I can’t believe how quickly my time in Portsmouth has flown by and, when I’m not in the library finishing all my coursework, I intend on making the most of the months I’ve got left with the amazing friends I’ve made (that I hope I keep in touch with for the rest of my life).

Knowing that in under five months time I’ll be back in Oxfordshire with the rest of my life ahead of me and no more essays to hand in (ever!) is pretty exciting but it’s also pretty terrifying too, which I can’t deny. I just hope the work I’ve done whilst at Portsmouth will stand me in a good position for everything that’s about to come.

There have been ups and downs, highs and lows, bad grades, good grades, last minute revision sessions, long bouts of procrastination, and some of the best times I will ever have, and, honestly, I wouldn’t change any of it for the world.

For now, I better get on with sorting out content for the next issue of The Galleon (I have nothing so far!) and crack on with my dissertation.

My course

Whilst attempting my dissertation work, there’s been work for other units to contend with and it always seems like time is just slipping away and there aren’t enough hours in the day to fit everything in. Thankfully, a few (a lot of) lengthy days in the library paid off and I managed to do all my work in the end. I haven’t been happy with results I’ve been getting so far this year but a good friend of mine reminded me if I’d tried my hardest then I should be proud of whatever I’ve achieved. I know I’ve been working super hard so if I’m heading for a 2.2 then I’m proud of that in itself, especially with the amount of work experience I’ve been doing.

The Galleon

Speaking of work experience, I can’t believe we’re halfway through The Galleon issues for the year. I’ve had a blast so far in my position of Music Editor and I’ve no doubt at the end of the year I’ll be really sad to let it go. It’s not too late to get involved so if you fancy writing for the music section e-mail me at music@galleonnews.com. Otherwise, check out www.quarterdeck.galleonnews.com for more info on other sections, meetings, etc.

Career

As soon as you hit third year there’s a lot of pressure on to apply for jobs for after university, in the form of graduate schemes, placements, and internships. Unfortunately, unless you’re interested in engineering, finance, business or IT you’ll struggle to find a role you’d like to apply for in these sorts of jobs. All I can suggest is if you want to do something just make sure you do whatever you can to make yourself stand out from the crowd. I’ve just started applying for highly-competitive work experience but I’m hoping, because of all the writing I’ve done (unpaid!) so far, I’ll get accepted somewhere eventually. Yes, your degree is important but remember to think about what’s going to happen after uni.

Life

I’ve had a brilliant Christmas holidays and I’m very fortunate to have had an amazing group of friends at home for over ten years. When you’re at uni it’s tricky to keep in touch with old friends, especially if, like me, you’ve made some great new ones at uni, but it’s definitely worth the effort. We’ve had some great nights this holiday and it’s like we’ve never been apart.

Otherwise, I’ve just been relaxing and procrastinating A LOT. I know, it’s terrible, but I’ve desperately needed after burning the candle at both ends since September.  I’m going back to Portsmouth to celebrate New Year’s Eve with my friends but then I’m off to Scotland to visit my family, before rushing back to Portsmouth again ready for my final semester at uni.

It’s emotional, but it’s growing up.

Here are my library tips.
1. Be quiet. It’s a library, not a nightclub. If you want to talk to your friends super loudly then The Union is pretty much next door.
2. Use the right study area. Group study for stress-free chatting and if you want to eat your lunch, quiet areas if you want to work in peace.
3. Be considerate. Not everyone wants to hear your phonecall about last night’s escapades.
4. Don’t be rude to the staff. I saw someone swear at a librarian the other day because the book she’d just taken out had been reserved already and there’s really no need.
5. Make the most of it. The library’s there for a reason!
6. Don’t eat where you’re not supposed to. You’re at least 18 years old now and following rules isn’t that hard! Stop chewing your gum so loudly as well.
7. If you’re wearing headphones, don’t turn the music up to full blast, thereby defeatign the point of headphones altogether.
8. Don’t be afraid to use the self service machines. The news ones are actually really easy to use.
9. Take a break now and again. Or you could end up like me, finding everything and everyone annoying.

The university library is a brilliant resource that we’re all really lucky to have so make sure you get down there one day and actually use it!

