Time flies when you're having fun

It has taken me until today for it to suddenly hit me; within a matter of days I will have finished university forever. Where has the time gone?!

I've spent the day finalising a project where my group and I had to come up with a brand new magazine concept and create it. This included everything from the features, to the design, to the media pack. To say it was a challenge would be an understatement and the project has very much kept us busy over the last month especially. But, it was entirely worth it. Today, we picked up our finished magazine, bound and printed professionally and all I can say is every second that was put into it was worth it. We now have an impressive piece of work for our portfolios and to show to potential employers.

To celebrate, my group went out for lunch to wind down a little, followed by another meal out this evening (why I continue to spend money I don't have, I'll never know). It was lovely to have a catch up with the girls, but also sad when we realised that it could be quite a while before we all get the chance to have dinner together again. Adult life calls, and we all must get started with our internships and jobs.

So, after a relaxing evening, I'm now curled up on the sofa with a cup of tea and Made in Chelsea. Perfect.

There's something about London

I don't know what it is exactly, but there is something about our thriving capital city that I can't get enough of. I first visited London when I was 18 (many of you will be shocked that it took me 18 years to go there in the first place), where I went for a day shopping and a ride on the London eye. Walking onto Oxford Street for the first time left me stood there in awe for a few moments. It was just before christmas time and all of the lights had been put up - it all looked so pretty and inviting.

Following this visit, I didn't go there again until I was 21. Considering I want to work for a fashion magazine, this seems strange as all of the big magazine publications are based in London. However, in the last five months or so I have been backwards and forwards to the city, both for business and for pleasure, and I honestly love it. The hustle and bustle of busy Londoners going about their day, the noise and the huge buildings may seem like something most people would want to avoid; I thrive off it.

I've recently been offered a social media and fashion assistant internship which is based in London and I am so excited for it. Being part of the London lifestyle and in the centre of where everything happens when it comes to the media world, it is the perfect place and opportunity for me to gain my first job and climb the career ladder.

It could be the number of ambitious people that you see in London, or simply the lifestyle that London portrays, but something has given me the London bug and the sooner I move there, the better.

Australia here I come

I recently read an article in Cosmopolitan magazine about women between the ages of 18-25 fleeing the country to escape the mountains of debt that they have racked up in the UK through taking out numerous credit cards and loans to help support their lifestyle.

Firstly, amen to them.
Secondly, why didn't I think of this first?

With the country being in the financial mess it is, and a lack of jobs available, it doesn't leave many options for us women. Men can usually pick up the hard graft jobs such as working on building sites, carpentry, mechanics etc jobs that are always in need of extra help. But with so much competition for every job opportunity out there, it is worrying, and completely understandable why women would feel like packing up and moving to another country for a better life.

Australia and Canada seem to be popular destinations, and with the wages in Australia three times the amount they are here in the UK, I'm surprised everybody hasn't left already.

Being within this 18-25 category of women, I feel their pain. I'm in the final month of my university degree, and I now have to somehow juggle between by part time job, a full time internship as well as being able to afford to live. I for one can see how people resort to credit cards as financial back up to pay for essentials such as bills, rent and food, because that's exactly what I've started doing.

So it looks like I could be booking my flight to Australia in the not so distant future...

Little Red Dress

Sat in Kings Cross station last week, whilst enjoying a well needed cup of tea and chocolate caramel slice, a man approached me and complimented my dress. He then went on to say that when a woman wears a red dress, she has the power to get whatever she desires. Thinking nothing of it and brushing it off as a cheesy chat up line, I smiled and continued with my business. Nothing could improve the day that I'd had I thought to myself...

That morning I'd been at the train station waiting for my London train to arrive, when I realised that there were two due within the space of five minutes. My ticket was booked for the second one, but you know when you get that slight pang of doubt that something is going to go wrong? Well that's what I was feeling. I was heading into London for an interview for an exciting internship opportunity - the last thing I wanted was for something to go wrong. But, I patiently waited whilst the first train pulled up and left again, and boarded the second train when it arrived.

About half way through the journey, the train suddenly stopped and we were sat there for about half an hour not knowing what the hell was going on. It turns out there had been a 'disruption' of some sort in one of the carriages. Brilliant, this had now made me massively rushed for getting to my interview on time. When the train finally got into London, I literally ran to the tube, and once off at the other end, ran around trying to find the hotel my interview was being held in.

