Advice For Starting Uni

So you've chosen what you want to do. First step done. Then you had to troll through the torture that is UCAS and fill in the application form that looked like it was made when UCAS was created (1992)? Yes I had to Google that. And now you've chosen where you think you're going to go and where you may have to go if those A-Levels don't turn out how they should. So now the panic sets in. OMG have I just made the biggest mistake of my life? Will I make friends? What will I do when I'm ill? All of these thoughts crossed my mind when deciding to go to uni. They're all completely natural and most people (normal people) will experience them. I first started my blog when I had just began my first year at uni with my first post being tips on survival at uni. I've now finished my second year so feel like it's time for another updated version following my two years.

1. Don't forget your home friends. It may seem fine at the time but they've been there for you for years and watched you transform from the spotty teenager into hopefully something a bit better than that.
2. Budget! Yes I sound so old and so boring but seriously overdrafts are not fun and you have to pay that back with real money y'know.
3. Try and find some part time work when you're home for the Summer. You're off for such a long time, make use of this time and earn back some money to save for when you're back slumming it.
4. Buy a railcard. Trains are not cheap and will take 75% of your student loan. Guaranteed.
5. Visit your friends at uni. This is definitely one of the benefits of going to uni, you get to experience nightlife in every city!
6. Eat healthy. I sound like a Mum here but putting on a stone is not fun either.
7. Try and keep up with the work. First year is ok as it doesn't count but when you get to second year this changes and stuff actually counts. Scary, I know.
8. Use the library! I've got the best grades I've ever got by just going to that strange busy building that was just kind of there before.

So, those are just a few things that I think would have helped me before I began uni, not that I would have probably listened to any of them. 

Thanks for reading!

xxxxxx

Rebecca｜Daphne du Maurier Review

Hello again! This post is going to be slightly different to other things that I have written about before, and I would love to hear your feedback as to whether you enjoy this sort of post! So, this post will take the form of a book review about the classic text Rebecca, written by Daphne du Maurier. 

Can we all just take a second to appreciate how beautiful the cover is? 

As I study English Literature as a degree I am given a reading list of texts which I need to read over the summer in preparation for returning to uni in September. Whilst browsing the different texts on Amazon I decided I would start by ordering this and begin reading it- this decision was perhaps solely based more on the cover than the blurb but who could blame me?

As I began the novel I was intrigued and definitely wanted to read more. It began with the protagonist hopping from hotel to hotel, dreaming of a time past at Manderley, an English estate. I hoped that it would take place as an epic love story but this was not fulfilled within the novel. 

The novel was definitely interesting at the beginning, with aspects of a Gothic nature creeping in with the hints at a ghostly presence of the ex wife Rebecca. However, this ghostly nature again was not fulfilled.

I began to become uninterested in the novel and frustrated at the protagonist midway through. I dislike Jane Eyre and Rebecca definitely has qualities very similar to this.

However, as I began to finish the novel I sympathised more with the protagonist and even Maxim! I won't reveal why, as this would spoil the novel to prospective readers. 

Overall, I did enjoy the novel as I felt that there were many different twists and turns that I didn't expect. However, I didn't like how reminiscent of Jane Eyre the novel felt and the characterisation of the protagonist or Maxim at times.

Thanks for reading! Feel free to leave any comments

xxx