An Update | My Life

Since it’s been well over a year since I last posted anything properly on this blog (Packing Up My Life | Moving Away), I decided that an update on what I have been up to during the past year is very much needed. I have been battling with myself to start the whole blogging thing back up again, as every time I sit down and begin writing a post, it either ends up being scrapped or a whole heap of uni assignment’s are piled on top of me and it ends up being abandoned (seriously, you should see my Drafts tab at the moment- full of posts with just a title!) I’ve decided that, since its almost New Year and all, and my next uni semester isn’t going to be anywhere near as stressful as the last one (6 assessments due in the space of a week was NOT fun), I will *probably* have more time to sit down and write, which is something I have always loved doing and is therapeutic for me. I realised that, to do this, I’ll probably need to give you all an idea as to what’s been happening in my life before I confuse you all by mentioning something in a future post and you’re all like “Wait what since when did THAT happen?!”

 

Well, I might as well begin with all the boring stuff. I’ve just finished my first semester of second year on my Drama course (Being a Drama Student ). Last year was great, came out with some good grades and great friends. I’m now living in a house with 3 people on my course (I was right about my flatmates from last year, the “everything’s great with them” didn’t last long! We won’t go into that though…). This semester was ridiculously stressful, as I mentioned above, but I am glad its over and I know next semester will be so much better, as we are finally doing modules which I feel I will enjoy. I also have my house for next year sorted out; I will be moving in with a girl who lived in the flat across from mine last year and one of the girls who was in the same flat as me last year too.

I also have a boyfriend, who I actually met not long after I published my last post. We’ve been together a year and 2 months now, and it’s all going swimmingly. We went on our first holiday together at the start of September to Tenerife, which I won’t be doing a blog post on as I spent too much time drinking cocktails by the pool than taking pictures! But other than that, we’ve just been doing the usual couple-y stuff, dates and trips etc.

 

As for the blogging scene, I gave up on My Trending Stories (Changes | An Update) as similar as my excuse with this, I just got way too busy and I wasn’t keen on the set out of the website. I may begin posting there again once I’ve got into the swing of things again but, for now, I’m taking baby steps.

Lastly, mental health. If any of you remember the slightly dramatic, slightly agony-aunt-teen-magazine-esque post I did on here around a year ago (which has since been deleted because it was a pile of c**p) then you might be wondering what has happened since then. I still struggle with self-image on a daily basis (I don’t think it ever will fully disappear, it will always eat away at the back of my mind), but it is SO much better since that post. I’d just gone through a fairly awful break up with a not very nice person who’s intention was to constantly bring me down, and as a sensitive person, it really knocks you back. Moving away from home, and ultimately moving (kind of) away from him, helped. But Harry (current boyf) has also helped considerably, as well as finding friends at uni who I know won’t judge me or bring me down, who are always supportive and kind. I’m moving forward, slowly but surely, to being comfortable with myself again. It may sometimes feel like I’m taking one step forward and two back but I am getting there.

I feel like that is enough wittering on about myself for now. My social media, as always, is linked right at the bottom of this page if you are wondering what I have been up to or what I will be up to in the future. As always, if you have any requests for posts or questions about anything I’ve written here, feel free to comment or DM me on social media, I will always answer! I hope to get a new post up within the next week (don’t quote me on it though!) I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas, and an even better New Year!

Iona 🙂 x

 

 

Packing Up My Life | Moving Away

So, I moved to University yesterday. I’m currently sat in my flat, on my bed, with my door wide open and all my new stuff around me feeling pretty happy. The last week has been a blur, full of packing boxes, numerous bags and suitcases full of all my stuff.

To be honest, it took a while to hit me that I was moving away. It would hit me in short bursts as I was meandering around various cheap shops (Wilkinson’s and Dunelm are a Fresher’s dream when shopping for uni) buying cutlery and bedding. Suddenly I would think “Oh God, this is for MY flat, like, this is all MINE and I’m going to use it in my new home. What the hell?!” It hit me most, though, whilst packing.

Packing a suitcase, to me, means “Woo, we’re going on holiday and we’ll be back in a week!” but as I packed more and more until every single one of my drawers was empty of clothes and one suitcase was full…and then a plastic bag.. and then another…until everything was empty, it began to hit me that I was literally packing up my entire life. Quite a lot of my personal stuff that had been collected over the years where taken from my room and shoved in various boxes and bags in the boot of my car.My room got emptier and emptier  until the bare furniture, a made up bed and a few personal items were all that was left. I had to scour the entire house fo anything of mine that might be helpful had been left behind. It was like when you split up with someone and you have to go around the house removing any kind of reminders of yourself for them.

Food shopping was the weirdest. I had to think of what I wanted and needed as well as prices and value for money. I walked around a shop and instead of finding stuff for someone else, picked out anything I needed. This week has been so surreal…

And, on the other end, I had to unpack my life. After a very early start of 7am, and arrival of 9am, unpacking my old life and combining it with my new fresh life, was surreal, weird and tiring. Surprisingly, packing took a lot longer than unpacking. Me and my other flatmate were unpacked in 20 minutes, whereas everyone else took hours. It was the bit I was dreading, but it wasn’t anywhere near as bad as it could have been.  My boring, slightly grotty, tiny room instantly felt a bit more homey once a few of my books were on the shelves and my bedding was on the bed.

Home isn’t home anymore. My Cumbrian home is now just a place for me to go when I’m missing my family or for events, my real home- where I’ll be spending the next year or more- is in Newcastle.  And my new family are my 6 other flat mates, who have been so lovely and welcoming. I finally have my own space, where  I can shut myself away and I can do what I want, when I want and not be disturbed. It’s weird and scary, but the pro’s are definitely starting to take over the cons (the homesickness, the fear of debt etc).

