Freshers Fever!

Edge Hill University Freshers is set to be a big, messy one! After receiving my welcome pack to the university a couple of weeks back I have been getting gradually more excited for Freshers week. So I thought for my post today, I would blog about the events I am most looking forward to and what you guys have to look forward to as I will hopefully blog about them all.

As you can see, its a pretty busy schedule (already bought my wristband for entry to everything!)

Well, the picture above is a little unclear and you can't really see what is happening each night so I've done close-ups of the events I'm particularly looking forward to. The only down side to all these events is that my course has compulsory lectures/seminars in the first week starting at 9am, booo!

A glow party! After partaking in a glow party while on holiday, I know this will be just as good if not potentially better. There has been talk on the facebook groups about paint canons and stuff so I'm still stumped about what I ought to wear, grr! People said on holiday to wear clothes you didn't want to get ruined but they didn't ruin.

 

 Jameela Jamil.. Originally, I didn't know who she was but after reading the small paragraph, realised who she was and thoroughly looking forward to her. I don't know her as a Radio 1 DJ but I occasionally watch T4 so have seen her on that so that's appealed to me for Freshers.

Ormskirk Town Takeover (with fancy dress)... I love the name of this, it feels almost like we're taking over the whole town forever haha. Yes, for me, Freshers week would not be complete without a fancy dress event. The theme: Emergency Services! Well I've been looking over emergency services fancy dress on eBay, as recently I've become a very keen eBay-er and I have a few potential outfits in mind, the one currently highest is FBI, although if needs be, I do have a nurses outfit to fall back on.

 



Silent Disco, eek! I am sooooo excited about this after my first silent disco which was Kos' signature silent disco. Silent disco's have so much more possibility in music range as each of the DJs are so different and will appeal to anyone's music taste. The one I went to had boy bands, current chart hits and 90s clubbing stuff like 'We are the children of the night' (was hilarious!). I eagerly anticipating this and it will either live up to my expectation and the last I went to, or majorly disappoint.

Jay for Inbetweeners! This has to be the highlight of Edge Hill freshers week 2012 due to it just being Jay.. from The Inbetweeners. I love The Inbetweeners and the movie, neither will ever get old to me as each time I laugh out loud at the same things. He's going to be DJ-ing (didn't even know he was a DJ) like which may mean people wont be getting photo's with him but my target for the night is to attempt to get a photo with him if possible, that will be awesome.

 

 

Well moving to university is getting ever the more close now and the wait is seriously starting to kill me. Having a load of things packed in boxes in the back half of the room is taunting me to the fact that I'm not going next week of something. The things really are starting to pile up in my house...

 

 

I've even started packing up my shoes, bags, toiletries, hair products and makeup in my room which I don't use all of the time but do need on nights out and things like that. I'm waiting for my grandparents to bring a suitcase round so I can pack full but I suppose there's no need to pack over 3 weeks before moving day. Also, my room is beginning to look a little bare seen as though I've started removing some decor and recreational books to read between educational stuff.

 

Countdown: 23 days to go!

 

Countdown with me guys! I hope everyone moving to university or staying at home and commuting is looking forward to the next step in our lives, eagerly anticipating what the future holds just like I am.

 

J

Reminiscing..

I've been a little bored today so decided to look back on the photo's I have saved on my laptop and in the photo album box that's been brought downstairs. Some of them are really funny as there so old but some photo's on here may be of lower quality as I've took a photo of them via my phone. I wanted to prove to those that don't believe.. I'm naturally blonde, which I'm considering going back to.



Mum loves this photo.. I was being stubborn and refusing to smile :)

 

My 16th Birthday Party - 80s themed!



Bronze DofE expedition 2009 perhaps

Christmas 2009

I miss this girl!

Year 11 Prom

This is going on my wall in uni :)

London April 2011

And now, being 18, a legal adult.. This is me now:

Looking back on my life really did remind me of all the good memories in my life. Reminiscing is always fun, I suggest everyone does it.

J

Holding a SUCCESSFUL car boot :)

This post isn't going to be everyone's cup of tea but after completing something like my tenth car boot this morning I thought it would be nice to share how I cope with the early morning, hagglers and tiredness.

I've been doing the occasional car boot with my Auntie Julie for the past 2/3 years and when your there earning money from what you perceive to be "junk", it gives you a great feeling. However, when you have to do all the boring stuff like packing the car or setting up your stall its tiring and you begin to think 'Is it really worth it?'. After this mornings successful car boot and managing to earn approximately £65 from old "junk" I thought I'd bullet point the things I think are most important when performing a car boot yourself.

