Well, ladies and gentleman, this post marks the final of all posts from me.

I have really enjoyed sharing my experiences of being a student of Lancaster with all of you.

Right now it’s week 20, which means final lectures and seminars, and the mad rush to get essays in. I’m sure all of you are up to your neck in revision too, but all of your efforts will be worth it; remember, you reap what you sow. No matter how difficult the work seems at the time, you’ll only be struggling for a short while, so why not try your best?

Once again, thanks to all who got involved at the open days, it was very enjoyable meeting you and your parents, getting to share my experience and meet the future students of Lancaster. I hope you all got out of the day something valuable, if not the decision to come to Lancaster, then at least clarification on the kind of place you are looking to study at.

I would like to leave on a few overarching lessons I’ve learned in my stay here, particularly for those who might not have heard my speech at the open day, and to reemphasise for those who did.

Do things that scare you – University is the perfect place to try new things out: whether this be in doing a completely new subject for your minor in first year, joining the gym, or going along to societies when none of your friends want to; treat things that scare you as opportunities, opportunities to learn and grow into the well rounded person you will become. I can’t stress enough how important it is to take risks in the name of growth. My example was taking English as my minor in first year, despite the fact my teachers told me I shouldn’t, I ended up achieving an A.

Make the most of your time – It will seem as though you have all the time in the world here, you don’t. I know you’re all just starting out on your journeys, and I remember being in the exact same position; it feels like just yesterday. Put your all into studying, making friendships, networking, and so on. If a job’s worth doing, it’s worth doing well. You’re not here for a long time at all, so take yourself out of your comfort zone, do all you can do while you have the chance. I don’t mean putting yourself under so much stress that you can’t handle it – but I do mean trying to find the balance in all you do, and doing it well. You will enjoy yourself much more if you get involved and make strong connections.

Finally, put yourself out there – ask for opportunities, be confident in yourself to do things you wouldn’t otherwise do. For me, I wish I had taken a year abroad, but in first year I just wasn’t confident enough in myself to do so; on reflection, this attitude was completely ridiculous, particularly because I ended first year with a strong first!

I hope some of the lessons I’ve learned will reach some of you, so you can make the most of your experience at university.

 

That’s all, folks.

Good luck to everyone revising for final exams, and thanks to all who have been following my journey!

Ellie

Hi guys, 

Once again, it was really great getting to meet some of you at our last open day. Amongst all of the very impressive and interesting students I was lucky enough to meet, I met a fellow International Baccalaureate student from Italy. For me that was particularly rewarding, as since we share a common starting point, I was able to give him a perspective really relevant to him. All of my discussions with students and their parents made me slightly envious of all of you just starting your journey at university! I’ve enjoyed my time so much here that I wish I could do it all again. You all have so much awaiting you. 

This will be a brief stop in for me, it’s week 19, meaning that my essays are due in by the start of next week. These are the last three pieces of coursework that I will ever write as an undergraduate, which is quite a sad prospect. Nonetheless, once these are submitted, I can focus on revision for summer exams as well as finishing my dissertation. So, although it’s quite sad, the reduced workload at this point is well welcomed. I have made good progress my essays, having set myself a 500 words a day limit. It doesn’t sound like much, but it takes me quite a long time to write, so I have to take this into account when approaching deadlines. Some of you will be able to write thousands of words a day; I know I can’t, so this requires that I keep rigorous check on what I can accomplish within the time limit set; often meaning that I often start my essays before others. I think that it’s really good practice to find out how much you can [realistically] write in a day, so that you can properly schedule yourself, making sure to complete all of the required set reading for the week at the same time. You’ll find out how you work best through trial and error in first year. 

For most of my modules, we’ve covered all of the material that we will be examined on in the summer term, meaning that week ten is spared for revision and general questions, which is really useful before being set free over easter to revise. Revision sessions are a great opportunity for clarification on topics you aren’t confident with, as well as a chance to delve deeper into subtopics which might’ve been missed. 

What have I been up to? Well, on Wednesday I went to an open mic night at The WaterWitch, which was really enjoyable. There seems to be a lot of support for the arts here in Lancaster, which as a musician I think is a really beautiful thing. I have only been out a few times, since the deadlines have taken priority over socialising for the past few weeks. Nonetheless, I always take time for myself most mornings in the gym, because I find that working out kills two birds with one stone: it is a positive time to focus on yourself with no distractions, and it sets you up for the rest of the day, [ironically] giving you the energy to focus on your studies. 

