Guide to Assignment Hell

Back with another segment of Nicole moaning about Uni *theme tune music*

Hello again, I am trying to juggle two assignments that rely heavily on literature and research simultaneously for the same due date. At the moment, I am not too stressed and I thank the Lord for that. Some part of my head had managed to get itself in order and made me sit down a month before the deadline to work on one and have it finished a massive two and a half weeks early. This left me to be able to focus on the final assignment and hopefully have time to spare before it had to be in. I am thankful to my smart brain for this geniusness.

Anyway, this blog isn't going to be a moan, it is in fact going to be an informative, and helpful guide to how to overcome the stress that comes with assignments especially this close to Christmas.

1. Don't stress. Ha! I literally just laughed at myself for starting on this one. But, I guess the truth is that the more you stress, the less you're going to get done. If you stress about how little you've already done, then you're going to spend all the time freaking out without having actually done the work. Time wasted is not something we want or need when we are trying to finish an assignment.

2. Tea and chocolate are your best friends. I don't care what you say about chocolate making you happy being an excuse for girls to eat more chocolate. It is a known fact (from me, Nicole, 2012; yes I just referenced that) that when you take a break from working, the best way to not feel guilty is to take your time having a warm beverage and something yummy to refuel you and your brain, and put some more fire in your belly to begin with more work. It works for me.

3. Make sure you have fun. The worst thing that you can do when you are doing an assignment is do nothing but your assignment locked away in whatever room you complete your work in (mine is my bedroom). Whilst it may seem like a great idea to focus solely on finishing it, nobody in the history of the world has loved staying in their room all day swamped by their work and slowly drowning in their stress and sadness. It's not healthy to not have fun with other people. And you shouldn't see it as being bad for taking some time away from your laptop and books to make sure you keep taking care of yourself and making yourself happy. I'm not saying have fun for hours on end, every single day, but a few hours here and there are therapeutic to you when completing work; it takes your mind away for a little and sometimes that's just what we need when we're feeling the strain.

4. Don't put it off. The longer you are in denial about the fact you have work to do and leave starting it until the next day, the less time you will have to complete it. Just because you don't think about it or look at it doesn't mean it still won't be there tomorrow, it'll just be one less day that you have until the deadline. It's simple, start it and be able to do a little a day and still do things that make you happy, or feel the guilt at the very end, perhaps even the night before and hand in something that you knew you could do better on.

5. Just remember, that everywhere people are doing assignments and you aren't alone in the stressed world. You can do it, we can do it! :)

I hope that my list has given you some pointers on how to survive assignments and that you aren't letting your assignments bog you down too much. After all, it's almost Christmas and the festive feeling should be inside of you making you happy and excited for the holiday. The sooner the assignments are done, the sooner Chistmas happens. But the sooner Christmas happens, the sooner exams start.... :S

We won't start with that yet.

BYEEEEEEEEEEE! :D

Weekend home

I had a magical time at home, being able to see and spend time with my family again topped off with a great 21st birthday party spent with some of the best friends a girl could ever ask for. I don't normally enjoy hall parties simply because I end up either standing alone for half the night or being too conscious of myself to loosen up and have fun, but neither happened, and after a couple of Sambuca shots, I was more than ready, embarrassingly enough, to show off my *amazing* dance moves in front of everyone. I had an amazing night and will always treasure the rare group photos we managed to get through the night. Now that everyone is scattered across the country, it's hard to find plentiful opportunities in order to all get together and have a picture taken, so I like it lots when we can.

Although it was a fleeting trip; I thoroughly enjoy every second I get to be around the people I miss the most. Despite the fact I always have a tinge of sorrow when boarding the coach to bring me back to Uni, I know that I won't be sad for long knowing that I'm going back to my uni friends.

Once again, I prayed and hoped that I wouldn't get anyone sitting next to me on the coach, like I always do. I like the chance to spread out and fall asleep without being too conscious of whether or not my mouth is wide open or my head will lull and end up against a stranger's shoulder. So, you could imagine my slight, unnecessary annoyance when a lovely, kind old man sat next to me with his wife sitting next to another young girl opposite so they could still talk. I instantly felt bad about my selfish thoughts and annoyance when he offered to put my coat into the overhead space on the coach. Although  it has to be said; I dislike having to sit next to males more than females just because of the sheer space they take up and end up encroaching on my paid for seat. But that's neither here nor there in my story. He then proceeded to offer me things during the journey, including a KitKat and an mint imperial, which I gracefully declined both.

