Where does time go?

So it's already November and my first semester is well underway. What have I been up to? Well from settling into a new house, getting involved with NUIG's homework club and being auditor of the Journalism Society, as well as keeping on top of my essays and assignments, life has been pretty hectic.

Firstly, the house. I got so lucky- living with three brilliant housemates, in a comfortable four bedroom house, a twenty minute walk from college. Realistically, I couldn't ask for much more.

Academics. So far, so happy. I can't complain with the way things are going- Italian is definitely my stronger subject but if I push myself with English (and avail of the right advice and support of course) I hope I can get a really strong grade. I'm also writing for the SIN newspaper, which is a great outlet for my writerly urges.

Mental health. This has been keeping up really well. I'm trying to look out for triggers or signs that stress or anxiety is getting the better of me. I find anything related to the Journalism Soc really stressful because a lot of the responsibility rests on my shoulders, but then I remember how much I'm getting out of it and I try to take a break whenever things get too much. As for college work, obviously it comes with stress, but that's to be expected. If things get tough up to exams, I'll try to use my coping techniques.

Reading. Obviously, I'm reading books for English but I'm also trying to fit in a bit of time for personal reading too. An upcoming review will be for Lianne Moriarty's brilliant 'Big Little Lies' and I'm currently reading the (excellent, so far) 'Oh My God, What an Aisling' novel, which I'll post a review for.

Another thing that's keeping me busy is preparing for my JET application. (Again, this is something I want to dedicate a whole blog post to).

All in all, I'm pretty happy (albeit busy!) and feeling optimistic in general. Hopefully, I'll get around to writing more blog posts in the next couple of months.

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!

Just Read

I've just finished three books (three of many books I'd had on the go)- Mary McCarthy's 'The Group', Jesse Armstrong's Love, Sex and Other Foreign Policy Goals and Gary Shteyngart's  'Super Sad True Love Story.'

'The Group' is a social satire following the lives of eight Vassar graduates in 30's New York that left me hugely impressed. McCarthy writes with such a keen eye for the lives of women. I almost never read novels where the female characters are so finely drawn: their neuroses, fears, ambitions, prejudices are all laid bare and their narratives are interwoven with those of the other characters.

I also found it surprisingly modern: it touches on the pressure for women to breastfeed, the etiquette of contraception, pursuing a career in a vaguely artsy field, opening up about being gay, dealing with being in an abusive relationship. There is a lot that modern women will be able to relate to and it's all told in an intelligent and really engaging way.

'Love, Sex and Other Foreign Policy Goals' left me a little more disappointed: it's about an idealistic but clueless young man who, in 1994, wants to win the heart of his posh love interest. What better way to do it than join a drama troupe on their way to Bosnia to show everybody what a bad idea war is?

The characters were mostly unlikable (I also think there were too many of them) and the comedy sometimes fell flat (like for example: the major will-they-won't-they dilemma is answered early on and never really goes anywhere from there). The dramatic arc struggled to keep me interested throughout and it often felt like the book was chronicling an endless series of checkpoints with the reader unsure of where it's all headed. That said, for what it is, I think it's an interesting, fictional perspective of a dark period of recent history.

I'd been looking forward to reading 'Super Sad True Love Story' for quite a while and it didn't let me down: it was darkly comic and frightening and moving. The basic premise is this: in the very near future, America is on the brink of collapse but the people are so hooked on social media that they don't care. In the middle of this superficial and depressing world, a trans-generational and trans-cultural love story develops, destined- like the US- only for tragedy and destruction.

This is the kind of book that makes you think about the very real, sad possibility that society is becoming more fragmented and dependent on technology to the detriment of other human beings. I can see it in the way our language is becoming more diluted with phrases like "I can't even" and "Yassss" replacing real sentences and the prevailing belief that nothing really exists unless it's documented on social media. Above all it made me reflect on the value of vulnerability, love and human connection.

I hope you've enjoyed my reviews/summaries. My next post will be about my current/upcoming reads.

About Me

Who are you?

The spirit of a long haired girl struggling with a pile of books, most likely located somewhere in the west of Ireland. Sometimes also known as Caroline and spotted sipping a coffee.

What's this blog about?

Life as a twenty something girl, trying to make her way in the world. I'll post book, film, fashion and beauty reviews, hauls, I'll write about travelling and relationships and learning and mental health and figuring it all out (and making a lot of mistakes on the way). I'll make fun of myself when appropriate and try to be as entertaining and honest as I can be.

What inspires you?

Brilliant writing and finding new books, writers and ideas.

One day, hopefully being somebody else’s favourite writer: and working towards a novel of my very own.
Travelling and exploring new parts of the world: from living in Northern Italy to working in rural Wisconsin.
Learning languages and getting to know people from all over the world.

So...what do you do?

I’m currently in my final year at NUIG studying English and Italian (formerly Creative Writing). So that’s my official full time occupation: arts student. In the meantime I’ll try to keep up with my writing and develop some side projects.

What blogs do you read?

A full list of my favourite blogs should be visible on this page.
As for vloggers, I like watching Louise Pentland, Helen Anderson, Hannah Witton, Melanie Murphy, Ibz Mo and Damon and Jo.

So...what’s next?

This year I’ll be applying for jobs teaching English abroad (mostly in East Asia: Japan, South Korea and China). And I’ll probably live abroad for at least a couple of years, planning to move around as much as I can. Besides that? Writing. I’ll probably return to Ireland after a couple of years to do a master’s in something publishing related.

Where would you like to visit?

Where to start... India and South Asia (are there any job opportunities over there? I feel like it's something I should look into). Japan, Australia, Brazil...the list is never ending.