First of all I want to apologise for not posting at all in the last few weeks; I have been incredibly busy with a dozen things which I will explain. I have a whole list of things that I wanted to blog about this summer and I'm pretty annoyed that I haven't been able to do them but this should be changing soon. Once I go back to school I should be able to blog more regularly as I'll be getting into a more consistent routine. But this month has been absolutely CRAZY. I was planning on just writing just about my birthday but then I decided to just update you guys on what I've been doing for the last four weeks, so let's get into it.
The first thing that I really want to talk about is my volunteering that I've done over the summer. I did it at two different places, one at my local library and one at the SureStart Children's Centre. I had been looking into doing something for months but my exams were obviously my top priority at that time so I decided to wait until the six weeks. I went to both places and just asked if volunteering was something they did and luckily for me, it was. At my library, I sat in on a session that they do there called Reading Buddies where they help people who perhaps struggle to read, or are just learning to speak English for example. It was really incredible being there because I've never realised how much I take advantage of being able to recognise letters and words and be able to understand what they mean. Some people don't have that and it really made me think about the education system and how this can fail some people, which is really sad.
Now the second place I volunteered at was at SureStart which I'm pretty sure only exists in the UK. Basically it is a children's centre which aims to give young kids the best possible chance in life by helping with their early education and general health. The programme that I was involved in was the Early Words Together; its basically a series of sessions which helps children under the age of five with their reading and writing and things. It also encourages parents to become actively involved in their children's education. I thought it was so cool because I've never really been seen this type of thing before.
The only thing which I really hate is that because I'm going to be going back to Sixth Form next week, it means I can no longer volunteer at the library or at the children's centre. It clashes with my timetable because most of the sessions are in the morning and I obviously can't do that. They do afternoon sessions at SureStart but since it takes me an hour to walk home, I would completely miss them so its not really worth signing up to do it. I do hope though that I would be able to volunteer at half term and things like that.
Another thing that I wanted to talk about, which I mentioned before, is my birthday. As you probably know, I turned 17 on the 27th of August which I actually forgot about to be honest. I was so busy trying to finish my summer homework as well as doing my volunteering, and getting my results and everything. It was just insane. I had already sorted out what I was doing for my birthday; I went really traditional with just a dinner with three of my best friends and then a sleepover afterwards. It was really cool to just hang out all together because one of my friends does not go to the same Sixth Form that we go to so we rarely see each other anymore. Its such a shame because we've known each other for over six years now which I think is absolutely mental to have kept the same friends for that long.
Now I didn't actually get a lot of presents this year because I was given money mainly. My favourite present though was from my mom who gave me a Kindle Fire HD which I've never really looked into getting before. I never asked her for it so it was a complete surprise that she bought me one. I have literally been on it for the last few days just spending my hours doing nothing, which probably isn't the best considering I am going back to Sixth Form on Tuesday and I still haven't finished all of my work. I will be making that a priority tomorrow and Monday so don't worry.
I think thats pretty much all I've got to say about August as a whole. I'm sorry it was so long but sometimes you just have such a busy month that'ss full of so much stuff, you just need to unload everything before you can start anew. And this post has been that for me. Now that its approaching school time, I will be writing another post about Sixth Form probably after my first official day of year 13 so I would expect that in the next few days.
Check out my last blog post: AS Results 2014 - where I tell you what grades I received after a stressful first year of Sixth Form
The reason why I wanted to write this post is because I've been blogging for the last year how about hard Sixth Form has been, so I thought you would like to know the end result.
On Thursday the 14th, I found out my AS results and even though I passed all of them, I was sort of surprised. I mean, I'm usually pretty consistent with all subjects but this time, I got a wide variety of results. I received an A in Sociology which surprised me the absolute most, a B in General Studies which I wasn't really too bothered about, a C in English and a D in Maths and Psychology. So that was odd.
