A Guide to Surviving Freshers

Here I was two years ago when I filled my Dad's car to the brim and packed off to halls. It's that time of year again when groups of innocent 18 year olds fly the nest and head off to university. My freshers week was a week of two halves. The first half consisted of me consuming my body weight in wine before promptly parting ways with it again. The second half consisted of me crying into my pillow every night with the worry that I'd never make any friends. Today I thought I'd share my guide to surviving freshers and actually enjoying it.

A week in outfits: Lanzarote 2017

Last week I packed up for a week of all inclusive luxury with my parents! It was bliss to just relax and catch some rays and take a break from the midwife life for a little while! Here is my week in outfits sharing my evening glam!

Let's talk: my mental health and life post stroke

With this week being Mental Health Awareness Week, I thought I'd write a very open and honest post for a bonus post this week. This post also ties in with the fact its Make May Purple month for the Stroke Association - see for me these two things go hand in hand. Everyone has a mental health story. For some people it's full of positives, a happy frame of mind and a story that paints a bright picture. For other people, there story will be more of a rainbow, where dark days are followed by good and good so much they reach a pot of gold. Then for others their story might be one that takes a lot of courage to paint. But it's just that, their story. Everyone has one, everyone's read differently.

What you hold in your heart vs what you hold in your hands

A few weeks ago me and my housemates packed up our bags and headed for the Lake District for a girly staycation. We stayed in a youth hostel and planned to do a pretty cheap get away! It was more about the time together, some time in the outdoors, time to have a laugh that was the important bits! Some of my favourite memories from that trip are those just sat around having a laugh rather than doing some crazy adventure that meant spending loads of money. Inspired by Eventbrite's campaign of 'Experiences not Things' (an online service where people can respond to an invite you put out - check it out here) I thought in today's post I'd share what I'll be spending my money on in 2017 to make some great memories!

Here's to the new year

And just like that it's 2017. When did 2016 happen? Feels like it's flown by. I saw the new year in in good old London town, stood on the mall near the queen's crib, watching the fireworks from afar sharing prosecco with strangers. Bucket list goal - tick! As we sat drinking cocktails and wine in the warmth, me and my friends reminisced about the past year and discussed our goals for the year to come. I don't set resolutions but as I've got older every year I find myself looking back on life and looking forward, wondering what life has to hold. Here are my thoughts.

Sorry I'm so rubbish....life update!

I feel like me apologising on this blog is becoming a far to regular occurrence. Most of my blog posts start with 'sorry there hasn't been a blog post in a while'. I really am sorry when I say it and well...I'm sorry there hasn't been a blog post in a while. Life has just been so busy. But I'm hoping now I'm back into my usual uni, shift, work life balance I'll have a bit more time to share things with you guys on HBH. I love this little blog, and a bit of time away from it has re-invigorated my love, and I'm definitely looking forward to getting back on it. So today I thought I'd start by giving a little life update. I last shared a life after stroke: two years on update back in July, but I thought today I'd bring you up to date with things.

Life After Stroke: Two Years On

 

I've been planning what to write in this post since some time in April. I would type something then delete it, type then edit, type then delete, and for about a month the line 'I've been planning what to write in this post since April' had been the content of this post. I decided to read back through my one year post stroke update, and I started that by saying I don't know what I'm going to write but I'm just going to write from the heart, and I guess that's just what I'm going to do now.

Coping with messy flatmates

When you sign up to live in Uni halls, you're more than aware it's a complete luck of the draw who you get put with. My flatmates were pretty varied - I lived in a flat of four, however it was more like a flat of three because one of the guys moved out after two weeks and went home, and we never saw him again! My other two flatmates were very different. I got on very well with the girl (Olivia*) I shared with and I was friendly enough with the guy (Jack*), however Olivia and I were very clean, and Jack....lets say he wasn't so clean. So here are some of my top tips to cope with a pretty untidy flatmate.

