oce4nblue: February 2016

2 Years, 10 Highlights

As of this year I would've had my blog for three years which is just insane! So much has happened over the last few years and I thought that I'd create a little list of the highlights and best bits of them. Here's ten highlights from the past two years...

1. Reaching 1000 pageviews - I remember when I first started this blog and I never thought I'd get 10 views let alone 1000. I know that's such a cliche thing to say but, it's true! It's crazy looking back and seeing how far I've come with this.

2. 16th Birthday Weekend - I did write a blog post on this aaaaaages ago but, for my sixteenth birthday my family and I went to London. We watched 'We Will Rock You' in the theatre and went to The Ritz for afternoon tea (and I was brutally embarrassed when a cake was bought out for me). It was a lovely weekend spent with my family and something I'll always remember.

Yes, part of it got knocked off

3. Rome 2014 - During the summer of 2014, my family and I went on a holiday to Rome and it was wonderful! It's such an amazing city with so much history and culture behind it. I'm desperate to go back someday and see more than I did before. Also the food was incredible!

4. Center Parks - At the start of 2014, I went to Center Parks for a few days and it was great! It's such a cool place if you love outdoors-y activities. We did Segway-ing (is that a word?!) and had a LOT of fun int eh swimming pools and water slides. It's a fabby place to go with a group of people!

5. Passing my GCSE's - I passed my GCSE's the summer of 2015 and ended up doing a little better than I expected! I got the grades I needed and started college that September!

6. Dublin - The end of 2014, I went on a college trip to Dublin. We saw Dara O'Brein do a stand up comedy show and did a bunch of English related things over there. The people who went were great and it's where some of my best friendships actually started which is pretty rad!

7. Tom Odell - In 2015, I saw Tom Odell in concert in Nottingham as part of the 'Forest Live!' concerts so it was all outside! It was such a beautiful day and the setting was just brilliant. I'm going again this year to see Kaiser Chiefs and can't wait!

8. Lush Bloggers Event - Last year I went to my first bloggers event ever. It was really nerve-racking but also really awesome. I met some great people there who I'm still in contact with (hiya gals!) and got a bunch of free Lush products too!

9. Corsica - I travelled to Corsica in the summer of the year just gone and it's such a beautiful country and the beaches, culture, food and people are just fantastic! Like Rome, I really want to go back there and see it all again. I just loved it there!

10. Westminster - The other week I got offered a place from the university I desperately want to attend it was the best feeling ever. Knowing that I smashed the interview and that my personal statement was good enough for them is brilliant.

The last two years have been great and I have some fantastic memories from them. I can't wait to make more and take you all along with me and see through this little journey through life together. Thankyou all for everything over the past few years. Whether you've just clicked on here for the first time or you're a loyal follower, thankyou for all the support and encouragement. I can't wait to see where this goes.

10:45
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Letting Go

10:17
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Studying 101: In Class

11:00
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The Road to Uni: Interviews

Wednesday February 3rd, I had a university interview.

The interview was at the Univeristy of Westminster for their BA (Hons) Journalism course on their Harrow campus. And it's safe to say that I was completely and utterly bricking it.

My mum and I travelled down to London on the day which was all fine although, we then made the mistake of taking the LONGEST tube route from Waterloo to Kenton (0.3 miles from the uni). We got off the tube, asked somewhere where we had to go and pretty much bolted down the road. We got there are pretty much exactly one o'clock (the interview), cheeks rosy and out of breath. It then turned out the lecturer didn't turn up for another 15 minutes. There was no need to run really.

It was a group interview and in total there was about 16 of us. The lecturer led us all the one of the newsrooms where he spoke to us all about what the course consisted of. It confirmed that I was still as in love with the course as I was before. Then we were split into two smaller groups..

This where the actual 'interview' part began. We all sat in this sort of meetings room around a table and spoke about the journalism industry, where it is now and where we think it will go. The lecturer asked us all three questions;

1. Why do we want to study Journalism?

2. Why Westminster?

3. Where do you get your news from?

For me, these questions were relatively easy to answer and the eight of us in the room shared similar ideas. We also chatted about how some news sources are biased and how third-world countries tend to be discarded news-wise. It was a very interesting conversation and it was cool to hear other people's views. I then asked about the lecture's opinion on blogging and vlogging and if he thinks this will be considered a 'real' for of journalism in the future. We had a really good talk about this too.

