It could only happen to me: Leicester Bus Station.

So the other day, I made a muppet of myself. I decided to get the bus back home from Uni on an evening, which I never normally do. I usually prefer to go for the morning buses because they are more practical.

This time, it wasn't feasible for me to get the morning bus, so I got the evening one. This involved a stopover in Leicester for an hour and a half... which I didn't mind so much. I got myself a Dr Pepper and a HUGE bag of Monster Munch crisps (going to attach the photo because it's literally amazing... For those of you who don't know, Monster Munch are my favourite crisps in all the world), and I sat myself down in the waiting room. 

On the screen, it said that the bus to London was going to arrive at 20:50. It was delayed by 35 minutes. After having already been there for an hour, I was not best pleased to see that information on the screen. However, the screen below it said that the bus to London was en route, and scheduled to arrive at the original time of 20:15. So I was unsure of which to believe. 

I decided to download the app, at 20:15 when I had finished my episode of Orange is the New Black, and my snacks. It said that the bus was very close? So I walked outside, saw nothing, and went back inside the warm waiting room. (It was freezing and raining outside).

By 20:18, the app said that the bus was driving away from me, and was headed to the motorway. After several confused calls to my mum, I looked up at the boards. Long story short, I missed the bus because I had not been constantly looking out the window, as I assumed it was coming at 20:50. 

There were two screens. One was a departures screen, and one an arrivals. 

Basically, my dad had to pick me up from Leicester because I was a MUPPET, and didn't understand that the bus FROM London, rather than TO London, was delayed. It was the last bus going south until 2am... So yeah. I was stranded. I had unintentionally spent 4 hours in a very boring, and very cold bus station.

In my defence, I don't think they should have been due originally at the same time, now that's just confusing. Although anyone who wasn't a muppet would probably understand the difference between an arrivals board, and a departures board. Needless to say, I won't make that mistake again...

Am I the only idiot?

Excited about the huge bag of Monster Munch and Dr Pepper I'd purchased.

Very bored, I decided to take a picture of the door...

I was still there... I'd arrived at 18:10.

My fundamental error.

They're not really pooey...

Who am I?

So it has occurred to me that you have no idea who I am. I have people reading my blog from Australia, USA, Ireland and several places in Europe that I've never even visited, let alone know people there. Obviously the UK views are most likely people I know, so if you do know me already, feel free to skip this. I thought I'd do a little portfolio thingy explaining who I am and what I like.

Who I am:

Name: Sharla Louise Bennison.

Age: 19 years old.

Star Sign: Sagittarius.

Hair colour: Fake ginger most of the time, but currently a mousey brown colour.

Eye colour: Green.

University: Loughborough University.

Course: BSc Psychology.

Relationship status: In a relationship with a Mr Dominic Muir. <3

Likes and Dislikes:

Favourite food: pizza, or cous cous.

Favourite soft drink: Diet Coke or Dr Pepper.

Favourite alcoholic beverage (I'm a student, this had to be in here!): currently Dark Fruits Strongbow, but it always changes.

Favourite TV show: Currently Orange is the New Black, but I have also been addicted to Once Upon a Time.

Favourite book: The Fault in our Stars or P.S. I Love You.

Favourite song: again, always changes, but my long-term favourite song is All of Me; John Legend.

Favourite makeup item: I love all of my lipsticks; my fave atm is the kate moss one, i have a corally peach colour and its beautiful.

Least fave food: tomatoes. Can't stand the buggers.

Least fave soft drink: dandelion and burdock; it is GROSS.

Least fave alcoholic beverage: anything with gin, or peach schnappes.

Least fave TV show: um... not sure tbh. There's nothing that stands out as rubbish to me.

Least fave book: I love books, but hated New Moon (Twilight); I wasn't a fan of Jacob, so it was poo.

Least fave song: I literally can't stand most of Sam Smiths music (I know; I need looking at... sad!).

Least fave makeup item: I was really disappointed with the collection lipsticks, although I do have a few that stand out and are good.

Interests:

Books, blogging, wearing onesies all day, singing, dancing and acting.

