01: A change of title.

Well hello there bloggers! 

I am reinventing this blog for the millionth time as I enter into the newest stage of my life. No longer am I a humble undergraduate caterpillar but now a fully fledged butterfly, flying the university nest. And I must say, I am terrified. Since I can remember, I have always been in education and always known what the year ahead will bring me, but for the first time in my life, I couldn't tell you where I will be in twelve months from now... I have hopes of where I will be but nothing cemented. 

For my first post since completing my degree, I thought I would post some of my favourite memories and advice for University, for anyone who may want to go or is already studying. 

First Year - my hall buddies!

This was the first night I had moved to University, I remember being so nervous yet excited and not knowing anyone, however, these five people were so friendly to me and included me from the get-go, it really is true what they say, 'you are all in the same boat', therefore if you are going to University this year and are worried about making friends, then don't. Everyone is feeling the same and are just as scared or nervous as you are to be alone, so relish in this new found independence and HAVE FUN!

My course mates!

This is the majority of my degree class celebrating Christmas in second year on National Christmas Jumper Day! Again, I was scared I wouldn't make any friends on my course but the plus side of your course mates is that you all have similar interests and goals, which is made apparent as you all chose the same course. 

Dissertation Hand-In Day!

This was one of the best days of my life! When I pictured University, I pictured halls, graduation and my dissertation. Any time a student, teacher or family member brought up my dissertation, I shivered with dread as I imagined slaving over 10,000 words and writer's block. However, it actually turned out to be my favourite module of the whole three years I was there. The best thing about your dissertation, is that YOU decide EVERYTHING. The topic, the layout, the research design. It is all under your control, which made it so enjoyable. I picked a topic which I love, Social Media, and set out to research how audiences are influenced by 'normal' people on YouTube and blogs! I am still awaiting my final grade for it, but fingers crossed, as I truly am so proud of it! 

Me and Peaches!

They say you make friends for life at University, and that I can say is true in Peaches. From the first couple of weeks of first year, we clicked and instantly bonded over our love of carbs and One Direction. And anyone that you can eat multiple carbs with and enjoy the sweet, sweet sounds (and looks) of the mighty 1D is a true keeper in the friend department. 

It's time for me to return to my box set of Entourage and head to bed, as it's past midnight now... I hope my memories make you smile and squash any worries that you may have about entering the wonderful world of University. Any questions that any of you have, feel free to leave below. 

See ya pals!

★

My special place..

I believe we all have that one place that we go when we want to chill out, relax, work or have a think about something. My 'special' place is my bedroom, specially my desk area.

I had a vision when styling my room that I wanted all white furniture to give my room that modern, relaxed feel to it. I recently bought a new desk and a unit to complete my perfect room. The desk I chose was the MICKE desk from IKEA and my unit is the infamous ALEX from IKEA, however I get the smaller size than the usual size that many people on the bloggerverse purchase!

(Yes, that's the Kardashians on my telly <3)

I have some of my favourite items on and around my desk and side unit so that when I'm trying to muster up some inspiration for my university work or relaxing, I have my favourite people and bits and bobs around to motivate and inspire me :)

On the left hand side of my desk, I have some of my DVD boxsets including Harry Potter (THE BEST FILMS EVER!!!!! <3), Sherlock and the Fast and the Furious. I also have my 'Niall' One Direction build-a-bear that my friend, Peaches, bought me for Christmas last year! I have my most recent birthday card from my boyfriend and a pictures of him in Italy and us at Thorpe Park. I love this area of my desk as I can look up above my computer screen when I'm getting writer's block and see my favourite person's face :) 

On the right side, on my unit, I have my Fujifilm Instax Mini 8 camera in Blue and my mini photo album. My gran bought me this for my 20th birthday and I love taking snaps of random days out and storing the polaroids in this cute 'Pieces of Moment' album. Additionally, I am OBSESSED with candles, especially Yankee Candle. I am currently burning 'Black Plum Blossom'. One bone that I have to pick with America is that they have access to Bath and Body Works candles! I ordered the 'Cinnamon Sugared Doughnut' one on line after Ingrid (a.k.a MissGlamorazzi) recommended it in one of her videos a few months ago. 

