Things uni taught me part II | Final year edition

A while ago I wrote a post called "Things uni has taught me" when I was doing my second year, of which I essentially spent drunk, bored, or asleep. 

I thought it would be a good idea to do another version of this now, half way through my final year so you can see how things actually changed.

A lot of things have changed since then, especially me as a person and my mentality and approach to my degree and university work. I have also made a lot of changes to my life, as you will see as we go along! 

I am quite proud of the person I am becoming, so hopefully that will come across in the changes I have made since this time last year!


#1. Dissertations are hard
I always knew writing a dissertation would suck, but oh my goodness it is awful. Not even awful in a bad way, but it is a lot of work. I have done 4300 words so far, and I have 7700 left. The key is slowly but surely, and choose something you don't mind writing about for 7 months!

#2. Alcohol isn't that great
I never thought this would be something that I would ever say, given I spent 90% of my second year drinking. I gave up drinking as a personal choice to help me lose weight, but also because I wasn't enjoying it any more; I wasn't getting that excited kick from it. It is surprising how much hassle I got from a lot of people because of this choice, actually. But I feel so much better for it, and not having a hangover is amazing!  

#3. Planning ahead is a good idea
This sort of applies for anything in life, but is something I have come to find a great comfort in. I plan my shopping in advance, I plan when I am going to do work, when I'm not going to do work. I live my life by a to-do list at the moment, and I am not even ashamed about it. It keeps me on schedule, and keeps my mind at bay.

#4. Healthy eating is actually possible
I have maintained throughout the last 2 years that I can't afford to eat healthily at uni. I would binge eat mountains of crap, and live solidly on microwave ready meals. For some reason something in my mind switched to a different lever a while back and I though I would give this healthy eating thing a go. Turns out it's possible, and best of all, it's great!

#5. Dinner at midnight is fine
As a slight contrast to my last statement, I still often eat at midnight - but not because I am being lazy. I have found that recently I am eating later on in the evenings because I am still doing work at my normal dinner time and I don't want to get out of that mindset and rhythm. Just because you eat at midnight, doesn't mean it has to be junk.

#6. Making decisions is hard
This is something I am pretty sure I have ranted to you about before. I am awful at making decisions at the best of times, but when I have the added pressure of a deadline, or somebody wanting me to make the decision, it seems to take me much longer to come to a conclusion. I am starting to resolve to picking things out of a hat.

#7. Graduate schemes suck so bad
I think I am going to rant about this separately, but oh my goodness, grad schemes are awful. I have applied for several of these, and each time get rejected because of my not-so-great maths skills, even when the job has nothing to do with maths. It really bugs me and I am getting so stressed out (often to the point of tears) because of it. Why can't I suddenly get a lot of recognition for my blog and use it as a job?

#8. The library really is a maze
I have never been a mass fan of the university library - it is often too big and that freaks me out a tiny bit. It doesn't help that it is often rammed, especially around deadlines which means there are loads of people so queue anxiety. When you have a very broad subject with books that cover several areas, you essentially get a mini-workout whilst hunting them down. Learn where to find your books, and you will be fine.

#9. Lecturers become a lifeline
I have, on the most part, amazing lecturers - especially my dissertation supervisor. It has only been in the last year that I have realised how dedicated and great they are. I can honestly, hand on heart say that I don't think I would be as calm as I am now if it weren't for them.

#10. Money is valuable
You don't need to eat out all the time, you don't need to spend all your money on a night out, and you don't need that new top. Stopping and thinking before you dip your hand in your pocket could save you so much money.

#11. Life decisions suck
Trying to decide what I want to do for the rest of my life is a massive pain in the arse. Can someone decide for me? Please?

#12. Your bed is your best friend
Sleep is important, so having a comfy bed is a good idea. Also, if I get too stressed I tend to take 15 minutes and sit in bed, do nothing, and close my eyes. I find that if you separate your work from your bed you will sleep much better without that association. 

#13. Work becomes essential
40% is no longer a thing to celebrate, and I have found myself spending more time on my work in general than I have socialising, eating, and probably even sleeping. But I know that it will all be worth it come September when I graduate.

#14. Coffee is better than oxygen
I am a big coffee person, I think you probably already know that. When I am doing a day of work I often go through around 12 cups of coffee. I actually recently switched to skimmed milk so I don't feel so guilty drinking so much of it. 

#15. Stress is a norm
This is coming from someone who doesn't deal with stress very well; it gets easier to handle. Once you start to see a dent being made in your workload you start to feel a slight sense of achievement, and you can relax a teeny bit.