Unexpectedly, the kind offer of an mint imperial made me experience the stabbing feeling of impending tears in my eyes. It's one of those small memories that hits you right in the guy when you're least expecting it. My nan, who I miss terribly, had ALWAYS, without fail, carried around a small plastic bag containing the small, round mint imperials and offered them to use periodically throughout the time we spent with her. It's suffice to say that I will always associate this with my nan and I think I'll find it hard, if not impossible, to have another mint imperial knowing that she's not around to give me them any more  As I said, a small and fairly insignificant thing to most people but yet another constant reminder of what I have lost.

I apologise for ending this blog on a low note, but I hope you all have a wonderful week :D xxx

Hospital antics

So, I had my first scare of chest pains today. I went to the doctors because it kept hurting for more than 2 days and nights and it had happened before and had been hurting for a week before it stopped the second I decided to go to the doctors.

Although, now as I sit here and write this blog, I feel like a complete idiot for even going to the doctors in the first place when I knew that the chest pains were probably just related to my recent illness and my stressful workload; but me being me didn't want to trust my own diagnosis on something that is always said to be checked out whenever it happens; I'm a linguist not a doctor after all. Chest pains aren't taken lightly by doctors and I assumed that they shouldn't by me.

I went there and the doctor sent me away with a prescription for a change of pill, but after 10 minutes, he rang me up again and told me he wanted me to get a blood test that tested for blood clots due to the previous blood clot my mother had a couple of years back. Unfortunately for me, the closest hospital was already full and so he sent me to the hospital that was on the other side of Cardiff (1hr and a half walking or 45 minutes with public transport.) I decided if I was gonna have to spend money travelling, I might as well spend the little bit extra and get a taxi.

I was up the hospital for about 3 hours where they gave me a blood test and did an ECG on me which was weird. But after the 3 hours, they told me that the test came back negative and I didn't have a blood clot.

As I left the hospital, I kinda wished something had been wrong just so I didn't feel like I had wasted their time or mine as well as my money. But then I realised that in the long run, I would've hated to have something wrong. Although I felt stupid for appearing to make something out of nothing; it wasn't my choice to go to the hospital and instead my doctor's orders and so I feel a little less retarded.

Anyway, I'm thankful that I am healthy and that I am going to be fine.

Chest pain drama over!

Oral presentation = done!

I hate public speaking.

It is a fact that I have known for many of years and have slowly but surely come to the conclusion that me and public speaking will never be best friends; in fact we will never just be friends either. They are two components of my life that I wish to keep separate.

Thankfully, keeping them separate has been easier than I though considering I have only had to do one oral presentation in my entire 3 years at uni, and you can't ever imagine the immense feeling of relief when this one was finally over. My heart was beating faster than I ever thought was humanly possible, and my palms were sweaty; not the mention the small, slow flush of redness that I could feel gradually encompassing my whole face until I resembled that of a big, huge, talking tomato.

But despite that fact, I had to do it. And today was the day. I woke up feeling sick with nerves and then went to my lectures where my nerves subsided a bit as I was thinking about everything BUT the presentation I would have to do. And then the dreaded break between the lectures and the allotted time for our presentation; namely a whole long hour. It was like listening to the march of the dead when we walked through the abandoned corridors earlier than our time to reach the room we would be presenting it.

And then, I started. I tried to be slow and I tried to be interesting and I think that the main achievement to take from this experience was that I got through it. I didn't mess up my lines that badly, I didn't have to constantly read from my notes (in fact I didn't look at them at all) and so I think I did well.

My friend had said after that if he hadn't had seen and heard how nervous we were beforehand, he would never have known that we were and that right there, is the biggest compliment that anyone could've given me after one of the scariest experiences in my life.

The fact is, even though I hate public speaking and don't consider myself to be a very good one at that, I made it through and I'm hoping our mark isn't going to be too bad.

That's another thing to tick off of my work load check-list and I am mighty glad that it's gone!
As a celebration of me conquering my fear to a standard that is worthy of a uni student; I am now going to indulge my inner child and watch Jungle Book by Disney.

