Fireworks And Andie's First Night Out In Aber

So as you all know, last Thursday was the 5th of November and in the UK we celebrate it by having bonfire night and this means fireworks! Now because I'm at university, I didn't go home for the annual fireworks display in my local village this year, so myself and Chelsie headed to the local football ground to watch the Aberystwyth fireworks. There was a lot of people there and a tent with Darth Vadar which you could get a picture with - don't ask me why he was there, I have absolutely no idea! There were a few food stands which sold hot food and drinks and speakers set up all around the edge of the football field with music being played, which set a good atmosphere as people were singing and dancing. Once the fireworks started, they filled the sky with amazing colours and everyone seemed to make those noises like 'ooo' and 'ahh' every time one went off!

Once the fireworks were finished, everyone left the football field and headed through town to South Beach. This is where all the students go after the fireworks display and set up little bonfires all along the beach front and just sit and hang out with friends and set off more fireworks - if you bought them yourself of course! It was a great way to spend bonfire night and I'm sure I will be doing something similar next year :)

That weekend, one of my closest friends, (who I have known for 18 and a half years!), Andie came to visit me. It was so lovely to see her, as the last time I saw her was when I went on holiday with her and Sophie (who I have known for the same amount of time) in August. She arrived very late on Friday evening so when we got in, we just had a cup of tea and a good old girlie catch up. Then on Saturday, at about lunchtime, as we may have had a little lie-in.... we headed into town, so I could show her around Aber and what it was like. We then went into a restaurant, called the White Horse for lunch, which was delicious. After lunch, we strolled around town and along the pier and of course, grabbed a Pumpkin Spice Latte from Starbucks!! After our little coffee stop, we headed home and relaxed in the living room with Chelsie, while watching Alan Carr Chatty Man on catch up, with Justin Bieber as both Andie and Chelsie seem to be fans! After making Diet Coke Chicken for dinner, and before you say 'Oh my god! that sounds disgusting!', hear me out. Its a recipe myself and Chelsie found earlier on in the week and we wanted to try it out for days. Its just a normal recipe for a chicken dish, but you add diet coke to the sauce and I can honestly say it is one of the nicest things I have ever eaten! Anyway, after dinner, we got ready and headed out into town. I wore a black jumpsuit with a lace back and some cute nude pumps. I decided to style my hair into a milkmaid braid, as I'm not a fan of having my hair down, especially when going out. First stop - Downy's Pub for a Gay Admiral pint - a drink with about the equivalent of about 6 shots in it! Next stop - Harley's Pub for more drinks. We then headed to Yokos (now called Why Not) club where we got our infamous Yokos stamp :/ We soon bumped into lots of people we knew and just had a generally great night. 

I had such a lovely week, watching the fireworks on Thursday and having Andie come and visit. This week I'm spending some time at home, away from uni, so I will see you in my next post. 

A 60s/70s Staff Social

Hey guys! So I know I haven't written a post in months and I wanted to apologise for not doing so. But I really enjoy writing these posts for you to read so I'm going to try and write a post for you guys every week - fingers crossed! So without further ado, I think it would be appropriate to kick off my new goal with an upbeat post that I think is fun, interesting and a good read which you hopefully enjoy.

As you all know, I am currently at university and at the end of my first year I got a job in the student's union. I can honestly say, it is one of the best places to work as everyone is so friendly, chatty and just awesome! The union is like a family and we all stick together and every term, we hold staff socials. Now you may be wondering what these consist of if you don't go to university (although you've probably heard all about socials and what they entail from Facebook, Instagram and Twitter!) The most recent social (Sunday 25th October) was a 60s/70s theme which I thought was a brilliant idea, as it was different and I had a lot of fun being able to dress up and do my makeup differently to how I would usually. 

The social included drinking games such as the boat race - old staff against new staff, crate escape, the 'Fine' game and the classic Beer Pong. The boat race happens every social, no matter what the theme is. The aim of the race is to go down the line drinking a pint, but the person in front has to finish theirs before the next person can go. Then once you've reached the end of the line, you come back down strawpedoing a VK (like Smirnoff Ice). Once you've finished your dink, you have to tip the cup/bottle over your head to prove its empty. Essentially, it tests how good you are at downing drinks, which some people are shockingly good at!! Unfortunately the old staff won :( In the newbies' defence, they have more experience!

