First piece of coursework finally started!

Hurrah.

I've been putting this off for about 5 days now. Everyday it was pretty much like, "ok today I have too much to do, so I'll start tomorrow..." and tomorrow became tomorrow which became tomorrow... Etc. But FINALLY, I've forced myself to make a start at least, despite having notes to do after lectures, dates to see people, work to go to, AND fitting in precious 'me' time... It's really no joke when people say juggling work, school and social life is difficult because it really is - especially when you're aiming to do well. I have a classmate who juggles all of that PLUS childcare for her 2 kids. Respect out there to all those studying and working mothers.

So my first piece of coursework is my economics based one. Not really one I would like to start my masters degree with =/, economics is so new to me, I've never touched on anything to do with economics before so it's a really grey area. I have to conduct some STEEPLE analysis on a supermarket of my choice. I chose Waitrose because I know everyone will do Tesco haha. Waitrose is more interesting in terms of environment, ethical and social factors anyway. So this is due 11th November, I have 3 other pieces of coursework due AND I need to consider what I'm doing for my project as well... Masters is really no joke. It's so tough already T___T.

Today I had a really crazy day, the rain made travelling to uni really stressful, my tube came like 10 minutes late and so I barely made it into class. Luckily I have a classmate who lives in the same area and I happened to bump into her on the platform. After the 1st 3-hour lecture, I had 30 mins to grab some lunch - which happened to be just some chips from McDonalds. Headed to my next 3 hour lecture which ended early, got back to Hounslow and bought some crisps from Tesco - I was starving at this point and it would take another 10-20 minutes to get home by bus so desperate measures had to be taken even if I was sacrificing my health for junk food. Got home finally and made myself some dinner, showered, ate, then sat down with some green tea and powered on with my coursework. So I pretty much had a non-stop day today. I slept ridiculously early yesterday so I guess I have heaps of energy right now after a 12 hour sleep. Only now am I satisfied with the amount of work done so I have a few hours of 'me' time which I'm really glad about.

TL;DR - Masters is hard and I'm failing at keeping to personal deadlines to start my coursework - I need more self-discipline or else I'll be in trouble!

I hate mornings.

I've accepted long ago that I am no way a morning person. I just have some sort of silly inability to sleep early or wake up early for that matter. Last night I only managed to get 4 hours sleep before having to drag my ass out of bed and get ready for my 10am lecture.

Getting ready when I'm half asleep has never really been a problem for me but for some reason everything just went badly this morning. I managed to burn my neck with my straighteners and because I was so tired, the pain didn't even sink in until I left the house an hour later. On that note, as my bus was approaching the stop, I realised I forgot my damn Oyster card meaning I had to go back and get it or else I'd end up having to pay an awful lot to travel for the day in cash fare. If any of you have ever visited London or live in London, you'll know that cash fare is like, the biggest rip off ever. As I got to my changeover stop, I find out that my connecting line is closed due to some fire alert which was being "investigated", I had to take the bus to uni from Piccadilly which took me 30 mins because London was so chock full of traffic in the morning. As a result, I was 20 mins late to lecture and had to do that embarrassing walk into lecture midway through the lecturer talking about market competition. At least 2 others arrived after me, I guess I wasn't the only one dependent on the bakerloo line to get to uni. To make matters worse, my lecturer caught me falling sleep LOL, she was like "ok let's move on before people start falling asleep" and then she looked at me and smiled. Oh dear.

I was so glad to get home later on in the day, I made myself some lunch and went straight to bed. Had the best nap until 8pm. Now it's 1am and I'm preparing the reading and materials for tomorrow's lecture. My horrid 2:30-9am day is tomorrow *cries*. Actually Friday is probably worse, I have a law workshop from 10-5 and then work straight after. Oh, this must be what it feels like to be a working student - no weekends and all other time is invested into studying because the weekend is for working.

My boyfriend treated me to my birthday present early yesterday, he bought me the iPad mini because my old netbook was becoming a brick to carry around. Especially when I have to lug it around with me when I see my boyfriend after uni. He's the bestest boyfriend ever, cares so much about my well being and making my life easy :D I was so happy afterwards.