This completes the tour of my desk area! Hope you enjoyed my waffling on...

See ya pals!

★

My University Essentials...

I am currently sat in Jamie's dorm room in his halls of residence whilst he is playing squash at the gym with one of his flatmates. Whilst sitting here, I had the sudden urge to write a post. However, with only a suitcase full of clothes and my university bag with me, I was pretty limited in my ideas. I decided what was inside my uni bag rather than my ancient suitcase was a lot more interesting! 

Because I am old-hat at this university malarky now (I'm in my final year), I take for granted the essential items that I need on a day-to-day basis. However, my boyfriend started university this year, so I have been looking at University through 'fresher' eyes once again which has made me realise the top things I need to survive a crazy day on campus! 

My top items for having in my university bag are as follows:

- An A5 notebook with good quality paper, I love the WHSmith ones as they paper isn't too thick but doesn't resemble tracing paper either, all for a really good price! WIN WIN

- My Kindle, I love my kindle, as noted in a previous post. I have a two-hour one way (four hours total) commute each day that I travel to uni and seeing as I own an iPhone with TERRIBLE battery life, I needed a train hobby that wouldn't affect this! I can honestly say I havent read so much in my life, I am currently 85% of the way through Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn and I LOVE IT. Although, I have heard the end is disappointing so I am a bit worried! 

- Books related to my course. Similarly to the kindle, I need something to fill the space of my commute, so doing a bit of studying not only fills this time but improves my performance too ;) haha! 

- Diary. The little pink one in the picture is solely for uni work and term dates so I don't forgot anything important or get it confused with my social life or work! I also have a larger day to day view diary that I keep all other information, events etc in but rarely take this one to university!

- Additionally, I always make sure to have some lip products in my bag. Currently I have Rimmel Moisture Renew 210 Fancy, which is a gorgeous coral pink perfect for casual days and Seventeen Stay Pout in Rule Breaker which is the most amazing berry red shade perfect for autumn/winter!

Hope you enjoyed this quick little post all about my university essentials! Any questions about university feel free to leave them in the comments and I will do a post on the FAQ :) 

Bye pals!

                              ★

I'm BACK! (again....)

Hello internet,

So, for the third time in this excellently organised and consistent blog, I am declaring: I AM BACK!

The next 12 months are going to be some of the busiest, most hectic, nerve-racking and most important of my life but I felt like I needed to start this blog back up as a way of chilling out and getting my mind off of university work and crazy life!

Since my last update -

- I turned 20! 

- I FINALLY passed my driving test!!! :D

- I started my third year at university

- I waved my boyfriend off for his first year at university in Bristol!

- I can't wait to get back into the flow of blogging and updating you all on the little goings on in the my life! 

Enjoy pals,
★

I like Kindles?!

So I have always been a big lover of reading and getting completely and utterly involved in a book (a number of times forgetting that they aren't real life) - I may or may not have finished reading The Hunger Games feeling like I was about to volunteer as tribute for EVERYTHING. However, I never thought I would say that I would enjoy a Kindle (or any other brand of eBook!). I'm a big lover of tradition and there is something so satisfying about buying a crisp, new book and turning that final page that I could never imagine being the same with a Kindle. 

However, in January this year, I bit the bullet and bought an Amazon Kindle Paperwhite. My mum had gotten one for Christmas and I noticed that she had whizzed through about five various autobiographies and  two true-life misery books within about two weeks - which I found astonishing!! Additionally, she could fit it in her handbag easily and it was so slight and inconspicuous!

Now, as you may know from my previous posts, I commute through London and the wonderful (!) tubes three times a week to get to university - all whilst carrying a satchel full of books, stationery, food and a HUGE make up bag (priorities!). This was a daily jigsaw puzzle which meant I couldn't carry around books like I used to, hence my reckoning for becoming 21st century. 

