Beauty Is a State of Mind

Hello again Guys & Gals,

So exam season is upon us – ick, luckily I dodged all modules that had any when it came to choosing, but for those that do I wish you lots and lots of luck- I’ve been there! But you will do fine; just remember that exams indicate that summer is in sight – yaaaaay. For those that missed the last blog – you are still able to apply to work this summer if you want to earn some extra money this summer, the closing date for applications is May 23^rd so make sure you get them in quick J. Remember you have to apply via Moodle now (see previous blog for exact details).

My problem at the moment is that I’m getting bored way too easily; I can’t sit still for more than an hour. Some of that boredom was lifted this week when I went to see The Amazing Spiderman 2 with George- whilst I thought the film was good (I have to say I do prefer Andrew Garfield to Toby McGuire- sorry) it wasn’t the film which I found memorable…

As we arrived early we caught the adverts beforehand which usually I find really boring as they’re selling cars, holidays and stuff I can never ever afford lol. But then this advert came on in which an American Psychologist was giving women who really struggled with self-confidence a beauty patch which would hopefully make them feel more beautiful as time went on, to capture this they had to keep a video diary. The women slowly began to feel more beautiful as time progressed and with that their confidence grew. After the trial period of this ‘beauty patch’ the woman come back and explain to the psychologist about how wearing this patch has made them feel more confident in their skin and had completely changed the way they view themselves. The psychologist then asks them if they want to see what’s in the patch- they turn over the packet to find the answer was NOTHING- it was all in their minds.

Check out the link below to watch the advert, which was done as a campaign for Dove:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EGDMXvdwN5c

Now as I said I was in the cinema and I literally burst into tears, and I don’t even mean a few sneaky ones I was literally crying for ages through the trailers as the advert was really powerful and struck home with me. My boyfriend was traumatised when he saw me hahaha, I have no idea why but the advert really made me emotional and still does when I watch it because of how powerful this simple message is, which is that: Beauty Is a State of Mind.

I really do encourage you watch it, you probably won’t get over-emotional like me (so embarrassing haha)  but still it is really worth watching.

That’s all from me today guys,

Take Care,

Xoxo

Laura

Clearing Jobs this Summer!

Hey Guys & Gals,

How’ve you been? I can now officially say my time as a Uni of Greenwich undergraduate student is over L but I will still be working in the office. This Summer I will be working here full-time- in clearing which is always really fun (and very busy). Applications are currently open for Clearing Assistants so as long as you are a student with this university you can apply (and you should – you will meet me- ok no, I don’t want to put you off). But seriously, if you are looking for a job this summer and are a current student with access to Portal you can apply J

All you need to do is:

• Go to the “My Learning” tab
• Click on ‘View your courses’ in the ‘My Courses’ block
• In the ‘Search courses’ facility – enter ‘JobShop Campus’
• Click on ‘JobShop Campus (campus jobs for current students)
• Self-enrol yourself to add it to your list of Moodle courses (and the clearing assistant role is listed there)

Okay, so last time I spoke to you I told you a little bit about the party I was having- to celebrate my 21^st. I decided to have a uniform themed party and everyone really made an effort in dressing up. It was a really good night and I got to see some friends and family who I haven’t seen for a while. Here are some pictures from the night:

Despite the fact I have now officially finished as a student, I have actually been really busy this week. Yesterday I went to Paradise Wildlife Park (I know what you’re thinking, from reading my past blogs you will know I spend my life in zoos) but this was for a Christmas present that had been booked for us a while back. It was amazing because I got to see some white lions which I haven’t seen since I had been to South Africa to see my granddad. They are by far my favourite animal. I won’t bombard you with photos, as I know my last two blogs have been very animal based. It’s a known fact about me is that ‘I like a zoo’ haha.

Right guys that is it from me today but I hope you are all well and want to wish you all lots of luck with your exams and final bits of coursework you have left to submit. You CAN do it- just bear in mind you have a nice long summer to look forward to.

Take Care Guys,

Xoxo

Laura

The Lion King

Hey Guys & Gals,

I’m 21!!!!! I’ve been a busy bee since I last spoke to you, so as well as celebrating my birthday I also handed in my dissertation- finally, so I’m almost done, I just have a few more pieces of work to do, but come April 26^th I will be done as an undergraduate student – so scary!