Out of the ten people I asked for directions (it was slightly awkward when I asked the same guy twice, turns out he'd just walked around the block) I finally found someone who knew where it was. Bursting into this five star luxurious hotel, panting and quite frankly looking like I'd had a solid hour of working out, I met the ladies that would be interviewing me.

I must have looked such a mess. The interview was over before I'd even got my breath back, and I left feeling very disheartened.

So imagine my shock when I got an email a few days afterwards saying that I had been offered the internship! It turns out the man at Kings Cross was right, maybe wearing red gives you the power to get what you want. All I can say is I haven't been able to stop smiling since finding out, and I'm so excited to start. Emma Speight...social media and fashion assistant. I like it :)

Spontaneity over Plans

Spontaneity is the key to having a happy and fulfilled life. It seems that no matter how much planning you put into something, it’s always so much more satisfying when you do something spontaneous - it’s like living on the edge but a lot less dangerous sounding.

After arriving at university with a friend for a lecture that didn’t actually happen, we decided to pop into town (Southampton) to do a bit of window shopping before a long afternoon of coursework. What we actually ended up doing was jumping on a train to London for an afternoon of shopping on Oxford Street. 

I haven’t been into our thriving capital socially for a good few years, so I felt it was well overdue. All I can say is, I forgot how big Topshop is?! This shop was actually made for me. Everything from their accessories through to their shoes and clothing, I absolutely adore. We spent what felt like forever in there, browsing through their three huge floors, taking in everything. As expected, we both came away with a couple of items after promising to be good with our money. 

We went on to browse in Urban Outfitters, where I had to resist buying a lilac and mint green colour block blouse, Forever 21 and the usual high-street stores such as River Island and Accessorize.

Before leaving, I had to return to Topshop to purchase the cutest cupcake. It seems cupcakes are becoming a slight obsession for me, but what isn’t to love about how scrumptious they taste and how pretty the coloured icing looks?

Begrudgingly, we headed back to Southampton, feeling very tired after hours of pushing our way through the packed streets of London.

I was wined and dined that evening however, as I was booked in to eat at The Rockstone after my previous work placement Listed, asked me to go there and review the food. A complimentary three-course meal for myself and my boyfriend left us feeling very much relaxed and ready for bed!

All in all, a busy day but a good one at that!

Determination is Key

Yesterday, I completed my work placement at Listed magazine. I've been there for the last 7 weeks and I have loved every minute of it.


It seems I landed myself a brilliant placement with this, as after hearing horror stories of friends work placements at various magazines, I did have my doubts. Would I be filing, cleaning and making cups of coffee for the whole day? The answer would be no.

Right from day one, it was all go go go, with numerous tasks to do including writing news and feature stories, editing and uploading online content, tweeting upcoming events and interviewing exciting music artists. I couldn't have asked for better. The three people I was working alongside in the office were all lovely and made me feel very welcome, which instantly put me at ease and made the placement even more enjoyable. 


Thanks to Listed, I now have many published articles to add to my portfolio, demonstrating my writing style and skills.


To top off the placement, I was delighted to hear that they would like me to continue writing for their shopping section. I love shopping so this is pretty ideal!


The experience was invaluable and has given me a brilliant insight into the ins and outs of the magazine process from start to finish. It has also reinforced how much I love writing and has made me even more determined to become a fashion writer.  


Thank you Listed!

New Forest Fun

Today I decided to get out of Southampton and visit the New Forest with a friend. Why I've only just got round to doing this when I've been in Southampton for almost three years I don't know, but it was so much fun.

We started off by doing a quick photo shoot, (my friend studies Photography and needed to get some shoots for her portfolio) which was quickly replaced by searching for ponies. Whilst doing this, we found a little group of donkeys. Cute, adorable, you name it and these donkeys fit the bill. The baby one had to be my favorite though, it was so fluffy and loving and I was very tempted to 'borrow' it for a while...but soon realised it would be difficult to fit it in the car. Hmph.

After finally tearing ourselves away from them, we went in search of some friendly horses, as many of them were quick to bite. We found a few, and would willingly have taken them home with us, but they did seem quite content in their surroundings so we chose to leave them be. The fact that cars were driving through the middle of their home didn't bother them in the slightest; they happily just walked into the road and stopped as if to say 'I was here first, you can wait'. So very amusing to watch.

After discovering just how fun the New Forest is, I have decided to go camping there at some point over the next few months. Maybe the horses will take to me better if I sleep there too...