'So what are your plans now?'

When you're in your final year of university, hell, not even your final year - as soon as you say you're going to university - everyone expects you to have a plan. To know what you're going to do with your life. But let's be honest here, there are very few people that have a plan for after university and, until very recently I was one of those people too.

One of my biggest pet peeves is when you go to a friends house and their parents start asking questions about your future, or you go to a family event and all of these people, some of whom you don't even know, ask you 'What are your plans?', 'What are you going to do when you finish university?', 'Have you got a job yet?'. This annoys the poop out of me. I always have the same answer too: 'I haven't decided'. Yet they still continue to ask me 'What do you want to do?'. By this point a million people have probably already asked me this question and I'm more than miffed, gritting my teeth, I reply once again with 'I. Don't. Know'. 

If you're one of those people that asks these questions and you're reading this: We hate it. Don't ask them. If you do ask and we say 'I don't know', leave it at that. We either really don't know or we really don't want to talk about it.

I consider myself very lucky because I've just managed to get a job in my home town, but there are certain people in my life (no names are being mentioned but they're who you expect to have opinions about everything you do) who don't agree with the job I've got because it has nothing to do with my degree.

What I think people need to consider when leaving university, planning what you're going to do next doesn't necessarily have to involve your degree. Personally, after three years of dedicating my life to studying everything about English Literature, I need a break now. I need to do something that doesn't involve me sitting and analysing a million and one books and what the hidden meaning behind every word is. I'm not saying that the job I have is something I'm going to do forever, but I'm not saying it's not either. I'm passionate about English but I'm passionate about this job too.

As for the Creative Writing side of my degree, to me I'm doing that right now by writing this blog post. Creative writing is something I can do whether I have a job in that area or not. I will always love writing stories but I can do that on my days off and in my spare time, as well as blogging. 

At the moment, my plan is to do this job for a year and then reevaluate. If I'm really loving it then chances are I'll carry on doing it because why stop doing something you love? If I'm not sure it's the job for me then at least it's been an experience and I can move on and try something different.

Just remember that we're still young. We have plenty of time to figure out what we want to do with the rest of our lives, but we're better to experiment now and try different things because if we go straight into a full time career that we plan on doing for the rest of our lives then we can't really leave that job. We're stuck there and if we want to try something different we can't or we run the risk of losing the job we worked so hard for in the first place. 

So the next time you're at a family event and you've got all of those random family members that you're not sure you've even met before asking all the awkward questions, just tell them 'I don't know and that's okay, so please don't ask me again'. <ake sure you have that sickly sweet smile on as well, the one that looks really polite but really says 'f**k off'.

Katie x

Second Year = Completed!

Haven't written one of these in a while! 

It's definitely not been hard to notice I've been as absent from this blog as a first-year uni student who doesn't actually care about passing the year with higher than the necessary 40%. I've missed this little space but I've really just had no time for anything that isn't Literature essay related *sad face*. 

However, as of a week and a bit ago, I am finished for the summer! Woop woop! It's been a hectic few months and uni work practically buried me (if you'd seen the state of my friend's room - you'd have thought she was trying to bury herself under a million printed drafts of essays about urban landscapes and feminism).

As you can tell, we were more than a little bit happy to have finished our
final exam and second year!

So, even though it's been a hell of a long time since my last post, there hasn't actually been that much happening... but here's a little life update anyway!

The last blog post I did I told you all about the awesomeness of The Script concert that I went to (HERE). Some of the girls from my course and I booked tickets to go see Imagine Dragons at the Capital FM Arena in November, which I can't wait for! I love their music so obviously as soon as we heard they were coming to Nottingham we realised we had to go.  I'm considering it a birthday treat to myself, as well as an end-of-second-year-of-uni treat.

Only a few days after I went to see The Script, my grandma and grandad came to visit me in Nottingham, brought the dogs, and stayed for a whole week, which was amazing! It was perfect timing too, because homesickness had started to overtake, seen as I hadn't been home for over three months. It was lovely to see them and I got to show them around Nottingham a bit more as well as taking them to Sherwood Forest, one of my favourite places in Notts.

I went on a work placement with a friend from uni at the beginning of my Easter holidays before going home, where I got to see all of my little ones! I really hate how fast they grow, they just seem to ignore me when I tell them they're supposed to stay little babies forever! My nephew has learnt to say my name too, so he kept walking around going 'Kakie' and grabbing my hand to lead me to what he wanted, because of course he would know that I'm a softie and give in to cuteness way too easily. Although I did end up working most of the time I was home, which sucked because I wanted to see people but it was good at the same time because money. What student doesn't need money? Also, rather bizarrely, it ended up snowing for quite a few of those days - I know I live in the North of the UK, and our weather is often a lot crappier, but snow in April? That's crazy weather, even for us!

