Home

"Home is wherever I'm with you."

There is a place that we all call home. Somewhere where we feel comfortable and safe. Somewhere we recognise. It is the place for most where you know you can always return. A place where you have lived, loved and made so many memories in. 

My home was where I did the majority of my growing up. I became an older sister in the first couple of months of living there and that is probably the first memory I have of that house. I don't remember the first Christmas, or the first day I stepped through the front door. BUT I do remember standing in the 'then' kitchen and hearing that I had a baby brother. Funnily enough I was sad because I wanted a little sister... (I LOVE my brother now though!)

Its true what they say, "Home is where the heart is".  So many things make up what is in your heart. Good and bad. The bad being things like watching my Mom fall out of the loft and breaking her arm, or being told off for staining the carpet, or being told that my Grandma had had a stroke. The good being everything else (basically too much for me to list..). The majority of my memories in my home are happy ones which I am so thankful for.  

At uni I am far away from home and I know I am not the only one that misses it, I am sure that everyone does. I like being somewhere different and being independent. I like being able to walk down to the beach, I like being able to walk everywhere actually. I like that the air smells different and that the scenery is different when I look out my window. I like the people I am living with and I like the atmosphere here. However its not HOME. I miss the roads and knowing exactly where I am or where I am going. I miss how cold it is compared to here in Bournemouth (NEVER though I would say that). I miss the accent. I miss my own bed. I miss seeing my family everyday. I miss my friends... The list could go on!

I accept that where I am living at the moment for uni will never be the same as home because the people that I associate with home aren't here with me. But over the past year I have made a lot of new friends and I am starting to see familiarities of the places and streets where I wonder. I hope that the next few years that I am here for will help me realise that I can adapt to new places and enjoy the freedom of not living at home!

Summer Ballin'

To celebrate the end of the year our university held a Summer Ball. Everyone wore fancy dress costumes and got awfully drunk, to the point where a guy dressed as spiderman climbed a tree...and a lamp post... and everything he could physically stand on.

Rudimental was headlining, as well as Everything Everything. Drinks were majorly expensive at £3.50. I didn't make the survivors photo (taken at 5am on the beach), but I was shattered and was moving out a few hours after the ball. Thats right I got 3 hours sleep. I didn't think I would enjoy it as much as I did. It was a great way to end a great year.

Over this year I have fallen in love with university.

It makes me think that the negative thoughts that I had at the start of the year were just stupid and silly. (but I do still want to go and travel the world...) I will see you in September Bournemouth!

xxx

Goodbye Freshers: My First Year of Uni

I am sitting on my bed with boxes, suitcases and bags filled to the brim with everything I bought to university. However there were new things, people, memories, experiences, that I couldn't put into boxes, so I have safely and embedded them into my memory instead.

I am moving out of halls in 2 days. I am saying goodbye to the beautiful double bed in my little room and flat that I have inhabited for 10 months, and I am heading back to a single bed and wonderful home cooked food.. It feels strange to be moving out. There are only 3 of us left in the flat that used to be a flat of 6. The others have gone home and left this place very quiet. In fact the whole of halls is quiet, can everyone come back please? I don't know where to start in saying goodbye to university life for the summer. I will miss the freedom, I will miss Bournemouth and more importantly I will miss the people that I have met during my first year.

Lets start with Flat 102, the "Floor 4 Massive". My home, that has been the place of mischief, a place of too much drinking, a whole year of fun was had and we even saw the start of a relationship for two of my flatmates. The things I will miss most about Room 6, Flat 102 include; The extremely bright lights, the automatic toilet light that randomly comes on at night, the certain part of the floor where I would sometimes wake up after a night out, the guy from across the way who always smiles at me as I close my curtains, the double bed (the love of my life), The sound of the train coming past ever 10/20 minutes, the extremely thin walls that allowed me to hear everything that my next door neighbour was doing, my pin board that was only ever half covered and my heater that always smelt like it was going to set on fire. I have grown to love it. I don't want to say goodbye.

After 10 months living with my flatmates I feel like we have all grown as people. We all started out awkwardly asking each other questions about our life and not really hanging out together. I feel that in the last few months, we all got along a lot better (apart from the bin situation), I hung out with 2 of my flatmates more (the others kept themselves to themselves or were out being all couple-y) and I know that I can call them my "friends", not just "flatmates". I mean I am living with one of them next year, who'd have thunk it at the start of the year!

This year has taught me so much, not only about life, and myself but about other people. How happy they can make you, how annoyed they can make you and how you can love every single person when you are drunk. Nights out are a massive part of uni life. Drinking is a students favourite way to socialise, thats how we meet new people when we are not walking round uni. Since the start of first term I have spent nights in town, nights in the student bar, nights at the beach, nights in pubs, nights in drinking mulled wine and watching Elf, all with the amazing people that I have befriended here. Sometimes I have come home with maker pen scribbles on my arms, covered in red paint, with a seriously bruised arm (after trying to jump a bollard and failing), with make-up all over my face, carrying slices of pizza or subways, and more recently I came home with a sore ankle after falling over and apparently damaging a ligament. Each night out has given me a new story. Some I can completely remember and others, people have to remind me (or just tell me everything) about things I did that night or how I got the millions of bruises on my legs. I can tell you now, Tequila.. NOT my friend.

It is almost like a different world here at uni. You can walk around in our pyjamas all day and people will not judge you, it is strange to hear that people go to before 1am, heading out in fancy dress is almost an everyday occurrence, you constantly find things on the floor or on the stairs that you really didn't want to see, and you can walk to another flat at 2am just to talk and hangout.

I cant wait to get back in September, move into our new house and start the second year of my course. University has been an amazing experience so far, even though at times it was hard (I am not going to lie about that). My first year of university is over.. WOW.

xxx