Hello, 2015!

As I say hello to 2015, and welcome all of the prospective adventures it brings with it, I can't help but feel nostalgic for the year that's just passed. 2014 was a whirlwind of emotion, but I have to say it was possibly the best year I've had so far.

There have been many highlights, but I won't go through them all, as it's not the most enjoyable post for people to read and it'd take a bloody long time!

So, as I love a good list, here we have one, to sum up briefly and without doing it full justice, what was an incredible year.

1. Showcase
January saw the first show the Musical Theatre Society put on with me as President. I adored every aspect of this show, and it was also the first time I'd ever performed on stage completely alone. Organising the showcase taught me a lot, and I had so much fun doing it.

2. Paddy's Day (and the rest of the socials)
Last academic year was a messy one for MTS! We had frequent socials that were all great nights out (and terrible mornings after!). Friendships were formed that I never expected, and others were strengthened and some awful photos made their way onto the internet to act as proof.

3. Guys and Dolls
Although this show was performed way back in May, I still can't quite put into words just how proud I am of it. I loved every single second of organising and performing alongside some of the nicest and most talented people I know. It's going to take a hell of a lot to beat that.

4. Awards
As if MTS hadn't done enough for me in 2014 by giving me the best friends I could've wished for and an opportunity to thrive and learn as an organiser/manager, we also went and won an Award of Recognition at the Societies Ball - an award created specifically to celebrate our achievements over the past year. I'm so proud of our little team of last year, and every time I look at the award sitting on my windowsill now it fills me with motivation and belief that if we can pull something like that off, we're pretty fantastic. Having the chance to dress up fancy, drink champagne, and be awarded for our hard work and dedication was an unforgettable way to end what was an amazing year.

5. The Tattoo
There were a lot of firsts for me in 2014, and getting my first tattoo was one of them! Ask me in twenty years if I think it was wise to get three squares tattooed inside one another on the side of my ribs and I'll bet you any money I'll still say yes. What looks like a sad attempt at being hipster and geometric actually means a lot to two of my bestest friends and me. It signifies our friendship, and the amazing year we had getting to know one another and just generally being great. When I look at it, I'm reminded of happiness, recklessness and fun. And just like the tattoo, I don't think those memories will fade.
(Pass me the sick bucket, already!)

6. Summer

Summer saw me choosing to not go back home, and instead live with a bunch of boys in a band. Trust me, it sounds a lot cooler than it was. Although, I did have a great time. Summer saw me let my hair and my guard down, and just have fun. We went to loads of gigs, including a private festival...I mean, come on! I spent a weekend in London attending Summer in the City which was fab. I also celebrated my birthday with friends and a successful night out for once! It was great. The perfect way to chill out before the challenge that September brought with it.

7. Morocco
The sixteen days I spent in Morocco at the start of September were easily the hardest, most challenging days of my life. Trekking to the top of Mout Toubkal was the toughest thing I've ever had to endure, what with suffering from three panic attacks during the ascent and yet somehow, with the help of a good friend, I made it to the peak. Looking back now, after months of reflection, I'm so pleased I did it. The trip itself was in no means the best time of my life; there were moments when I was so ill, so scared (being trekked off a campsite at midnight by Moroccan police is terrifying!), but there were times when I've laughed more than ever before!
Plus, I got to ride a camel and that's friggin' cool.

8. Damien Rice
Agh, I still can't put into words how amazing this day was. Seeing Damien Rice perform finally, and in the London Palladium?! Incredible. It was just, yeah, fantastic. Easily the best gig I have attended.
It was just a great day.

9. Tattoo No. 2
So, yeah. What started as one finished as two! The day after seeing Damien Rice, I was exploring Camden and wandered into a little tattoo parlour and decided that I needed to stop being a chicken and get the tattoo of an arrow on my wrist that I'd wanted for a while. Now, spontaneity is not normally something I'm comfortable with, but 2014 has taught me a lot about myself and the things I need to alter so I did it. It's a reminder to stay motivated, stay creative, and keep moving forward. No matter what, don't stop moving forward.

9. Graduation Week
It's not my graduation until this year (hopefully) but the rate I partied it may as well have been. I had my two best friends in Coventry for a whole week. A WHOLE WEEK. We caused a lot of chaos, made some great life choices, and drank far too much.

10. Other random times

There have been many other times this year that I've enjoyed; meeting up with my Childreach team at the Awards evening in Manchester was lovely, seeing Nina Nesbitt and Ed Sheeran live ticked a couple more boxes off my gig list. And a chilled Christmas at home with the family was a good way to end a hectic year. 

I'm not going to do the cliched thing of talking about how much 2014 has changed me, and how I'm going to be a different person in 2015, because quite frankly, what's the point? People are changing and evolving constantly, we shouldn't need the date to use as an excuse to buck up our ideas and go get the things we want most. Instead,  I just hope that this time next year, I can be writing an even longer post about all the incredible times I've had again. 

