My 2013

I think it's fair to say that 2013 has been one of the most hectic years of my life so far. So I thought I'd reflect on some of the stand-out moments of my 2013 before I welcome the new year in.

The year started off with me working towards my A-Levels in the hopes of getting into university. I'd like to think that I worked hard, especially considering that for one of my courses I didn't have any timetabled lessons so I did it all myself. I probably could have put a bit more effort into my Chemistry. As much as I love Chemistry and enjoy all the theories and equations, I just couldn't bring myself to put 100% effort into it, because I saw my two A2 written exams as battles that I could never win. But overall I feel I worked hard enough, and I even managed to read 1-2 books a week on top of all of my work and revision. Also, throughout the two thirds of Year 13 that 2013 covered, on top of all my work and reading, I managed to strengthen many of the friendships I had formed in Year 12. This would probably have to be my second best -or maybe even joint first- achievement of that academic year as I gained four true friends that I hope remain in my life for many years to come.

Thankfully by mid-July my A-Levels were a thing of the past -aside from my results. It was around this time that I began my training for my first ever job. Once I had completed all my training and handed in my availability form all I had to do was wait until August when I began my job as a Support Playworker. Sadly I was only given four days of work out of the 12 I was available to work throughout August. My four days were really good though and I felt very rewarded by the end of it. I'm looking forward to the Easter break when I'll hopefully be able to do some more work.

One of my many panoramic shots of the Devonshire coast.

Also during August I went on holiday to Devon for a week with the 'Larks'. This was the first time I'd been on holiday in years and it was also the first time I'd been on holiday with people other than my family. It was a really nice week! I would have preferred it if we hadn't of stayed in caravans. That being said though it was lovely being such a short walk from the beach, which we probably wouldn't have got if we had stayed in a hotel. It really was a great week though. There were ups and downs but that's to be expected with any holiday, especially when you're with such a large group of people. Overall the company was good, the sights were really pretty and the pools were warm; I couldn't really have asked for much more.

A week or two after every Lark holiday an award ceremony is held. My boyfriend and I were awarded 'Most Loving Couple', which is a title that I am very proud to hold.

Then after I arrived home it was time to start thinking about all the things I needed to either buy or pack up to take to uni, and deciding what were necessities and what were not. By the time I moved you could barely move in my room because there were so many bags and crates. It turns out I over prepared myself for living away from home, as much of the stuff I took with me has yet to be used. Oops, haha!

I must admit that I'm really enjoying living independently. It doesn't always go smoothly, but then again nothing ever does. Only on a few occasions have my boyfriend and I had to raid the cupboards to find something to throw together for dinner and we've only had the electricity run out once; so I think it's fair to say that we're coping quite well.

I'd say that for me the worst thing about living away from home is being away from this cutie for long periods of time.

Once October began I officially began my psychology course at the University of Bedfordshire. I was a little apprehensive at first as I didn't really know what to expect and was really nervous about meeting new people; but I'm loving it now. My course is really interesting and I'm enjoying all of my units, even Research Methods! I'm also enjoying my counselling unit. When I first saw it was one of my units I thought it rather pointless with regards to my degree and that I'd hate it. I still don't see how it links to my degree specifically, but I understand why I have to do it and I'm actually finding it really interesting. I also didn't have to worry about making friends. Although I wouldn't say I've made any strong friendships yet I have actually met and befriended a fair few people.

Then three weeks into my course it was my 20th birthday. I came home for the weekend, along with my boyfriend, and had a lovely time. I've already written a post on my birthday weekend so I won't go into too much detail here. But to summarise the weekend: I was spoilt, ate too much, found a new favourite drink and left appreciating my family more.

The aforementioned new favourite drink I discovered at the Hard Rock Café in London.

Skip ahead two months and it's Christmas. This year I didn't really feel Christmassy. It got to 5:30pm on Christmas Eve, when the Crib Service at my boyfriend's church was about to being, and even then I didn't feel in the Christmas spirit. It didn't even feel like it was going to be Christmas Day in a matter of hours.

My Christmas was pretty good overall though. I definitely got more than my fair share of lovely things! I got a lovely, cute pair of Bambi pyjamas and a pair of thick bed socks that are lined with a fluffy material; both of which are super cosy and comfortable, and are things that I never would have picked out myself but am very glad that I own. I also got a beautiful leather jacket that I intend to wear with pride whenever possible. I got a lot of shower gel and other such toiletries which is great as it saves me spending money when I run out of the stuff I am currently using. I got lots of DVDs, including many Disney classics; and I also got a number of gift cards for a range of different shops that I look forward to spending in the new year.

Wrapping presents: the best part of Christmas.

This year also saw me become a little more adventurous with my appearance. I've started wearing skirts for the hell of it, instead of for school and special occasions, which is something I haven't done since I was in primary school. I've also started to wear lipstick which is something I have never done before. I also had a full fringe at one point but that didn't last long once I saw pictures of myself and realised how terrible it looked.

