Ghana's Newest Volunteer

  For those of you who don't know me personally, I'm going to Ghana this summer to spend some time volunteering as an English teacher for a couple of weeks in a local school in Accra for underprivileged children. I'm extremely excited to take part as it's been something I've wanted to do for many years but have never had the courage to do up until now. To take part I'll need to fundraise first, so that's what I'll be doing a lot of from now up until I go. 

 Instead of writing a really long post about it though, I'm just going to give you guys the link to a website where I've set up a page to fundraise for my trip. Said link will be posted at the bottom of this post. Even if you aren't able to donate I'd love it if you are able to take some time to read about what I'll be doing during my time there, as it's something I'm really happy to be a part of :) .

http://www.gofundme.com/ninasvolunteering

You Know You Love Me, XOXO

  Gossip Girl fans out there will immediately recognise this title as being the catchphrase of the show. A lot of my friends bang on a lot about Gossip Girl. It may have ended a couple of years ago but that doesn't mean it's fan base isn't still going strong. It doesn't help that Netflix streams all 6 seasons making it accessible for whoever. Anyway, I finally bowed to peer pressure this week and started watching it during my depressive state *see above post* . So far I'm halfway through season 2, and have come to the conclusion that many of the characters... Are dumb.

  There's one particular episode where all the characters (who are all spoilt rich brats btw) head off to Yale to basically beg the Dean to offer them a college place. In this one episode we see one guy sashay his way into the secret society, another imitates the nerd nobody likes so people won't know he's really related to a prominent businessman who fled the country after being charged with fraud (do i hear #firstworldproblems anyone?), while the real nerdy guy chases around a girl to get a letter of recommendation. 

  You think this is bad, but it gets worse with the girls. The 2 socialites literally get into a cat fight for a coveted spot, and when one girl finally nabs an early acceptance into Yale, she turns it down to show how much she loves her friend. Somebody needs to sit her down and explain that there will be plenty of time to show some loving after she gets a college place, but right now is not the time to be taking a stand for bestie friendships everywhere.

  So yeah, aside from realising that these kids have waaaaaaayyy too much money, I was surprised that it's actually really easy to enjoy the show, once you get passed the increasingly ridiculous plot lines and superficial bitchiness that comes hand in hand with high school. However it's only been a season and a half and I'm already flagging. It's just one of those shows you can binge watch when you have nothing else going on with life.

  Also, how did it take them 6 seasons to work out who Gossip Girl was. I worked it out within the first episode, seriously people!

World's End

They say what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, but when life gets tough it’s hard to always feel like that’s the case. Recently I found out that I wouldn’t be able to graduate this year because there was an issue with my dissertation module. Apparently I missed a minor deadline, and because of that not only would I have to wait till next year to submit my dissertation, but my overall grade for the module would be capped at 40%. It was like a double slap to that face, and when I was told this by my head of year, you could hear the audible thud as my jaw hit the floor.

  For the next week I felt like my whole world had come crashing down. I didn’t go into uni, I hid away in my room not wanting to face the world. In my mind I had already accepted that my university dream was lying in tatters. I mean, this news meant that I would never achieve the 2:1 I had been so close to getting, and to have it snatched away just like that with 6 weeks to go till the end of my life as a student was soul-crushing. As an academic overachiever all my life, a 2:2 had never been in my life plan.

  In these situations it’s easy to become self absorbed and feel like you have nobody to turn to. I know I definitely felt like that for the first few days, even though I had people calling me constantly to make sure I was ok. It didn’t help matters that my best friend/flatmate had decided to remain emotionally MIA throughout the whole thing. Even though I know that’s just how she is as a person, I couldn’t help but feel hurt and resentful that she couldn’t even put an arm round me and tell me it wasn’t the end of the world. My poor boyfriend bore the brunt of my emotions and did his best to comfort me suggested I get out of the country for a couple of months to avoid the awkwardness of watching all my friends graduate while I was left behind, and believe me when I say I’m still tempted to take him up on the offer.

  The hardest bit for me was accepting this was obviously meant to be. I still can’t wrap my head around why this happened, but it’s times like this I remember that everything happens for a reason. Unfortunately I just don’t know what that is yet. So for now I’m going to continue trying to find that silver lining that I know is hiding somewhere in the storm clouds.

Dissertation Dread

  Going into 3rd year of uni I always knew this year was going to be tough. Because this is the year I've had to deal with the beast that is my dissertation. I always thought a dissertation would be more fun because you get to pick the topic and study something you really enjoy, but the reality is nothing like that. You actually end up hating the topic you've chosen, which for me in this case is the Internet. I know, who knew it was possible to hate the Internet, but there you have it. 

  I've also reached the stage many students reach at this time of year when they start to panic and count down the weeks till graduation, and then realising that there's SO much to do before they can graduate. So here's to 2 months of grumpiness and sleepless nights, it's times like this I was a big coffee drinker. 

Thoughts on the Alex Day (so called) "Scandal"

Greeting Internet!

  I've spent a lot of time this week deciding what my comeback post should be about, so many things have been happening since I've been gone, but trawling through YouTube this evening I saw a little video catch my eye that I felt was worth talking about.

