Tried Cleaning Up My Study Space Hoping It Gives Me Motivation To Get Work Done ༎ຶ⁠‿⁠༎ຶ

it's back.

the assignment crisis is back.

i feel like stress eating momos (or anything honestly)

i have a speech and an essay due in 4 days and 2 design assignments in 5 days

i have to submit the outline of the speech tomorrow AND i also have to design a post for the socio club's page by day after tomorrow

im not even in any extracurriculars HOW AM I STRUGGLING THIS MUCH

(⁠っ⁠˘̩⁠╭⁠╮⁠˘̩⁠)⁠っ

bony, my man, pls give me some of what you're having

thanks ily (⁠✿⁠^⁠‿⁠^⁠)

Bony! What the fuck? I said no drinking, we have to revise your skull points!

Unsolicited advice from a second year uni student

Since it's now September and most people I know will be heading either back to school or gearing up for university. And if anyone did what I did they might look at Tumblr to get some studying/life ideas (I did this during my A-levels and ended up making my own blog!). So I wanted to give some general advice from my perspective to anyone who might want it - also this will be specific to the UK but some of it is just general too. Also I want to be able to look back on this since I went back through my blog recently and realised I may have needed this advice even just a year ago.

For those who are about to go to university do not panic (cliché I know) but seriously. You will survive the first year I promise! It obviously varies from person to person and between unis and degrees but the first year will generally be a massive adjustment period in your life. And that will likely impact your mental health. This is totally normal. I got major impostor syndrome the first few months of uni. It wasn't until semester 2 that I started to feel comfortable. And largely because if was an entirely new way of learning and teaching, I had to completely relearn how to study, whilst also learning how to live on my own, and living in a new city and making friends.

You will make friends, it might not be immediately but you will find someone before the end of your first year. I got blessed by chance in making friends, but I know lots of people who it took the entire year to find their people. The unfortunate part of this advice is to make friends you do have to go outside and meet them (and I don't always mean going out drinking although this is definitely an option). Look for societies and clubs at your uni this will be 100% an easy way to meet people. And especially especially in the first few weeks of uni go to the welcome/fresher/first year events. I avoided them because I was anxious but turns out they're an amazing way to meet people because guess what? Everyone else is just as anxious as you are!

Expect your grades to go down at first and don't be discouraged, you can and will get those grades back up. And even if you don't (given that you are passing) it doesn't matter. Grades, especially at grad level are kind of inconsequential for most people. Two things to be mindful of are if you are going for a work placement or study abroad year (if you live in the UK) as first year grades do matter for those. Something no one will probably tell you till it's too late. But even then for most study programs you only need a 60% in your first year. And to just progress you only need a 40% (at most unis double check yours). Point being if there's ever a time for your grades to go down it's now, don't panic, your degree isn't over, you're not an impostor, you deserve to be here.

Everyone is struggling just as much as you are. Don't be fooled by Instagram or whatever. Even though I am guilty of it, we only show the nice parts of our lives online. When I get most stressed I step back from this blog, and you guys don't see the tears, sleepless nights, frustrating, and also kind of gross parts of being a student. So don't be fooled if Amanda from your seminar seems to have a perfect life on her Instagram, chances are she hasn't got it as together as you think, and you are no less better than anyone else in the room.

Save money anyway you can!!! I cannot stress this enough but one of the students biggest issues is spending. I'm guilty too but do your best especially in the first year to not overspend too much. Still enjoy yourself 100%, but do you really need to take out five times a week? Or the new shoes? Trust me by the time you get to your second year and your savings or your loan is gone you'll be wishing you held back a little.

If you are struggling. Talk to someone. For uni students, go to your mentor, academic lead, or look up the mental health service at your uni. Every uni (in the UK) has a mental health team. I know many of us are disillusioned with student support networks but I mean this when I say uni support systems are better funded, more rigorous and it serves them to support you. You are not just a student at the university, you are a customer paying a lot of money to be there. It's important that you are happy and you are progressing, otherwise both you and the uni lose! Don't be afraid to speak up when you need it, there will be someone there.

