Why I won't change my Facebook profile picture

So you will all have seen Facebook's new, temporary feature where you can add a transparent French flag over the top of your profile picture. I'd say from looking at my Facebook feed, probably at least 50% of people have added this to their profile. In no way do I wish to trivialise or show no compassion for the absolutely devastating events that took place in Paris.

1. Solidarity?
I understand that the flag is meant to show solidarity. We are all standing together against terrorism and support one another. We are France because we care about France. And this is okay.

However, what the feature does show is solidarity with one country and not all the others. Where is Syria's flag? Where is Beirut's flag? Where is Kenya's flag? ...just some example's of where innocent people have been killed just as recently and in just as high numbers as France.

So why is it we have chosen France over all the other countries? Because they are white? Because they are close to us? Many argue the terror in Paris has highlighted the very real threat that this could happen to the UK as France is our neighbour. Therefore, that is why we are supporting them. So are we saying that we are using the French flag to show the fear for our own safety? Doesn't that seem selfish? In other words, if innocent people are being killed on the other side of the world, that's okay because they're not geographically near to us so it is not threatening or even real to us.

2. The fashion trend
Imagine if the French flag was an ugly flag. Would people add it to their profile picture? Probably not. Also, I feel obliged in many ways to add the flag to my profile as everyone else is doing it. I even feel slightly guilty for not following the trend. But why? Am I really having an impact by choosing to follow it or not?

3. Facebook
Let us not forget that each individual person did not choose to add a French flag to their profile picture. They chose only the option provided to them by Facebook. Their only choice was to add it or not to add it. They did not get to choose which flag they would add. They did not choose what statement they were making. One of the most powerful companies in the world, Facebook, made these decisions for them. Have we really got to the point on social media where we are letting such large corporations force their ideology onto us? I sincerely hope not as this goes against everything that the flag aimed to represent in the first place: solidarity and freedom. 

What are we really supporting by adding this image to our profiles?

get off your bottom

If there's one thing I have realised whilst being at uni, it's how lazy I am. I knew I was lazy before but uni has taken it to a whole new level. Eat, sleep, eat, repeat is pretty much the routine. Maybe with some Netflix. I like Netflix. Netflix is the worst... you literally just lie there while the next episode starts to play and who are you to stop it... so you just let it carry on..and on..and on.. until Netflix has the utter AUDACITY to ask 'are you still watching?' YES I'M STILL WATCHING STOP JUDGING ME NETFLIX.

So when I finally stopped watching 90210 (don't judge me) or Pretty Little Liars (don't judge me) or The Bratz Movie (ok you can judge me on that one) that's when I finally realised enough is enough. Do not panic. I did not do anything rash such as cancel Netflix. I'm not crazy. But I did realise that binge watching crappy American cheesy af TV was frying my brain and not doing me any favours.

It turns out actually being productive has a positive affect on your mood (who knew) i.e. actually completing my assigned reading before my lecture and hoovering the popcorn off the living room floor from last Thursday fortnight actually made me happy (???)... weird right?!

Also, clearly my New Year's Resolutions haven't been going too well. Starting from no. 1, I have not written on this blog since January...JANUARY...as in the month of which the resolution begun. Unfortunately this was due to another case of the lazy butt syndrome. But I'm back (8 months later) and better than ever. There's no stopping me this time... oooh a new PLL trailer...

SO what I'm trying to say is
lazy = sad
productive = happy

Other things I have recently discovered about the meaning of life:
1. sitting in bed = sleep
2. sitting at desk = work
3. 90210 can take over your life
4. taking 'Netflix and chill' literally leads to you drooling on your own pillow and crying about the fact you just drooled on your pillow
5. drinking half a bottle of wine in front of the TV by yourself makes you feel like Bridget Jones in the opening scene of Bridget Jones Diary... ALL BY MYSELFFFFFFFF
6. I wrote this instead of doing my assigned reading which was a bad idea

p.s. yes, Netflix, I'm still watching

an accurate visual representation of the Netflix lifestyle

my 6 favourite albums

These are probably the only albums I can play over and over without getting bored. You may notice I have rather a varied preference in terms of genre...

Album: Channel Orange
Artist: Frank Ocean
Favourite tracks: Bad Religion, Lost, Pyramids, Super Rich Kids, Pink Matter
Super cool, could listen to it 17344932 times over. Franky where's your new album :(

Album: By the Way
Artist: Red Hot Chili Peppers
Favourite tracks: By the Way, This is the Place, The Zephyr Song
Classic

Album: Trilogy
Artist: The Weeknd
Favourite tracks: House of Balloons, Loft Music, The Knowing, Twenty Eight
The Weeknd AKA Abel AKA God is potentially my favourite person ever. That voice. I can't even.

Album: Light Me Up
Artist: The Pretty Reckless
Favourite tracks: Just Tonight, Goin' Down, Nothing Left to Lose
From hip hop to rock... don't ask. Taylor Momsen (Gossip Girl's Jenny Humphrey) also has a killer voice

Album: In Between Dreams
Artist: Jack Johnson
Favourite Tracks: Better Together, Banana Pancakes, Never Know, Staple It Together
Ultimate chill music

Album: G.O.O.D. Music - Cruel Summer
Artist: Kanye West & Various Artists
Favourite Tracks: Mercy, New God Flow, Higher, Creepers, Bliss
Just a very cool album, some absolute bangers on there

Give them a listen if you don't know them already. You'll love them, I promise.
What are your favourite albums?

the most beautiful dresses in the world

Though they may set you back a few grand, Elie Saab dresses are the most beautiful dresses in the world (fact). Known for their elaborate yet simple designs, I love how they are all different yet still recognisably Elie Saab. They are elegant and feminine and just beautiful. Owning an Elie Saab dress. That's the dream.

