My birthday!

Hello again, sloths!

Right, so you’ve had the serious blog, now it’s time for the FUN BLOGGGGG :D I have SOOOOO much to fill you in on :) Where to begin?? Hmm..let’s talk about my birthday and TOUR TOUR TOUR!! :D

So, the time for tour fiiiiinally rolled around, and it was so much fun! We went to Rimini in Italy, and went by coach; the journey there was around 26 hours (I think), and by the end of it we were all very glad to get off! We drove to Folkestone and got the Eurotunnel to France, and from there we drove through Switzerland and then through Italy until we reached Rimini :) Switzerland was so pretty!! There were snow-topped mountains everywhere :)

ANYWAY, let me finally reveal to you the fancy dress themes I arranged for the cheerleaders :D

Night one was American Indians :)

Night two was army night (football did this theme as well :))

Night three was “ratchet”

Night four was toga night (we did this with American football :))

Whaddya think? :D All the stress paid off! Ooh our Varsity jackets came as well :) They look really good so I’ll try and get a decent picture for you in my next blog :)

Tour was seriously so much fun; we competed for one day, then spent the rest of the time on the beach, wandering around the shops, partying, and generally just having an amazing time :D I’m definitely going next year! All of the girls are buzzing for next year already as well :D

Ooh let’s talk about my birthday; I’m finally 22! It’s so weird, not being 21 anymore…I think I like it…I feel older and wiser! Well, okay maybe not much wiser looool :P My actual birthday was really nice; I celebrated it on tour, and my lovely cheer girls got me a shout out from behind the bar, and I don’t remember too much of the night, so that indicated to me that the night was a success! :P

I honestly feel like the most spoilt girl in the world, though; I’m having so many different celebrations:

Tour

Meal with my Momma

Meal with both of my parents

Meal with my friends from Secondary school

Party with my uni friends and housemates

Plus everyone keeps giving me cards and presents! They've all come as a shock as I wasn't expecting anything! I feel so loved! I’m in such a happy place right now it almost seems too good to be true!

I’m dreading graduating as much as I’m looking forward to it >< My whole university experience has been the best, and I can’t stress to you all enough the importance of making the most of it! Sports teams may not be your thing, but consider joining a society or even starting your own! University really is what you make of it, and I’ve met some of my best friends through cheerleading.

Whilst university is primarily about obtaining a degree, I really feel it’s about developing as a person as well. When I leave the University of Greenwich, I won’t only have a degree, but I’ll have valuable work experience under my belt (from working in the enquiry unit here), leadership and events’ experience (as a result of being Social Secretary of Cheerleading), three years’ sports team participation and an amazing group of friends who I know I’ll have for life.

The moral of today’s blog is that university is what you make of it. Don’t look back on your three/four years and think, “So I have a degree, but I wish I’d achieved more.”

*Boston accent* I love yaz!! I’ll aspeak ta yaz later! ;)

xxx

Dissertation Essentials

Okay, so I only wrote one blog in March, so let me make it up to you with some super-duper April blogs now :)

I have SO MUCH to tell you all!!

Right. First thing’s first: DISSERTATION. So as you know already, I was stressing out and panicking over my dissertation, as quite frankly I had left it until the last minute. I was working right up until the deadline, and although I've finally submitted, I’m well aware that the quality of my work is not as high as I am capable of :( Dissertations vary across schools, and as my friend Kelty (http://gre-kelty.blogspot.co.uk/) has written about her Psychology dissertation, I think it’s only fair that you get an insight into the dissertation process in the Business School.

At the end of your second year, you are advised to start thinking of topics and doing some preliminary research in preparation for third year; TAKE THIS ADVICE!! The more prepared you are early on, the smoother your dissertation will go and the less stressed you will end up.

