I wish I have started the write up earlier… It’s ironic because I just remembered coming to uni in the first year and getting all sorts of “tips” from graduating students and the majority of them said “start early, don’t leave things till the last minute” or something along those lines… I guess it was to prevent us from making the same mistakes they did. But guess what, I did exactly what they did…

And having said that, I would like to take this opportunity to tell all current first and second years, as well as all the prospective students: DO YOUR WORK EARLY. Don’t make the same mistake every other student makes

And to all third years: Best of luck! We can do this!

Here’s something I found the other day and it made me laugh. Mainly because it’s so true! I think I’m currently at Stage 4.

But let’s get to the point. I am a final year student and overall I love the experience of University. But it doesn’t last forever. University, in a way, does prepare you for what’s waiting for you out there in the real world – especially if you’re studying for a degree that will closely relate to your career. Career advisers will help you explore your options. They will tell you that, nowadays, you can’t get far with just a degree – you also need relevant experience or volunteering. What they don’t tell you is when to take action.

I always thought I knew exactly what I wanted to do after I graduate. But the reality is that it was only recently that I decided on my career path. I would like use my passion for psychology to work with mentally disordered offenders. What does this mean for me? Further studies. At least to a Doctoral level.

So I know where I want to get, but how do I actually get there? What do I do when I graduate? Do I go on to do a Master’s course that’s designed exactly for what I want to do, but is very competitive? What if I don’t get in? Do I apply for another course? Or do I forget about the Masters and apply for a Doctorate straight away? Or maybe I take a gap year (or two) and work to get more experience?

I’m a third year student, with all these ideas and options; having missed one application deadline, with another approaching soon, where I will have to fill out an extensive application, on top of my dissertation and coursework and exam revision.

I guess what I’m trying to say is that it is okay to go to University without knowing what your next big step will be, but it is worth to start thinking about your future career early enough to meet all the deadlines. And no-one will tell you when to do that. It is in your best interest to figure out when that time comes. So, all future 3rd Years – make a mental note of this. Think in advance. Get that relevant experience. This is your future and nobody else’s.

The last week of term was busy, but I actually had a lot of fun. On Tuesday I did my last shift of the year at the Salisbury hospital. I’m glad I don’t have to wake up so early anymore, but at the same time it has become a routine thing, so it feels weird when I wake up every Tuesday morning and the clock doesn’t say 6.30am…

Wednesday was the day when I had an induction for my new placement, which I am hoping to start as soon as I can in the new year. The placement is at the Kingston prison in Portsmouth, where I will be assisting with art sessions. Because this will involve working with so called “vulnerable population”, I need to undergo a thorough security check, which can take quite a long time (usually around 4-6 weeks). I am very excited about doing this.

Thursday consisted of another trip to Salisbury for a team meeting, which I thought was really worth attending as everyone got to say what they thought of the project, and we found out about the new developments. Later that evening my friends and I had a lovely Christmas dinner which involved very nice food (cooked by Maria and Richard – thank you!), christmas games, colouring in, dragon and A LOT of mulled wine. It felt like real Christmas and at that moment I honestly didn’t want to go back home.

But the real Christmas is now here and it feels equally as good. For my family, Christmas starts on Christmas Eve, so we are starting our feast tonight! This also means I get to open my presents tonight!

While I’m typing this, I can smell all the amazing food that my mum has been cooking over the last couple of days. I guess it’s time to set the table…

I wish you all  Merry Christmas! Make sure you spend quality time with your family!

It’s all fun and games until you get to the 3rd year; that’s when the hard work really starts. I had the entire summer to come up with an idea for my dissertation, to re-think it, change it, and re-think again. Consider other alternatives… and go back to the original idea. But I didn’t do that. But honestly, who did? Looking back now I wish I thought about it back then.

It took me ages to come up with my final idea. Idea, that was completely different from what I wanted to do when I submitted my proposal. The general concept stayed the same (ish…) but the method got refined. I went from purely qualitative study to a quantitative one. This only means one thing… STATISTICS! And SPSS software, that we, psychology students, just l-o-v-e! (not.)

Getting my ethics form written up also took a while. Mostly due to me being very undecided about what I wanted to do. Having to do a brief literature review didn’t encourage me to keep working on it either… But a good thing about it is that I actually have some framework to refer to when I finally start writing the real thing. Surprisingly though, my study got approved a day after I submitted the form!

Next step was to actually create my survey online. Seems pretty straight forward, right? Well, I thought so too. It took me one evening to create it, but I kept going back to it for a few days after to change bits and pieces. Last night, it finally went live, and as of today I have already collected data from 21 participants! Impressive, or what? So, my data is collecting itself, and all I have to do now is start the write up (with other coursework bits on the side…).

So, future 3rd years! Don’t follow my example and really do try to figure out what it is you want to do for your dissertation early enough, it will save you a lot of nerves! Trust me, the current 3rd year who’s a little too stressed out about the whole thing.

