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Uni is a unique time when you are surrounded by like minded individuals who all want to make something of their life. So naturally you'll see a lot of people having businesses, being athletes, aspiring singers, models etc and in this midst of so much success it can be disheartening in a way. Everyone appears to be flourishing and getting exciting new opportunities and if you haven't found your thing yet it can seem like you're falling behind the crowd. To this I say don't worry, a key part of uni and transitioning into adulthood is learning more about yourself and what you want for your future. It's a time to gain ideas from people and meet potential collaborators but it is also a good time to try out different things, pursue something that scares you because even if you fail at it, you have time to recover. I know what it's like to look at your peers and feel like you're not doing anything or to look at them doing well in something your interested i...

I think one of the most important things about self confidence is not just building it up to begin with but it is learning how to retain it. It's no use gaining all of this self love if it's not based on a strong foundation. On the internet there are thousands of videos, blog posts, articles etc that will give tips on how to gain it. 

Some of you are probably wondering what the hell an ambivert even is, well it's someone who is in between being an extrovert and an introvert. When people call me quiet or shy it really rubs me the wrong way because to me it paints the picture that I'm timid and someone who is easy to walk all over - which isn't the case. But to say I'm the loudest one in the room or the personality you first recognise would be untruthful as well. I'm not afraid to admit that I HATE small talk and I'd actually rather just be there in silence than make conversation that neither of us actually care about. So if when I see you I don't ask you if you're alright it's not because I'm rude or I don't care, it's mostly because I don't particularly like small talk so I'm not going to be the one to initiate it.

When I was 12 I wrote a letter to my parents telling them how I was grown and should be allowed to date; looking back at that now its laughable to think I actually thought I was grown but even at 20 now it may be laughable for me to consider myself 100% grown. All the 'adults' say growing up in this era is the toughest it's even been what with the constant pressure from social media, school and the world. One thing I love about this era is the fact that so many people are proactive in achieving their dreams, you no longer have to go to university, graduate and be a low level worker at a job for a few years before you have the chance to do a job you actually want to. This is the age of creating the perfect job for yourself even though it may not exist right now, having multiple jobs so you can pursue all your interests and the age where working for someone else is no longer the goal.

When someone asks me where I'm from, I'm almost always confused and almost always ask a follow up question. This could be a simple question to a 'traditionally english' person but for someone like me this has a lot of added meaning. Am I supposed to say what area I live in or my ethnic background, are you asking me if I'm from Essex or if I'm Nigerian.

My experience growing up was a strange one to say the least, I went to a really good school so naturally it contained 98% white people. Me being a young black girl being brought up in this environment was definetly a challenge and it took me awhile to find myself. All my life I've had to deal with being seen as an oreo by black people but too black for the white people. Yeah I had all the common issues, whenever I would get my hair done, I would be asked if my hair had grown overnight, how I wash my hair with my braids in and general annoying questions. As a general rule if you have some questions about black hair don't ask me because I ain't gonna be the one to educate you, the only comment you should have on my hair is that it looks nice or just don't comment. One thing I am thankful about is that I went to a mostly black youth club, because this is where I got exposed to black culture, something I was highly deficient of in school Because I was so used ...

Now I would call myself a Power fan but with that in mind I've tried to be as objective as possible. One thing that we can't deny is that the show does not portray black people in the best light shows the destruction of the black family portrays that even successful black people can't reach those levels without criminal activity shows darkskinned woman left for lightskin foreign woman

brief description I think one of the main reasons I like the show is that it is a portrayl of the different stages of life people can be in, in their 20s. As someone not yet at that age level it is somewhat comforting to know that it's okay not to have everything together and that some people take longer than others to achieve their goals. I believe in this generation where you can tangiably see other people's succeses constantly bombarding you it can be easy to measure where your life is in comparison to theirs which is not always a healthy practice. Another thing the show champions which is the vital core is that of female friendships and learning to navigate your life. 

Now I'm not going to pretend I havent been on the bandwagon for some of these cancellings of people but at the time I never really pondered the overall impact fostering a culture like this could have on society. It seems like every day there's a new person being dragged all across timeline with thousands of previous fans now vowing to never support their work again. On the one hand some of these people have done horrible things, such as people who have perpetrated sexual assault or have been discriminatory towards people. The cancelling of people such as this doesn't bother me as there work doesn't deserve to be supported. However increasingly there seems to be the resurfacing of old tweets that shows some celebrities saying offensive things. Often times this was years ago and they claim to have grown since then and no longer share these views. I'm sure that a lot of the ignorant things we thought when we were younger we no longer think now and we can all recogni...

