The University Diaries

Be the boss of your own life in 2019. Get ready to own yourself and feel incredible. Boss your studies, boss your self-love, boss your health and boss your finances. I'm excited to share the ways I am making myself the Danii-Boss, the Girl-Boss and the University-Blogger-Boss in 2019. Eat 'yo Greens In 2019, 'ain't nobody got time for': bad skin, poor hair and nails, and coughs and colds. I am packing my diet with fruits and vegetables. If you read my previous post, one of my 2019 goals was to be healthier and lose weight, and in my mind I want to be strong and shredded (throwback to 2015/16). Generally I prefer vegetables to fruits in the winter, so I've started off by making soups. You can put so much into soup, and make so many portions and then eat so much of the soup that there is nothing better than soup, in my opinion. In fact, talking about soup just makes me want to eat some more soup now. Fruits obviously are great too, however they do contain more...

Happy Freshers Week!!! I am sure plenty of students are living with a pretty impressive hangover currently, but that does not give you an excuse to one-up your degree! Whether you are first or final year, here are some tips to boost your productivity and start your year on the right foot. Check Out Your Timetable! Whilst you may not start lectures until October, you should get yourself familiar with your timetable ASAP. Get a big wall planner or a diary and write down every lecture, lab time and activity that you want/have to go to. If societies have meets, write it down. If your degree has optional sessions, write it down. If you record everything, when you come to book in other things then you cannot forget anything. Last year I missed most of our optional forums as I did not write them down, causing me to miss some fun education and free pizza. As you pay over £9000 for your degree, you may as well try to go to everything offered to get your moneys worth from the university. I...

I am the definition of a poor student (without a maintenance loan oops) so I have established some handy ways to save money. Let me know if I have missed anything and I'll include it in my next version! Enjoy! Student Amazon Prime (for free) I use Amazon Prime for all my stationery, household items and gifts. I am the Queen of forgetting people's Birthdays (at least I am honest!). I always use (student) Amazon Prime to get reduced price items with free next day delivery. This means I can forget a Birthday until the night before and buy something to give to them the following night. If you use this code then you can receive 6 months free then have a massive reduction to less than £4 a month for a subscription. This also includes films, music and discounts on textbooks. I find it really handy to use as I can decide I want something at 10pm and have it at my door the following day without having to go out and get it. The best part of student amazon prime is that you can can...

I have been lifeguarding since I was 16. I qualified from a six day course with an assessment nearly four years ago, and it was one of the best decisions that I have ever made! I have made lots of money from it (as you are skilled you are on a higher wage), you have a highly valuable skill and it looks really impressive to universities and on a CV. Lifeguarding definitely helped me for my application onto a Paramedic Science degree. What does it involve? The time I turned the pool water pink/purple The initial National Pool Lifeguard Qualification (NPLQ) covers lifesaving, first aid and theory. The course is usually six days with the exam at the end. The course is not difficult, although does require focus to pass. You are taught lifesaving: tows, spinal preservation and rescue, defensive blocks within the water, first aid: similar to a First Aid at Work Level 3 Qualification, with a variety of skills, such as bandaging, recognising seizures and hypoglycemic events and basic l...

So in the first term of the first year at my university, we are required to complete a Skills Passport as part of our Preparation for Clinical Practice module. This was a pass/fail document which was required to pass for you to be able to pass the module alongside an essay and presentation. I do not know if every university completes this module in the same way, but feel free to comment below either way as it is interesting for me and other people! So the passport included various basic skills assessed by peers, such as taking temperatures, manual blood pressures, blood glucose readings (BM) and various manual handling techniques. It also comprised of slightly more serious basic skills assessed by tutors, such as adult and paediatric airways, c-spine immobilisation and basic life support and automated external defibrillator (BLS and AED). There were also requirements to complete the online training modules for areas such as safeguarding and data protection. There were lots of oppor...

Placement is such a hectic place! Due to my shift schedule I am five weeks in but have done 4 blocks due to the four days on, five days off schedule. Somehow I am currently working almost full time over the placement block. I will finish at 6.30am on my last night shift, come home and head to sleep until 12pm, wake up and head to work. This is a great way for me to be able to afford placement, but I don't have a life! It is very difficult acting this way, especially as I am either on placement or asleep the rest of the time. Fortunately due to the crews I am working with, I am enjoying the shifts so much it feels less like a job and more like a lifestyle. Update on my First Five Weeks I have had such a variety of shifts. I am placed on the border of London, but as we do not respond to London Ambulance Service (LAS) calls, we can only head out in one direction, which means we regularly finish (very) late. On the plus side, you must have 11 hours between shifts, so usually if yo...