And I don’t feel homesick at all (although I’ve probably jinxed it now!) I feel so happy to have my own space, with people I get on with. My flatmates have been amazing, and we have all clicked instantly. We went for our first night out last night: pre-drinks with the other flats, then out to a club called Perdu, which one of my flatmates managed to get VIP tickets for with free drinks and early entry. It was actually a pretty good night out, but I do admit to feeling slightly out of my depth!

 

I am so excited for the year ahead. I mean, it could all change, but after the couple of weeks I’ve had, everything suddenly seems so much brighter. I can’t wait do what I love doing, every day for the next 4 years!

Iona 🙂 x

 

Finding the Perfect Home! | Uni Guide

For me, this was one of the most important choices in my journey towards University (after actually applying and finance etc). This is where your home will be for at least the next year, and it is really important that you don’t just think about what you need or want, but also what you can afford.

If you have received your letter telling you how much loan you will get each year, then use that as a guide line. Budgeting is key when it comes to student living. Once you have this, you can begin working out how much you are going to be able to spend on essentials every month and rent, with extra left over for non-essentials! I won’t be doing a post on budgeting until I’ve got the hang of it myself!

If you looked around the accommodation at the uni on your open day, then you will have a fairly good idea of the places on offer. If you haven’t looked, then booking yourself an appointment to have a look around is a really good idea. You will get a much better idea of size, space, furniture etc than from the pictures on the website!

What’s on offer?

Thoroughly checking what is included in the rent is key here. As a student, you want to be sure you are getting enough for your money as well as it all applying to what you want too. If you want to be able to watch TV, look for a TV License being included in your rent. Rather watch Netflix? Check that a good speed internet is included too, as well as water and heating bills. But most off all, make sure it’s affordable for you!

As well as checking things included in the rent, also look at what is provided for you and what you need to bring. Most places include all the main stuff like ovens, microwaves and fridge freezers. Other things like kettles, toasters, iron and ironing boards are sometimes not included, and can be pretty expensive to buy, so keep an eye out for that.

Location is another main thing, the last thing you want is to be absolutely miles away from your lectures and either have to walk for miles or spend loads on transport (unless you aren’t lazy like me and quite fancy it). Check while you’re there or on Google Maps how far it is away from your lectures building and also shops and supermarkets so it isn’t a huge trek to grab some late night snacks!

How does it all work?

Once you have received an offer from your uni, they will usually send an email with a link to apply for accommodation. If they don’t, or you can’t wait, you can apply from their website. Uni’s often have different systems so applications will almost always be different.

The first one is straight forward application: you choose the accommodation you want, tell them if you want same sex or mixed sex rooms, or if you want a specific type (e.g en suite or not) room, you are given a room, which you can then accept or decline. Other’s may give you a choice from several different buildings and you are put into a lottery (with your first choice being the one you want the most and the last the least) and you’ll find out on results day which one you received.

Other uni’s also give you options to select exact room mates or have room mates who are similar to you. When I applied for Salford University, I filled out a questionare on my likes and dislikes and personality and they found people similar to me who I could request to have in my flat. I personally didn’t really like this, but for those of you who prefer to know who is in your flat from the beginning or want to know someone before you move in, it’s a really good system. Personally, I loved trying to find my flatmates on Facebook and then chatting to them and getting to know them from scratch!

Deposits

For most uni’s you will have to pay a deposit on your room, once you have it. Most of the time, this is given back at the end of your year if nothing is damaged or broken. Universities expect these very quickly, so make sure you have the money and get it paid ASAP! Mine was £250, but I’ve known others to pay as much as £600!

Rent

Rents are calculated weekly and yearly, but unis tend to take them in regular bulk payments. For me, it’s 3 times throughout the year: September, January and May. Other uni’s give you a choice of how many payments you make throughout the year.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Most Beautiful Beach & An Unexpected Turn! | Scotland 2016

Welcome to the second installation of my Scotland daily diaries! Read on for the most beautiful walk and to find out why our holiday didn’t quite turn out how we wanted it to…

Day 3

In the early hours of the morning, we were awoken by my Granny being sick. After a while of her being ill, and us trying to work out if it was food poisoning, a bug or something else, we decided to ring 111 and call a doctor out, who diagnosed her with vertigo (an infection of the ear that causes you to be dizzy and sick). She has had this in the past, but not like this, and it was such a shame that it had to happen on the second day of our holiday! She was given an anti-emetic and we all went back to bed for an extra 2 hours of sleep before my brothers woke us up…

By the morning, Granny still wasn’t any better, so we left her resting in bed and decided to explore more of the grounds. As mentioned in one of my previous posts, the estate has some amazing walks.

The Glen walk was the one we decided to do today- a 24 minute walk that leads to the 3 private beaches owned by the family. We ended up getting slightly lost, as the map provided by the family was hand-drawn and very unclear, and we ended up at a farm at the top of a hill! Once we had looked on Google Maps (what would we do without technology eh?), we worked out the right way to go!

Luckily, the sun was shining on us, as the weather had been horrible for the first few days. The walk begins at the Glen Cottage; tucked away in a slight hill and surrounded by huge fern and gunnera, this cottage would be a lovely peaceful getaway. The walk was along a pine-needle covered path lined with twisted trees and thick clumps of fern. The walk is beautiful; the only sounds you can hear are your feet, the rustling of trees and the trickling of the stream far below you.

Closer to the beach, you pass the beach cottage: another hidden gem that would be an amazing getaway. As you round the corner, you can just see through the gaps in the trees- huge cliffs and the glimmer of the sea. On your left, you can see Mora Bay, the slightly harder to reach beach- you have to pass through a gate and over a rather steep cliff. The path leads right down to Port Kale- a semi-large stretch of pebbles and jagged rocks surrounded by cliffs covered in green. It was honestly the most amazing view I have ever seen; none of the photos I took do the landscape any justice. The walk, as well as the beach and the cliffs, look like something you would CGI into a film! Walking around the corner, my mouth honestly opened in awe!

