Back to College Stationery Haul!

It's officially that time of year again - preparing to go back to school or college! You might be thinking, ''I still have a month of left my holidays, leave me alone Aveen!'' yet I feel you can never prepare too early for going back in September. 

As I will be starting my second year in college, I now realise what stationery I actually need for my college course (primary teaching). Last year I went slightly insane buying every and any piece of stationery I could place my hands on. (Including a page hole puncher which I have not yet used). This year however, I was more sensible thankfully! 

To start with, I bought a school bag from the Roxy website. Even when I was in secondary school I always had to have a Roxy school bag. I found them so spacious, stylish and comfy to lug my heavy books around in. Needless to say, this ethos hasn't changed so I bought a floral patterned bag this year. Funnily enough, the bag matches the pencil case I bought in Penneys/Primark! (not in that photo but in normal daylight they match). 

For lectures and tutorials I always bring refill pads to write notes or to occasionally doodle. I tend to buy refill pads with dividers in them and you can label each section according to each subject. Due to the amount of modules I study each semester I usually need 2 refill pads with 5 dividers in each. I find it a lot easier coming up to exam and assignment time to study as I know where my notes are. 

I picked up some sticky tape with dispensers (you never know when they will come in handy). I got two so I have one for my bedroom at home and one for my room in Limerick. Likewise I bought two sets of sticky notes so I won't have to carry extra things around when I'm travelling to-and-from at the weekends. 

Blue tack is also a great investment to get. I found I went through a lot of blue tack when I was teaching on placement last semester. As a result I keep blue tack with me at all times during college time. 

I also bought two lever-arch folders for future placements later on in the college term, along with the poly-pockets to go in the folders. Sharpies were also on special offer in Tesco (where I also got the majority of my stationery, their section of stationery is just a dream!) so I picked a pack of them up, along with pens, pencils, an eraser and highlighters. 

I also find that light plastic folders are great for keeping any hand-outs or notes you might be given in tutorials or lectures. Depending on the subject, I could get several handouts from my tutors or lecturers. Keeping them in the small plastic folder is great especially coming up to exam time as you know exactly where the notes are. 

I also picked up two smaller notepads, one will be for writing down my 'homework' or my to-do list whilst in college. In some lectures we're asked to study readings in advance of the next tutorial or lecture so I'll most likely write down the necessary information in one of the notepads so I can keep on top of my work. 

I hope this has helped anyone starting college as a guiding point for what to buy as regards to stationery. If you aren't sure what to get (regardless of your college course) a refill pad and a few pens/pencils is always an excellent starting point. I think with my course I go through a lot more stationery than the average college student, I feel as though I spend the college year just stocking up on stationery!

Have you gotten any cute stationery or notebooks for going back to school or college?
Send me a snap (SC: awkwardaveen), tweet me or let me know in the comments!

Aveen x

To a great mind, nothing is little ~ Sherlock Holmes

Hey Everyone!

I was meant to write this blog post last night, however time soon turned against me, meaning it was past midnight when I was ready to type a single letter on my keyboard.

I generally avoid writing at night, at all costs. This may seem a little strange, however it's just something I have to do to avoid any negative thoughts seeping into my mind and conscience. It's why I generally try and finish any homework before 9 or 10 pm  at night, it gets bad when I'm not finished by that time.

For a change, you won't really notice this but I will, I decided to write this entire blog post in a notebook before I posted it. This means that I wrote this blog post in my blogging notebook and transferred it later on into a blog post. I found that my vocabulary and linking sentences between paragraphs improved dramatically when I wrote down my thoughts on paper instead of typing keyboard buttons.

So now onto TRLOA. On Monday, you probably already knew, it was St. Patrick's Day, a massive day in the Irish calendar. I won't go into too many details about the parade and all that, I was mainly just irritated by the many people on social networking sites who called the day ''St. Patty's Day'' *Cringes from embarrassment*

I had school the next day (Tuesday) so I was honestly surprised about how many people were in school the next day, considering the previous day was Paddy's Day. However when I say that, there was a lot of very tired and possibly hungover students and teachers walking slowly through the corridors at 9 am!

The rest of the week was a blur, so I'll use the photos below to describe the rest of the week.

My Week In Photos

I wore this on Friday and I just adored the black collar, I've been wearing it a lot with my cosy jumpers as it's still relatively cold. 

Collar and Jumper: Both Penneys

 

''Hey Aveen you haven't been tweeting a lot lately, why is that?'' 

Comparative English Essay, fun.. 

Writing 4 a4 pages about Wuthering Heights and I'm Not Scared is how evenings are spent now...

Some of the quotations I wrote and stuck on my wall on Saturday afternoon

My latest letter from my penpal Claire  ! The envelope was covered in really pretty teddy bear stickers, I'll be writing a reply very soon. 

I was down town doing some shopping when I saw this beautiful poster of Sherlock. It's now beside my bed and I love it!

Here's a few of the new quotes I stuck up on my wall on Saturday. Most of them are Sherlock and Doctor Who quotes

Even more quotes! These are right beside my bed so I can see them every morning and night and stay inspired! (Motivated today, sorry)

Productive afternoon.. 

Three of my favourite quotes at the moment. 

Doctor Who #11 

So that's all from me, I also did a mini- stationery haul at the weekend which I'll be posting maybe in the middle of the week. 

Wishing you all a lovely week ahead,

Stay Strong, Happy & Fearless!

Aveen xx