NPK

A Rude Awakening My alarm rudely interrupted my dreams this morning. I was unimpressed with it's lack of respect for being quiet when people are sleeping. As my eyes narrowly squinted open, I dragged my heavy limbs to the edge of the bed, turned off my alarm (whilst silently cursing my phone for waking me) and faceplanted back into the welcoming embrace of my pillow. The sun's beaming rays streamed from the window tickling and growing across my face, gently waking me for a second time this morning. Finally I got up.  The houses here are very beautiful and ecclectic. Each have a unique personality. It's not like home where we have groups of identical houses built for efficiency amd profit. No. These people have their own land in which they've built their own houses to represent their tastes. You could have a giant house with iron gates and a balcony fit for for a scene of Romeo and Juliet...beside a small house with a yard for animals and an orchard for plums a...

I work all night, I work all day to pay the bills I have to pay...  Nobody likes budgeting. It's stressful, hateful and restrictive. If you're a student like me, whereby it's the last 4 weeks before your student loan comes in again, your previous one in either gone and you're living on your part-time job wages or you're left with the bare minimum to live on for the rest of the month.  And still there never seems to be a single penny left for me.... D-I-S-A-S-T-E-R.  I have a dream, I have a plan! To help you out, I've created a top 10 tips list to help you manage your money when you need it the most.... 1. BILLS- They don't go away. They have to be paid or you get charged for it. Simple. Prioritise what needs to be paid and how soon. Some bills are due on the 1st of each month, some on the 15th. Things like rent, credit cards, WiFi, phone bills (if you are on contract) and electricity are essential to pay first so make sure that if yo...

Day 1 of the Trip (... The technically Day 105 of updates on my fundraising page but let's start afresh for my blog 🙈) Well it's fair to say that student life hasn't prepared me for the early start I had today! Placement and work have thankfully turned my sleeping pattern back to normal so it wasn't as bad as I predicted but I'm still pretty exhausted. After my giant bowl of porridge and honey, me and my 3 month foodbaby belly rolled up at the Dublin Airport bus for 6:05am. I think I'm having a lucky day... I got up after my first alarm (I didn't hit snooze even once?!) I arrived on-time for my lift, my bus, my plane and even had extra time to top up on my MAC foundation stock to make sure I can cover the shadows embedded into my face under my eyes during the week. The patchwork quilt of fields and scent of humidity makes it feel like home but the flat landscapes remind me that I am away. There is no shadow of mountains in the distan...

See Your Potential September 2016 -  A girl moves into university accommodation. Her course looks good but she lacks self confidence because her A Levels weren't as good as predicted but she still got here. October 2016 -  Classes have begun. She's overwhelmed by the passion of the lecturers but she remains the quiet invisible one who doesn't speak or ask questions. The role of Course Rep is announced in a lecture. The lecturer reads out everyone's name on the register. If anyone wants to nominate themselves, they just have to say yes. If more than one says yes, they will have to do a speech each to say why the students should vote for them. The girl says no but waits until the whole register is read before raising her hand. She feared competition so she'd waited until everyone else declined the role but knew she could do the job. November 2016 -  She feels empowered with her latest achievement. She is more motivated and asks a Student Officer whether s...

To all those who grew up with a Nickelodeon childhood and understand this reference, I salute you. To all of you less fortunate people who didn't have this childhood, I'm truly sorry... Over the past few weeks, since I have began university, I have been on a rollercoaster of emotions, excitement, stress, motivation, stress, love, stress, passion, stress and ... stress. I don't know if you have spotted a recurring pattern here but it has been very stressful. Although my course has been incredible, I have felt responsibility settle on my shoulders. Bills are not fun. Nope. Money is only fun when you have a lot of it and let's just say, it's coming up to Christmas and I just don't. The stress from it was starting to affect my moods, I was edgy, anxious and very easily agitated. I decided it was time to put an end to my misery and come up with a solution... I am going to start a blogging series called 'Nicole's Declassified Student Survival Guide'. He...

Do you ever just wish you could relive your childhood? I don't mean change it, I wouldn't change mine for the world! I would say some of you feel that you would change yours however, I do believe that the memories you have from the past, those bad memories and good, equally taught you lessons and made you stronger every day. We all have travelled down different roads and maybe we chose the wrong path a few times but just look at how strong you are now! Look what you've came through! Anyway, I've gone off on a tangent AGAIN. I'm terrible for doing that. So my brother came home last night talking about his latest school project... 'NICOLE NICOLE, WE'RE DOING A TIMELINE OF OUR LIVES AND I NEED PICTURES FROM 2005 UNTIL NOW!' (He's 10 years old.) So I pulled out the dusty family hard-drive and started sifting through the endless files with thousands of photos. I was shocked at how many experiences and celebrations I had forgotten and at how quickl...

Whilst I sit in my bedroom, my brain blank, in a daze, staring at my desk which is undoubtedly my own organised mess, glancing to my wardrobe where my school shirt sleeve manages to squeeze through the doors to wave 'hello' to me (or to escape the claustrophobia of my clutter within) to my dear old rocking horse Spirit, who will soon celebrate his thirteenth Christmas with me and his tail which is grasping onto him by it's tiny wired threads, I begin to realise that my room expresses my character to a level that even I can't comprehend! My desk - the mess - showing my fretting, panicking, rushing, stressful streak in my personality when education is on my mind.  My wardrobe, whilst looking perfectly organised from the outside holds the clutter and disasters of my life inside, bursting, trying to escape, but I manage to keep my guard up and look in perfect condition to the naked eye.  My Spirit, the creature which fuelled my imagination from the ripe age of ...