Port Mora

Port Kale

The Abandoned Coastal Interpretation Centre

There was a family camping down there, and they were cooking their catches of the day as we arrived, so the smell of sea and seaweed met an overwhelming smell of fish! We sat on the beach, watching the tide slowly come in (occasionally snatching up our stuff and shuffling a few feet back as the waves came close enough to hit us!) until it began to rain and became chilly. The boys built a small fort to protect against the waves- which didn’t stand for very long! We even had a little paddle, despite how absolutely freezing the water was! The waves were incredibly strong- almost knocking us over and creating monumental noise as they crashed against the rocks closest to us, and the rock formations jutting out of the sea further out.

Before leaving, we gathered some shells, quartz stones, marble stones and other beachy things to take home as souvenirs and to place around the small pond we have at home. The youngest found a crab claw and a tiny little shell which he clutched onto all the way home.

Once we arrived home, we grabbed a snack and got changed out of wet, sandy and salty clothes and headed into Portpatrick to pick up a couple of essentials from the very few corner shops they have there. And, of course, I had to pick up another pot of Cream O’ Galloway ice cream! This time, I tried Sticky Toffee, which was just as amazing as the cinnamon, with huge chunks of toffee at the bottom of the tub!

We then headed back to the apartment, made sure Granny was ok and then went outside to play on the lawn at the back of the house with the boys and the children of the house.

 

Iona 🙂 x

 

Accommodation & Finances | Univeristy Guide

The most important thing, and one of the first things you should do once you’ve received offers from the Universities, is apply for accommodation and stuent finance, If you have decided you will be living at home, then these don’t particularly matter to you, but its always good to have a read about these kind of things incase you decide to leave home after the first year. You will probably also want to apply for a tutition fees loan.

Now, don’t do what I did and think “Oh, but I don’t know which Uni I want to go to and there’s no point me booking accommodation and paying the deposit if I’m not even sure if I am going there!”. STUDENTS MOVE SO QUICKLY REGARDING ACCOMMODATION.  Believe me when I say that the flat you want to live in will be full up, or very nearly full, by the time you’re halfway to results day. If you end up not going to one of your choices, the deposit will be paid back. Yes, it’s a pain, yes it’s expensive, but it’s better than sitting and waiting until results day to find out if someone has dropped out of the flat you love, or you’ve been shoved in the cheap, catered, prison-like accommodation! I am currently sat waiting for exactly that, and it’s the most stressful thing ever!

Uni’s differ with the way they find you the perfect flat/flatmates. Some will just ask you which building you want to be in and whether you want shared sex or single sex flats, and will put you in a flat based on that. Others will ask you questions about your personality, likes and dislikes and you can create a profile with all your information and find people similar to you, which you can then request to share a flat with., as well as finding out about the other people in your flat too. It’s pretty simple really. You then say you want that flat, pay the deposit and you’re sorted!

Finance, however, sometimes isn’t that simple!

You can apply for student finance through their website. You will create a log in, and from there, you will put in your details and they will ask you what kind of loans you would like to have.

Tuition Fee Loan

A tuition fee loan is paid by the government. They pay the £9,000 a year required by the uni for you to attend the course. Anyone can get this- as it is not based off family income or anything personal. However, this is one that you will have to pay back. If you are earning over £21,000 in the April after you have graduated, you will begin paying back your loan. They take 20% off you each month, and if your income drops below £21,000, they stop taking money off you until your income is over the threshold again. After 20 years, they will stop taking payments, so you may never have to pay them back if you do not ever earn over the threshold!

Maintenance Fee Loan

This is the one that varies depending on household income. The loan can be anywhere between £3,000 and the maximum of £8,200. This is to pay for flat rent, food, clothing and anything else you might need for everyday life. Maintenance fees also have to be paid back. If your household income is £21,000 or lower, you are entitled to the full amount, any higher, and you will probably get less.

Application

You will need a parent with you to do this, unless you already live on your own or with your partner. You will be asked about any extra income, other than from jobs, you get such as benefits, child benefits, etc. Your parents will need last years P60 handy or any other document which states their income from last year. Once the application has been completed, you will need to give them your parents contact details, they wil then contact them and your parents will be asked for certain financial information that is needed to calculate the amount of money you will get each year. This usually takes up to 6 weeks, then you will receive a letter, confirming the amount that you will be given.

For me, this wasn’t straight forward. My boyfriend whizzed through this whole process easily, and he has all his loans sorted. I’m still waiting for mine. They lost my mum’s P60, therefore weren’t able to calculate my loan using the financial information, and I ended up getting a lot less than I was promised. We received an email from them, after sending a second P60, that they had not received the correct financial info, and I got another letter through with the exact same amount. We rang them, they said they had received the P60 and it was sent off for “means testing” (whatever that is!), and I’ve only had a text a few weeks ago saying that it would be 4 weeks until they had done whatever they needed to do. At the moment, I’m really worried I won’t have my money in time. This was wuite a rare occasion, and I doubt it will happen to anyone, but my advice is, apply as soon as you are definite on going to uni, or you know where you are going to go. Therefore, you have plenty of time to sort anything if it goes wrong!

The next thing you need to do, is sort out a student bank account. I’m currently transferring to Santander, who have a great student account with a 4 year railcard with 40% off train tickets, which is great if you aren’t planning on taking your car with you or can’t drive. There are loads of banks out there who offer student bank accounts, and they will all differ for everyone’s needs. Do as much research as you can and find the perfect one for you!

Good luck to everyone getting their results on the 18th, I hope everything goes well for you and you get what you want. If it doesn’t, then it’s not the end of the world, you have other chances. Take a year out: explore the world, discover yourself, then come back and try again!

