So close, yet so far…

Hello there everyone, I hope you are well. I can’t believe that I only have a few more weeks of teaching for my degree! I know I still have two exams to complete and a dissertation, but after the 2^nd of April I will have no more lectures to attend! So as for the title of this blog, even though there are only a few weeks left of my lectures, I don’t actually finish my studies until September. For those of you who may not know, master’s degrees are slightly different to bachelor’s degrees in the sense they are one full year, as opposed to an academic year (usually around 9 months). This means that I won’t officially finish until September of this year.

In non-university (but somewhat university related) news, I do have events to look forward to once I have finished my lectures. Over the Easter weekend I will be going to York for the weekend with some friends from during my undergraduate studies. I haven’t seen some of them since last year, so it will be nice to see everyone again. The journey to York should also be fun, as myself and 3 other people are driving there; bring on the road trip! Speaking of road trips, I will be driving to Birmingham this weekend to visit a friend which should also be quite exciting. I will be doing the journey alone, however, so it possibly won’t be as fun, but an experience nonetheless.

For all you cat lovers out there, this blog’s interesting fact is about cats; cat whiskers to be precise! Interestingly enough, there are exactly 24 whiskers on every cat, with 12 on each side of their face. Whiskers are used by cats to hunt, as well as to sense their surroundings. Veterinary neuroscientists have found that cat’s whiskers connect to a part of the brain similar to the visual cortex, meaning that cats can effectively see with their whiskers. Cats also use their whiskers to judge whether or not they will fit into tight spaces, and research has found that cats with damaged whiskers can have difficulty completing some tasks.

Hopefully you found that fact just as interesting as I did, I hope you are all working hard, and all up to date with your work. Until next time!

The danger that is Netflix

Happy February everyone, I hope you are keeping well during the shortest month of the year. A quick fact for you about February, during common years February starts on the same day of the week as both March and November, and during leap years it starts on the same day of the week as August. However, this blog is not about February (although events that have happened in February will be talked about), but is about the on-demand internet media streaming service that is Netflix. For those of you who use Netflix, you will understand binge watching. As the picture above would suggest, I’ve just finished binge watching The Office (U.S), and it truly was a great show. I am a fan of TV programmes in the form of a documentary/mockumentary, which is probably why I really enjoyed The Office.

One thing I like about Netflix is that it will suggest other things to watch. At the moment, I have chosen a programme which is in no way related to what I have been watching, and am now working my way through Fresh Meat. At first I wasn’t sure about it, but it turned out to be pretty good. So based on the fact that I am a student, and based on what I’ve written so far, it may become apparent as to why the title of this blog includes the words danger and Netflix in the same sentence. Well, the simple fact of the matter is, I really should be getting on which the plethora of assignments I have to do rather than spending my time watching things on Netflix. It’s possible a good idea to take a break from watching things and head to the library to do some work.

As with the previous blogs that I have written recently, I will be including another fact at the end of this which you may or may not find interesting. The fact for this blog is to do with housing in the United States, and that there are more houses with no one living in them, than there are homeless people. I find that fairly surprising, and didn’t think there would be that many vacant houses. According to the statistics, 3.5 million people were homeless in the United States, compared to 18.6 million vacant homes. This means there is enough for every homeless person to have at least 6 houses! Quite a strange concept to think about.

Anyway, that’s it for this blog; I hope you are all working hard and not watching too many things on Netflix! Until next time everyone!

The Year Ahead

Hello everyone, I hope you are well rested from the Christmas break and ready to start the second term. Last week was a stressful time for me, as I had three exams in one week! It was as horrible as it sounds, and meant that my Christmas break was as revision filled as you can imagine. It did mean though that as a treat, 11:30am on Friday the 9^th of January 2015 marked the start of a weekend of rest and zero revision, yay! For those of you who have followed my blog updates, you may or may not know that I am a fan of The Sims. Although I am a fan, I am slow to move to the next version once it has been released, and this time was no exception. One of my friends finally convinced me to get The Sims 4, and I was surprised at how much better it was than The Sims 3, and I loved The Sims 3! So as you can imagine, the weekend I had off after my exams was spent playing The Sims 4, and I must say it was time well spent.

So as the title would suggest, I thought I would take the opportunity to let you know my plans for the year ahead. In terms of my studies, this year is the year I will complete my degree, which will involve multiple assignments, more exams, presentations, as well as a dissertation with a grand total of 15,000 words… it will all be worth it in the end! This year I also plan on sorting out my finances, taking at least one holiday (abroad), and just generally making myself a better person. I suppose it’s not very original, and the vast majority of people will have similar goals every time a new year comes around, but sometimes being cliché is needed.

As you may remember from my last blog, I thought I would start including a fact that I find interesting just to make a change to the regular blogs that I write. This time, my fact is about Highway 1 in Australia, which is the world’s longest national highway, totalling 14,500 km! Highway 1 circumnavigates the entire country, and joins together all the mainland state capitals. As the highway passes through nearly every major inhabited part of Australia, it is very popular with tourists. It sure would be one amazing road trip to circumnavigate Australia on Highway 1, just think of all the things you would see! It would be an extremely long drive though, and would probably take a very long time! Plus think of all those miles added on whichever vehicle that was used.

I hope you found that fact interesting, and that you are working hard this year to get the best results you can. Until next time everyone!

Nearly there!

Hello everyone, I hope you are studying hard and staying well in this period that is notorious for sickness bugs. At the moment I have a bit of a sniffle, which I really hope does not develop into anything further; I could really do without being sick at the moment! The good news is that I have submitted all my work for this term, but the bad news is that I still have three exams to prepare for in the first week of January. I just hope that I manage to pass my exams, as I am generally not very good at them.