The time really flies and you don’t realise until you get to the point where I am right now. A 3-year undergraduate course my seem like quite a bit of time when you first start University, but with all the fun, partying, drinking, lecturing and report writing going on… I have no idea where the time went.

Uni officially started a month ago, but only now I found some time to write. And to be honest, it seems like only about a couple of weeks passed by. That’s what happens when you have a busy schedule. I started off my year with the Freshers Fayre, of which I was part of again this year, promoting Film & Photo Society. I loved every minute of being there, despite the long hours, the noise, the issues with Union; even despite the fact that after two days of shouting at people (not in the mean way – it was just very loud in the tents ) I almost lost my voice. But as I always say, this will always be one of my favourite experiences at Uni. Below is the photo of me and Iain – society’s Vice President – at our stand.

But society isn’t just fun and play. Running it requires a lot of planning and preparation, which is something that takes quite a lot of my time in the week. And it needs to be fitted around all the Uni activities. Fair enough, I’m only in three days a week, but this is where independent studies come in to the picture. Independent study was never my favourite thing; in fact, I tried to stay as far away from it as possible. And I managed to “wing” my way through the first two years That’s obviously a joke, I actually managed to get to this stage with good marks, but this time, I really need to spend a lot of my time doing research and background reading to graduate with the mark I want.

So, lectures. This year I actually get to study exactly what I want as all my modules are all electives. I am not so happy about having the exams at the end of year though, but now that I think about it, it’s probably better this way. For third years anyway. With the dissertation hand-in day being early March, we really don’t need exams in January. Even if I only have two.

One of my modules is a work placement, and for this I am actually continuing with my volunteering at Salisbury Hospital. Since summer ended, I’ve had two real, all-day shifts and I’m beginning to feel more confident with what I’m doing with every shift. Sadly, this means I have to get up at 6am every Tuesday, work all day, and then run to the society’s meeting straight from the train station… But hey, who said this was going to be easy? Welcome to the real world. I’m only hoping I can get used to getting up so early.

A month into Year 3, and I’m already looking forward to a break. Now let me get back to my dissertation research…

Because my summer plans did not work out, my friend Maria offered to have me over for a bit at her home in Bucharest, Romania. I was very excited about going because I have never been to Romania, and I really like visiting new places.

So on the morning of 27th of August I set off for Bucharest, and after a 3-hour flight I was met by my friend and a heat wave… which then turned out to be normal weather conditions for this country. My friend put a lot of effort into showing me everything I needed to see during my time there. The first half of the trip we spent in Bucharest, where not only did I see beautiful places, but also learnt a lot about the country’s history.

One place I visited was the People’s Palace, which was originally being build for the Romanian dictator for the purpose of him living there, but he was caught and executed a year before the building works ended. Now it is mainly used for conferences and political meetings, as well as little art gallery. The Palace is very impressive! It’s huge and from what they say, the underground of the Palace is much bigger that what you can see above the ground! (For a great photo of the Palace I suggest you check out the Timeline cover photo of Bon Jovi’s facebook page ) From the top of the Palace you could see most of the amazing city of Bucharest, including Romanian equivalent of the Champs-Élysées, which looks a lot like the French one.

For the second half of my stay, we went up to a town called Sibiu in Transylvania. Although it was a 6-hour train ride one way, it was really worth it! Starting with the lovely views on the way there (we went through the mountains), ending on a beautiful historic city, which hosted a Gypsy Festival the weekend we were there. Can I just say, the gypsy market was absolutely great!

While going to Romania was exciting enough, the highligh of my trip was definitely seeing Red Hot Chili Peppers live at the National Arena in Bucharest! Do I even have to say the guys were amazing?  The greatest show I’ve ever seen! Simply unforgettable!

One thing that’s worth noting is that Romanians are very friendly people, and I was pleasantly surprised when I met some of Maria’s friends. Some of them actually study in London, so I’m hoping to see them again sometime.

I love the fact I got this opportunity to go and see another country; another culture, that in many ways is similar to what I know, but is also very different. And it’s all thanks to being at University and meeting new people from around the world.

They say that you never really know a person until you live with them. And you know what? It’s true. Last year I decided to move in with two people from my course. One of them lived on the same floor as me in halls, we used to hang out quite a bit, so it’s fair to say we kind of knew each other; the other I had only just met. My biggest fear back then was that we would not get along. I guess that’s the risk everybody has to take at some point during university. Luckily, despite all our differences in personalities and opinions, and a few little arguments, we are still getting along well and decided to stay together for our final year. Luckily, because I know a number of people who have been living with different people each year because of the differences between them that they could not overcome.

But yes, when you already have housemates, there are other things that need to be considered. For all those lucky ones who had en-suite rooms in halls it might be a little difficult to share the bathroom with other people, some of whom might be total strangers! What comes with that is actually making sure you leave the place clean for the other people to use. Same goes for the kitchen, and living room (for those who have them). Oh, and the cleaning rotas! This has never really worked in our house, we try to clean as we go, whenever we can, whenever there is a need.