#16. Organisation is key
I have several to-do lists, a wall planner, a calendar, and approximately 12 notebooks on the go at the moment. You can never have enough paper!

#17. Tidy room, tidy mind
I cannot condemn procrastination because of the fact that I am the world's biggest procrastinator. But recently I have found myself being productive, counter-productively. I actually clean and organise to procrastinate now, instead of watching an entire TV series in one day. Progress!

#18. It gets harder to procrastinate
See! Procrastination gets less appealing the more work you have to do. Once you learn to resist temptation you'll be well away.

#19. Priorities are needed
This is why I have a to-do list! I can prioritise the things I need to do, then get that satisfaction when I can finally tick one off.

#20. There is a light at the end!
I am finally starting to see that little pinhead of light slowly emerging at the end of a 3 year long tunnel, and I cannot wait to walk out of it! Slowly but surely!


What sort of things did you learn in your final year at university?

Or did you choose to not go?

Tell me in the comments below.

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Where do I go from here?

As many of you possibly know, mainly from previous posts, I am having one of those existential crisis moments. I have no idea what career to embark upon when I leave university...which is in a years time *yelp*.

When I graduate in 2015 I will have studied criminology and criminal justice studies for 3 years, which is an extremely long time to stick at something that puts you about £60k in debt and that you have learned to absolutely hate. 

When I first started university I thought it would be a great subject to study, but it fell a close second to my preferred subject of law - something I adored from A Level's but did not think I would get the grades to study. In true form I got considerably more than the required grades to study law but had applied to study criminology so I settled with that.

Over the last two years I have grown very sick of it, and frankly do not wish to have a career in the criminal justice system or any related field. This has now posed a little bit of a problem for me, as I am back to square one; something I thought I had escaped 3 years ago! 

I put logic to this situation and wrote a list of what I enjoy and what I am passionate about. It went a little something like this:

1. Writing

2. My blog

3. Social media

4. The internet

5. Travel

The obvious thing that jumped out to me from all this was that the first and second things on my list essentially combined into one main aspect surrounding writing. 

So where could I go from here?

I thought a career at Google would have been fantastic, then upon further research discovered that there basically isn't an opportunity there for someone graduating with a criminology degree.

I considered other aspects such as Maker Studios - something I have seen from the Shaytards vlogs (take a look if you haven't heard of them, Shay Carl and his family are AMAZING). Yet again I came to a dead end because they recruit talent based on YouTube content - shockingly something I also lack.

Maybe I could go towards a Twitter or Tumblr career? I do not know. The possibilities are endless, I just need help in finding something I completely enjoy doing.

My ideal career would involve travelling and documenting it on my blog, but doing so for a big social media company. Obviously this is such a far-fetched idea that even I am aware it is pretty impossible. But it's worth a shot right?

What would your dream career be if anything were possible? 

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Big life decisions

Hello there, buddies!

As per usual I am suffering with writer’s block…typical for a Sunday – it never seems to happen any time else. I dislike Sundays…maybe I should have been writing about the fact I hate Sundays? Hmm…

Anyways, crazy person ramble over (sssh) I thought that today I could just ramble on about big decisions I have going on in my messy brain for after I finish university.

Yes, I know I still have two years left, but this is the sort of time when I feel like I need to figure out where I going in life, what I want to achieve, and where I want to be. So naturally, my blogger brain took control and thought that talking to actual people would be a bad idea, and telling you guys is a much more logical mechanism… I am not actually sure whether me typing away to myself is going to solve any of the problems and help me come to any conclusions faster, but we shall see.

I have had these thoughts going round in my head for a couple of months now, so they are considerably clearer than what they were. But basically I have no fucking clue where I am going in my life. I am probably going to get frustrated and not end up publishing this for a while so bear with me.

I know that the last couple of weeks have been slow and not my normal type of posts, so I do apologise for that, but I am hoping to get an all-round feel for my blog, and see how well certain things go down with you guys. I don’t want to give out the image that I am just a person who complains all the time, because I am not, so adding extra posts in like these ones seemed like a good idea. At the moment I am just trialling them to see what the success rate is going to be like, and so far so good! You guys also managed to get me to the front page of Google search results for my post regarding Ask.fm the other day, so thank you so much; that meant the world to me!

I am also going to give a little shout out right now to one of my lovelies who I have been speaking to on Twitter recently! This lovely is Sunny Williams (@notthatsunny) who replied to a Tweet I put out about Harry Potter last night! She is so cute and brand new to Twitter so get following! I also got a reply from Matthew Lewis (the gorgeous man who plays Neville Longbottom in the Harry Potter films) on Twitter last night, so I went fangirl mad.