Crate escape is something new to me, as I'd never heard of it before. The union keeps crates of mini Desperados cans (which incase you didn't know, is tequila flavoured beer). The aim, is to have two (or more) teams and as a team, you have to try and get through the crate as fast as you can before the other team(s). So basically, it tests your downing skills again! The 'Fine' game, is similar to Never Have I Ever, in terms of, if there is something you have never done, you have a drink. So the fine of not doing something or having something etc, is to drink. An example of the 'Fine' game would be: "I fine anyone who isn't Welsh" (seeming as we are a welsh university) and the people who aren't welsh, have to drink. But as surprising as it is, the 'fines' don't usually include dirty things like Never Have I Ever. And I don't think an explanation of Beer Pong is needed :P

Seeming as it was a 60s/70s social, the music theme was of course appropriate for that era. Which was actually a lot of fun, dancing to old classics, like Queen and Abba. Although towards the end of the night, the music includes songs like Soulja Boy, which was hilarious, as more people know the dance than you may think! After social at the union, all the staff head into town for a night out. And because the socials usually fall on a Sunday, hardly anyone is out so its nice to have the clubs all to ourselves. Lots of room to dance!!

Overall, it was a great night, with lots of people showcasing their shocking dance moves to old classics and I can't wait for the next one!

My First Year of University

So, I can officially say my first year at university is over and let me tell you, it has flown by! I cannot believe how fast the time has gone. Before I know it, my uni days will be over and I will officially be out in the real world on my own! But enough scary future talk for now. 

If I had to sum up my first year university experience in one word, I think i'd have to go with incredible. It was something i've never experienced before and there's nothing I would change about the past year. I've made so many memories this past year with people I didn't even know anything about. I think one of the great things about going to university is that you get to experience new situations in a completely new place and make some great friends. I lived in uni halls during first year, Flat 76, Room E02, Trefloyne. Living in halls makes the university experience all the more fun as you get to host flat parties, become friends with other flats in your block (and neighbouring blocks, as everyone just seems to turn up at flat parties), as well as just have an amazing time living with some amazing people. 

Okay, back to the beginning. On our first 'official' day, we all decided to take a little road trip to the neighbouring town of Borth and have a little picnic on the beach. It was a beautiful day, the sky was clear but the water was freezing!! Emma and American Cam (and if you're wondering why we call him American Cam, its because we know two Cams) were crazy enough to actually go swimming. The rest of us just went paddling. After the picnic and the swim/paddle we had ice creams on the beach, then slowly made our way home. 

Above: This was our second night of freshers week and we had literally only known each other for two days, but already I felt like we had known each other for years. I think choosing to live away from home and in university halls as opposed to living at home  and commuting everyday makes going to university that little bit easier. I'm one of those people that really hates new situations and being around people I don't know, especially when I'm on my own, but when you're living away from home, everyone is in the same boat as you and for some reason, that makes it a little less scary. I think one of the reasons you become such good friends with particular people is because you live with them, so you really get to know them and find out what interests you share. You then move on into year two and continue to live with all or some of the people you shared accommodation with in your first year. All of these things make uni life a lot more fun. 

Below: This is an example of one of those times where we got rather bored one night and Aron decided to put on a pair of my high-heeled shoes, in attempt to prove it wasn't difficult to walk in them, which he found out the hard way and Jason decided (for reasons unknown to me) to put on a dress and tights. And believe it or not, he wasn't drunk at this point and he took it a step further and even went out into town on a night out like this! Sometimes I question the sanity of my friends...

The above picture is the result of a very dangerous shopping trip. Myself, Emily B, Chelsie, Aron and Jason thought it would be a good idea to take a little trip to Chelsie's hometown and go to Primark, H&M and many other shops which we definitely shouldn't have gone into. I think its fair to say, this is the time when I found out I have a shopping problem. Since then it sort of escalated out of control... I have a weakness for sales especially! Anything that is on sale, I instantly convince myself that I need it in my life. But thankfully, my flatmates talked me out of not to get any of those things so luckily my 'slight' addiction is being controlled. 

