How to deal with being away from home..

I've got something a little bit different this week so I hope you like it. I figured that you didn't all just want work related posts and it will probably be interesting to do a more personal post every now and then because let's face it uni is not all about the studying, all be it a lot of it is, but everyone knows what freshers get up to don't they!

This is going to be a post quite close to my heart as I am not shy about the fact that I have struggled moving away from home and I'm not even that far away!

I think that the fact that I am close enough to get home if I really needed to is perhaps not the best move for me as I am always thinking I could just be at home instead of here living in halls. Perhaps if I had moved further away so that I can't just come home whenever I please would have been a better option as I'd of had to just deal with it and accept that I can't.

I knew I had always been a home girl at heart but I didn't realise just how much until I moved away from all of my home comforts and more importantly my family.

However, I do have some tips for you all about avoiding home sickness and just in general how to forget about the bad and focus on the good things whilst you're at university because there is nothing worse than being away from home and unhappy, probably my worst combination ever!!!

I found this picture online and thought it fitted this post down to a T. If things are getting to much, just start a new page.

1. Surround yourself with people who you actually like and are real friends, you can tell a fake friend a mile off. 
2. If you're unhappy, change what is making you so. I am in the process of moving flats because I am so unhappy with all but one of my current flat mates so I'm removing myself from the negative situation and will never have to even acknowledge my old flat mates ever again.Some people are just plain nasty, and unfortunately there's no changing people like that.
3. Let yourself go. Go out and just have a good time, you'll meet people trust me you won't be sitting alone in the corner. 
4. Budget yourself. Ok this may seem like a weird one, but if you run out of money and can't afford to go out and have a good time you'll probably regret not budgeting because no one wants to miss out do they!!

I think most people probably suffer a little when moving to university as it's such a huge change but once you're settled and you've had a wicked freshers fortnight you'll be back to normal in no time. 

Remember, just ENJOY IT while is lasts because it's going to go quickly I know it.

PAL

Hello again!

This post is going to be all about...

"PAL"

...which stands for Peer Assisted Learning which is something that I have timetabled in on a weekly basis.

PAL leaders are second or third years who have given up their time to help first years. We are all broken down into groups of about 20 again like seminars and meet up with our PAL leaders each week for an hour.
We are asked what we would like to cover before we leave after each week and we will go over whatever is agreed in the next session.

PAL is a really beneficial system as it allows us first years to get a real insight into how our degree is going to go as we are talking to people who have already done it. They are there to give us advice on absolutely anything we need as long as they know the answer.

For example in my PAL session this week we went over referencing which was a great help for me, they showed us websites to help with referencing in the correct format and they also showed us a few different places that we could find references for our essays.

In terms of benefits for the leaders themselves it is volunteer work which is a great attraction on  CV and therefore will hopefully give them more of a chance of being looked at when going into the working world after completing their course and graduating.

I am really benefiting from these sessions and find them a breath of fresh air knowing that I'm not the only one feeling the way I do and everyone else is in the exact same boat as I am. It is a great way for us students to offload about anything we may or may not be worried about and also helps us with our studies.

I am going to really consider taking on the responsibility of being a PAL leader next year as I know how much it helped me and  I would love to be able to do that for a newbie like I am this year.I like the idea of being able to help new students which is partly what this blog is all about, I would love to know I have given a new starter a helping hand because I was extremely grateful for my PAL leaders especially when they gave me vital information that I would never have been able to achieve the way I have without.

Those who never attended a session really missed out in my opinion, they were really helpful for me and several others I know.

Who knows I could be your PAL leader next year!

Lectures, Seminars, Workshops

Hi everyone!

I thought I would write this weeks post on what really goes on at university in terms of studying and timetabling. As some of you may already know university consists of lectures, seminars and workshops so I'm going to break those down and explain them to you.

I am going to talk about them in relation to my particular university and degree as I don't want to generalise and then end up being wrong as I'm sure all universities have different ways and means.

