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

Life As Of Late

As it's the summer and my first year of college has come to a close, I've spent the past couple of months back at home. To be totally honest, I've been a little bit of a hermit due to work, being ill for a number of weeks and other factors.

Here's some of the things I've been getting up to recently.


Petting Goats

If you read my Twitter or Tumblr, it's hard to deny that I love goats. I think they're so lovely and cute! I've spent countless hours watching Vines of baby pygmy goats and follow a few goat focused Instagram accounts. I recently visited Kia Ora Mini Farm, who have several pygmy goats as well as animals of every type and description. But of course my attention was directed towards the lovely goats. I stood there in the baking sun simply petting goats for an afternoon recently. An afternoon well spent really. 

Pokemon Go

                                             

Who isn't obsessed with Pokemon Go lately? The Sibling and I have been going on frequent walks around town looking for Pokemon, Pokestops and lures. It's been a fun week running around after Eevee's, Pigeots and even an Arcanine! Playing the game really reminds me of my childhood, Pokemon was a huge feature of my life as a child. 

Reading Books - As Always!

I'm making an effort to continue reading every day. At the moment I'm stuck into the Jack Reacher series of books by Lee Child. At the moment I'm reading, 'Nothing to lose' which is quite interesting so far. All the previous books have been excellent so I'm optimistic that this one will be just as good.

Sending Snapchats/Thinking I'm Humorous 

 

Snapchat is honestly one of my favourite apps at the moment. Like everyone else, I love the filters that I can apply. Here's some of my recent snaps to my friends with my supposedly 'funny' captions. Maybe I need to go outside more often. . . 

Taking Selfies

Snapchat is again to blame for this (and the filters). Here's a small selection but boy there are a lot more floating around!

Coffee/ Hot Drinks

As a self-confessed coffee addict, I love a good strong coffee as much as anyone. If I could spend my days drinking coffee, reading books and newspapers then I would be very happy indeed!

Here's what I've been up to lately, have you been doing anything strange or unusual lately? 

Let me know in the comments, tweet me or send me a snapchat, my name is awkwardaveen on SC

Aveen x

''I'm Trying To Be Somebody Else but Everybody Else is Taken''

I started my second semester back in January after a wonderful 5 weeks of Christmas holidays. The second week of the semester has ended and week 3 is approaching. In all honesty, it feels as if we never quite left for the length of time we did.

In my college, it was RAG week and if you're a college student you'll know exactly what antics we were all up to! The Student's Union opened a bar in the SU Lounge for the week which was brilliant, especially as there were wonderful performances by various acts, which I really enjoyed.

I realise it's been nearly a month since my last update. Instead of the over-sharing I once did on my blog, I'm at the opposite end of the spectrum where I share very little content that is to a degree, planned carefully. The title of this blog post comes from the song, 'Best Man' by The Strypes. The lyric has been reverberating in my head for a number of weeks, mainly because I can connect to those few syllables so well. I've been struggling with my own identity as of late. There's different versions of 'Aveen' floating around and I'm not quite sure which of the categories and identities is currently most applicable to me.

For several months I've questioned my identity, 'Who exactly am I?' has been a question plaguing my mind for a long time. During my secondary school years, I clung to my online identity. I felt that by adopting the persona of 'Awkward Aveen,' it might have made my days easier - which it both did and didn't. When that persona didn't quite work in my favour, I went to being determined, hard working but incredibly quiet for a lot of 2015.

Upon starting college, I was left with the dilemma of who exactly I wanted to be. It's still very much an issue I experience on a daily basis. I didn't want to be known solely by my musings on the internet (great thing is that many of my friends know, but it doesn't bother them, mainly due to my infrequency of updates) yet, for several years, the blog was an integral part of my life, giving me confidence to be a person I never thought I'd could be.

I did consider quitting blogging a number of times throughout my first semester. I wasn't gaining any satisfaction in blogging. I felt that I was typing to a brick wall and felt quite lonely in the blogging world. I'm planning on being more involved in the blogging world this year, as I miss the friends I made through writing online.

