So it's been a good month or so since I wrote one of these posts! And for the first time in a while, it's not because I'm running super behind or I forgot about it, I just had a really long Christmas break. Let's have a catch up - at uni last semester I did three units, Concept to Commission, Producing the Package and Who's the Boss. I've now finished those three units and I ended up with a 1st and two 2:1s overall so I'm very happy and now I"m starting three brand new units, a compulsory one called Production and Content Management (which is a continuation of Producing the Package) then my two optional units that I chose, which are Lifestyle PR and Music Journalism. Now we're all up to speed! The other piece of news I have is that on January 13th I was offered a two week work experience placement with BBC Three! I'm still waiting for HR to get in contact with me and provide more details but it's all very exciting and I wanted to share (I'll be sure to document it here or on my personal blog sophiecountsclouds). So let's get in to my first week back at uni! Monday is my busiest day for seminars, with both of my new units on those days - first was Lifestyle PR which was brilliant, PR is definitely an industry I'd love to get into in the future and I'm really excited that my assignments involve presenting a PR campaign and designing a press pack. My group are doing a campaign based on a new hotel resort opening in the Maldives so I get to write and make content regarding travel as well, which is really fun. Music Journalism I'm in two minds about - the assignments and the unit itself seems fine but the lecturer is so creepy. In our first lesson he gave off the impression that he loves Donald Trump and teenage girls, he refers to his pseudonym as a separate person, he swears all the time and he was talking to us about when he lost his virginity and it all just feels a bit inappropriate. I'm focusing on the assignments - which are an assessment report (analysing the work of three critics and comparing them to each other, to my understanding) and producing a portfolio of music journalism content. Then Tuesday was actually my boyfriend's birthday, so I spent the morning with him as I'm not in uni for Production and Content Management until 4pm (in future, most Tuesday mornings will be spent in my favourite cafe doing work, just like now when I'm writing this post). Production and Content Management is fine - the lecturer is absolutely brilliant and I'm really motivated to keep improving as I started to at the end of last semester so I'm not worried about this unit. Wednesday was the only kind of 'chilled' Wednesday I'm going to have for a long time - it was a News Day planning day, so we were given stories to work on before a live News Day next week and eight more live News Days in the weeks after that. This week I get to do a story about how bin collections might be changing from weekly to fortnightly and students aren't happy about it. I volunteered to do the video and pictures on this story so I'll include a link to the story when it goes live in next weeks post. I'm very lucky this semester in that I get a four day weekend and I'm using this to the best of my ability - at the moment, I'm trying to organise and secure a house for the next academic year so I spent the end of the week at house viewings, I did a couple of home workouts and I was baking for the little birthday party we were having for my boyfriend on Thursday evening, alongside doing a few bits and bobs of uni work in the odd hour or two I had spare. And then the weekend I was working - I have a job now! It's in the clothing store Saltrock and so far I'm really enjoying it and it's nice to have a little extra money coming in, especially when my money situation is so tight at the moment. I also uploaded a new cover to my YouTube channel - I've been making weekly content again for four weeks consecutively now so if you'd like to have a look at my YouTube channel it would mean a lot!