Moving on from the doom and gloom that exams are, a brand new year is upon us, and soon it will be 2015. I know that most people will have New Year’s Resolutions, including myself with the cliché get fitter, work harder, etc. but according to research conducted by the University of Scranton in the USA, just 8% of people achieve their New Year’s goals! Although that is a very low number, I plan on being part of that 8% for 2015 to make the year more successful and productive.

As I think I mentioned in my previous blog, although I am not a huge fan of Christmas, I am a fan of Christmas food, and I think that shops and restaurants removing their Christmas specials (such as that sandwich from EAT. I spoke about last time) will be what I miss the most.

I have decided to include a random or weird fact at the end of each blog that I find interesting, and hopefully you do too. The first blog fact will be based on a library and opera house in North America. So what’s so interesting about this library/opera house you may ask? The weird fact about it is that it is on the border between the United States and Canada, where the stage is in one country, and half the audience is in another. This means that the library/opera house has two addresses, one for the USA (Vermont) and one for Canada (Québec). The library/opera house was deliberately constructed on the border to provide the border communities with a centre for learning and cultural enrichment upon its completion in 1904. If you want to find out more about the Haskell Free Library and Opera house, you can check out their website: http://www.haskellopera.com

Anyway, hopefully you found that fact interesting, and I hope you are all keeping well. I hope you all enjoy your break over the Christmas period, and have a Happy New Year! Until next year everyone!

Time to knuckle down

Hello again everyone, I hope you are well. The weeks leading up to Christmas are going to be

particularly stressful with the deadlines I have remaining. Even when I have submitted all my work, I will still have 3 exams to prepare for in January, so there won’t be much time to relax over the winter vacation. Due to all the work I have to do, I may have to just cancel Christmas! For someone who isn’t a huge fan of it really isn’t all that bad, it was more a break that I was looking forward to.

In light of all the work I have been doing, I have realised that I spend nearly all of my time at the University in some way. I’m either in the library working on my assignments, working, or in classes. I may as well move into the University, and they would never get rid of me! Although the fact I’ve been here for 4 years shows that the University of Greenwich can’t get rid of me; I may even stay to do my PhD… eventually! For the time being, I think I need to focus on getting my master’s, and then looking into a career.

The New Year should bring about some relief to my bank balance. After December, I would have paid off my tuition, and will no longer have to save money from my pay each month. This means that in January when I get paid, all the money that is left will be mine! (Well, after I’ve paid all my bills etc).

Even though I am not a huge fan of Christmas, I am a fan of the food and drink that comes with Christmas. The other day I had one of the Christmas sandwiches from EAT. and it was probably the nicest sandwich I have ever had! It certainly puts the sandwiches at M&S to shame, and that is really saying something.

I hope you are all working hard and are getting through your assignments, the best of luck, and until next time everyone!

All work and no play

Hello again everyone, I hope you are well. The past few weeks have been a hectic blur for me, working all the hours available, and then some, plus the classes I have in the evening. Needless to say it has been pretty energy draining by the time I have also completed university work.  This means I haven’t had much of a social life, or much time to myself. Although I like to keep busy, I think I may have gone a bit overboard. So here is my advice to anyone who thinks they can work in all the spare time they have outside of classes, yes you can, and the money is handy, but you won’t have much time to actually spend it (unless you plan on saving it).

Even though I have been working and studying a lot, I have still have managed to find some time to myself and some form of a social life and watch some TV shows. I have recently started watching Breaking Bad (I know I’m quite behind on that one) and I finally understand what the hype is all about. However, whenever I watch an episode, I often find myself thinking about what my life would be like if I had been good at chemistry… it goes without saying that it’s a pretty poor career choice, and is too dangerous for my liking!

I also managed to fit in a trip to my favorite shop the other day; Ikea. I know it’s a bit of a strange choice, but I just love looking at all the various room designs, and imagining it in my future, currently non-existent, home. I always find myself being drawn to the lighting features, and rooms with clever touches.

That’s it from me for now, but with this windy weather we've been having, hold onto your hats and avoid any objects that may fly towards you! And as always, good luck with all your studies, and make sure you fit in some down time.

September comes to a close

Hello everyone, I hope you are well. Is it me or did September just fly by? It is now October, and Monday the 22^nd of September marked the first day of autumn. Autumn is my favourite season, when the leaves change from green to various shades of red and orange and brown; simply breath-taking! I also love the fresh, crisp mornings that autumn offers, followed by a low, but warming sun that provides some heat. It also means that I can start wearing jumpers again (I do like wearing jumpers) meaning that soon it’ll be the sweater weather.

The beginning of autumn also means that my favourite drink from Starbucks is now out; the pumpkin spice latte! It appears that pumpkins are not really a thing in the UK, which makes me very sad. When I was in the USA last year, there was pumpkin pie available all year round. Here in the UK, I have yet to see one anywhere, although I did make one myself and it was very tasty (even though the pumpkin mix was hard to obtain).

In university related updates, I had my first week of classes for my new programme, and it has been a bit of a shock to the system getting used to studying by night. This means for 4 nights a week, I will not have an evening to myself, as I will be either in classes or travelling (fortunately I’ve been able to drive there and back). Speaking of travel, I managed to lose my Oyster card the other day, but I was convinced that I would find it as soon as I called TfL to cancel it. However, this was not the case, and since then my new one has now arrived, with my old Oyster card yet to be found… I’m sure it will turn up one day.

I have decided that I need to book a weekend away soon, so as I have Friday, Saturday, and Sunday off, I think this could be possible. I may have to wait until I get paid before I can do that, though. It’s been really strange studying at university without being able to apply for a student loan. Sadly master’s programmes do not attract funding from student finance, so I will have to try and work as much as I can to get the money I need.

Anyway, I hope you have all had a good first week, and I wish you the best of luck this year, until next time!