Same Old Same Old

  Recently I've felt that uni life has become a bit monotonous. I get up, go to my classes, do my assignments, sit the same old exams and go to bed. It's like one big never ending cycle that's starting to drive me a bit crazy. As much as I enjoy having an independent life that I don't quite get at home, there are often times where I get so frustrated and just can't wait for uni to be over. When I first applied I knew that I wasn't looking forward to a further 3 years of study, I've jumped through enough educational hoops to last me a lifetime thank you very much. But nevertheless I went because I felt it was the only route that would get me the job I wanted. But now I'm not even sure psychology is what I want to do anymore, it has meant as much to me as sociology did, and whenever people ask me why I do it, my reply is simply that I feel it gives me more options career wise later in life. Which is quite sad because surely the point of a degree is to do what you love and follow your passion. Unfortunately though seeing as I've reached the half way stage it seems that the only option is for me to carry my degree through to the bitter end before discarding it on the pile of things I never wish to revisit. But until then I have more pressing issues, such as where I left that Social psychology textbook :/

Remember, Remember, The 5th of November

  Tonight me and my flatmate went with a bunch of people to Pype Hayes park up in North Birmingham to see us some fireworks and get lost in the park that had been transformed in a huge fairground for the night. It was cold, muddy, and at times confusing trying not to lose each other in the crowd, but it was nice to get out of town centre for a bit and go do something fun, even if it did mean having to wait half an hour for a taxi afterwards and then having to walk to said taxi because the driver just couldn't be bothered to drive all the way to where we were waiting. Unfortunately the fireworks weren't anything spectacular in all honesty but hey, at least it didn't rain. And being British and all, I'd say that makes any night a big success ;) 

Phase 1 Complete, Level Up.

In my last post I mentioned my last exam was today, so let me just tell you how it feels knowing I don't have to work for the next 4 months. IT FEELS AMAZING! Now that they're all over I'm beginning to wonder what all the fuss was about, I can't believed I got so stressed out and morphed into a monster for the last 2 weeks all over these exams. That aside, I can't believe I survived a year here, it's been such a rollercoaster of emotions and experiences and stuff, I've learnt so much and met some incredible people. It just feels unreal that this time next week I'll be reclining on my sofa at home catching up on Criminal Minds surrounded by all the comforts of home. I can't decide what to do first when I get back, I guess unpacking is a good place to start. This summer is going to be spent with all thoughts of uni and studying pushed to the back of my mind, I love it here but home is calling me. I'm even looking forward to going back to my job, which I never thought I'd hear myself say! It's great knowing my days up until Saturday are my own to do whatever I want with, and they shall be spent in a limbo between frantic packing and being comatose for a large amount of the time.

To Kindle Or Not To Kindle

  Now I've always been a little dubious about these Kindle's, so you can understand the hesitation in my voice when my mother asked me what I wanted for my birthday this year and I replied "a Kindle". The thing is, I much prefer reading a book I can hold and feel the pages as they turn etc, but this may just be my old fashionedness talking. It was pointed out to me though that Kindle's can be lifesavers when travelling and stuff, and as a uni student struggling for space in a small room with an ever expanding wardrobe it became clear to me this year that as much as i love my darling books there is no way I can bring them all back with me in September, which is sad times. Fortunately this Kindle is here to save the day, i've only had it a few hours and my eyes have already been opened. Who would have thought a tiny little thing could carry hundreds of books and still weigh less than the lightest of paperbacks. And as if this couldn't get any better, pretty much all the books I read are serious classics, meaning they're all free online anyway. Life just gets better and better, defo the best birthday present I ever asked for!

