The Big Diss!

Dissertation! It is as scary as it sounds and if not worse. I have been working persistently on my dissertation over the last couple of weeks seeing as it is due on Friday. I will quite honestly tell you that is a difficult one to get to grips with. First of all, the word count is big and secondly it was made even more difficult for me as we were given free reign over what topic we could do.  The hardest thing about dissertation is trying to balance everything else. I recently attained some freelance work which has become rather difficult to keep up with as well my dissertation and going to work as well. I must say that especially over the last couple of weeks, I have found it ever so difficult to even get sleep, but come Friday the 1st of May, I will be a partially free woman. I just need to get through this week.

The horror stories of dissertation time during third year are not completely true although if you work better under pressure like I do, you tend to like to work close to the deadline which causes more stress if you have a million and one things on the go. Writing the dissertation is one thing however researching is another thing. I have tossed and turned for months about my dissertation topic and the research I have done is extensive. I chose a topic that is something I know a vast amount about. Furthermore, it is an area I am greatly interested in and have learned a lot about over the last few weeks. The late nights have begun and the Jasmine Green Tea has started brewing excessively (not a coffee drinker). I also recently finished my internship and are looking to gain a bit more experience over the summer whilst working and doing freelance work.
I have been job hunting for paid internships however the Fashion Industry has an unbroken record of not offering too many paid internships but at least travel and expenses are covered which is really important if you live in London. I also am very much confused as to whether I would like to focus more on Styling or PR for the time being hence why I would like to intern a bit more to make my mind up about which area really appeals to me. I know that later on I will probably do both as I would eventually like to work completely freelance. Office jobs don't really appeal to me and I know I would everyday to be different. Hopefully my ideology will become an active reality sooner rather than later.

The other lurking day is Graduation. The date was emailed to me on Friday and I am actually excited. I text my parents as soon as I got the news because they will probably be more excited than I am about it. It is actually weird thinking about it about it because its coming soon. So so soon. I think I actually have mixed emotions actually which sounds contradictory but the more I think about it the more I come to realise how far I have come from my first year days through to my second year  and now towards the end of my Final Year. It's all so emotional!

Open Days

Open Days. They happen to be really great way of making that all important decision of 'Which Uni?'. Things I took into account when I was applying to universities was the distance away from home, the course itself, UCAS points and of course how the nightlife is (we know how important that is Haha). With that taken into account I of course did my research. Open days were not easy for me because at the time, I wasn't sure what I wanted to do. All I knew was that whatever course I wanted to do, it was something that I would enjoy. So with that in sight, my best friend and I decided to go to some universities together and weigh up our options. At that point we both had not yet applied to university but here are some things we both learned whilst at open days;

1. Logistics-  For some, being really far from home is ideal, but for others perhaps being close to home is not a bad idea. Also, when looking at logistics I tended to look at how easy it was to go home. The kind of public transport available to me and the frequency. I did not want to be in a place that did not offer easy ways of getting into University and getting home.
2. The course- My best friend was looking at doing Law. He knew he wanted to do that from the word go, I on the other hand knew that as long as the course was business related chances are I would probably enjoy the course. Every university we went to had talks about the course and the kinds of avenues you could look at after graduation. 
3. Opportunities- By opportunities,  I mean the kind of opportunities you are given or are likely to take with your course. This may be placement opportunities or such like Placement year or Internships and even the likelihood of employment after graduation which is  really important.
4. University student vibes- So this is my term for how the university feels. Most university students that I spoke to you when I was going to these open days were so enthusiastic, fun and energetic. They also gave me lots of free stuff which was cool (who doesn't like freebies) but most importantly, it was vital for me to ask about the course and how they were getting on with their course and whether they enjoyed it.
5. Nightlife- I come from a small town. I wanted to be able to go out, have a good time and enjoy whatever the University nightlife had to offer.
6. Accommodation- Every open day allows you to have a look at their accommodation on offer. They show you a range of accommodation so you are able to make decisions based on your monetary situation. It's also a good way of analysing whether you would like to live in a sociable environment or whether you would prefer to be in the comfort of oneself.

After all the above, both my best friend and I weighed up our options. We then chose our choices based on the above criterion and funnily enough we chose different ends of the country but equal distances from home. He went to university in Sheffield and I went south of Home. It worked out for the both of us and look, we have both had a fun time at University.

What have I learnt about myself?

In the video above, Susan and I will discuss what we have learnt in the last three years. This of course will include a brief overview of our pitfalls and some advice for you future students. It really has been fun. We have both learned so much.

University Nostalgia

My wonderful friend Susan has agreed to talk about her University experience with me. In the video above we will be talking about how far we have come as Uni students at the University of Bedfordshire as well as what we have enjoyed and our joint experiences. Enjoy!

Yes You Can!

Apologies for not posting in a while, I have just had the most hectic few weeks. Third year is progressing in such a haste I literally cannot believe it. So many final deadlines and on top of that I have been juggling working lots as well. It has recently occurred to me that I do not have long left at university. About a month ad half to be exact. And in that time I have to hand my dissertation, and two final hand ins. It is all coming to an end and I am quite sad about it.  Besides all that, there are  important matters to attend to which happen to concern voting.

These elections are also coming in fast and it is our duty as young people to vote for the best or what is seemingly the best for our communities. A simple yet concerning factor about elections in general is that less and less young people vote every year. I often wonder why that is seeing as we live in a society where we just about complain about everything there is to complain about although never seem to see much change? I think it's got to do with the fact that not enough young people are not being politically educated or don't care enough about the super important matters such as healthcare, education and even taxes.

There is an attitude out there that cradles the line 'it doesn't affect me yet' but in fact it does.I sadly admit that until recently, I was one of the young people who simply had no clue but was informed by one of my lecturers that I have been given a privilege which makes or breaks a country. This enlightenment also came in the form of being told to fill out a form which made me aware of what I cared about in society. For me the things I care most about include education, healthcare, taxes and foreign policies. Topics of that nature could also be something that you also care about and so I strongly urge all of you to take part in a political compass test of some form (Google political compass test, there are so many) . Stand your ground this upcoming election!