Half Term & Feminists or Idiots

Hey everybody,

Half term has finally started..hallelujah! (I just realised that's a religious word but I still use it as an atheist, oh well freedom of speech and all that)

Recently one of my favourite people who I'm about to meet (the one and only Tyler Oakley ofc) and he like so many other people brought up the topic of feminism. I agreed with him 100% and I just wanted to rant about it because I feel like so many people misunderstand what feminism is really all about.

In simple terms, if you say you're a feminist it just means you want females to be seen as equal to men and to have equality in the world. However the way it's promoted a lot of people tend to see it meaning women wanting the female race to be superior than men and that's just wrong! Don't get me wrong some people might believe in that but the word originated from empowering woman so men aren't seen as so superior, for example it's all about making sure that men and women who are doing the same jobs get payed equally as in some countries men get payed more than women for doing the same job, now how is that fair?!

So yeah I'm a feminist not an idiot as my title suggests you're either or (credit to Tyler's tweet for that) so I hope I've explained myself alright. Moving on as I'm just so excited to have a well deserved break from school even if it it's only for 1 week, I'm gonna take than and run with it..(not literally though you know how I feel about exercise;) Like I explained last week I do have several plans which I'm looking forward too, starting Monday but obviously I have homework and revision because god help us if we actually relax for too long..we might actually you know not permanently feel stress..I wonder what that feels like?!

For me and I presume many of you, it was recently parents evening last Thursday which I always dread and especially this time as I completed a criminal psychology mock exam paper which our teacher perfectly timed for parents evening (great right). Although saying that my teachers showed my parents my grade first but they didn't give away too much with their reaction but guess what..I got a B!! I revised and worked hard for that so I'm super happy, which involved talking to myself a lot when I was testing myself on my flashcards, hopefully I'm not the only one who learns better by repeatedly saying everything out loud.

Since the pressure of UCAS still looms over all our shoulders (if you're 17/18 like me), I wanted to find more universities as you have to pick at least 3 and the more the better as the more uni's you have the better odds you have for at least getting an offer from one of them. York has always been a favorite ever since the open day and then just Leeds as a backup although I 100% would rather go somewhere else than sticking to my hometown; especially as it pretty much is in the center of Leeds which doesn't appeal to me. My other choice is Sheffield and I went to a open day yesterday and I was nicely surprised with Sheffield as I had created a vision of Sheffield being an unattractive place but where the student accommodation is, it's actually a super cute area near the woodlands.

These two pictures are of the Ranmoor accommodation which is the smallest student area, still holding 1,500 people but compared to the other one it's smaller. Sorry about the quality of the pictures but I used my Lumix camera instead of my DSLR as it's more portable.

Above is the Endcliffe student accommodation which holds over 3,000 students but this one has catered which would suit me so much better as can you imagine me trying to cook decent meals..hmm good joke. I also feel like yes self-catered is better however I would end up paying more because I wouldn't be able to stop myself; I have no self-control oops.

I came across the university of Chester when I was scrolling through the list of the top uni's for the English language & Linguistics course. Apparently it's a small city just like York which immediately appeals to me and the entry requirements is 300 UCAS points meaning typically they except 3 B's which is very reasonable. Very typically, I've missed their open day but they do campus tours on specific days so if any of you are interested I'll keep you updated on when I go visit Chester. One thing I am happy and reasonably up to date with is my personal statement as after 4 drafts, once I've cut it down just a bit to reduce the characters (clearly I got a bit too keen) I will hand it to my head of sixthform to mark to make sure it's ready when I'm ready to send off my application..which will probably still be a while yet (as long as I do it before Christmas I'm fine so if you're in the same position as me then don't worry). 

(Quick rant on entry requirements for University) it really bugs me when most good universities have the same ridiculously high entry grades of AAB or even higher. I know some people are perfectly capable but others aren't and sometimes it's those students that deserve a place who work their butts of to get a decent grade but aren't allowed in because they didn't meet the grades (I'm basically describing me). I'm just so worried I won't get offers as my target grades for the end of next year is ABB and all the courses apart from 1, their entry grades are higher than what I'm predicted; ugh education is pretty tough.

So talk again next Sunday at the end of half term, ugh sad times but just gonna make the most of this week and get as much sleep as humanly possible, enjoy your break guys!
Sophie
♥♥

Are you a cat/dog person?

Hey guys, hope you're all alright!

