I realise that I've very much neglected this entire blog in attempts to get my life together in other ways...... safe to say that hasn't went very well, haha!
While I'm supposed to be trying to find a job for my placement year, work on my portfolio and juggle a part time job as well as making time for my friends, I ended up taking myself off to London for 4 days instead!
To be fair I got to spend 4 days with 3 of my closest friends and fall in love with the beautiful city of London (I also got to go to the Harry Potter Studios and cried like the little Ravenclaw student I am)
Oh my word London is now my favourite place in the world! I will 100% be moving there after graduation, I loved every part of it, from the tube in rush hour to the little coffee shops on every corner! total bliss in the city!!
Here's some photo's of our trip courtesy of Myself and Mark:
We visited art galleries, museums, walked every part of London possible and drank wine as we caught up with our friend Katie, it's exactly what I needed to recharge my mind and body and I've returned home ready to get stuck into life! I'm writing this post rather quickly as I have to go to work now but I will get back to you all soon with more exciting posts about what projects and adventures I've been up to!!
January exams are the worst, trying to cram all that work you didn't do over christmas into 1 week and instantly regretting all the time you spent having fun. Don't make studying and revising a chore that you hate, make it something that you aren't wanting to put off.
Over the years of school work I had to do, here are some tips I learnt to making it more bearable.
Listen to Music
By this I don't mean anything distracting that will result in you dancing and singing around your room or office (we're all guilty of it) but I've found that soundtracks work best for me. Especially the Harry Potter ones, I adore Harry Potter and anything in relation to it makes me feel at ease almost immediately. I have my own playlist on Spotify of all the movie's soundtracks together. Feel free to give it a try or even put your own one together!
If background noise is more your thing I was introduced to this playlist on youtube by a friend. It's background noises of what it would sound like in certain places from the Wizarding World! but if harry potter isn't your thing there are other playlists you can find on the same channel.
Don't make notes boring
When revising I found it most helpful to not take notes in a notepad but buy a sketchbook/jotter and take colourful notes in it, draw little sketches to help you remember things, make it a process of creating your own journal full of things you need to know.
Write quotes in huge colourful letters or equations in fancy fonts. Print out diagrams online or draw them yourself. It makes it fun to take notes and even stick in your flashcards afterwards as well, plus you have a cool looking journal by the end of it as well.
Take breaks
By this I mean sensible ones, not where you study for 10 mins and then take an hour to watch netflix. Do half an hour of revision and then take a walk to the local coffee shop, take your journal with you and read as you walk or sit with your coffee, or take your coffee back home and get stuck into revision again, the walk will help you destress.
Share notes with friends
If you find a way of revising that works for you, share it, it might help friends too or meet up and tell them about what you're learning, I had a friend once who told me he could answer several questions perfectly on his history paper as he was with me when he read about them and then told me what he had read. It's like when you read a book or watch a movie, you can then tell your friend what had happened in the story, treat your subjects like this as well.
Don't cram!
Cramming is the worst thing you can do to yourself it causes anxiety and stress and you might not cover what you need to know. Instead of waiting until exam time, read over notes throughout the semester and take notes (make that journal!) as you go, then when the exam comes you'll have your notes shortened down even more and you'll remember what you need to know easier without the stress.
Treat studying like school.
wake up at 8am, study until 10am, take a mid morning break and then work on until lunch and so on... when it comes to the evening go to bed early and treat yourself to a long bath/shower and watch some Netflix with a hot chocolate (or a glass of wine if you're old enough of course!) and read over what you did that day as if it were a book. You'll feel a lot better about what work you completed that day.
Disable Facebook and other social media for 24 hours at a time.
If you miss something super important I'm sure a friend would ring to tell you, but nothing on facebook is any more important than exams.
I hope this advice helps you all and good luck in any exam you have :)
Ever had one of those days when you can't stop thinking and realise that you need to do something for yourself? I'm having one of those days today. *sigh*
I'm not a massive fan of this "New year, New me!" stuff and I didn't even celebrate new year this year since I was in work until half 11 on new year's eve... and I haven't even got stuck into the new year since I have a lot of work due for uni, but I'm here to tell you all what I've decided I'm going to work on this year....
"I want to create!"
I want to develop as a creative person and make things!
I want to become the better, creative version of myself and grow.. And I hope that you, reading this right now, will join me in this journey.
I want to travel and create things from what I see and I want to start off right here. In Ireland, North and South. I live on this gorgeous island and I want to see it all with my own eyes and enjoy it.
I want to invest in a camera and take it with me to document it all. When will I even get around to this? Who know. but I'm itching to see more of where I've lived for the past 20 years.
2016 will be the year I leave behind the facebook and the twitter and just enjoy what the world has to offer and I can't wait to jump in!
Hola Stranger! I have been very very very busy as of late and thought I would share with you guys a happy little playlist me and my friends have created for us to work to in our little make-shift office!