So bring it on, 2015. I cannot wait.

A
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xxx

Home: Just a concept?

Whenever I feel a flash of inspiration and I'm away from my laptop or notebook, I jot my ideas down in the 'Notes' section on my phone. I'm sure this isn't a surprising concept; many people do it. 

I found this note I'd left myself among the list of disjointed ramblings and thought I'd share it. So, here you have some thoughts conjured up many miles away from 'home'. 

As I type this, I'm sat on a plane 39,000 feet in the air on my way to Morocco to complete my charity expedition and (hopefully) summit Mount Toubkal. And as this metal tube hurtles it's way through the air at 499mph, I've been thinking a lot about the concept of home.

For a lot of people, the word 'home' conjures up images of parents, family, a childhood setting, maybe Christmas or other similar occasions. Family; security; safety. For others, it may mean a city, town, village; simply the place in which they're from. Somewhere they can ground themselves; a pivot from which they can resonate.

But for me, I'm unsure what home means. Sure, my first instinct would be to describe my mother's house; the place where I grew up. Or Coventry, as that's where I was born and where I've always lived. However, in the past year, I've lived in a number of houses in the same city, with a range of different people and they've all strangely felt at some point like 'home' to me. I don't know whether this just makes me an adaptable person, or whether I'm just a little lost.

So, I guess, what I would have to say is that for me, home can't be based solely on location or memories. It's a feeling, a concept. My home is wherever I feel most content; a place I can relax; a place filled with laughter, song, and most importantly, a place where I can be inspired. It can stay constant, or it can change without me even realising. 

I also feel a if a person can have more than one home. To me, the family home will always be my 'home', but it won't be the only home I have. And that's okay. 

I guess I'm lucky to have found more than one place where I can feel comfortable, and as long as I have that place to escape to when things get tough, everything will be okay one way or another.  

A

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'The Now'.

In the past few weeks I've spent less time on YouTube than I have previously due to being too busy to sit down and catch up on the creators I follow most. However, whilst struggling to get off to sleep the other night, I thought I'd peruse my subscription box. In doing so, I came across the latest video from Will Darbyshire, a relatively new YouTuber entitled, 'The Now' and it really hit home.

In the video, Will discusses the idea of living in the 'now' as when it really comes down to it, that's all we actually have. As he says, the past is just a collection of previous presents; the future is an infinite number of 'nows' that we are yet to experience.

What Will then goes on to explore is the dilemmas we can all face in choosing how we experience our 'now'. A lot of us, myself included, struggle with thoughts of what we're going to do in the future and how we're going to get there. And this can sometimes mean that we miss out on the beauty that simply is, now. 

The choice between following our hearts or our minds; the predicament of opting whether to be rational and make decisions based on our futures or whether to act spontaneously in the spur of the moment isn't an easy one. Will talks about how he has recently started living each day for what it is, and one of the points that struck a chord with me most was, 'if something makes sense to you and nobody else, I think you should just go and do it'. In the last few months, many of the decisions I have made haven't really made any sense to anyone else, but I've still done them. I've begun to start thinking about what makes me happy right now, and learning to embrace that rather than constantly making decisions that are only going to change my future, not my present. Don't get me wrong, I'm not going completely off the rails and spiraling into a psychotic 'YOLO' stage, I'm simply doing more of what makes me happy. 

And I believe that this can only be a positive thing. Not just for my present 'now's' but also for my future ones. By experiencing more now, and making the most of each day as it is, I can feel myself moulding and blending into a better, happier person. This may mean that the aims for my future 'now's' shift slightly, altering their course to head towards happiness as well as practicality, but inevitably this will mean that the future me is happier than the one I had planned out before.

I think the main thing I took from Will's video this week was the knowledge that it's okay to do unexpected things, to explore pathways you never thought you would and most importantly, it's more than okay to make a decision based on your happiness over what others may deem as the best option. As long as you're content and comfortable with the decisions you're making, and you believe that they're going to have a positive affect for you one way or another in the long run, keep doing them. Even if all you end up with are some stories of your crazy youth to tell in the future, at least you can say you had a bloody good time.

We only have now. Don't live your life waiting on tomorrow, saving yourself for a time in the distant future. It may never come. Enjoy what you have now. Do more of the things that make you happy.

'We're young, we live in one of the most beautiful cities in the world; might as well have fun while we can and save the serious stuff for later.' - Summer, 500 Days of Summer. 

You can find Will's video here, as well as his channel which I would highly recommend you subscribing to.

As always, thanks for reading.

A

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xxx

Life Is a Cabaret, Old Chum!

Hello everyone! 
Well, it's been a while since I've been on here, nearly a whole moth to be exact! I have missed blogging.
 University has been pretty hectic as of late, mainly due to my Musical Theatre Society's production taking place. For those of you that don't already know, this year at university I have been lucky enough to be the President of our Musical Theatre Society. Each year the society performs twice: an original showcase written by the artistic team in January, and a fully scripted musical in the third term.