Thats pretty much it... but last and not least, here is a picture of me! I know you've seen my ugly mutt before in past blog posts, but thought it wouldn't be a complete portfolio without a good old-fashioned selfie!

Hope you enjoyed!

Loughborough University; Nightlife

So one of my bestest friends said they were going to write a blog post about freshers, and she hasn't got round to it yet. Although, on a serious note, I'm going to shamelessly promote her blog right now and say: HEAD ON OVER HERE (when you've finished this blog post obvs); she did an awesome post about living in halls (although her experience sounds a lot more bleak that Loughborough, as you'll read!!) Anyway, I'm not stealing her idea, I'm simply writing something similar: Loughborough University, the ins and outs. 

I don't claim to be an expert on the ins and outs of Loughborough... I'm only a fresher, and I'll be honest, I don't do very much. I'm a committee member of Stage Society (their proud secretary!), and I study psychology. I kind of just wanted to talk about Loughborough, as my first year is nearly finished, and I can't believe it. I also wanted to settle peoples minds if they are headed to Loughborough next year, and had any pondering questions or worries.

Basically, this blog post will be a series, split into different sections. Nightlife, Living as a Student, Your Course, Freshers Fortnight, Town and Halls. Consider it the Loughborough University Guide for Dummies. This week's will be on Nightlife in Loughborough.

Nightlife

So there is something on every night of the week at Loughborough, for if you are one of those party animals that goes out all the time. I thought I'd break down that first. The purple ones are Loughborough Students Union (LSU) nights, and the blue are nights out in town. 

www.lsu.co.uk

Monday: Mansion. I personally love Mansion, its such a cute and classy place to go. Its possibly the cleanest place to go out in town, perhaps after Revs. I've been to Mansion a few times, and all I can say is avoid the top floor like the plague... it tends to be filled with the absolute drunken messes, and weird people. There are also lots of strobe lights...

Tuesday: Stupid Tuesdays (Stuesdays). This is a cheap night out in LSU (the cheapest I believe!) as its only £1.99 entry, and there are loads of drinks offers. Its the "societies" night out in Loughborough, so obviously I'm biased in saying that I love it... I'm a member of Stage Soc, and we all love it!

www.lsu.co.uk

Wednesday: Hey Ewe. This is the Athletic Union (AU) night out, so basically full of all the sportsy people. If you want a night out filled with rather good looking men, lots of rowdiness and a jukebox policy in the upstairs nightclub, this is your night! I love Hey Ewe. It's not too expensive, (£3.50 entry) but it's also not a quiet night out. 

Thursday: Revs. This is a town night out, but its the one I've been to the most. I love Revs, its a vodka bar, so the best drinks there are ones that involve their many flavours of vodka. The bubblegummy one is my favourite I think. Although its a bit more expensive than the union nights out, as you have to get taxis there and back, and drinks are much more expensive  its so worth it for the experience you get. I think I'll probably take advantage of the town nights out when I actually live in town. Much better.

www.lsu.co.uk

Friday: FND (Friday Night Disco). Another Union night, and one I'm very familiar with. This is the busiest night in the union, and during freshers, it was so busy my feet barely touched the floor all evening! Its the most expensive night out in the union (£4 entry), but it's by far the best. All three clubs in LSU are open on Fridays: Fusion (my personal fave; pop tunes and stuff in the charts), Cognito (a.k.a. Cogs), with rap, hip-hop and other mysterious music that I've never heard before, and Room One; the house and dance music central.

Saturday: Echos. This place is an utter dive, but if drunk enough, is one of the best nights out you will have. I'll be honest, I've only actually been once during Mayhem (will explain later), and it was amazing. However, if you're going to go, beware. Wear shoes that are either black already, or you don't mind ruining, because you will never wear those shoes again (except for nights when you go to echos!). 

Sunday: Firefly. I have only been here once too, also during Mayhem, but it was much nicer than Echos. Because its a Sunday night out ordinarily, its apparently usually quieter than other nightclubs in Loughborough during the week. But it's nice, and involves a large set of stairs as soon as you enter, and cobbled flooring. No heels ladies!