We are coming close to the end of this series, and there will probably be a break between mid-August and September until move in day. If you guys want to see posts (or videos, I do have a YouTube channel waiting to be used!) of me packing up my room, then please let me know! You are all very quiet at the moment, I’m not getting a lot of interaction from you guys and I love talking to you all! I’d love to hear any suggestions of what you guys want to see on here!

I am currently on holiday in Lanzarote (hehe it’s funny because right now {3rd August} I’m sat at home pre-writing this!), and I promised myself I wouldn’t work at all during this week, so the next 4 posts have all been pre-written and scheduled to go up! I will be back on Monday the 22nd of August with fresh new posts about my adventures in Lanzarote. I will be replying to comments on these posts when they go up, so feel free to chat to me! I love you all ❤

Iona 🙂 x

 

10 Packing Hacks | Pack Like a Pro

Packing- the most stressful part of a holiday. The constant worry of “Have I got everything I need? Do I have enough? Do I have too much? What do I do if this happens?” always makes you question your choice to book a holiday in the first place.

So, here are 10 of my top tips to make packing just that little bit easier and ensure you have a stress free beginning to your holiday, wherever you are jetting off to.

1: Make a List

If you’re a list person, then this is perfect for you. And even if you’re not, I always feel this really helps me make sure I haven’t forgotten anything important and nothing gets lost when you are packing back up at the other end of your time away.

A day or so before you leave, write down everything you want to take with you- starting with underwear and socks, right the way through clothes to accessories, toiletries and tech. As you pack, tick them off. Take the list with you, so that when you pack at the end of the holiday, you can tick everything off again and make sure you have EVERYTHING with you, which saves you the last minute panic of “Oh crap! I forgot something!” I even make lists of the items in my hand luggage, but that may be a little too OTT…

 

2:Consider This…

If you are going on a short trip (2/5 days) do you really want to pay all that extra money to put a suitcase in the hold? Get yourself a smaller suitcase and take it as hand luggage. It’s more than likely that filling up your big bag or suitcase means most of the clothes you have in there you won’t wear for the short amount of time you are away. Ultimately, this saves you time and money, as well as the fact you have saved time waiting for your luggage on the other side!  Most airlines now allow 10kg of hand luggafe with you, and if it’s a short stay for a work thing or a quick beach holiday, you will be packing light and will easily be within those limits.

3:Roll Up Your Clothes

You will be amazed at how much space this saves! As well as cutting out the things that really aren’t necessary to bring (do you really need THAT many pairs of shorts? Two or three pairs will do!), this really helps create extra space for items that are slightly bulkier or for any kind of last minute airport grabs or souvenirs you bring back with you.

The Ultimate Packing Clothes Roll!

Folding up, then rolling up your clothes doesn’t just save space, but also prevents them from becoming creased too, which is always a huge problem when your accommodation doesn’t have an iron and you can’t exactly fit one in your suitcase…Making sure they are all tightly packed together ensures that they wont shift about so much as you move your luggage around, also saving your evening shirt or dress from looking like a crumpled mess when you arrive! Even try and invest in some vacuum/air tight bags, if you have something really important that you really don’t want to get creased!

 

4: Utilise Every Bit of the Space You Have

If you have a suitcase with loads of little pockets, use them as much as you can, instead of trying to shove everything into the main body of the bag. Most suitcases have two sides to them, and the way I organise my things is like this:

• Underwear (socks, pants, swimwear) all go into the meshed pocket on the top of my suitcase (rolled up), so that they don’t take up valuable space in the main body, as well as making it easy for you to grab a change of underwear when you arrive if you’ve had a long haul flight. I also shove my toiletries and makeup bag and any kind of large shampoo etc in there too. Things like accessories that I have brought with me (like rings, necklaces, bracelets and earrings) go in there too, in a little bag so that they don’t end up being splayed everywhere and caught up in underwear!

• All clothes go in the main body of the bag/suitcase. Any toiletries etc that I can’t fit in I tend to shove down the sides of the bag, instead of on top (stops the usual suitcase-won’t-shut-moment!). Pack any larger or heavier items at the bottom, or, wear them on the flight!

• If, like my suitcase, you have a zip and a pocket on the front of your bag, I tend to use this for shoes and anything extra I can’t fit in the main part of my bag. To stop it looking so bulky, I tend to put flat shoes in like flip flops or sandals (because come on, you won’t ever wear those big high- heeled boots on the cobbled streets of Greece! And your feet will be WAY too hot in those trainers! Sandals, flip flops and maybe one pair of light casual converse will do…) If you don’t have this pocket, then framing the bottom of your suitcase with shoes and big shampoo bottles works pretty well too!

 

5: Plastic Bags!

Wrapping shoes, loose toiletries and swimwear in plastic bags is always helpful. Dirty shoes can be a nightmare, especially when on top of your freshly washed clean clothes, and the last thing you want is your clothes smelling of toothpaste, your favourite perfume or your shampoo…placing all of these items into plastic bags and shoving them into tiny spaces left in your bag helps utilise space as well as save your clothes from a disaster! Take an extra plastic bag with you for your swimwear, so that your clothes don’t get soaked with salty or chlorine filled water from the last dip you took before heading off to catch your flight! I know they’re not the most glamourous of things, but it’s better than having muddy clothes!

 

6: Be Unique!

The last thing anyone wants is to arrive at their holiday apartment, open their suitcase and find that the clothes inside aren’t yours, and they belong to some old woman who was on the same flight as you and, unfortunately, had exactly the same bag…

Investing in an address and name label for your bag is always a good shout, as well as attaching some form of ribbon, sticker or unique accessory to your bag. I have a pink ribbon around the carry-handle of my suitcase, as I’ve realised a lot of people have a very similar bag to me. Alternatively, you could buy a suitcase that you feel is less likely to be popular, but you can never be 100% sure. Attaching a “return to” label on your bag is a key tip, so if anyone accidentally picks your bag up, they can return it to the airport and they will know exactly where to send it and who to contact!