Please don't get me wrong, I still struggle with issues related to confidence (that's a story for another day my friends) but I think these are eased by blogging. It's viewed as attention seeking or narcissistic to write on a blogging platform by some -  yet for me it's not related to that at all. Blogging is therapeutic, typing on a keyboard allows me to clear my mind and prevent any negative emotions from building up. Last semester I complained about a lack of time which reduced my ability to create content. This semester I am determined to post on a more regular basis.

To document one's life I think is a wonderful concept. I've re-read over diaries I kept from my childhood and early teenage years and I desire to do the same with regards to my late teenage and early adult years. One must not be afraid of their emotions. Our feelings make us human, stronger, not weaker. That's something I really want to fully learn the value of.

Tuesday night in Crush with some of the girls, the camera quality the photographer used was amazing. 

Most of the girls I live with in college quite literally 'out in force'! 

An assortment of selfies with the girls!

I went to see Ardal O'Hanlon in one of the local hotels on Saturday night. It was a brilliant evening that I spent literally laughing my head off.

One of my Christmas presents was the first Jack Reacher book by Lee Child. My Mam is a massive fan and decided it was time I joined the obsession. I'm about to start the fourth book (there's 19 in the series) so I have lots of reading to do - exciting times. I'd definitely recommend reading the books, they're absolutely fantastic. 

Aveen xx

*Title of blog post: The Strypes - Best Man 

Shopping Haul, feat. Hollister, Orla Kiely & Local Shops!

Hey Everyone!

I apologise for my lack of blogging as of late, so here's a haul of some items I've purchased in recent weeks. The shops I bought from were Hollister, Orla Kiely and a couple of local shops in my area.  I was checking my emails and found that several sales were going on and of course, I couldn't resist! 

First up is this gorgeous purse from the Orla Kiely website. Orla Kiely is an Irish designer and I'm a big fan of supporting local and Irish. My last purse was quite dark so this new purse has injected a pop of colour into my handbag (also an Orla Kiely design - can you tell that I like her designs?) I will admit that I only buy her designs when they're on sale as I'm a student with very limited spending power!

After that, I went onto the Hollister website. which coincidentally was also having a sale. (Sales are my favourite thing, okay) I picked up this pretty long-sleeved top. It's really soft and cosy - perfect for Winter! I generally wear short-sleeves so this will be wonderfully warm in the coming months.

I adore hoodies so I bought this one on the Hollister website too. It's really roomy and so warm! It's very spacious and generous for its size - a rarity for Hollister! It's perfect for chilly evenings. 

Also in Hollister, I picked up this light, white t-shirt. Like the hoodie, it's very roomy and made of a wonderfully soft fabric. I haven't worn this t-shirt yet but it'll be perfect should the Summer decide to return. (Fingers crossed!)

I was going around my local shops and came across this stunning bag. I'll most likely be bringing it to the Debs in August. The bag sparkles in sunlight and I just adore it. 

A new arts & craft shop opened recently, so obviously I had to go for a little peek even though I wouldn't be the definition of an artist. (I felt inspired to make my own cards after leaving though, which is a start) I came across the butterfly, unicorn and cow stickers which are unbelievably adorable. I'll definitely be making more trips to try release my inner ''artist'' (I'll be positive seeing as I can barely draw a straight line)

Have you bought any interesting items/products lately or any summer sale bargains? Let me know in the comments! 

Stay Strong, Happy and Fearless!
Aveen xx

Blogger Meetup in Dundrum

Hey Everyone!

Last Sunday I travelled to Dundrum with Grace to our second blogger meet up! We met up with Jane, Sarah, Cliona, Karolina and Ciara. Jane, Sarah, Grace and I had met up at the previous blogger meet up earlier in the year but we were just as excited to see each other again.

After initial introductions and hugs, we started to plan where to go for lunch. We eventually decided to go for a 'Cheeky Nando's' as most of us had never been there before. Hence, our jokes of 'Archbishop Of Banterbury,' 'M8s' and more began. We were all seated and had a delicious lunch. The conversation was mainly based around our schools, providing funny tales and anecdotes and of course, the Leaving Cert! The Leaving Cert has a nasty habit of infiltrating conversations even when you're 15 or 18.