Next, I wanted to talk about some of the other places to go in town that haven't got a specified night. Varsity is a nightclub place that people often go to for Pres. I like Varsity (I went quite a few times during freshers), but I see why people only go for pres. It doesn't get very busy. The last place I wanted to talk about was the Griffin. This is more of a bar than a nightclub, but is lovely for an evening drink, or again, pres.

Finally, I wanted to explain a few of the biggest nights out in Loughborough.

Mayhem: a cheap night which involves 5 clubs in town being open to people with one wristband. I've only been to one mayhem, but I will DEFINITELY not miss another one. When I went, the clubs that were open were: Echos, Revs, The Griffin (although no-one actually went there), Firefly and Mansion. It was an epic night out, and definitely one to try out early in the year!

Punch Parties: infamous nights in Loughborough. Usually done as pres in halls, AU clubs or societies, and involves a large amount of alcohol and juice in a bowl. Basically, everyone drinks the punch and gets drunk, and then heads out to the union for a brilliant night out. Beware: the punch is lethal. It takes a while to kick in, but when it does, it is potent. Every society, hall or AU club will make it differently, but they usually all taste vile. Plough through the first few, and the rest will go down a bit easier! Also beware of the coin that will often go around. If a 2p lands in your drink, you have to down your drink. However, ask the person that dropped it in what year the coin is, and if they don't know.. they down theirs!

I hope you enjoyed this post on Loughborough Nights out! Feel free to leave questions below, and I will answer! Tune in next time for a post about "Living as a Student"!

My Summer Ball

Yesterday, I went to the event of the year in my halls at Uni: the Summer Ball. I thought I'd do a blog post on it, a little bit from a beauty perspective, but also just as a tribute to an absolutely amazing night; one of the best nights I have ever had.

In terms of hair and beauty, (I'll get that out of the way first, if you're not interested in this bit, feel free to scroll!) I wore a lot of makeup last night! I took some artsy fancy pants photos that I thought I'd post...

 So below are the pictures of the finished look. I decided on a neutral base for my eyes, as I wanted the bright pink lipstick to pop. Also, as I was wearing a dark dress, I didn't want something too heavy on my eyes. I loved how my foundation and skin makeup looked by the end, and i managed to do a pretty good eyeliner line! I'll make a list at the very bottom of all of the products I used, if you're interested in finding out how i did it! As for my hair, I braided it after a shower in the morning, and then pinned back the front slightly with two small plaits and sealed with a little black flower. I like this look as it was simple, but enough to make me feel pretty for the night!

This is my dress and heels, will mention those below too. I was so excited that i was able to wear this dress again, as I hadn't worn it for ages! Trying to find somewhere to wear it was very difficult. The heels were also a killer, because I knew I'd be wearing them from 6pm until the early hours of the morning. I packed a spare pair of flats which came in very handy!

ENOUGH ABOUT BEAUTY, MORE ABOUT THE NIGHT!

The night was magical. We started off on the floor of a very packed bus, and were greeted with Bucks Fizz on arrival. We then seated, after lots of photos, and had the most amazing meal. I am vegetarian, so I had a main that was slightly different to everyone else, but the rest was the same. Oh, a story that needs to be told now is the story of the Brie.

So my flatmate and bestie Sophie was sat next to me while we ate, and when our soups arrived with the most adorable bits of bread on and a tiny slice of brie, she was gobsmacked that her bit of bread had no Brie on. She tried to swap with Alex (my other flatmate), and he swapped back because he wanted his brie... everyone was so possessive about cheese! Soph was getting pretty hysterical at this point, so i decided to be the bigger person and swap with her so she could have some brie (she was more drunk than I was, i felt this was the best idea..). Anyway, long story short, we realised after a while that the brie was on the other side of the bread! She had the biggest hissy fit for no reason. To be honest, the funniest part of the whole story was seeing her little face as she realised she had no brie. She loves cheese so much... it was heartbreaking for her.

Anyway, my main was a lovely quiche served with vegetables, and dessert was the most amazing double chocolate cheesecake i have ever had in my entire life. Served with both red and white wine, it was a meal to die for. The cannibals in the room (;D) had chicken instead of the quiche. 

