That’s it guys, exam season is officially upon us! I have just one week until my first exam (eek!), but equally in three short weeks you will find me retiring to bed for the next month to recover. April has, pretty predictably, been crammed full of revision, past exam papers, late-nights on campus (I switched it up and spent some time at Loughborough Uni with W – nothing like a fresh library to switch up revision!). But April also saw some lovely evenings, a very exciting day and (of course) plenty of yummy food…
Cheese Night
I wouldn’t class myself as a huge lover of cheese, but one thing I can’t get enough of is fondue. Me and W invited a few friends round for wine and fondue whilst I was up with him – I don’t think anything can beat a good glass of white wine, and plenty of carbs (we go for potatoes and bread) dipped in cheese alongside good company. He’s definitely perfected making his cheese mix, though £12 of gruyere makes me wince!
Dresses!
I’m super fussy with clothes, which normally means when I need something shopping is a stressful business. Knowing that in the next few months I need a dress for our Summer Ball and one for Graduation has meant I’ve been browsing a lot…somehow in the space of just one week I managed to buy and fall in love with a dress for both. I also managed to fall in love with a dress for another occasion…
Wedding dress shopping was nowhere near as scary as I'd imagined, thanks to @silversixpencebrides (way back in January!) and @nicolaannebridal Pic credit: @silversixpencebrides (well recommended for Northampton brides!) #bride #bridal #engaged #bridalboutique #wedding #weddingdress #weddingdressshopping #sayyestothedress
A photo posted by Chloe Ellen (@ninegrandstudent) on Apr 19, 2016 at 1:10pm PDT
Wedding Dress Shopping
Which brings me onto this! I planned to meet my mom for a day of trying on wedding dresses – in order to make up for not coming home during my Easter holidays, and to break up my revision. I really wasn’t expected to find something, and in reality it definitely was not the plan to find something. I mean, we haven’t set a date, booked anything, and even dates we are thinking about are in the back end of 2018… Having said all that, I realised very quickly that the idea of what I always wanted was definitely still what I wanted. Sure, I tried on different things. I tried on some lovely, lovely dresses, there was nothing wrong with them. But I felt like I was playing dress-up.
Even if I wanted to (and my dress is staying strictly under wraps until I walk down that aisle!) I couldn’t share a picture, as ‘my’ dress doesn’t actually exist. A story for another post perhaps! *cliffhanger ending*
Oh, and wedding dress shopping involved cake. Including an amazing Coconut & Lime Cheesecake *drools*
Revision Snacks
Having a yummy snack for “once I’ve finished five questions” is the best way to motivate me through revision. Every other exam period has seen me gain weight, but with a slim-fitting graduation dress and a trip to France two weeks after my final exam, I’m determined not to let that happen. I’ve been snacking on carrot sticks and homemade houmous (made me realize just how much salt is in the ready-made stuff, I can’t stomach it now!). And my own energy bites. And homemade flapjacks. And homemade muffins. You can tell I’ve been seriously procrastinating!
And although not exactly a revision snack in the picture, I’ve been loving experimenting with my new love this month – chickpeas. I’ve perfected my houmous (I like it chunky), I’ve roasted them with parmesan into crunchy, savoury nibbles, and I made up a coconut chick-pea curry on a whim one even. SO good!
Feeling Confident
Even though I’ve still got a week of pretty much solid revision left to go, I’m actually feeling surprisingly confident about my exams. I definitely haven’t felt this good at this point about them before, so fingers crossed everything goes alright. I’m trying to drag my average up, and although I’ve only got to do this for a tiny percent, it did feel extremely daunting. I’m now dreaming of mortality models, stochastic processes and differential equations, so clearly things have sunk in!
Sleep Spray
With things starting to get a little stressful, I’ve started to notice a slight decline in my sleep. Luckily I have no problem in drifting off (yet!) but staying asleep back 5.30am is proving difficult. Having always shied away from sleep sprays as lavender is my skin’s worst enemy, I’ve realised if I spray this onto my ‘bare’ pillow, wait for it to dry, then put the case on, I get all the benefits and none of the zits. Even if it’s not keeping me asleep, it’s making me a lot calmer when I do wake-up. There’s nothing worse than an early-morning panic attack!
And Now a Goodbye
I had originally planned to have scheduled posts going up throughout my exams. Heck, I’d written the posts and the vast majority of them were scheduled. But then I realised I wasn’t quite happy with them, the photos weren’t great, I hadn’t proof-read, everything was a bit…boring… It was stressing me out, I knew I wouldn’t be able to respond to comments, and so I’ve unscheduled the posts. This will be the first time in a long time that I’ve not posted regularly, but it’s also the most important few weeks of my education ever (until we get to my fellowship exam). I’ve decided I’ll be back at the start of June to have a catch-up, talk about my May favourites, and then we’ll resume normal service from there. Goodbye for now!
What have your highlights been over the last month?