BYEEEE! xxx

Twilight- Breaking Dawn Part II Review (No spoilers)

Twilight, Twilight, Twilight... Well, it has been a long four years in the making and the final curtains have just been drawn on the Saga. As I think back over the 5 films, I can't help but applaud the gradual improvement of both the acting and the visual effects that brought the story alive. When I first saw Jacob transform into a werewolf and the indifferent acting of Kristen Stewart in one of the very first films; I wished that it wasn't an omen on how the rest of the films would go. Slowly but surely, I grew to love the characters (yes, I admit it; I do like, and potentially love, the Saga) and I was excited for the finale that I saw tonight. It had been a long time coming.

It's always a bittersweet moment to watch the ending of a series, or finish the last book in the series, and that was none truer than this. Although many of you will hate on me for the fact I am going to tell, I didn't get into Harry Potter when the books were released and so my love for Harry Potter wasn't as far reaching as it should've been so I hadn't experienced the devastation of it ending (although, I have seen all the films, have the box set and yes, did shed a tear multiple times during the series) but for Twilight, it wasn't as much a devastation than a disappointment.

I wanted to love the film so much, purely because I didn't like the last book at all, and so loving the film would equal out the disappointment I felt with the book. Beside the complete love of Renesmee and the little family Edward and Bella created, I didn't feel as I thought I would walking out of the cinema. Unfortunately, annoyance and ultimate writer hell prevailed over my emotions and completely caught me by surprise. I physically groaned and shook my head as I watched the events unfold. Don't get me wrong, I loved the film and the roller-coaster emotions that soared me into happiness and then plummeted me into despair, but at the very last minute it felt as if Stephanie Meyer and the producers of the film chickened out with fear cowering in the corner of what could've been greatness. The jaw-dropping leap of faith moment for any director took me by complete and utter surprise that I was deeply saddened by the turn it chose to take but then they ripped away possibly one of the best scenes there was in the film. Sure, I would've been mad if they had continued with the leap of faith but I don't know whether I would've chosen disappointment over madness.

I am happy that I saw the finale, and by no means am I saying it was rubbish because I am a closet fan of Twilight- I just feel like a kid on Christmas morning being handed something that blew my mind only to have to taken away and told that it wasn't my present to have.

Despite all this, it is definitely a to see film, especially if you've seen the other films. Perhaps it was just my thoughts of the film, and others completely loved every second of it and I hope that is true. I'm pretty sure I'll watch it again, because if I'm honest, I can't help but love a happy ending.

So all that there is left to say is, goodbye, Edward, Bella and Jacob- it's been fun :) xxx

Passive aggressiveness is awesome!

I don't know why it appears this way, but to me recently, it always feels like I'm wrong regardless what it is that I am saying and if it's right or not. I know that I am not the smartest kid around, and I realise I've had this rant to everyone before, but I need to get it off my chest again before I implode. I don't think I have great understanding of many subjects and so I appreciate someone telling me that I'm wrong but when I know that I'm right or at least a little right in what I say- it gets annoying when I'm bluntly told that I'm wrong and it is implicitly implied that what I'm saying is stupid. I guess part of the annoyance does come from the fact that I have a personality trait to be a sore loser which makes it worse, but I can't be imagining things to this extent unless I'm paranoid that everyone is out to be mean to me, which is very possible. But probable? I'm not sure.

Getting off track a little, I guess I just want people to appreciate what I say a little more and trust in the knowledge that what I say isn't always complete and utter bullshit (although a lot of the time, I admit that I do talk a lot of crap). I might not be Albert Einstein, but it has been known for me to have some smartness knocking round this brain of mine.

As the song goes "all I'm asking for is a little respect when I come home..." The words are a little off but you get the message I'm trying to send.

Oh and you gotta love a bit of passive aggressiveness every now and then- because I frickin' love it!
Almost as much as I love you guys, over and out ;)
xxx

Teaser taster number three!

Considering that I first thought nobody would want to read any of the fictional stories that I write in my spare time, the blogs where I have shared parts of the current story I'm writing have some of the most views I've had. Interesting. Having noticed this, I have decided to take a break from my usual drivel of revelation, moaning or telling you things that I love and post another part of the story in case any of you really did enjoy what you read. Obviously, if this gets more views than my usual blog post, I might think about maybe making it a more permenant fixture. I might actually share my story with everyone for the first time ever, which is a very scary thought, indeed.

Anyway, to not put off any longer, here is the next part of the second chapter from the story I am writing. I hope you all enjoy it and if not, you can always count on me to produce a below average type blog in a couple of days.