This year, our showcase was titled, 'The Phantom of the Musical' and saw the Phantom himself take the audience on a journey of musical delight as he strove to find his perfect leading lady. Featuring songs from Les Miserables, Cabaret, Chicago, Miss Saigon and more, the show was pretty diverse. However, our wonderful Artistic Director wrote an excellent storyline and I'm very proud to say the show was a success!
We performed for three nights to sell out crowds and everybody had a great time. Here are a few snaps of some of my favourite moments:

Myself and some of the boys, they're the best.

Two of my closest friends and I.

Who run the world? GIRLS!

Performing my all time favourite song from a musical with my favourite people. ONE DAY MORE.

Cabaret.

Tiny person, big stage.

Taking our final bow on the final night.

As well as leading and organising a lot of the committee side of things, I was lucky enough to be granted a solo in the show. I sang, 'Life is a Cabaret' (hence the title of the post) and whilst this song proved difficult for me at times, I'm happy with the overall result. Although I've had solo parts before, I've never actually performed completely alone on stage and in character for a whole song; this was something new for me. And I loved it! I really feel like my performing and confidence has improved massively since I joined MTS back in 2012. I know I am by no means the best, but to have people notice an improvement in something I love doing feels great. 

But, more than all of that (and this is where I get soppy, again) I am so very happy to have helped create something that other people loved being in. As I've said before, and am likely to say many times again, MTS means so much to me. The society has become a huge part of my life; a place where I have met many of my best friends and experienced some of my favourite moments of the past few years. To know that other people are gaining a likewise experience from the society too makes me both happy and proud. One of our newest members Suzie, has written a lovely blog post about her experience which you can read HERE. Reading things like this make all the stressing, worrying and late-night last minute organising worth it.

Our university media team came along on the final night and filmed the show for us. You can watch it below. I’ve never been as proud of a show as this.

Performing really does bring people together; we are proof of that. Our members come from a variety of backgrounds; some have performed all their lives whereas for others this is their first experience of stepping onto stage. But, this is all left at the sidelines and in our society, we all come together to create something as a team.  MTS is a crazy, dysfunctional, at times very incestuous family, and I bloody well love it.

There really is no business like show business!

As always, thankyou for reading.

A

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xxxx

'How do you measure, measure a year?'

My, oh my, 2013 you've been a crazy one haven't you? The year has whizzed by so fast, I'm left reeling as if it's all been a wonderful (okay, mostly wonderful) dream. 
As the festive season draws to a close, I've found myself reflecting on the metaphorical rollercoaster ride 2013 has been. I feel that I've accomplished a lot this year; 2013 has seen me begin many new chapters of my life, as well as improving on others. 

So, what better way to document and share with you my personal highlights of the past twelve months than a big smushy let's-get-overly-emotional-and-talk-about-all-the-good-things-that-have-happened type post!   

University

2013 has seen me complete my First Year at university, and dive headfirst into the stress that is 'Year Two'. I was apprehensive when beginning university as I was still in my home town, living with my family. I didn't move into Halls of Residence, I didn't have flat mates. Therefore, I was forced to put myself out there even more in order to make friends. This scared me for a number of reasons. Was I still going to get a good experience without having as much independance as those students that do move away? What if I couldn't make friends in a lecture because I'd be too busy scribbling down notes? Of course, as always, I was worrying far too much. Luckily, I met lovely people on my course and soon found my feet. 
I know it's super cliched to say but, University has quite frankly changed my life. I've learnt a lot, I've partied a lot, I've laughed a hell of a lot, and I've had a smile on my face an immeasurable amount more than the year before. I'm now a much more confident person; I've had the chance to take many opportunities that never would have arisen had I not stayed in education. I've also met some of the best people and made some very strong friendships that I hope to hold onto for many years to come.
Although it's not always easy, and I'm often up to my eyeballs in essay stress, I know that every moment is helping me to get to where I want to end up. And the fact that I'm getting to have fun alongside that is pretty darn great. 

Musical Theatre Society

Gah, I barely have words to describe how much this society means to me. I remember forcing myself to pluck up the courage to go to the Fresher's Induction back in 2012. I was terrified. And my God am I glad I went. Through it, I've met most of the amazing friends I mentioned above. During 2013, I had the opportunity to perform in two shows during my first year at University; 'Down on the Avenue' - an original showcase in January and 'Grease' the musical in May. I wrote a post about Grease in more detail, which you can view HERE. All of the people I met were so lovely and made me feel so welcome. I love my MTS family! 
At the end of the semester, when Elections for the new Committee arrived, I decided to challenge myself massively and ran for the role of President. Again, I wrote another post about this which you can catch up on HERE. I won the vote, and as of this September I have assumed the role of President. It has been tough at times, but I love it. In January, we will be performing our showcase, 'The Phantom of the Musical', and I cannot wait for people to see the amazingly talented, hard working members we have.
The most rewarding part of the role is knowing that I'm helping to give the new members a place they love as much as I did last year. Seeing them form friendships with people they may not have otherwise met, and hearing how much they are enjoying the whole experience makes all the late nights, endless emails, phone calls, forms, organising and problem solving stress worthwhile. 
I'm aware I sound like some form of deranged proud Mother, but I have a lot of feelings, okay?

