How to make friends at uni - Holly's Declassified Uni Survival Guide

Hello, hello and welcome to the third post in my back to uni series, 'Holly's Declassified Uni Survival Guide'. In a University full of freshers flu, last-minute assignments and the occasional hangover, Holly Smith, that's me, and well it's just me, try to do the impossible, create a guide that will help you survive university.  

Today's post is all about making friends. Going off to Uni can be really daunting (for I would say 99% of people) and I know one of those major areas of anxiety can be the thought of making new friends. You're in a whole new place (often miles and miles from home), in a completely new situation with, for most people, nobody you know and it is scary! So I am here today to give you some practical advice to ease your worries and help guide you through the madness that is freshers.

1. Get involved

This is a pretty vague statement but it is vague for a reason. There are so so SO many ways to get involved at uni which is great because it means you will almost definitely find something for you. You could join a society (there is a society for everything!), volunteer, get involved in your course, join a sport or get involved in one of the many other ways! Push yourself out of your comfort zone and see what your uni can offer for you.

2. Take charge
One of the easiest ways to make friends is to take charge and make plans. You will meet so many people during your time at uni, especially in those first few weeks. If you meet someone you click with, arrange to hang out! It could be grabbing a coffee, going out or even just attending a fresher event. It can be a little daunting to initiate the first interaction but somebody has got to do it and especially in those first few weeks people are dying to make friends and will likely be glad you asked!

3. Be realistic
Realistically, making friends takes time. While freshers can act as a bit of a catalyst, it still takes time before you have people you can truly consider a friend. Meet lots of people and get to know them but don't get worried when you feel you haven't made good friends yet. Things like this take time and making sure you go in with realistic expectations will ensure you don't get dishearted when things don't go perfectly (spoiler alert- there is no perfect!!). Enjoy the process and relax.

4. Don't try too hard
When you find yourself alone, you start to feel pretty desperate to friends. This is fine and totally makes sense because hello who likes to be alone? That being said, if you're stressing about it and trying too hard, things can backfire. Not only can trying too hard lead you to trying to change yourself in order to be liked but also it might mean you miss out on some even better friends. Let me explain. Particularly with university, it can be easy to cling to the first people you meet. Now it's great if you gel with those people straight away, but try not to limit yourself to those people exclusively. If you find you just don't click with someone, realise that you don't have to be friends with everyone, let it go and try to find some people more your type.

5. Be yourself
I would argue that the single most important piece of advice about making friends is this - possibly the most cliche advice going, but it is cliche for a reason! I have found myself in the situation before where I was so desperate to be liked that I started acting like (what I thought) someone they would like would act like. I felt disconnected, unhappy and ultimately alone. As soon as I let go of this concept of who I was meant to be and just accepted myself for who I am, I found I connected with people easier, I was happier and ultimately I made friends! The funniest part of that story is that actually, those people liked me just as much when I was really being myself, if not better because we connected so much better.

There we have my 5 top tips for making friends at uni. If you're about to head off to uni (or college as they say in the US of A) then just remember to be yourself, be kind and you will find your tribe.

Fashion Museum | Bath

This summer is (hopefully) my last summer before I am off to uni and so I am trying super hard to make the most of it. However, between my lack of money and the busy schedules of my friends, it is proving a little more challenging than expected. That being said, it has definietely encouraged me to explore more local areas and so came about a little outing the other week with the lovely Emma, a friend from school and a fellow blogger too!

We hopped on a train to Bath and walked on up to the Waterstones cafe. Good compant, books and coffee... what more could you want?! We had a spot of lunch, I had a mocha and we had a good long natter. Somehow I managed to leave without spending all my money on books (are you proud?) and we headed off to the fashion museum. Walking around Bath is always so lovely and there is always such a good vibe. Then just to make it even better, the weather was gorgeous! So, we mooched on over.

We managed to get the student price for the entrance fee which wasn't too shabby (my purse was very thankful) and the staff were so lovely. We walked around and took in all the beautiful clothes and interesting history behind them. I couldn't believe that I had never been before, considering how close it is to where I live. Finally, towards the end of the museum we reached the dressing up section. Now I loved dressing up as a child and I think I love it even more now! My family take our fancy dress very seriously and love a good costume party, so this was right up my street. We tried on a couple different items but the dresses were my favourite, even if it was a little big. I felt just like I could just go walk onto a movie set, it was amazing!

Once we had gathered ourselves and said goodbye to the dresses, we soon came to the end of the museum. We had a litte mosey around the gift shop and headed off. I am a sucker for any museum, gallery, e.t.c and it was the most wonderful day. I really want to visit more museums this summer and the Bath Fashion Museum was the perfect one to start it all off. A day full of sun, books, girly chats, coffee and fashion, it really was the perfect summers day.

I always forget to document little outings like this and it's something I really want to improve on. Having these little travel posts to look back on is so so nice and the more posts the merrier. 