So that's my 2013 in a fair-lengthed nutshell! I hope you all had a lovely 2013! Tell me about some of your 2013 highlights in the comments; I'd love to hear them!
-Hannah.

Commuting.

Now that I'm at university I am commuting a lot more than during my sixth form years. There are two reasons for this -both quite obvious if you've read any of my previous posts- which are: I no longer live in my family home, which means no more getting dropped off, and I live in one town and my university campus is in another.

At the start of this academic year I was unsure of how far my finances would stretch. Because of this I opted to travel into Luton the cheapest way possible; which resulted in me buying a month-long bus pass for £80 that let me get on any bus and commute anywhere within the county of Bedfordshire. My bus journey was the whole bus route, which was an hour give-or-take depending on the traffic. At first it was mind and bum numbing torture, but by the end of the month, although still bum numbing, I did start to enjoy the bus ride. I started to enjoy it so much that when I noticed we were getting close to my destination I used to wish that the journey had taken a little longer.

That made my change in transport at the end of the month quite bittersweet. During the time I was commuting on the bus, I had calculated that it would be possible for me to start getting the train to uni and not end up with an overdraft by the end of term. So I decided to start getting the train instead; because they came more frequently -roughly every 20 minutes as opposed to every hour- and the journey was shorter, which meant less waiting around in the cold and getting home quicker when it started to get dark earlier.

A photographic summary of my commute: platform, music and a hot beverage of some kind.

So far I've been enjoying my new commute for the most part. Coffee and hot chocolate is more readily available; I don't have to panic about missing the train I planned to get; I get home quicker; and there are more seats available. Baring all that in mind I can hardly make a valid complaint about anything else.

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I also commuted the two years before I changed schools for sixth form, which coincidentally was on the same train line. I enjoyed that commute as well, aside from how crowded it would get with other school kids once we reached Radlett. Thanks to that daily commute I made myself some pretty good friends and made a lot of memories, some good, some hilarious and some quite cringe worthy.

Over all I've enjoyed all my commuting over the years. Most of all I've enjoyed my journeys on the London Underground -a.k.a. the Tube- either to go to a concert, go shopping or just randomly explore that marvellous city.

I'm not really sure why I chose to share my commuting experiences and opinions with you. It probably isn't a very good post but for some reason all I wanted to write about today was how much I love commuting -for the most part- on public transport.

November Favourites.

It's that time of the month again! The end of it, which means it's time for another favourites list. So without further ado, here's a selection of some of my favourite things from the past 30 days:

Knee-high bed socks - Optimum comfort and warm for more than just your feet and ankles; what could possibly be better than that?!

My 'Counselling and Interpersonal Psychology' unit - When I first saw that I had to take this unit during my first year I didn't really see why. I didn't think it was relevant to my course title and I didn't think I'd enjoy it at all. Thankfully I have been proved wrong on all accounts. It links to my course with regards to possible career possibilities in my future field of work, we haven't had to do any role-playing so far -I absolutely detest that sort of learning activity- and I'm actually really, really enjoying it.

Vitamin Water - In particular: 'Revive' and 'Defence.' They taste great and bump up your vitamin levels. The only down side is that compared to other drinks available they are quite pricey -especially for a cheapskate come student like me! So for me these are usually a bit of a treat, and that's usually when a supermarket is doing a deal on them, haha!

Bodycare - I had seen this shop in Bedford and in Luton, and I'd heard it was cheaper than both Boots and Superdrug. But it wasn't until Monday that I actually went into one. To be honest I wasn't expecting much. I had heard the prices were low so I assumed it was going to be like the drugstore version of Aldi and Lidl. However I was pleasantly surprised. They had a wide range and all of it was the brands you would expect, not the foreign knock-offs I was expecting to see. The two things that really sold this shop to me and will mean future purchases in there are: they had all five of Garnier's 'Moisture Match' moisturises -I read about them around my birthday and have been looking for the 'Goodbye Dry' one ever since, with no success until then- and the wide range of hair dyes they had in stock -Just looking at the Swarzkoft dyes I spotted a few I'd not see or rarely seen before and picked out three colours that I'm torn between getting.

Garnier Moisture Match - Goodbye Dry Moisturiser - I'll be honest with you, I wasn't expecting much from this moisturiser. Although Garnier is one of my go-to brands, I've had absolutely no success with moisturisers from any brand. Some have worked a treat for a while and then my skin has become accustomed to it and it stops having any effect on my dry skin. So far I am loving this moisturiser and I really, really hope it keeps up the good work in the long run! Also, it smells really nice.

Tea with sweetener - This is quite a random and somewhat boring favourite of mine this month. But to summarise why it's on my favourites list, my boyfriend made me a cup of tea and instead of putting sugar in he put some of his sweetener in it and it tasted 10 times better than the tea I make with sugar.

So those are my favourites, and in some cases pleasant discoveries, this month. What have you been enjoying this month?
-Hannah