For my actual birthday I had my family over which was really nice and we had a right laugh. I got very spoilt and was given lots of lovely birthday presents, but the best part was getting my birthday cake. As you may have read in my blogs before I am a massive Disney fan and my all-time favourite film is The Lion King. My mum found a lady who made me a gorgeous cake with Simba, Timon & Pumba on it and it only took her 2 weeks, it would’ve taken me years!!!!

Keeping on the theme of lions, I also went away this past weekend to the elephant lodge at Port Lympne Zoo with my boyfriend George and my best friend Jack and their family. It was amazing, I was expecting to go there and we stay in tents but these tents were done up really nicely and were huge and had all the appliances/furniture we could possibly want. Where we stayed we were overlooking the cheetah and elephant enclosures, which was so nice because the cheetah had just recently had 4 cubs who were so cute but didn’t take a liking to my boyfriend’s dad as you can see from the photos haha. It was a really funny weekend, spent with great people and I loved seeing all of the amazing animals that were there. Because we stayed in the lodge it meant we could go on private talks and see the animals up closer than we would usually be able to. 

On our last day it was quite heavily raining and me and my boyfriend’s sister Rebecca were walking over to a group of baboons’ who looked like they were cuddling and it was so cute, but as we walked over to take a photo one must have touched the electric fence and they all jumped up howling, OMG never in my life have I been so scared, I don’t know what exactly I thought would happen to me but they made me jump haha. It was an amazing weekend which I would definitely recommend!

That’s it from me today guys and gals, next blog I will show you some pictures from the party I’m having on the 19^th J

Take care lovelies,

Xoxo

Laura

Birthday Girl…

Hey Guys & Gals,

Now I don’t want to speak too soon but tomorrow my dissertation should be officially complete. I have finally finished, all I need to do is the contents J eek so so happy. I never thought I’d actually finish it but I have managed to – yay!

It’s not all over yet though; I have a clinical file to submit for counselling that is due in April, but that isn’t a massive piece of work, so the main work is over. I don’t have any exams though so I will be finitto when that is finished. I will still be working in the office though so my blogs will still be running – unluckily for you hahahaha!

I’m hoping that everything goes ok and I get onto the Master’s but if it doesn’t I will be officially leaving the university in October, although I really hope that doesn’t happen and I will chain myself to the Avery hill gates haha.

Also as I mentioned in the last blog I have a birthday coming up on Monday. I will be turning 21! Ah I am actually pretty excited for this birthday as it will be my last big one before I turn 30- yikes!  I won’t be doing too much to celebrate it on Monday as I am obviously still in university, but in April I am having a Uniform Themed Fancy Dress Party at my house. I am going as the female version of top gun. I can’t wait it will be hilarious, I will be sure to post pictures in my blog to show you what everyone comes as, I’m hoping it will be a great night and doesn’t rain or even worse snow as we will be in the garden-ick.

Right guys, that is me done for today. Next time I speak to you my dissertation will be submitted, I will be 21 and I will have finished all lectures of my undergraduate degree. AHHHHHH!

Speak soon lovelies,

Laura

xoxo

Statistics = My Worst Nightmare!

Hey Guys n Gals,

Hope you are all well and enjoying the sunshine, I actually had forgotten what the sun looked like, it’s been so long since we’ve seen any. I thought I’d give you a quick update from my last blog which is my tooth still hasn’t been fully fixed but is expected to be today – grr. I hate the dentist with a passion now, I’m virtually living there atm. Since my last blog it has broken a further two times, but hopefully by tonight I will have a full set of working teeth- keep them crossed for me! Since last time I’ve also had an update on my tiredness and everything which was looked at in that sleep test I had to do, basically all I have is a Vitamin D deficiency, which is due to the lack of sunlight my skin absorbs, which makes sense 1. due to the weather and 2. Because the natural shade of my skin, seriously I’m paler than Casper the ghost.

 I am now approaching the end of my degree, which I am terrified about, purely because I have no idea where I’m going to go from here and to be honest I’m not actually ready to go out into the big wide world- ick! I had my interview for the MSc Therapeutic Counselling course and got a conditional offer of a 2:1, so unfortunately this university may be stuck with me for a while mwahaha. But we will see what happens with my grade classification first.