My placement schedule is usually 2 days, 2 nights, 5 days off (which is really good). One in every 4 shifts there is an extra day shift in there as this is the pattern my mentor has on her line, which I follow. With this placement I have been really lucky to get a mentor who is on a line at a station as this means that my shifts are set (basically a year in advance) and I only have one mentor (unless I have to make up any shifts as I cannot do them). On placement, I am one of the lucky ones! Lots of people have multiple mentors and stations, and I am very lucky that I have been given consistency as I do get quite anxious at not being in control of the situation and not knowing what the outcome will be. This week went from being a long, 3 days and 2 nights, week, to a 3 days and 1 night. I have had a shift moved, which my mentor kindly discussed when we could both do this shift as she had to change it due to her mentoring course (to mentor me). Some mentors are willing to be flexibl...

'Twas night before placement when all through the house, I worried and I packed, fluttering nervously like a mouse. Kit bag was packed by the front door with care, Waiting for 5am when I would be leaving there. (adaption from 'Twas the night before Christmas') Tomorrow, bright and breezy I start my placement. I am very nervous obviously. I have never been on an ambulance before and having not been at uni for the past 5 weeks, I feel as if I know nothing! I am excited though! This is what I am expecting for tomorrow: 4am ~ Wakey wakey rise and shine! Breakfast time and time to get ready. 5am ~ Leaving the house, sat nav and coffee at the ready. 6am ~ Arrive at the station with enough time to get myself sorted out. 6.30am ~ Shift starts! Beginning with a station induction for approximately 1 hour then off on the road. 6.30pm ~ (Hopefully) shift finishes on time and off on my way home I go! Obviously this depends on if we are on a call or not. My pockets content...

Textbooks can be very expensive, however they can be really valuable if you have the correct ones! In my first term, we completed two modules: Preparation for Clinical Practice (Prep for Prac) and Skills for Study. I only bought textbooks for Prep for Prac, and if I had bought them early I could really have got ahead of the game. Obviously some universities use different textbooks, however I found these the most useful in my first term. JRCALC Clinical Practice Guidelines 2017 Pocket Book This is probably the most important book you will ever buy, lecturers say it is your bible... It is! And it is so incredibly important that you have this! It fits perfectly in your trouser pocket (when you have your uniform) and loves your annotations and dog ear marks. They update every year around October time (but you will probably want it before then), and do not worry about having an old version if the new one is not out yet. You will find the list of updates online and it is usually only one...

In September, I remember the stress of having to find a new laptop! My old laptop was struggling a bit (bless her), a purple HP Pavilion who had outlived her life expectancy. My old laptop was certainly clonky, by the end of its life she would only work plugged into the mains, took about 15 years to get onto the login page, and would only connect to wifi spots she knew, AKA my home. So my plan was to look for a laptop which was affordable, but a bit plush, because y'know, I was starting uni. I wanted a decent size that would run smoothly with 100 tabs open (because I've got commitment issues with closing tabs), and did not break my bank! My budget was about £500 give or take.  My family had always had HP computers so initially I looked for that. I found this HP Laptop  that I liked . It was a little bit more expensive but there are usually deals on amazon (including student discount!) and I think the investment is worth it. However, my boyfriend had just bought a lap...

Many reasons can determine your decision for living away or at home as a student. I am a 'Living at Home' medical student with placements, and here are the reasons behind my choice and also an evaluation of my circumstances. I hope this is able to provide some clarification, as when I was choosing a university I did not really know what I was looking for. Making Friends Those living in halls have a head start when making friends. Generally they move in about a week before term, take part in all the freshers events and get to know everyone they are living with. Making friends this way is really easy, especially as halls tend to mix courses, so you do not spend all day in lectures with people you are living with. If you do not live at uni, on your first day it can be a bit daunting as you may not know anyone there. Fear not! So many other people are in the same position as you! The nice thing about uni is that everyone talks to each other and it is really easy to make frie...

Hello. I am a paramedic science student, living at home. I have recently completed my first term of university and this is a collection of my thoughts. University is an incredible place. I am lucky to attend a small uni which means that the experience is more personal. It is 30 minutes from where I live, making living at home and transportation relatively easy. My course is a larger cohort for the subject, with 80 students in lectures and 40 students in labs. I understand that this is far smaller than regular science courses, but we are the largest healthcare cohort in the uni. My cohort is diverse, formed of 18 year olds who are fresh out of school, those who already have a degree in another subject area and parents with children. It is interesting having such a wide range of opinions and experiences because everyone brings something different to the table. In the lecture hall you find love, conflict, laughter and tears. This course hits everyone differently at different times. I...