Mid-break Review

So, I promised I would try and keep you all updated and not go completely silent over the summer, although to be honest my loves, I'm even boring myself with the lack of news and interesting things that I have to share with you all. Really, all I have been doing is working with the lovely Lily Potter who deserves an epic shoutout on here as without her I think I would have gone completely insane while at work.

I reckon we are about halfway through the summer break now, and the weeks to the beginning of third year in my diary are scarily becoming less and less. I have so many plans between now and then so I know it is going to fly by and I'm going to find myself standing outside Founder's or wherever I am on the first day back and realise that it is the last first day here. 

Graduation was last week, and because I was on campus a lot for work I got to see all the third years in their gowns and having hundreds of photos being taken, and I am slightly terrified that it will be me next year. I know I sound really old when I say this, but it really does seem like yesterday that I arrived here on the first day of freshers. And I'm not going to pretend, I was absolutely shitting myself all the way up here. 

Thinking about all this future malarkey, I think my next step after graduation may be a Masters, it seems like a good idea for someone who doesn't know what they want to do with their life (then again there are few of us who do). Yet at the same time I would like to go travelling again, so hopefully, subject to acceptance, I may have found the best of both worlds by doing a masters abroad. The application process while doing a dissertation, rest of my degree, holding down 5 jobs, being on society committees, and doing a placement for BAFTA is going to be insane. I don't know why I decided I was going to do everything at university in my last year, but meh, at least I will be busy. Anyway, I have found my dream course as it is at University of London in Paris. PARIS! Imagine how awesome that would be, the actual opportunity to live in the centre of Paris. I'm not gonna lie, the appeal of probably being fluent in French by the end of the year also holds a massive attraction. Apart from that, I'm also looking at courses in Canada, cause it's like America and Britain in one so I don't have to go full American just yet. Also, who doesn't love maple syrup!? 

Anyway, I'm getting ahead of myself, there is a shit ton of work to be done between now and then, and I'm going to South of France with the famalam at the beginning of August and Amsterdam the following week with Emma and Laura (all for just the weekend) but it will be lovely nonetheless.  I hope everyone is having a beautifully relaxing break, and for those of you who are still at work, I'm sorry, I feel your pain. I'll post up pics of Amsterdam when I'm back. 

Have a good week my loves! 

Lots of Love, Kate xxx 

Welcome to the Summer

Firstly I should begin with an apology for the silence of the past month or so, when I last left you I was still in the midst of exams (which have all finished, by the way, I survived, and passed them all) but now term has officially finished and I am splitting my time between my home on the Hampshire/Wiltshire border and my uni home back in Egham, resuming my job as a conference assistant for the summer.

Early yesterday morning I got back from holiday to Lanzarote, which was one of the best, most relaxing trips away I've had in a long time, and just what was needed after an incredibly busy year and prepare me for what is bound to be an even busier one next year. If you can, I would highly recommend checking out lastminute.com for that quick getaway, they have amazing deals for places that I would never have expected to be able to afford on a tight budget like mine. 

Travelling, even going on holiday alone always great, and from my other posts, you can see I am a total advocate for taking off and going where the mood takes you without other people, just relying on yourself and getting to do what you want to do. However, once in a while, or more than that, there is nothing better than just going away with friends and having a laugh, which is totally what we did. Going up on stage, somewhat drunk, singing and dancing our hearts out to ABBA dancing queen on fern's 21st birthday, in front of the entire hotel, will be an experience I will never forget.

This post is just a little bit of a catch up (and a chance to show off my tanned/burnt holiday pics!) 

I'll try to keep you all a bit more updated over the summer, between working, my placement at Scholastic and trying to get on top of dissertation research I'll do my best. 

Have a good week my loves!

Lots of Love, Kate xxx

Taking Stock

Sitting at my desk in my towel, too lazy to get dressed, with the window open and a somewhat warm spring breeze flowing into my room I just happened to look at the calendar on my computer and I realised,

It was today, 

Today 4 years ago was the first day I was in hospital and the beginning of one of the toughest years of my life so far. 

For those of you that don't know, or have recently come to my blog, you can check out my oldest posts from when I started this to get some more information, but just quickly, when I was 17, after suffering for 6 months with acute abdominal pains pretty much ongoing to the point I would vomit, I was rushed to A&E in an ambulance and was quickly diagnosed with Pancreatitis caused by gallstones. This meant that approximately one third of my pancreas had died, it still has, it will never grow back and that I would require surgery to remove my gall bladder, that had caused this in the first place. Although, luckily the infection in my pancreas responded to the drugs after a few weeks, if not I was looking at being put on the transplant list and move to the High Dependency Unit. Basically I was really not very well and was in hospital in Winchester for near on two months. 