Now as this title of my blog suggests, statistics is something which is really getting on my nerves in my dissertation, I’d literally be sorted with my project is it wasn’t for stats- it is the biggest pain in my life. The sad thing is that I’ve actually been told to do one of the simplest statistical analyses ever, yet still using SPSS my brain just won’t grasp it. So I decided to take action and I bought my new ‘bible’ which is Psychology Statistics for Dummies, which I realise I can’t really reference in my dissertation because it will make me look like a doughnut. But seriously anyone in the same boat as me, I promise this book is the answer. It will probably pretty soon become my lifesaver (once I stop putting off doing statistics altogether- seriously I could find any excuse to put it off, I tidied my room the other day to stop from doing it). So yeah if any of you are like me it is definitely worth buying, I know it may not be the most advanced statistical manual ever made but at least it makes sense and doesn't talk in some advanced language which no one understands.

So seriously go and buy it! Right ladies and gents that’s it from me for today, I will be back to talk to you at the end of the month, where not only am I going to be turning 21 but will also hopefully of finished my dissertation.

Take care,

Xoxo

Laura

Gappy Valentine’s Day!

Hey my lovelies,

Now this blog is obviously going to be about Valentine’s, however it is going to be about my experience this year if Valentine’s, which you will soon realise turned out to be a bit of a fail for me.

So I need to take you back to where this all started, which was 2-4 years ago in October. At the time I was a volunteer young leader and was running a game for the guide pack I worked at. So as part of the game I was holding hands with two or the guides and running in a circle, however on my run I smacked into a wall (follows on nicely from last week’s blog on my many disasters).  Anyway the outcome of that accident was me losing one of my front teeth. However, scarily enough the night before I’d had a nightmare of myself hitting my face with my hand and all my teeth falling out and them not being able to get fixed. So I was distraught at the time thinking like my dream I would be toothless forever.

Obviously my tooth got repaired and I knew when I approached my 21^st birthday I would have to have a fake one put in as the repaired tooth would eventually fade, I honestly thought I wouldn’t need a false tooth until I was at least 60, but clearly I needed this. On Thursday in preparation for my crown which is being fitted next month I had a temporary tooth put in. Well on Thursday night I was eating away and it fell out- leaving me with NO front tooth! So at the start of Valentine’s Day I was toothless – it really was not a good look. I looked like the advert for cosodyl mouthwash. This also meant me and my boyfriend couldn’t go out as I can now only eat soft foods until my permanent tooth is fitted. My valentine’s day was not really all that romantic.

Whether you’re single, with someone, have an ‘it’s complicated’ status, I hope you had an enjoyable Valentine’s Day. I will speak to you guys soon, by which time I will hopefully have my teeth fixed!

Xoxo

Laura

Greenwich’s Clumsiest Student?

Hey Lovelies,

How’s everything going? It seems like ages ago that I last spoke to you when actually it wasn’t so long ago I’ve just been really busy with my dissertation. Now, as the title of this blog suggests today I’m going to talk to you about a number of ‘incidents’ that I have had whilst I’ve been a student here, because the number is ridiculous – I am WAY too clumsy!

So what have I done?

• I’ve fallen UP the stairs outside the Mary Seacole building
• I’ve fallen down all of the stairs outside Queen Anne Court and landed on all fours, the security guard I met whilst I worked at Greenwich during clearing then came over to help me and said ‘I wondered when you’d be gracing us with your presence again’.
• I’ve got my memory stick jammed in the computer
• I’ve had a coughing fit in the silent zone of the library
• I’ve skidded on the grass (because the mud made it slippery) on my way to a lecture, that was my mistake I shouldn't have been walking on the grass after it rained.
• I’ve reversed into a wall on Avery Hill campus when I had first passed my test
• I’ve scratched my car on the hedge when parking at Avery Hill cause I reversed too far into it (I’m still not very good at parking)
• I’ve slipped down a couple of steps on the inter campus bus service

Most recently I dropped my coffee on the dome floor, and by recently I mean this morning. So yeah needless to say I am an accident waiting to happen and although on their own those clumsy moments aren’t TOO bad, put them all together from the same person and I think it proves I am possibly one of the clumsiest students here at Greenwich. I can’t blame the university because they are all my fault! So all I’m saying is if you see me carrying a coffee – watch out! Haha I’m joking I’m not that bad, but still I’m not the most graceful person on this planet, let alone this campus.

In terms of uni work I’m still plodding along doing my dissertation I now have more or less everyone I need for my study but I had a massive gender imbalance and by that I had 10 girls to every 1 guy. But I’m getting there slowly. I will be sure to keep you all posted! I hope you guys are all finding your work alright – we can do this, we’ll get through it together J

Take care guys,

Xoxo

Laura