I’m definitely ready for a break, I must say I am really relieved my essays are almost done with. I’m mostly excited to be able to focus on revising now, as I really enjoy independent study and having the opportunity to read deeper into the material with supplementary texts, without deadlines hanging over my head. This is kind of like the artistic license you are allowed in formulating your own personal responses to queries raised by the topics throughout term; the opportunity to be truly expressive and creative. I think this is what I enjoy most about exams: being ready to respond to the question at hand, having formulated an interesting and personal response; really proving the time and effort you’ve dedicated to synthesising it. 

Easter I’m taking a week for myself before getting heavy into the revision. At the end of week 10 I’m going straight to London to meet one of my closest friends, and from there on to Dublin, where we’re going to visit the Jameson Distillery and the Guinness Factory [on the same day]… we have connoisseur experience tickets… it should definitely be an interesting one [to say the least], and a very well earned break. I’ve promised to put the work away for the week, and I feel ok with doing this having scheduled myself well throughout term with regards to dissertation etc. Also, I’ve just booked flights to LA for the 12th – 19th June, my last exam is on the 6th June, so its definitely something to look forward to! I have a cousin who lives there, and as some of you might know (if you’ve seen mine and Michael’s speech at the open days,) this will be my second time visiting her. Exciting times ahead!

Good luck everyone with your summertime exams and preparation. But most importantly make sure to find time for yourself amongst all the stress. 

Ellie 

Hello everyone,

It was a pleasure to meet some of you at our last open day, I hope all involved enjoyed the day and hopefully gained valuable insight into life at Lancaster, ideally helping you to make that big decision. Thanks to all for your interesting questions, I hope myself and the department did a good job at answering them; if not, feel free to get in touch and we’ll do the best we can. I continue looking forward to meeting more of you in the coming weeks, perhaps this coming Saturday.

We’re now in Week 7 of second term, meaning deadlines are approaching quickly. I mentioned in my last blog that my intention was to start summarising the content I’ve been learning over the past weeks, in preparation for essay writing. I kept my word, and have started this, along with supplementary readings with intention to start planning this week; giving me around three weeks to get my essays done.

I received a few grades back last week, which was incredibly relieving, particularly as I wasn’t feeling too confident about them. It was difficult to know where I stood, having written over 14,000 words during the Christmas period; so the results felt like a great weight off my shoulders. I was concerned mostly about getting my grade back for Moral Philosophy, the specialist module on Parfit’s Reasons and Persons I took in first term to challenge myself, since I struggled understanding his work since first year – when Sam Clark introduced Parfit’s work in his module on Death. Although I found it very difficult, I thought the module to be worthwhile, as I ended up with a grade I’m more than content with.

I’m really enjoying Aesthetics this term, in fact it feels like the most enjoyable module I’ve taken in part II, which makes the prospect of essay writing enjoyable. If I could give some advice to students starting out, it would be to ensure you’ve read and researched the course/module descriptions before enrolling in them. This is good practice, particularly in first and second year, as you can select modules of interest to you, and if you find they are as enjoyable as you assumed, you can select similar ones in Part II/ third year; meaning you can pursue a more in depth study of what interests you. Nonetheless, not knowing what interests you is equally as fruitful, and now is an opportunity to experiment and find out.

In Reading Political Theory, we’ve moved on from Rawls’s A Theory of Justice, and we’re now studying Iris Marion Young’s Justice and the Politics of Difference. Until this point, I couldn’t find a flaw in Rawls’s work. What is so interesting about Young’s work is that it questions the real life applicability of Justice; which Rawls’s work seems to skirt. Young talks about injustice manifesting in the relations we have in society, between people. Because we are born into society with immediate relations with other people (i.e. if we are fortunate enough to have parents or caregivers, already we are in relation to other people from birth), justice must concern these relations. Rawls, in a way, asks us to ignore these relations and rather to imagine what life would be like from any point of view, in abstraction from these relations, from an Original Position. In contrast, Young thinks that injustice is manifested by the culmination of actions and choices of many different people, who all might be following the rules. Those who are victims of injustice may even be contributing to their own suffering unknowingly by following those “rules”, which might be implicit social rules, which, when followed by all, although oftentimes unconsciously, cause injustice.

The above on Rawls and Young is sketchy and introductory in nature, don’t take my word as gospel: I only intend to give some insight into what I’ve been reading recently.

Sunday afternoon my flat and I visited Williamson Park, it was beautiful weather as its starting to look a lot like spring here. We took a tapestry to sit on and had a picnic under the sun. From where I live Williamson Park is only a few minutes walk.