First of all, although car boots are rewarding in the long-run, they are the most depressing thing to be taking part in at five in the morning. When your having to set your alarm at 5am the night before the car boot you just think 'Why am I doing this to myself (again - in my case)?' but still continue because now you've packed the car and things, you have to follow through.

 

Jessica's Car Boot Advice

1. Make sure the car boot is on! To me, this goes without question. However, in Doncaster the car boot is held regularly every Sunday morning from January through to December but I'm not positive whether that's the same at all other car boots as I do know places that only do a 'one-off' car boot.

2. Be selective. Being selective doesn't mean throwing out everything you think is rubbish because trust me, at a car boot, anything goes. What you think is useless and no-one would want, surprisingly, people buy those things, even if its only for rock bottom prices (it all adds up in the end). On the other hand, there are particular items which don't sell as well on today's car boot markets; for example, videos are outdated and often don't sell; books are temperamental, it just depends on the people you have at the car boot on that particular day.

3. Pack the car the night before. Doing this gives you more sleeping time, and you may be sat there like so? But don't forget, in order to get a good spot at the car boot, you need to be setting off at approximately half past five in the morning meaning your up at 5am. On top of that, if you still need to pack the car up, thats meaning you probably would have to be up an hour before that too! Who wants to be up at 4am to stand in the cold, selling your old items until midday. Thats a longggggg day.

4. Take a 'float'. I know some of you are sat there like, why you taking a big advertising vehicle? Well this is 'car boot slang' for loose change. You need to collect as much loose change as possible but remember to count how much you have so you can work out the profit at the end of the day. Most people will attend a car boot with change as they know things are cheap but other bring cash like £5, £10 and £20 notes (which can get annoying when your having to copper up to give out change).

5. Avoid price labels. Having labels on items puts potential buyers off. You may think it saves time and when your drawing in a big crowd you don't want to be answering five different people asking 'how much?' but the interaction between yourself and your customers gains their trust, therefore they will potentially pay more money for items.

6. Never go alone. This is simple. It is boring if you are sat in your car boot behind all your items and your there all alone. Myself, going with my auntie lets us have laugh and joke all morning so the time passes more quickly and we work well as a team. However, like us, if you have a mixture of items from both your houses, my advice is to take two cash containers so you get the money for what is sold of yours. Its the easiest way to pocket cash.

7. Research your items. You need to check how much approximately your items are going for on sites such as eBay so it gives you a good background how much things go for second hand. Also, check how much things are which you believe will be worth money, tricky things to keep an eye on are: records - some are worth a fortune! and at the car boot you'll only get at the most a £1 a record, Disney DVDs - me and Julie have made this mistake once, Disney DVDs are sold at no less than £15, you won't get that at a car boot but don't let it go for a pound or two.

8. Be approachable! Its not nice when you have people sat presenting a stall with a mardy look or look like they don't want to be there. In contrast to that, don't be too forward.. Things like playing music and shouting deals out to oncoming customers is off-putting and isn't going to increase your sales as it alienates people.

Don't be afraid to do a car boot from this big list, its a really rewarding task to take part in. Some things are not enjoyable to do but you have to do them to seek the other rewards.

 

Car boots are fun!

J

Beginning my teacher training activities...

You may all be thinking.. What?! You've only just found out your confirmed onto the Primary Education course and your already doing work? Well, teacher training isn't something to be taken lightly. It is an extremely intense course and will require a lot of work and commitment.

Quite some time before results day and finding out I was into Edge Hill University, I received an e-mail with them sending me the 'pre-course information and tasks'. Both me and my mum wondered why I'd received the e-mail if they didn't already know my results or something but I got it into my head to not get my hopes up and not start any of the tasks before I knew for definite I was in. Now I know I am, I thought I'd share with you (especially those of you who are thinking about a Primary Education course) what these pre-course tasks are like and how I'm finding them.

First of all, this is the booklet I received through an attachment:

56 PAGES!

My first thoughts were of immediate shock that I had a 56-page document to read, take notes, buy books and complete all tasks. I had tasks that were specific to each of the core subjects: English, Maths and Science as well as some for the foundation subjects: Art, Design and Technology, Music, Geography, History, Physical Education and Religious Education. It was very daunting to think I would be studying all these subjects within my course but I thought, at the end of the day, teachers aren't expected to know everything about everything all of the time.

