Me exploring in my beloved giant 'duvet coat'. Paris v rainy at the moment.

Me exploring in my beloved giant ‘duvet coat’. Paris v rainy at the moment.

Reads of the month-

 ‘The trouble with Goats and Sheep’ – Joanna Cannon

‘Breakfast at Tiffany’s’ – Truman Capote

I have been out of the habit of reading for years so two books a month is a good start for me.

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Inspiring words of the month- ‘You’ll never change your life until you change something you do daily. The secret of your success is found in your daily routine.’

See my Pinterest Account (where I found the quote)

This resonated with me this month because I felt inspired to add more things I love into my daily routine: reading a good book on the Metro (I live in Paris now); taking back up an old hobby; remembering to do the things that make me happy like getting off at a different stop on the way home and seeing a new part of this city. I even began to think about my website again which is why I am writing this post. I enjoy making content and maybe doing more of it could help take me somewhere in the future. A few people have encouraged me to get back into it and I hope I can get back into the routine.

It really can be the small changes that can make a difference to how you feel. They can also help lead you to success- just deciding you want to do something and doing it.

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Highlight of the month-

The old hobby I brought back into my life this month is knitting. I finally finished perhaps the longest cushion cover in the history of cushion cover production. I decided I wanted to make it in September 2016 when I moved to London. After nipping into my new office to meet my new managers, I headed to John Lewis on Oxford Street, full of excitement to buy some wool. I chose a lovely but not cheap grey chunky number and some fat needles and that was all I needed.

I think I felt inspired by these cushions in Waitrose

I think I felt inspired by these cushions in Waitrose

As the nights grew longer and darker, I knitted row after row using YouTube tutorials along the way. If anyone’s interested, I alternated rows of knitting and purling.

 That’s when my progress slowed and I basically stopped after I had knitted a long rectangle. The reason I didn’t spend my time knitting anymore was because I went out drinking a lot with friends and summer came along and there was far too much socialising to do. For me I suppose it’s a winter hobby.

I ended up leaving the lovely, long, warm strip in its John Lewis bag and it went back home when I moved out of the flat.

The second of January 2018 came along and there were a few hours to go until I got the Eurostar back to Paris after a Christmas break at home. For some reason I suddenly had the motivation to finish the cushion cover! (I think it was the time pressure, there’s nothing like a deadline to make you do something.)

Mum showed me how to cast off (the act of finishing a piece of knitting so you can take it off the needle) and I sewed it up onto the cushion. Here is the finished result:

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Perfectly imperfect.

It feels great that I created something that is unique and also looks like something I would definitely buy, even if it did take me 16 months! I have always loved crafting and sewing, and now i can add knitting to the list. Next project is slightly confused as I am knitting without totally knowing what it is going to be.

January brought me my first ever five star hotel experience. I also did some pastel painting and work and went to a pastels exhibition at the Petit Palais. Let’s see what February brings!

The Eiffel Tower as viewed from the Arc de Triomphe

The Eiffel Tower as viewed from the Arc de Triomphe

The Louvre with John, Mum and Joe

The Louvre with John, Mum and Joe

My 21st Birthday meal at Au Bon Coin with Lois and Phoebe

My 21st Birthday meal at Au Bon Coin with Lois and Phoebe

Jardin de Tuilleries in the rain

Jardin de Tuilleries in the rain

Sacré Coeur with home friends

Sacré Coeur with home friends

Any photos that I take are automatically uploaded to my Google+ account where they appear privately. I normally don’t share them with my circles, until Google+ started to do really cool edits of them, and now I think they are worth seeing. This process is automatic and I didn’t ask for it to happen- which is why it was a nice surprise when I was notified to these Auto Awesome photos from my time in Barcelona:

Fountain in Ciutadella Park

Fountain in Ciutadella Park

Montserrat

Montserrat

Casa Battlo

Casa Battlo

Catalunya en Miniatura

Catalunya en Miniatura

View from the Temple Expiatori del Sagrat Cor at Tibidabo

View from the Temple Expiatori del Sagrat Cor at Tibidabo

Inside the Temple Expiatori del Sagrat Cor (lower church)

Inside the Temple Expiatori del Sagrat Cor (lower church)

Goat up the mountain in Palleja

Goat up the mountain in Palleja

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A few handy hints on how to bore your students to tears:

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There is no way of escaping a boring lecture once you’re in there…

1)      Write a six thousand word monologue on Microsoft word, put it in size 28 font and project it onto the big screen.

2)      Proceed to read out your carefully crafted piece of enthralling literature for the entirety of an hour.

3)      Begin your lecture at 9 o’clock in the morning when you know your students will be the most alert.

4)      Make sure you scroll through your monologue with a slight delay. Try and make it more difficult for your audience to catch up with what you’re saying.

5)      Upload this dissertation to the student portal afterwards so that the students realise that there was no point in attending your stupidly early lecture.

eBay

This is a link to my eBay listings for my account, By Hannah UK: http://myworld.ebay.co.uk/byhannahuk

I start the bidding at 99p on everything so it’s worth a look.