Although it will never beat a physical book in my eyes, the convenience and the huge collection and reasonable prices  make the tablet a great purchase! I've only owned it for a couple of months and I've already raced through Veronica Roth's Divergent series and am half way through the chick-lit series 'I Heart...' by Lindsey Kelk! So all-in-all, I'm loving this little gadget, with it's ease to fit in my bulked out bag and lots of stories at my fingertips, I'm glad I have one... but don't worry books, you'll always be my number one <3 

★

I love Lush!

I have been a huge fan of Lush for a fair few years now, with my first purchases being the bubble bar 'The Comforter' and a soap bar 'Rockstar' - both pink, both sweet smelling and both LUSH! Since then, I have tried my fair share of Lush products and I just absolutely love them and although it is hard to put my finger on a favourite, I have to say, it is definitely 'The Comforter'. This berry smelling, bubble bar is a pink swirly design, a crumbly texture perfect for splitting into several baths and smells AMAZING... seriously, if you have never smelt it, smell it. You will not be disappointed!! 

Another plus, is that you really do not need to use a lot of the bar to create a lot of bubbles. I tend to use half a bar for each bath as I personally feel that is a perfect amount of bubbles for me. My perfect bath with The Comforter is candles lit (preferably vanilla), glass of cold water, music playing/YouTube videos on playlist and relaxing under the mountain of bubbles! 

The most amazing bubble bar is THE COMFORTER. Buy it, you know you want to! :)

★

ITALIA!

On the 7th June I hopped on a plane and travelled to the gorgeous country of Italy with my equally gorgeous boyfriend, Jamie. It was our first holiday abroad together and the longest time we have spent together.. and I loved every minute of it. 

We had a very early flight on the Friday morning, 7:25am to be exact, so there we were at Gatwick airport at 4am ready to check in, eat, wait and board the plane. We ate at Armadillo's (a little joke I have with Jamie, as my last name is Italian 'Amodio' and people find it hard to say, so they call me Armadillo!) and had a fry up and porridge. We trudged the shops for the rest of the waiting, picking up some magazines, crisps and a pair of sunglasses for Jamie! 

Now, I'm terrified of flying but the flight was only 2 hours which just flew past! (Pardon the pun ;)) and then there we were, touching down in the beautiful Marco Polo Airport in Venice. 

Over the next few days, we explored the lido we were staying on, Lido Di Jesolo, an hour and a half drive/boat trip to Venice, which was lovely! Very touristy and purpose built for tourists coming from central Italy, Germany and overseas but we loved it! We had a private strip of beach which ensured we had a sunlounger at all times and we found the nicest pub called 'The Black Cat' where we ate or had drinks EVERY DAY. The food, my god the food, was AMAZING there. Tortellini, Carbonara, Piadina Clubs, Pizzas. Drool. As well as the Lido Di Jesolo, we of course visited the floating city of Venice and it was everything I imagined and more. We took a ride on a gondola and explored the back streets of this beautiful place - it truly is the best place to just get lost. 

Through our holiday providers we also took an originally, unplanned and unknown trip to Verona and Lake Garda. Now, being a HUGE Romeo and Juliet fan I of course wanted to visit Juliet's balcony and Jamie of course wanted to grab the breast of the 'lucky for love' Juliet statue! Haha, as well as the balcony we visited the Roman amphitheatre there and had a traditional Italian pizza! Last of our travels was Lake Garda and the town of Sirmione. We didn't realise that we had flown over the lake and Jamie had gotten a picture a few days earlier and up close it was even more spectacular! We explored the castle there, saw Roman Spa ruins and took a boat trip which showed us the hot bubbling springs under the water's surface! 

All in all, it was an amazing holiday and I didn't want to come home!! I miss it so much and it's been over a month since I was there! COME BACK TO ME ITALY <3

★