My amazing friend Nikki also wrote a post on my student blog 'The Student Seat', called '10 Ways to Help Your Mental Wellness' and it's brilliant so I thoroughly recommend giving that a read! Today, I've just uploaded a blog post called 'top 4 tips for starting a health kick' because of the diet I finally got myself on so I'd recommend that too, but I may be a bit biased. These posts will go back to being uploaded on a Saturday from now, with being back at uni, haven't lots of dance training, a job and a fairly busy schedule I need to manage my time to the best of my ability but with starting a bullet journal this year I'm finding ways to make this as easy as I can for me. I'm excited for second year and can't wait to see if it ends as brilliantly as it started! Personal blog: sophiecountsclouds.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sophiecountsclouds/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/sophiecountsclouds The Student Seat: https://thestudentseat.wordpress.com/
Just a short one today I think because uni this week started and ended with Monday but I wanted to write a post none the less. Monday was a struggle - I woke up very anxious because I knew how much I had to submit. But I went to my 11am lecture (mostly to do some work) and I was the only one there for a while but got the first draft of my features done, I then went to town for lunch with my boyfriend (time I could have spent working but I definitely needed that hour just to chill a little bit) and went back to seminar. I got some feedback on my features and finished the final draft and this is where the intense work regarding the essay that was also due that day began. I wrote the whole thing in 8 hours and it was all very close, you can tell the exact point I gave up on citing things and just kept writing, my bibliography probably wasn't laid out right and it was barely proofread, but with it being submitted with one minute and forty three seconds before the deadline, I definitely didn't have time to do any of that! And then my eighth and ninth assignments were submitted and semester one was finished! I still went to meet my friend for a work session at 9am the next morning and got some blog planning done, then went into town with some friends, went to one of those trampoline room things, realised how unfit I am then went on a night out. Tuesday was a very busy day. Wednesday and Thursday I chilled a lot, I barely left the flat and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I'm slowly catching up on Pokemon. Then on Friday I finally came home for the first time since my birthday in September - it involved a seven hour journey with a drive into London, a train from Gatwick to Kings Cross and another train from Kings Cross to Peterborough then a drive from Peterborough to home via the Chinese. I'm home now for two weeks then about another week at my boyfriend's house, but I'm very excited for some time off and some real relaxation - it's been a long semester! I don't go back to uni until the 23rd January, so I'll resume then with what I think is week 16 or 17. Have a good Christmas and see you in the New Year!
This week has been a difficult one so let's just start with Monday - always a manic day with little breaks, but managed to get a fair amount of work done and get to dance on time and remember to eat at regular intervals. I'd call that a fairly successful day. Tuesday was a Mettricks morning, went and did a couple of hours of work in there, finishing a log workbook and submitting my seventh assignment before going to uni for a meeting about being on a social media team for open days and it was really productive, so at least I've got that to look forward to in the New Year. I then got an email from someone at Campus Society regarding the student blog I run 'The Student Seat' about working with them and promoting their social media so that was quite exciting. And then I went to a pointless lecture at 4pm that literally made me want to claw my own eyes out. On Wednesday I didn't have News Day, so I was planning to go to the library and spend the whole day working and I didn't do that. But I did go to the library to get out a few books and I did some research work at home and not too much else, productivity has been minimal. This week I've really struggled with motivation which is annoying because I have two massive deadlines due next week and I really need to be productive. By Thursday I'd given up on forcing productivity - I went with my flat for a group road trip to Asda to buy food for our Christmas party at the weekend and then a quick trip to KFC before uni, where I did very little and chatted about YouTube and mindless gossip for two hours before returning home to do some work and then go to work at the university cinema in the evening. Friday was even more lax - I went Christmas shopping (got nearly all of it done and finished the rest by placing an Amazon order that evening!) and then it was evening and I did a tiny bit of work but not