Now onto halloween. It was my first halloween away from home and I was quite excited. Me and a few flatmates carved pumpkins and put little tealights in them (even though we weren't technically allowed them, but shh, I won't tell if you don't). After we carved our pumpkins, we just chilled out in our flat and were thinking about going out. I was really excited to go out in my skeleton costume, but then I became ill so going out was off the table. But at least our pumpkins were best in the block :D

I'm not sure what was really going on in either of these two photos, but somehow Emily S had managed to acquire an umbrella hat and wore it while cooking her dinner and a moose hat which she wore on a night out in the club. But it turns out that a lot of other people had these moose hats, so she didn't look completely bonkers. I thought it would be nice to include them so you can see what really goes on in uni life. 

Christmas was next. We all decided we were going to have a christmas hat that we were to wear at the table - I went for the most normal one. Now as students, you wouldn't think that we would bother with a christmas meal. Oh no, not us. We went all out, stuffing, yorkshire puddings, turkey, the whole lot. And it was delicious! One of the best meals i'd had since moving to university. Then after dinner and desert, we played games like twister (which failed miserably, as we didn't stay upright for very long) and maybe a few drinking games...

My first year was truly an unforgettable experience and I had such an amazing time. I made some awesome friends, I met someone, who even though they may be one of the weirdest people i've ever met, was kind enough to buy me flowers after our January exams because I was so stressed and I generally just had the time of my life. I would highly recommend considering going to university as it is one of the best experiences you will ever have. You meet new people, experience different situations and get to learn about something you are actually interested in!

This is one of my favourite pictures that I took over the past year. It was taken from the sidewalk next to the pier looking out onto Constitutional Hill and the seafront residences. It reminds me of how lucky I am to be where I am and to have made friends with some great people. I hope if you're thinking about going to university, you just remember that everyone is in the same boat as you and I promise you won't regret it. 

A Trip To Constitutional Hill

Hi everyone.  So the other day, myself, Luke, Emily and Scarlett (a few of my flatmates at university) decided to go on a walk through the countryside to a place called Constitutional Hill. Its a place that on one side overlooks the town of Aberystwyth and the other side looks out on the Irish sea. I am very lucky to have a university right on the seafront. 

We set out around 8pm and on the way passed many cows and sheep which Emily and Luke started feeding grass! Walking through the hills made me realise how lucky I am to be at university in such a picturesque place. After walking for about 45 minutes we finally reached the top of Constitutional Hill (after going the wrong way a couple of times).

Once at the top, we sat down with a couple of beers and watched the sun set over the Irish sea. It was a beautiful sight and I think, without a doubt, will be making a few more trips up there. It was a sight worth seeing and we definitely picked the right evening as the sky was virtually clear. Although, the lower the sun got in the sky, the chillier it became. So once the sun was out of sight, we set off back home and I noticed there was a lot of fence climbing, which I must admit, is not my strong suit!

I hope you enjoyed reading about my little outing. I'll leave you with some pictures of the view we had from the top of the hill. 

Hello world!

Hi everyone and welcome to my blog. 

I have been thinking about starting a blog for a while as I felt I needed a place to write my thoughts and feelings down on paper and to share what I get up to in life. I'm coming to the end of my first year at university and I have been getting up to lots of exciting things, including meeting new people and learning the ropes of living alone! So I thought now seems like the perfect time to start a blog, so in 20 years I can look back and see all the things I got up to in my teenage years. 

So back to basics, my name is Anja Sutton, I'm 19 years old and live in Kent, England but am residing in Aberystwyth, Wales, and don't worry, it took me a long time to be able to pronounce that too! 

Something you should know about me, I am a HUGE shopaholic... It's a serious problem I'm battling - but I love it all the same! So expect posts about what I like to wear, my individual fashion style and what I'm loving at the moment, whether that be clothes, shoes or beauty products. Ill write about anything and everything, including what I get up to at university and i'll also give some hints and tips about what to expect if you're thinking about going to uni. 

I really hope you like it!