Holiday attitude, with no holiday

Hello everyone, I hope you are keeping well and enjoying a well-deserved rest now that exams are over. I am currently in a dilemma regarding my motivation levels. I know that I have a dissertation to write, and I know that it is going to require a lot of hard work and effort, but I just can’t get into it. I think the issue is that all though my education, this is the time of the year where the summer break begins, and so my brain has gone into holiday mode. This has meant that instead of working on my dissertation, I have been doing everything but my dissertation. For example, instead of dedicating this weekend to working on my dissertation, I watched the new season of Orange is the New Black. That means that the 14 or so hours that I spent watching it since Friday night, was 14 hours I could have put into my dissertation… I know what I would have rather have done, though!

To the topic of holiday, I really could do with one right about now. The last holiday I had was in California in 2013 (which feels like a very long time ago!) Although I did go to Paris last summer, it was only for a day and so I’m not going to class it as a holiday. Once I have a full-time job, I plan on saving up some money so that I can go away, even if it is just for a week, and not very far away. I also still have air miles to use, which I got from that holiday to California, and have been topping them up with Tesco Clubcard points, and Shell Drivers Club points. That should help reduce the cost of the travel somewhat as well!

For the interesting fact that I have for this blog, London Zoo and World War 2 are the connection. When WWII started, London Zoo transferred its most valuable animals to Whipsnade Zoo for safety; two giant pandas, two orang-utans, four chimpanzees, thee Asian elephants, and an ostrich. It also had to put down the venomous animals to remove the possibility of having dangerous animals escaping in the event of the zoo being bombed. Whilst it is sad they had to put animals down, it was probably a lot safer to do so than to have dangerous animals wandering the streets of London, especially when there was a war happening at the same time!

That is all from me for this blog, I hope you are enjoying the time off, and have things to look forward to over the summer. I will be sure to keep you updated if I have any plans. Until next time everyone!

It’s all coming into place now!

Hello everyone, I hope you are keeping well. For those of you who still have exams, I wish you all the best of luck and hope they go well, and for those of you who are like me and have finished your exams, I hope you have a well-deserved rest! As the title of this blog might suggest, things are starting to fall into place slightly for me. I have finally met with my new dissertation supervisor (after being messed around a bit by my previous supervisor) and have discussed what I need to do to get started. It’s certainly going to be a very busy 4 months trying to research, write, and edit the 15,000 words that will make up my dissertation (or management research project as it is titled). However, after eight months of coursework and exams, the last thing on my mind right now is writing a dissertation, and just want to relax! Sadly that is not an option right now…

In other news, I have also been applying for jobs. I think I’ve done quite well in the sense that I’ve received a few interviews, but sadly I have not been successful after the interview stage. I have still been submitting applications, but as you may or may not know, applying for jobs can be a lengthy process. There’s actually filling in the application which can take time, especially if there is a lot to fill in; plus waiting for the deadline to pass; then waiting again for them to process the application to see if you have an interview or not, and if you do receive an interview, waiting to hear for the outcome of it!

This part of the blog is always my favourite, the part where I find a random fact that I find interesting, and hopefully you will also. As you may know from previous blogs, I am a huge fan of Ikea, but like most people, I have always wondered where they get the names for their products from. Well, today is your lucky day! I found there is a reason behind the names, and this is as follows:

• Sofas, coffee tables, media storage and bookshelves are named after places in Sweden
• Beds, wardrobes, and hall furniture are names after places in Norway
• Carpets after places in Denmark
• Dining tables and chairs after places in Finland
• Bookcases are named after occupations
• Bathroom items are named after lakes and rivers
• Kitchens are usually grammatical terms
• Kitchen utensils are food items, or functional words
• Chairs and desks are named after Swedish men’s names
• Materials and curtains are women’s names
• And finally, children’s items are mammals, birds, and adjectives

So although that is quite a long list, I still think it’s certainly interesting to see the method behind the naming of their products. I hope you found that interesting, and I will keep you updated in the future. The best of luck to you all in your exams, I’m sure you’ll do great! Until next time.

An Update from Easter

Hello again everyone, I hope you are well. As the title of this blog would suggest, here are some updates since my last entry. From my last entry, I said that I was going to Birmingham for the weekend to see a friend, and York with some friends from uni. The trip to Birmingham wasn’t too bad actually, and only took a few hours to get there through driving. I actually had a good time, and it’s the first time I’ve been to Birmingham. I didn’t really do much whilst I was there, but did get an opportunity to see some of the city. The weather was really nice as well, and whilst it was still chilly, it was sunny, which made a change to the grey and overcast weather we’ve had for a while.

Moving forward a few weeks, and approximately 130 miles north-east of Birmingham, I find myself in York for the weekend. York is now the furthest north I have been in both the UK! I was amazed at how cheap a night out was in York, and is definitely a great deal cheaper than in London. It was also nice to see the gate that surrounds the city (we drove past Micklegate). It was a shame that I didn’t get a chance to go sightseeing, as there is lots to see there, but that will have to wait for another time.

In university related news, I have nearly finished my final assignment (before my dissertation, which I really need to start thinking about), and have started to revise for my exams. Fortunately I only have two exams this time around, which is much better than 3 in one week! Although saying that, the two exams I have are in the same week, and there is only one day separating them… as they say, it’ll all be worth it in the end!

As is a feature of my previous blogs, this entry will also contain a fact that I find quite interesting, and hopefully you will too. This fact, may, or may not be a fact, but is still interesting nonetheless. There is a village in The Netherlands called Giethoorn, which has no roads. All of the buildings and houses are connected entirely by canals and footbridges. It looks like a really quaint place to live, and some of the houses have thatched roofs as well! I may have to add that to my list of places to visit.

As always, I hope you are all working hard and have managed to get all your wok completed. Not that long to go now for most of you I’m sure.

Until next time everyone, take care!

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!