We were then left with a student ambassador and were able to ask her questions that were more abou the social life. She also gave us a tour of the facilities which were amazing!! It was at this point I started to make conversation with Rebecca (look at her twitter here!). We both have kanken bags and share very similar opinions on the blogging community which is pretty rad. I then found her online basically straight after the interview and continued to chat there so HI BECCA IF YOUR READING THIS!!

All in all, I though that the interview went okay I suppose. I wasn't too sure about it because in the group was a couple of vocal people so it was difficult to get your point across sometimes. Although, I'm very happy to say that BOTH myself and Rebecca got offered places at the univeristy!!!!!

After this experience I can say that despite how scary interviews are, they're not too bad. Just make sure you know about your topic and why you REALLY want to study it and you'll be A OK!

09:39
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Quotes

08:28
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February Life Update

The last little life update I did was back in September and everything has just been crazy busy since then! Here's a little rundown of what I've been up to since then..

Firstly, I started my YouTube channel! I've wanted to start one for a while but was nervous about doing so as I wasn't sure about the content I wanted to create. I took some time working on how my channel looks and planning the videos I wanted to do and then started uploading. Right now, there's a couple of vlogs up there and a few 'sit-down-talk-y' videos too and I'm so happy that I started my channel and hope that it continues to do well! You can check out my channel here.

I've also now finished the whole applying for university stage. I've been to my interviews, received my offers and made my choices. Now, I have to apply for my student finance and accommodation and then get my grades! I'll be going to either Westminster University or Cardiff University this September, providing I meet the conditions. Fingers crossed it'll all go according to plan but for now, you can go back and look and my 'Road to Uni' series to catch up on how it's all happened.

I've got a new job! As many of you are aware, I left my previous job at the end of last year as I wasn't enjoying it as much anymore. I went for an interview in January at the Stonehenge Visitor Centre and got a job working in the cafe! I start there in the next few weeks and am excited to get going (I've also got a name tag which is pretty rad)!

Now, here's just a little heads up. March is going to be a crazy busy month for me. The first week of March I'm going away with my college to Disney Land Paris and into Paris itself. We're going from the 5th to the 9th for a media conference actually in Disney. I'm super excited to go and am going to TRY MY HARDEST to vlog as much as I can for you guys. There are also plans to go up to Manchester at some point to visit and finally meet the girls at Pretty52 in their offices. I can't wait to see the team and thank them for everything!

That's what's been happening in my life over the past few months and what I have planned over the next few weeks. I'll keep you all updated with what happens!

09:12
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February Playlist

09:15
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LUSH Oxford Street Madness

As some of you know, I went to London for a university interview a couple of days ago and turns out the univeristy was only five tube stops away from Oxford Street. I took full advantage of this to go and check out the LUSH store there. Three floors of pure LUSH-iness!!

I'm not going to lie, ever since they announced that a store would be opening on Oxford Street, I wanted to go. It's the largest store in Europe and I couldn't miss the opportunity to visit! With any LUSH store, as soon as you walk in, that recognisable smell hits you and entices you to buy something straight away!! Luckily, I manage to control myself and only purchase three things (as my bank account gives a heavy sigh of relief)!!

Firstly, I picked up the 'Lord of Misrule' shower cream. I absolutely loved the bath bomb version and when I saw that they had released the shower cream I couldn't resist!! The show ever cream is a little different to gel as (like it says) it is a more of a cream consistency but does exactly the same as a gel. It's a really different product but I love it and will definitely be purchasing again! This time I got the smallest bottle but I'll probably get the bigger size next time.

Next, I picked up the 'Guardians of the Forest' bath bomb (see the green theme here??). I'd seen a couple of people use this and thought that I'd pick it up and give it a whirl. It smells very fresh and grass-y, like you're outside! A very fresh scent which is going to look awesome in the bath!

The final thing I bought was actually a piece from their makeup range. I've been buying from LUSH for about two and a half years and have never picked up any of their makeup, so I took the plunge and got some!! I bought one of their lipsticks in the colour/name/idek 'Elegance' which is this cool brown-y, purple colour. I've worn it a lot since I bought it and I really love it!! The colour lasts all day and it goes on really easy. I'll 100% be buying another one!!