I thought I would be more worried about my D's because I tend to think that they're my best grades, but to be honest, I'm not. I would only have to re-sit two modules to bring my grades up completely. I don't have to do the entire year again which was my FEAR so that's over with. I've just been thinking about next year though, I mean I'll have to be doing my year 13 exams as well as two of my year 12 exams again. I counted it up and I'll probably be sitting 11 exams which isn't that bad considering I had 10 this year. Also the AS exams are before half term so I won't be doing them all at the same time. I really think that I can do it all and hopefully I will be.
To be honest, I think that as long as I keep revising for my Core 2 module in Maths and my Research Methods in Psychology, then I should be fine. I think what I'm going to do is just do a paper or so every other week to make sure I'm still actually learning. Of course I'm going to speak to my teachers and get a few resources off them but to be honest, I'm not too worried. In fact I'm actually really pleased and so was my mom, so that's good.
You can read my post on my GCSE Results from last year HERE, which is another reason why I wanted to write this. Its sort of like my tradition I guess.
I've wanted to review Happy Little Pill by Troye Sivan ever since it came out because I just love it. It came out on the 25th of July and I have to say, I have played it at least once every single day since. I like to listen to it when I'm just chilling out in my room or doing my work, I just think its a really good song. His voice sounds incredible in it and the lyrics are just beautiful; it has a really cool pop/ techno vibe to the song and I LOVE IT.
So, as Troye is a YouTuber, I have been watching his videos for quite a long time now, probably close to 2 years now. I knew he sang and things but I had never really listened to his music before apart from his cover of 'Little Things' by One Direction which I thought was absolutely amazing. His videos just in general have made me laugh and smile, and I feel very proud of him for everything that he has done.
Flashforward to now and he is about to release his EP called TRXYE, and I am really excited to listen to it. It comes out on the 15th of August and I'm sure it'll do really well. I know that Happy Little Pill did AMAZINGLY, I mean it was #1 in 13 countries and top 10 in 31 countries which is INSANE.
I've been thinking about the things I've been enjoying lately and so I thought I would write a little post about my July Favourites. Its not going to be too long because I haven't got any new makeup or face products lately since I've broken up for summer. But I have been liking a few other things so sit back and enjoy!
Books:
I've been reading Enduring Love by Ian McEwan over the last few weeks because its on the curriculum for my A2 English course next year. To be honest, at the start of the novel I wasn't too sure about it but the more I read it, the more I get into it. Its about a hot air balloon accident which changes the course of many peoples lives. The main character, Joe, becomes the obsession of another man called Jed, who suffers from De Clerambault Syndrome: a type of delusion in which one person thinks that another person is madly in love with them. Its actually really REALLY interesting reading because I never even knew that it was a real thing before this book and its just really fascinating. I haven't read the end yet because I'm only twelve chapters in but so far, I really like it and would recommend it to anyone.
TV: NCIS: Los Angeles: I have spoken about this before in my November Favourites last year and I am still absolutely loving it. It is probably my favourite TV show ever and I cannot wait until season 5 comes out on DVD so I can watch it. I've got seasons 1 through 4 and honestly, I watch it REPEATEDLY. The only thing that annoys me about NCIS: LA is that since its an American show, it takes absolutely forever for it to come out here in the UK. Until then, I'm just going to watch it over and over and over again. Oh, I need a life.
Music: There aren't many new songs that come out that I like, usually just because I don't listen to the charts at all. Most of the time, I just play old songs that have been stuck in my head until another thing comes along. However, two of the songs that I have been playing repeatedly for the last few weeks are Boom Clap by Charli XCX and Ghost by Ella Henderson. I just love them, I really do.
I'd never really heard of Charli XCX until she featured on Fancy with Iggy Azealia which I LOVED as well. I think she's a really good singer and I hope she brings out loads of cool new things.
Ella Henderson on the other hand, I already knew. For those of you who don't live in the UK, she appeared on the X Factor a few years ago and she was absolutely amazing. She's really REALLY young and she has an incredible voice. I think this is her first single and honestly, its just incredible.
Feel free to read my last post: Summer - where I show you a collection of beautiful flowers
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