After our cheeky Nando's, we went wandering around Dundrum using Jane as a guide. I swear she knows the centre like the back of her hand! We ended up outside and promptly began taking selfies. We used the self-timer on Jane's phone for the first 'Squad Goals' selfie. Unfortunately, my selfie stick didn't want to cooperate with Jane's phone so we had to abandon it. We took copious amounts of selfies and giggled our way through it.

We went window-shopping and into several shops including Hollister - which is considerably brighter now. Last time I went, I was nearly bumping into all the displays. A trip to Starbucks is nearly a compulsory requirement when going to Dundrum so I got a beautiful caramel frappuccino! The best part though was how the barista spelt my name right! (A standing ovation would be appropriate.) We went outside to the astro turf and started chatting and playing games. Cliona was the first to leave and departed amidst hugs and farewells.

Soon, it started lashing rain so we all dashed to Hamleys. Any hint of maturity we possessed quickly evaporated once we set our sights on the toys. I went around squealing, reminiscing over childhood memories with certain toys and television shows. I got an Iron Man fan and sweets for The Sibling who fangirled internally. (Fanboyed perhaps?)

I nearly left out a vital part of the day! One of my friends (Hello!) sent me a photo of a top from Penneys with 'Blogger' written on it. She recommended that I bought it for fun. I mentioned it to Jane and we made it our mission to find the t-shirt. It's unbelievable yet we actually found it! Myself, Jane and Sarah bought the tee on the spot with the other girls going to the their local Penneys in the week to find it. It might as well now be our Squad uniform now. So thanks again to my friend! :)

Sadly, Grace and I were the next ones to leave. Overall, it was a fantastic day with lots of fun and friendships made. I really enjoyed the day and it was fantastic to have the opportunity to meet such lovely girls!

Down below are some photos from the day and I'll leave the links to the girls' blogs below.

Photo credits to Jane and Grace 

Jane - Queen of Quirk

Grace - Dainty Sprinkles

Sarah - Typical Blue Eyed Brunette

Karolina - Brunette-Wavez

Cliona - Cliona Hill

Sadly, Ciara doesn't have a blog but she really should. Her fashion style is impeccable! 

Stay Strong, Happy & Fearless!
Aveen x

''Show Them All You're Not The Ordinary Type''

Hey Everyone!

I am now officially on my Easter Holidays! Unfortunately for me, it won't be a time of relaxation as I have my Irish and German Orals (Speaking Exam) as soon as I'm back in school.

I'm taking the three weekends off, however I'll be studying for ten days (two school weeks so to speak) I'm also doing Easter Study as another way to motivate me. I'm glad I had two mock Irish orals during the week as I learnt all 20 sraithpictiur for them. As well as orals, I also have to finish  my Ag Science project which will be interesting!

Grace was 16 during the week so we all went out to celebrate. It was a brilliant night and resulted in some funny selfies being taken (Some are down below) I had forgotten how rowdy TY's were in comparison to Sixth Years. They were bursting with energy when all I wanted to do was sit and relax. Oh well.

Apart from swotting sraithpictiur (I wish I could literally hit them sometimes) and going to Grace's party, very little happened during the week. I have a feeling that from here on in until June, my life will be a little dull due to the immense amount of study I'll be doing. (Being a perfectionist is not fun) It was weird to do no homework or study whatsoever over Saturday and Sunday. When the Leaving Cert ends, I will have no idea what to do during my spare time (Probably scroll through Tumblr)

I've found myself scrawling in some of my notebooks which is so relaxing and helps relieve some of the stresses of exam preparation. I'm working on some other blog posts and even a YouTube video or two. Hopefully I can achieve everything I want to over Easter.

Grace and I !

Viv and I!

AwkwardSprinkles

When you're studying Sraithpictiur, anything seems funny.

Hello there! I didn't see you behind the stacks of books in my room!

How will you be spending your Easter holidays? 

Relaxing or cramming for two weeks like me?
Let me know in the comments!

Stay Strong, Happy and Fearless!
Aveen 

*Lyrics: Panic! At The Disco - Let's Kill Tonight