As we all know, uni is a lot of work and is often quite stressful. A lot of us have found that as we creep closer and closer to exam season, we are getting more tired, constantly reading and re-reading essential materials and then collapsing mid-afternoon from those pesky and draining 9ams *hides in shame* We all want to succeed and almost everyone that I know spends a lot of time working on their various degrees constantly. Sometimes we don’t always get the A+’s that we’re striving for and a few of my floormates have felt disappointed and dejected from one or two ‘bad’ grades. As a nervous person, I have found that the best way to get away from the inevitable anxiety that comes hand in hand with mid-year university is to take some complete time out and spend time with my friends and with myself.

So! Apologies in advance, but this week… I’m going to be talking all about myself and what I’ve been up to this week so it may not be quite as informative!

I feel that this might be a good place to start! This week I acquired rather a lot of chocolate! An old friend of mine that studies at Victoria sent me a huge package of all my favourites, which although is not directly related to uni, certainly brightened up my week and caused for a great deal of chatter and smiles from those in my lectures and part of my group projects that shared in my stash. It reminded me to send cards to my sisters for their upcoming birthday.

As a young girl in the UK, my mum would drive my sisters and I to the local ice rink every Saturday and I enjoyed it thoroughly; in fact, it is the only sport that I have ever really enjoyed… but sadly when we moved to New Plymouth, I had to hang up my skates and put that hobby to bed for a while. I won’t lie, one of the big deciders for me as to whether I went to Auckland was that there is not one but TWO ice rinks in bus-able distance from campus! But in all the business of settling into uni life, making friends and studying for law I never actually visited one of them… until this week! I would HIGHLY recommend visiting the rink sometimes with a group of friends if you go to UoA or are in or around Auckland, as it causes for huge bouts of giggles as the people around us penguin step for balance and it is such a good way to get a different kind of exercise, away from the usual daily routine. I forgot how much joy skating brought to me until I went again for the first time in four years.

On the way back from a walk around town on the Saturday of last week from a bit of exploring, a friend of mine and I stumbled across a delicious (but affordable!) Chinese restaurant with the most BEAUTIFUL dumplings… We sat in the little restaurant for about an hour, looking out over the city as people passed by (lots of people pass by in Auckland). On the way home the Autumn leaves had almost all fallen from the trees, and like a child, I took pleasure in kicking them up and hearing the crunch under my feet. I thought I would share this because it’s even little things like these that have brought me a little bit of happiness. Even if it seems silly!

So… I did quite a lot of yoga whilst I was in year 13, and although I was never the best yogi of them all, I found it to be generally not too difficult. And then I started taking the yoga classes at the rec centre and oh my… my legs have not worked so hard in my entire life! But even though almost everyone in this class is leaps and bounds better at yoga than I am, I always leave feeling relaxed and focused; and a good night’s sleep is always in store. I would highly recommend it, especially in the midst of the uni stress, there is always a little time for yourself.

I’m just off to make myself a cup of chamomile tea in my favourite mug in the world as I head back to finish off a global studies assignment.

Have a lovely week x