Travels

2013 saw two firsts for me in travel. Back in July, my mum, my sister and I went on holiday for a week to Tenerife. This was the first holiday we'd been on just the three of us, and it was nice to take a time out from all things Internet and work (yes, I did just say it was nice to be away from the Internet) and enjoy some quality time together. I documented my time away in a good ol' post which you can view here. 
I also went on my first 'holiday' of sorts without any parental guidance in August. I spent the most amazing few days in London with one of my closest friends. We went to the YouTube gathering 'Summer in the City' and I spent my birthday evening watching my favourite musical Les Miserables live on the West End for the first time. It's safe to say August was very kind to me this year. If you'd like to hear more about my London adventures, I wrote more about them here, here and here. 

Gigs

Although I haven't been to that many gigs in 2013, the ones I have attended have been pretty spectacular. Most prominently McFly's 10th Anniversary gig at the Royal Albert Hall. That night was just incredible. In 2014, I intend on going to more, including 3 McBusted dates which I already have the tickets for. What? My inner 12 year old just couldn't deal with only one, okay? 

Birth of this blog

2013 saw me take the plunge back into blogging, and it's a decision I'm pleased I made. Although I haven't had as much time as I'd have liked to commit to creating more posts, I'm pleased with where I've got to so far. I'm still finding my feet here, but I intend on improving and writing more in 2014. I have a few little ideas brewing away in my mind and I'm looking forward to sharing them with you here, so I hope you plan on sticking around to see them! 

Without wanting to sound too cliched, I've changed and grown a lot this year. I feel like I'm slowly starting to 'find myself' for want of a better phrase, and it feels good. Positivity is the way forward!

What better way to end this post than with a photo montage of my favourite memories?

(It's okay, I cringed too.)

2013, you've been a blast. 2014, you've got a lot to live up to but I look forward to seeing what you have to bring!

For those of you that haven't seen my previous post on New Year's Resolutions for next year, you can view it here.
Alrighty then! I think that just about rounds up my posts for this year. Thankyou for reading, and for following if you have. It means a lot.
See you in January!

A
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November Playlist

Hello!

Recently, I've been listening to the radio and music a lot more in the day whilst I'm getting on with work etc. (Of course, by getting on with work I mean procrastinating on the Internet for hours). So, today I thought I would share with you a few songs I've currently been listening to and loving a lot.

Before I start, I will just say I know nothing about music so don't judge me for my terrible descriptions, thanks!

1. Paramore - Ain't It Fun

This is easily my favourite song from Paramore's latest album. The album itself took a while to grow on me, as it's quite different from their usual material. However, the first time I heard this song I loved it. The lyrics are just so great, and resonate with how I've been feeling a lot lately.
I also got to see it played live at their Self Titled tour earlier this year which was pretty freaking awesome.

2. McFly - Love Is On The Radio 

It's McFly. Do I really need to add anything else?!

I love the slight country sound to this. Every new McFly album has been different, but I've loved them all as you probably already know from this post dedicated to them. I cannot wait for Album 6! Until then, this is going on repeat. I don't think I'll ever tire of watching Dougie lick that hammer.

3. The Lumineers - Slow It Down 

This isn't a new song, however I only recently discovered it whilst trawling through playlists on the app 8tracks. The simplicity of it is just beautiful. Ahhhh, it's one of those songs that makes me feel all fuzzy.

Everything by The Lumineers that I've heard I've liked, so I'm definitely going to listen to more of them.

4. Lewis Watson & Gabrielle Aplin - Droplets 

I love both Lewis and Gabrielle's solo work, so for them to collaborate makes me happy. I've abused the replay button on the live videos of this many times whilst waiting for it to officially be released. Again, it's another mellow number, but I'm really loving that kind of vibe lately.

If nothing else, watch this for the video; it's so cute!

5. Bastille - Poet

I love the lyrics to this song so much I was tempted to write only about this and forget the others! The idea of capturing and savouring someone forever by writing about them is so beautiful. It's one of the main reasons that I love reading and English so much. Team that thought with Bastille and you're onto a winner in my opinion. Again, this isn't a new song but it's one I've only just properly found again and I love it. Music can be so great sometimes.

That's it for now I think! Let me know if you have listened to any of these before, or what you think of them now. Do you have any suggestions you think I should add? What songs are you currently obsessed with?