Cheerio ;)


"Eva placed her bag on the counter of the coffee shop waiting impatiently for the barista to come serve her. Eva had had a bad start to her Monday morning and was already running late for one of her meetings with the group of journalists and her boss. This meant that she would get a rubbish article to write about due to her lack of punctuality. She would probably get handed the article that dealt with the typical relationship in modern society, which did very little to challenge her brain. She groaned out loud and huffed her way through her annoyance trying to expel the negativity before she walked into the meeting late. The last thing she needed was to be reprimanded for her attitude as well as her tardiness. In respect to herself, it wasn’t her fault that she was late; she had set her alarms, got her bag ready for the morning and had gone to sleep at a reasonable time. The thing she didn’t know in her careful planning was that the power would go off during the night and leave her well set alarm turned off and reset. Resulting in the alarm not going off and not waking her up in the time space she had allowed for getting ready. Being organised with a hatred for being late, she had even set her alarm half an hour earlier than the time she need to get up to make sure she wasn’t late; to avoid these types of mornings. Little that did for her today.
She had rung her office up the second she had realised she was late and explained the situation. Apparently, her boss had noticed her absence and she was put straight through to him must to her dislike. The tone of his voice told her that he wasn’t happy at all and she wouldn’t get a good reception from him when she got to the office and went to see him to pick up her assignments for the week. Trying to rationalise her anger, she realised that there was absolutely nothing she could do about it now and tried to etch away at her annoyance. Although there was still no sight of the barista and this only contributed to her already sour mood, making her more and more impatient as the time went by.
Craning her neck, she looked around at the little room for staff away from the main coffee shop. She spied the barista, complete with his green apron tied around his waist, talking to a well-dressed suited man. She couldn’t tell whether their conversation was business or pleasure but the fact that they were talking during the time when he should’ve been serving only made her more annoyed regardless what it was about. Trying not to let her emotions get the better of her, she tapped her fingers against the counter in order to stop her anger from flaring up and her interrupting them to get her a coffee. She’d wait a couple more minutes out of politeness and if she still hadn’t been seen to, she’d say something. She told herself to count to ten hoping that once she hit 10, she’d be calmer or she’d be served
Another couple of minutes had gone by, followed by another and then another. Surprisingly nobody else had joined the queue and it was just her waiting. Unfortunately for Eva, she had always been the shy child that would only speak up if she absolutely had to and even then it wasn’t forceful or anything remotely confident; more like a shy squeak to get attention. Over the years, her job in journalism meant that for the most part she had to fake being confident to get the information she needed but when she did, she hated it. Both of the guys were insanely attractive and it only added to Eva’s self-conscious nature and so she waited a little longer choosing that over embarrassing herself in front of them.
After having waited a good twenty minutes, Eva finally plucked up the courage to raise her voice and say something to the guys who clearly had moved from any business talk they had to a more personal chat. She thought it was the height of rudeness that they hadn’t noticed her standing here and stamped her way round the counter and stood in the doorway of the little room. Her temper had slowly begun to rise with the time she had waited and she didn’t care how crazy she looked in telling them exactly what she thought. She flung her bag across her shoulder and stood with her hands on her hips.
“Excuse me, is this how you treat all of your customers? Leave them standing, waiting for you to serve them for a good twenty minutes whilst you have a good old chit-chat with your friend. Well, I’ll have you know that I’m a journalist and I’m going to write an article about this place and its appalling customer service, if I can call it that at all. I hope you’re happy with the fact that you’ve lost a valued customer today through your lack of attention. Have a good day and enjoy your chat!”
Feeling properly rifled and flustered from her little outburst, Eva turned on her heel and stomped her way back round the counter trying to lower her anger level that had burst straight through the meter measuring it. She hadn’t realised until she had started talking how annoyed she had been. It was the last straw to break the camel’s back; she was having a bad day and she just wanted to try and make it better but apparently life was too against her to let her do so. Just before she got the door, both the barista and the man in the suit had ran to her side and created a wall of solid chest to stop her from leaving. More exact, the man in the suit had stopped her from leaving with his muscular form whilst the barista looked like he’d only just sprouted chest hair. This only added fuel to the fire burning inside of her and she glared at both of them.
“Move.”
“I can’t do that, Miss, if you write that article about this place; I’ll get fired. I need my job, please.”
“Maybe you should’ve thought about that earlier or at least paid attention to your job in the first place. You only have yourself to blame if you lose your job. Now move, before I add harassment onto my list of things wrong with this coffee shop.”
Neither of the guys moved and she wished that she was a good number of pounds heavier than she was. At least if she was heavier, she might’ve had a chance of pushing past them both but it looked like a solid mass of muscle and any attempts would be futile.
“It was my fault, Miss…”
“Spence,” she bit out with vengeance.
“Miss Spence, I had called earlier to talk about putting on more fitness centred drinks, smoothies and whatnot, and once we got talking about it; it was hard to stop. You see, I get enthusiastic about my work and it was my fault that we got off track leaving you to stand waiting. I apologise.”
She couldn’t believe her ears when he had said sorry to her. Guys that looked like him, and clearly worked in a high pressured job, didn’t apologise to people; they made people apologise to them instead. Eva was sure that she was standing in front of him with her mouth wide open but she couldn’t tell her brain to stop gawping.
“Is there anything I can do? Buy you a coffee, at the very least. What was it that you wanted?”
She looked from the face of the man in the suit, to the face of the barista and she saw the worry written all over his face. He kept rubbing his sweaty palms together and she realised how nervous she had made him. She probably wouldn’t have gotten the go-ahead to write such an article especially being late this morning, she didn’t have the power but he thought she had and that was what made the threat so menacing. The moment she saw how vulnerable he looked, she felt guilty for getting irate at him. He only looked fresh out of college and was probably working to pay off his education. Her frown softened into a smile as she regained control of her emotions and she looked back at the man in the suit.
“You can buy my coffee for the rest of this week. We can meet in here at 8 o’clock, and you can pay for whatever I wish to order for compensation of wasting my time with waiting.”
“That sounds fair, Miss Spence.”"