Closet Clearout

I've recently had a couple of weeks off uni, and in amoungst a heap load of revision and essay writing, I've also had a bit of a sort out of the old wardrobe. I didn't know what to call this post - tips for clearing out your closet? A wardrobe sort out? I went for Closet clearout just because it was way neater than top tips and advice on having a tidy wardrobe in a new season and new purchases mad clean up....I hope the tidy title would represent what I'm going for with my wardrobe. Here goes..

My advice on picking a University Halls

Moving to uni is a strange concept. Never in the real world would a random stranger decide which equally random strangers get put in a tiny flat together and share a fridge, freezer, cooker and TV, having never met each other. But that's what seems to happen on that fateful day in September when you move to Uni. Choosing your flatmates is completely out of your control, but what you can decide is where you want to live. Here are some little things I recommend you ask yourself when picking your Halls and some things I wish I'd have asked or known when choosing my accommodation.

Top tips on coping with Night Shifts

I know I promised by birthday post would have been posted today however I've been on night shifts and in a state of utter delirium and have no hope of writing anything that makes sense. But I did want you to have a blog post so I thought I would actually talk about life as a student doing night shifts. I've only done a few and by no means am I an expert - I am also writing this in the middle of the night on a none night shift night so some may so I really haven't cracked it, but I've tried a few approaches to the dreaded night shift now so here goes...

I've hit 20,000 views!

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! I can't believe it! As you can see from the title I've hit 20,000 views! When I started my blog 18 months ago, it was a goal of mine to at some point in its existence reach 1000 views. That target came and went  a long time ago and since then as I've watched the views go up, I've slowly just become overwhelmed by the overwhelming response to my little corner of the internet.

I'm back!

Friday marked the final exam day and since I left the exam hall at 4:30pm I feel like I've got a large Life Sciences exam shaped hole in my life! I'm not saying I miss it but I'm just not quite sure what to do with myself. Now, I wouldn't say that I've had a massive weight lifted off my shoulders - because truth being told the exam did not go well...

Dilemmas, dilemmas, dilemmas

Wednesday...

 

I've just arrived at my first shift on my new placement. I don't start for half and hour but needed to pick up my parking permit so came a little early. Now here is my dilemma...

The last One Direction Show!

Last weekend I packed my suitcase as headed off to see One Direction with a couple of my girlfriends Robyn and Alex. Our hometown is Doncaster (same as Louis - give it up for Yorkshire!) so technically our local show would be Sheffield although now we all live away from home, it would be a case of travelling back to see them. We set off at lunchtime and some trains and taxis later we arrived at our hotel.

What a week!

I'm writing this blog post as I stand up on a train, surrounded by a case full of dirty laundry, a handbag full of girl junk, a bag full of uni work, a heavy laptop case, and a lot of sweaty people. Yes, I'm on my way home for the weekend. I need to ground myself. I've had a crazy week...

My favourite Blog Posts

As I mentioned on Friday, I've been super busy this week and not had chance to put much time into writing a post. So instead I thought I'd do a little round up of a few of my favourite posts from the past year for you to have a look back at if you'd like!

Coping with Blogging at University

This post will take the form of a rant...and will contain a lot of explanation as to the future of this blog whilst ever I am at University. It was something I'd hoped to write a lot later down the line, however I feel the time has come to just type what I'm thinking about how blogging is going whilst at Uni and what I'm going to do about it.

15 Struggles of growing up in the naughties

I grew up in the noughties and being honest I think it was a pretty tough time. Kids these days just don't realise how easy they have it - in today's post I'll talk you through my top 15 struggles of growing up in the noughties! Warning: This post will make you feel really old!

Would I recommend a Gap Year?

 

A couple of weeks ago I wrote a post about what to do on a gap year when you don't travel. Well today I follow it up with a little bit of a ramble about whether I'd recommend taking one at all. Whatever you do, is it really worth taking a year out of education? Are you going to gain anything from that year that you couldn't get at some other point in life? Here are my thoughts...