERARMS: this sound like it would be mind-numbingly painful and I was pretty scared before I went through with it, but I actually think that it was less painful than doing my legs! I didn't even try battling this 'dry' because I was terrified, but doing it in the shower is pretty much painless. You can feel that the epilator is working but it really doesn't hurt too much at all. I think it's because I try not to shave my underarms too often, and actually used to pluck the hairs out (I don't have that many, yeah it's super weird but it's worked in my favour!). If you have previously waxed your underarms I'm sure you'd be fine.

BIKINI LINE: yes, I even braved the bikini line. It took quite a while to build up the courage, and although I could feel the pain of it, it really was bearable and wasn't as bad as I had feared. However, this is another area which I have waxed before so I think the weaker hairs made it much easier. The more you epilate the easier it gets too, and I now don't even wince whilst doing it.

UPPER LIP: having dark hairs can be such a pain and I've always used creams to either remove the hair on my upper lip or to bleach it. However, seeing as I had the epilator and because the creams can be awkward and messy to use I decided to give epilating a go. I first used it in the shower, and the pain was bearable but did reduce me to tears. Also, being in the shower, it made it impossible to see which spots I had missed, so I finished it off out of the shower but whilst my skin was still wet, which also hurts but you can get through it.

And that's it folks... I am loving having an epilator, but it can sometimes take a lot of time. I'm hoping that it will be worth it for the future when hopefully my hairs will be much thinner and less noticeable!