Where is the time going?

As I am sat here getting ready, it occurred to me that not just the other day I was shocked at how it was already the 1st November; but today I am struck by a bigger revelation. We are already half way through November and I know- as the hours tick by, so do the days but I literally can't remember what I have been doing to warrant the days to have sped by this quickly.

Even as I sit here, I know it's already Tuesday of this week and in no time, I'll be looking upon the weekend again with the same sense of freedom as I always do. It's true what they say about time flying the older you get because I can't believe that we're just peering at 2013 from across the water- in no time, we'll be celebrating the New Year and that is definitely scary.

When I think about my time at uni, and this year being my last- no matter how long I may make it out to be; it has whizzed by faster than a firework exploding in the sky. Blink one second and you'd have missed it. Already on my way to being 1/3 of the way through my final year; and yes it's scary as hell. I know that these are the moments I need to remember whenever I want something to hurry up because I should be treasuring every second and not wishing my life away. I need to remember that otherwise I'll be 50 before I know and have no idea what I did with my life (exaggeration is a must in life.)

Revelation Tuesday is blowing my mind. Although, this does mean that Christmas isn't just around the corner, it's knocking right on our doorsteps and I can't wait!

Over and out,
p.s. I got sick when I went home and now I'm suffering, poor Nicole!! xxx

Remembrance Day

These types of blogs are always the hardest to write about. What words could ever be sufficient enough to explain and talk about the brave, courageous and marvellous people that in the past, and to this day, chose to make the biggest decision of their lives for their country. The English Language isn't equipped to possess such strong, and fitting adjectives that describe these people and their actions. The only way I can think of describing them is by using a normally misguided, and wrongly placed word- they are heroes in every single sense of the word. Batman, Spiderman and Superman are all referred to as heroes but are fictional and irrelevant  The purest type of hero is that of our armies- our soldiers; both fallen and fighting.

My remembrance day always begins with the sorrow remembering the fallen- the sheer number of heroes that we have lost over the years who fought endlessly for our freedom and our country. But as the day goes on, I realise that as much as the day should be mournful and filled with sorrow, a deep sense of pride should settle in our hearts. Each and every soldier that fought and is still fighting for us all are normal people doing extraordinary things on a daily basis; risking their lives for the majority. How can we compare these to fictional heroes when they go above and beyond that of any story told to children at night. As much as sadness is an element of today, we must be proud and eternally thankful. I wish to take my thoughts of the soldiers and pray that their family and friends can share the sense of pride that I do, missing their loved ones but knowing that they are the greatest example and show/have shown the greatest act of heroism , and that they died fighting for all of us to live happily and content.