Thanks for reading!

A

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How I'm Feeling At The Moment

Hello,

Lately, I have been avoiding blogging for a number of reasons. One being that I am simply swamped under with uni work at the moment, but another (and the most prominent) is that I haven't wanted to fill the page with negativity. Even now as I sit at my desk typing this, I'm finding myself at a loss of what to say. I haven't wanted to create a generic piece just for the sake of posting something, I've wanted to write something real but I struggled with what. So, I have decided that I'm simply going to tell you all how I'm feeling in the hope that it will help me to free up some of the space currently filled with negativity, making from for positivity and productivity!

This year at university has already seen me come across a number of challenges, for instance being President of a Society. This takes up a vast amount of my 'spare' time, but I am loving every moment of it. Musical Theatre means the world to me as cliched as it sounds. The friends I have made within the society are some of the best I will ever make, and my experience last year truly shaped my university life. Therefore, I am determined to work hard to create the same (if not better) experience for the new members that have joined us this term. This means I am frequently adding many more items to my to-do list before I've managed to cross any off! Luckily for me though,working under pressure is when I perform at my best and so this is a challenge I am willing to accept again and again.

The main challenge I am stuggling with the most at the moment is living away from home. Despite being in the same city that I grew up in, and being able to see my family on most weekends, something just doesn't feel right. Unfortunately, I feel the reason is down to one of the people I am living with.

Last year, myself and two friends put down a deposit for a house for us all to live in the following September. But, in the middle of Summer, right before we had to start making rent payments, one of the girls dropped out choosing to live with the boyfriend she had recently got engaged to. Helpful, not. We were left up the creek without a paddle as my Grandad would say! Myself and my friend contacted practically everyone we knew, but it was too short notice for anyone to be able to afford to move in with us. We were left with having to advertise the property and live with someone we had never met before. I found this extremely daunting as not only had I never moved away from my family, but now it was to be in with someone I had never met. 

To cut a long story short, we found a guy willing to move in and everything was settled. Or so it seemed. Although there is nothing wrong with him personally, I find him extremely difficult to live with. He cooks on average 3-5 massive cakes a week which he then eats, yet is being extremely picky about electricity bills. He has stunk the house out with various foods, the main being fish pie and a huge pork joint. As well as this, I find him to be very uncomfortable to be around. Because he is a few years older than myself, I feel like he believes he has to prove this all the time as he consistently patronises me on a regular basis. It has got to the point now that my other housemate and I come back from lectures and go to our rooms. That is where we stay until we go down to cook, and then come back again. The living room simply doesn't get used as you can't have a conversation without being corrected or interrupted all the time. I don't feel homesick because I'm away from home, I feel homesick because I'm uncomfortable where I am.

However, I have decided that I am not going to let this get me down any longer. I am paying good money to live in this house, and so I want to feel happy in it! From now on, I am banishing all negative vibes from myself, and am purely going to focus on being positive. I am very fortunate to have a lot of great things in my life, and so when I'm down I will put my energy into those, and into creating something rather than just sulking. I'm aware that this post will not be good reading for many of you, but I needed somewhere to let it out. I often find that by writing down my troubles, my brain forms solutions for them at the same time! 

Hopefully, my inspiration will filter through at some point soon and I will have some worthwhile content for you to read!

Have you ever had any bad experiences similar to mine? How did you cope with them?

A

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Moving Out

Hello!

Sorry my posts have been a little lack luster as of late. I promise you I have a good reason behind this, though. These last few weeks have seen me officially move out of my childhood home and into a student house ready for my second year to begin. As you can tell, my life has been a little hectic! However, now that I'm beginning to properly settle in, I thought I would show you a few things I love about my new room, and some of the things I've found most challenging about the experience so far.
Little bit of context before hand - I am still living in the same city as my family so am lucky enough to be able to pop home if I'm missing them or having a crappy day. I'm very lucky to be able to do this! I'm just beginning the second year of my English degree and so have decided to live closer to university purely to save time travelling back and forth 3 or even 4 times a day like last year!
I've lived in my student house for just over a week now. One of the things that's helped me to settle in so easily is that I brought some home comforts with me. For example, in the picture above you will see I brought some cushions. The owl one is handmade by my Grandma holds a lot of sentimentality for me. I also had quite a few photos printed which I haven't got round to putting up yet. I find that they're a nice reminder of my favourite people. This would probably mean a lot more to people who have moved further away from their homes. 

 Owls seem to be a recurring theme in my room actually! My grandparents bought me this amazing leaving gift. I have yet to name him (yes, I name inanimate objects) but he looks so cool glowing away next to me whilst I blog.

