May Blogging Challenge

Well it's been another crazy month that seems to have flown by a little too fast. While this month hasn't been my most active in terms of blogging I'm still really proud of how my blog has been ticking over all  on its own, yay me!

Looking forwards to May I have the big scary problem of exams and because I am a total genius I have decided to take a blogging challenge. Organised by the lovely Elizabeth at  ttp://www.rosalilium.com/ go take a look at her blog, she's brilliant, she once wrote a whole post about bacon. I'm not even lying.check it out here.

Anyway!

Every day in May I will be blogging a variety of topics, to be fair I am writing as many posts in advance as I can (cheating? Maybe, but I like to think my exams have slight priority).

If you follow me on twitter I will be using the hashtag #BEDM a lot to share my posts.

Wish me luck!

Keep it scrimpy
Laura.

My summer resolutions

This post is inspired Alex's tweet. 

It got me thinking, why do we only make resolutions in January? Why not one every month? Well now the end of the academic year is creeping up on me quickly, hand in deadlines are here and exams are getting ever closer. So among all this I'm procrastinating to the max and looking ahead to summer. So inspired by Alex's tweet here are my summer resolutions.

• Go to London- I love London, I'm a massive tourist when I go, might even invest in a bum bag to complete that tourist look.
• Go on spontaneous day trips- Not including pub trips.
• Take out a gym membership- I actually really enjoyed going to the gym over easter.
• Actually use said gym membership- I have a feeling this shall be the hard bit
• Relax - I have worked really hard this year, I think I deserve it
• Go 'outside' more often- I have stupidly signed up to a module called 'Geography outdoors' for next year.
• Spend some quality time with my dog- she's getting on a bit now but neither of us can really hack long walkies anyway. We are a good match
• Go on a picnic
• Spend quality time with friends
• Go blackberry picking- I know this is more in the autumn time but it still comes under my summer break. 
• Do more thrifty crafts- I haven't been crafting as much since I came to uni, I don't really have the space.

We shall see how well these go over summer.

Do you have any summer plans already? Feel free to share!

Keep it scrimpy.
Laura.

Sunny Days in Bangor.

This weekend has been amazing and has reminded me why I came to Bangor in the first place, there aren't many uni's where you can go and have a BBQ on the beach on your day off and since it was so sunny yesterday Epti, Giselle and I headed to the beach armed with a BBQ and kites (from poundland of course).

This was the view across the menai straits yesterday afternoon. We were amazed how blue the water was. 

Getting the BBQs going

The views were seriously beautiful 

Our kites from Poundland provided a few hours of fun. I called mine Kevin.

I was loads better at flying kites than Giselle. We also taught Epti how to skim stones, she was a natural! 

 After then BBQ we sat and watched the sun set. The perfect end to a perfect day in Bangor.

Epti, Giselle and I.  

I felt really lucky to be here in Bangor this weekend, great people and beautiful scenery. I am a very Lucky Lady.

Keep it scrimpy.
Laura.

An easter update.

Easter seems like forever ago now, but I arrived back in Bangor last night to some typical Welsh rain. I've had a good rest over easter and although I really enjoyed my blogging break I'm glad to be back. So here is a few updates from my easter break, mostly in photo form. Enjoy!



My first mission when I got back was to see my dog and giver her some major cuddles. To be fair most of my easter was spent snuggling playing or walking with the dog.

I caught up with some friends and family which included cocktails at midday and feeding the ducks, a trip to the casino and finally a road trip to a victorian town!

Feeding the duckies with Poppy (after cocktails)

A trip to the Victorian Village with Jon

Hehehee a building with a face!

We had tea for two (from the worlds biggest teapot)

And I got to be a nerdy Geographer!

I also cooked brownies, they were seriously amazing. The cream egg ones were alright but OH MY DAYS the chocolate orange brownies with an orange syrup were out of this world.

Just look how beautiful it looks...

Finally I decided to invest in a new camera. I was going to wait until my birthday but when this little beauty came up on groupon for only £70 I couldn't really say no. I love it, it's like my baby. I'm hoping it will help with getting me off my lazy arse over summer, we shall see.

I hope everyone has had a good easter, now if you'll excuse me I have an essay to stare at  write.

Keep it scrimpy.
Laura.

R.I.P Maggie T.