Lectures
A lecture for me consists of every single person studying education studies as well as (dependent on the topic of lecture) certain other degrees for example 'Childhood and youth studies' are also in my Young Child lectures and 'Disability studies' accompany us in our Inclusion Through Professional Practice lectures.

So they have the biggest capacity of students sitting in lectures. I think this is because Education Studies has a lot of similar degrees and therefore we all need to study the same things sometimes so why not put us altogether and kill two birds with one stone.

Certainly this is the case for a lot of first years that I have spoken to from other universities. We will all split off into more specific groups in our second years we've been told and I do think the way they do it is a good efficient system.

I have four lectures a week, all but one are two hours long and the other is just one hour, however the time is made up with a two hour seminar. The lectures give you all the information you  need for what you're studying that week and it is entirely up to you to make notes and gain the best knowledge you can from them as you don't have lecturers nagging you like school, one thing about being a university student is how much independence you have compared to what you did have at school.

In my case, lecture notes are put up in advance so that we can print the slides off and make notes from them as that is how some people like to organize themselves. However, I do know that some lecturers prefer to put the slides up after the lecture has finished as it encourages students to attend the lectures.

This is pretty much what my lecture halls look like. Some this size and some smaller, we have a screen at the front which the slides are projected onto.

Seminars

A seminar is a group of about 20 students who have been broken down from the larger lecture group to allow a more one on one experience for the students with the tutor. Seminars always come after the lectures and are a chance for us to recap and discuss what went on in each weeks lecture within a smaller group of people. 

We often have activities to do in seminars which are always something to do with the lecture that would have happened beforehand. These are good because they allow us to think about the lecture in more depth and also hear other peoples outlooks on the lecture and topic. 

Seminars are usually an hour long with the exception of the one I have already mentioned which makes up for the short lecture. They are worth it because they allow both us students and tutors to listen and build a relationship with each other, they also give students more of an opportunity to speak out as some panic if they have a question to ask when in a large group and then never ask it. 

Workshops

Workshops are optional and are about anything and everything. I couldn't find my workshop timetable when writing this post so I will just have to give you a couple of titles of some that I can remember. 

They are basically extra lessons that specify in a very particular topic to allow students to brush up on the skills that they are not so hot at. 

A few workshops I can remember which will hopefully give you a good idea of what they are like:

• How to write a university standard essay
• A guide to referencing 
• Brush up on punctuation skills

That should give you a good insight into how a workshop works. 

They are held in the library and are open to anyone and everyone and personally I think they are a brilliant idea.They are there for students who may be worrying about something excessively and will give them the help they need to understand whatever it is they are worrying about.

Second Blog Post....

Hi everyone, I thought I would make this post all about updating you on university and fresher life!

So, being a fresher...for me honestly was not everything that I expected it to be. Don't get me wrong it's not bad, I just think I got caught up in the moment and didn't really think logically at first. A few factors that I am struggling with at the moment are:

1. Money or more the budgeting side of having money. As much as I appreciate being given a part time job whilst I am at university I also think it may be a factor in why I have no money, because I know I will be getting paid again at the end of the month..which is SUCH a bad attitude and don't worry I know it now! 
2. Separating work time with play time... everyone knows the saying 'work hard play hard' but at the moment I think I may be slacking more on the 'work' part of that saying..which I have realised needs to change before I start studying for my exams...and it will change because at the end of the day university is definitely NOT about the partying..I am not paying all that money to not get a good degree am I?! 

I don't think I was expecting such a change in my lifestyle, which looking back, was obviously going to happen living by myself! 

Personally, I think everyone who goes to university should be given one of these haha! 

So, to everyone thinking about the party life and how amazing university is going to be, non-stop partying...re think because it is an awful lot of money to be paying just because you want to have a party, and also do not choose to study a degree if you are not one hundred percent sure on whether it is right for you..there are so many options out there for us and if you're like me and only get steered in the university direction whilst at school then go and research for yourself, university is like everything, it's only right if you are certain. 

I am so so glad I made the university decision because for what I want to do, having a degree and hopefully a masters in teaching will get me far in my career... Bring on the future!