enough. I did write a blog post that I was really pleased with and uploaded my favourite Vlogmas video so far, so there's that. So today has been very work heavy - I've done a lot of research and I'm ready to start writing but for some reason, my brain just can't function productively at the moment - I tweeted earlier about feeling like I'm looking through frosted glass, I just can't focus on any of the words on my screen. Which is really inconvenient because I've not written either of my features or started my essay yet but I still can't bring myself to do it and I've only got two days left. Yes, it's okay - I hate myself too. Next week will either be 'my assignments are done I'm so happy' or 'my assignments are done they were awful' and at this point it could still go either way. Personal blog: sophiecountsclouds.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sophiecountsclouds/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/sophiecountsclouds The Student Seat: https://thestudentseat.wordpress.com/
Hello! This week has been manic busy and a stark contrast to last week, so let's jump right into it! I've also been watching a lot of Phillip DeFranco. Monday was the only day I had 'normal' uni this week - I had a lecture at 11, that a total of four people showed up to and then a seminar at 1 where there was only three of us! Such a great turnout, but more people showed up for my 4pm seminar and we all worked on our assignment deadline and it was stressful and I was nearly late for dance and then I uploaded my assignment and mentally prepared myself for news week. I was both excited and dreading News Weeks, Newsdays have been really fun this year but also it's three very long days alongside me being very stressed right now about a variety of deadlines. For context, I do multimedia journalism at uni and part of that is newsdays - where we essentially recreate an industry style news room where we have TV bulletins, radio bulletins, social media producers and news teams going out and making a full story package all inside of one day. News week (deceptively called a week) is three consecutive news days. I'm glad it's not a whole week because we would definitely all be dead by the end of it. So Tuesday saw the beginning of news week and after just submitting my package on the new Pokemon game for my assignment, I was put on the story about the new Pokemon game! But it was okay - we found a different angle and we did an interview in the park and it felt like a really good package, probably better than my package. But then I went to HMV to go to a Busted signing and I made a full package all by myself and I was so pleased with it, it all came together really well and the next day, apparently my lecturers and the third years were talking about how impressed with me they were, I was very happy. I put a lot of effort into going out of my way to do a extra work this year so it's nice that apparently it's being noticed. On Wednesday, I was on the subbing team, which means I was proofreading other peoples work before it was being uploaded to the website which I was actually quite excited about, but there were five of us trying to read about twenty five stories and it just wasn't enough work for us. But I did get some other assignment work done, I wrote a blog post and I edited a little bit of my monthly vlog. So all in all, a nice day but not necessarily doing the job I should have been doing. And then it was Thursday and we were having our last News Day of the semester! It was the first day of December, I was wearing my Christmas gingerbread dress and I donated my tree to the editors table and it was super fun. I worked at first on a Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them review, which I really enjoyed (more than I anticipated actually) and then I was on the radio bulletin team so I had to write a script and present the bulletin at 4pm and I really enjoyed it. On Friday, I had a lie in and I thoroughly enjoyed it, I then got up and made a to do list and planned some Christmas videos because I'm doing Vlogmas on my second channel, spoofaloof (if you're interested), then I went into uni to collect some Amazon packages with Christmas presents which is very exciting, then I watched a lot of YouTube videos (I'm so close to catching up and Vlogmas videos are starting to pour in... I'm getting there!) and I convinced myself that having my computer open is the same as getting work done. I'm working on it and the weekend is looking to be slightly more productive - my boyfriend and I slept in really late and it was blissful. Then I put my pyjamas back on, came into the living room and starting writing this blog post. It's been a very slow day but I've had YouTube videos on in the background and I'm only a couple of days behind now but so many people are uploading more in December that it's still a lot of videos. Next week is due to be a quiet week at uni but an intense week of frantic assignment work so I'm not sure how next weeks post will go!