I hope everyone is having a really good easter, sorry I have been neglecting the blog but I have needed a break. Now I'm back and ready to rant. Yes, sorry it's another rant post.

So I have literally JUST heard the news about Margaret Thatcher and already I have seen sick jokes floating around on Twitter and Facebook. She may not have been the most popular politician but people need to have some respect she was a mother and a grandmother. Carol and Mark Thatcher have lost their mother, regardless of politics she was a mother.

Thatcher was a great woman again regardless of her political beliefs and actions she was the first female prime minister and won three general elections. She paved the way for women in a mans world and deserves respect for that.

Her campaign manager, Airey Neave, who was instrumental to her election success was killed on 30th March 1979 by the Irish National Liberation Army who placed a bomb under his car. She also survived an assassination attempt in 1984. The attack took place on the hotel in Brighton in which she was staying for the Conservative Party Conference on the early hours of the morning on the 12th of October. After narrowly escaping injury she then insisted the conference going ahead as scheduled despite the death of 5 people. What a woman! Anyone who has the strength to carry on after an experience like that has my respect. Just imagine going through that and then carrying on the next day, I couldn't do it.

People who are sharing sick jokes literally seconds after they have heard the news of her death need to stop and think about their actions. It just makes me so angry that people have so little respect for another human being.

I'm not ashamed to say that she is one of my role models, not necessarily because of her political beliefs but because of her strength and determination as a woman. I don't think I could ever show the strength that she has in life May she rest in peace.

Keep it scrimpy.
Laura.

My something crazy

So I'm finally home for Easter! I almost didn't (stupid snow). I decided that this Easter I needed to get my arse in gear, I'm back at work so I'm not staying in bed all day every day, just the occasional day, but I wanted something to motivate me to get out and about.

I'm not really an overly active person, I dislike 'the outside'. My dog and shopping are the main reasons for my venturing 'outside' for leisure related purposes. By 'outside' I mean venturing anywhere by choice where there is a chance of be getting wet or cold. I've decided that since I'm a geographer I really should be more of the outdoors type so this was my first step to becoming more active and I have big plans for a whole new active/outdoors me this summer, however I am still waiting for summer to come along so those plans are on hold..

So I did something crazy. Something totally out of character. I joined the gym. 

For the next few weeks I shall be hitting the gym 2/3 times a week, currently I'm full of enthusiasm however I'm not expecting it to last so my plan to keep myself motivated is...

• Go with friends
• Carry my gym stuff in my bag all the time
• Tell everyone that I will be going to the gym so I feel obliged to go

Any other tips to keep me motivated would be much appreciated!

Keep it scrimpy.
Laura.

Why I fell in love with Bangor- The open days

One of the first sets of posts I did was about how to choose a university that is right for you but it recently struck me that I never said why I chose Bangor. So this is my story... Part 1

Warning this is quite a wordy/rambling post

Bangor was always on my list of unis to apply to. I love Wales, I spent most of my summers in the area as a kid, my grandparents had a caravan in Towyn. Anyway, I knew I wouldn't get the grades to go to Cardiff and Aber was too far away from home and it didn't really appeal to me on the open day so that just left Bangor really. Being from a small town I'm not really into the whole big city thing, I visited Leeds and while the shopping was amazing I missed grass and trees. So eventually I applied to Bangor, Chester, Sheffield Hallam, Plymouth and University of Nottingham. I got offers back from all 5. I picked Bangor as my first choice and Plymouth as my second only because it was my lowest offer. I don't think I would have gone to uni if I hadn't got in here.

For Bangor I attended one UCAS open day and one of the Senergy open days then I visited a few more times on my own.

UCAS open day 

The first open day I came to was a UCAS open day where the whole uni was open to any prospective students, I booked my place very early on and came along with my dad. The weather was amazing, Bangor seems to have a habit of whipping out the good weather just in time for an open day. We packed a little picnic in the car and set off nice and early, wouldn't want to be late now would we?

When we arrived I remember thinking how organised everything was, the whole town was sign posted, we were told where to park. My dad didn't put the handbrake on enough, when we got back to the car it had rolled out of it's space, lucky it didn't hit anyone. Anyway, my Dad's driving skills aside, we were then placed on a bus and were taken up to main arts where we got talked at by someone important about finance or something, I was just amazed by the room we were in (PJ hall) it is true what they say it is like Hogwarts!