In The Name Of Fashion

Today was student lock-in in Birmingham's Bullring today, which for those of you who don't know is a student event where basically stores take pity/advantage/money off of us poor penniless students and make us even poorer by offering mega discounts to entice us all in. Sadly for some of us such as myself it works everytime and I spent the best part of my afternoon down there shopping up a storm in New Look, Topshop and Boux Avenue and taking advantage of the 20% off. I have to say though I have no regrets whatsoever, my patience was rewarded when I got my hands on that maxi number I've been eyeing up and posted on here the other day, as well as some tops and lingerie of course. Topshop do an amazing offer where you can buy 3 items for £10 yet somehow the woman on till managed to mess it up and sell it to me for £7. Hey who am I to turn down a cheaper offer, I certainly wasn't going to correct her :3 ! Boux Avenue was a joke though, usually I'm a huge fan but the queue for the changing rooms was ridiculous. I wasted the best part of an hour waiting in that queue only to find out I could have just bought the stuff without bothering to try it on beforehand, to say I was annoyed is a massive understatement, although getting free stuff did cheer me up immensely. My card is officially on ice now until further notice

Death By Pizza

I never thought I'd actually say this, but I'm sick of pizza. If I had it my way I would not have to even look at one for a very long time. Why the sudden change of heart I hear you all ask? Well let me break it down for you all. This week my student loan for the term came through, and you know that blissful period at the beginning of a new term where you can swagger around flashing the cash until the rent gets paid? Well that's where I am right now, and I'm ashamed to say I've ordered take out 4 times this week, and I've only been back for 5 days, oh the humanity. So I think it's fair to say after this week I will be back to living off air, because you know, that's the harsh reality of student life. Is it too soon to go back home already? 

Student Living Is Good For You

When I packed my bags in September and was sent on my way to beautiful Birmingham, the one thing everyone told me was that I'd fall victim to a number of unforgivable habits. I'd live solely on pizza and takeouts rather than traipse to the local supermarket to buy healthy food (well that's true), I'd forget the meaning of the word "study" (also true), and when I did study I would be pulling all nighters in the library surviving on Red Bull and coffee (wow this is getting spooky) and I'd waste all my free time online doing pointless things (so true). But all these eerily true predictions pale in comparison to that dreaded moment where you realise your regular sleeping pattern is now set to sleeping all day and being up all night, and until now I saw this as a curse I would be subjected to for the rest of my uni days. However, being home and having a bunch of free time and stuff I took it upon myself to read the news online, yes, you heard me correctly. I read the news. And I happened upon a little report that said new research suggests that those like moi who sleep late and get up later go on to make more money than all you mere mortals. So yeah, think on that one people, you may laugh now but 10 years down the line while you're getting your 8 hours a night remember that you'll probably end up working for me. Don't be hating now. 

Pretty Little Liars Mania (SPOILERS*)

* For anybody who hasn't watched the show, you may not get this, and if you want to go watch it, I'm so sorry for ruining it for you.

As you can imagine, being a student I have plenty of free time on my hands to surf the web, watch movies, sit around aimlessly staring into space or if I'm feeling really extreme, doing my uni assignments. So it won't come as much of a surprise that I've been using all my free time lately to watch Pretty Little Liars from the very beginning up to the present. I know, i know, i should have been watching it when it first came out, but what can I say, I have a life. Actually, that's lies, I really don't. In 2 weeks I've got through seasons 1 and 2 and am halfway through 3, and can I just say this season is the creepiest yet. After Mona got exposed as "A" in the season 2 finale I was all like, oh season 3 will be pathetic now it's all over, but no. Now it looks like there's a whole A-Team and oh my word it looks like this new "A" is more set on murdering the girls than framing them for Ali's murder. I'm dying to find out who it is but apparently I have to wait till episode 13 to find out and I cannot wait. I'm this close to googling it but I know if I do I will never watch it, so I must resist! Just please don't be Toby, Toby is gorgeous and the main reason why I watch this show. Either way, at least my flatmates are accepting this as a valid reason for me to not leave my room. 

Flatmates

I swear some of my flatmates do the stupidest things. Drunk dialling me to tell me I'm HIV positive? Kinda a giveaway it's you when I know you're pre-drinking in the flat next door.

What Is the Harlem Shake?