So here I am being conflicted between doing work and playing on my new iPad. First world problems.

Low immune system. Bleh.

Ill for the 2nd time in the space of a month.

London has too much bacteria, pollution and diseases floating around. I feel like it's taking a toll on me. Was sick during induction week, recovered for a week and now I'm sick with the same thing again. Oh, I have 8 hours of work tomorrow as well. Cries.

At least despite being sick and wanting to just crawl into bed and lay there until my illness disappears, I've made it to all my lectures AND have kept on top of reading. I just finished updating my notes for this week's set of lectures woohoo. So Sunday is DEFINITELY my relax and do-nothing day. Last year it was read for one lecture every day, this year is read for two lectures a day... Since I have other commitments like keeping my relationship up which means seeing my boyfriend 2 evenings a week and working on the weekends. It's tough, no shit, but I feel much more productive doing things and getting things done rather than sitting at home and lazing around. I feel like since completing my undergrad, I only allow myself to relax and do nothing when everything else is truly completed to the best of my ability. Oh man, the routine of studying has become my way of life /facepalm.

Good news is I'll be going on my 3rd holiday of the year when I get Christmas break. Yay yay. But it also means I'll have to do a lot of overtime during Christmas break when I get back to make up for the difference. My £61 a week earnings isn't going to cover my holiday cost, though my lovely boyfriend said he's willing to pay for the hotel side of things but I don't really want to grow dependent on him that much yet. I'll work hard for my money hurhur. I just can't wait to get away with him because since I started working/education and since he's started working full time, we haven't had any relax time apart from the 4 hours we see each other on the 2 days during the week. When we think back to our first holiday to Barcelona we really miss it. We want to go on holiday once every 6 months haha. Not sure how realistic that is though. Relationship maintenance.

Other than that, things have been great. I'm looking forward to my boyfriend's birthday at the end of this month, he'll be turning 22, the big boy. I just can't wait to plan his birthday and stuff, I've started to save for things like cake and dinner ^___^, need to buy and decorate the card too and make the present I bought him presentable. This will be the first birthday I've celebrated with him, I'll be sure to make it the best birthday he's ever had muhahahaha. I'm too good of a girlfriend sometimes, but it makes up for all those times I bully him and make him obey me LOL.

Let the busy times commence.

My first week at University studying masters was quite insightful. First of all, I learnt that in masters, due to the classes being much smaller, more discussions take place and with that, more group work. Until recently, I've never really been big on speaking aloud, expressing my views and contributing to in-class discussions. I guess that's just how I've always been, even in secondary school, teachers used to have nothing negative to say apart from contribution to in-class discussions. But ever since I was made to do presentations and working in groups much more during my final year studying Psychology as well as entering the working world with my part-time job - I can really say hey, I actually have a voice. As well, I don't think I really wanted to talk much before because I was afraid of outside perspectives on myself - now I could really care less about what people think. But of course, studying masters, you rarely ever get those judgemental idiots that are quick to disrespect you and criticise your way of thinking. People are generally more objective, open minded and if they do have something against your views then it's always constructive and never just because they don't like you. I guess this is one aspect I like about studying masters - everyone is friendly and open to listening to your opinion. I really feel like after a year of these group chats every week, presentations and workshops - I'll really develop as an individual by the time I get my 2nd degree.

Generally, the lectures were great. I like all my lecturers which is a good sign. Not much to say on this part since the first week is always "introductory" lectures that just outline what is it you're actually studying. I have so much coursework though and exams in January T__T, this will be new to me since I've never actually had exams in January - only 8 exams in the summer for the past 3 years of my undergraduate =___= I guess it'll be interesting having to split revision time evenly across the year rather than cramming everything in a month before the exams. There's just so many dates and deadlines to remember because there's also workshops going on during November and I pretty much have one for every module I study which is a pain. 