The brave, selfless and amazing soldiers deserve the day where we all remember their courage and strength.

Let us all take a leaf out of their books, and lest we forget the sacrifice our soldiers gave to provide a brighter, and safer future for not just us but for our children. They shine down on us all from heaven, so make them proud just as they have made us proud.

With the greatest love and appreciation,
Nicole xx

Miss Ryan no more...

I completed my first full week at a primary school, and I think I did pretty darn good if you ask me. I didn't just stand around observing and doing nothing, I got involved and worked with groups of children making sure they were engaged and involved in the learning process. I got good praise from the teachers I worked with and I think from the number of compliments and hugs I got from the children that they approved of how I worked too. The only thing I need to do now is get the confidence to send off my application for PGCE knowing that if I do get accepted; I'm going to have to be a teacher. It's a scary thought even though it's what I want to do. It'll be completely different. I will be central to the children's learning and although it's what I want; it's still scary to think about.

Now that it's over and I have to travel back to uni tomorrow, I have come to the realisation that I should've worked harder on my assignment over the week. I am now sitting on my sofa surrounded by lots of paper, and multiple tabs open trying to complete the assignment to the best of my ability. I can tell you this now, I have NOT done this assignment anywhere near the standard that I could. I'm feeling so guilty for the preoccupation of my mind on school and not my assignment and I hope that somehow I can pull a fairly good grade out of the bag. I'm so worried that I won't be able to. I'm petrified that I'm going to get this assignment back and feel the crashing waves of disappointment roll over me the second I see the mark. I'm trying to be positive in the fact that I've probably done better than I think but I know that I haven't.

I can hear you all saying, there's still time and to stop moaning and get on with it to make it better and trust me I am with all my will and power. Pray for me and keep everything crossed so I don't completely flop my third year.

I will miss being called Miss Ryan and being a figure of authority but for now, I think I'm quite happy to be the semi-lazy, and semi-stressed student that doesn't have that much of responsibility except for herself.

So, I say have a wondeful weekend, and bid you farewell from a very stressed Nicole. Hopefully I'll be back with another blog soon, and won't have died from this assignment. AU REVOIR!

Give blood...

Firstly, another instalment of how Nicole is getting on in school - I worked in year 2 today and there's only one thing that I can say about it. I do not want to teach children any lower than year 3... I thought that I would like the younger children more than the older ones because they're cuter but let me tell you, this experience has been enlightening. They weren't naughty, and they were definitely lovely but gosh can they moan and cry. Don't even get me started on how they lack the skills of sharing. They moan about someone being able to carry the sheet over to the carpet, and end up crying if they don't get their own way. It was the first time this week that I legitimately felt like I was losing my patience with them (to clear up, I was just getting annoyed, nothing more than internal losing of patience).

Also, the lack of ability to write properly annoys me when I know it shouldn't. I don't know whether or not it was just a weird day where I was tired and impatient, but it got to me. I think from this, I can tell that I want to have the challenge of the older kids. Whether I can handle them or not is another thing, but we'll see how that goes.

After work, I went and gave blood at one of the centres that had been put in place for the service. I was nervous because it had been so long between the first time I gave blood and now. But once I got on the bed, and the needle was in my arm, I was perfectly fine. It went really quickly as it had done before and I wasn't light-headed by the end of it. I wish we could give blood more in the year (and not have to wait 6 months to do it again) but whenever I get the chance, I definitely want to donate more. Last time I tried to donate, I was low on iron and so this time I was prepared. I took natural iron supplements and ate lots of food that was high in iron and it worked perfectly. My blood dropped down into the solution as soon as it was pipetted into it telling me my iron levels were fine.

I love giving and knowing that my blood donation today could be used to save a life. It is such a good feeling. If any of you have thought about it and wanted to give blood, you definitely should give it a try. You can pull out at any time, even when they are drawing blood- you just have to speak up and they'll take the needle out. It's a wonderful thing to do and makes you proud to know you've helped in anyway you can.

Over and out! xxx

4 more years...

I woke up this morning to find that Obama has been re-elected as President of the United States for the next 4 years. If I'm honest, I was hoping that he would be- not because I know anything that his constituency involves or any policies he wants to implement but because he looks like a cool dude. He's one of those political figure heads that you know can get "down with the kids" so to speak (yes, I cringed writing that too, but I couldn't figure out a way to put it any other way.)