Have you ever been to the Bath Fashion Museum? What's the best gallery/ museum you've been to? I would love to know so I can add it to my list!

Thanks so much for reading and I will speak to you soon,

Holly X

18th Birthday.

I can not believe that I am 18. I seriously do feel like I am old enough to qualify as an adult! I can now legally get married, buy a house and vote. All things that include responsibility and scare me immensely. Anywho, it is what it is.

My 18th birthday was an amazing day. It wasn't exactly the traditional 18th celebrations but it was perfect for me, especially considering how I am still not well. I went for a breakfast brunch with my family at my favourite breakfast place and it was so delicious. I went for my usual... pancakes! Then we came back to our house for a little while to just hang out before a couple of my friends arrived. 

I had the best afternoon catching up with my friends as we watched one of my favourite films (the longest ride), had afternoon tea and finished off the afternoon with some sparklers. It was such a lovely lovely time and it was perfect for me. To finish off my day, I watched another film with the family before heading off to bed.

I really did have an amazing day and am so thankful for all of my friends and family who could celebrate it with me.

Holly Xx

Lunch dates.

In yesterday's post, I spoke a little about friends, and that is primarily what I wanted to talk about in today's post as well. This picture was taken almost two weeks ago now, but I still wanted to dedicate a post to this lovely lunch with my friend. I think that people often forget to appreciate having friends. I personally feel quite lucky to have so many really really good friends and I often forget how lucky I am.

Friends are not a right of passage and I think they are just one of things that many people don't appreciate enough. I understand that there are some people out there who feel as if they do not have friends. If that applies to you, then I strongly encourage you to go out and make friends! It isn't always easy but it is possible. Just find something you enjoy doing and then find other people with the same interest. Another option would be to go to an event. There are tons of ways to make friends and I highly recommend that you do because have a good friend/friends makes such a difference and brings such happiness into your life.

Another topic under friendship that I wanted to discuss was about keeping friends. Many people may have friends that do not make them happy. In cases like this, it is 100% okay to separate yourself from them and find new friends. I strongly believe that some people are not meant to be in your life forever and that is okay too. You may have a friend who causes you a ton of happiness, then a year later they just cause you to be unhappy. You had great times in the past, and you should cherish those experiences but then it may be time to move in a different direction in your life. And you do not need to explain yourself to others. You need to focus on yourself and do what you need to do for yourself. Okay?

Now this post has gone on an extremely unexpected route but that is okay. These are just a few things that I have been wanting to say anyway. But yes, back to this picture. The food was AMAZING and the company even better. I had an amazing day and it was just one of those moments when you realise the many blessings you have and are just very grateful.

Okay, so that is enough rambling from me today. I hope you have a lovely day and thank you for reading. Feel free to subscribe to my blog or follow me if you enjoy my posts also.

Holly X

P.s- All of what I ramble about on this blog is strictly my opinion, so if you disagree with anything I say then that is okay.

A day at Thorpe Park

I have always been one of those crazy children who goes flying around the park roundabout at a million miles an hour with not a care in the world. I remember loving that funny feeling in your tummy and my hair flying around. There was always something so appealing to me about it. So when I discovered roller coasters, you can image how happy I was. Since this discovery, I have loved theme parks and roller coasters, so the other day when my friend invited me to Thorpe Park for the day, I was very excited. 

Now as I get older, the park roundabout becomes less and less appealing as I get more and more dizzy (and sick). However, I was very happy to discover that this didn't appeal to roller coasters. All the rides at Thorpe Park made me feel like a little excitable child again and I loved it!

Another great thing about this day was that my friend (the one who invited me) and I didn't take ourselves too seriously. We went on as many rides as we could throughout the day, including the ones that perhaps were meant for a younger audience. But we didn't care. We just had an amazing time full of laughter and doughnuts too!

Overall I had an amazing day and am so grateful for my friend and her family for taking me. I strongly encourage you to go out and spend time with your friends. Make lots of memories and laugh until your belly hurts.

Holly X

Not so summery summer walks.

Hello and happy hump day! Fun fact: it wasn't until a year or 2 ago that I realised that hump day actually meant the middle of the working week and NOT a slightly saucy day. Mean girls makes way more sense now. 

Anyway, on with today's post. So this time last week we had some family friends down for the day and decided to go for a lovely walk at Westonbirt Arboretum. I have mentioned this place a couple of times in previous posts, but basically, the Arboretum is pretty close to where I live so we often take advantage of this and go on walks. However, British weather being as unreliable as it is, decided that despite it being summer, it was going to be rainy and a little chilly too. Typical.

However, we still had a lovely day and I enjoyed every minute of it. I took numerous amounts of pictures on our walk, with such photogenic surroundings its hard not to, and thought I would share some of my favourites for today's post.

We found these BEAUTIFUL flowers that I loved. Look how nice they are! Definitely made me feel all summery, despite the weather.

There are tonnes of trees (obviously) but this one was huge!

My sister and I with our matching rain coats. I am 1000% obsessed with my coat and was actually pretty happy that the rain gave me an excuse to wear it.