In the meantime it's been a few months of many birthdays, including my own! Which has left me rather poor, thanks to many nights out (although very awesome nights out, may I add), meals, presents, etc., etc. All of which were very lovely and deserved!

As for me, I've unfortunately left the teenage years behind and I've entered my twenties, I'm going to make 'twenteen' an age though because it sounds way cooler... right? My lovely flatmates decorated the flat and got me a cake whilst my amazing best friend (I better say that, in case she ever reads this ;) ) took me to the cinema to see The Avengers: Age of Ultron which, may I add, was a frickin' incredible movie. Obviously. My mum also rang me to tell me she'd sent me a card but she'd sent it to the wrong address... again. Yep. Again. It's not the first time she's sent me something and then I've had to go and retrieve it from some random strangers that she's sent it too by accident - she's lucky I love her.

Then came all the deadlines and exams and all the boring stuff, blah, blah, blah. Needless to say they were a tiring few months filled with a lot of work and very little sleep. However, I did find a lovely little place that I started running, or even just going for 'procastination walks' throughout revision period, but I'm gutted I found it so late in the year, especially when I won't be living in halls again next year so I won't be able to just walk out my door and down the road to it whenever I want. Oh yeah, and I developed an addiction to chocolate digestives thanks to stupid revision. Ugh.

BUT! We had a great final weekend - as an end-of-exams celebration and a birthday night out for my bestie, we went for our final ever Saturday night out of our second year, with some of the best people, and had an awesome night with a hell of a lot of dancing and laughing!

So I've realised I maybe had more to update you on than I first thought, and this became a much longer post than I first thought it was going to be.

It feels incredibly strange to think we've finished our second year of uni; it seems to have gone so quickly and it feels even weirder when I think about the fact that I'm heading into my final ever year of university (and education in general) - now that's a crazily scary thought!

Katie x

Music Crush #6

Hello!

I've struggled slightly with this week's Music Crush because I've been listening to the same things over and over again, and those songs have already taken the lime light in previous Music Crushes.

That's why this week is a special Music Crush - rather than it just being one song, it's a whole EP by two girls who started off on YouTube, several years ago now, and it's been on loop on my iTunes.

