Fully Functioning Human (Almost) Review

She’s become Youtube famous from her videos and her online persona: chatty, personable, sex-positive and kind of woman-childish (I mean that as a compliment), she’s the role model Irish girls have needed for ages. And now she’s published a book- ‘Fully Functioning Human (Almost)’. There’s been a plethora of these kinds of books, that is the memoir slash life guide with a hefty dose of “how to adult” about them but Murphy’s is a strong voice. These books- take your pick from sex books like Hannah Witton’s ‘Doing It’ to Amy Rose Spiegal’s ‘Action: A Book About Sex’ to Bryrony Gordon’s ‘Mad Girl’ discussing mental health- have filled the gap left by the demise of the teen magazine. But actually, I think they’re better.

Murphy’s book is one of the best. The tone here is soothing and self deprecating. Murphy’s life is touted as extraordinary but actually most of her experiences are- in one way or another- relatable. She talks about growing up from the time of her parents’ divorce and takes us through her life till now. The message here is that nothing- not grief, depression, heartbreak, loneliness, unplanned pregnancy or anxiety- is insurmountable. Murphy is a good writer, the illustrations are a lovely touch and the lists are full of heartfelt and genuine advice.

A lot of these books have to put into context: there’s been a rise in the number of teenage girls and young women suffering from mental health problems, everything from eating disorders to anxiety and depression. It’s above my pay grade to speculate as to why but living in a social media surveyed world, where everything can be faked and everyone is having a better time than you are, probably hasn’t helped. Murphy knows this and she talks about the ways the internet has helped to shape her for both better and worse: opening up her mind to new worlds and distorting her expectations and feelings. It’s an informative and, at times, moving description of coming to terms with the world as it is. This is a book that a girl- of a certain age- would enjoy no matter where she was from but I think it’s especially relevant to young Irish women who haven’t been well served by the media. Here she shows that happiness is possible- if you take care of yourself, build your resilience up and practice healthy habits. A wise lesson to be learned.

Final Year Goals

1. Get a first. Yes, this is everyone's never-ever dream but the difference between wishing and dreaming is a hell of a lot of hard work and perspiration. My track record (2:1 in first and second year) suggests that this is a challenging but feasible goal. So let's do this!

2. Improve my Italian. I've already improved from being on Erasmus but final year is a great opportunity to improve even further and become really fluent. How will I do that? There are tons of Italians around Galway, who are only too happy to help helpless NUIG students improve their speaking skills.

3. Learn to cook (properly). As in, like actually following (simple) recipes. Maybe even trying dishes from exotic cuisines like Middle Eastern or Southern Soul Food (don't laugh, I'm a simple girl at heart). Maybe I'll post the fruits of my labours on here for you to laugh at admire.

4. Get a career plan. This may or may not involve simply pre-ordering the #girlboss workbook and "Lean In for Millennials" and letting them gather dust on my bookshelf but hopefully I'll be heading in the right direction. I may even find an internship that doesn't ask me to pay $5000 to work for free. (Yay!)

5. Get a blog up and running. Yep that would be this blog right here. This is the calm before the storm, come December and my blog posts will be months apart and consist only of teary faced emojis and photos of stacks of books and maybe a long line of zzzzzzzzzz'zzz. You have been warned.

Budgeting: aka, Where Did All The Money Go?

Budgeting is probably the least fun part of being at university (unless you hate your course, in which case, that's just unfortunate). When you're living on your own for the first you'll probably be shocked by how expensive everything is (7 euro for a glass of wine??) and at the same time you'll be tempted to buy all the things.

This is more important than ever when you’re starting uni and learning how to manage money for the first time. It’s amazing how easy it is to live cheaply and well. Alas that was a lesson I could have learnt much sooner in my uni career .

Lecturing you is no fun unless I show my own failures as a young'un, so here, in all their glory, are all the financial blunders I made as a first and second year. AKA: Where did *I* waste the money?

1. Buying snacks like muffins, hot chocolate, fizzy drinks and chocolate for a quick pick-me-up between classes= a waste of money and unhealthy. Buy a multipack of treats from Aldi and ration them throughout the week.

2. Library fines. There is literally no excuse for this. Set reminders on your phone if you need to.

3. Fresh food that goes to waste because realistically you’re not going to cook beautiful dinners from scratch every night. Bagged salads are a curse (just throw what you don’t use into a blender along with fruit for a smoothie. If it tastes vile consider it a penance). Frozen is the way to go always.

4. Buying books or magazines. Like ever. Sure when you’re actually earning money, spending some of your hard earned cash on a book to keep might be reasonable but until then have you ever heard of a wonderful thing called a LIBRARY?! You don’t have the space/don’t trust yourself to return an actual book? Most libraries have online services where you can borrow ebooks and audiobooks along with magazines and-often- language courses. Bliss.

5. Eating out. I know, I know , I know. It’s so lovely to have a gorgeous dinner with friends and restaurant/cafe food is so delicious. It’s so tasty. And expensive. Do this rarely. (Ditto Just Eat. Ditto Costa/Starbucks). Otherwise you’ll be wondering where your money went.

6. Booze. This is blasphemy I know. But consider how much you really need to drink, bearing in mind that alcohol often causes more problems than it solves (that next-day slump? If you drink often enough that can bleed into the next day and the next…). Most Irish people could do with drinking a little less. I know I definitely drank far too much and it’s a waste of money and time.

7. Not being savvy enough. Use your student card. And take advantage of student nights at cinemas, bars etc.

With a little experience, budgeting can be fun and it always helps to remember that you're working towards a goal. The best things in life don't have to involve lots of money and knowing how best to spend what you have is a life skill that will serve you well your whole life. Best of luck to everybody entering college this September!