Another 'tip' I would suggest you do if you're moving out, is to decorate the blander areas of your space. It only takes simple things like some cheap fake flowers from Ikea dotted around, but they can soon turn a daunting room into a little haven for yourself. The same goes for posters or artwork - anything that you love really! The more things in your room you love, the more you'll learn to love it. I've brightened up my window like so:

If you follow me on Instagram, you will have seen the gift boxes I hand painted, and turned into make-up and beauty product storage. 

These took me between 2 and 4 hours to complete and were super easy and fun. I popped down to The Works and took advantage of their cheap art supplies; 2 big tunes of acrylic for £5!! I then handpainted on one of my favourite ever quotes - a line from Les Miserables. They look great in my room as they add a bit of colour and stop everywhere getting cluttered with products. 
If you ever need inspiration for cute additions to your room like these, browse Pinterest. That site is my new obsession!

I've been very fortunate so far because there hasn't been a day where I haven't been busy so I haven't spent too much time missing home. It is difficult though. I find myself making an effort to talk to my Mum a lot more now than I did at home. I guess when you live with a person you end up taking for granted finding out about their day and things. It's only when you move away that you realise how much you did speak to them. The same goes for my sister really. It's kind of ironic that distance between us will probably end up making us closer.
So, that's about it I think! I would have provided better photos of my whole room, but I am yet to find a bookcase and some other things so there are still boxes around etc. I hope you've enjoyed this post. I think from now on, my blogs will tend to be updates of my life here at university - if anything it'll be more of a public diary ha! I love blogging so am going to try my upmost to find time to post as regularly as I can! I'd love it if you followed me, too.

Thankyou so much for reading. Have you moved out recently or ever before? How did you find the experience?

A
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Summer in the City! | Part 3

Hello!

This is my third and final post on this year's Summer in the City! If you haven't read parts 1 and 2, you can check them out HERE and HERE. Yesterday's posted ended with me mentioning the planned trip to India that Jack and Finn (jacksgap), Louis (funforlouis), Ben (benbrown) and some others are going on next month. Two of my favourite YouTubers are Louis and Ben. They are both relatively small in the YouTube world- with Ben having less than 50,000 subs. However, they both upload high quality daily vlogs and I watch their content daily. 

After the panel with the twins, Cara and I headed into the West Hall for some food. I decided I quite fancied an ice cream so we moved over to the stand and to my surprise we bumped into none other than Ben himself! He was at the coffee stand with Steve Booker, another of Louis' closest friends. I had not expected to bump into either of them, and was very happy that I had! Due to not a lot of people knowing who they were, I got the opportunity of having an actual conversation with the guys, and they are just as lovely off screen as they are on! Meeting them both was a highlight of my weekend; it's much nicer to actually have a conversation with a creator than it is to just run up and snap a selfie with them. That being said, I did grab a cheeky photo with them both.

Steve

Ben

 (At the end of the post there will be links to everyone I have mentioned so far; I highly recommend you check these boys out. I predict they're going to become very popular very fast!)

After this, we stayed in the Mainstage area for the closing entertainment. Jack and Dean performed a brilliantly hilarious live set in which they sang Incognito for the final time! Their pairing works so well, they bounce off each other brilliantly. The crowd were going wild; the atmosphere was amazing! After them, the wonderful Hank Green performed for us all. I know I've said this before, but isn't he just the best?! Anyone that sings songs about why their should be an eighth Harry Potter wins in my book. Apart from this though, Hank raised a brilliant point regarding the struggle the media has reporting on an event like Summer in the City as unless you are a part of the YouTube community, it can be a difficult concept to grasp. He then said we should give them something to report that they could understand. 'Hair for Hazel' is a campaign his brother John has become involved in recently since the actress who is playing Hazel in the film adaptation of his novel 'The Fault in our Stars' cut her long locks off. It involves cutting off at least 8 inches of your hair, and sending it to a charity that provides wigs for children who have lost their hair. Hank called up on stage Rosianna, John's assistant and proceeded to cut off her beautifully long hair, live! 

Here is her vlog of the exact moment 9,000 people cheered as her hair fell down:

Alternatively, if this doesn't work you can watch the video HERE.

The whole thing ended Summer in the City on such an inspiring high. The creators and organisers of the event did such an unbelievably good job at pulling the weekend off. They overcame many obstacles on the first day, and the whole thing ran so smoothly. I thoroughly enjoyed myself, and will definitely be returning next year!

I hope you have enjoyed hearing about my experience at SitC. I found it so inspiring to be surrounded by such a vast amount of content creators both big and small. It reminded me that to get better at something you love doing, you have to practice and to push yourself. As the saying goes, 'Do more of what makes you happy.'

Although I am not brave enough to sit infront of a camera and talk to people the way many vloggers do, I adore sharing stories with people. And I love writing, therefore I am determined to get better at blogging. I am going to post more, (dare I even say daily?!) about my life and the things I am learning about myself and my surroundings as I complete my degree. My life may not be the most interesting, but even if only ONE person reads, I'll be happy. So thankyou, if you have read this far. I promise I'm going to try and make these better!