Very best of luck to all of you who have began revising for your summertime exams, and I hope everyone had a nice half term.

I’ll speak to you all soon,

Ellie

Hi everyone,

I thought I’d drop in and let you know what’s been going on in my world recently. 

So, it’s Week 5; that means we’re half way through the term already … and deadlines are approaching quickly. The time goes incredibly fast here, which is why it is important to check in and reflect every now and then about how far you’ve come. I have three deadlines coming up for the end of term, two on the 22nd of March, and one on the 18th. I really would like to start at least summarising some of the topics I have covered in the past weeks as they’re still fresh in my mind, as well as pursue some secondary reading to supplement my summaries. Whether or not this gets done this week is really a different story – I have lots of dissertation work to be doing at the same time, on top of readings for my courses; so finding time is somewhat challenging (definitely not as bad when following a schedule, though!)

Last weekend I went back home, there was snow in Liverpool and I was really worried I wouldn’t get home – three flights before me were delayed two hours, but I got lucky! All went smoothly. When I was home I got a chance to catch up with all my friends which was awesome, and spent some time with my mum too, as she took time off work. Like I’ve mentioned before, I think it’s really important to take time to recoup at University: if you can get home every 5 weeks or so it really helps to break up term time into manageable chunks. If you can’t – definitely make an effort to socialise with your friends – social time is just as important as study, and that correct balance is so important to strike. 

This weekend I saw a friend, we made sweet potato and chickpea curry, and I must say, it was pretty impressive. My cooking has definitely improved since going vegetarian. For anyone that is coming to university without much in the way of cooking skills, I’d definitely suggest trying to expand your set when you get here; making meals as a group is a good way to start. 

I also made chocolate-chip [avocado…] protein cookies:

avocado… sounds tasty…right? Credit goes to https://ifoodreal.com/chocolate-protein-cookies/ for the completely vegan recipe. I found this recipe online whilst looking for a healthy cookie alternative for a particular cookie monster, I wanted to try the recipe out for myself before sharing them with him.

Coming up this weekend is another applicant visit day – I hope to meet some of you there! 

Catch up with you all soon,

Ellie 

Hello Everyone!

Firstly I wanted to say thank you to everyone who came to our applicant visit day on Saturday, it was truly wonderful to meet all of you and learn a little bit more about the future students of PPR here at Lancaster. If you didn’t make it this time around, there is lots of information available online in terms of course prospectus, accommodation, years abroad, and so on; most of which can be found here: https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/ppr/.

I also really look forward to welcoming all other students joining us for our visit days in the upcoming weeks. Thank you to all who got involved, and for your stimulating questions; hopefully we managed to do a good job of answering them, but if you didn’t manage to get your question in, please don’t hesitate to get in touch. 

So – a little update on what I’ve been up to so far in the past week. I’ve mostly been working on my dissertation this week, as I’ve set up a meeting with my advisor for Tuesday. I think I was right – taking a break away from it over the Christmas period really has given me a fresh perspective, and consequently, I’ve found a new enjoyment in working on it. I had the opportunity to do this because I was organised when I was told to be! If there is any advice I can give you with regards to the dissertation, it is start early: even if this is reading and acquiring general knowledge. The sooner you start, the better position you will be in to manage your workload. Currently, I have around 9000 words, so the bulk of the essay is there, but my attention is now directed at organising it coherently, as well as adding critical analysis where this is due. 

My other modules are really quite enjoyable so far, I am particularly enjoying Reading Political Theory, as the focus of this course is to pursue a closer reading of Rawls’ Theory of Justice – as I mentioned in the last blog, I really enjoy his Politics, and since I took Modern Political Thought last year, I feel like I have somewhat of a head start, having studied some of his works then.

In Aesthetics, we have discussed what constitutes an aesthetic experience. Such a phenomenon is very difficult to describe: but as an example, one can think of the chills you get when hearing a beautiful piece of music. In simpler terms, aesthetic experiences seem to move us in a way that non-aesthetic experiences do not. This might be compared to when we say “I like X”, and “X is beautiful”: the latter seems to have some normative force – we believe others ought to think it beautiful too; it moves us in a way that simply liking something doesn’t. So in one sense, it seems as though our aesthetic judgements are about the properties of some object, an artwork, for example, and on the other, about our subjective experience of encountering the object and how this makes us feel. Things get a little confusing when we consider the fact that we can call something beautiful and yet have no aesthetic experience whilst doing so. This is to say that aesthetic properties, whatever they may be, supervene on non-aesthetic properties (the former are reliant on the existence of the latter.)

