I'm Back!

Apologies for my lack of blogging for so many weeks!

Lots has happened in the past few weeks, working, filming, drinking, the norm of a student life. There has been highs and lows but that's the normal life of a teenager. Extremely weird saying that, teenager, I won't be that soon, in 17 days I'll be twenty. Twenty, half way to forty, oh my goodness, now I feel old!

With only a short holiday I haven't really had much time for relaxing and writing in this blog, but I'm hoping you all like this piece. 

So, in my gap I have been working at the Express and Echo newspaper in Exeter. This was a fantastic experience as it showed me how a bigger newspaper organisation works. I only have previous experience working at my local newspaper, Andover Advertiser, which basically consisted of 5 desks. However this newspaper had over 5 desks for every section. Editorial, sports, telesales, creative etc. The week did start off quite slowly, I started off by watching people do their jobs, which sometimes just consisted of answering the phone, little dull. However by the end of the week things picked up. Working on sports was probably the best part. Which was very surprising for me, I never saw myself as being a good journalist writer for sports, but it was really fun, I did also get a piece in their newspaper. Of course I came back with about 8 copies of a 70 odd page newspaper and my segment was at the bottom of one of those pages, but who cares! Portfolio people!

A big event that has happened these past few weeks has been meeting a band called Wah Wah Club. This band  is from Buckingham and are an indie/rock band. They formed  in 2011 and have been working extremely hard to get where they have got themselves today. 

I went to meet them last week and filmed an interview with them. The band consists of 4 men, so there was never a dull moment during the interview. When filming the interview it seemed that their personalities began to come alive, which was great, especially from the lead singer. From the interview and watching them perform a couple of their new releases I have pieced together a short video of them. 

I really would love it if more people could watch it and tell me what you thought. As this is my first time I have ever produced something like this before, I am pretty excited to see what people think. 

Let me know!

Graduation Day

Yesterday was the last day of my first term at the University of Buckingham, and what a day it was. Starting the day at 8 o’clock to film the University's graduation day. The class of 2013.

Everyone was dressed up so beautifully for the occasion. Women in their gorgeous dresses that flattered their figure, hair sticky from hairspray to make it perfect and make –up done and re done again so that they were happy with their appearance. But all of them looked stunning. Men were all arriving in their suits and ties, looking extremely smart. Excited families were everywhere, all dressed and ready to help if they were needed to.  I filmed them putting on their gowns and having photos being taken by professional photographers. They all looked so happy, with a smile from ear to ear and all very excited about having their gowns on and wearing their hats.

The next stage was to walk to the church. Watching the girls struggle, in their enormous high heels, to walk down the hill from the building where they collected their gowns, was a comedy show in itself. They still had a 10 minute walk to endure along the horrible car park floor as well. With holes in the ground and mud everywhere it was a shot not to be missed. I captured a girl who had brought trainers to wear instead of heels for this walk. The girls next to her in high heels looked extremely envious.

Unfortunately due to a mess up in  my exam timetable, I had an exam at the time of the graduation ceremony, so I missed that. But watching the footage back, that one of my group member filmed, was so lovely. So many proud parents taking photos of their sons and daughters, standing up and getting in the way of our filming, but not caring just so they could get a good picture of their child.

The happiest scene was when everyone was outside the church. Everyone was hugging each other and all the students were gathering together to throw their hats in the air, even though one got theirs stuck in a tree, it was still a happy moment for all of them. It was a truly magical day for everyone and the weather was very much on their side, even though it was windy it was beautiful sunshine and gorgeous blue sky.

In two years time  I will be there collecting my degree and graduating!

Who Could Go Wrong With a Bowl of Ice Cream?

Oh the beauty of ice cream. After a long hard day, I always enjoy a nice bowl of mint choc chip ice cream. Exactly what I am having now after filming for 2 hours straight. Even though there are chocolate chips in the ice cream I never feel that I could go wrong with some extra chocolate sauce. Pile on even more calories. Although it is Spring and extremely cold outside I still enjoy a bowl now and again.

The toppings for ice cream are boggling, ranging from sauces such as chocolate, toffee, strawberry, raspberry, caramel, cherry. Then food toppings such as, whipped cream, nuts, cherries, wine gums, more chocolate, marshmallows, sprinkles, an endless list of possibilities.

I believe the all-round favourite ice cream for most people has to be Ben and Jerry’s. With over 50 different flavours, Ben and Jerry’s is one of the best ice cream brands worldwide. Even when you think that all the possible ice cream flavours have been made, Ben and Jerry’s come out of no-where and hit you with another. 

Their new ‘Core’ flavours consist of two flavours of icecream that are magically separated by a soft centre of caramel, chocolate or raspberry jam. My personal favourite is the Karamel Sutra, chunky chocolate ice cream and caramel ice cream with a parting of soft caramel.   They have proven their outstanding method of thinking outside of the box and creating magical products with ice cream.