A

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xxxx

P.S. Here are the links to everyone I have mentioned if you haven't already checked them out!

Hank and John - http://www.youtube.com/user/vlogbrothers

Ben Brown - http://www.youtube.com/user/benbrown100

Steve - http://www.youtube.com/user/stevebooker

Louis - http://www.youtube.com/user/FunForLouis 

Jack and Finn - http://www.youtube.com/user/JacksGap
Rosianna - http://www.youtube.com/user/missxrojas

Summer in the City! | Part 2

Hello!

If you read my previous post you will know about the start of my SitC adventure last weekend. If you haven't read it, you can catch up HERE. If you have, welcome to Part 2!

My previous post ended with me telling you about getting the awesome chance to meet both Jack Howard and the lovely boys from WOTO. 

After this, we stayed around the Mainstage area, I bought my first ever deck of Sopio cards (yes, I'm late to the game). We then watched the Brett Domino Trio perform. I hadn't watched many of their videos before, but I found them absolutely hilarious! 

Next up was the beautiful PJ and his panel. They screened 3 of his recent short films and then opened up the floor to questions from the crowd. Watching as someone who has never really known much about the process of making a film, I found this really interesting. It's amazing the amount of time and effort that goes into a 2 second shot. 

The Becoming YouTube panel was after. There was a lot of excitement and anticipation surrounding this panel. Benjamin Cook was joined by Luke Cutforth, Caspar Lee, Hank Green, Chris Kendall. TomSka, Dan Howell (danisnotonfire), Emma Blackery and Shawna (Nanalew). They discussed some of the main topics covered in the series, especially the infamous gender gap on YouTube and whether the British YouTube community is something to be envied across the globe. It was great to watch everyone interacting, and talking so passionately about something we all love. Although I'm not an actual content creator, I felt very proud to be British as other YouTubers were complimenting how great the Brits are. I love the friendship they all have, and how supportive the community is. If you weren't able to see the panel for yourselves, it was live streamed and has been archived onto YouTube. You can check it out HERE. 

After the panel, Cara and myself headed back to the hotel as we were absolutely pooped!

DAY TWO

Once again, we started off early and arrived at the venue around 9:30am. The queue was long but moved much quicker as we all had our wristbands on from the previous day. The first thing on our agenda was to meet Hank Green. I have wanted to meet Hank for years. Every Tuesday and Friday, I watch John and his videos; I find them both so inspiring and brilliant so my internal fangirl was dying for this moment!! At first it was confusing to find where to queue, as two of the meet and greet areas how now been moved into the Main Hall. Jack and Finn were working their way through their second session of the weekend, in the same slot as Hank was scheduled to be in next. The volunteers were very helpful, and managed the situation excellently. They sorted the queues well and divided up the people who were there for Hank so that they didn't get confused with those there for the twins. 

Luckily we were in the first lot of people who got to meet Hank. Due to the demand and lack of time, it was rather rushed but I managed to snap a photo with him. It was such a great moment.

We then headed over to the Panorama Room for Jack and Finn's talk. The queue was rammed with excited fangirls -not all that surprising really, I mean have you seen them?!- so I was slightly apprehensive of what the next hour was going to entail. I really admire the boys for the amount of good work they do for charity. They are great role models, and they are still so humble despite having 2.5 MILLION subscribers. I hoped that the talk would give us a chance to hear them talk properly and wouldn't just be an influx of 'You're so hot, like OMG will you marry me?' Thankfully, it wasn't and we got the chance to hear about a lot of exciting new plans they have for JacksGap, including an upcoming trip to India along with Louis Cole, Ben Brown and others. They will be racing across India in tuck-tucks to raise money for Teenage Cancer Trust. I'm looking forward to watching them take on this journey, especially since Louis and Ben are two of my favourite YouTubers. 

Thanks for reading Part Two! I hope you're enjoying hearing about my experience. The final part will be uploaded tomorrow! Please let me know if you went to SitC this year and have written about it, I'd love to read some others!

A

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xxxx

P.S. Here are the links to everyone I have mentioned if you haven't already checked them out!

Hank and John - http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGaVdbSav8xWuFWTadK6loA

Ben Brown - http://www.youtube.com/user/benbrown100

Steve - http://www.youtube.com/user/stevebooker

Louis - http://www.youtube.com/user/FunForLouis

Jack and Finn - http://www.youtube.com/user/JacksGap

PJ - http://www.youtube.com/user/KickThePj

Ben Cook - http://www.youtube.com/user/ninebrassmonkeys

Luke - http://www.youtube.com/user/LukeIsNotSexy

Tom - http://www.youtube.com/user/TomSka 

Dan - http://www.youtube.com/user/danisnotonfire

Summer in the City! | Part 1

Hello!