After dessert, the night consisted of some hilarious awards, including but not limited to "rear of the year", "best rebound" and "best fresher", a game of something very similar to "never have i ever", and then several hours at the roulette table (with fake money), and several photo booth visits with crazy props.

The way back was uneventful for me, but me, Sophie and Hazal (another flatmate who I love to pieces) grabbed some pizza and chips on the walk back to our flat and sat eating them and talking for an hour or so. It was so great.

There was lots of dancing, lots of hugs and lots of photos. It was so lovely to spend a night with my flatmates, and all of the wonderful people in Rigg-Rut. I wish there could be another one!

Makeup:

Face

* Rimmel Match Perfection Foundation; 100 Ivory

* Rimmel Stay Matte Powder; 002 Pink Blossom

*MUA Mosaic Blush; English Rose

* Collection Lasting Perfection Concealer; 1 Fair

* Bourjois Bronzing Powder

* Rimmel Hide The Blemish Concealer; 001 Ivory

* MUA Undress Your Skin Highlighter; Iridescent Gold

* Sleek Blush; 926 Rose Gold

Eyes

* Sleek i-Divine Storm Palette; Rose Gold shade as base

* MUA Eyeshadow Trio; Pink Sorbet; Top shade for inner corner and dark shade for crease

* Collection Fast Stroke Liquid Eyeliner; 1 Black (applied with different brush)

* Several coats of Collection Extreme Coloured Lengthening Mascara; 1 Black

Lips

* Maybelline Color Sensational Lipstick; 148 Summer Pink

Outfit:

* Dress: H&M £30 about 2 years ago.

* Shoes: New Look £30 also about 2 years ago, but they still stock them.

Who am I voting for?

So with today being a really important day for Britain, I decided to write this blog post about who I'm voting for. Basically, for me, I was initially torn between Tories, Lib Dem and Green.

I don't want to get a load of hate for this blog post, because at the end of the day, your political views are your own, and we all have different reasons for voting for different parties. I mean, I don't think anyone who is voting differently to me is wrong, I just don't share their opinion. And thats okay.

Basically, I like David Cameron. I don't think he is appreciated enough by the British public for what he did for this country during the recession. He literally dragged us out of it, and for that, we should be grateful. I don't necessarily think every single decision they made throughout the last 5 years has been right, but all in all, I support their ideal and I don't think that people are fair when they say that the Conservatives "only look out for the rich". However, I don't know if I wholly agree with their ideas for the next term in parliament, having read their manifesto.

I also like the ideals the Lib Dems follow. I liked their manifesto, and their ideas to increase the NHS budget and reduce student fees. However, I sometimes think their ideas are a bit too ambitious; where are we going to get this £8bn from that will be put into the NHS? How are they going to pay the lecturers and universities to keep them going? I like their ideas, but I don't think they are always practical.

Then there is the Green Party. As a vegetarian Buddhist, I like that they prioritise the environment, and truly care about things such as schooling and healthcare. However, with them, its difficult to know if your vote will honestly make much of a difference, seeing as we've never actually had a Green parliament (I'm pretty sure, though correct me if I'm wrong!), and people consider it a "wasted" vote. Although how do we know that the majority of people DON'T want green in power, if everyone thinks it is a "wasted" vote and vote for others instead.

I thought that writing this blog post would help me decide who to vote for, but I don't even think I'll know who I'm voting for when I step inside the polling station to be honest. I'll only decide when i have that little pencil in my hand, and the boxes in front of me. 

What do you guys think? 

Things I'd tell my 13 year old self

I've seen this blogpost by a few other bloggers, and I thought it would be something quite 
fun to write. So I decided to have a think of things I'd tell a 13 year old me.

