All work and some play

Sometimes it is easy to let the stresses of final year get on top of you. Life for me right now is very hectic; not that this wasn’t completely expected. Doing a year abroad means that the majority of my course friends have now graduated and believe me, I had been warned by them about how busy this year would be. But nothing ever quite prepares you for how little time there is in a single day…

However, something I have always been quite good at is ensuring that I take some time away from studying and lab work, to let off some steam and give my brain something different to focus on. My Tuesday and Thursday evening dance classes are something I look forward to; I’m really glad I rejoined the Modern Dance Society this year (see my previous post for more information!). The weekly house viewing of The Apprentice is going strong, mainly because laughing at the candidates’ foolish mistakes and over confident attitudes has a certain appeal. These are a couple of things I have planned in my week, which often makes me more productive knowing I can set aside time for these activities (if you can call drinking tea and watching Sir Alan Sugar knocking people down a peg or two an activity, of course). No matter what you like to do, it’s always important to have a break now and again.

The past week has also been exciting for me as I went to two concerts. The first was to see Imagine Dragons, supported by Sunset Sons back home in Nottingham. My sister got us tickets for my birthday back in June, so I’d been looking forward to it for a while now, and it did not disappoint! Not only was the concert brilliant, it was also nice to spend some time with my sister after a while apart. I wasn’t supposed to be seeing her again until Christmas when we are both back home from uni, but today we decided to buy Mumford and Sons tickets for a gig in a couple of weeks. The second concert was to see Catfish and the Bottlemen again back in Nottingham, this time with my big brother. As he introduced me to the band, it was fitting that we went together. Again, it was nice to spend some time with him as he lives in Ipswich so I don’t see him as often as I’d like. This was a very different event, in a smaller venue with standing room only. It was equally as good and CATB are really starting to blow up. I first saw them at a music festival in Germany, where they played to a relatively small crowd and I seemed to be the only fan who knew any of the songs. This summer they played at all the big festivals in the UK and the turnout was incredible, followed by tickets for their current tour selling out in minutes (never have I felt so smug about getting a ticket before). Next week I’m seeing Saint Raymond here in Leicester at the O2 Academy. As far as I’m aware there are still a few tickets left so go and grab one ASAP!

So even if sometimes it feels as though you have little time to relax, you can always make time.