So today I wanted to encourage you to be more interactive in the comments (you don't have to just a suggestion you know) and I was taking pictures of my cat and well I thought about this ages ago but judging by the fact I own a cat..yes I'm a cat person (such a shock ik;) I have always thought the dogs are the cutest as well but not to own them like I find my friends' dogs really cute but I couldn't imagine having to actually look after one. So yeah I'm gonna be totally bias and if any of you don't have a pet yet, persuade you to buy a cat by listing all the advantages of having a cat:

1- Especially if you get a cat when it's only a kitten they'll become so attached to you and want cuddles and you to play with them all the time

2- You don't have to pick up it's shit like a dog owner does, the cats hide it in the litter try anyway then you just empty that out

3- If you're lazy like me then (surprise surprise) but you don't have to walk cats every day, you just open the door for them or get a cat flap 

4- When you're feeling lonely they'll cuddle you and make you feel wanted

5- Playing with their toys with them is the cutest & funniest thing when they shake their bum before they're about to pounce and arch themselves up high when they're scared

6- When you get a cat, before you know it you'll find everything they do just the cutest in the world (hence why I have way too many pictures of my cat on my phone)

So yeah cats are the one but I guess if you really want a dog then go for it, I just don't think I could handle the crazy energy all the time haha. Another reminder if you aren't already to keep updated with watching season 5 of once upon a time because I've got so many amazing theories to share but don't wanna spoil anything if you haven't caught up. *SPOILER ALERT TO OUAT* I couldn't resist but you know the Excalibur well that has Killian's name on it and ofc the dagger has Emma's name on it now so basically way before captain swan was a ship, destiny had already planned them to get together like how perfect is that. Seriously though the writers are so incredibly talented like the amount of plot twists they fit in is crazy but in a good way.

1 MORE WEEK OF SCHOOL!! If you can't already tell then yeah I'm ridiculous excited for a break and I've got so many events planned. Ok even though you might not care, I'm just gonna say: Tyler Oakley's Binge book signing, Joe Sugg's Username Evie graphic novel signing, a sixthform party and Union J's concert. I would've also had Zoe's Girl on Tour signing but Leeds tickets sold out like crazy and me and my friends missed out *cries inside..wait who am I kidding I cried on the outside too*

Started revision already as I've got a criminal psychology mock next Thursday just in time for parents evening (great timing right..). It just makes me feel so drained out of energy, why can't the weekend be longer so I can have a YouTube/Netflix day and not feel bad about it?! Ugh the most important questions of life..if only we could freeze time and relax for 5 hours but it's actually only an hour, sorry if I'm going off on a tangent I better stop. I swear my mind goes crazy when I've been doing work, anything to distract myself from the mind numbing torture of revision.

To end this on a cute note, here's a picture I took of Smudge when she was following me outside while I was taking pictures, clearly she wanted in on some of the limelight;) 

Hang on in there, not long now until a break from hell aka school as it's most formally known. Talk next Sunday!

Sophie

♥♥

Exploring Leeds

Hey everyone! 
Friendly remember that it's less than 2 weeks until we break up for October half term or as I prefer to say only 1 more week until we only have a week left at school;) sounds so much better doesn't it. Also I feel like my title suggests I'm a tourist but nope I do live in Leeds, just have only begun to go to events like you'll hear about below.

So straight away I have to tell you about something that happened to me and my friends when we were on the 36 to Leeds. So I read my friends message about this guy that had randomly started talking to my friend and I just laughed not properly thinking it over. So I went to the back of the bus where my friends were and almost immediately this guy was like moving up to make sure I had room to sit next to him. He just kept talking to us non-stop as according to him he just likes to make people laugh. I mean if I'm being honest I was more laughing at him than with him, he was just so creepy and (goes into sassy mode) let me tell you he has no clue of the concept of personal space! Every time he said a joke or a story (every 2 mins) he leaned on me and looked at me as if he was waiting for me to laugh and being the only seat on the bus upstairs I had no choice but to endure the awkwardness/creepiness. That was the longest bus ride of my life..I was so happy to get off the bus you have no idea. Side note..he took a picture of us which we were forced into and he was like now you're gonna be famous. Very worried/creeped about but luckily his phone looked like a Nokia from the 90s and he admitted he didn't know how to use it so hoping he accidentally deletes it.

So to give some context to the bus story, it was on Friday when me and my friends had arranged to go to Leeds Light Night. It was actually a really cool event but as lots of the events were scattered around Leeds it meant it took ages to get from one activity to the next and we knew there were free buses to get but typical we only ended up seeing one when we arrived at our destination (wow I sound a bit like a satnav). We saw a fire show, a circus with a variety of different acts, a wave garden which is explained best using a picture, the photographer Michael Bosanko where he paints light and a spoken word performance at the playhouse. We planned to go to even more, some that I'm gutted about as we missed the one where apparently it's like you are walking through a rainbow and the other one where you could make your own t shirts and paint on them. The ones we went too were cool though, here are some pictures which I'm quite proud of, the first one is using fast shutter speed (if you don't know it freezes the picture) and the other ones are using a slower shutter speed (which captures some of the movement in the picture). Let me know what you think:

