Practically Alice

Since completing my undergraduate degree, my brain has suffered what I can only describe as a creative slump. I haven't really been able to focus on reading, or writing, or anything other than sleeping. (Honestly, I have slept so much, and still feel like I need to sleep for another year.) To do lists have been made, jobs have been applied for, forms have been filled out (I'm officially going to be a student at the University of Kent in September, studying The Contemporary!) (yay!), and partying has happened. I'm now 21 years old, I work at Betty's, and I cannot seem to get through a book anywhere near as fast as I used to. I don't often suffer reading slumps, but when I do, they are The Worst . Don't get me wrong, I've bought  plenty of books, but I haven't felt any spark of desire to read them. Which is so unlike me. It could really be to do with the fact that I am currently working 27 hours a week, and proofreading 200-300 page novels every week...

My day has gone as follows: me, waking up in a panic that I'd missed my train (and subsequently the release of my results). Me, eating a bacon sandwich happily with a couple of my flatmates feeling good about life. Me, realising it was half an hour until results were released. Me, nearly throwing up on the train. Me, getting said results. All of the above have lead me to be sitting on my connection train with a small tipple I bought from Starbucks. Now, I'm not one of randomly deciding to drink at midday but today calls for it. Not only do I turn 21 tomorrow (eek), but I have just found out my uni results (double eek), and can confirm my place at the Uni of Kent (triple eek with cherries on top). I am so, so proud of myself and my wonderful, brilliant, smart, and incredibly hard working friends. We have spent the large majority of our lives working towards grades and for all of us to have done so well is just fantastic. What's more, I simply could not have done it wit...

It was only apt that I wrote my last ever blog post as an undergraduate English student and titled it with a book title. Tomorrow I sit my final exam of my degree; after this I will be in a perpetually reading/drunken stupor for two weeks before I start working. Life is good. Remembering back to finishing first and second year, this ending feels weird. Some people I'll never see again in person, and others I will cling to like limpets. Everyone seems to be blindly going forth into their own adventures (be they big or small) and I think that's incredible; we've all grown from these gawky English students to adults (ish) (pretending to be) (we're not adults, noooooooo) who have a voice. If I think back to myself when I was a meek and mild barely-eighteen year old, I chuckle. I was so blissfully unaware, so clueless, and not all that happy. It's taken me three years but I think I'm finally at a place where I feel relatively less like a headless chicken and more...

Reading Austen in the park earlier made me want summer to come so much faster!  Over the past three years of my undergraduate English degree I have culminated a somewhat small (read: large) collection of unread books. Gathered on my multiple trips to the two Waterstones in Lincoln ( 1  and 2 ), Lindum Books , and various charity shop raids, these books have lay relatively dormant on my bookshelves at home and university. Here are 10 of the masses that I'm most looking forward to delving into this summer: 1) The Wise Man's Fear by Patrick Rothfuss; the sequel to the incredible The Name of The Wind , this hefty tome promises to enchant just as much as it's former friend. I've had this for about a year now, but haven't had the time to delve into it's 600 or so pages. I cannot wait! 2) I am Malala: The Girl who stood up for Education and was Shot by the Taliban  by Malala Yousafzai; One of the first books I bought when I started working at Waterstones in 2...

Alice Liddell has always had a soft spot in my heart, so when I started this blog I immediately reached for my Alice references, and for a long time "down the rabbit hole" was my tagline. However, I don't think I've truly felt like I was hurtling head-long into a black pit until now. People mythologise your twenties; for some, it's the epitome of youth - you're free, and life is full of opportunities; for others, it's the slow-sludgy-bit until your real life starts. Since I'm only a year in (I sound young...) I can't quite tell where I'm at (I feel like I'm at a happy medium), but I do know that being this age is a rabbit warren and you don't quite know where you're going to end up next. We get our dissertation marks back, and it's out last lecture this week on our course, so our undergraduate degree is coming to a fruition. It's been one hell of a journey. I'm just not quite sure whether I want to take the leap down...

Walking to campus the other day, it hit me that very soon I will be leaving. Lincoln has been my home from home for the last three years, and now my brain decides to fall in love with it? We've had a bit of a love/hate relationship, Lincoln and I. First year, I was too ill to really contemplate how beautiful it was, second year I was too busy hating being here, and third year has been a blur. But, I can't help but reflect on the fact that this place has shaped me as a person and become a massive part of my identity since moving here in 2013. Lincoln isn't all that big, but it provided me with enough running space to explore, to hide, and to delve into the nooks and crannies to find many a gem. These places will particularly have a soft spot in my heart, and are my haunts, as such: Thomas2, Broadgate; this cafe has the closest place in my heart. I am pretty sure I am known as 'gluten free bacon sandwich weird lonely book girl' in there, since for the majority of ...

To my fellow third years, I salute you. We are coming to the top of a mountain, from which the views will be amazing. And we will make it. Right now, I am sitting waiting to pre-drink with my friends because it's been one of our flat mates 21st this week. And boy am I looking forward to dancing; it's been too long. However, I am also flat out panicking (along with everyone else) about my approaching dissertation deadline, the jobs I've applied to, my lack of saving, my ten billion other essays and books I have to approach come tomorrow morning. The words may seem hard, the nights may seem long, but we can do this. We can.