 

7: Be Prepared For The Unexpected

In relation to the last point, if your luggage ends up being lost or picked up by somebody else, the last thing you want is to be stuck on holiday with only the clothes you’re in.

Always pack a spare pair of underwear or clothing, as well as a spare toothbrush, gum or something to make you feel a bit more fresh whilst you wait for your luggage to be returned to you. Also make sure that your chargers for your tech aren’t all in your main luggage, as you don’t want to be stuck without your phone whilst the airport tries to contact you!

 

8: Transfer Those Liquids!

I always keep any small bottles that are empty (the small Lush shampoo bottles are perfect) for travelling. They are ideal for transferring your favourite shampoos/conditioners etc over for space saving. You can also buy really cheap ones from everywhere really. I found a pack of 5 100ml bottles from Poundland (it contains 3 screw lid bottles, 1 spray bottle and 1 pump action bottle which is amazing for a pound!).

Taking huge bottles of shampoo takes up so much space, and it also means there’s a lot more product that could potentially spill all over your luggage, and you’re never really going to need that much for a week away!

 

9: Check & Weigh

The worst thing ever is arriving at the airport and checking in, only to find that your luggage is way over the weight limit and you have to either transfer items over to your pal’s luggage, or you have to shove it in your hand luggage and break your back carrying it through customs.

Shoving your bag on your weighing scales before heading off to the airport takes seconds- just quickly check the weight limit of your flight company, weigh your bag and adjust the weight accordingly. Take out anything you don’t need, or transfer things over to your hand luggage or partners bags to ensure that you won’t have to do this in the check-in queue with a huge amount of people behind you!

10: Lock Up!

If you have valuables in your suitcase, or just don’t want anything stolen, then a lock on your zip is a must have!

The last thing you want is anything being stolen, and not having a lock on your luggage can invalidate your insurance- making it less likely for you to get your money or item replaced. Alternatively, you can get yourself a case with a lock built in, sometimes the locks for suitcases are tiny and I have lost so many over the years. Most cases do come with a lock already with them, but quite a few hard cases (which are a lot better for travelling with- breakages are a lot less likely!) have built in locks.

 

Do you pack like a pro? Let me know your tips below!

Iona 🙂 x

For the next week, I am on holiday with my boyfriend in Lanzarote! Therefore, I will not be doing any work whilst I am away, so all posts until next Friday (19th August) will be scheduled. I hope this is ok, I just want to take a break! I will still be replying to comments, just not writing anything! I hope you all have a great week and I shall see you next week! If you want to keep up with my daily happenings, all my social media links are right at the bottom of this page! My snapchat is iona_moss! x

 

Travelling North, First Sight of Stranraer & Exploring Our Holiday Home! | Scotland 2016

After a long year of hard work at college, professional shows and University applications, my family decided it was a good idea to take a well deserved holiday up in Portpatrick, near Stranraer. We stayed in a Castle, which was an amazing once in a life time opportunity! Follow my daily diaries of our holiday over the next few weeks to find out about our shenanigans with lochs, castles, gardens and unexpected hospital trips!

Day 1 & 2:

After a long morning of packing (from basically 6am until we left at 11am), we finally set off to Scotland. The journey is only supposed to take 3 hours, but it ended up taking us 5! However, we did stop quite a few times, for things like food shopping, petrol, and most importantly, ice cream!

 

We stopped at the Cream O’ Galloway Visitor Centre, which is 45 minutes south of Dumfries. It is quite a faff to get to (down some very twisty, middle-of-nowhere country roads!), but ideal if you are on long journey north, or south, with hyper children who need to let off some steam! As well as the ice cream counter, which serves some incredible flavours like cinnamon (my preference!), honey comb, sticky toffee, gingerbread, banoffee, gooseberry and elderflower and more, there is a 3D Maze and Viewing Point, an Adventure Playground, bikes, crazy golf, Go Boing (basically tree top trampolines) and nature trails. If you can spare the money, and the time, then I definitely recommend planning this as a pit stop if you are heading this way. And, if you’re disappointed you haven’t been able to try a certain flavour, most shops in this area stock pots of some of the main flavours (Vanilla, Honeycomb, Salted Caramel, Peppermint Choc Chip, Double Chocolate, Real Raspberry, Gingerbread and Strawberries and Cream!) so try the unique ones whilst you are there, if you can!

After that, it was a very long and confusing drive to the estate we were staying in, but we finally arrived! There were some beautiful blue hydrangeas in vases all over the apartment, as well as a freshly baked chocolate orange cake waiting on the table which had been made by the staff in the café for us! It was the nicest cake ever!

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For more on where we stayed, see this post. Once we arrived, we had a really chilled evening in front of the TV and relaxed after a long and stressful drive!

Day 2

On our second day (technically our first) we travelled the very short distance to the beautiful seaside town of Portpatrick. I absolutely love seaside towns- if I could chose to live anywhere, I would live by the sea. As much as I love the country side, I feel very stuck here, as I’m so far away from everything. I’m also not keen on citites (even though I’m going to be living in Newcastle for the next 4 years!), it feels very closed in there. I feel with a seaside town, you have the openness of the sea and I love the smell and feel of it all.

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Beautiful multi-coloured houses line the seafront, which looks out onto a fishing harbour filled with boats full of fresh fish. The sea is stunningly blue, framed by jagged rocks covered in seashells. It was raining quite heavily when we arrived, so it was only a brief visit. We made a quick visit to the life boat centre and looked at buying souvenirs. From there, there is a little walk-way across to an island in the centre of the harbour, where you can get amazing views of the entire town, as well as Ireland across the Irish sea. We climbed some of the rocks there, and watched as several boats came in with fresh fish and crab baskets filled with crabs.