Megan & Liz

~~~

Simple Life - EP

I did think about trying to choose just one song for the Music Crush but then I felt like I wasn't being fair to the rest of them.

So, the whole EP is my Music Crush!

However, if you do want just one song, aside from the obviously awesome song Simple Life - which the EP was named after - that tells you about the differences in their life since they moved from Nashville to LA and back, I would also suggest New At This - a great song if you've just turned eighteen (in the UK) or twenty-one (in America) because every word of it is so true about the new stage you start in life at that point.

Katie x

A Mid Week Pick-Me-Up #3

Hello!

I'm back with the 'Mid Week Pick-Me-Up' series! I have fallen in love with writing this weekly post... I think it's got something to do with it helping me motivate myself for the remainder of the week!

"Always believe something wonderful is about to happen." - Anonymous

This quote speaks so much truth. I think life would get really boring if you were just plodding along never believing that anything special was going to happen to you. 

I have a lot of big dreams and I know that there are a large majority of them that will never come true - for example, the chances of me owning my own giraffe and it living in my back garden are very unlikely, unless I decide to move houses and countries! But I also know that I have some wonderful little dreams, nothing big, not even anything particularly special to anyone else but me, that I always believe might happen.

You have to go through life hoping and believing that one day you're going to turn a corner and see something miraculous and wonderful that you never expected. Even if it's something as small as seeing someone you miss and haven't seen in a long time. To me, that would be something wonderful. Or you can dream on the bigger side! Always believe that something wonderful is going to happen in your future, no matter how much crap you have to go through to get there, there's still something wonderful waiting to happen.

Always believe!

Katie x

A Mid Week Pick-Me-Up #2

Hello!

I did a post like this last week and I really enjoyed it, so I thought why not do it again!

(If you missed last weeks then click HERE to give it a quick read).

When it gets to the middle of the week, I always feel like I'm need of a good pick-me-up or something to simply spur me on.

"Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass, it's about learning to dance in the rain." - Vivian Greene

This is just an amazing quote, in my opinion! 

This, to me, just means don't let anything hold you back. If you have to do something new to get you to where you need to be then go for it, dance in the rain! I can't dance to save my life, I just look like a really awkward... I don't know... giraffe. I look like a really awkward giraffe. Yep. That about sums me up. It doesn't stop me from dancing though! In fact, I probably dance way more than any person with my coordination should...

I hear dancing in the rain can be pretty amazing too, although it probably results in one hell of a cold afterwards but it would be worth it! Don't let something as meager as a storm hold you back when it's something that you can make the most of and fight through, you just have to be willing to try.

Katie x 

A Mid Week Pick-Me-Up

Hello!

There are certain quotes and pieces of advice that I like to live by in life. I find a lot of them really help me pick myself up if I'm having a bit of a down day or if I'm struggling to put my mind into action on a day it's really not allowed to take a lazy day! So, I thought I would share one of them with you.

"Do one thing everyday that scares you." - Eleanor Roosevelt

I try my hardest to live by this, even if it's just the smallest thing that scares me, like going into the flat's kitchen when there are strangers in there. I know that sounds silly to some people but I'm really bad at being around people I don't know. I find it really awkward and it does scare me because I never know what to say, or do, or how to be around them and I get extremely anxious.

I don't even need to do something that scares me everyday, just once or twice a week I try and confront something and it will make me feel so much better for the rest of that day and probably even the next day and the day after that.

I'm not saying you should go skydiving or do a bungee jump, just try and do that small thing that scares you, whether it's driving in the rain, walking to a shop, being in a crowded room, anything. Just try it. Even if you don't manage it at least you can say "I tried my hardest to confront something I'm scared of today and I'm proud of myself for that", then try it again another day.

Katie x

That Awkward Moment When...

Hello!

I'm sure we've all had plenty of awkward moments throughout life that we really don't want anyone to know about, but I'm going to be brave and share five of those moments with you... Wish me luck!

1.

Of course there's that thing that every child does at some point in school where they call their teacher "mum" (or dad). Don't try and deny it, we all did it! If you're anything like me though, you'll do it when everyone is silent and has no one else to listen to but you and (if it wasn't awkward enough already!) the teacher will just leave you hanging, because why would they answer someone shouting "mum" across the classroom when that's not their name? Definitely not the best moment for the quiet, shy girl.

2.

Anybody who knows me will know just how clumsy I am; this doesn't bode well in public situations. I once fell flat on my face in the middle of town and all my friend did was stand and laugh at me, she's lovely... really! In true Katie-style, I got up, pretended nothing had happened and started walking, leaving my friend in hysterics to catch up to me. 

3.

Or if you want a more recent example, my flat mates and I went out one night and the floor in the club was grossly sticky, there had been that much alcohol spilled all over it. I don't drink much when it comes to alcohol (no reason, I just don't really like it) but on this occasion, it had just been my birthday, so a friend offered to buy me a drink and I said yes. I was walking with him to the bar when my feet suddenly stopped moving, unfortunately my body didn't get the message quick enough. Yes. You got it. I face planted a very sticky floor in the middle of a lot of drunk feet. It was a painful moment, for my body and my dignity. Needless to say I definitely needed that drink afterwards. Once again, my friend laughed at me, he did help me up at the same time though, so I'll forgive him. The only good thing about that moment was that everyone was so drunk, very few people remember it - thank goodness!

When I think about it, I've actually had waaay too many awkward moments in nightclubs!

4.

Another was one of the first times I ever went out after I turned eighteen. It was a student night so they were being particularly thorough about checking I.D.'s and, of course, I would get stuck behind the guy trying to use a fake I.D., so by the time it was my turn I had it out, ready, along with the entry fee. Here's the awkward part: it was just a young guy checking them, probably not much older than eighteen/nineteen, so when he turned to me, and I had mine ready, he said "I like a girl that's prepared." cringe! I turned a very unflattering, beetroot, shade of red and quickly tried to get away as soon as I could. Awkward.

5.

The last situation was one I only witnessed, thank goodness! I don't think I would've coped well if it had been my awkward moment! My friend decided she wanted a cocktail so when the barman eventually came and asked her what she wanted, she innocently replied "Sex On the Beach" - I'm sure you know what's coming. She'd already had quite a bit to drink so she wasn't really thinking about what she was saying before she said it. The barman had a cheeky grin on his face and turned to her and said "anytime, love". It wasn't until then that she realised exactly what she'd said. Of course she tried to backtrack but all she really did was make it worse, whilst I stood there trying, and failing, to contain my laughter!

I have a feeling that those moments will no doubt end up being repeated in my future, too!

Katie x