When selecting your dissertation supervisor, the process in the Business School is completely different from the School of Health and Social Care (Psychology falls under that bracket); instead of writing down who you want, you have a tutorial sign-up. It is down to you to select the tutorial slot online, and whoever the tutor is for that slot will become your dissertation supervisor; the main disadvantage of this, of course, is that if you want a particular person, you have to select their tutorial slot, even if it is at 5:00PM on a Friday afternoon. One thing to note, however, is that after the first term there are no more dissertation tutorials, and you just meet with your supervisor as and when you schedule appointments.

Once back at university in the September of your third year, you begin to finalise your chosen topic and start formulating a research question. In the Business School there are two dissertation “models” you can choose from: Model A and Model B. A Model A dissertation requires the author (you) to actually go out and conduct primary research, process the data and analyse the results. Model B, on the other hand, requires the author to gather and analyse existing research on the chosen topic in order to answer the author’s research question. My dissertation was on corruption in the Philippine government and its effects on health care, education and human trafficking; I chose the Model B approach and this resulted in me reading through well over 40 articles related to my research question – THIS IS NOT UNUSUAL SO BE PREPARED FOR THIS!!

The longest part of the dissertation is the literature review, which (for the Business School) is due before the Christmas break. It is 4,000 words long (3,000 if you are doing Model A), and requires the author to outline a vast number of articles related to the research question and assess how helpful they will be in answering the research question. After the literature review is the methodology; this is where you must select six of the thirty/forty/fifty-something articles in your literature review for deeper analysis (there must be rhyme and reason to your selection – you cannot just choose six at random). You must not only analyse the six articles in their own right, but you must compare them with one another and comment on the differences and similarities in the research methods and findings. Once this is done you can move on to write up your findings. This is a 3,000 word section and is actually one of the easiest parts of the dissertation! By this point you should be very familiar with your research topic, so writing about it is relatively straightforward.

Naturally, you end with a conclusion, and then it’s usually at this point that most people write their introduction! This may seem strange, but by this stage you know what your dissertation covers, and you also have background knowledge on the topic, so writing the introduction is easy.

The best pieces of advice I can give when doing your dissertation are:

• Plan early
• Be organised
• Regularly meet with your supervisor and take their advice
• Choose a topic you are extremely interested in!

I hope all of this helps – please familiarise yourselves with this now so you are less stressed in the long-run!

Don’t say I never look out for you guys! ;)

Until the next blog, folks!

xxx

Work work work!

Hello all! Sorry for the delay in getting this fortnight’s blog to you; I've been trying to catch up with my dissertation work! It’s due March 21^st, but I've set myself a deadline on March 19^th – just to be on the safe side!

As much as I tend to thrive under pressure, I must say I wish I’d done more work sooner :( Most students will say this, and we never seem to learn! Priorities, eh? Well I've finally done my methodology (which should have been done about a month ago :\) and I've got a meeting with my supervisor today, so I’m quite nervous as to what he’ll have to say! I can’t wait to just get this all out of the way!

Hopefully I’ll get this work plus another essay (which I've done half of) done by the 19^th, then I can go out for the first of three of my birthday celebrations on the 20^th, relax and pack on the 21^st, pre-tour party on the 22^nd, then TOURRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR on the 23^rd!! :D

I’d like to say I’m excited for tour, but I've just go so much work to do! Once the 19^th rolls around I can finally get on it!! :D I've finalised all the fancy dress outfits (all the sports teams from all the universities dress up each night on tour), so I just need to submit the order later on today :) I hope it all arrives in time!! ><

Ohhh I can’t wait for graduation! My mom’s already started dress-shopping for the occasion! She’s too cute looool :) I've mentioned to her that once I graduate I’d really like this charm for my Links bracelet:

It’s a graduation owl!! How cute!?

At some point I also plan on getting a Star of David for my charm bracelet; I’m convinced I’m part Jewish, y’see :) My dad thinks so too :) My great granddad was from Austria, so it’s certainly a possibility! Even if I’m not part Jew, I’m fascinated by the Holocaust and firmly believe we should never forget the horrors that happened :( I can’t stand prejudice and discrimination and it makes me so sad that it still exists in society today :( I guess this charm will just be a reminder to me to be lovely :)

What else to report? Hmm..ooh cheer has been really fun these past two weeks :) I've been basing for once with one of my best friends – at 4’11.5” I've been too short to base before as no-one else was anywhere near my height. But, Amy is 5’0” so we’re a perfect match!! Last night we based our other best friend, Laura; she’s 6’1”!!