And, what’s a trip to the seaside without some classic chips? One of the places that was recommended on Trip Advisor was Chip Ahoy; a mobile fish and chip shop in a van. The woman was very friendly, and we chatted for a while about the estate we were staying in and the Orr-Ewing family whilst our chips were served. I like to think I’m a bit of a chip connoisseur, as I have had many a fish and chip tea whilst working in various theatres, and I have to be honest, these weren’t the nicest chips. It was £5 for two regular portions of chips, which to me, is ridiculous! The chips had a really odd taste to them too, but nevertheless, the boys seemed to enjoy them and that is all that matters!

After this, we made a quick trip to Stranraer. We discovered a really lovely park right by the sea front, called Agnew Park. There was a huge playing field, a really nicely sized play ground and a lake with a small island in the middle with a ship, a sand digger and some water fountain contraption for the kids to play with. The Pokémon Go nerd inside of me also found it very interesting for the fact there were several Pokestops and Gyms inside the park, so I sat and watched the boys play whilst catching some quality Pokémon!

The Ship at Agnew Park

On the lake was a really lovely family of swans, with a huge gaggle of cygnets following them. And they were definitely a lot friendlier than those back home in Keswick! The boys enjoyed a good play and let off of steam whilst playing football on the green. If you are ever near Stranraer, Agnew Park is a wonderful place to go. As well as a playpark, you can hire out pedalos to float around the lake on, Go Karts, Mini Cars or you can take a quick 10 minute ride around the park on the miniature train. The prices are incredibly cheap!

Eventually we made it back to the estate and explored the café, gardens and maze on site. We had a little snack from the café, served by the friendliest staff I have ever met. I had the most amazing walnut brownie, that had the beautiful melt-in-the-mouth texture that makes the perfect brownie. Despite it being slightly wet, we had a quick walk around the gardens- looked at the big pond filled with multi-coloured goldfish and huge water lilies.

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We then walked through the three green houses they have, filled with rainbow coloured plants, tomato plants and even banana and peach trees! I have always loved greenhouses: the smell of tomato plants and humidity always reminds me of my childhood when I used to hide in my grandparent’s greenhouse when I didn’t want to go home!

Back at the apartment we, yet again, spent the night chilling in front of the TV.

 Where have you been on holiday this year?

For more from my holiday: follow me on Instargam: iona_moss for some snaps, as well as sneak BTS peaks on my Instagram Stories! Also, if you want to keep up to date on my life and get extra perks from me, get over to Facebook and like my Facebook page, the link is at the bottom of the page! 😉 Stay tuned for the next post of my Scotland Daily Diaries next Wednesday!

Iona 🙂 x

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Uni Guide | The Next Stage

After you have sent off your 5 choices, and all your information and references have been sent off, the waiting game starts.

UCAS will send you information to join Track- Track is where you can track all your applications (clue’s in the name, really!) and this is where you will first get your information about interviews and offers from your 5 choices. You will use this right up until your results day when your firm choice uni sends you their confirmation letter.

If your course does not require an interview or audition, if the university likes your references and all the documents you have sent through, they will offer you a place there. HOWEVER, this does not mean you are definitely in!

Universities have 3 choices: reject you, give you an Unconditional Offer or a Conditional Offer.

Unconditional Offers:

Unconditional offers means the University you have applied for does not require a certain amount of UCAS points, grades or other things for you to be able to attend the course you want to attend. All you have to do is finish the course, and if this Uni is your firm choice, you are almost certainly attending that course in September (things sometimes can change).

Conditional Offers:

Conditional Offers mean you have to meet a certain amount of UCAS points, grades or other things to be able to attend this course. The Universities tend not to make this something that is impossible to achieve, but if you are wanting to attend somewhere like Cambridge, the conditions will be a fairly high. Sometimes they are based off what they have seen from your predicted grades on the UCAS forms you filled in, sometimes they are just a general condition for the entire course, it generally depends.

Attending Auditions and Interviews

Now, in my experience, I can only talk about Auditions. I have only ever applied for Performance based courses, so I don’t really know a whole lot about interviews. After auditions, I was asked a few questions, but I have heard from friends that specific course interviews are different.

For me, being yourself and being totally honest is key. Generic answers that every single person that interviewer gets when they interview you will not make you stand out and will, honestly, bore them. Don’t be too full of yourself either, you need to show that you will be able to work as a team, and if you come across big headed and self-centred, it doesn’t come across well.

Generally they asked me what appealed to me from their course, why that university and why the area. They also asked me what I enjoyed about my current studies and anything that I did outside of the curriculum that is relevant.

It’s ok to be nervous, if you’ve ever done a job interview before, its just like that but now based on your academical skills.

After you have received your offers:

UCAS Track will notify you every time a Uni has sent you an offer.Once you have received all of the replies from your choices, you can then move onto choosing which Uni you want to be your Firm choice, and which you want to be your Insurance choice.

Insurance Choice

Your Insurance choice is basically your second choice Uni, if you do not receive the grades you need for your first choice, this is where you will end up going. Don’t pick a uni you really do not want to go to. If only 2 or 3 unis offered you a place, and you are only happy with one, you can get in contact with UCAS and change your application around. There is lots of information about this on the UCAS website: anything I have missed out will be on there. If you cannot make a decision, and you like all of your choices, choose the one that requires the least UCAS points or is Unconditional. This means that if you fail to get into your Firm choice, you will most likely get into your Insurance choice and you won’t have to apply through Clearing.

Firm Choice

Your firm choice is the University you want to go to, and is your top choice. If you meet their entry requirements, you will definitely be going there.

Clearing

If you either: get no offers from any of your universities or do not receive the UCAS requirements to get into your firm or your insurance choice, this is where you go. I have never experienced this myself. Through this, you can apply to other universities and go through the same process again. It may be a scary and unnerving place to be, but trust me, its good to have that back up option. I would rather have that than be stuck for another year. Or, alternatively, you can take a Gap Year- travel, build up your experience, look more into Universities. I would liked to have taken a Gap Year, but I just could not wait to start Uni.

