Waiting for Results

Hey everyone! Hopefully you are doing well :)

I'm sure most of you love summer.

Sun,
fun,
friends
- sadly, that is not everything.

One of the biggest summer worries for many students out there is receiving results. Depending on what you are doing (school, university etc.) exam results will either be looming over most of your summer or just a tiny part of it.
I always thought that I would prefer knowing how well/badly I did in an exam straightaway, but it turns out that I was wrong.

After finishing my A-level exams in June last year, I had to wait until mid-Auguest for my results. By the time I found out, I had genuinely forgotten what the exam had even been about, which is a very strange feeling - looking at a mark being a bit confused about what exactly it is corresponding to.

Apart from that, the wait itself was terrible.

I had always believed that I would simply forget that I was yet to receive results. Naively, I imagined the whole of summer being just like the first high you get right after finishing exams…
...yes, I even expected it to be that way until then one day, I would (in my imagination) wake up, realisee that it was - oh so suddenly - THE day, get my results, open them and be happy every after.

NO. That definitely did not happen.

I blame my friends.

Everyone got so nervous about finding out how we had done that we must have combined all of our worries to one giant flood of emotions that was carrying us through summer.
However, I wasn't just nervous, but mainly annoyed that I had to wait for so long.
Couldn't they just tell me straightaway?
If not an exact mark, then at least some sort of tendency of what was happening?
Should I start considering other options?
Should I maybe check other universities' websites in case I would not meet my offer?
Should I research gap year options?

Needless to say, I did ALL of these things. One day I reached a point where I just tried to distract myself from waiting.

I survived though. Results day came, I found out that I got into the university of my choice (yay!) and all the remaining details followed.

Then came the next year.
I didn't worry much about waiting for my first year university results because I knew that after taking exams in May, we would already find out in June or early July. Yes, I was happy because it meant that I would actually remember what I had written. In my mind, I would ride on that post-exams high for a month, get my results and then enjoy summer.

Again, NO. That was also not what happened.
Yes, I did enjoy my summer after finishing exams and wasn't very nervous for results day. However, looking at my grades was - to say the least - a bit of an anti-climax.

My results still haven't fully sunk in; it hasn't quite hit me yet that it should now be the time to move on and continue to enjoy the summer.
I'm not entirely sure why this lack of having to wait feels so bizarre - at first I thought that it had to do with the grades not being what I wanted them to be (more on that in my next blog post), but the longer I'm thinking about it the more I'm starting to realise that frankly, I enjoyed waiting much more than knowing disappointing results.
In fact, waiting for results is a little bit like the Schroedinger's cat principle: Just like the cat in the box which is neither alive nor dead until you open the box and look, your results could be both amazing and terrible - you do not know until you find out.

I'm pretty sure that in a few weeks, I will look back at this post and disagree. I will probably be at the point where my grades have sunk in and I will have moved on (let's hope so!)

The point is though: 
No matter whether your results day is still far away, has already happened or is only a few days away, try to look at the positive side of either waiting or knowing.

I promise you, you will find one.

Lots of love
xxx

"The best way to make your dreams come true is to wake up" - Paul Valéry

Hello everyone! I hope you are doing well :)

Today I'm back with a (hopefully) motivational kind of post. 

I wasn't too sure if I am brave enough to write something like this, but then I thought 'why not'. I can only ever share my own thoughts and hope that you enjoy reading them :)

I never used to be the kind of person that would be very inspired by quotations. Many of my friends had their favourite ones stuck or even drawn onto the wall, and I remember being very fascinated whenever someone was saying that they 'lived by' a certain quote.

What changed that attitude was the compulsory 'favourite quote' section in my Yearbook which, at the time, stressed me out a little bit.

Without going into the problematic realm of 'favourites' again (much of that in my last post!), I couldn't think of ANY quote that had influenced me and my life in some way, let alone one that I had particularly loved.

I was very tempted to ask my friends about what they were putting, but that would surely have defeated the point of having a quote with was personal, so I gave up on that idea.

Instead, I decided to look for a quote myself. 

Where? Well, I suspect you can guess.

'Motivational quotes - *click*'

Yes. GOOGLE.