1. Dont panic, your spots will clear up soon (though you'll never have the best skin ever).
2. Stop obsessing over having a boyfriend. No boys will properly like you like that until you get to the age of at least 16. Then your best friend will decide he loves you, and you'll love him too and happily ever after. 
3. GCSEs aren't as hard as you think they'll be.
4. Always audition for a lead, you never know what might get thrown at you!
5. Your boobs will get bigger and will suddenly stop growing as the rest of you continues.
6. You're going to be in a pantomime (2 actually) and you will lose a nice amount of weight. Keep it up, you look fab then!
7. Full fringe = no go.
8. Same goes for the bob hair cut. And the perm. Basically don't let mum go anywhere near your hair.
9. Please stop wearing luminous purple eyeshadow that matches your cardigans... it does you no favours.
10. Even when you move house, the people that are most important to you will stay in your life even when you're 19... don't worry!
11. When you turn 18, please don't feel the need to take a picture of yourself every time you consume alcohol.
12. You will have an obsession with Monster Munch in year 12 and 13.. never let it stop.
13. Do the IB; dad knows what he's talking about and it will be the best (and yet worst) decision you will ever make.
14. The IB will eventually end and you'll be so sad it did (won't feel like it at the time!).
15. Please change your mind from English to Psychology sooner. It'll save you a lot of time.
16. You are going to end up at one of the best Universities in the country, and love it more than you've loved anything. You'll meet some awesome people, and have the most amazing flatmates ever, and your course will be a bit pants in the beginning, but it gets better!
17. You will always love Disney. Never be ashamed.

UPDATE: 18. Please refrain from the incessant hashtagging on instagram when you're about 16... no-one enjoys that...

Trials and Tribulations of a Psychology Degree

So I am a psychologist. And by that I don't mean I can read your mind, I am simply studying the brain and the mind and a high level. I wanted to rant about how stupid this can all be at times, as I have left my revision wayyyyy too late again and am feeling the consequences.

So, we have the Brain. And one part of our brain, is the forebrain. The forebrain is split into two primary sections, the telencephalon and the diencephalon. Within the telencephalon, there is the cerebral cortex, the limbic system and the basal ganglia. The cerebral cortex specifically is the skin of the brain basically... a thin layer of tissue that is responsible for things such as language. This is split into four lobes. Each lobe has a different responsibility that is then linked to other parts of the brain. The limbic system and basal ganglia have subsections too.

WHY THE HELL ARE THERE SO MANY SUBSECTIONS. AND WHY DO NONE OF THEM HAVE LOGICAL ORIGINS?!

I think my rant may be over. Although I never thought studying the brain would be easy, I didnt realise there were so many subsections to one individual bit of the brain.

Help me. My exam is so soon.

Kind and soothing comments would be lovely.

The Sims Addict: is it just me?

I received a snapchat off my cousin the other day, which was of her Sim dying due to a dishwasher. It sounded like a funny story, and probably was... and it got me thinking; I really want to play the Sims. Not Sims 4 obviously... because thats nowhere near as good as Sims 3. And mainly as a tool of procrastinating from my exams and coursework deadlines that are slowly making themselves more prominent in my life.

It occurred to me that I always play The Sims the same way...

• Build a kick-ass house with 5 floors and several pools (after motherlode of course).
• Make a couple, usually involving myself and a random celebrity that I fancy at that particular time in life.
• Make them get married (look.. if I'm never going to actually get married to Jamie Dornan.. at least a version of me will!).
• Make them get jobs; usually in the music career or the medicine one. Not sure why...
• Cheat to make them get serious skills in whatever they need for their careers.
• Slowly realise that the married couple no longer talks and are both self-centred and only focussed on their careers.
• Make either person experience a serious near death experience, such as drowning in a pool, or being in a house fire.
• Barter with Death (and be mostly successful).
• Make them have two children.
• Let the children grow up and become either alcoholic hobos, or very successful business people (depending on how motivated I am at that point in time).
• Build another kick-ass house and play with another family (myself and Zac Efron this time perhaps).

And so the cycle continues. 

I just wanted to know if I was the only one that did this? Am I the only sadistic person who removes the pool ladders when the Sims are in the pool? The only one that removes all the doors to a room that the Sim is in, until they wet themselves in desperation? The only one that starts house fires, and make the Sim try and put it out themselves? The only one that cheats to get the Sims the best house and best career?

The Sims is a virtual reality. See that word? REALITY. These things don't happen in real life, therefore we should all start playing the game like normal people and stop being weird.

But then wheres the fun in that?