Thankfully I chose a dissertation topic that I’m really interested in and I’m lucky enough to have a great supervisor, so it’s going well so far, but I don’t want to spend too long talking about it just in case it goes really badly (and you’ll be looking back at this, pitying me for ever thinking it would go well). I’d say as long as you make sure you do at least a little bit towards your dissertation every day, you’ll be okay. Then you’ll avoid ever feeling as though you haven’t done any work and there shouldn’t be a huge mountain of work that’ll come crashing down around you one tragic day in the library.

Another thing that’s taking up a lot of my time at the minute is my new position as the Music Editor of The Galleon. If you haven’t picked up a copy of the university paper before make sure you do because it’s a pretty good read (especially the Music section!) and the amount of work that the whole team puts in to it is ridiculous. I’m so busy with it all at the minute but I think I’m just about getting my head around it all at the minute.

If you’re interested in writing for the Music section of the paper e-mail me at music@galleonnews.com!

6.30-8PM.

ROOM 1 IN THE STUDENTS’ UNION.

COME ALONG IF YOU WANT TO GET INVOLVED IN THE PAPER THIS YEAR.

I’ve been in Portsmouth for nearly three weeks now and my friends and I have had some awesome nights together before the weather turned sour: BBQs, late night impromptu trips to the beach, the list goes on… Going back to uni has been a weird transition. It always is when you’ve had three months away from academia and you’ve probably been working a job or dossing around for a while.

Thankfully, I’ve got a great dissertation supervisor and I’ve already met him twice (with another meeting arranged). He seems to think my idea has a lot of promise (yay!) and I’m really looking forward to getting stuck into it, even though it’ll be pretty stressful. I just need to believe that I’m actually smart enough to do it rather than crumpling into a heap in the aisles of the library.

My other two units are pretty cool as well and I’m definitely in the right mindset to actually work hard this year.

Other than that I have a meeting with The Galleon tonight and an interview to be the Music Editor on Friday. Wish me luck!

I’ll make sure I keep you posted more often from now on!

It’s not all doom and gloom though! I’ve really enjoyed watching the Olympics. I can’t believe how into it I’ve got and I’ve loved watching all of the events. I’m currently watching Andy Murray absolutely destroy Federer in the Olympic tennis final and it’s amazing (although I’m a massive tennis fan anyway). The uni received 50 tickets for the games the other day and I would’ve loved to have gone but couldn’t make it to London at 7am the next day. It’s inspiring to see Team GB doing so well overall and it just goes to show, whether it’s sport you’re in to or something else, if you work at it you’ll end up achieving great things.

The other thing I’m really looking forward to is Reading Festival. It’ll be the first time I’ve seen most of my friends from uni since June and, regardless of the British weather, I know it’s going to be so much fun.

On the downside, I need to type up a new dissertation proposal this week. I really wasn’t happy with my last one and I want to completely change the subject of what I was initially going to do, so it’s going to be stressful but hopefully it’ll all work out in the end!

One thing I’ve been working hard at is getting as much writing experience under my belt as possible. Since I came home I’ve been writing for a few web sites and online magazines and I’ve received a lot of praise for my work, which is always nice. I’m trying to spread out my writing to a wider field as well and, although I primarily focus on music journalism, I have been dabbling in other areas such as lifestyle now too. I’m really looking forward to getting involved with The Galleon again when I get back to uni (I’m still really hoping I get the Music Editor position) and it’ll be cool to meet some new writers as well.

Last week I went back to Portsmouth for a week to work both of the university Preview Days. As I’ve previously mentioned I got a job as a Student Marketing Assistant so I worked my first couple of shifts and, I have to admit, I was pretty nervous about it. On the first day I was supposed to be helping register prospective students but the area I was in was so empty that I ended up outside as “human signage”, helping people find their way around and asking them questions etc.

On the second day I was the walking tours co-ordinator which meant I was in charge of the walking tours (obviously). I even got a radio for the day (cue: me feeling really important). I have to say the job as a whole is really fun and it’s made even better by the lovely people I get to work with, especially my fellow SMAs. The weather was terrible on both days and after 9 hours outside I was soaked through, but it was really cool meeting possible future students of UoP and helping them out.

I’ve been home for a few days now but I’m going back to Portsmouth tomorrow for a week working at Graduation. It should be good fun but I’m also pretty terrified that that’s going to be me in one year! I don’t want to leave university! Eek.