If only I had realised this in the two years that have already gone by, but alas, I've let my 2 years go by having only focused on my degree, blog and social life...

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There's things at university that you'll come to realise you won't have much of an opportunity to do when you're in the working world. Societies for example, are not only an opportunity to learn something new whether it be a sport, a craft or something else, but are also a way to meet people who aren't housemates or on the same course as you. And meeting new people can also open you to new interests, more new friends, new places to visit and much more. Most importantly, you won't get another opportunity to try out any number of sports or crafts out of the blue with a group of peers, to realise whether you have a hidden talent or an unknown love for something. I'm of course not speaking from experience here, as I stupidly still haven't joined a society, I'm simply speaking from an outsiders view, but I know from friends in societies that it's a pretty valuable experience and adds so much to your university years. 

Living with friends is also something you may not see the value in at university, especially as upon graduation you may find yourself back in your childhood room with mum and dad as your housemates. Whilst being woken in the early hours of the morning isn't always pleasant, and nor is the odour coming from your fridge, how great is it to always have someone your age to pop into town with, sit in the kitchen and have a cup of tea with or have someone who's available for a drink or a takeaway at almost any time? I really value living with my friends as back home I'm over an hour away from most of them, with often two buses to catch and a hefty bus ticket to purchase, so having someone just across the hall has been a great change for me, and I don't think I'll have the opportunity to live with my friends again in the next few years, but we'll see. 

Speaking again of meeting new people, the opportunity is absolutely everywhere. There's not only societies but there's also night outs, meeting acquaintances through friends and doing different modules every year where you meet those on your course you've never even seen before. University gives you the opportunity to meet new people at every turn, but not only that, it also means you can build up a pretty impressive log of intelligent talented people in your phone book. You never know who may come to your aid in the future. 

University can also offer you the opportunity to learn about living independently. Of course the independent life you live as a student should be a bit different to that you'll experience as an adult, but none the less, it's a stepping stone. Learning about cooking, cleaning, money and time management are all important in your adult life, and you may not be great at them as a student, but you'll realise having a few years to practice will still help you in the future.

What opportunities has university given you?

MissIsGoode

It may sound like a weird life lesson, because of course everyone does, but when it comes to university all the people you live with and meet are strangers. You get to know them in the rush of freshers week or meet them half way down the line where you can learn a little or a lot and sometimes it's easy to forget that they have a life back home, or have, even in the short time they've been at university, created a few memories for themselves already...

What I'm mainly referring to here is relationships. With my friends I've had countless conversations concerning 'numbers'. When it comes to sexual relationships it's likely that most people keep count. The exchanging of sexual histories in a relationship can often be something quite serious, or sometimes something that can simply be dropped into conversation out of curiosity, but either way you may not like the answer.

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Sometimes, the hardest thing to remember with these previous girlfriends/boyfriends/one night stands or what ever they may have been in relation to your latest squeeze is that they're in the past. 

I'm guilty of forgetting this, and I'll raise my hand and also admit that I've been guilty of forgetting this on more than one occasion. Once you have that number, it can play on your mind who, why so many, why so few, do they go here, do I know them. It's stupid, but you can let it eat at you bit by bit before being able to realise that they're with you. Whatever you do, don't ask who. You don't need to know, and they don't need to know who you've been with either. Names and faces can make things uncomfortable. And if you already do know someone they've been with, don't let it play on your mind. There's a reason for that person being in the past, and the worst thing you can do is let either of your pasts affect your future together. 

Everyone has a past, some people may not be proud of their's and some may be very pleased, but the fact is everyone becomes the person they are from the experiences in their past, and if you like them for the person they are, you've got no reason to be uncomfortable with their past, no matter the number. 

So, learn to accept that everyone has a past, because there's nothing you can change about yours or anyone else's, so why dwell on it?

The only thing you should focus on now is your relationships present and it's future.

MissIsGoode

Have you noticed that being positive has become such a negative thing?...Since I perked myself up a bit and stopped living with such a negative attitude I came to realise people don't actually like positive people. And the reason behind this seems to be that people consider positivity to be an annoyance. On some level I can understand this, when a person can turn a dark situation around on several occasions rather than grab the blankets and ice cream like you would, you can get a bit fed up that they still keep standing tall through everything. Or when they can hold a smile for an entire day, you tire of them because c'mon who could truly be that happy? And probably no one is your answer, but why should a positive attitude cause negative reactions?

So, we've all experienced negative people, these may be in the form of friends or family or perhaps even people you don't exactly get along with. But there's a likely chance that they've injected their negativity into your life at any possible chance they've had, perhaps not even realising they're doing it. But in my opinion, if these people can't be helped, they're not worth it.

Negativity can of course come in many different forms, you may know people who can constantly be hard on themselves, reject your advice in favour of wallowing in self pity or there's those who purposefully bring others down for their own amusement. Their negativity comes from two different places, but I believe both are just as poisonous. 

The constantly self-critical friend is a negative person who's hard to just 'throw away'. And honestly, I don't believe you should ever just throw your friends away unless of course they're not decent ones. But I do believe if you try your hardest with a friend who is constantly hard on themself, who never listens to your advice but always asks to hear it, and who always chooses to stay in a situation they hate and constantly complain about, it's hard to sit there any longer and listen. Sometimes you have to draw the line and accept that there's nothing more you can do for said friend, and their negativity is not only their own problem, but hearing it enough soon makes it yours. If they're in serious need of help, give them everything you possibly can, but if they live to only make life harder for themself, distancing yourself from them will make yours significantly easier. 