I am not entirely sure what this plant is but it looks pretty cool.

My phone was full of photographs like this because it is just such a beautiful place. Despite my numerous attempts, it was practically impossible to fully capture how gorgeous this place is.

One of my favourite pictures I took. 

On this particular day, they were doing a little family trail things that we took part in. It was a great idea to entertain the children (and the slightly older children like myself) and helped to give them some extra knowledge too with the quiz!

At the start of the trail, you got given a worksheet and a pencil. On one side of the sheet, there was a map that told you where the quiz answers were and little pictures that you had to find along the trail and tick off. There were little pictures (like shown above) that we had to keep an eye out for along our trail.

On the other side of the sheet, there was the quiz. There were about 9 questions in total to answer. Around the trail, there were bigger signs attached to the trees that gave you some information about trees. You then had to use this information to answer the given question. I thought this was a great idea to help the children gain more knowledge in a fun and entertaining way! The trail was aimed at children but I personally loved it!

My brother (Alfie) exploring the plants.

I am not entirely sure what I am doing here but I thought it was too funny not to include. I think it's the serious face that makes me laugh.

Here is my outfit that I wore for our walk. I wore my boyfriend jeans, stripey top, raincoat and trainers. It was a very comfy and practical outfit and I don't think it looked too bad at all.

Some of the trees were different colours which reminded me of Autumn! The arboretum is a great place to go in the autumn with all of the gorgeous colours.

Another fancy photo where I tried (and failed) to capture the beauty of this place.

We finished off our walk with a yummy hot chocolate from the cafe. Not your typical summer drink eh?

So that is all for today's post. I had an absolutely lovely time and hope you enjoyed the pictures too.

Have a lovely day!

Holly X

Spring into Summer - OOTD

Having finally got my exams out of the way, I can now start to relax a little more. Today, with the weather being pretty decent I popped into town with my friend for a couple of hours. We did the usual browsing sesh with a hefty amount of giggles too. We both picked up some goodies, as well as having a good catch up!

Later on in the evening I then went on to play some ball games in the garden with my brother and sister. It was just one of those lovely spring into summer days that create lovely memories. So, of course, as a result, I wanted to share my outfit. I found this outfit very comfortable as well as suitable for the weather. Living in Britain, the weather is very unpredictable and not all that hot but this outfit was perfect for the day!

Top - H&M (or Primark?)

Trousers - Next

Cardigan - Primark

Shoes - ASOS

Watch - Oasis

Necklace - Primark

Glasses - Specsavers

Thanks for reading!

Holly X

Start of summer with the squad.

As spring begins to fade and summer starts (although you wouldn't believe it with this British weather lately) there are more and more opportunities to create memories, and what better way to do this than with friends. 

Having a week off from exams, (most of) the girls and I decided to spend the day together at Corsham Court. We each prepared some food and set off for the day with our picnic bag and blanket. Now, since none of us can yet drive, we decided to walk. This took a little longer than we had previously thought but was a lot of fun and full of hilarious memories.

The entire day was so much fun and packed full of hilarious moments that won't soon be forgotten. We chatted and laughed and played games (getting a little competitive) the entire time and it was fabulous. The perfect break from our exam stress. These few pictures are from our walk to the Court.

Overall, we all had a fabulous day and can add this day to our many memories together.

Holly X

Spiced Banana Bread

One of my favourite sweet treats to bake during the Autumn time is spiced banana bread. This is super easy to make as well as tasting delicious and is perfect for the season. Considering I class this as an Autumn essential I figured I would share how I make my banana bread.

First of all, I get all the ingredients.

(2 or 3 bananas, 1 egg, 100g caster sugar, 70g butter, 125g self-raising flour, 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda, mixed spice, ground ginger, cinnamon).

 Then I grease and line my baking tin. To do this I used oil and a brush to cover the inside of my tin, then I cut out some baking paper and pressed it into my tin. Butter will also work instead of oil.

Once I had prepared for my baking, I set the oven to 180 C. (fan oven)

Using my hands I then creamed together the sugar and the butter.

Once the butter and sugar are fully mixed, I then sieve in the flour, bicarbonate of soda and my spices. I then used an electric whisker to mix my ingredients, however, you can do this by hand using a wooden spoon. You decide how much spice you add. Personally, I like to add about 1 or 2 tsp mixed spice, 1 or 2 tsp of ginger and about 4 or 5 tsp of cinnamon. Then I beat the egg.

After this, I added in the beaten egg and the bananas. Then I mixed it using my electric mixer (a spoon is fine) until the mixture was smooth.

Then I poured the contents into my baking tin. Once all of the mixture was in my tin I placed it into the oven for approx an hour.

After an hour I took out my tin and let it cool.

Finally, I was left with my spiced banana bread.

I really love baking this for the Autumn and my family love to eat it. It's a great treat and very easy to bake.

Thank you for reading,

Xxx Holly xxX