So here are a selection of tasks that I am required to do, I'm not going to list them all because there's like 3 per core subject then 3 for the foundation subjects...

Task 1: Build a library

Building a library of quality children's books is an amazing task! I am loving it! This meant I was required to read a range of children's books for the age range 5-12 years (the ages I will be teaching). I've been getting really into this task and majorly excited about purchasing and having my own copies of famous children's book such as: The Very Hungry Caterpillar (love it!), The Gruffalo (eek!), Percy the Park Keeper and We're going on a bear hunt (we're going to catch a big one..). So far I've purchased: Lost and Found, The London Eye Mystery, Private Peaceful and Skellig, all of which I found with the Bookfinder link Edge Hill sent to use with this task. Task 2: this goes hand-in-hand with the previous task as I have certain bullet points I have to write about for each children's book I read, bullet points saying things like describe the main characters, find underlying story lines etc.

Those two books were recommended by Edge Hill :)

Task 3: I am dreading this!

Torture!!!!!

This is one of the two tasks set for mathematics and it is honestly, awful! Although I have done A-level maths (and passed!), I have relied on my scientific calculator wayyyy too much over the past two years and now I'm struggling to complete these simple GCSE standard questions. I am determined to get through these questions though but it might not be possible to see but it does specify "Do not use a calculator in this test" :(.

Task 4: Science!! The subdivisions within..

So I have to research all the subdivisions within primary Science and grade how good I think I am at each of the sections. The first couple which are Biology related are quite good for me because I have completed (and again.. passed!) a full A-level course in Biology. The others, Chemistry and Physics based, are a little more iffy in my eyes because I've not really done any of them since completing my GCSEs two years ago.

Task 5: Make myself familiar and equipped with the above I.T skills

This is a relatively easy task for anyone of us who were brought up in this new technological era. Since being young I have been surrounded by technology, unlike my elder relatives who sometimes require and ask my help with computers etc, therefore, I have become accustomed to working on computers/laptops and with technology daily. For me, reading through this list gave me some laughs thinking.. "as if some people can't do this".. but then I thought to myself, some people actually can't. It did make me feel blessed to be able to do all of this and not need to teach it all before going to university.

Task 6: The last one.. Bring your attention to the bold writing above 'pre-course task 1'

"purchase an A3 spiral bound sketch book for the Art sessions" - OMG! Never in all my life have I been able to draw, sketch or do anything artistic. Some people have said I'm no creative and am more logical and intellectual than creative but I manage to play a musical instrument and progress in music to A-level standard which is pretty creative if you ask me. Well, being a primary school teacher, I am aware I'm going to have to be prepared to engage in some Art lessons but with it being this close to starting the university course now, its all become so real and I've realised people are going to have to see my 'artistic skills'.. If that's what you can call them haha.

AHHHH! 34 days until move in day to university.
My new address will be: Sarah Yelf, Founder Court, Edge Hill University, Ormskirk

J

Results Confusion

It is official; I can think of myself now as a success. I have passed all four of my A-levels and my Extended Project Qualification, that means I have four A-level grades and one which equates to an AS-level. I am so proud of myself its unreal! If you've read my blog post previously about surviving A-levels and how I felt throughout and possibly mentioning how I would have changed my sixth form experience, you'll know I was quite sceptical about reaching the university I wanted and getting decent grades. I feel as though because I sailed through GCSEs and got into sixth form I felt like I was intelligent and could get to university potentially quite easily. However, getting results throughout sixth form made me ponder whether the reality of university was out of my grasp.

16th August 2012: or as it was known on my Twitter timeline "Judgement Day". I was absolutely dreading this time even since before finishing all my summer exams so when it actually came, I was waking up every hour and not wanting to drag myself out of bed in the morning.