This week has been a very unusual one in terms of uni, so I think this post will be quite short! As I said last week, I went to a concert last Sunday in London and I was really excited about it - and rightfully so, it was so good and I got to meet two of my favourite YouTubers and I loved it, but the journey home was a nightmare. Luckily it was only 2am rather than a possible 4.30am return home and a massive favour owed to a friend (thank you Maria!) but with being ill and having throbbing headaches as well, Monday was a completely write off. I didn't get out of bed until my second seminar had started and I spent most of the day half asleep and blowing my nose before going to dance that night and desperately trying to breathe through intense training. Tuesday was slightly better - I went to Mettricks for a 9.30am start to get some work done with my friend Nikki and proceeded to spend three hours working on planning my blog posts for the next month. Yes, I hate my priorities and myself too don't you worry. But I did go to my lecture at 4 and even though it was pointless, I actually got some work done which is the important bit. And I made it to dance that night even if I couldn't breathe very well. Wednesday was another blissful day off uni. I'll be honest I have genuinely no recollection of what I did. I take that back - Pokemon Sun and Moon came out that day so my boyfriend and I were playing that all day. I bought snacks, I had a nap and then we played Dungeons and Dragons in the evening. Wednesday was 'full on nerd' day. Thursday was slightly more productive - I had to go to a Student Ambassador retraining session and it overlapped with a seminar so I prioritised the one I'm getting paid for. Probably shouldn't, because one of them costs me £9000 a year but here we are, I can't change my decision now. I then played more Pokemon that afternoon and went to work at the uni cinema in the evening and got to see Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them for free because I worked it and it was amazing, I loved it, I'm obsessed with it, Eddie Redmayne is a blessing among humanity and I still haven't done any work because I've got to a point where I just hate myself a lot and I keep putting it off even more. Then on Friday, I went into uni to pick up some equipment I needed for the weekend, tidied my room, did the washing up and then went to Asda with my dad who is visiting for the weekend. So then I went for dinner with him and my boyfriend and then we played Pokemon till 2am. And then I went into town super early because my Dad bought me my Christmas present really early and we wanted to get to town whilst it wasn't too busy because Southampton on a Saturday in the run up to Christmas. It's not fun. There are many rude people. But I have a new camera! It's so beautiful! Look at this photo of ice cream I took!
I mean, I could give it a really clickbaity title or I could just say it like it is - death has come for me. Probably not but my head pounds when I stand up so I'm pretty sure that's a sure fire sign I'm going to die soon. I'm not sure how well the sarcasm comes across but it's there - I know I'm not really dying. Monday! I've realised that Monday's just make me really sad - I have my busiest lecture and seminar day at uni then I have no time before dance and then dinner is really late and I always end up feeling really sad on a Monday. So the week got off to a good start right! Now realistically, Monday had been this difficult for a while - I was just starting to get ill and I spent most of the day choking because my throat wasn't very good at being a throat. I struggled to see the relevance of the lecture and the seminar was the same as last week except only six people turned up which makes me feel so good about actually making the effort to go to uni. The Producing the Package seminar was just another two hours of doing work but in a MAC suite at uni. So thrilling. I was so officially ill on Tuesday that when I tried to write 'officially ill' in my notes for what happened on Tuesday, I typed 'officially in'. Sign. Usually I go for an early morning Mettricks but I made the decision not to push myself and let myself have a couple of hours longer in bed. I got up about 11 and started work on my 6-point to do list. At this point I had it planned that I would have everything on my weekly to do list done by Thursday and then I would spend all weekend playing Pokemon. Spoiler: that didn't happen. But I started by writing up my Newsday log notes into a proper log so I can just add the information from News Week and submit it in December, which is dangerously and painfully close now. I also edited music for my dance team. And then I didn't do anything else for the rest of the day and I didn't go to uni because I my head was literally throbbing. I was so glad I didn't have Newsday on Wednesday because I definitely wouldn't have made it and I'm just very ill at this point. I didn't go to voice coaching because I couldn't talk, I did some sofa Christmas shopping, I helped my friend with her fashion photography, I stressed a lot, I nearly had a migraine and then I stayed up really late working on my script for my assignment presentation the next day. And then on Thursday I went in a little early to finish off the script and rehearse and then we went and did the presentation and I think it went really well, we didn't go over time and we felt really comfortable asking questions. Then I went home and did a bunch of work (like, really slowly), then I went to work at the cinema at uni and watch the new Jack Reacher film (not my cup of tea). On Friday I slept a lot, I spent a very long time very slowly working on one work experience application (but I did it!) and I spent a surprisingly long time questioning how long I need to cook two tins of spaghetti hoops for lunch. It was a very slow day but not in a nice relaxing way, in a 'I want to be motivated and get lots of work done but my head throbs if I stand up too fast and all I want to do is sleep and be sad'. I found out on Friday that someone that was in my form at school passed away and it really hit me and I didn't even know her that well, but I saw her basically every morning for a year and she was so lovely and I know people who knew her really well and it's just really surreal. Especially with watching Children in Need that night it just really hit me how short life is and I was really sad on Friday night (and most of this week) but I just wanted to write something here - just, make good decisions, be careful with drugs. I'm feeling very spacey right now. Today, Saturday, I had the biggest lie in I think I've ever had and slept until the afternoon, I then had a little Asda trip to pick up some fresh veg to make a roast dinner tomorrow then I tried to be productive but I felt like death outside so I'm actually a little bit worried about going to London tomorrow. I'm meant to be seeing Panic! At The Disco tomorrow and I'm really excited about it but I also feel like death, so I'll update you on that next week. Sorry this week has been so rubbish, I get really sad when I can't be productive and I'm trying my best and it's not going very well. Too much thinking, I'll get back to you next week where there's no deadlines and hopefully less disease.
