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

Stay Free, Don’t Go Cause We Don’t Need No Shows''

Hey Everyone!

If you can read this it means I've survived my first week as a Sixth Year student! I went back on Wednesday morning with my blazer, new school bag and a knot of nerves and anxious feelings in my stomach.

It was slightly strange going back to school for the last time, it felt much more real when I realised that the day was my last ever 'back to school day' in secondary school. We got our timetables sorted and had Assembly which was littered with the words, ''Leaving Cert,'' ''Achieve your potential,'' ''Results day'' and ''Points'' at approximate 30 second intervals. As you can imagine my back to school nerves just increased tenfold during all that. (Not fun but I feel most of the year all needed that little DMC)

I have some different teachers this year but most of them are the same. In all honesty by the end of the first day, it felt as if I never even left the school for 3 months for summer. Slightly sickening however I'm glad with how smoothly I've adjusted to going back to school.

I don't really want to talk too much about school in this blog post. A main reason for this is that a lot more people from my school now know about The Random Life of Aveen. It has made me feel much more conscious about what I type here. At first this was a place where I could write quite freely, however now I think that certain topics are either censored or an absolute 'no-go' zone.

It's a little weird to say but two of my teachers mentioned my blog to me during the week. One of my teachers saw me in the corridor saying that they saw the article of Grace and I in the local paper and congratulated me for it. Another mentioned it in class time and wrote down on the white board what website to vote for me for 'Best Blog Post' in the Blog Awards Ireland was and made everyone in the class write it down in their journal. (My face turned beetroot red in all of this but I genuinely appreciate the gesture)  If you're curious about what the competition is, the link is here.

 I wouldn't go as far as to say I feel restrained in what I can say or discuss here, yet it is playing on my mind that there are many more eyes on my page, reading my words and possibly looking for something meaty or juicy to discuss during lunch on Monday. I won't lie but I got that feeling on Wednesday morning at approximately 10.25 am. Not calling people out however I would just like it known that if you talk about people in a large crowd, there is quite a high chance that said person could be 8 paces ahead with quite good hearing. That is all.

I'm quite grateful it's now the weekend, I was only in school for three days yet I feel completely drained.
I will most likely be even worse as the year progresses. Fun times to look ahead to! (Along with a possible coffee addiction) In Fifth Year I became quite dependant on coffee however I stopped drinking it over summer. I think I'll be back on coffee quite shortly though!

To try ease the pain of starting Sixth Year, I treated myself to a new pair of Converse! They're blue and utterly gorgeous! I'm nearly too scared to wear them as they're immaculate! I have a teeny bit of an obsession with Converse, I wear them in different colours depending on the outfit! I was in my local bookshop and picked up ''Eleanor and Park'' by Rainbow Rowell. I'm currently engrossed in 'A Game Of Thrones' ie the first book of GOT which is excellent so after that I'll read Eleanor and Park probably!

All my family were in my house today (Sunday) for a local event in the graveyard (everyone visits the graves of their loved ones and a Mass is said then everyone goes home) So the majority of my aunts and uncles on my Mam's side of the family came up to visit. Needless to say the house was packed for most of the afternoon! It was great seeing most of my relatives, except that none are my age, they're all either toddlers or adults! I seem to forget that I'll legally be in adult on September 26th this year

My Week In Photos!

My Sixth Year timetable *cries*

That's all from me for this week, back to the books for some study! (Did all the homework on Saturday but still have some study to do, it never ends!) 

Stay Strong, Happy and Fearless!
Aveen xx

Lyrics: Gerard Way ~ No Shows 

I started listening to Gerard Way's new album (the two songs released so far) and they're so different to his music with MCR, yet I still find his new songs quite easy to listen to. What do you think? Were you a hardcore MCR fan before they split?

It's Like I Got This Music In My Mind Singing, "It's Gonna Be Alright."

Hey Everyone!

Hope you're well and enjoying your summer (what's left of it!) I'm starting Sixth Year on Wednesday which has left me feeling both nervous, yet excited about my final year in secondary school.

Upon my imminent return to school, I've been thinking a lot about my life, school and also possible careers to consider after my Leaving Cert. It's quite scary to think that my time in second level education is drawing to a close in this final year, as I can still recall my first day as a First Year as clear as anything.

I know that this blog post is late, I was constantly distracted with various things particularly on Sunday. I've been getting ready for going back to school and just organising my exam papers is a nightmare! I'm bringing my books to my locker tomorrow (Tuesday) so I won't be dragging them in on The First Day.

On Saturday night it was my friend Mary's birthday dinner! We all went to the chinese and had a lovely evening. As you can see below, as a group photograph was taken, a surprise photobomber emerged! I asked his permission if I could put it on my blog so here it is! Thank you Mysterious Photobomber!

Later that night I went to my cousin Claire's 40th birthday party (yes two parties in one night!) Where I chatted with my lovely Aunties and cousins (It was a girls only evening) and may have been force-fed a glass of wine but we won't talk about that. I spent most of the evening talking to my Aunty Pauline and Godmother Rebecca about books and tv shows. In general it was a brilliant night!

On Sunday, my parents, brother and I went to the shopping centre and I did some shopping (for exam papers *cries*) but I bought some things in TK Maxx which you can see below.I also got Converse socks (Have an obsession with Converse okay) and they're really comfortable. I bought a new purse for school which is an Osprey purse. Needless to say I adore it! I also bought a Parisian style box which I'm keeping all my notebooks and letters in so they're not cluttering my study desk like they have been doing all summer..

***You can click HERE to vote for me in the Blog Awards Best Blog Post competition. Just look for ''The Random Life of Aveen'' and vote. I promise it'll take less than a minute!

Hello Photobomber!

Selfie! (Shock horror I'm actually wearing make up for once!)

Photo with Casey and Aisling!

'Not Impressed' by Grace

Aisling claimed I'm photogenic, thank you but the jury is still out on this one

Sweets from Claire's 40th!

That's about it from me! Keep me in your thoughts on Wednesday morning as I embark on my last year in secondary school and the start of 'the rest of my life' *shakes from fear*

Stay Strong, Happy & Fearless!

Aveen xx

*********************************************************************************PS !! Grace of Dainty Sprinkles & I did two more Awkward Sprinkles videos which you'll be able to view on our channels. Links will be here when they're uploaded!

Did I mention that I did the Ice Bucket Challenge this evening? It was cold. Text 'MND' to 50300 to donate 2 euro to such a worthy cause. 

*Lyrics: Taylor Swift ~ Shake It Off