Just like most google searches, I was confronted with an incredible amount of choice and websites to go through…it would have been easy to spend hours and hours going through quotations most of which were absolutely incredible.

Really, I would have been happy with most of them being in my Yearbook.

Yet, I came across one which stood out to me:

"The best way to make your dreams come true is to wake up" - Paul Valéry

Why? 
It is difficult to specify what exactly motivates me whenever I read this quote, but I will try to give you my understanding of it:

No matter what your dream is, you have to push yourself to DO something towards achieving it.

If you really, really feel like baking a cake then you have to go and buy ingredients.
Simply sitting in your room will not make anything happen because you cannot expect a cake to bake itself while you are not doing anything.
Yes, I agree, that example sounds a bit silly.
Really, though, what is the difference between a small dream like wanting to bake a cake and a much bigger one?
You will always need to take a first step, let it be one which DIRECTLY leads to achieving your dream or one which only slightly contributes towards it.

Just because you cannot see HOW taking one particular step has helped, does not mean that it was not worth it.

Waking up and realising what your dream is and in which kind of direction you should be going is this first step. Nothing can ever guarantee that your step is going to lead to many others eventually helping you to achieve your dream.
What can be guaranteed, however, is that without such a first step, nothing new can every follow.

This is what Valéry's quotation means to me and it is what inspires and pushes me to step out of my comfort zone and actually DO things I feel passionate about.

Does Valéry's quote mean something different to yo? Which quotation do you love and find motivational?

Let me know and thank you for reading 
xxx

Music favourites are DIFFICULT

Hello everyone! I hope you are having a great weekend :)

After quite a deep post on Friday, I decided that it would be nice to have something a little bit different today.

Well…
I have two addictions. One is chocolate (I'm drinking a hot chocolate as I'm typing this) and the other one is listening to music, preferably all day long. I reckon that writing a blog post about chocolate would not be terribly entertaining…also, it would just make everyone very hungry.

So music it is.

Music favourites are DIFFICULT

My obsession with music probably runs in the family. My grandma always used to joke about how my mum should have a radio implanted because she was listening to it that often.

Sadly, with a passion for music also come moral dilemmas (aka the hardest, most complicated questions to answer):

'What is your favorite song?'

      - 'Erm…I don't think I have one'

'or your favorite band?'

      - 'I really don't know, sorry'

'…come on, you must at least have a favourite singer?'

      - '…'

NO. No, I do not. Sorry.

I always feel like calling something a 'favourite' immediately sticks a label on it. The apparent 'favourite' somehow gets so inflated that it becomes easy to be reduced to whatever you said you liked. 

Suddenly, you are 'the one who loves pop music', 'the one who is obsessed with the colour pink', 'the one who likes football'. If you then, in a separate conversation, suggest that you also quite like rock music, love to decorate your bedroom with grey accessories and are a fan of table tennis, then everyone looks at you a bit bewildered and confused - yes, nearly reproachful because you have apparently 'changed your mind'.

That is not necessarily the case. I like songs that are in my opinion catchy and have good lyrics which I can relate to.

I like artists who are creative, who have a nice voice or are great at playing a chosen instrument.

I enjoy listening to bands that harmonize well and (lacking a better way to describe it) fit together.

Now - none of these criteria above are very interesting; and all they really mean is that I do not like to put my music taste in a certain box or category because it constantly changes anyway. 

...So really, the problem is that I'm terribly indecisive when it comes to music.

Whenever I have tried to explain my opinion to people, they just kind of stared at me for a while until hesitantly saying something like 'but surely there must be someone you like the MOST' in which case there is a choice to be made.

I could either attempt to choose a possible 'favourite' which would result in a random shout-out of various names followed by a 'or maybe not' going on for a day and a half…

…or I could just give up, seem boring and say that I do not have a favourite.

The latter is the choice I usually go for. 

As a side note, I could possibly name artists, bands or songs which are NOT my favorites, but sadly, that question hardly ever comes up. 

What are your thoughts? Are you less indecisive than me and have music favourites?