For UK students look up student groups for your university of Facebook. I'm being 100% serious when I say there is a gold mine of info on Facebook for unis. I never ever post on Facebook but it is so useful for staying in the know on events, stuff currently happening, and lots of student groups are pretty funny/gossipy. Some unis even have pages giving away free stuff from previous students, i.e. crockery, kitchen stuff, speakers etc. I managed to save some decent money on these groups. Also if you're into clubbing this is a pretty good way to learn where the good spots are in your city ;)

Romanticism will only go so far. Don't exhaust yourself on how you look. At the end of the day if you are getting the job done who cares if you did it hunched over a bag of cold McDonalds at 3 am? It's no better than someone with a green smoothie at a coffee shop.

I say a lot of this because my first semester was an emotional rollercoaster. During my GCSEs to A-Levels I thrived academically and then coming to Uni I felt like I was so out of my depth. And it wasn't until the second year I realised that this is, a) normal, and b) not that deep! So you scored a little low on an essay? Take the advice and work on the next one. You had some awkward conversation at a uni event? Everyone has forgotten about it already, give a different event a go. One of my favourite things about university is that it is surprisingly low consequence (in the grand scheme of things). Making mistakes won't end you it's okay. I know everyone on studyblr is a perfectionist but give yourself some leniency please. Anyway that's enough of my ranting. To be honest I expect no one to read this. But I am curious how I'll update it in a year's time once I'm going into third year.

If anyone has any questions about university my DMs are open. (I actually am now a paid guide for welcoming first years so it is literally my job lol).

🌹🌻🌈

things to add to your journals

song lyrics for a specific mood

spotify codes for favourite songs

receipts from a trip

envelope for gifts from any small children you know

pages to press flowers in

ticket stubs

fortune cookie readings

daily three-card tarot pulls

watercolour paper for art

page cutouts

watercolours just in general

pressed flowers

other dried herbs

sketches (taped or glued in)

morning/evening routines

colour in the leftover paper backing from stickers and glue/tape it in

friendship bracelets that may have broken or come off

grocery lists or other shopping lists (glue in if written on other paper)

book quotes

block poetry (you'll have to take a page out of a book for this)

mental health goals

halloween: candy wrappers

fabric scraps

family recipes

different textured papers

stamps

coins

ITS PRIDE MONTH YALL

(not my picture)

(credits to owner)

a pleasant day on campus <3

felt like sleeping like the cute doggo in the video

but the work just never ends (⁠T⁠T⁠)

tried to have a eat junk food and study session with besties (we ended up yapping)

useful study channels :)

today's post will be pretty short but hopefully useful. i've compiled a list of my favorite youtube channels for study tips, tricks, and motivation- hope it helps!

Study tips & tricks

gohar's guide - informative youtube shorts on studying

fayefilms - mainly vlogs and study tips

mahad the mentor - focuses on college applications and ap classes, mainly geared towards high schoolers

helaine zhao - again, mainly vlogs for inspiration + study tips

js park - maximizing studying, how to manage time

Explaining concepts/tutoring

organic chemistry tutor - explains math, chemistry, and physics in concise and easy to follow videos (absolute lifesaver)

khan academy - a classic, focus mainly on math but also has other subjects

Study with me and music

lofi girl

ellene

abao in tokyo

merve

College channels

elliot choy - student at vanderbilt, makes trip vlogs

the college essay guy - lemme tell you, he's the GOAT at college essays. also has a blog at https://www.collegeessayguy.com/

kay chung - makes absolutely chaotic dental student youtube shorts, super funny and entertaining!

hope this helps, and please check out my other posts!!

I will succeed. Not immediately. But definitely.

chaotic study sessions and pretty campus walks <3

just finished yet another statistics test and now im preparing for social psych 💪

AND THE FACT that this isn't even finals szn😔🤧