Ta-daaaaaa :D

Unfortunately that’s all for now, folks – hopefully my next blog will be filled with me gushing about finishing my work and having a blasted good time relaxing!! :D

Until next time, au revoir! <3

Panic!

Hello folks!

So, as promised, here is an update on the University of Greenwich Mermaids’ recent cheer competition! We left Avery Hill on Friday 22^nd February at 5:00PM and arrived in Loughborough at around 7:00/8:00PM. We had dinner and got settled into our hotel rooms relatively early as we had to be up on Saturday at 5:00AM! It’s surprising how chirpy some of us were that morning considering the time!! On Saturday our dance group performed, and I can safely say they did us proud! Whilst they came last in their category, the dance was amazing and everybody in the crowd was screaming and cheering them on! :) Our day was done by around 3:00PM and, once back the hotel, I took a lovely nap before dinner :D Here are some photos of our amazing dancers:

Saturday evening was really fun, as we sat doing our nails (navy, white and gold, naturally) and practiced quiffing each other’s hair :D Yet again, it was bed before midnight again for the majority of us, as we had to be up at 4:30AM :( When we arrived at Loughborough University at 6:30AM, the nerves had really started to set in! We were the fourth in our category to perform, and we were very relieved once it was over! In the cheer competitions you get to perform twice, and it’s the higher of the two scores that the judges use to rank you; our second performance of the day was much neater, but some stunts still went a bit wrong :( Alas, WE DIDN’T COME LASSSSSSST!!! AHHAAAAAAA!! For the first time EVER, out of four competitions (dance and cheer) we DIDN’T COME LAST! We came 23^rd out of 24 squads in our category, and whilst that sounds rubbish, we couldn't be more pleased!! :D

Here are some photos from the day:

The coach home took FOREVER!! We were literally on it for over five hours :( I was so pleased when we finally got back to campus!

Now that’s all over, it’s time for me to focus on university work once again; I am so far behind, I am terrified! But, I always seem to pull it out of the bag at the last minute, so I’ll keep you updated on my progress!!

As you already know, I live in Blackheath at the moment in a house with four other girls; I have to move out at the end of May and I’m really quite sad about it :( I get on really well with my housemates, and have grown close to one in particular, and knowing that I’m not going to be seeing them on a daily basis makes me feel sad :( Of course, I’ll be moving back in with my parents so will be saving LOADS of money each month, but I’m certainly going to miss living with friends! :( Oh the qualms of being a third year student! :P

I believe that’s all for this fortnight, my dears! Next time I’ll fill you in on coursework progress, tour preparation (hopefully) and whatever other weird and wonderful things fill my time :)

Adios, amigos! :)

Very Happy Bunny :)

Hello all!! Time for your fortnightly update on my life as a University of Greenwich student :)

First off, let’s talk about the recent cheerleaders’ fund raiser! The night was an absolute success, and we managed to raise around £800! Prior to the fund raiser, the SU agreed that for every £100 we raise ourselves (up to the value of £500), they’ll match, so we now have £1,000 in our development fund!! The rest of the money will probably be spent on some new speakers (girls keep having to bring speakers to practice which is a bit of a pain), tour and Disneyland :)

I don’t think I’ve ever mentioned Disneyland to you before, have I? Well basically there are some girls who didn’t want to go on tour this year, so they’re going to Disneyland Paris instead :) Never let it be said that we (committee) don’t take care of our Mermaids! :D

Anyway, back to the fund raiser :) The night started off well, as the girls did an amazing job of helping me decorate Sparrow’s – I only wish I’d taken some more photos!! We had red velvet curtains at the entrance, black tablecloths scattered with diamonds (albeit fake ones!), top hat and bow tie confetti and pink balloons ^^ The more I type the more annoyed I am that I didn’t take pictures of all of these things! I was in such a panic that night that I didn’t even think!