So how the day planned out: The Full Story:

Once I woke up and got dressed I continuously checking Track, Twitter and Facebook. I saw friends and schoolmates of mine saying how they'd got into university and copying there congratulations message off of Track to Facebook which was getting me increasingly more nervous about not hearing from my firm choice but my insurance choice had changed to an unconditional offer so I did, thankfully, have some prior knowledge before collecting my results of what to expect. Seen as though there was nothing else I could do I went to school unaware of all the confusion I'd have later on in the day. On collection of my results and bringing them home to open, they were a little lower than I would have liked in all honesty but I did pass them all but I also knew from seeing them that I had just missed out on the conditions that were set by my firm choice, Edge Hill University. Presuming this, I got upset which made my mum upset as she knew I was disappointed in myself which is something she hates to see but all of a sudden, I received an email from my insurance choice, Bishop Grosseteste University College, Lincoln. This email stated I was being removed from the accommodation application there due to not accepting there insurance offer, this caused a lot of confusion as I hadn't done anything new on ucas and wasn't able to accept or decline anything of ucas. Therefore, I was required to phone up and ask what the hell was going on, BG Lincoln then informed me that they had receiving confirmation from Edge Hill that I had been accepted there although I hadn't see anything. Next, I rang up Edge Hill to see what was happening as BG required the knowledge to either find me accommodation or give my room to somewhere else. I then got told by Edge Hill that I was on the borderline of their requirements so they needed more time to reconsider and see if they were going to give me the place anyway. There was hope. Although, I wasn't about to get all my hopes up and think I was going to where I originally wanted, I just thought, at the end of the day, I'm into university no matter what.. That was something to be extremely proud of as I am the first one in my family to move away to university. So I was going to be waiting up to another week to find out which university I'd be at.. The waiting game began.

So me, Chris, Chloe and Zoe went off to town to party in celebration of us all getting into university and making something of our lives!

So, the next day, the 17th August, I woke up at midday which is pretty bad for me but I hadn't gotten in until 4am according to my mum and I was overloaded with notifications on my phone as it had been on silent: texts, bank updates, emails and facebook notifications. I was chronologically going through them all, ending with checking my five new emails. The first one UCAS Track Update Notification. Oh my bloody god I thought and my stomach was doing somersaults waiting for it to load up on my phone. I finally got onto and the welcome screen displayed:

Congratulations! Your place at Edge Hill University (E42) to study Primary Education with QTS (X120) has been confirmed.

Yayyyyyyyy! I'd done it! Gotten in! I literally screamed and ran into my sisters room and she was all like "Whats happened?!" as I'd just woken her up with my scream haha. All my family are so proud of me and I'm so proud myself. So its confirmed, within the next 3/4 years I will be a fully qualified teacher with my own class, in charge of approximately 30 children. That's a daunting thought though! To top it all off, I got my accommodation confirmation which said I'd gotten my first choice in that too! The best accommodation at Edge Hill; en-suite, fridge and tv in room, 42" tv in kitchen, locked cupboards in kitchen. I will be living the uni life to the fullest!

Follow me on my journey to university :)

J

Since the 30/7/12

Monday 30th July

Well, this was the day we went to see our family friend who lives in Manchester who's recently had a new baby boy (so cute). We decided to go on the train because we couldn't all fit in one car as going the was me, mum, sister, grandma and my auntie Julie and her three kids, Molly, Joe and Dan. The train is always a stressful mode of transport with delays, cancellations and tight time intervals to get onto the next train if your changing. Thankfully, on the way there we got the non-stop train to Manchester Piccadilly which was good, me and Beth painted nails in support of Team GB in the Olympics.

We spent the whole day in Manchester and after spending a few hours with Joanne and the new baby, we left them in peace as there was quite a few of us and hit the Manchester shops! Well, I was amazed at the size of the Primark there and I do think it could be just about as big as the Primark on Oxford Street in London. I ended up buying some new heels, at the moment I seem to have an obsession with heels and have bought 2 pairs in the last week, the ones I bought in Manchester were a rough leopard print pattern:

I am in love with these shoes and can't wait to wear them out! I'm normally anxious about stilletoe heels and normally sway more towards a chunkier heel to feel more steady but these are comfortable and aren't too high.

Overall, it was a great day in Manchester.. Until the journey home. We headed to a pub/restaurant for something to eat before we headed for the train home but because of the long wait we had for our food we were forced to get the train home where we were required to change (which wasn't going to be good with a 4 year old, late at night). There were delays and things in Stockport so on boarding the train, we were told we weren't being going to Stockport as planned but that didn't bother us but the train ended up there and then we had to return to Manchester Piccadilly! It was a stressful train journey although me and my cousins did engage in the traditional travelling games of "Eye Spy" and "I went to the shops...". Once we finally arrived back in Doncaster, it was nearly 9:45pm and we went to the bus station to catch one of the final buses which didn't turn up! We had a big farse with the bus driver but ended up getting on a bus at 10:30pm for free which was good but had to go to Lakeside before doing the Wheatley bus route. It was a looooong day.