Afterwards- The Worst Waiting Game!

Once you have sent off your firm and insurance choice, the longest and most unnerving wait begins…

If you are taking A Levels, you will wait until results day (which is usually in August) to find out if you have received your place at your university of choice. If you study a BTEC course, you usually finish a lot earlier than Sixth Form students, and it is more than likely that once your tutor has marked your work, your UCAS will be sent off. For me, it was a difficult wait, as I was unsure as to whether I would have to wait until August to receive my confirmation like everyone else or I would receive it earlier. I ended up receiving it a few weeks after my UCAS had been sent off.

It was amazing knowing that I was definitely heading off to University, but the nerves have hit me very hard. I haven’t really had much chance to be independent: I live in the middle of nowhere and the only public transport there is is an hours walk away! I am learning to drive but I doubt I will have a car in time to get to Uni! It worries me, but I am also very excited. There are endless amounts of blogposts, videos and vlogs of student’s first weeks at Uni, and they have helped me feel a lot better. I cannot wait to do what I want!

 

To all of you who are waiting on results in August: I wish you luck, and I have very faith you will do well. Remember, there are alternative options if things do not to go plan: things happen for a reason. All is not lost.

Next week’s post will be about Student Finance and Accommodation: this needs to be done before you get to this stage- students apply for accommodation VERY quickly, and if you leave it this late, most of the rooms will be gone (I was stupid, please learn from my mistakes!).

Iona 🙂 x

P.S If you guys have any requests for future blog posts, then please feel free to comment them down below, or Tweet me (iona__moss)! I love to hear from you guys and this blog is not just about me and what I want to write, this blog is also for you to read and enjoy and if the posts I am putting up aren’t interesting you, then I am not fulfilling what I created this blog for! I absolutely adore chatting to you all, so even if you don’t have a suggestion, commenting anything related (or even unrelated!) in the comments section so that we can have a chat is cool too! You guys have all gone really quiet recently and I miss you all! ❤

 

5 August Goals | Monthly Goals

2016 seems to be flying by! I can’t believe we are more than halfway through the year!

August is one of my favourite months, as it is usually the month we have our annual holiday! This year, I am heading off to Lanzarote with my boyfriend and his parents and I am so excited! So, I’ve decided to create a list of things I want to achieve by the end of this month: both life and blog related!

1: Read More!

I have become so lazy with my reading recently- I have gone from being one of the biggest book worms you will ever meet, to reading very rarely! Now that the summer holidays are in full swing, and I am going on holiday in 4 days (which is usually when I read the most- sitting by the pool or on the beach with a book is the best thing ever!), I really need to get my bum into gear! I am heading into town to buy some books with my birthday money and I aim to read at least for a couple of hours every day for this whole month!

2: Get Snappy With It!

Canon EOS 1100D

1SE

 

I’ve been absolutely loving taking pictures at the moment, especially from my holiday in Scotland. But, I never really tend to take pictures of everyday life, which usually hold some of the most important memories for me that I will hold onto for years to come. As well as taking pictures, I’ve been loving using a different type of way to remember my “normal” days: the app called 1 Second Everyday. The app allows you to capture a video lasting 1 second everyday which it then pieces together into a month or year summary video. I absolutely love watching these back every month. I’ve only had it for 2 months, but it’s such a different way to look back on everything you’ve been doing! I’ve been really bad for the months of June and July- I wanted to take a video every single day but I didn’t succeed. For August, I aim to have a video for everyday! Let me know if you guys would be interested in seeing a monthly summary video every month using the app! 🙂

3: Love Myself

This is probably going to be the hardest thing for me. Every summer, the “bikini body” blues hit me and it gets me down so much. I’ve never really spoken about this, and I don’t intend to just yet, but I have terrible body confidence issues, and it ruins everything. This month, I am getting help with it, but I really want to be able to love the body I have and feel confident in myself, especially with my holiday coming up and uni next month. I want to be able to strut the beaches of Lanzarote in my bikini and not care that I have a few stretch marks on my thighs or that my legs are slightly chunky or that my belly isn’t totally flat or that my double chins are showing while I look at my phone lying down (#standard). I feel like having body confidence is such an important thing to have-if you cannot love yourself, then how can you love anyone else? The most important thing I have realised is to put myself first.

(A video that is really helping me at the moment is this one from Tanya Burr, she makes some really good points!)

4: Organise My Life

With adulthood and University just around the corner, I really need to get organised with some books and diaries to sort my schedules out and organise my finances. I’m going to be relying on no one but myself from next month until I graduate in 4 years, and the last thing I want is to lose dates needed or important financial information that I really need! This month, I hope to buy diaries, bullet journals, files, and crap tons of stationary items in order to be prepared for the world of adulthood! I just hope I can keep it up! I wil hopefully be starting it all this month, especially since my student finance will be coming through soon and I need to sort out my bank accounts! I also want to be more organised with my blog- ensuring I have a set schedule I can stick to and have blog posts ready to go up in case something goes wrong and I don’t have anything to post!

5: Enjoy Every Second!

I feel like this is something everyone needs to do in life! We all seem to take life for granted- decide its boring if we haven’t got anything planned for the day or the weather is stopping us from going outside. When this happens, I tend to shut myself away, work on my laptop or watch Netflix or YouTube, instead of realising that the weather shouldn’t stop me or that I haven’t got anything planned. I’m one of those people who tends to dislike spontaneity- everything has to be planned to a T before we do it or I feel anxious. I can’t live my life like that anymore. I need to enjoy every second of my teenage life before adulthood hits me hard! I want to have a more positive outlook on life, try and do something interesting everyday and on days where nothing, pride myself on working hard or taking a step closer to finishing a TV series and celebrate the little things in life!