Earlier this summer I went to Cyprus along with my family and 30 others for my sisters wedding, it has been the best holiday I've ever had, we all had such a blast! the wedding was perfect, the weather was beautiful and getting to spend time with everyone was just the cherry on top, we all got on so well and had such a laugh! We through a huge pool party, beach party and of course wedding party. My sister was determined to show everyone the place we fell in love with as kids, and my the end of the 2 weeks everyone had fell in love with Cyprus as well, I mean, who wouldn't?! It's one of the most beautiful countries out there.
No matter how hard I try I just can't sum up the time we had in words, but by sharing the photos I hope you can see just how amazing it was!
I've been taking this month very slow, I've tried not be in such a rush all the time. I made a playlist of chilled out music to suit my vibe for the month. I hope you enjoy it :)
It's been far too long since I posted on my Blog *slaps wrist* but here I am and I have an awful lot to update you all on! So grab a cup of hot coco and settle down! I'm very very excited and just feel so ready for the future. I have a lot to talk about and some things deserve a blog post of their own so this is just a little update of what you can expect of me over the next coming months...
Since my last post about my first year of university ending I have had a lot of things happen...I'm now a fully fledged Blonde! (and if you're a girl you'll know how much a hairstyle makeover can change your personality, it's such a girl thing!), I've travelled to Cyprus to see my beautiful big sister get married!! eek! and well...thats it really the rest just consists of spending time with my best friend, finding a new love for the show Once Upon a Time and developing myself creatively, I'm determined to go back to university with a fresh creative flow and I'm confident I can do so!
So expect a lot more blog posts from me over the next few weeks! I'm only very excited to get back into blogging!!
It's been a while since I wrote a post, I've missed it but lately university has been taking up all of my time but it's finally over, all the work I've been doing since September is finally over and I'll be honest about it, I feel so empty today. I woke up with nothing to do and no where to be, it was only then when I realised how a big part pf my life uni has become and even though it's only been 1 day I miss everyone so much, probably too much but you can't blame me for being so fond of this little group of Animators, they are such a unique bunch of people.
Only in the past week or so I've realised how grateful I am for this opportunity, I've begun a part of my life that will be the basis of my favourite memories in my lifetime all while building skills for my career in animation/visual effects.
It was the day before our deadline, we still didn't have an animation (our team fell apart and 3 of us were left to fend for ourselves a week before the deadline) so there was no choice but to have an all nighter in the university and hope that we make the deadline. Turns out that as well as getting loads of work done, we had a blast of a night, we watched 9 movies on the projector in the room (Tarzan an Pitch Perfect were in there of course and my night was topped off with How to Train your Dragon 2 at 5am)
Our building that we're in goes up to a high level, we are able to see the skyline from our classroom, at around half 6 the sun began to rise over Belfast and I got to watch it happen with a few people who I had spent the night with, this was such a nice way to end a hard working night and gave us a chance to relax from the stress of the deadline. It was such a beautiful morning.
This is a photo I'll treasure, I think it's gorgeous.
However, when you're working for such a long time you tend to get distracted in the creative flow of everything: Mark, Shannon and myself took advantage of being in an empty building and made a ghost video we've entitled 'The Ghost of UUB'...Procrastination at its finest!!
After a stressful night and day we had our wrap party on Friday night, it was great to have everyone together for one last time and share our work, have some amazing food and a few cocktails.
I can honestly say, hand on heart I'm so blessed to know every single one of these guys and to work with them is a complete pleasure.
"The moment you realise you're a part of something special"
I'd also like to give a shoutout to my little squad who make me smile and laugh around the stress, you guys are the biggest bunch on knobs I've ever come across, and I couldn't love you any more for it.
One of those late nights where I find myself scrolling through photographs that hold memories from at least 2 years ago, I never thought it would cast me into thoughts of how far I've come in such a short space of time.
I'm currently 19 going on 20, I'm at a stage in my life where everything is moving faster and faster and I'm leaving behind the confused little teenager I once was. I feel a lot more comfortable in myself and I can honestly say with a smile on my face "I am happy!"
I have went from studying my GCSEs to university level in what seems a matter of hours which in reality has been a matter of years, but I know I've taken the right path in my life and I can't wait for the future, I've never felt so determined or comfortable with myself before and it's the best feeling I've ever had.
Look at these pictures; what do you see? A series of events and memories? fun times that I've managed to capture? Well I see a development of someone who was shy, unsure, unhappy, uncomfortable and lacking a whole lot of confidence in herself and what she wanted. This development has lead her to being a happy, confident, content, determined, creative human and I am more than ready for the rest of my life. Bring it on world!
I'm going to share thoughts with you that have helped me see life in a different way and made me happier;
Nothing Good Gets Away!
If something doesn't work, whether it's a relationship or an opportunity if it was meant to happen for a reason it would, and if not then let it go- nothing good gets away- so don't waste what time you have in your life trying to get to something that isn't worth it in the end.
Stop comparing yourself to others.
The only person you should try to be better than is the person you were yesterday. Everyone is different so find happiness within yourself, not others.
It's not about how good you are, It's how good you want to be.
What you put into something is what you'll get out of it, work hard to get where you want to be and you'll be rewarded with amazing opportunities and a great outcome.
Take Risks.
There's no point in asking yourself 'what if' forever, just get out there and do it, take risks, because if you don't then who knows what you're missing out on.