This week has been a long one, it feels like months since I wrote one of these posts when it's only been seven days. So let's go back to Monday. We have a new lecturer for our Concept to Commission lecture and seminar and he didn't use a PowerPoint for the lecture, which make a Monday morning after a week off much more difficult to concentrate on. I actually did quite enjoy the seminar - we were given a sheet with a bunch of information on it and we had to write a 500 word feature in two hours in between chatting to our lecturer about our assignment due at the end of the semester. It wasn't particularly useful but I enjoyed in none the less. In Producing the Package we got our results from our first package hand ins back - I wasn't massively overwhelmed with a high 2:2, but I know exactly what areas to work on to pull the grade up in the next package and I've already got the go ahead for my next package idea. On Tuesday morning I went to my favourite cafe Mettricks to sit and do some work with a hot chocolate. I then went to Spoons with some friends, went and tried to book a tattoo and then started a discussion with the tattoo parlour on Facebook to try redesigning it. I then went to HMV to pre-order Busted's new album Night Driver and get a ticket to the signing they're doing at the HMV in Southampton. I'm going to meet Busted and it's going to be a childhood dream come try. Then I did some work at home, went to a really shit lecture, went to dance and then came home and sat on the sofa for a really long time. Wednesday was another Newsday and this week I was on the TV bulletin team - I had to write the script and present for the 5 minute long TV bulletin at 5pm so it was a really long day but really satisfactory - I had an awesome team and it was so much fun to work with them. If you want to watch my bulletin, you can do so here:
On Thursday I had a slightly later start because I no longer have InDesign sessions as that assignment has been handed in. So I went to Who's The Boss at 1pm, luckily we didn't have to have a debate because not many people were there and our assignment hand in is less than a week away (not that our lecturer didn't try). So I worked with my partner really well on our PowerPoint presentation - it worked really well that both of us were in the right place and on the same page about what we wanted to do because we made massive progress. And Friday was my much needed day off, not that I took it - I met my partner about midday and we worked for about five hours putting together both the PowerPoint and the script and we're nearly at a point where we can hand in the PowerPoint on Monday. On Friday evening I was given a complimentary ticket to see the World Premiere of Wind In The Willows at Mayflower theatre (post to go up on SophieCountsClouds tomorrow!) and it was amazing - seeing 'press' printed on the ticket is something that made me inexplicably happy and is something I'd love to do again! This morning, on wonderful Saturday, I had another lie in and went into town for an Asda trip, I came back to make a bunch of lists of stuff I need to get done and then I spent the evening being an actor and helping my friend film her documentary for her course. Having got back at ten, my boyfriend and I have just ordered take out because we're too tired to cook dinner! Tomorrow I'm getting my fourth tattoo (and I'm so excited) and then going to meet my partner to finish off our presentation for next week and then I'm going to have a really chilled evening and finish catching up on Flash Season 3. This week's been jam packed and I'm running out of energy for sure - I need just a little bit of time off and I keep saying 'after this deadline' and 'after this hand in' but each of my assignments are due in less than two weeks after each other, which makes it a little bit more difficult to find 'down time' and chill out. But I'll manage it. Somehow. Or if not; I'll blog about it.