Well, I certainly got pictures of all of us…here you go:

Besides selling tickets in advance and on the door, we raised money by face painting, pin the tail on the bunny and taking photos of people on a throne surrounded by bunnies :) The throne was a real masterpiece; I went to Secondary school with one of my Mermaids, so I knew she was very creative – I asked her to make me a throne, and boy did she deliver!?? It was AH. MAY. ZING. AMAZING!! No exaggeration!! Here are the before and after photos:

Seeeee!? Genius!

Moving on, our first Cheerleading competition of the year is less than two weeks away!! It’s February 23^rd – 24^th in Loughborough, and I’m terrified! We’re entering two cheer groups (Level One and Two) and one dance group (Hip Hop) and I feel sorry for the girls in all three groups! I’m in the level one and two cheer groups, and remembering all of the stunts, dance moves, tumbling and transitions for those is enough without having to learn another dance routine! I just hope we can all pull it off! As always, I shall keep y’all updated :) For now, here are some photos of our new uniforms; they arrived yesterday!! :D

Ooooooh how could I forget!?? PANCAKE DAY! I hope you all had a yummy day! :) I won’t lie to you, I ate five. FIVE!! Haaaaaa I desperately want that Summer body but food is my LIFE! Okay, well maybe not my liiiife…but I am very passionate about it! Pancakes with sugar and lemon – mm. mm. mmmmmm! Not that I need an excuse to eat pancakes – I had some in Bromley the other day at a restaurant called, “Joe’s Kitchen” :) LOL they came with banana, blueberries, strawberries and maple syrup ^^ What. A. Pig. :D

Here’s a picture of some Skittle-coloured pancakes for your visual pleasure :)

What else is new with me? Hmm…ooh I’m really getting back into reggaeton/Latin music again! Here are a couple of my favourites right now – go have a cheeky listen! :)

- Ai se eu tu pego [Michel Teló] <-- This is in Portugese

- Agua [Osmani Garcia] <-- The guy who sings this is Cuban

 
I hope all of the photos and song suggestions keep you entertained until next time! That’s all for now, folks! See ya later, alligators…x

UoG Mermaids

Hello all! Long time no read!

Apologies, it’s been a busy few weeks! Getting back into the swing of things at university has been quite nice :) After the Christmas break it’s been really nice to see all of my cheerleaders again :) Training has been intense – we now have our standard three hours on a Tuesday, plus two hours on a Sunday afternoon in a gymnasium with a sprung floor. Even will all of this time we’re investing, I’m so nervous for competition and have no idea if we’ll be ready or not!! It’s in three weeks!! ><

What else has been going on? Well, it’s the Cheerleaders’ first ever fund raiser this Monday, which, as Social Secretary, I am organising; oh my life what if nobody comes? What if lots of people turn up and think it’s rubbish!? Owwhhhh I’m terrified! I just want it all to be perfect!! I can’t remember if I've mentioned the fund raiser to you before, so let me give you the low down :)

• It’s Playboy Bunny themed :)
• There’s going to be a raffle, face painting, pin the tail on the bunny, and hopppefully a special something else that I don’t want to reveal yet in case it falls through!
• I’m going try my hardest to make Sparrow’s (my Student Union) look as much like the Playboy mansion as possible with the tiny budget I have!!