Let me know and thank you for reading

xxx

'Leaving the bubble' - explaining the blog title

Hello everyone! I hope you are having a great Friday so far :)

When I left school about a year ago to go to university, the sentence that everyone seemed to be saying was that I was about to 'leave the bubble'. At the time, I pretty much ignored that, put it away into a distant corner of my mind thinking that I had never felt contained in any sort of  'bubble'.
Yes, I even felt a little bit patronised that someone would suggest that I had so far just been roaming in a carefree, protected world not having any 'real' worries at all.

That was of course not what they meant.

All they wanted to tell me was that I was about to finish a very long chapter of my life. A chapter, where I had a path clearly set out in front of me, where I was merely swinging from one school year to the next one, sitting exam after exam until one day - BOOM - I was ready to leave.

Having finished the first year at university just a few weeks ago, I can now full heartedly agree that I have indeed left that school bubble. Throughout the year, I felt unsure about pretty much everything. I worried about the course not being right for me, about me not coping very well with living in London. The 'wobble' which one of my professors warned us about in the very first week of term just would not stop and that worried me. (more on that in a future blog post maybe)

Finally, a few months ago, things got better. I had finally found a great group of friends, I enjoyed living with my flatmates and my essay grades started improving. For the first time I was able to look back at what my teachers and friends at school were saying about 'leaving the bubble' and instead of regretfully wishing to be back INSIDE the bubble, I was happy - yes, nearly euphoric - to be outside of it, being free and feeling good.

I left London for the summer knowing that whilst I had finally left one bubble behind, I had successfully build my own one which was so much more exciting and me because I had created it myself. I was the one in charge of where my life was going and I was drawing my own path to follow. 
Lastly (without getting to emotional here), I realised the value of one big bubble always being there in the background - my family. I don't want to stretch the bubble metaphor too far or it might burst (oh dear..haha) but after going through one of the toughest times I could have even imagined, my family bubble has grown stronger than ever. 

If there was any message that comes from this post, then that would be an appeal to everyone out there to think about your 'bubble.' Even if you feel like you are alone or you feel lost and insecure, think about what you are really passionate about.

There were several moments over the past few months where I felt like all the bubbles had burst. I had left the security of school, my family was facing a lot of trouble and there I was, living in a big city doing a course that I did not 100% enjoy. 
Situations like these are so common and nearly everyone will have to deal with them at some point. Not many talk about them because - let's face it - who likes to admit that they feel vulnerable and alone?

But there will always be something or someone you can rely on. A hobby, a place, a friend, a family member or even someone inspirational who you have never met in person will be there to help you and make you feel better.
This is the reason why my blog is called the way it is. I want it to be part of my bubble but also part of everyone else's who wants or needs such a space.

I want it to be an uplifting, happy and supportive corner on the Internet.

Lots of love
xxx

Hello and Welcome!

Welcome to my blog

just a bubble!

'What a strange name', you might think.
'Bubbles are okay I guess.'
Or you might not have an opinion about bubbles at all.

Why I named my blog just a bubble is something I want to save for my next (and the first real) blog post, because this would get far too long and wordy otherwise.

I am a university student going into my second year this coming September and I have been thinking about starting a blog for quite a long time.
To be honest, I was scared and worried about what others might think and that is why I hesitated. Also, I did not want to start something which I am not going to be 100% happy with or which I cannot see being of much use.

I have finally decided that I want this to be my little, personal space - or 'bubble', if you wish - on the Internet where I can write down my thoughts and experiences which might not always be very interesting, but I will try my best :)
I cannot promise any exact content yet, because that will depend on what is happening in my life and also what I have been thinking about. What I do know is that it will contain a mix of serious and less serious posts. I am a stereotypical girl as far as a love for fashion and make up is concerned, so there might be some of that alongside of lifestyle kind of topics.
I also listen to music pretty much 24/7, which could be another direction in which just a bubble is going...
...who knows?

Yet, I want to keep this blog anonymous because that is what I feel most comfortable with - the Internet is a big place and as much as it is fascinating, it can also be quite intimidating.

Maybe (and that is a very small, humble 'maybe'), my posts can help or entertain someone out there and if not, then that is also okay. Anything I will say can only ever be based on my personal experience, so I know that there will be loads of you out there who will disagree with me.

Anyway, if that wordy introduction made you interested in this blog then please follow. :) I will try to update it regularly and I am determined to actually make that happen (after consistently failing at writing a diary when I was little)

Lots of love
xxx