So, we are debating whether beauty can be an objective property, or whether beauty can only ever be “in the eye of the beholder.” What is so interesting about this question is that there is such a wide agreement in general as to what is considered beautiful; yet, at the same time, taste varies so widely. Hume’s “Of the Standard of Taste” addresses some of these early issues. I think Hume’s project is to argue that, where there is widespread convergence about beauty, one might be able to say that this suggests beauty exists objectively: think of timeless pieces of art and why such pieces are still widely popular today. 

I think one of the general comparisons here is between colour, and our perception of it: think here of Locke’s primary and secondary qualities. This is one of the first things you will encounter on Phil100 if you are a philosophy major and might be useful to get a head start if you haven’t heard of it before: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/real-essence/. The essential idea is that we don’t really “see” red, but we do reach broad convergence on objects which are deemed red: given that we aren’t colourblind. What if we are sentiment-blind? Perhaps if colour judgments have objective validity, then as do aesthetic judgments, given we have an enough refined or appropriately good faculty of sentiment judgment. Nonetheless, what explains your love for heavy metal and mine for underground hip-hop? 

That’s all today folks, 

Ellie 

Hi Guys,

I hope everyone is well, and all of you had a great Christmas period. It’s a quick stop in for me – just to update you all on what I will be up to this term. 

Today I had three deadlines, of a total of 14,000 words which I had been working on over Christmas. I feel a great amount of relief to have them in, as I felt as though I didn’t really stop over Christmas. I didn’t get much opportunity to work on my dissertation, but I feel like I’m in a relatively good place with it at the moment so I’m not too worried. Plus – having taken a break from it might (hopefully) give me a fresh perspective. 

Nonetheless, I’m really excited to start some new modules this term. These are:- 

• Philosophical Questions in the Study of Politics and Economics 
• Aesthetics
• Reading Political Theory

My first choice was inspired by the Economics for the Real World module I took last year, and really enjoyed. Prior to this module even the word economics made me cringe – I wouldn’t have dared pretend I knew anything about it. Professor May made a seemingly impenetrable subject exciting to learn about. I would highly recommend this module if you are offered it in second year. My motivation for taking that module was simply because I knew nothing about the subject, and was curious. Don’t be afraid to try new things, even if you think you aren’t “good enough” for them – you might find something you are passionate about. 

Aesthetics I have never studied, and am curious about, I’ll keep you updated on whatever it is I am working on. 

As for Reading Political Theory, we are reading Rawls’s Theory of Justice. I just received my copy in the mail today – it is vast to say the least. Anyway, I’m really rather looking forward to tackling it, as I have always enjoyed implementing Rawls’s ideas into my essays: I’d say he was one of the first to spark my interest in politics. We’re also studying Young’s Politics of Difference, frankly, I’m not entirely sure of Young’s political position, but I believe her ideas are feminist in orientation. Feminist philosophy is a module I regret not taking last term, so I am really happy that I can at least explore some feminist thought this term. 

That’s all for now: I will catch up with you guys very soon, I hope everyone has a great week. 

Ellie 

Hi everyone, I hope you’re all doing well.

We’re just at the start of week 9 here at Lancaster Uni, the penultimate week before Christmas break. Many people have deadlines in week 10 before leaving for Christmas, so many are running around like headless chickens; but this year (the first in all three so far) I am not one of those people. Since two of my modules are specialist subjects (5,000 words each), and my third requires 4,000 words, it’s safe to say that I am stressed, for sure, but overjoyed to have the Christmas break to complete these essays (particularly as most of my attention so far has been directed at my dissertation). 

Tomorrow, 4th December, is my 22^nd birthday: I have two-two hour specialist seminars back to back: just my luck! Never-mind… because after that, I’m going to Kaspa’s deserts with my flatmate to claim my free birthday shake!

This weekend was written off for me to celebrate, since my good friend Alice came up to visit me from the Friday to the Sunday. Alice and I became friends in first year when we were put together in Aldingham (one of the Furness blocks), and we (plus four others from first year accommodation) moved in together for second year. Although we kept the house on for third year, Alice moved to Milton Keynes to pursue a year in industry, where she gained a position with Audi doing business analysis, reporting on market performance (within the supply and planning sector.) Pretty outstanding, right? There are wonderful opportunities to explore with regards to sandwich degrees and placements, and if that’s not for you, there are also plenty study abroad opportunities which I would definitely suggest considering. If I could change anything about my uni experience, it definitely would’ve been having the courage to go abroad in my second year. 

