Back to School... (and my new favourite easy-peasy recipe)

Hello, toasters!
This past week has been pretty intense, as I've moved back down to Bournemouth and had my first week of second year classes!
But although I'm a second year, I feel more lost than I ever did as a fresher because our classes have now moved to random rooms around the campus.
(I'm sure it's some kind of disorientation power play trick the teachers are using against us to stop us from getting too cocky)


These are the clothes I have bought with me
 for JUST the Winter Term...

One problem with moving back into a student house is the unpacking.
Now we all know how much I love to procrastinate, but I still have loads of  random stuff on the floor that needs to be tidied, and next to the ever-growing stack of pizza boxes, my room is starting to turn into a weird, studenty undergrowth.
Another problem with moving, is the fact I have to share a car with my mum for an extended amount of time.
Don't get me wrong- I love my mum to bits.
It's just always strange to be in what is essentially a travelling metal box for several hours together, especially when you need to choose music.
At home we're okay, because we both like the same local station, but when we get out of range, we're in trouble.
I prefer to put my iPod on, because then there's no adverts, but once we get through all of my Phil Collins stuff, that is when the true test begins.
The problem is not that my mum only likes pre-millennium music and thinks that new music isn't what it used to be.
Oh no, it's the opposite.
She seems to love Pink, Jessie J and other people like that.
The real issue is that I haven't been able to update my iPod in over 4 years.
So every time we go on an extended journey together, I spend the entire time trying to play songs that feel more up-to-date than they really are.
And I think she's starting to realise that songs like 'Meet Me Halfway' have long gone.

Another problem is deciding how to decorate the room!
Although I love my little house, the tidal wave of cream walls is really starting to get to me.
So this year, I thought I'd add a splash of colour with fabric hangings I've got from different countries... what do you guys think?
I'm planning on doing a whole Uni room decoration post soon, so keep a look out for it :)

The most stereotypical issue with student living (aside from arguments over the washing up) is cooking.
It really does get difficult to cook anything too complicated, as 1. you probably won't be able to afford too many ingredients and 2. you could be sharing the kitchen with up to 6 people at the same time!
But this week I got really lucky and had the kitchen to myself for a while, so I made homemade burgers with sweet potato wedges!
It tasted INSANELY GOOD!
And it was really easy to make...

1. Buy some fresh beef mince. (NOT the frozen pellets which look suspiciously like rabbit food)
2. Finely chop an onion and a clove of garlic, and mix with the mince. Don't worry if there's loads of onions left over, you can fry them alongside the burger itself and have with the burger.
3. Peel a sweet potato and chop it into 1cm thick circular pieces.
4. Place them onto a baking tray, put a little oil on them and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
5. Put into the oven at 200 C for 25 minutes or so.
6. When the potatoes have about 8 or 10 minutes left, start frying the burger in a frying pan over high heat with a tiny bit of oil.
7. Serve when everything looks about right (I'm not exactly a Michelin star cook, so I don't know a fancier way to put it)

Om nom nom.
And the best bit? Minimal washing up!

Talking about food, I'd better go and see what I can whip up tonight.
Although, if I'm honest, it looks like a night of re-heated pizza....

Sammie
xoxo

Five annoying people on holiday & Challenge no.15- Tie Die EVERYTHING

Hi everyone :)
I hope you're enjoying summer so far and the unusually hot British weather! Oh, and Andy Murray winning Wimbledon!
Having just come back from a family holiday in Kos- which was beautiful and sunny and all things a holiday should be- I couldn't help but notice a few people that.... well.... these people grind my gears.
The people that I picked out weren't just the average obnoxious holiday makers, oh no.
These are the people that bring a boombox to the pool and play foreign, low-quality drum and bass while everyone else is trying to relax. These are the people that have dieted for months to skip along the beach in their skimpy bikini saying how fat they are. These are the people that shake their sandy towel out right next to you so that you get a face full of sand!
I don't know what there is to be done about these people (we all know who they are! And if you don't know who I'm talking about, I'm afraid its you) but I decided to record all of my thoughts in a vlog so that all of you sane people headed overseas this summer can identify and avoid these 'human beings'.
So without further ado, here is my list of just Five annoying people encountered on family holidays...

....deep breaths....
Okay, well now I've got all of those frustrations out, I have completed another challenge!
*congratulatory music*
Two of my friends came down to my student house in Bournemouth earlier this year, and we decided that we needed to it was our destiny to become hipsters. As you do.
So we donned our skinniest jeans and our most ironic snapbacks, and drove all the way to Matalan. Recording everything on instagram, obviously.
We bought the cheapest skirts we could, and the loudest dyes we could, and set to it...

 

And here are the results.... TA DAAAAA!

 



We then set off to the Harvester looking like a fabulous Gay Pride brigade, and had a beautiful, reasonably nutritious meal.
I still use my shirt to sleep in (its so comfy!) and tie-dyeing is probably the most fun, unique way of jazzing up old, bland clothing- if you haven't tried it already, I'd definitely recommend that you channel your inner hipster and give it a whirl.
Sammie
xoxo