After our talk we went off to a Halls tour, again a coach was very kindly provided! Compared to what I had already seen from other unis this was luxury (the halls not the coach). We decided to ditch the group here and walk back to Thoday since the weather was so good (where we found the car half escaped from the parking space).

Next we had a Senergy talk, now this was the bit I was most excited about I finally got to meet my lecturers and maybe even some people who would be on my course (although if I did I don't remember). Things are a bit fuzzy now but I remember Graham attempting to be funny but I think I was a little overwhelmed by the day so it all went over my head slightly, plus he does tell awful jokes anyway, the kind your dad thinks are funny. I also remember being terrified of Sian (how very wrong first impressions can be) and I remember thinking Lynda was brilliant because she was a northerner. At one point Senergy supplied us with lunch which was very welcome! Trust me it's worth coming to an open day just for the BBQ chicken sandwiches. We then split into our course groups which meant as a Geographer I had another hour of talks (bad jokes) from Graham and the team. You get used to his jokes, nowadays we almost find them funny...almost.

We then wandered back up to the main arts building where we got totally lost and ended up in some kind of meeting that we were sure we weren't supposed to be in, then people offered us food so we stayed. Next thing I know some guy is talking to me in Welsh, at least I think it was welsh, I hope it was since I said to the man, in the way all English people do when confronted with a foreign language, 'WE...DON'T...SPEAK...WELSH' he kind of looked at me and nodded then carried on anyway, you can imagine the look on our faces, we just slowly backed out of the room. I seriously hope I never meet this person again, or if I do I hope they don't recognize me.

After that humiliation we decided to call it a day. Since it was such a nice sunny day we called in at Llandudno where we had a picnic on the beach, which was a bad bad move, my dad had his sandwich stolen. I then watched him wrestle a seagull for a pork pie, you don't get between a stokie and a pork pie. Ever. We ended up having a picnic on Llandudno high street which wasn't quite a classy as we had pictured when we set out for a seaside picnic.

After a long but exciting day, it was time for home.

Senergy open day

Well somehow after the last open day I came back for another. Well played Senergy.

I only sat through half of this one (Graham's jokes had got worse). I thought I should come back and see Bangor again before  I made my final choice, although I was already 99.99% sure that Bangor was going to be my first choice plus there was promise of more of those BBQ chicken sandwiches. This time I made the journey to Bangor by rail just to test out the facilities as this would be my main way of getting home. By now I could already find my way to Thoday building so off we trotted from the station. When we turned up the weather wasn't as brilliant but it was nice to see Bangor looking not so glamorous and still loving it. Turns out  most of the talks and stuff were roughly the same as on the UCAS open day. We had a general welcome talk, a quick tour of the facilities and then a chat about finances followed by a free lunch (the best kind). Then we split into subject specific talks a.k.a 3/4 of an hour of Graham comedy gold. Then a GIS practical but I didn't really fancy the GIS practical .So at the half time break I asked Graham for the reading list so I could nerd it up over summer. Then we legged it to the high street for some quality shopping time. A girl has to road test all aspects of student life right?

Somehow between an escaping car, bad jokes (and a few almost funny ones), free food and a fight with a seagull I had fallen in love with Bangor and even as a write this post now, the wind is howling and it's bloody freezing but I wouldn't have it any other way.

Keep it scrimpy.
Laura.

p.s If you are reading this Graham, your jokes/funny stories aren't that bad, we actually quite like them they make lectures that little bit brighter.

International Happiness day.

So yesterday was the first ever international happiness day, launched by the UN in order to encourage governments to consider the emotional well being of their citizens. I would never know about these things if it wasn't for twitter.

I did attempt to start this blog post yesterday but I wasn't a very happy bunny yesterday, plus I had a report to write which was the reason I wasn't a happy bunny. So in an attempt to spread some happiness, here are some of the smaller things in life that make me smile, because why should we only be happy on one day?

My dog, well any dog really. I'm off home on Saturday for Easter and the plan is to have a whole three weeks of quality Laura-Lucky time. I keep a photo of her next to my bed, she makes me smile everyday (Yes I'm a soppy git!).

This little lady is in for some serious snuggles!

Food. My life is a constant battle between wanting more food and not wanting to get fat. Everything about food is amazing cooking, eating, maybe not the washing up but still. A proper Sunday lunch will always put a smile on my face, and a cheese board with warm bread and a baked camembert ooooh....