I have gone completely off topic now….

Ah yes, life decisions.

In September I am going to be starting my second year at uni, as you probably know by now considering I bang on about it allllll the time, and I have been mulling things over about where I want to go after I finish. Literally everything from what job I want to do, to whether I want to take a year out after uni. Then I started thinking about things for the next two years, too. Gah, my mind is boggling.

So I am going to attempt to logically talk them through on here in the hope that they make some sense to you, and in the end to me too, and hopefully you guys can help me out a bit?

Just a warning, these are going to be so here there and everywhere and in absolutely no order at all. I am going to try to be chronological here so that I am not jumping from what I want to do next week, to 2015, then back to this year. That could get confusing…I have written a list and I hope to try to follow it, but you guys know what I am like…

The first thing on my mind is about getting a job for this year and next year when I am in Plymouth. I mean I seriously need the money, like badly. There are so many places I could apply, but most of them are shops and my 4 years’ worth of experience is all in hospitality, so I am fucked there. If someone could pay me to write I would literally be in heaven. I don’t even care what I would be writing about, as long as I get paid. Gah, I sound desperate…Long story short, someone give me a job down in Plymouth. I will be spending the 11^th handing out CVs to every single place with an open door. Prepare your shit, Plym.

Then I am trying to decide whether I am going to do the same thing that I did last year and not go back to Swindon until Christmas then come back to Plymouth for new year, or go home in my reading week for my birthday. To be honest, I would much rather stay in Plymouth, especially because I think I have International Relations lectures that week…and I can be in Plymouth for longer with my friends. Hmm, decisions. I am hoping some of my friends would be up for being back in Plymouth for new year too, so that I am not alone. That would be so sad – getting drunk on my own… +James Martin  new year in Plym-Plym?

Ok, now seriously thinking ahead like two years, I am starting to wonder what the fuck I want to do with my degree like job-wise. When I first joined university I was dead set on joining the police as a full police officer. I have done quite a bit of work with the police over the last year and I have to admit, I am a teeny bit put off from joining it! Which sounds reaaaaally bad, it is nothing to do with the job itself but I think that it isn’t overly suited for me. I don’t know – I am not going to completely rule it out, but it isn’t my first choice anymore. I then thought that I could get the good bit of being in the police by joining as a PCSO so I am not a full officer…still not entirely sure how I feel about doing that, but you know. I have always been interested in youth justice and whatnot, and I have good connections with the Youth Offending Service down in Plymouth and also down here and I would love to work in that area of the criminal justice system, so hopefully they are going to be looking to employ new people in 2015 so that I can go straight in to a job (that will never happen). I am also looking at pursuing this writing this, but writing about my field of study…damn you, blog, making me reconsider everything. 

Now we come to the conundrum that is literally on my mind a lot – where I want to live after I graduate. Now I know I am not going to be able to afford to pick and choose, but everything I am about to say is me thinking in an ideal world. None of it will probably happen because I will be skint. I am, and have been for a while, considering a massive move over to Australia. I have been doing research and there are quite a few job opportunities for me over there, and I have friends and family there who would be able to keep me on my feet for a bit. Gah the temptation. The only thing really holding me back is money to be honest. Then me being more logical and thinking realistically, I am looking at either staying in Plymouth or moving over to somewhere like London. But we shall see where I end up – I will go wherever I can get a job really.

Then I have the whole “do I want to take a year out after uni to go travelling” situation. I was looking at taking a gap year before university, but chose not to as I knew I wouldn’t go to uni after. So now I am thinking of taking some time after uni to get some experiences under my belt by travelling and working abroad for a year or two. Only problem here is that it is crazy expensive to take time out when you don’t have money behind you. I am lucky enough to have finally got myself a job here, so I could easily save the money over the next year, so I will make the decision at the end of university I think. It will depend on job prospects I think. What do you guys think? Should I take time out?

In slight relation to this, I have come to the sudden realisation that I can now afford a major holiday when I graduate – which will be awesome. I was looking at going to Disney World in Florida with my friends, but then we looked at travelling Europe and whatnot. But after seeing the events of Comic Con and Vidcon in San Diego and LA, I think we might he heading over there instead. Would be awesome to actually get to meet the YouTubers I watch and get to go to Comic Con – so many things could be ticked off my Bucket List because of that.

I have so many more decisions that I want to tell you about, but this post is nearing 2000 words already so I should probably stop.

If you have any advice you wanna chuck my way that would be awesome!

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As always, that is all for today, Lovelies.

Toodle-oo!

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