 

Iona 🙂 x

 

 

Staying In A Castle! | Dunskey Estate, Portpatrick, Scotland

 Dunskey Castle Apartment (£60 per night)

For the past week, my family and I have been holidaying in a beautiful stately home in Port Patrick: a beautiful sea side town just a 15 minute drive away from Stranraer and a few minutes drive away from the beautiful sea side town of Portpatrick.

The estate we are staying in is called Dunskey Estate: owned by the Orr-Ewing family since the 19th century. The family have split their huge home into separate  apartments which they rent out to holiday makers. Our apartment is the Dunskey Castle Apartment: the smallest and cheapest accommodation within the estate, but definitely not the worst!

Decorated with the most gorgeous shabby chic furniture, with huge bay windows, bits of semi-original furniture and an amazing winding staircase leading to the 3 bedrooms upstairs  (definitely my favourite feature of the house!), I wish we were staying for more than a week! The house has 3 double beds and 2 singles: one double bed downstairs that joins on to the living room, 2 doubles upstairs and 2 singles in a nursery room.

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The grounds of Dunskey Estate are stunning. Firstly, you have three gardens, which are open to the public to explore. The walled garden holds a vast array of plants of varying shapes and colours and sizes, and you can even buy ones from the grounds: perfect for those who are green fingered. Beyond the walled garden is a sprawling green, filled with hanging eucalyptus  trees, a huge pond filled with huge gold fish, lush green lawns and huge greenhouses. The greenhouses are filled with rainbow coloured plants and flowers, and there are even peach and banana trees. Outside of the gardens, is a maze, which my little brothers ran straight into as soon as we arrived, managed to get themselves lost, but at least we had some peace and quiet for half an hour or so and it is great if you want your kids to let of a little steam…

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As well as gardens, there are several walks you can take, all for totally different terrain and views, so it is perfect for everyone.

My personal favourite was the Glen Walk: a 24 minute walk through thick green forest, passing lightly trickling streams, to the most stunning private beaches. Port Kale is the easiest to get to (Port Mora requires a bit more of a hike, whereas Port Kale has a gravelled path leading right to it). However, the map the owners give you of the paths to follow really aren’t very clear, so you may have to whip out Google Maps before you go and check the route. The path splits into a road at one point, and we ended up going the wrong way. But, we found a huge enclosure full of maturing pheasants, who also love to roam all over the paths in front of you and then suddenly take off when they realise you have got a little too close!

The beach is rocky, but you can pick up some beautiful  quartz stones and huge shells. If you are not a big walker, you can drive down there, but it is not recommended. It wasn’t the loveliest of weather whilst we were down there: but the views of the surrounding cliffs and the crashing waves was the most amazing sight. You can even walk all he way to Portpatrick from here, if you feel like it!

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The other walk you can take it to the two lochs they have on the grounds. The first one is very easy to get to, just a short 10 minute walk along a gravelled path, through imported Canadian trees. If you are interested in fishing, then here is a perfect spot to fish, they offer a fisherman’s lodge, which I expect is full of fishing equipment for you to use and a nice dry place for you to sit if it is raining. There are some benches dotted along the grassy path that surrounds the first part of the lake. If you carry on along here, there is another path through a very thick forest to the second loch- but after a few days rain, the paths leading to it were thick with mud. There is an alternative path for wheelchair and buggy users that is easier to get back to the café and gardens.

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There is also a cafe and tearoom on site, which offer some really lovely lunches that are freshly prepared every day on sight. The permanent menu ranges from pulled pork burgers, to Venison steaks and Pheasant, to smoked salmon sandwiches and soups. They also offer new specials almost everyday. The staff in there are very friendly, and the cakes are also lovely  (highly recommend the walnut brownie- perfect melt-in-the-mouth consistency!) They even picked some fresh mint out of the herb garden for us to use to make a mint sauce the next day! You are also able to buy frozen Venison and Pheasant that are fresh from the wildlife on the grounds.

Alistair, the owner of the house, is lovely and very friendly and accommodating. He checked in on us as often as he could, without being too overbearing, and he is only a short walk across the lawn or a quick phone call away if you ever need him! If you have younger children, his children Lily-Mai and Atticus are very friendly and will happily play out on the rope swings or the slide.

There was a cake from the cafe ready and waiting for us when we entered the apartment. As you walk into the building, it does almost feel like you have entered the set of The Walking Dead, as you are separated from our neighbours not by a wall, but by two huge chairs! There is a scullery style room at the bottom of the stairs that lead up to your apartment with a washing machine, sink and ironing board, if you need to do any laundry!

If you are bringing an elderly or disabled guest with you, then I really recommend trying another apartment etc. There are stairs leading up to the apartment that may be a struggle. If they are able to climb one pair of stairs maybe twice a day, then you should be fine as there is a downstairs bedroom, but if it is not possible for them, then I do recommend looking elsewhere! We did not know this when we first booked, and it was a struggle for my 80 year old grandmother to get up and down the stairs.

Nevertheless, the apartment is very nice. With a small, but pretty much fully equipped kitchen (avec  dishwasher for those who do not want to be stood over a sink for a long time!). The gas oven is a bit of a faff, it felt very slow as was difficult to light, but if you’d rather eat out every night, then this shouldn’t be a concern to you!

Overall, I really enjoyed the stay. We had the chance to socialise with our neighbours (occasionally shouting “Good morning!” over the zombie chairs or trying to get the dogs attention! We even had a sneaky look at the accommodation next door, so if this apartment doesn’t tickle your fancy, there are 5 other apartments to look at! I shall link the website down below!

http://www.dunskey.com/

Iona 🙂 x

Want to see more from me? Follow me on all my social media sites for daily updates on my life! I will also be posting a daily diary of our holiday over the next few days, so stay tuned!

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