Then of course there's those that slip in negative remarks, or these days isn't it just Facebook comments or tweets, any where they can. As I said you can't always avoid negativity, and sometimes criticism isn't always negative, it can be very constructive but it's pretty easy to recognise the difference between someone offering you some constructive feedback and someone just slating you. If say you know a friend, or an acquaintance and they constantly make remarks about you or someone in your group and it drags the mood down, but they see no harm in what they're saying, ditch them. Also, Facebook 'culls' of your friend lists can do wonders for your mood. People who criticise you over social media are particularly awful, because they can't actually see the damage they're doing. You have every right to post what you want on Facebook, and they have every right to remove you if they don't like it, so don't let people's negative comments affect your day, a delete is only a click away (rhyming not intended...).

In my opinion, anyone in your life who doesn't provide support and instead only offers negativity isn't worth having in your life. Positivity is important in life, for managing stress, for staying happy, for believing in yourself and passing exams, getting jobs, basically, it helps you succeed. So why allow negative people to hold you back? Getting rid of them is not a selfish act.  

MissIsGoode

I'm more than aware that I've been MIA in the blogging world for quite some time now, but no need to worry yourself any longer, I'm back!

With my final essays finished and second year over (woo!) I currently have nothing stressing me out, or making me want to curl up with netflix, and I no longer feel like writing my blog is as tough as writing an essay. So, I thought the best way to celebrate is to share with all you lovely lot some very important lessons university life and life in general has taught me.

I was initially going to post this all at once, but I feel as though I've learnt a lot more than a paragraph can possibly tell you, so for now, treat this as my introduction to my life lesson series and the promise that I'll be back (try to say this without imitating terminator). 

MissIsGoode

Happy end of April! I hope everyone has had a fabulous Easter, personally as wonderful as it has been, this month long holiday has dragged on a bit and I can't wait to get back to uni for the month of May, to get back into the gym and to hand in my final essays of my second year! 

Following with my theme, and also struggling to think of another J, I thought I'd talk a little bit about the site that has helped me most with my fundraising.

JustGiving is a site I've used for every fundraising activity I've done. With social media so prevalent in this day and age I find it really useful to let my friends, family and followers know what I'm doing, by sharing my fundraising page and story over Twitter, Facebook and here on my blog. 

Through JustGiving I've received 17 donations and I'm almost at £450! I'm so grateful that JustGiving exists because it saves a lot of time and awkward conversations when asking for someone's donation from your piece of paper like the olden days. Often I found people would offer up a generation donation but when it came to collecting it they couldn't donate as much as they thought. I appreciate any donation big or small, but I feel quite guilty asking someone for the amount they've written down and them being unable to pay it all, so JustGiving makes it much easier for people to donate there and then, whether it be a small or large amount. 

I can't thank my family, friends and followers enough for the donations that have been made already, and if you fancy making a donation towards my teaching abroad or would like to read about what it is I'm fundraising for, click here! Thank you so much if you do donate, or even take the time out to read about my fundraising!

Who inspired me to start blogging?

My sister had been blogging for quite a little while before I started and she kept telling me how great it was and how much she loved the community. In the end I thought I'd give it a go. My blogging has been dropped on occasions due to laziness or lack of inspiration for posts, because student life isn't always as interesting as it may seem, but the community that comes with blogging always inspires me to keep it up.

Who inspired me to go to university?

During my college years I became really stressed and pressured about the decisions of whether or not to come to university. I shed many tears over it, searched endless other options and always found myself back at square one, no idea what to do. My college tutor really helped me make my mind up, without putting pressure on me. Part of me went to university because I didn't know what else to do, because it was what my boyfriend at the time was doing, and what everyone seemed to expect me to do. And whilst I ultimately made the decision myself, I'd say my ex boyfriend's mum played a huge role in inspiring me to go to uni. She'd missed the chance to experience it herself at a young age and assured me it was something I wouldn't want to miss out on, and I feel happy with the decision I made.

Who inspired me to join the gym?

In many ways I would say I inspired myself, because I've always been fighting an internal battle with my mind about my body image, and with a gym just around the corner I thought it was time to stop arguing with my mind that told me I was healthy, but then told me I was fat and just be happy and get to work. My friends all seemed keen to join too and that helped.

And what inspires me to keep going?

Letting go of the battle. I realised when I decided to be happy about how I looked I felt more inspired to target the areas that could do with a little work. I stopped feeling so negative about my body and realised complaining does nothing. My boyfriend also inspires me to keep going, he has such motivation and it makes me feel motivated too. As soon as I started to notice my body getting stronger, my legs being able to take me an extra mile or my body holding out for another set, I felt motivated to push myself harder. If I ever need inspiration or motivation to keep things up at the gym or with my home workouts, I turn to the fitblr community.

Who inspired me to volunteer?

My friend Fia did the same project as I'm heading off to do last year and before she even went away I felt I wanted to look into it. Reading about VESL's past projects and the charities aims certainly inspired me to be a part of it and most importantly be a part of a child's education, so I would say my biggest inspiration was the success of previous volunteers with VESL, but I definitely had to talk myself into it a few times!

MissIsGoode