Other than that, my job has been getting more and more enjoyable - maybe because I work less hours now. I don't know how people can handle full time retail. But I had a meeting with the store manager yesterday and she's keeping me as a permanent member of staff now! Awesome since I actually have some income coming in, I was trying to think of a backup plan in case my temporary contract doesn't get renewed but looks like I won't have to anymore. I feel very lucky to have such a lovely department manager, store manager and assistant store manager. People say working in retail is horrible but it's really who you work with that matters. I love kidswear despite the horrible customers and the annoying plastic hangers that barely fit the clothes so you look like you're trying to rip people's clothes up trying to get the hangers off in front of the customers at the cash desk, the mess people make trying to find the right size clothes. But I really love the people I work with so it's not all that bad. 

Roll on 2nd week of masters!

 

University & Life.

So how have I been recently? 

I've been fat, busy and poor. Pretty much sums up my previous week up till now. 

Had fast food THREE times last week - crazy fatness, my cholesterol levels must be through the roof right now. Don't mind me if I have a heart attack sometime soon. Had to have KFC twice just because it's right outside my uni and to be fair, I hadn't had it for a very long time. Had McDonalds as well sometime during that week and then Subway when I was at work this weekend. To make matters worse for my health, I had McDonalds today as well, only a happy meal but I was so hungry okay!? Tomorrow, I swear I'll grab a subway or something. At least subway has veggies right? NO MORE KFC FOR THE REST OF THE MONTH. I've also been snacking on random things this week like chocolate here and there, crisps now and then. 

As for being busy, I've been busy with enrolment and orientation/induction week at uni then I've been working at the weekend as well, manager called me and asked me if I could do 4 hrs overtime on the Saturday - I thought why not? I'm working on Saturday anyway, may as well extend it and earn some more monies. I only do these things for kidswear and not any other floor like downstairs. Turns out my old team leader from downstairs is now the new team leader on kidswear, I'm so glad it wasn't that other newbie woman, she's nice but like ground floor said - she panics WAY too much. My team leader now is just cool, calm and collected and lets us work at our own pace even though she gives us time limits. She's casual as well. I think the type of people I hate most are those that are too formal in a retail job, in retail I think as well as working and doing what you're supposed to do, it's good to have fun with your colleagues as well. So work was atrociously busy that weekend, I was so pooped by the end of Sunday and to think I had uni the next day was something I wanted to forget. 

First week of uni, I loved my first lecture. 2nd lecture I had today - I absolutely hated it. It was all economics and this lecturer we have, she uses lots of complex economic terms assuming that we all know what she is talking about. I haven't the slightest clue about economics, so I found it really difficult to do the task in the seminar afterwards, I think everyone in my little group had difficulty. It was awkward when we were asked about what we found, no one wanted to talk and so there was just this odd silence until the lecturer asked the whole class instead. Uh oh. But to be fair, she didn't make the objective of the seminar clear at all. She may as well have been speaking another language, even when we asked her for help, we still didn't understand. Tomorrow, I have 2 lectures back-to-back, so a horrible and rather long 6 hour day for me. Luckily, I don't start early so I don't need to wake up at the crack of dawn to get to lectures. But at least these 2 lectures are lectures that I'm looking forward to having the most, it's not economic related and much more hands-on in terms of HRM. Finally a lecture that isn't just history or economics. 

I'm poor right now because it's payday soon. I'm always poor near payday because I spend too much - simple as. Although I suspect next pay will be better since I've bombed my bank account by buying a monthly travel card therefore I don't need to top up my oyster every week anymore. Though, i've been spending a lot eating with the boyfriend recently =/ we've been indulging on sushi, Korean, Nandos, Japanese too much. Everytime I suggest we just have McDonalds just to be cheapos (TRUST ME TO SAY THIS), he's all like "NO MCDONALDS >:(" and I'm all like "T___T" I love how my boyfriend screws at me for having too much fast food, I used to be the one screwing at him for having McDonalds for dinner every night he was at work >:( Ahh, it's only been 1 day since we saw each other and I miss the guy. Seeing him on Thursday though, my day off from uni - classes scheduled for Thursday don't start till week 2. Can't wait :) 

So right now, I'm planning to stay up till around 8am because there's this tournament on that my boyfriend got me into watching and I reaaaally want to watch it even though I'll be a zombie tomorrow - yay for 4 hours sleep tonight! 