  As most of the bloggersphere is aware, the hugely popular vlogger Alex Day had his star seriously tarnished earlier this year when he was accused by a number of girls of being sexually and emotionally manipulative in his relationships with them. Obviously there was a huge uproar on YouTube and Tumblr, and I'm pretty sure it even made the BBC news. Everyone, including myself was disgusted at what he was being accused of, and we all accepted it as true, especially as there appeared to be so many girls coming forward with their stories. And while this resulted in his banishment from the Internet for 6 months, where he turned into a major recluse, I found it interesting how he never chose to defend himself. 

Not once. 

That is, until now.

  Last night the first video for a long long time was released on Alex Day's channel, where Alex spends 30 minutes talking about what happened and basically explaining his side of the story. I was able to sit through the whole video, and came away with a lot more of the respect I lost for him when the news first broke. Whether he was in the right or wrong, it takes a lot of courage to post a video like that, especially when you know many of the people who see it are still angry and want your head on a silver platter. I think it is important to remember that everyone makes mistakes in life, some may seen bigger than others, but at the end of the day, Alex can't change the past. What's done is done, and it angers me to see people still holding it against them. I'm sorry Internet, I wasn't aware his relationships were any of your business, or how poorly he conducted himself in them affected you in any way. 

  Let's get realistic here and put down the pitchforks you angry little tweenagers. Most of you, just like myself, don't know Alex personally, therefore how can you sit there and judge a man you don't even know. Who died and made you all judge and jury? When I watch this video, what I see is a broken man with a lot of regret, the last thing he needs is another wave of negative criticism, just for speaking his mind.

  Said video is in the link below if you haven't seen it yet and would very much like too, so long as your minds are all open enough to listen to what he has to say without judging.

Alex Day- The Past

No Fishing Here

  It has come to my attention that at approximately 00.03am on the 26/06/14 the fish you could have previously found on my page have regrettably passed away, due to some annoying individual deciding that the widget no longer had a place on this website. In protest I am writing an angry blog post with the full knowledge that nobody relevant will see it but oh well, it makes me feel better. May I offer my full condolences for my dreams and aspirations for the future, as they cannot be allowed to continue without my little fishies present to admire them all 

Key-gate

  It's official, I have lost my house keys. I never knew it was possible for a key to grow legs and walk off but that's apparently what mine has done, never mind that it somehow made it into the house with me last night when I stumbled in half asleep  after a busy shift at work followed by a tedious mile and a half walk home from the train station.

  Dear key, if you're reading this, please come home. I promise mummy's not mad at you, she just wants to talk, and more importantly get back into the house.

An Ode To Second Year

  I've not really blogged much in the past 12 months, it's not because I don't like you all anymore, I promise I do. It's just I had this thing during my second year that I didn't quite have in my first, and that's an active social life. 

  I don't know what it is but it's almost like people have just decided this year that it's ok to hang out with Nina, as opposed to last year when I was living a hermit existence, feeding off of Pot Noodles, Netflix and Assassins Creed. A year on I personally don't feel much has changed since then, I still live my life on Netflix and games, and let's be honest, as a student during exam season I temporarily disabled my ability to use a hob, a skill I am still struggling to reset now that I'm back home. 

  If you were to ask my family they would tell you in my first week back I burnt curry, burnt rice, undercooked pasta and it was only thanks to my sisters quick thinking that the garlic bread didn't share the fate of the previous nights curry! That cost me a good 30 minutes of non stop scrubbing the charcoal off the bottom of the pan until it was all silver and shiny again.

How To Lose Your Assignment

Hello ladies and gentlemen, tonight I am going to show you how to lose your super important assignment. Are you comfortable? Very well, let's begin.

Step 1) Enrol at university, not just any uni mind. Pick one renowned for its incompetence and inability to care about anything.

Step 2) Pick a subject where essay writing is key to everything you do. 

Step 3) Ensure the tutor marking your assignment is a complete fool. THIS IS ESSENTIAL

Step 4) Finish your assignment at the university library on one of the readily unavailable Stone Age computers they supply.

Step 5) Correctly hand in your assignment on time (or a day before as I did) and walk away knowing you did the best you could and there's nothing more you can do but wait.

Step 6) Be informed by your module coordinater, the only one who seems to actually care what is going on that your assignment has unfortunately gone for a walk and the office are unable to locate it. This will therefore result in a fail being flagged up in your results being nothing was submitted, when you know full well that was a lie. 

Step 7) Lose all faith in humanity, drop out of university and take up a full time position at McDonald's where you will spend the rest of your uneducated existence flipping burgers for minimum wage.

An Ode To A Sock

  Today I discovered my mother had thrown away one of my favourite socks. I was utterly heartbroken upon discovering this, especially as I was at work and therefore unable to save goodbye to my faithful companion. To make matters worse, my mum failed to throw away the matching pair, meaning I was send to work with 2 odd socks that had been haphazardly thrown together the night before. Now to me this makes no sense, as everybody knows socks need to be in twos, otherwise one gets lonely without the other, it's common sense really. So now my surviving sock is faced with spending the remainder of its life at the bottom of my drawer lonely and heartbroken at the sudden loss of its companion.

  Really, sometimes I wonder how my mum can sleep at night.