Update

Hello! It's been a little while hasn't it? Life has gotten in the way big time recently so blogging has had to take a bit of a backseat for some time. Here's a quick low-down of what's been going on in my world;

MAY.

At the start of May my dissertation was due. Cue a lot of late nights, cups of tea, breakdowns and doubts. It was honestly one of the hardest things I've ever done, especially as I left it a little bit later than I should have done. I spent far too long researching my topic and reading current literature, as I found it so interesting and wanted to gather as much information as possible it was difficult to know when to stop! I also ended up writing double my wordcount (bear in mind my supposed word count was 12,000) so had to spend a long time cutting it down. The topic of my dissertation was the representation of women in animated Disney films, which was so interesting. As you can see by the top left picture I was incredibly happy to finish it, but also incredibly exhausted.

After that was handed in, I had a really lovely weekend in Aberystwyth visiting a friend from my home town. We spent the weekend exploring the town, chilling on the beach and eating ice cream which was just what I needed after such a hectic few weeks. Her friends are also beyond lovely, one of them even has a blog which I'm completely in love with; you can see it here.

Upon return to Manchester, I had two more essays for other subjects to complete and one exam to revise for so I went back to being really busy again. 

JUNE.

My essays had been handed in and on the 8th June I took my final University exam, EVER. Weirdly, I felt kind of sad after as I hadn't really thought about leaving University too much before this date. Luckily straight after my exam I had to shoot off to help set-up a festival we hold at our Uni called Pangaea, for 6,000 students thrice yearly. As one of the heads of the decor team, the set-up is a really busy time but due to exams I hadn't been able to help too much, so the next day were mad busy with a lot of late nights setting up. On the 9th June we held the festival and as always it was a huge success! It's really rewarding to see your hard work pay off and see everyone having a great night.

The next few weeks were a bit of a blur of celebrating, packing up my stuff, cleaning the house and catching up on missed sleep. My friend came up to visit in the middle of June and we went to see The Stone Roses at the Etihad Stadium. I've loved the Stone Roses for years so it was amazing to be able to watch them play again, especially with one of my best friends. We were standing for the gig and right near the front, it was amazing.

A few days after the gig, I flew out to Cyprus to meet up with my parents for a 10 day long holiday. They'd been over there for a few days already so came and met me at the airport. It was my first time flying alone but I found it surprisingly ok. The villa we stayed in was absolutely beautiful, and so was the nearby village. Whilst the majority of my holiday was really relaxing, I received a  few pieces of big news whilst away.

First up, my university results. I was a complete nervous wreck the day these were released and skipped the sunbed and pool to sit refreshing my computer instead. After what felt like forever they were finally released and I learnt I'd be graduating from the University of Manchester with a 2:1! I somehow managed to get a 1st on my dissertation and I honestly don't think I've ever felt so relieved in my whole life. That night I celebrated with some champagne and cocktails on the beach, bliss.

Also whilst away we received the news of the EU Referendum. As a strong campaigner for Remain, I was devastated by the result and fairly vocal about my upset on my twitter for the days following.  I've toyed with the idea of writing a blog post about it since being back but I think it might be a bit past it now, however if you'd like to see one please let me know. 

JULY.

Finally that brings us up to the present. Now I'm back from my holiday, the frantic job search has begun. I've already been rejected from a few interviews for jobs I'd have loved to do, which to be honest has been really disheartening. It's really hard transitioning from uni life to grad life in such a short amount of time, especially when dealing with rejections and feeling like nobody wants to hire you. I'm still hopeful and am applying for numerous jobs every day, it's just a lot harder than I ever thought it would be! If anyone has any tips for interviews, applications or life after graduation please send them my way, I could use some advice right now! When so many candidates are applying for the same jobs it's really difficult not to doubt yourself and put yourself down. Right now I'm really worried I won't be able to find a job and thus won't be able to pay my bills but I've just got to keep trying. I've seen a few more online recently that I'd love to do, just need to work my ass off to try and get an interview!

I'm off on a camping trip this weekend with uni friends which should be really fun, I'm really looking forward to it. After then I'm hoping to go back to blogging, starting with two posts a week and see how I get on. I've really missed being active online, especially with joining in twitter chats! I'm looking forward to getting back into the swing of things.

Congratulations if you managed to read all that! It was a lengthy post but I wanted to get it all out so everything was all up to date. It's been a rollercoaster of a few months and I've got really mixed feelings about it all. Proud of my grades, sad about the referendum, scared of the job situation and nervous for the future. A weird mix. 

What have you all been up to recently? 

Laura x