The Weight of Being a Girl

Weight seems to be a huge importance to girls. It does effect guys, but in a completely different approach. Whereas men focus on their weight by body building, women focus on losing weight. To help them become slimmer and feel more confident about themselves. However there is an approach that all women should take. To just eat right and exercise regularly.

Even though I say this I don’t always take my own advice. I am one that sometimes if I eat a big slice of cake I will normally miss lunch or dinner as I feel that I have already eaten too much. I also have a tendency to do around 100 sit ups if I eat something really bad for me. Yes I know it is just easier to eat healthily but you can’t help it when the body craves bad food. Although this is a bad way to eat for my body it makes me feel better about myself and that is very important. To feel confident in your own body is extremely difficult for a girl. We are always criticized; don’t be too thin, or fat, short or tall, don’t wear unflattering clothing or tight clothing, it’s very difficult to be perfect in this world.

The amount of pills out there just to help weight loss is ridiculous and just isn’t needed. Yes I have my times of browsing through websites to see if I could find something to help me lose weight quickly. But then I just realised, what is the point? Who am I trying to impress?

Media today never helps as well. As I am sure most of you are aware, the media rips models bodies to pieces, the amount people are photoshopped to look as though they have the perfect body, is not only cruel but humiliating for girls like me that feel that we have to live up to this expectation. When watching your favourite TV show and seeing the female characters on it have fantastic bodies makes me jealous and self-conscious.

Even though at the moment I am happy with my appearance and I exercise regularly so that I feel confident with my figure, I still have those days where I feel inferior to everybody else and worry about my weight. 

The Other Woman

As a woman, I am very looking forward to The Other Woman being released on 25^th April 2014. The story line of this comedy romance is about a woman who realises she is not her boyfriend’s main lover. The plot unravels when she discovers that he is married and also has another girlfriend. With these three women meeting, they join together to take revenge and use the mans trust against him. With actors such as Cameron Diaz, Leslie Mann, Kate Upton and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau being in the cast, hopefully the film will be extremely entertaining. With Nicki Minaj being casted for a role as well, it has already illustrated the success of comedy for the film. 

The Power of Time

How is it that time moves so fast? Everyday gets away from us so quickly. Already my first term is nearing the end, I’m in my last week and it feels like yesterday I just started my brand new university. It really does make me realise how precious time is.

It saddens me sometimes when weekends go quickly. As those are the times to see family, friends, loved ones. It saddens me, how ever much you plan beforehand, it always speeds up and escapes from you. Even though you can look back and remember the wonderful memories that have happened in your life, you wonder, why can’t the days last longer? Why does everything speed up when you are having the most fun or finally relaxing for that short period of time you have?

Also, when working time seems to escape from you. How has it been 2 hours and all I have written is a paragraph? I constantly find myself asking that question. I am not one to procrastinate, when I’m given work I always do it on the day, but I still struggle with time and trying to fit everything in. Sometimes I wish we had more hours in the day so I could do more, and maybe have a few extra hours in bed. But time always seems to be against you.

In many cases I have found time to go very quickly, however there have been others where time goes extremely slow. Sometimes in a good situation, mainly in negative ones. Last week was a negative time especially for me, being ill all I wanted was to be better again, but everything seemed to be going so slowly. My body was taking forever to recover and time was dragging on, so when I wanted to sleep I had to wait otherwise I wouldn’t sleep during the night. I’m guessing this has happened to lots of other people as well. The worst case is when you are waiting for that weekend when you can go home and see your family, friend, boyfriend, and every day just seems to tease you with time as it ticks on so slowly. It’s cruel.

Even though I moan, I have made some fantastic memories in my life, even though time speeds everything, my mind still remembers it all. 

Mother and Daughter Time

I have to say, the best part about coming home, is being able to sit with my mum and watch a brilliant TV series, ‘As Time Goes By’.  With Judi Dench and Geoffrey Palmer as the main characters, the show was never going to be boring.

A British, romantic series about two lovers that were separated when they were young, but meet each other again years later and continue their life together.  

Every time I return home, whether it be for the holiday’s or just for a weekend escape, we always sit down when having a coffee break or eating our dessert  to watch As Time Goes By. Even though we have watched all 9 series many times over, it always makes us laugh. I remember the first time I watched it with my mum, I was in hysterics, and she was in hysterics because I was. From then on it’s been our little thing that we always do together, besides shopping, Café Nero and general chattering.

Café Nero has always been a big thing for my mum and me. Whenever we go anywhere to shop, Basingstoke, Winchester, Salisbury, we have to find a Café Nero. It is our perfect little place to have a coffee, tea for me, and a good pastry. We will now and again settle for Costa Coffee, but Nero is our place to go. We have struggled in Buckingham to find a new coffee shop, as there are no high street ones, Buckingham has local coffee shops. However, we do not give in, each time my mum visits me we try out each one to decide on the best.

It’s mother and daughter time.