Life through my iphone

As I have failed to update regularly, here is a snapshot into the past few months of life. There has been some amazing weather, which I have tried to take advantage of by wandering along the river, or sitting reading/drinking cocktails in the sunshine. I have also become the carer for some more plants, because I am pretending to be an adult. Obviously I have picked plants which need very little looking after because lets be honest, I am not ready for the commitment of daily watering...

Radio One's Big Weekend

Yes I know this happened several weeks ago, lets just think of this as a nice way for me to reminisce rather than disorganisation... 

Anyway, this year Radio One's big weekend was held in Norwich, which I was super excited about when I found out because it's my home city. I mean, I grew up about half an hour away and it's where I went to all of my first gigs, so it was cool to see such big artists playing in the city. Me and my friend went on the Sunday and we had the best time. It rained for several hours but then the sun came out and Imagine Dragons started to play and it was pretty special. They were definitely an highlight for me, along with the Foo Fighters who were just incredible.

I enjoyed the whole atmosphere of the day, it felt like everyone was having so much fun, including all the DJs who played sets between acts. I think listening to them on radio one every day meant that you felt like you were a part of the festival rather than just a spectator, which made it extra special.

I also managed to catch up with some of my other friends and actually made it home to celebrate one of my friends birthdays for the first time since we turned 18 which was lovely. I always love escaping to the country for a weekend. It's just that normally Taylor Swift and Dave Grohl aren't there too.

Getting back at it

Sometimes life throws something at you that is so devastating, so life changing that manages to veer you off course, like a meteorite knocked out of orbit. That happened to me recently and meant that things like this blog kind of got put to one side. I enjoy rambling about the fun and happy things in life, but sometimes you need a break. Now however it is time to start blogging properly, especially as summer is coming and I plan to make the most of it. I have always been quite bad at this blogging thing but once again I am going to try extra hard to keep this updated. Even though I will probably have to spend a vast majority of it trapped inside wishing I was in the park, trying to do science.

So here we go, welcome to the life of a masters student in London.

Fringe Life

If any of you know me you will know that I am a bit obsessed with my hair. I just love doing different things with it, and I also have an awful habit of constantly mussing it up. sorry.

Anyway, I have been growing my hair for over a year now, and whilst it had got pretty long it had also got completely shapeless. So I decided to finally let someone take their scissors to it and slightly spur of the moment decided I should get a fringe. I am  so glad I decided on the fringe, I have quite a long face and I feel like having long hair sort of drags it down and makes it look longer. I think if you have the same face shape as me a fringe is really flattering.

Fringe care for me has been kept to a minimum, I just blow dry it and then spray some dry texturizer through it to stop it looking too styled, as I like my hair messy. In these photos I have slept with my hair in french braids and then used sea salt spray to get the messy waves. I always think my hair looks better the day after I have washed it.

The tips of my hair are currently dyed with 'the big pink' from Bleach London over my faded coppery brown. It has faded to this slightly rusty pink which I quite like. I can't decide whether to keep dying it like this or go lighter for summer. 

See, I am already thinking about how I can change my hair again!

Life in pictures: February

I know everyone always says this, but I actually can't believe that it's March already. This month has gone so quickly, but it has been so much fun that I can't feel that cheated. At the start of this month I turned 23 and celebrated with James and my friends, which was lovely. Honestly I think it was one of the best birthdays I have had for a while, and I love birthdays.

I also had a lovely weekend with one of my best friends, Caroline. I already wrote a blog post about that weekend and the amazing gig, but lets be honest I am going to mention it again it was so much fun.

As well as those memorable events I have had a generally busy month, with several fun visits to the musuem collections where I explored beetles, ammonites and plants. I have also wandered through Hyde park after lectures on the rare sunny days we have had, something I plan to to more of as the weather gets warmer.

And I bought myself my first ever house plant! Which reminds me, I should probably water him at some point. Overall, another busy and happy month in London. Now come on spring, surely it's time for some proper sunshine now?

All Time Low and You Me At Six

Last Saturday me and Caroline headed to the O2 for a gig that I have been ridiculously excited about since I booked tickets last summer. All Time Low and You Me At Six are my two favourite bands, and getting to see them both in one evening was amazing.

We decided to be proper fangirls so we left our coats at home and queued for 4 hours to get close to the front. It was definitely worth it, it's been a while since I have been in the standing area at a concert and the energy was just so good. By the end we were sweaty and aching all over but also mega happy. 

I felt like both bands proved why they are playing such huge venues, they put on a great show and they are just incredible. For some of All Time Low's songs I wondered who else was singing with Alex and then I realised it was just the whole arena. It was pretty magical. I think my favourite moment was when Alex came out on his own and played Therapy. Some people had brought paper hearts and we all held them up during the song as well as phone lights and it was a really surreal moment. I got quite emotional!

I definitely had the post gig blues after this one!

Life in pictures: January

I welcomed in the new year at the pub we used to visit when we were 18, and it almost felt like we were going back in time rather than forwards. The rest of January passed in a blur of assignments and deadlines, but I managed to get out and about; see the city at night and drink cocktails in jazz bars, explore the tourist hot spots with an old friend and swap lectures for brownies.

The start of this month, spent in the countryside, feels like a lifetime away. But it has been a good start to 2015. Now time to move on to another month, where I am looking forward to turning 23, gigs, friends and more learning.

Living alone

 

    

    

In September I moved into a studio flat in London to study for my masters. So I currently live alone in a single room, which I actually quite like. Although I am a social person I enjoy my alone time and it doesn't bother me at all. Here are some of the perks and downfalls of living alone:

There's no one to judge you. This can be a good thing. I can sing away to my hearts content without anyone moaning and attempt online exercise videos without anyone wondering what the hell I'm doing. But it also means that no one knows that I couldn't be bothered to wash up tonight. Or that I had a glass of wine for a second night in a row. Or that I went to bed at 3am. It's actually really hard not to fall into bad habits when no one has to know.

But at least you know that all the dirty dishes in the sink are yours - no one is eating baked beans and leaving the plates in the sink. My literal worst nightmare.

Every time I trip that part in Bridget Jones where she worries about dying and being found 3 weeks later half eaten by Alsatians runs through my head. How long would it take people to notice I wasn't there? How long without ringing before my mum started to worry? All I've done is stub my toe and I'm having a life crisis.

Sometimes you don't talk to someone for a whole weekend. And you don't even notice until Sunday evening. And then you have to ring your mum and rabbit on for an hour to get a bit of human contact. 
So yeah there are some downsides, but I like having my little sanctuary of calm in the middle of London, I like that I have made it homely with my photos and fairy lights. And I like that it's my flat. Sometimes I almost feel like a grown up.

My 2014

I guess now is the time of year when we all think back to the year behind us. I had this feeling that I didn't do as much as I could in 2014, determined to change this in 2015. But then I started thinking about the milestones that I achieved. I handed in a 12000 word dissertation which out of everything I have ever produced I am currently most proud of. I graduated from my undergraduate degree with first class honours and then moved to London and started a masters at the Natural History Museum. Career wise 2014 was a pretty good year.  

I also had a lot of fun, spending quality time with my lovely friends and family.

So what about my goals for 2015? Well I am hoping that come the autumn I will have a masters degree and will be starting a PhD which is incredibly exciting. I am also hoping that I will have time to travel to a new country, something which I regret not doing in  2014. I think these big goals are more exciting and interesting than the usual 'loose a stone and drink less' or whatever. And honestly, in 10 years time I'm not going to look back and remember that boring stuff, I'm going to look back and reminisce over the happy memories of getting out there and making the most of life.