Coming Clean. Making Changes.

There's no doubt that not a single person in the world that flies through life effortlessly. Life is hard and not perfect, there's no denying it. Everyone from your mother to the person sitting beside you on the bus will have to deal with the brick walls that come up in life.

But for some people life gets even harder. Not only do they have to deal with the stressful ordeal that is life but for some completely unfair happenstance they have one more layer of complexity to peel through. They have to deal with mental health issues.

For me that's anxiety, depression and disordered eating. For anyone dealing with mental health issues you are not just experiencing one emotion, it's a roller coaster. On the bad days you can go from down to sad to angry to hopeless to deep depression. It really takes a toll on the body and the complexity of what you're going through makes it hard for your loved ones to understand and help.

Of course the fact that I studied away from home, a bus, train and plane ride away from my support group made it particularly difficult for me to cope. I was living in uni halls constantly surrounded by a 'party' and 'drinking' culture that I wasn't able to interact with. I'm not against having a fun night out but a few times a week was too much for me, it wasn't worth the tired, groggy state the morning after and the anxiety over how much alcohol I had consumed.

The anxiety had so much power over me I'd panic when I'd run into other people in the flat and isolated myself off in my room for a large portion of the year. After bad nights I wouldn't be able to attend lectures or focus or study when it came to exams. Even when I came home to visit for a precious weekend the joy of being home was always overshadowed by the thought of going back to uni on the Sunday.

Over all this year has been incredibly tough for me and I've gone through a lot of it alone. I wasn't enjoying my life and hadn't been truly happy in months. For this reason I've decided to drop out of uni once again and move back to Ireland to start another course in Dublin. Third times the charm as they say!

While I didn't enjoy my time abroad at all that's not to say the people I met weren't lovely people who I'll miss seeing or that I didn't like my university. In fact it's an absolutely top class university and I'll be disappointed to have to leave my wonderful course and the classmates.

But here's to another fresh start. Let's hope I can settle in and start living life to the full.

Moving into Uni Halls? Here's what I packed.

Hello lovelies!

As you may not know in a few weeks time I will be starting university (for the second time) at Lancaster University to study advertising and marketing. Not only does this mean I'll be moving country and leaving all my friends behind it also means I'll have to move into university halls for my first year at least. 

At most halls you're provided with the bare necessities; bed, bathroom, fridge, freezer, oven and hob which means that if you're like me, and have never lived on you're own before you'll need to buy everything brand new. As a savvy saving student, as we all are, I'm guessing you won't be prepared to fork out a whole load of cash for your new homeware. So thank the land of the Swedes for coming up with a solution to our need for stylish and economical homestuffs by gifting us with IKEA.

My very first trip to IKEA was to stock up on things for moving out and now that I've aquired quite the stash of kitchen utensils and bed linen I thought I'd make up a little checklist for any other students out there who need a few ideas of what to bring to halls with them. 

STORAGE

Now most halls rooms will be well fitted with shelves, wardrobes and under the bed storage space but if you're like me and you're planning on hauling your whole wardrobe over with you you'll want to invest in a few storage items. After all where are us gals going to put all of our shoes?

Yellow File Box, Wooden Drawer Organisers, White Shelf Splitter, Hanging Wardrobe Shelves- All IKEA

Felt Hangers- Dunnes Stores

These are a few storage bits I picked up to help organise my room. The hanging shelves are a brilliant idea because they attach with velcro to your wardrobe rack and instantly you have so much more space to put your t-shirts and jumpers. If you don't know what the shelve splitter is don't fret because I didn't understand either at first. If you have a press with to very high shelf spaces you simply pop the splitter onto a shelve and voila, you've now got 3 shelves instead of 2. 

Here are the hanging shelves in action.

KITCHEN UTENSILS

When I was looking around for things I needed for the kitchen I had to keep in mind that I wouldn't have a lot of room to put them in seeing as I think I've only 2 presses and a drawer which will primarily be storing all my food. So I looked around for items that could be multipurpose for example, a deep frying pan I could use as a wok for stir-fries and as a pan for making pancakes!

Chopping Boards, Pots, Plastic Sandwich Bags, Frying Pan, Glass Baking Dish, Grater, Whisk, Ladle, Fish Slice and 'Poached Egg' Spoon-Trio, Measuring Jug, Mixing Bowl, Glass Tupperware, Plastic Tupperware, Can Opener, Wine Opener, Scissors, Sharp Knife, Dish Scrubber- All IKEA

Tea Towels- Dunnes Stores

Baking Tray- M&S

CROCKERY

Again keep in mind you won't have a lot of room to store 6 bowls, plates, glasses and mugs in your uni kitchen so stick to the bare minimum.

Set of 4 Forks, Knives and Spoons, Bowls, Plates, Glasses, Serviettes- All IKEA

Mugs- Homestore And More

BATHROOM

Save the actual toilet, shower and sink there's not a lot you have to get for your bathroom. A few towels and cleaning stuff will suffice. Don't forget a shower caddy so you don't have to put all your shower gel and shampoo on the floor.

Laundry Bag, Toilet Cleaner, Shower Caddy- All IKEA

Towels- Dunnes Stores

Shower Mat- Penny's

BEDDING

Unless you want to sleep on solely a mattress for your time in halls get yourself a good pillow and a comfy duvet. Also don't forget a mattress protector because who knows what could have gone on in that bed before you.. I decided not to get mine in IKEA because I don't think the quality is as good and I'd rather pay a bit more for the comfort in the long run.

