#augustjournalchallenge

5. Recent favourite summer memory.

I went to the park behind the Royal Vauxhall Tavern with several friends including @misterquark​ and @pipprinxe​ and we had food and alcohol then went to a (very nudey) cabaret. But the picnic was so wonderful and I made new friends and saw others I hadn’t seen for a while; and we all got a bit tipsy and it was so balmy and there was an outdoor cinema happening behind us and there were cute puppies near us. Just a wonderful memory <3 

6. Describe your favourite study spots. 

I’m awful at studying at home or in a bedroom so I study really well on the second floor in my university’s library, especially if I can shut off with my head phones. I had a few minor meltdowns during final essays weeks when I lost my headphones and couldn’t afford to buy new ones. Frantically borrowing them from friends! I’m not very good at studying with other people as I get distracted unless they’re asking me questions on the subject. Otherwise, I like to be inside, whilst it’s raining with a big cup of coffee and an instrumental playlist. 

7. Metaphors you’ve fallen for? 

Oooh I use metaphors in my day to day language quite a lot but I don’t really have any I’m particularly fond of? It;s not really something I’ve thought about really! Oh! I do love “As much use as a chocolate fireguard” and “gay as a tree full of monkeys on nitrous oxide” (courtesy of Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman in Good Omens). 

8. Favourite autumn traditions?

I have SO MANY. Autumn is my favourite season and I’m really looking forward to it. 

Decorating my room for Halloween

Packing summer clothes away 

Going to Plymouth winter clothes shopping with my mum

Buying candles and lighting them regularly.

Drinking more tea 

Rugby season starting and wrapping up for training

Going to a big Halloween party (I always dress up. Always).

Kicking leaves and jumping in them at least 5 times

Baking a pie or making soup from scratch

Going and helping at the Scouts firework display my dad used to do the pyrotechnics for <3 

Going back to my birth city - Oxford. 

Burgers on Firework night :D 

9. Fall Bucket List

Haha! Well pretty much everything above, but I’ll add some others 

Go for morning runs near campus 

Try the Halloween/Autumn coffees at Starbucks 

Dress as a ghostbuster for Halloween 

Dye my hair an unnatural colour

Get another piercing maybe? 

Go for wood walks

Day 2: A farewell to summer

For me, August is the beginning of summer, as I come home and work on my summer job til I go back to uni in September (final time this year!). But I suppose a large chunk of my summer season has been spent whilst I was living in London. Saying goodbye to London was really hard so I sort of ignored it until I’d left and then I just felt numb. I was back in the countryside which feels like summer with it’s cool breezes and blue skies and sticky faint rain. But I miss London and the grossness of the underground and tourists asking for directions. I miss walking from pavement to grass in seconds and finding an icecrea truck round every corner. I miss my friends, a few tube stops away, ready with hugs and cheek kisses and so much fun and adventure and free discovery. The sky may be wider and the air might be cleaner here, but I felt I spent my wonderful summer, here in the hazy light with my friends with their colourful, beautiful hair. I can’t wait to return. 

Day 3: Old school memories

Unfortunately I’m very good at remembering bad memories and not so many good ones but here are some nice ones. 

I remember laying on the floor at 3am with my best friend at a sleepover with our other school friends and they asked me if I might be gay and I didn’t know, but Jaz talked it through with me and I felt so scared yet so sure the future would be okay because they were with me. 

I remember standing huddled with a group of friends singing the different parts of “Going Back To Hogwarts” from A Very Potter Musical. 

I remember kissing a boy’s cheek for the first time, brief, as a goodbye for the summer. I remember my mind going blank, my cheeks going red and practically pegging it away from him. It felt like such a good idea at the time and made me so happy. I hope it made him happy too. 

Day 4: Tips for Passing Exams 

I only have recent experience with exams for humanities subjects, so bear that in mind. 

1. Try and revise ONE subject each day. I personally found trying to revise several different subjects stopped me short a lot. 

2. If you have to learn poems or passages of text for exam analysis, try and learn them to a tune so you can learn the song and sing it in your head during the exam. 

3. Rescue Remedy is great if you get anxious before exams. Even if it’s a proxy, I have experienced it working and so have several of my friends. Aromatherapy and having a decent meal and water before exams also help.