Thursday 2nd August
Me and my sister have gotten quite good at going to town together randomly and this was another day we went into town. However, whenever I go to town to with my sister I always feel like I spend a fortune when I don't spend to much or when I will get paid back by my mum or something.
This day was when I bought my new t-shirt as a support to Team GB again and it was relatively subtle:

Even when the Olympics aren't on, I think I will still be in love with this as it matches my new 'New Look' zip-up jacket I've recently bought. At the moment it shows my support and appreciation towards Team GB but after the Olympics are over, I am still patriotic towards my country. Always have been and always will be. The Olympics just highlight my 'proud the be British' attitude.

Friday 3rd August
This wasn't a good day, I'd been sick the night before so had to suspend the plans I had with my former workmate, Lily which I wasn't pleased about. Also, my mum decided to go out this night and it caused an argument because I was ill but whats done is done I suppose.
I spent all night buried in a cushion wearing sunglasses and I know your all sat there now like wtf?! Sunglasses and cushion? Are you mad? Haha, well the answer is.. No, I had the worst migraine in the world that night. By now, I am used to the migraines I get frequently but with my mum being out, it just seemed like this was especially bad. It was not a good experience. A good thing about this night is that it started my new love of grapes and water:

Saturday 4th August
Thankfully, I felt much better this day and managed to meet up with Lily for the first time in a month and it was brilliant to have a good old catch up! Lily is one of those people that make you laugh no matter what your mood. I do want to make sure I don't lose contact with her when I hopefully leave for university, just like I don't want to lose contact with a lot of my other friends.

This was what the Olympics medal table look liked to begin with, unfortunately I don't have a more recent one.. But here, we are 4th in the medal table, obviously at the moment, we are 3rd with 22 gold medals now! :) It was all good after the awesome performance Team GB did on Saturday night, receiving 3 gold medals in the space of 45 minutes. Go Team GB!

Sunday 5th August
Seen as though I didn't end up meeting my sister in town the day before, we went town to shop for the third time this week which was ridiculous! I didn't spend much money this time which was good but I did invest in a pair of pink jeans which I'd had my eye on for ages and some new crop tops from 'New Look' in preparation for new summer's holidays.
The other big news from the Olympics was the Tennis final between Murray and Federer, a rematch of the Wimbledon final that was four weeks prior. Thankfully, Murray won Federer in straight sets (yeah, I now understand Tennis which I'm proud of) and I was so glad for Murray, achieving that Olympic gold medal, he deserved it.

Tuesday 7th August



My mismatch painting gear!

While my mum was off work she decided to finally decorate our hallway with the paint and wallpaper my mum had for ages. I half-heartidly, told my mum I would help but me, my mum and sister all had a blast painting. My mum was covered in white and "soft pear" paint, Beth was just painting where she liked but always on a ladder and me, well I supplied up with music! I plugged my subwoofer and speakers into my laptop and we just danced to old and new music like Shania Twain to Train or Bryan Adams to Nicki Minaj.

New wallpaper - snazzy

"Soft Pear" dulux paint

This is the finished paintwork and wallpaper, although we've still not got round to put the curtain, blinds, mirror or pictures/photos back up but I suppose there the last priority when your decorating.

Thursday 9th August
It was a gloriously sunny day in Doncaster and with my mum back at work me and Beth took advantage of it a tanned. We had healthy sandwiches and dinner with tropical fruit juice which seems to have become our new signature dinner haha. I even got to wear some of my new crop tops with my holidays clothes which made me remenisce about the good times when holiday-ing it up in Kos, Greece.

New clothes and no editing - happy Jessica, although I'm not too sure if I like the picture

 Later on in the night I managed to persuade Beth to play with my hair once I'd washed it and I decided to not put on my anti-frizz products I normally use while and it obviously started to dry and while she was playing with it and I was catching up on my summer reading it started to get bigger.

Plaiting the front of my hair - you can already see the ends frizzing



Frizzing up

Still got some colour to me - bring on more sun!

I'm loving this triology of books - this is the last one which I'm reading now!

Complete frizz head haha!

Hopefully, I have more eventful things to come to end these holidays and more inmportantly, its less than a week till results day.. OMG!

J