As I mentioned in my previous post, last weekend I travelled down to London with my friend Cara to attend Britain's largest YouTube gathering, Summer in the City. The event was held at Alexandra Palace and around 9000 people came! I had an awesome time, so thought I would share some of my favourite parts here with you.

The day before SitC was set to begin, we had booked with the Megabus to take us down to London. It was a typical Midlands morning; the rain drizzling down from the grey sky. Still, this didn't stump our excitement and we arrived at the stop in time to begin our weekend. Ten minutes passed. Then an hour. An hour and a half. TWO HOURS and we were still at the stop! The bus was incredibly late, and what made this worse was the fact that they didn't tell us at all. I ended up ringing the centre up in Scotland to find out how long we were going to be stuck waiting for. Eventually, it arrived and we were London bound!

After checking into our hotel, we headed out for some food and then got an early night in preparation for the exciting days ahead.

DAY ONE 

We awoke early to (thankfully) blue skies. Our hotel was situated ten minutes walk around the corner from Ally Pally so it was ultra handy. As we were ascending the hill a gradual noise could be heard getting louder the nearer we approached; the sound of excited chat as people sat on the floor queuing to get in. I couldn't believe the size of it considering it was only 9:30am! However, it moved pretty quickly; the staff and volunteers were so professional and we found ourselves in the venue at 11:10am. Alexandra Palace is HUGE. I loved the style of the building, it has such a classic vibe to it what with the huge rooms combined with delicate dated decor. 

We had looked at the schedule previous to the event and planned the main things we wanted to attend. The first place we went was to the West Hall for Joe Sugg and Jim Chapman's Meet and Greet. The room was packed within the first few seconds. I was surrounded by girls charging through one another to reach queues. As Joe and Jim were scheduled at the same time as Jack and Finn, and Dan and Phil you can imagine the demand for space. It was confusing which queue to get into and for a while we were stood in the wrong one! The queue moved pretty quickly for us though and we got the chance to meet the boys. They were both so lovely! 

Before heading to the Taste and Decency panel, we had the chance to hear both Dave Giles and Daniel Dobbs perform on the main stage. They're both excellent musicians - definitely take some time to check their channels out if you haven't!

I found the Taste and Decency panel very interesting. The panel included comedians who push boundaries within their content, for example Benjamin Cook, Jack Howard, Emma Blackery, Hazel Hayes. The main topics discussed were to do with the amount of freedom content creators have on YouTube as opposed to other media platforms such as television and print and whether this helps or hinders a comedian, and whether this freedom of speech is good or bad. It was nice to get the opportunity to hear about the issues they have had behind the camera since we are so used to just watching them be 'funny.' 

Another debate raised was whether a viewer should be offended by jokes made within comedy. Some excellent points were made on this, especially by Jack and Ben. They were talking about how if something is addressed well, and clearly intended to be a joke then no, it shouldn't really have any offense taken from it. However, there is a fine line that can sometimes become blurred. Comedians have to be careful not to be misleading with their language, as Ben found out in the Becoming YouTube episode directed at the 'Women of YouTube.' If something is worded wrongly, you can have some pretty harsh labels thrown at you.

The panel ended with a focus on the community that is YouTube. Because it is a community and a conversation between creator and viewer, situations can be addressed directly. Therefore, when Ben accidentally offended many women with his episode, he got the brunt of the attacks back directly. That way he was able to address the issue immediately. Other media platforms don't have this. They lack the personality that YouTube has. 

After the panel, we headed back into the Mainstage area where we got the unexpected chance to meet Brad and Liam from World of the Orange and the lovely Jack Howard! This was great as their actual Meet and Greet's clashed with other things we wanted to do, so we had resigned ourselves to the idea of not being able to meet them!

FRIENDLY FLOWER!

As you can probably tell by the title of the post, I have decided to upload my SitC 'story', if you will, in more than one part so that I don't end up rambling on and on and on. 

If you've made it to the end of this one, thankyou! I hope you'll return tomorrow for Part Two!

Did you go to SitC this year? Have you ever been to an event like this? I'd love to hear from you if you have! 

I'd also be very grateful if you followed me on any of the links below. :)

A

twitter  | instagram | bloglovin'

xxxx

P.S. Here are the links to everybody I have mentioned if you haven't already heard of them!

Joe - http://www.youtube.com/user/ThatcherJoe

Jim - http://www.youtube.com/user/j1mmyb0bba

Dan - http://www.youtube.com/user/danisnotonfire

Phil - http://www.youtube.com/user/AmazingPhil

Dave - http://www.youtube.com/user/DaveJGiles

Ben - http://www.youtube.com/user/ninebrassmonkeys 

Jack - http://www.youtube.com/user/JackHoward

Emma - http://www.youtube.com/user/emmablackery

Hazel - http://www.youtube.com/user/ChewingSand

WOTO - http://www.youtube.com/user/WorldOfTheOrange