Anyway – back to me! It’s my birthday! 

Alice arrived on Friday afternoon, so we treated ourselves to a haircut, (although Prestige is quite good, they were fully booked. Because of that, we discovered Tao hairdressers, where we managed to get our cuts done at the same time. I would definitely recommend checking this out, I’ve definitely found my new favourite hairdresser). Later that evening we all went as a flat for a couple of casual drinks (I’m pretty much over the Sugarhouse/going out scene – but trust me, all of this is very much to look forward to if you are becoming a fresher!) Then, Saturday evening we went for a meal at Pizza Margherita, an Italian restaurant in town, which was followed by a bottle of wine and many more drinks… although I say I am done with the going out scene, we ended up in Generation and Hustle… Crafty Scholar… Mint… Cornerstone (formerly Sphere) is another, which I would definitely recommend on any night out if you’re looking for a more sophisticated vibe. Sunday we took a trip to the Manchester Christmas markets for a cheeky bit of shopping.

 

                                                     Manchester Christmas Markets

 

Later today I have to trek to Preston to apply for a National Insurance Number: Being from Jersey I was never given one on turning 16, but require one since I am now employed here in Lancaster. So, lots of travelling, but it’s refreshing to see some different scenery now and then. 

For my final birthday treat I am having a hot towel massage on Wednesday post-lecture. One group who make use of Lancaster University’s Chaplaincy Centre are the trained therapists who make up the Natural Healthcare group. I discovered Chryssie, who offers a fabulous range of massages in exam time last year. Chryssie is particularly great for anyone in need of a little help to destress during busy periods such as exam season. I think it’s fantastic that we have such services on our doorstep, and it’s important to make the most of them.

Forgive me that this blog became egocentric, but I hope nonetheless that it has highlighted some of the general features of living in Lancaster, and updated you sufficiently on what I’ve been up to. Next time I’ll try to incorporate something more academic/ philosophical, perhaps such as my final conquering of Sartre’s “Look”. 

Until then, take care, and go easy on the mulled beverages.

Ellie 

Hi friends,

Welcome back to my blog, I hope everyone is doing well.

As I promised, I’m back to tell you how my few days at home went, and catch you up on what has been happening in my life for the past two weeks. It sure is crazy how time flies here, it’s already been a week since getting back from my trip at home and I have lots to share with you.

I went home from the 8th-10th November, a short whistle-stop and I was back to Lancaster again. Going home really helped break up the term for me, particularly because it forced me to focus on something other than my degree for a short moment, (if you aren’t going to count the reading in between places, like on the train and on the plane.) Sometimes uni work can feel all consuming – so if you are like me and struggle to put it aside, short breaks like this are important to your wellbeing since they allow you to step back and frame yourself in the larger perspective.

If like me you won’t be living near home, this can be just as well achieved by scheduling yourself in for some down-time: time in which you put the books away and let your mind wander or focus on something completely different. For me, this is going to gigs (I am a big fan of hip-hop, so I often travel to Manchester or Preston for events), spending time with friends (usually food is involved), drawing, cooking and other creative outlets. Last night, for example, I went to Herbarium (a vegan cafe/restaurant) where mutual friends were hosting an art exhibition/ hip-hop DJ/ live music event. If you are a creative person, it’s incredible how much local support there is for the arts, whether this be music, dance, drawing/painting; you name it. I think this is what gives Lancaster its unmatchable community feel.

I can’t stress how important these things are to avoid burnout, and although I have learned much over the past three years about myself, I think this might be the most pertinent.

Back to it – home. I had a fantastic time at home, it was so lovely to spend time with some of my friends since I don’t get to see them much other than in the holidays living so far away. It was awesome to be with my mum for those few days, she spoiled me rotten – we had two amazing lunches by the beach (hopefully you can see the pictures attached below) and dinner out one night too. We ate all sorts of naughty things like crisps… chips… and even chocolate brownie with ice cream.

                                        My Lunchtime view at home in Jersey. 

Even more than this, I got the pleasure of delivering a speech about the International Baccalaureate to 100+ people (potential IB students, and their parents) at my old high school. I have no idea why, but that was the first time I did not feel nervous whatsoever public speaking. I didn’t stumble over my words, I didn’t even get dry mouth! It couldn’t have gone smoother: I even got lots of laughs and even some tears from a teacher’s partner; a truly humbling experience. I think perhaps I wasn’t nervous because I was confident in my message and felt it worthy of being delivered.