I have no idea about American politics, mainly because I don't have to, but from what we get to see, it doesn't seem as if Obama has "screwed" up America any more than it already was. In fact, I think he's done a pretty good job given the way it was handed to him from Bush. I'd even go as far to say that he's done well in raising America out of the terrible situation Bush left them with. The war in Iraq is nearly over, at least we hope it is, and everywhere the economy is rubbish but hopefully new employment opportunities will be created.

Now the vote is over, none of us (not like I did in the first place) have a say on how the next four years are going to go. It's just a situation that has to play out, and if America got it wrong; they got it wrong. The whole point of electing someone is making sure everyone gets their say and chance to make a difference. I'm excited to see how well Obama does, or as Mitt Romney likes to think; how bad he will screw America over.

It's quite wrong how interested in the American election we (including myself) are, but when it comes to our own Prime Minister election, some of us don't even understand or care the politics behind the people.

Good Luck Obama, I'm sure you'll do your very best for your country. Here's to the next four years!

I'm off to school.
Have a wonderful day, it's half way through the week- only 2 more days til the weekend; if that doesn't give you something to smile about, I don't know what will.
Nicole xxx

First day at school...

So, I spent my first full day in a primary school for work experience and it was enlightening. I was in year 6 and the kids were lovely, if not a little full on sometimes. I remember a couple of times having to tell them that the stuff they were doing/talking about was not related to the task and so to concentrate on the work. Despite this, I loved it and I'm pretty sure I do want to be a teacher in the future. I liked the whole set up but would definitely like the control of a classroom, even if I am pretty scared. I think I did fairly well for a first day. I got involved and the kids seemed to like me; at the end I had gotten a hug, a girl telling me I was pretty and groans when they heard that I wasn't going to be staying for the rest of the week. If that's not acceptance, I don't know what is.

Tomorrow, I'm going to be working in year 4 and I'm excited to see how the kids vary from the age groups. I have to say I was immensely impressed with the English lesson I was in this morning. Some of them children have a promising future in writing and it's amazing. When I was reading some of their sentences, I don't think I could have written it any better, if not as good as it was. Now, I'm a little worried that they're going to pose as real tough competition to me, haha!

This is the outfit I chose to wear. It took me a fairly long time to decide what image I wanted to give across to my past teachers who I would be working with but I was quite happy with what I had come up with. It gave a sense of importance and teacher'ness to the children and said I was serious in observing and working to become a teacher. Did I hit the look on the head?

I have a feeling this blog is going to turn into a fashion blog if I'm not careful (not that I have any fashion sense whatsoever, but in the sharing my outfit sense).

I'm less nervous on how the rest of the week will go now that I've completed probably the toughest day. But the staff room banter is not for me; I sit there for the hour break just waiting for the time to go so that I can get back to work. I think I'm going to take my laptop in and do some work during my lunch hour so that I can get some of my assignment out of the way during the day.

I now have to motivate myself to start work after I have already been busy since 7AM. The life of a real adult is beginning for this week.

Over and out for Miss Ryan, see you tomorrow class ;)

Love who you are...

I'm taking a break from doing my assignment because I am stuck on what to write next. The most natural thing for me to do is go from one writing assignment to another writing activity. I'm a writer at heart; it just makes sense. Although, this type of writing is never taxing or a chore; I love it.

As I was taking a break and browsing through my Facebook as I usually do, I came across this picture and however cheesy and teenager'ish it looks, I think it holds a valuable message that we should all understand and take with us through our journey of life. Naturally, I had to blog about it...

I know, regardless if people say it or not, all of us have a greatest want in life of being loved by another or others and for this family doesn't really count because they love you unconditionally. But the truth is, how can you expect someone else to love you for everything you are and everything you're not or for you to truly love someone else; if you don't 100% love yourself beforehand? It's one of the hardest things that we have to accept and subsequently put into action but I can assure you that the second you accept yourself and wholly love yourself; you'll be a lot happier in life.

The reason we all aren't perfect is because we are all individuals and our flaws make us who we are. Some people think they have no flaws whatsoever, other people ignore their flaws and others simply let them drown all the confidence they may have in themselves by dwelling on their lack of perfection. None of the things I have stated is healthy for people. We have to understand that the flaws we have are why people love us. It may sound opposite to what we are thought to believe, but it's true. If we were all overly confident, our modesty wouldn't make us lovable. If we were all good at everything we do, we wouldn't be able to have a talent that makes us stand apart from others. We'd all be the same.