Can’t promise that there will always be listings up, I tend to sell things in waves when I fancy a clear out.

Got a call today from someone claiming to be from Consumer Opinion.

They wanted my ‘opinion’ on some household FACTS.

I didn’t give them the information that they wanted.

I asked them for their website.

This is what I found:

consumeropinion.co.uk

 

It doesn’t exist! (obvs)

The man persisted and persisted. He even called me back when I had hung up.

He lied and told me the website was there, when it clearly wasn’t.

Upon finding out that I was a student (an angry one), he said he needed to speak to an ‘elder’ because I was ‘JUST a student’ (how very dare he).

I declined and hung up again, for the last time.

He just wouldn’t shut up!

I’m sure he knew it was all a load of *$!?#. I wonder how many people he gets hanging up on him a day.

And why does he do it?

Well, he probably has a family to provide for and doesn’t have a choice.

It would be quite sad if he got his money on commission- earning a living by tricking vulnerable phone call recipients into giving away their personal details to a detrimental effect.

That doesn’t mean we should let them get away with it.

Hang up if you receive a call from ‘Consumer Opinion’. I think most people do anyway. What’s the point eh?

Desk Day 21

Went back into the office today and wrote some posts on Lincoln nightlife hotspots.

Hopefully my youth and experience will have helped out a bit there.

Going back to university soon and I can’t wait!

Businesses are constantly trying to keep up with the latest technology and software, but is the younger generation always one step ahead? Being social media savvy is becoming more and more important nowadays, and there are many ways in which the student uses it to their advantage. Businesses could learn from looking at how lazy students make their lives efficient through the internet. As the socialites of our time, student scheduling has to be done somehow!

We all find Facebook annoying at times; especially when we are bombarded with holiday snaps of people we met once in freshers’ week clogging up our news feeds. However, it has its redeeming qualities where arranging a student’s busy social life is concerned.

This is the usual protocol: bribed by free Domino’s pizza, the student gets seriously carried away at the freshers’ fair during the first week of university and signs up to far too many clubs and societies. And, like Russian dolls, the said societies then add the students that they have lured in to their Facebook group, under the umbrella of the University-wide Facebook group.

After repeated emails, notifications and missed meetings, the student decides which society they are actually going to go to, and this is where Facebook really becomes useful. Let’s face it, everyone uses Facebook, and there is no better way of easily contacting a large group of people instantly. You can find your new flatmates on a Facebook group before you even get to university. But the President of, let’s say, the Obscure Cinema Society, is far more clued up than simply posting on the group to reach people. Oh yes, Facebook group administrators have a multitude of photo albums, document uploaders and event planning tools at their disposal.

Scheduling events through Facebook has never been easier. A typical example would be planning a ‘social’. A group member asks a question on the Facebook page about what the next Society outing should be, and the members of the group click their preferred multiple choice answer or input their own. After this, the event organiser’s dream comes into play- a Doodle poll. This is an online tool which allows users to indicate when they are free in a calendar format.  Thus, convenient dates appear without any rapid-fire Facebook chat confusion and unnecessary stress. According to the genii at Doodle, finding a date for a meeting is twice fast using their site.

However, there’s more. Every society has its own ‘stash’- hoodies, t-shirts and even that all-important embossed onesie- bearing their logo. Ordering these garments has become easier than ever before with ‘Google Docs’. All that you have to do is fill in the spread sheet with what you would like to order, there’s no need to leave your bed!

There really is no stopping Google. With an editable ‘Google Map’ upload, students can add on where they are living as they enter the world of grotty student housing. It enables those who are leaving the comfort zone of halls to keep in touch with others who have also moved out, and see where they are now living, which can be quite reassuring.

‘Google Hangout’ has been more than ideal for university students away from home. Group video calls are free, so it’s goodbye to Skype, and hello to a reliable and improved service that isn’t a strain on the purse. It’s also a barrel of laughs; I have spent hours annoying my friends and family with the range of sound effects on the chat panel. You can even make virtual hats appear on your head, allowing for endless fun seeing how many you can put on at once.

Social media has allowed the student to have all the relevant details of their social life at their fingertips. It even means that you don’t have to leave your room to ask your flat if anyone has a convict’s fancy dress costume for the cops and robbers bar crawl. What social media can do is quite impressive, and is very much in keeping with the fast pace of modern day life. Needless to say, I still get the emails from the university choir I never went to, telling me when the meeting for the Songs of Praise viewing is. Not forgetting the Snapchat that reminds me to go.

Desk Day 20

Today was meant to be the last day on my placement, however I want to stay as a contributor to the website so I am going to go in to the office again.

There is always more to add to a tourism website like Lincolnshire.org.

Lincoln life is drawing slowly to a close. All my friends are heading back to uni now and I will be going back at the end of the month.

Meanwhile, Scotland tomorrow.