And that was home – all went smoothly, even the travel, and before I knew it, I was back in Lancaster.

This week I have been focusing mostly on my dissertation, as I have been given another deadline of 2000 words. I am currently at about 4000, but it still isn’t saying much or going where I want it to, but I think this will come with more reading. I am definitely an ideas person: I always have too many. But this just means that in cutting down and editing I will have more material to choose between (hopefully).

In Philosophy of Work, I’ve decided on an area of study for my 5000 word mini dissertation – which will focus on the good life (within an Aristotelean framework) and the way in which the capitalist job market has de-skilled the labor force at the detriment of the good life. For my other mini-dissertation I am still not sure what my essay will focus on – perhaps the non-identity problem in Parfit’s Reasons and Persons. For anyone who is curious, Parfit thinks that personal identity is largely misunderstood: all that really matters is what he calls Relation R – psychological connectedness/ and or continuity with the right kind of cause. He goes as far as saying that despite our natural inclination to believe that if a replica of ourselves was created on Mars, (but we are told after her replication that we on earth will die), we should regard this as good as ordinary survival – since all that matters is not the continuity of our body, but that some psychological connectedness/continuity holds. On the account of personal identity, however, (the account we instinctively believe), if my replica survives but I die, this is just as bad as normal death. By using thought experiments such as this, Parfit tries to convince us that our natural beliefs such as the importance of personal identity are simply wrong.

I don’t expect you to understand this – this has taken six weeks of toil for me as a third year to come to grips with! I just thought I’d whet your appetite all you moral philosophers out there.

Onwards and upwards with week 7,

Talk to you soon.

Ellie

 

Hi guys and girls, welcome back!

I hope everyone is having a nice start to the month and enjoying all the autumnal colours.

This week will be an eventful one for me. Tomorrow I have another dissertation meeting, and although I am around 2000 words in, I’m starting to feel the pressure; particularly the pressure of expectations considering that the topic I have chosen is quite obscure. Week 5 is around the time in which to start thinking about essay plans, and because I am taking two specialist subjects, this means I have two mini-dissertations of 5000 words each on top of my 10,000 word dissertation to pursue and plan for this week. The questions for these two extended essays are expected to be formulated independently, so I have a lot of work to do. This is just the work side of my life right now!

In other news, Thursday morning I am heading back home to Jersey. Although it really isn’t the best timing, the motivation is definitely a good one. I have been asked to give a speech on the Thursday evening to potential International Baccalaureate students and their parents at an open evening at my old high school. This opportunity was particularly important to me, because, despite the fact that I hate public speaking, I feel that I owe the fantastic teachers from my old school for putting me on this path, and leading me to where I am today. In fact, if it wasn’t for the leap of faith I took in moving sixth form and pursuing a diploma pretty unheard of (and massively underrated, might I say) against the will of my parents, I would never have taken Philosophy as a class, and I doubt I’d have gone to university at all. The IB set me up for university in ways that I could never have predicted, and despite how hard it was, it instilled in me a work ethic which I probably wouldn’t have gained elsewhere. More than this, it prompted me to appreciate the importance of a holistic education, which as I mentioned in my last blog, was a motivating factor in my choosing Lancaster as my place of further study.

I think going home will be a nice relief for me, and hopefully it will help me get through the mid-term slump I am currently experiencing; this is normal, by the way. I am also having trouble with student finance which isn’t great, but I’m trying to be positive; a positive mindset is important when you have a lot of work on your plate. Anyway, it just so happens that the Thursday I return falls on one of my friend’s birthday’s, and I haven’t seen her since early September, so it will be nice to spend some time with her, and share our term’s experiences so far. Living so far away I tend not to go home until the uni breaks, so I’m feeling it might break up my term a little and push me to work harder when I come back.

Sunday evening we’re making a flat meal – there are 6 of us in my flat and we try to do this every now and then. It will be a curry night, and honestly, I’m already excited for it! One of my flatmates is directing me on how to make an authentic red lentil Dahl (from a recipe passed down from his grandmother), pretty cool, right?! I return on Saturday evening, so it will definitely be something to look forward to.

See, I’ll only be gone for a few days, but I’m already looking forward to coming back despite any setbacks or slumps. Lancaster is home.

I’ll check in with you all soon and let you know how the speech went, (please cross your fingers and toes for me.) I think I’ve decided that these blogs will be best if I do them bi-weekly, so that I have more to report on, unless something particularly worth writing about comes along. I’ll try my best to keep you engaged!

Take Care,

Ellie