Thinking about it now, it all seems so long ago, and so much has happened in the past 4 years to make me forget about it, and I'm glad, and so lucky, that for the majority of the time I can forget about it. Although, if I'd had the option to not have been ill, I would have taken it in a heart beat, however, the fact is I was, and as shit as it was, and as difficult as it was for my family, my life wouldn't have been the same without it.

Okay, I know that sounds a little over dramatic, and really, from what I can remember it wasn't that bad, but I know it was hard for my parents. But I was thinking, what would my life had been like if it hadn't have happened. I wouldn't have missed my AS exams, but my grades may or may not have been different, so would I have got my Oxford interview, would I have been accepted to UCL with the better grades I would have hopefully got at A2 after missing AS? But if I hadn't have got ill, would I have ever made the decision to take a gap year and have one of the best years ever, would I have decided to have fun in my year off and go to Royal Holloway? Somehow I doubt it. 

I'm not saying that all these things happened in my life because I got ill, but I'm not sure they would have happened if I hadn't, or at least not in the same way.

Getting ill was shit, there is no two ways about it, but through it, and through beginning this blog because of it, I have been contacted by people who have suffered similar things to me, or have just wanted more information. Whoever it is, whatever they ask, I am just really glad I can help, especially, as to me, it wasn't that bad (in my blurry memory of it anyway - although I can't remember 5 days of it so who knows!) but I know how hard it is for families going through things like this. 

Not that this post was meant to be morbid or me saying yay - look at me I survived. No. But what it has done has made me appreciate even more the people who care about us in the hospital, the worried families for their loved ones, and it has given me a weird understanding of what it means to be totally vulnerable, because there is nothing you can do, and that is strangely settling. 

Anyway, enough of the deep stuff, I just wanted to say a big THANK YOU, to all my readers and friends that have stuck with me since it happened and I created this blog. I owe it all to you that it is even still here, and a big thanks to the nurses and doctors of Winchester Hospital Children's Ward who looked after me in the Spring of 2012. I wouldn't still be here if it wasn't for those amazing people. What a sobering thought.

Have a good week my loves!

Lots of Love, Kate xxx

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times

Okay, so this blog post title may sound a little dramatic, but being slap bang in the middle of revision it feels like it was appropriate. With this lovely and somewhat unexpected turn of the weather being hotter than Ibiza this weekend, revision seems to be the last thing on everyone's mind.

Trying to combine this revision with the weather proved eventful on Thursday when me, Elliott, Fern, Matt and Romily packed up a picnic and headed to Virginia Water to basically roast ourselves in the sun and pretend to do some revision all day. The ice-cream van was a definite highlight too.

What you can't see from this picture is the lobster-like sunburn that obviously occurred afterwards! 

Making the most of the weather, the residents of 35 and 37 decided to try our hand at having a BBQ, which I think speaking for all of us was a bit of a disaster. Next time let the girls do it eh lads?!

Although I think the investment in a paddling pool and water balloons could have been the best purchase we've ever made. Oh and the foam swords, a great idea when living with fencers.

All in all, it was a pretty awesome few days - but coming back to the reality of the fact I still have 2 exams left is painful at best, the procrastination is real and the motivation is dwindling, but at least this weekend has proved that it is actually true that we should never grow up!

Have a good week my loves!

Lots of Love, Kate xxx

Werk Werk Werk Werk Werk (to the Rhianna song)

After my relaxing week at home, I have found the exam panic has slowly started to creep in as I realised that my first exam is 3 weeks today... Ah shit. "what is this fuckery" as certain people might say. While I should be madly revising, instead of the normal procrastination methods of Facebook, Netflix and other crazy ideas that I somehow manage to have, I am out busy working earning the dolla. As I mentioned in a previous post, I am now a conference assistant for Royal Holloway, and right now I am working on my very first conference. There is actually way less to do than I expected as I think we are just here as backups and in case anything goes wrong or needs doing, and with this conference, it has been very little. Fortunately, as it is an internal conference everyone seems to know where they are going and what they are doing to a large extent meaning we are just sat twiddling our thumbs a little bit, occasionally doing revision more often than not just sitting around and nattering. 

As the workaholic that I am (having 4 jobs at uni and 1 at home I think entitles me to call myself that) the fact that I am sometimes being paid to sit around and wait for people to need something is very strange. From working in a busy pub to being a Student Ambassador to Notetaking to most recently driving the SSHH bus I am usually doing something at least most of the time. Ah well, shouldn't complain, it is all dolla in the end.  

One of the things I have noticed the past few days working here, due to the long hours (7am-6pm yesterday!) whenever I get the chance to sit down, as we are mostly standing, whenever I sit down I make this really unappealing 'ahhhhhh' noise, like a really long sigh. You know you are getting old whenever you sit down a sigh goes with it!

Anyway, just thought I'd do a quick update on what is going on at the moment, and as you can tell, very little! 
Let me you how your exam prep is going - if any, and any top tips on how to stop procrastinating would be really useful!

Have a good week my loves!

Lots of Love, Kate xxx