All from Dunnes Stores

BEDROOM

You're going to be spending a lot of time in your bedroom while you're at uni whether that's studying at your desk or just procrastinating on your laptop in bed so make sure you get a few bits and bring some things from home to make you feel at home in your room.

 Butterfly Cushion- Next

Eiffel Tower Cushion- Homestore and More

Fake Flowers, Bed Linen, Lamp- All IKEA

Covent Garden Sign- Shop in London

MISCELLANEOUS 

Last but not least if you're a girl and prepping for a night out you'll want to have the hair dryer, straighteners and phone charging all at once so may I suggest investing in an ultra glamorous extension cord? Some batteries and white-tac won't go astray either.

3 Way Plug, Extension Cord and Light bulb- All IKEA

I've a few more things to pick up before I head of but all this stuff is the bones of  what I'm bringing. If you have any suggestions as to anything else I have to lug across the pond with me please do pop them down in the comments. And to any one else who's frantically running around from shop to shop I hope this gives you a list of ideas.

Thanks for reading,

Ciara xx

Catching Up and Halloween Fun

Hello lovelies!

Well.....Long time no see.....Yes this is a little embarrassing indeed... So I'm going to get the ball rolling by saying I'm so sorry for the serious lack of posts going up on here over the last month or so I've been so busy with college work and commuting that it seems every time I have a spare moment I end up asleep or find myself staring off into nothingness whilst my brain takes a rest from everything!

But I'm back now and I shall never leave you like that again without so much as a word.

I thought I'd give you a little update on how things are going at the moment as I'm now almost 2 months into my time at Trinity College in Dublin and I'm loving it! I have to admit I didn't expect there to be so much work so early on in the course (I'm doing Business and French if you were wondering) but I get through it and now I'm in the middle of a mid-term so I'm catching up and also attempting to get a head start on future assignments. 

There's a general consensus with some people in Ireland that people who go to Trinity are so 'lah di dah' and snooty but I can honestly say I haven't met a single person like that so far and luckily everyone who is on my course is really lovely and we have great craic with each other.

But enough about that I don't want to bore you with an overload of details, I thought I'd take the chance to show you my Halloween costume I wore last Thursday. I must warn you I am not the most Halloweeny of people so the idea of dressing up hadn't even crossed my mind until the day I was supposed to be going out! So in a mad rush I dashed to Penny's (that's Primark for any non-Irish) and rustled up a look that somewhat resembled a costume, I do apologise if you think this is the world's dodgiest attempt but I did try!

Behold Superwoman! 

Cuffs & Belt- Penny's (Primark)

Red Skirt- Penny's (Primark)

Blue Leotard- A ballet leotard from years ago.

Homemade Superwoman sign 

 The night ended up being great fun and it turned out to be the first Halloween I actually enjoyed! I hope all of your October the 31st's went just a well, why not tell me what you dressed up as? (perhaps I may steal a few ideas for next year and be better prepared..)

Again I'm sorry for abandoning you for such a stretch of time, it shan't happen again :)

Thanks for reading,
Ciara xx

Life Changes

Hello lovelies!

Ok so it's quite a different post today as I thought I'd try out doing a little 'life update' post. As thousands upon thousands of Irish secondary students will know in June 2013 I sat the Irish Leaving Certificate, an exam that has the potential to map out the rest of your life for you. These exams area seriously stressful and can really take it out of the best of people. Fortunately I survived the ordeal and moved on with my summer filling it with travel and friends in a futile attempt to forget that in a few weeks time I would get my results....

Wednesday August 14th came around like a lightening bolt and all of a sudden I found myself driving up to my old school to collect my fate, wrapped up tight and served in a brown envelop with a side of anxiety.



In my opinion grades and results are not the most important things in the world and my approach to the Leaving Cert was very relaxed which is why I didn't think I was going to do well. However I was absolutely over the moon to receive 3 A1's, 3 A2's and a B1 in my exams. That amounts to 595 points out of a possible total of 625 so it was safe to say I was one happy girl.

Getting that amount of points meant that I was offered my first choice of university courses which was Business and French at Trinity College Dublin. I'm not entirely sure if I'll love my course but I'm so excited to get into the university student lifestyle. New friends, new classes, new experiences and tonnes of societies and clubs to get involved in. Yesterday I got my welcome email from Trinity and it got me all excited and ready to start choosing my extra course modules (law, political science or sociology? You tell me?). Freshers week starts September 16th!

On another note as you may have seen last year around this time of year my brother attended his debs which is like an american prom but slightly more formal in that the girls usually wear long flowing dresses and the guys buy corsages. Well, this year it's finally my turn to take a whack at the debs and on Tuesday September 3rd I'll be getting all dolled up to dance the night away with my friends. Here are a few hints as to what I'll be wearing but don't worry I'll be posting up a few photos of the day.

Only about 9 more days to go! My friends have put in so much work and I know it'll be worth it.

Right so if you've lasted this long I'd like to first of all congratulate you for getting through all that and also I'd like to reassure you that I'll be back to the usual posts ASAP. Look out for a university haul coming soon.

Ciara xxx