This still relates to Friday but advice if you go to Leeds and haven't been before or just aren't familiar with good places to go. I highly recommend trinity kitchen and going to the Chicago rib shack and (wait for it) getting a kids meal (yep you did read that right) obviously you have to look like a student but it's so much cheaper and you get a decent amount. I'm talking about for lunch not for eating out for tea but if you want to save money and get a good amount then definitely go there! They also have cool buzzers which go off when your food is ready (how to make waiting for food fun...sorta)

As part of my photography A level our class (only 5 people..small class ik) we are going to be doing some dark room work. I have been given the film camera for this weekend to take exactly 12 pictures of something relating to my project (so around nature if you forgot). Well if I'm being honest I've only just gotten the hang of my DSLR because I feel like there's still so much to learn especially if you buy new stuff to add on. So I must have taken the same picture like 5 times before realising I needed to wind the film on to actually take a picture, the next time I heard the click so I knew it definitely worked hahah.. I just assumed it was already done idek, it shows how little I know (I'm still learning so shush).  

Don't know if you'll even be interested but it's kinda a one way communication when I'm writing this so I'm just gonna hope & continue writing. I found this photographer who compares nature and architecture and I really liked that idea as it fits in with my project. Linking on with that I wanna merge faces into nature inspired by the green man (it's a statue with a face in it) and do something physical like pressing flowers/sowing stuff I'm not sure yet all I know is that I wanna get physical physical (apology for breaking into song, just can't help it;)

So hope you're surviving school and if not.. it's LESS THAN 2 WEEKS until we all break up. Have a good week, talk soon.

Sophie
♥♥

October Already?!

Hey people! Hope you're all well:)

I can't believe how fast the months have gone and it's already October which means nearly Christmas;) (joke I'm not that person even I know it's still too early to countdown) I mean we have to wait until at least after Halloween am I right?! Although saying that I've been hearing Christmas songs all week played by sixthformers at my school (not me I'll just point out) but clearly everyone just gets so excited this time of year.

I'm not really a big fan of Halloween like loads of people get so hyped up about it but ever since I stopped trick or treating as a kid I haven't ever done anything as I've gotten older. Partly because on the day it's my dad's birthday so I'd always feel bad if I did but I think I'm way more of a Christmas person. I'm really hoping this year we get some proper snow as last year we didn't even have a snow day off school..now that's just so wrong! So I'm praying to the 'weather gods' that we have a proper White Christmas this year I would be so happy. If that happens I will be that person who stays at home singing white Christmas while it's snowing outside ha..but of course I'll go sledging first. 

Just realised I haven't told you guys a painful story that happened lets just say more than a few years ago (I'm not good at tracking time/dates) so I was out sledging with my family at the local park and I was on one of the plastic colourful sledges where you sit on it and pretty sure there's some string to hold on too. Well I was going pretty fast (I thought anyway) and there was a big bump and when I landed I fell straight into my coccyx bone...it was too painful for words but I'm not one of those people who is over dramatic or wants to make a fuss so I held it in. Even worse at the time I saw some people I knew from school and I was thinking shit I can't cry in front of them so I like hid behind my parents and the pain slowly eased internally (still trying to hold in my tears) but honestly it was excruciatingly painful. Looking back I was a tough kid not in the sense of I'd go off doing daring things but I'm the sort of people who holds in my pain so much & it takes a lot to full on cry out of pain because I'm very self conscious of what people around me think. I know that's a very bad habit but I'm slowly getting better with age, I mean my anxiety doesn't help but I'm learning to manage it.

So for my photography this year my work is all themed around nature like I've said so I've been doing some macro shots using lighting to illuminate the subjects. However ironically I wasn't actually using my macro lenses in this photo I'm about to show you..I didn't even have a decent excuse I was just feeling very lazy & thought my normal lense will do. So you can see for yourself what you think, the first one is the normal shot and the second one I named magic mushroom because I mean just look at it, after editing it it's pretty cool & magical (not intentionally named after drugs it just sorta happened as I don't do anything of the sort).

If any of you have listened to my recommendations and caught up with the 4 seasons of once upon a time then you'll know that the first episode of season 5 got released last Wednesday for the UK! Which is so amazing as Americans got to watch it Sunday (lucky buggers haha) but for a lot of programmes I'd have to wait a lot longer to watch it so I'm pretty happy. So without spoiling it too much, how amazing is the first episode!! One of my favourite things about OUAT is all the plot twists and it definitely had a lot even in the first episode but now we have to wait until next Wednesday to watch the next episode. Anyone just not used to being restricted that much?? I'm not used to having to wait that long, I normally find series after they've been released so I end up binge-watching them which is not of my favourite hobbies to do (yes that is a hobby;)

But I'll talk more next Sunday!

Have an awesome week
Sophie

♥♥