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...

Anti-Social Networking

After watching last nights documentary 'Anti-Social Networking', I feel disgusted at the human race. The lengths that some people will go to in order to make someone else's life miserable is awful.

The first part of the documentary showed the family of a schoolboy who had hung himself after school bullies left nasty  comments on his Facebook page leaving him feeling too scared to go to school. The children are young, yes, but they no the difference between right and wrong, and I hope that they never get over how cruel they were.

As if this wasn't bad enough, a webpage was then set up by the boys brother for people to leave loving messages and their condolences. Instead, people left vicious comments about how he deserved to die and concocted mocking pictures of the boy hanging. These are known as 'trolls'; the people that search the news and internet for people (children in particular) that have died, and then they go about leaving horrible messages.

So where have the days gone when social networking was just that, social networking? The sites were set up to allow friends to communicate easily, for people to add photographs and share their life with the cyber-world. Now, it seems its primary use is for people to make sarcastic, childish and unnecessary comments aimed at people they don't like, and it's absolutely ridiculous.

It's the little things..

The idea of happiness is something that changes for every single individual on this planet.

For some, it involves extravagant lifestyles which involves living in a posh house, with the floor to ceiling glass windows, a beautiful view and a pool. Add in a couple of expensive cars, the perfect job and a lot of money and you're probably about there; life heaven. 

For others, it is having a home, a family and living comfortably in the knowledge that you have a life partner and somebody that you can grow old with.

For me, it's the little things.

It's amazing how many ways there are of creating happiness, and the extent that some people have to go to in order to be happy. 

The tiniest of things can leave me smiling all day. Ok, I'm not going to be walking around with a constant grin across my face, that would be weird...but the warm fuzzy feeling you get inside when you no you're happy? That's what I'm talking about.

Earlier today, I had a really positive tutorial with my university lecturer. Hearing somebody else say that your writing is really good is the best feeling, especially when writing is what I want to do with my life. 

Then, I had the most amazing cupcake from Dream Cupcakes. All I can say is wow...if you haven't tried one of these before then you are massively missing out. Heaven in cupcake form is the only way to describe it.

I personally feel that you don't need grand gestures, expensive things or the perfect life to experience happiness. It's all about the little things. As long as I have ambitions, dreams and an end goal, then it is that and those little happy moments that you experience that will have me looking back in 50 years, content with my life and satisfied that I did everything I could to be happy.

Why are girls in such a hurry to grow up?

When I think back to my childhood, I have memories of me running around dressed like a boy and doing things that boys do. This involved climbing trees, rolling around in the mud and genuinely not giving a damn about what I looked like. I'd come home with twigs stuck in my hair, grass stains on the knees of my trousers and looking rather worse for ware. If I compare this to the childhoods of young girls today, oh how so much has changed.

Walking through the town centre of Southampton, I have to look twice at some of the girls that walk past me. One girl is wearing high waisted denim hot-pants with over the knee socks and vans. Then there is the massive back combed hair that's going on and of course the extensions (what girl doesn't have extensions nowadays?). This along with the plastered on makeup and bright pink lips, you'd expect her to be at least 18, wouldn't you? Wrong. A second glance makes me realise she can't be any older than about 13. So why are girls so quick to grow up and look older than what they are?

Some of you might think that's normal for a 13-year-old girl, but where you like that at 13? I doubt it. Maybe it's just how things are now; as the years pass by things become more socially acceptable and not so shocking.

Celebrities obviously have a big impact on young girls. The amount of media attention that they gain concerning their appearance is ridiculous; is there not anything more important to report on? Or is it that girls are just very competitive? It's sad that young girls feel the need to dress and present themselves to be older than what they are; a childhood should be cherished, not wished away. I don't even think I knew what fashion was at 13? As long as I was comfortable and able to run around doing whatever I was doing, then I was happy.

Observing some of the teenagers of today, I can't imagine any of them acting how I did as a child; they'd be to concerned about breaking a nail or getting a speck of dirt on them. I wish that they could know just how quickly the time will go until they become adults, with responsibilities and a job...then they'll soon wish they could be innocent children again with not a care in the world.

Time is going by so quickly

Sat in bed this morning, I thought back to the first time I came to Southampton - it was for the Southampton Solent University open day.  Wondering around the campus, I could see myself coming here. It looked modern, exciting and meant I'd finally be able to escape the lack of independency I received at home. Solent was the last university I looked at, after choosing to visit university's closer to home first. But when none of them had that spark about them, I realised I would at least have to look at this university, if anything just to rule it out. It turns out it had the opposite effect, and three years later I'm still here, in the final few months of my degree.

I remember the course talk I went to on the open day - I was won over the minute I heard we got to visit Paris and New York. I can't even explain the excitement. Funnily enough, the lecturer that gave us that talk is now my dissertation tutor!

As with every open day, there was a tour of the student residency halls. This is where I suddenly lost the excitement I'd felt half an hour before. The halls smelt strange, were tiny and seemed really dingy. And I would have to live here. Going home that evening, I found myself on the university website, browsing through the different options of living arrangements. The fact that I was bothering to try and see if there was anything better instantly told me that it was the university I wanted to go to. So I decided to just think positively, be open to the experience and chose a hall of residency to live in for the following year.

All I can say is thank goodness I did. It was easily the best experience of my life. I met some amazing people, many who have dramatically changed since then, both for the better and for the worst. But I wouldn't change anything about it, and would recommend it to anyone looking to have an epic first year of university.
Since then, I can’t say I’ve ever looked back and had any regrets about moving away from home or the university I chose to make my home for the following three years.

And now, I’m only months away from completing the course. Wow. How has the time passed so quickly? I’ll admit that I am a little scared about what happens from here. Can anything actually compete with how good the last few years have been? I really hope so.

Hopes and plans for the future...

I've had quite an inspirational evening. Thinking about what the future holds can be a little daunting, especially when you have all these ideas flying around but you don't really know where to start or how to even go about organising them. So, I feel that writing everything down will somehow make me more likely to achieve these plans.

I have spent the last couple of hours browsing magazine websites and looking into what type of placements and internships I could do to get a little closer to gaining the job of my dreams...working for Glamour. When I picture myself in the future, I visualise scenes along the lines of The Devil Wears Prada and Ugly Betty, working in a busy magazine based enviroment, living in a cute apartment in the centre of London, waking up to the hustle and bustle of early morning commuters, preparing myself for the race to get to the tube on time etc. When I think about this, it makes me so determined to get there, I can't see myself doing anything else.

However, I also have the niggling need to travel and see as much of the world as possible. With this country in the state it currently is in, (the economy, riots, rude people) I find it very difficult to say I'm proud to be british, and it only increases my want to travel even more so. So I've been ploughing through the STA Travel website at different options of seeing the world. Do I just want to travel and do the whole tourist scenic route, or do I want to do something useful to others, such as volunteer work or teaching english? There's so many options and different routes to go down, it's kind of overwhelming. And how do you know which is the right route to take?

So, I've sent off for a couple of quotes on prices. I want to visit Australia, New Zealand, Thailand, Fiji, Dubai, before even getting to America. I want to see the amazing sights, absorb everything, find tiny little treasures of places that have rarely been visited by tourists. I want to have had the chance to experience all of this so that in 50 years time I can look back and be satisfied by what I've achieved in life.

I haven't written on this blog for almost a year, but after tonights wonderings and future planning, I suddenly had the urge to write one and its strangely satisfying :)