Surviving final year at University

Something a little different today! As it's September and lots of you lucky devils are still at University (stay as long as possible, take many degrees), I thought it would be appropriate to reminisce on my final year and offer up some words of wisdom. Well, some words at least!

1. Get organised! Even if you're the type that works under pressure aka the last minute, you still need to get organised as your dissertation consumes a lot of time and you still have a gazillion* other subjects. There will be time like this...

Image from weheartit

So, make sure you get a diary, post it notes, folders etc or at least find a way to remember when you have things coming up. Here's some diaries that I thought were too adorbs!

1, 2 & 4 from Paperchase
3 WHSmith
5 & 6 Liberty

2. Look after yourself! Did you know I'm your mum? Seriously though, make sure you eat well, drink lots of water and maybe take the odd yakult here and there. With the number of people arriving from all around the world, Fresher's Flu and other horrible lurgies can knock you off your feet. I don't mean don't have an afternoon tea session at your house though...

Food courtesy of my gorgeous friend Jessica, who makes one mean afternoon tea (mojitos are also another forte!)

3. De-stress your mind and body! 'Oh great, she's getting all spiritual on our asses!" I'm not, I assure you. What I mean by this is when your working away or just a student in general you spend a lot of time sitting round studying/eating/watching tv/drinking and your body becomes restless, resulting in a bad nights sleep. I would recommend exercise like the gym, classes or going for a run with your mates if your strapped for cash.

Image from weheartit

4. Don't dread the dissertation! I remember thinking "I will never be able to write that many words", panicking about the subject and the title and thinking "Jeez, I hope this makes sense!", but it all worked out in the end. I think because it's big compared to your other essays you almost try harder and focus more.

Your tutors will tell you this but it's always a good idea to pick a part of your subject you enjoy and have maybe wrote about before if poss (you can re-use sections of your work and you have a better knowledge base). I would personally recommend really getting to grips with the Harvard Referencing System (or whichever your uni uses) and employing a trusty friend (thank Lauren!) to proof read your work throughout the year, so you don't make silly mistakes. 

Image from weheartit

5. Don't forget to have fun! This isn't hard for most people, but in the final year you can get caught up on the quest to a 2:1 (or whatever grade you have in your mind) and forget that it's your last year. I was living with a new group of girls in my final year (we all had placements in 3rd year) and we just had the best time ever. I'm pretty sure our house had the best parties ha, we went bike riding in the New Forest, ate a LOT and played sardines with all our mates in the house! (to name a few of our antics!) 

 "i want to ride my bicycle"

Me and my gals at our summer ball, we're enchanted forest people aka it was cheap!

Enjoy, work hard and stay in touch with everyone when you leave.  

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*genuine number of subjects I had

Croatia: My New Favorite Place

Hi everyone! I'm like a dodgy magician at the moment, one minute I'm here and the next minute I'm gone. I'm back though *clouds of smoke, doves and other magical shiz* and this post is a full of a few snaps from my holiday the other week.

I went away with four friends to Dubrovnik, Croatia and it was a-maze. Honestly, if you get the chance to go then you really should. It's absolutely gorgeous, full of lovely people, great cocktails and some yummy food...

 The gorgeous 'Old City'

 Half way up our daily 200ish steps (ouch)

 My new name

 The girls!

 One of the many many night out photos

 Classic knee shot

 Lokrum Island

 View from the top of the city walls

 Where's the camera?

 So gorgeous!

 By the Onophrian Fountain in the Old City

 View from Cafe Buza 

 The harbor

Dubrovnik

So, you want the low down huh? here we go...

Where to stay:

- We stayed in an apartment just up from the Old City as we wanted a pool to ourselves for the week. If there are a lot of you heading to Croatia then a villa can be a more affordable option. Otherwise there are some great hotels, including a large Hilton that is in a really good location (not as many steps as ours!). 

What to do:

- You have to scale the Old City walls for a breathtaking view of Dubrovnik from every single angle possible

- Eat ice cream, a lot. Not sure if it's because it's so close to Italy, but the ice cream was amazing. Each cone costs about 80p too, so you can try a lot of flavors for pretty much nothing.

- Visit Cafe Buza, a super cool bar which claims to have 'the most beautiful view', not wrong! If you're feeling brave you can also jump off the cliff with fellow brave people (not me!). 

- Drink cocktails! There are loads of places to grab a cocktail no matter what your budget is.

- Soak up the sunshine. It was 35C+ whilst we were there, so make sure you have a high SPF and lots of water, especially when you scale those walls. 

Where to go:

- Lockrum Island: This pretty little island is just a 12min ferry trip from the Dubrovnik Harbour and is basically where people go to dip in the sea. I have to say that the sea is beautiful in Croatia, you feel like you are in paradise. There's a botanical garden (no joke like 5 flowers), lots of restaurants and some bars too. 

- Cafe Buza: Most beautiful view in Dubrovnik, enough said. 

- Art Cafe: Cool, indie, arty bar that makes some amazing cocktails for hardly any money.

- Sky Bar: Top40 playlist? Check. Cocktails in a bucket? Check. Incredibly good looking people from Australia, South Africa and other 'sexy places'? Check. Great atmosphere? Check. More dancing than you can shake a stick at? Check. Croatia certainly isn't your 'let's get wasted' Malia style place, but people do like a good time and the Sky Bar is a good stop on a night out. 

- Glam Cafe: Stop by for a shake, smoothie or juice. Especially good for a hangover!

