Where I dissapeared to..

Well... Starting this post feels strange and very far overdue as it has been over a year since my last post. I know, a whole year!

I don't even know where to begin with this post but it feels the most appropriate to just start with exactly what I have been doing for the past year. As I finished college last June, it was time to begin the daunting countdown to university. I had applied for 5 different universities, Liverpool John Moores, University of Chester, Nottingham Trent, Leeds College of Art and Middlesex University. From the 5 I received offers for all but decided I wanted to pursue my dreams in Fashion in the big city so decided Middlesex was best for me as they did a more specific course called Fashion communication and styling. I spent the summer packing up my room, buying the essentials and enjoying my last few months with my friends before we all moved away.

When September came, I was beyond nervous and on the day I moved down I don't think I ever felt sicker. I got down there and started trying to adapt to this new lifestyle however I found it so difficult at first and just spent most of the time nervous. I decided the best option was to stay in London as long as I could before visiting back home as I didn't want to come home and not come back.. It definitely took time to adapt but even after Christmas I still wasn't settled and I began to realise the course just wasn't for me so I chose to reapply for university to begin again this September. I still wanted to study fashion but I wanted to go back to my college routes of design and making as I feel it's a lot more creative and gives you more chance to express yourself.

In the time before making my decision, I had actually been to visit friends in Leeds and had began falling in love with the city. It was a lot more homely feeling which may have been because I knew people there but I just felt a lot more comfortable and I was spending as many weekends there as I could rather than being at my own place in London. When it came to choosing universities I thought it was still best to apply for more than one choice, even though my heart was pretty set on Leeds, so again I applied for John Moores, Nottingham Trent and then I chose Leeds Arts University and Leeds Beckett(I just wanted to make sure I had options for Leeds).

It took me quite a few months to hear back from Universities as I applied last minute but when I did I began getting interviews for the places I had picked. After attending interviews, I finally received an offer from both places in Leeds which I was so happy about and after a lot of consideration I decided to pick Leeds Beckett. My two friends both go there and really enjoy it, one does the same course I would be studying so I felt safer knowing how the course would run and what it would entail of.

So with all that going on I decided to finish my year at Middlesex as it had still been educational to me and I had learnt so many new skills I wouldn't have had, plus it was a lot of life experience living in such a hectic city alone.

I know that was a lot of rambling and was probably the most wordy post ever but I thought it made more sense to explain my whole first year university story so that people who may be going this year or have been know that it's ok to try a year and if you're not happy there's always the chance to change in order to do something you love. I was so nervous about swapping and starting again, and part of me still is, but I'm also so happy I took the step because I already know I will be so much happier in Leeds. It's not always the most convenient thing but making yourself happy is what is most important I have learnt this year.

Now that that's all explained I'm hoping to be back blogging again as much as I can over this summer and I really want to make it my mission to post regularly but to also post what I want to post and not feel limited to what I should and shouldn't post.

Hopefully some people have found this post helpful and if anyone has any questions or wants to discuss university life with me then feel welcome to leave a comment or tweet me and I will be sure to try help as I know how stressful it can all get!

Thank you for reading and I hope it wasn't too boring and wordy!

Love Liv.x