Hectic Sunday.

Another busy day at work.

Ever since sales kicked off, the shop floor looks like a bombsite after every 2 hours. I was so tired today my brain was running at about 10%, I made so many mistakes at the beginning of my shift - got confused with this guy's euros and coins that I accidentally overcharged him 5-10p without even realising or knowing what the exact amount was, typed in £500 received instead of £5 so I was shocked to see the change amount was something like £495. My brain was too slow to even try and work out how much the correct change was. Then these rude customers all came at once, some just looked unimpressed with the till queues and I overcharged this lady by accident and she was like "double check before you overcharge people" - er it was an accident, I'm sure you've made them in your life as well. What a bitch. Then there was this woman with a crazy kid running around causing havoc and his mum was unable to control him, my colleague got annoyed and said something and the mum got pissed off - I had to serve this angry mum as a result and it wasn't nice with her throwing bags at me and giving me dirty stares even though I did NOTHING to her. Then she demanded to see our manager - good, I'll let the manager deal with this bitch.

Closing time. I closed a section I've never done before and it took me pretty long, the table was trashed and I mean trashed. It looked as if someone had come and swept everything off the table and dumped it all back. There was shit dumped WITH THEIR HANGERS ON I mean like 10 of the same thing, I have a feeling someone (not a customer) did this, maybe a member of delivery or something - but oh well, I was left to sort the shit out. It took me forever to tidy that one damn table. Luckily someone helped me with the maternity section so it was about 95% tidy by the time I got to it. Went over to homeware to help out and it by 7pm it looked like it wasn't even done at all. Homeware was trashed, even more so than my table. All of us had to come help tidy it. It was fun with all of us there though, we all chatted and laughed whilst tidying and our manager is so relaxed even though she talks with an authoritative voice when she tells us to do things. I really like the kidswear team, I get along with everyone - we're more like a family sometimes than a team. To sum up my Sunday at work, I was pretty much on tills serving rude customers for the most part, then I was tidying the baby section with babies crying and screaming everywhere. Gosh, I hate it when a mum refuses to take her baby out even though he/she has been screaming and crying for 20 minutes - like, I understand it's hard but please do everyone a favour and do SOMETHING to shut your baby up.

The best thing that happened to me today was a cute little Chinese kid waving to me after his mum and brother left after paying. He came back to the desk and waved at me before running off to join his mum. I was like awwwwwwwwh HE'S TOO CUTE. He had that typical mushroom-bowl-Asian haircut too. So cute.

Other than that, I'm completely exhausted right now, filled with greasy chicken wings and rice that I had for dinner. I'll need a couple cups of green tea to emulsify that fat before sleeping. Going to grab myself some fruit, green tea and a slice of pandan cake when I watch Breaking Bad to end my night nicely.

Already feeling somewhat stressed out.

It's only the 3rd day into my induction week and I'm already feeling stressed for some odd reason.

It might have just been because the weather was complete shite and travelling is rather stressful in itself. I still haven't quite gotten used to the whole having to leave a whole hour before class so I can actually get there on time from home. Sigh. I'm also still figuring out how to do things as well as submit all the paperwork for elective modules.

Today's induction was 3 hours long and in that time I pretty much managed to get everything important handed in such as my elective module choices. This was pretty stressful in itself, because I couldn't find the right person to hand it into at the end of the session, so I just handed it into someone that could hand it to the right person for me. I needed to hand it in asap so I can make sure I get my module choices - I think I'd hate to have to study something in my secondary choices...

Also, for some reason, I now have to write 1000 words about MYSELF based on some personality questionnaire to hand in on Friday as well as a presentation to do. Term hasn't even officially started and there's already a mini essay and a presentation to do... I can already tell this year is going to be most definitely all work and no play.