GUEST POST: School Trips!

Hmm how to start this, well I am Harriet I write a blog called ConfessionsofHarriet where I ramble on about pretty much whatever is on my mind, which is pretty much food, fashion, music and food did I mention that already? I was asked by the lovely Abi to write a post on travel and for some bizarre reason the first thing that sprung into my mind was the school trips I had been on. I mean of all the wonderful holidays I have been on with my family and friends, I have chosen to talk about school. Literally now I have left school and moved onto Uni it's all I seem to talk about, even though while I was there I was very much ready to leave- ok now is not the time to be getting nostalgic about my childhood. I am not making a good first impression am I at all, you are all thinking who is this nutter rambling on, I am getting massively side tracked.

There was something always very overexciting about going to a foreign country on a school trip. You suddenly felt really independent, even though your teachers were obviously still looking after you. I mean you actually got to hold your passport for once, rather than your dad snatching it back off you as soon as you passed through security. Swanning around the streets of a foreign town during your “free time” thinking you were the absolute business- oh my, I cringe looking back.

One trip I particularly remember was when I went on a geography trip to Chamonix in France. Most people would associate Chamonix with the ski season but we went in the summer when most of the snow had gone, to do some hill-walking and look at some glaciers. This may sound boring but when you look at the pictures I think you will understand why I enjoyed the trip quite so much- the views were honestly breath-taking. (I realise I’m sounding pretty middle-aged in this post what with reminiscing about my school days and commenting on the outstanding views but if you read my blog you will realise this is a recurring theme, I’m a 19 year old middle aged woman.)

We stayed there for four days in what was a small hotel called the Vert Hotel, which I have since been on the website and it has now become a boutique hotel so looks even nicer than when we stayed there. During our time there most days we took the cable car up to Mont Blanc and then walked back down various different routes stopping off to look at the various geographical phenomena we had come to see. Up in the mountains was freezing cold but then as you began to walk down you would have to strip off all your layers as the temperature rose. The town of Chamonix itself is also extremely nice with lots of cute little shops and places to eat.

If you are looking for a peaceful and restful break, Chamonix is definitely the place to go during the summer months as I can imagine it's quite hectic with skiers during the winter. I say I imagine as I have in fact never been skiing and I don't really intend to in the near future, it's something I have never really fancied. Walking through the mountains however I enjoyed greatly its stress free and you can go at your own pace taking in the amazing views surrounding you. This to me sounds far nicer than hurtling down a mountain and most likely injuring myself in the process but then again that’s just me.

H xxx

Back to School Essentials & More

Yes. It's that time. The Summer holidays have flown by like they always seem to and now another school year is looming (AHHHHH!) I thought I'd do a post to help prepare for going back to school, college or university based on my past experience.

First thing's first

PMA - positive mental attitude, what are you looking forward to this year? Think of all the things you learnt last year, the friends you made and all the good times you had (let's be honest school isn't really ALL that bad)

Use it as a clean slate - try and fix any bad habits like bad organisation or if you never really put your hand up in class, if you had Summer projects make sure you've done them before you go back, if you make a good start to the year you'll feel happier and more confident with the rest of your school year

Make the most of your time - it sounds cringey but remember how fast last year went? Time isn't going to slow down, try and enjoy your time at school because the big wide World of work is a lot harder than sitting in a classroom

Make a timetable - you can make a timetable of your lessons but also any work to do when you're home, it will help keep you organised and if you start reading over your notes from September you'll feel a lot less stressed during exam period as you wouldn't have left all the revision right to the last minute

Bedtime - try and go to sleep earlier than you have been during the holidays! It's the worst thing ever when your alarm wakes you up at 7am and you can't go back to sleep and lie in because you have to go to school

Essentials

 

 

Text books or any other books you need! 

Ring binders, lever archers, poly pockets and a notebook all come in handy! 

Memory stick 

 

Take several pens in case one runs out when you're in full flow! 

Needed for any Mathematicians

Sharpener

Rubber

Ruler

Calculator 

Extras

Headphones

Hand cream

Lip balm

Spray

Gadgets

Hope you enjoyed this post and found it helpful, goodluck to anyone beginning another academic year!

Abi :)

How to Solve a Problem Like Education...

Hi chums

On a more serious level now for this post. It was an article I wrote for a local paper and got a lot of support so I thought I'd share it with you.

Earlier this month I was scrolling down my twitter - which has become somewhat of a daily ritual - there were the usual tweets: ‘sickkkk night last night,’ ‘it’s 11pm so I better start my homework for tomorrow LOL’ and ‘CRÈME EGGS ARE ON SALE.’

After reading through all the usual tweets, I stumbled across one which caught my eye and made me think: ‘people shouldn’t be dreading school after coming back from a holiday or weekend – aren’t we supposed to enjoy learning? But, school isn’t about learning anymore, it’s about getting good grades and passing classes, I can’t tell you a single thing I’ve learned this year. All I care about is getting good grades so I can go to a good college or university. I’m not going to be prepared for anything in life. How is learning how to pass a class going to help me in the real world? Yeah, I can memorise facts and figures to pass a test but I have no real life skills. They don’t teach us how to do anything but sit at a desk and regurgitate information that we will most likely never need to know.’ A bold statement yes, but incorrect no it is not.

Only the students in the current education system know what it’s really like, not the parents, teachers or the infamous OFSTED inspectors - they all have their grades and a job. This tweet is literally said on behalf of tens of thousands of hardworking students in England.

Just because we don’t walk round with a forehead of wrinkles or have grey hairs sprouting from our head doesn’t mean we’re not stressed. The pressures we are put under border on the obscene. Not enough UCAS points? Well you probably won’t be going to the university you want or enrolling on the course you want to. Got 90% in your exam and not 91%? No A* for you then. Don’t do at least 2 hours of independent learning outside of school? You’re apparently not working hard enough. Harsh but true.  

Many students walk around on autopilot in some sort of trance obsessed and fixed on the grades they need to pass onto the next stage of the education system. It’s gotten to the point where students and the majority of society frown and look down on a grade B and question why it’s not an A or an A*.

The sad thing is, once we’ve spent about 20 years in education and get out into the ‘real world’ we’ll find out that we won’t be able to get through it by merely memorising facts and regurgitating them all on a paper with black lines on – and then what will happen to us?

Abi :)

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University Matters

For my first 'proper' post, I wanted to write something that I feel strongly about: not going to university. I'm not going to go on a rant on why no one should ever go to university, I just think that many people think it's almost their only option and the 'done' thing to do, so I've decided to write my view on the matter.