And of course, the bills. Halls rent included everything, so one did not have to worry about other payments, but living in a shared house takes away this convenience. This time you actually have to decide what gets paid (do we get TV licence? Extra TV package?), and who pays what. For me, the hardest thing was overtaking the already existing bills, as this required ringing the company, and as I have previously mentioned, I don’t like phone conversations… But once that’s done, the only thing you have to worry about is that everyone pays up when the time comes.

If you asked me now, I would say that I prefer the shared house over Uni halls, but that’s mainly due to the fact that I matured mentally over the past couple of years and am on a straight road to a proper adult life, with full time job and real-life commitments. Besides, living in a house feels more homely and natural to me, whereas halls seemed very “part-time”.

So, all prospective students! Choosing where you are going to live at university is a very tough decision, so make sure you give it enough thought, and that your choice fits with your preferences and your lifestyle. I’m sure you’re going to enjoy your time here wherever you end up!

Having been at University for two years, I’ve experienced living in both Uni halls and rented student house. In this post I will concentrate on student halls, as this is how most of the students (including myself) start off at University.

I personally think that living at Uni halls is the ultimate student experience. In my first year I lived on the 4th floor of the Trafalgar halls and I was the only girl in a 6-person flat! I must admit, at first I felt a little uneasy about this, but the worry went away as soon as I adjusted to the fact I’ve left home and was no longer under the supervision of my parents.

What I’ve noticed while living at Trafalgar was that there is not a single minute in the 24-hour cycle where all students are asleep! You can never go into a student hall and expect to hear silence. There are always pre-drinks and parties going on, people are coming back from their drunken nights out and then decide to cook or have group showers (yes, things like that really happen…) at 3am… both of which activities set off fire alarms! And yes, that means you have to go and assemble outside, no matter weather or time of day (or night, which was usually the case).

While the above might seem like quite a negative view of halls, I assure you there are positive aspects as well! Living in halls means you can meet a lot of new people outside of your course or society. On one occasion, just as I was getting back in after a night out, I bumped into a random guy walking through the front door (who later turned out to be my next door neighbour), who invited me to a party at his flat. That night I met a bunch of really interesting people. And this was only one night out of the 10 months I spent there – it really is that easy to meet people!

Most of the halls are located at the very centre of the campus, which means you can stay in bed that extra 10 minutes! And who wouldn’t like that?!

I’ve recently found a photo of my halls room I took when I moved in, so I thought I’d share it with you. It was still clean then

Overall, I am very happy I got to experience living in halls. It definitely helps one transform from the kid who lived with their parents for the past 18 years, to a newly discovered party animal and student, to a young adult who is responsible enough to be able to live in peace with other members of the community.

So, future Portsmouth students, if you managed to secure a place at any of the halls – well done! I am sure you will enjoy it! (How many of you are out there? Let me know in comments!) And those of you who didn’t – don’t worry, living in a house can sometimes work out better.

Up next: Living in rented student housing.

Getting through the exam period was hard. Really hard. I always knew second year would be the hardest, but I never expected it to be this bad. This year’s exams where a nightmare. I was so stressed up to the point where, in my mind, I already saw myself failing and repeating a year. But I’m pretty sure I passed the 40% mark

So what do students do when the exams are over? Students go to the pub! But we celebrated in style.

On monday evening we went to Babylon, where they hosted a Hawaii night. We got Leis (the flowery neck things) and little umbrellas in our drinks, which put as in a holiday mood. We danced all night – that was exactly what we needed after the long revision session.

The rest of the week consisted of BBQs in the garden,  cheeky drinks and watching The Avengers movies

I have now officially left Portsmouth for the summer, which I must say, I found a little sad. I wish I stayed there with my friends for a little longer. On the other hand, I now need to prepare for, what is supposed to be, the best summer of my life. So what it means is: last minute shopping, packing, re-packing, and more re-packing.

But let me explain. Believe it or not, but I do actually have a social life and I do go out. But I find ways to make it affordable. Orange Wednesdays. Free entry before 10pm. 2 for 1 deals on drinks. Why spend more if you can spend less?

I was never the kind to get drunk every chance I got, and I think this paid off. It really baffles me when I see other people’s facebook statuses about how they managed to spend over 50% of their student loan in Freshers Week only! I mean, this is probably not a problem for someone who has a steady income, such as a part-time job; but for me (with student loan being my only source of income) this would be unacceptable!

So I decided to save up. And guess what? The money I didn’t spend on getting drunk went towards something that is most likely to be the best summer of my life!

And what is it, may you ask? I will be spending my summer at an American summer camp as an Activity Counsellor. After the camp I will have time to travel across the States, which is something I have dreamt of doing since I was old enough to dream about it! I already started planning my post-camp travels, but I’m still waiting for my placement to be confirmed, so I actually know in what part of United States I will spend most of the summer, and my 20th birthday. I consider this opportunity the best present I could ever get myself.

So… wow. I would have never thought that it would be the student loan that would enable me to go. But it did. And you know what? I’m glad I didin’t have those extra cocktails because, let’s face it, cocktails give you headaches. And what would you rather have: a headache, or memories that last lifetime?