I have chosen a few of my favourites...

All images taken from the @eliesaabworld instagram page.

Which is your favourite?

uni: yay or u-nay

Growing up, uni always seemed compulsory for me and I had never really considered not going - hence - I'm here! But experiencing uni, although only for 1 semester so far, I have realised it's not for everyone...

Cost - uni is expensive, there's no getting away from that. With a lot of UK unis being £9,000 a year, it's quite scary to work out the cost per hour (I have worked this out as only have 12 hours timetabled per week..). However, this is paid directly by Student finance UK and so it doesn't really have an immediate impact. The rest of your student loan (if you get one) goes towards both your student accommodation and general living costs (food, going out, clothes etc). This loan - as well as the tuition fee loan - is paid off once you finish uni but only once your salary reaches a certain level. The percentage you pay per month is based on your salary so its never really going to affect you too much. So although uni seems expensive, it never worried me too much that I would be leaving uni with £50,000+ (yeah really) debt because it's paid off in such small installments. Also, statistically, people with degrees tend to earn more money per year in later life.

However, this does not mean that uni is therefore compulsory as these statistics do not apply to everyone. And uni is definitely not the best option for every Tom, Dick and Harry (OR every Tasha, Danni and Holly #feminism). Uni is very reliant on self-motivation which not everyone has (I admit, I lack in this greatly at times...#netflix) and so going straight into the workplace, through an apprenticeship or internship for example, may be the best option for many people. For me, I did not feel ready to enter the world of work and wanted to learn more about Journalism before I lived it. However, going to uni simply because you're putting off actual work for the next 3+ years is not a good reason in itself. You need to choose a course that you really are interested in and have an idea where its going to take you.

So, you ask, what do I do if I'm not ready for work but I wouldn't know what degree to choose? Well, there's only really one answer. Research. Find out what you like. Talk to people. Find a job that interests you and find out what qualifications you need to get there. Do some work experience to find out if you like it or not. Most importantly, find something you're interested in - not just something with a good paycheck. 

iPad mini: yay or nay

I recently purchased an iPad mini 2 with retina display. Truthfully, I bought it because everyone seemed to have a tablet of some sort so I decided to jump on the bandwagon as there had to be a reason why they were so popular. Without too much deliberation, I decided on the Apple iPad simply because I would know how to use it (because of my iPhone) and I assumed syncing it with my iTunes would be easier etc etc. 

When it arrived I was SUPER excited (probably because if you order it through Apple, you can have your initials engraved on the back!!) and used it a lot. Its really easy to carry round with it being so small but the screen is still a perfectly decent size for browsing the web or whatever. Without being too technical..picture quality = brill. sound quality = really brill.

Tip: if you want photos and music on your iPad as well as everything else (apps, imessages etc) then I would recommend one with at least a 32gb memory so you don't really have to worry about filling it up like you would with 16gb or less. Obviously you can't expand iPad memory (ignoring Google Drive, Dropbox etc which I am yet to try!) so choosing one with enough memory is essential when making the investment as there's no going back!

Some of my favourite apps:

SimpleMind+: mindmap app perfect for uni, I use it to plan essays, free but you can buy an upgrade
RefME: another free app great for uni - scan the barcodes of the books you use for an assignment and it will reference them for you - how flipping wonderful.
Netflix: for obvious reasons
Timehop: gives you a flashback of the cringey things you said this day 3,4,5 etc years ago - very amusing. Apparently I used to write facebook status' in the third person..

Favourite case:

Ted Baker Cotton Dog iPad mini 2 clip case in pale pink, £35

Pros: so cute, really nice matte feel, doesn't seem to get dirty too easily
Cons: doesn't cover the front screen, doesn't have a stand.. but it's pretty so who cares?

no. 1 write a blog

After several years of zero New Year's resolutions, I decided 2015 would be my year (like everyone else did, apparently). And as a journalism student without a blog of any kind, no. 1 had to be 'write a blog' - hence the blog. Hello.

Resolution no. 2 (drum-roll please.....) 'do something you wouldn't normally do' ended up with me traveling to North Wales to Velocity AKA the longest zip line in Europe and the fastest in the world. It's described as "the nearest thing to flying!" and I thought, well, I definitely haven't flown before... Anyway, it turned out to be an *AMAZING* experience and I did, in fact, feel like I was flying across the mile long zip line over the quarry with incredible views of the North Wales coastline. Definitely the best decision I had made all year so far (4 days into 2015...) and I would definitely recommend it!

Velocity

I started writing this post thinking I had more than 2 resolutions on the list but apparently that is all. I'll be more ambitious next year, promise.

P.s. after deciding to use resolution 1 'no. 1 write a blog' as the actual name of my blog, it was only after actually typing out my html that it occurred to me that it could read as 'no one write a blog'... but I'll keep it anyway as I appreciate the irony.