This was possibly the best meal I have eaten since coming to uni, possibly ever. I make mean roasties and oh my god my gravy is positively orgasmic! 

A good brew. I can't make a decent brew for shit, unless you are a builder, I make a good builders brew. I'm not entirely sure what I'm going to do next year without Giselle making brews for me 24/7. Can you make tea in bulk then re heat as needed?

Handing in work- The moment I put my report in the hand in box today it felt like a massive weight had been lifted, I can now finally look forwards to going home and enjoying the much needed break. The sound it make when it hits the bottom of the box it's like ' BOOM! HELL YEA GIRL YOU FINALLY DID IT! YOU GO GIRLFRIEND!' Well maybe it isn't exactly like that but it is in my head.

Being a massive geography nerd- Oh how my love my nerdy side! I was a little too enthusiastic about a 2 hour lecture on the Nitrogen cycle the other day but I don't even care I loved it (Judge me all you like I really don't care). Coasts, rivers and ecosystems are the main 'branches' of geography I get a little too excited about. I get a little too hyped up about a few case studies as well, my personal fave is The Holderness coast.

This was taken on holiday a few years ago when I dragged my Mother on a tour of the Holderness coast!

 I know I'm not alone on this one either, Richard is exactly the same with anything Tesco, although he is just obsessed.

Ducks- I think it's how they waddle, they just make me chuckle every time. And rubber ducks! They are fantastic!

Here are Jack and Jill before our trip to Italy. 

So what makes you guys smile?

Keep it scrimpy (and smiley).
Laura.

Bangor- The Good, the bad and the ugly

So if you're thinking of coming to Bangor everyone will be telling you why it's so amazing and while Bangor is amazing there are a few gory details I wouldn't want to gloss over, so here it is the good the bad and the ugly of Bangor.

The good

1. It's the perfect location for a geographer!- I really couldn't ask for much more, I'm a very lucky lady to be here. 
2. The people- I have met some of the nicest most amazing wonderful people since I arrived here in Bangor.
3. The views- Most people know I'm not much of and outdoor person but even I have to admit that some of the views around here are amazing.
4. It's not too close or too far from home- It's brilliant here, I can jump on the train and be home in 2 hours but at the same time it's too far for my mum to be turning up every weekend and cramping my style.
5. Lecturers are really friendly- Remember the mean girls quote 'Oh, I love seeing teachers outside of school. It's like seeing a dog walk on its hind legs' ? It really isn't like that at uni, it's almost like lecturers are people too. They are all really friendly and approachable, despite some first impressions.
6. It's not too big- It's really easy to find your way around very quickly and it's quite hard to get lost in Bangor. It's not a big scary city full of high rise concrete monsters and killer pigeons. 
7. Clubs and societies are free to join- There are very few unis that offer this, it was part of the student union's deal with the uni when they raised fees to £9,000. So it's a great place to try out a sport you have always fancied. 
8. Locals- No matter what anyone tells you in freshers week 99% of the locals are very friendly towards the student population.
9. Easy to get to- There are regular trains from London, Birmingham, Holyhead, Crewe and Chester. Ferries from Holyhead to Dublin ferries take from 2-3 hours and by road the A55 links the whole of the North Wales coast allowing travel from Chester in just over an hour
10. Main arts does look slightly like Hogwarts- A must for any Harry Potter fan

The bad

1. No primark!- I'm a primark addict, what can I say, I love a bargain. We are also missing a Wilko, oh how I miss wilko. At least we have my beloved Poundland.  
2. Bitch Hill- It's called bitch hill for a reason. I hate it, some days I can power up it no problem, others all I have to do is look at it and I need a nap.
3. We don't have a 24 hour library- This is being addressed by the current student union president so hopefully soon we will. Although we do have a 24 hour computer lab we are still missing the 24 hour library.
4. The road layout- It's awful, basically Bangor is a massive one way system. If you are planning on bringing your car to uni and you haven't been driving for that long or you are lacking confidence I would recommend you try and get up here over summer once you have your exam results and book a driving lesson with a local instructor. There are plenty of instructors who will happily do refresher courses or just one off lessons if it is your first time driving in Bangor. 
5. Internet on a wire- What is this the 90s? - Luckily they are currently installing WiFi in halls ready for September. It's been a pain in the ass this year as there is only one internet point in the kitchen so it's rubbish for when you want to do group work or revision. 
6. 'Locals'- There are always a few locals who aren't so lovely. The first night I got here we ran into a group of locals a few years older than us who were damn right rude to us. Considering it was my first night here I was sufficiently scared. That has been my only bad experience of locals everything else has been entirely positive.
7. Pontio - It was supposed to have opened in January, they started building just before christmas, now they are saying it will be finished in 2014. The plan is the building will be a world class arts and innovation centre. It might be world class but they are taking their bloody time about it!