Our imperfections are what makes us perfect. Embrace flaws, and know that there is someone out there that will love you for everything you aren't. But to allow for that, we have to love ourselves, wholly and completely.

Cheesy Sunday blog is over, thankfully (until next time!). On this rainy Sunday evening, I am embracing my flaws of being self-conscious, irrational, neurotic and a little too nerdy for my liking, amongst a big handful of other things. But I know it's these things that make me modest, humble and genuinely caring for everyone I know. I appreciate all that I have- I'm lucky.

Embrace yourself and enjoy the Monday morning feeling tomorrow! All my love! xxx

Finally home!

After 6 weeks of being at uni and missing my family, I finally made it home and I love it.

I love uni and living on my own but there's nothing like being surrounded by those you love and are happiest with. When I get sad, or when the stresses of work get too much; I always long to be at home with my family and cats. The overwhelming need to be around them is one that I don't think I'll ever understand but I am proud to say I am very much a home girl. In the words of Dorothy, there really is no place like home.

There's nothing like the intense feeling of relief when the coach sets off from Cardiff knowing that in a couple of hours, I'm going to be back. I loved that feeling yesterday- even if my coach was late making me miss my train but this is no time to be moaning.

As well as being able to be with my family, being home means I get to catch up with my friends from home that I have missed being in Cardiff. Yesterday night, I got to spend magical hours with 3 of the best friends ever in Nandos. Whenever I go out with them, they never fail in making my cheeks and ribs hurt from laughing so much. They make me happy and the stresses of work and uni just fades away into the distance. And this morning  I got to spend more magical moments with my oldest friend, Gerri and it didn't even matter that we did nothing but sit around and talk; because that was the perfect way to spend the time with her. The catch-ups are always amazing no matter how big or little, long or short they are.

Unfortunately, my trip home is not all fun and games. I have an assignment to complete ready for the Monday when I go back. And I'm completing a week in my old primary school, observing and doing some work experience before I send off my application for a PGCE course. I am scared, nervous and a little excited. I think this week is either going to make me send my application off or rip it up and re-evaluate my life.

I'll be sure to update you on how I get on, because I know everyone is dying to know about my life ;) (in case you didn't get the sarcasm, this IS a joke, haha)

I'm off to see the fireworks for bonfire night! Hope you all have a magical evening, and enjoy the weekend!
Lots of love, Nicole xxx

Injuries

I have a theory.

My theory is that every time I go out, my body decides that it needs to do something to itself in order to cause myself pain... it's basically a theory that says I'm against myself and yes, I'm going to be that sort of person who is paranoid about those sorts of things.

Last night was one of the best nights out I think I've had in ages. Charlotte and I spent most of the afternoon, perfecting our pumpkin tops (drawing on the face and colouring them in; and let me tell you- it may look simple and easy but it turns out to be harder than it looks) and then we carved a pumpkin before we got dressed up in our super cute pumpkin outfit to go out.

In typical Cardiff style, it rained...

We walked in the rain to the club, and I had to rush to get out the house which meant I forgot to put a plaster on the blister that I had gotten on Saturday night when I went out (body against me theory) but I didn't notice it that much because I was way too tipsy, and having too much fun dancing to think about it. But then the clock struck about 2:20AM and I felt the pain.

I felt the pain of sore feet from standing up and dancing all night, and I felt the pain of my shoe rubbing against the exposed wound on my foot. I was more than ready to go home. At about 2:50 (10 minutes before the club closed) I had had enough and we made the journey home. I literally had to grit my teeth together to stop myself from crying from how painful it was. But there was no other way home and so I had to endure it. The second I could get the shoes off, I did. I stepped through the door of my house, and collapsed on the floor finding my blister had bled everywhere. Charlotte got a tissue and cleaned it for me which stung like a *****.

Even though I had a painful end to the night, I had a freaking amazing time out and I can't wait for more nights out. I love it.

I thought I'd share some of the pictures with you, from my night out...
Did you all have a good Halloween? What did you dress up as? What did you do? I guess it's all over until next year, but I'm sure I'll have many more nights out to come minus the super cute outfit :P


LOTS OF LOVE xxx