- City Walls: Get your arse up all those steps and make your way around the city walls

- Club Revelin: This is the biggest and apparently best club in Croatia and where everyone goes on a night out. It's in an old fortress, which is pretty cool and we had some very fun nights in there. Keep an eye out for posters around the Old City to see if anyone is playing, we saw Sebastian Ingrosso and that was one of the best nights out during our holiday. As a warning, skip the evening where it is 'Dream Girls' this is basically where the half naked dancers that are usually in cages 'perform' some kind of strange porno/burlesque thing. 

- Marco Polo: There are loads of amazing places to eat (deffo have a pizza at least once!) and Marco Polo is a great restaurant tucked up down one of the alley ways in the Old City

- Buy some souvenirs: There are loads to buy and some really cute homemade things. My friend got her baby niece this adorable wooden toy and some candles from Candle City (think that's right), which is mental.

There's loads more to do and if i haven't tempted you, it's pretty cheap and just b-e-a-utiful (I mentioned that a little). I had a good time anyways...

Link me up if you've been anywhere recently! I am already looking for my next adventure "The World is a book, and those who do not travel only read a page" Saint Augustine (any excuse!). 

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Berlin: Part 2

Welcome to the next installment of my trip to Berlin! If you missed the first one click here cause you know what? It was pretty sweet.

Day 3
So, day three started with a teeny lye in because of the previous evenings cocktails and rocking out in the underground rock bar. After some breakfast we got up and strolled to the Reichstag, which was about a 15min way away.

 My feet seem to disappear in this picture...magic shoes!



 It's so hard to take a photo of yourself with a historical building in view. Also, we are so like Chandler from Friends - goons!

After that we walked the two mins over the road to Brandenburg Gate, which was also amazing to see as it's where so many historical speeches from Hitler and his party were and of course the hotel where MJ hung his baby out the window is near it!

We then wandered in a straight line because that takes you to Museum Island which is (you guessed it) a roundabout with lots of museums off it - genius!

 There university is a little posher than Bournemouth's!

One of the many memorials

We went to the German History Museum, which we both really enjoyed. It's a great museum to learn about German history as a whole and not just the war related aspects, both very important obviously.

This guy's name was Keith, which cracked me up.

After wandering round the museum we went for a terrible lunch at some place called Andy's Diner (I think). If you are in Berlin, avoid. After feeling slightly unsatisfied we hopped back on the underground and went back to the hotel for a bit of a rest before another evening of eating and drinks!

We went for an Indian in the Kreuzberg area, thankfully the food was much nicer and we got free tequila shots - bonus. We didn't go out clubbing, but this is a huge area for clubs if you ever go to Berlin. Just a quick note though, almost all the clubs are in old warehouse type buildings, off the main streets and underground so do expect to be surrounded by people coming out of the station and then nobody.

After our Indian we paid 2 euros for a photo booth snap (they are dotted along various streets, so you just hop in), which you have to do in Berlin - cheeeeeese!

Day 4
On day 4 we went to a very pretty part of Berlin called Pretzlauerberg, that is suppose to resemble Barcelona in the summer months. It was still very pretty in the snow, just less beers and more coffees on the go.

I had their version of a cuppa and a cheese and ham croissant. Seeing the colour of tea through a glass does make it less appetizing and a little hot to handle, but it tasted like tea so I'm not complaining.

We then went to see some of the Berlin wall, which is right outside one of the tube stations. There's a fairly large section of the wall with information about the wall and how it was used in the war. It's a bit like an outdoor mini exhibition! Watch yourself when you have photos taken though, as there is a lot of chewing gum stuck to the wall... hair + gum = nightmare. I kept my distance and hoped for no sudden gusts of wind!

After this we went to the Topography of Terrors, which was so good. If you are going to Berlin and you want to learn about the war in as much detail as possible (who doesn't) then this is the place. Let me put it this way, if you don't know much you will leave here knowing all the minute details that got Hitler into power and how he continued to stay there. The museum shows you all the buildings the Gestapo operated in and takes you right up to the present day (pretty much) and shows how the Nazi party operated and the aftermath of Hitler's reign.

Our next stop was Checkpoint Charlie...

 

 

 

After all of this, it was getting pretty late and of course we were getting hungry (we love food way too much), so we consulted our Lonely Planet guide and decided to head for a delicious sounding Thai restaurant called 'Good Time' - great name - in Hausvogteiplatz

First off, thank you Lonely Planet! Good Time was literally good times, the food tasted so good we didn't want it to end! They had really nice candles for mood lighting, so all my pictures were way too dark and did not do the food justice, but we had:

The best prawn crackers in the world, ever. 

One gigantic prawn cracker, loads of normal ones and then these little wafer thin ones, plus a truly magical satay sauce
Duck with spring onions and plum sauce in pancakes

We then shared...
A pork penang curry & a beef dish with chilli and peppers
Jasmin Rice (came with the meals)

All washed down with singha beer and coca cola

 

The restaurant had an open kitchen, so you could see all of the food being cooked and there was a very welcoming and authentic atmosphere. We paid a total of 40ish Euro's for the above and would recommend. 

Feeling full and happy, we headed back to the hotel to relax before going out for a few more drinks (of course!)

 

Hope you enjoyed this post, bit of a long one! Stay tuned for Part 3 coming soon. Have I tempted you to visit Berlin or made you reminisce from a previous trip yet? 

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