The ugly

1. The chemistry tower- It really is an eyesore although I have heard whispers here and there that it is soon to be demolished, we shall see.
2. Dean Street- It doesn't look as bad as the chemistry tower but it isn't exactly good looking
3. Brambell Building- It's the home of Biology and while it isn't quite as bad as the Chemistry tower it's still ugly.
4. Our kitchen- The kitchens themselves are actually very nice although some of my flatmates seem to think it's okay to never wash up and just generally dump all their shit in there. It is not okay. Don't have a messy kitchen or people like me get angry and upset.
5. The weather- It's grey, cold, miserable and dull. Oh and wet, always wet.

Okay so I couldn't think of anymore bad or ugly things. So in conclusion Bangor isn't really all that bad, in fact I'm quite fond of it now.

So to any Bangor students out there, what do you think? Would add anything to these lists?

Keep it Scrimpy.

Laura.

Valentines Day gift swap. 1 Month on...

Remember this time last month? Some of you were all loved up having romantic evenings with your loved ones and I was watching Marley and Me crying into my Ben and Jerry's.

Well it wasn't all tears this valentines day, I threw myself fully into a gift swap organised by the lovely Sadie from Ladie Sadie  (check out her blog, it's a great read). Mysteriously I was paired with Lora from Lora Loves ....

Lora's blog Lora Loves is a beauty/fashion/food/lifestyle blog, basically this girl does everything! We are both relatively new to the blogging world so we both thought this would be a great opportunity to get to know some bloggers, plus this ticks off one of my new years resolutions, to be more involved in the blogging world.

So here is what I sent.
Check out Lora's post for much better photos

I borrowed this photo from Lora

The tin was filled with lots of heart shaped sweets that I had made. again a photo borrowed from Lora

One of the things I learnt about Lora was that she LOVES making lists so when I saw this I had to buy it.

This is probably the best thing I sent. I have one of my own that my mum put together before I came to uni and I just love them. I added a few recipes of my own and my flatmates donated a few as well.

I also sent Lora a copy of my favourite book 'The art of racing in the rain' . I cried and laughed then cried again when reading this book. I hope she loves it as much as I did.

What I received 

Lora was a little late posting hers to me so it arrived a little after valentines day (I thought I would wait a month simply because it's a nice round number). Oh and I'm sorry for the terrible photos I was a little too impatient.

After much anticipation this I finally picked this up from the mail room and inside...

The basic element of most student drinking games

For when I attempt to bake

This note pad has come in so useful, now I can write lists and look stylish!

p.s How cool are my pjama bottoms!?

I use these all the time and ran out just a few days before I was sent these, I'm sure Lora is psychic 

I love this, even though we aren't allowed candles in halls I have it hung up on my wall, I might even get one of those electric candles to put in it.

Now this I needed last weekend, far too much wine and Chinese food, I slept on the bathroom floor. Never again. EVER!

Lora used this text book in her first year of uni, it was really nice of her to pass it down to me.

You can never have too many mugs at uni, they are always going missing (getting broke) or not being washed up by someone! 

Nail polish is always a winner. Suprisingly in my collection of over 50 I didn't have a neon pink. Well now I do!

I was so excited to get these, I have never used any of the models own stuff before and I have been meaning to try some lip stain products for a while now (see told you Lora was psychic) 

These are just so sweet! I only really wear mascara on special occasions and my old one was getting a little past its best so now I have a replacement! The two lip balms never leave my handbag, I love the Vaseline one.

And Finally this little guys, everyone knows of my duck obsession and since I ran out of room on my window sill and long time ago this tiny little guy just about fits in the gaps.

 So a month later and I'm still loved up with my prezzies and Ben and Jerry's.

A massive thank you to Sadie for organizing the gift swap and Lora for sending me such lovely gifts

Keep it scrimpy.
Laura.