For those of you who live under a rock or only on this blogging site, you may not have heard of this new YouTube sensation that people are calling the Harlem Shake. Apparently it's the biggest thing since Gangnam Style, but if I'm honest it only came on my radar when somebody at my uni did one in the SU as an election publicity stunt. From what I can gather it involves people randomly dancing around in weird and wonderful costumes, but other than that I don't understand how this became popular. I've combed through them all to find what I deem the best one, so if somebody could watch it and very kindly explain to me why it's so great, would be much appreciated please :)

Out of Touch

Talking to my flatmates and friends today has really made me see how out of touch I am with what's been going on. So I am officially making it my mission to spend as much time with them as possible before I get bored and wander off back to my room. At least this way I won't have to keep asking people to repeat themselves when I don't understand what they're talking about. Seriously though, I've reached a point where I can no longer remember who's friends with who and who's dating who and what plans are for the coming week, this is serious stuff people!

Rookie Errors of Phone Borrowing

My lovely flatmate was borrowing my old Blackberry before Christmas and has only just decided to return it, which is great. What makes this even greater is not only was it handed back in one piece but she'd forgotten to wipe her contacts off of it, including one Mr Ajay D. Needless to say my potentially dull Wednesday evening has just received a much needed injection of fun. I'm going to enjoy this.

Dissension Amongst The Minions

Today for the first time in forever on a day off I was enticed out of the den I call my room into the living room after hearing murmurings of mutiny amongst the minions (flatmates), as I had apparently "not been seen in forever" After being made to feel guilty for a good 10 minutes I caved and dutifully carried my laptop into the living room before setting up camp on the sofa so I could be seen to be "sociable". Needless to say when my flatmates ran out to Asda for an hour and came back they were stunned to still find me there, albeit in exactly the same spot, but in my eyes that's progress, and a new record. So after 2 solid hours of human interaction I slunk off and have now holed myself back up in my den where I can now alternately hibernate and blog as I see fit. Talk about student living at its finest

You Know It's Bad When You Start Talking About The Weather

For anybody who hasn't quite worked this out yet I live in lovely Birmingham in the UK. it's a real change from what I'm used to home in Hertfordshire. Everything's different, people talk funny, there's no grass and the weather plays up like there's no tomorrow. For the past few days we've been experiencing a cold snap like most of the country, only it's so erratic it can be sunny with blue skies one moment, and then within 30 seconds it becomes freezing and starts snowing like crazy. It would be so amusing to watch if it weren't so frustrating about deciding what to wear, maybe I should start carrying 2 outfits around with me and just change according to the weather. Just so you can get an idea of what I'm on about, here are 2 photos I took about a minute apart, and before you ask, that building would be a bus depot, because I have an absolutely lovely view from my student accommodation, not.

 

It's not a plane, it's not Superman, it must be an Angry Bird!

My Pet Basil

Morning one and all, 

I thought I would take this opportunity to introduce you to my wonderful pet Angry Bird Basil. He's not a very talkative type, much preferring to sit in the corner and scowl at whoever enters the room, but while I'm at uni he is my baby and I absolutely adore him. I chanced upon finding him in the Bull Ring in an amazing little shop that has now sadly closed down, and the minute I laid eyes on him I just knew I had to have him. You may see him popping up a lot in this blog because he does enjoy being the centre of attention, and he goes on a bit of a rampage if I don't acknowledge his star quality.  As you can probably gather he gets into a lot of trouble so spends a great deal if his time in the naughty corner, but he was able to tay out of it long enough to pose up for this photo ;) .

Me, Myself, and a bit of Twitter promoting on the side

For those of you who pay no attention to sideinfos or get bored and don't get far enough on this page, I thought I'd take the trouble to put up my bio in a post, because I'm feeling nice and all that.

Nina's my name, I'm 19 going on 20, (i know, old right) and I'm currently learning me some of that Psychology stuff at Birmingham City Uni, which means I get to live in the greatest city ever in my humble opinion.

Anything else we should know about you I hear you ask? Well I'm a Christian and have been for nearly 2 years now, I love horses and spend my free time (which is always) reading and trawling the internet for some hilarious stuff to share with you guys, and I'm currently having the time of my life!

Got any burning questions? Well post them up here or tweet me @Tiggerlily2305 . Shameless Twitter promoting, I really have no shame. But really... do it.