Naturally, there’ll be lots of lovely photos for you the next time I blog :) There’s so much stuff to do!! Firstly, to host an event you need to fill in a proposal form and send it off, then once the SU have got back to you approving your event you can start planning :) But then you have to design tickets and posters and send those to the SU to get them approved and printed and laminated! And thennnnn you can start thinking about decorations and props and all that jazz! :) Busy busy bee!! I was up until midnight last night putting posters up all around the Greenwich and Avery Hill campuses ><

I've ordered most of the props now, so it’s just a case of playing the waiting game until they all arrive! I keep saying it but I am so nervous!! Wish me luck ;)

Anyway, onto other news, being so busy is interfering with my workout plans! I was supposed to join the University of Greenwich’s climbing society, but haven’t been to a single climb yet as so many things keep popping up! In addition, I haven’t been boxing half as much as I’d like; there’s too much coursework, work, fund raising and tour planning to do! Whew! I’ve been ill for a while now, and my housemates keep telling me it’s because I do too much :( I think they’re right, but there’s so much I want to achieve! 

OOOOOOH!! Let me tell you about two films I saw recently :) The first one was Les Misérables – I cried alllll the way through!! Honestly, it’s so sad :( I was sat there with two of my housemates, all of us clutching tissues!! I would definitely recommend going for a cheeky view!

The other film I saw was much happier :) It’s called, “Wreck it Ralph” and I really wasn’t expecting to enjoy it! I went with Kelty (find her blog here: http://gre-kelty.blogspot.co.uk/) and another friend from Secondary school, and I grumbled all the way into the cinema! “I’m not going to like it, it’s going to be rubbish, EUGH!” hahahahaha I was wrong :D It’s cute, and funny :) Go have a watch :)

Anyhoo, I’ve gotta run now, folks! So until next time……

:)

Happy New Year!

Guten taaaaag!! :) (That’s German for “Hello” – notice a theme emerging, guys?)

How was everyone’s Christmas and New Year? My Christmas was average…it’s just not as magical or special as it once was, to be honest :( But the break from Uni is nice :) I start back in just over a week so I’m going to have a “study day” with one of my friends tomorrow :) I want to make sure I’m as up to date as I can be for second term!

My New Year was far more interesting – I went to a party, which was fun :) Here are a couple of photos from the night:

I can’t even lie; the fact that I graduate in less than six months is beginning to terrify me! As much as I’ll be glad to be rid of all the work, I’m going to miss this place!! I’m in the middle of looking into running for a full-time Sabbatical position for the year after I graduate; I want to run for VP Student Activities! I shall keep you posted on my progress!! I’m really nervous about it, as whilst I’m sure I’d be great in the role, what is no-one votes for me!?

Ooh, here’s some news: I've taken up boxing!! I've had two one-on-one sessions so far and I LOVE it!! It’s Thai boxing (I think :\), so I kick and knee as well as the standard punching :) I want abs in time for the TOUR!! In the new term I plan on joining the University of Greenwich’s climbing society too :) Have I mentioned that before? Well I've started taking progression photos of my physiiiquuuuue, so if you’re lucky I’ll upload some once I've reached my target!! :)

Of course, as it was Christmas, Beethoven was on the TV – Beethoven, the film about the dog LOL, not a documentary on the composer :P ANYWAY, I've decided I NEED a Saint Bernard in my liiiiife!! :( I used to want a dachshund (because they are tiny like me :)), but now I've found my calling – a huge, fluffy, soppy, BEAUTIFUL Saint Bernard ^^

Owwhhhh loooooook >< One day, eh? :)

Right, so I mentioned in my last blog that I’m a bit of a grammar Nazi; whilst I appreciate the speed and convenience of text-speak (for example, “ I want to go 2 the shop”), there is one recurring thing that has been winding me RIGHT up lately. It is not text speak. It is not slang, nor is it an abbreviation or a conjunction. It is...

PEOPLE WRITING “DEFIANTLY” WHEN THEY MEAN “DEFINITELY” !!

Oh my goodness gracious it gets on my nerrrrrrves!! It’s terrible! Take note, people! If you don’t know the difference, here it is:

Right, well that’s pretty much all the updates for this portion of the month; my festive period has been filled with events, yet there’s not all that much to report! I've overindulged in food, spent lots of time with friends, enjoyed doing nothing productive most days and am now in full preparation mode for the year ahead :) Wish me luck, folks!

Until next time,

Tschüsssssss!!