Let me just admit that I was completely awful at this in first year. It's not because I don't love all my old friends it's just that it's easy to get wrapped up in the uni bubble and forget that there's people who exist outside this. I've heard of some people whose friendship groups were solid for yeears- I'm talking early secondary school days whose groups completely fell apart once everyone went to uni or maybe one person from the group completely falling off the map. To me this is quite sad, uni is a time to grow and find yourself and maybe here you have found friends who you genuinely have a lot in common with not just that they were the people you could tolerate the most at your school. Going away and having that distance between friends can sometimes make you wonder if you were friends because you actually got along or if it was just because you saw each other all day everyday. I must admit I sometimes have the habit of severing ties or friendship...

One of the most important tools in having good cash flow is the ability to make and maintain a budget. However a lot of people don't even know where to start or don't have the right mindset to keep it up. Lucky for you I'm going to break down how to create a budget today. 1. Work out your expenses- This may take awhile to do if you are the kind of person who makes a lot of impulse purchases or who has a varying amount of money coming in each money. However for the rest of us this should be simple enough to do. As a teenager most of your money will be spent on going out so a handy tip is to keep the receipts from when you go places or buy things. This can help you to then add up how much you've spent this month and also help to find out how much you spend each month on average. Once you have this number you can really start to put your budget together. 2. Work out your income- Income for those of you who don't know is the amount of money you have coming in eac...

Many people spend thousands of pounds every year on going to wealth conferences but luckily for you I'm going to explain one of their most taught processes that helps aid you in becoming wealthy. It is called speaking wealth into your life or a mantra and I will be sharing a few of the benefits of having one. A mantra is simply a few statements that you recite every morning when you wake up that helps put you in the right a frame of mind. (I will be talking about how the way you think about money influences the amount you will get next week, so be looking out for that). It is almost like a reminder of what you want to achieve. Writing a mantra is quite easy but first you have to identify which financial goals you want to achieve. If you want to be financially free then a mantra you could say is "I am financially free and I have no debts" . By saying this every morning it helps you to truly believe it and get more into the rich person mindset. It can also inspire you ...

To do lists, a lot of people have them and a lot of people don't complete them, but is there a reason why a substantial amount of the most successful people stress the need to have and complete one. Well I'm here today  to explain to you why they are so important. 1. Without a  to do list you have no action plan- A to do list helps you to visualize and set out what you are going to accomplish. Without one it's like trying to make a movie with no script and there's a reason why most movies have one. Having a to do should be like having a set of steps which lead up to what you are hoping to accomplish for the day; by having easy to understand steps it can make a  big task seem a lot smaller than it actually is which is a good thing for all you procrastinators. 2. It's holds you accountable- Writing on a piece of paper is quite a permanent thing, which means that having a to do list will keep you accountable. It's so easy to "forget" to do somethin...

Now I'm not talking about the boys that are sneaky, the ones that seem so sweet and innocent and then rip out your heart. No I'm talking about the bait ones, the ones who your friend has told you is trash, your sister, your friends friend, your cousins nephew, everyone has basically told you but you still go for them. You should be ashamed of yourself. A lot of girls seem to be wrapped up in the fantasy of changing a guy, being the one that he changes for but this shouldn't be the aim. Sure if you meet a guy that's trash and he's willing to change for you that's great but I'm personally looking for the ones that have already changed before meeting me or that don't need to change because they were never trash. The trouble with dating former trash is that you're their experiment, old habits die hard and whether they slip up or you believe they still might that's going to put a strain on the relationship. If they've never been in a relation...

I didn't even tell people I was a christian because I didn't feel like one or act like one and I didn't want to give them a bad name. Am I not meant to wear that revealing outfit to the motive, am I not meant to drink, should I just stay in all the time and only associate with true believers. But what if that doesn't feel authentic to me 

Recently I saw a post on Instagram saying that what kind of guys you get approached by can be dependent on the type of hairstyle you have.

This whole story happened because of some benches. Deep it, some benches and chairs. Basically we were at youth camp and in all our chalets there were some chairs inside and benches outside. The boys and the girls both liked to all hang out, outside the chalets but there weren't enough seats so they would steal each other's chairs. One day while all the boys were gone the girls quickly went and took all their benches and chairs. When the boys saw what happened they all went into their chalets and started grabbing pots, pans, cups, water guns anything they could use against and naturally a water fight broke out. //sidenote I went back to my chalet to get some more resources for the girls and got spotted by one of the boys who poured a big tub of water all over me. I really took a fat L that day// Now because half of the girls fancied the mandem and wanted to look cute in front of them instead of winning the water fight we all got trapped in some of the girls chalet. There w...

When I was younger I used to go to a youth club and I did a days work experience there where I met this girl who I'll call 'K'. Me and K quickly became best friends and we went to this youth club every week. One week K didn't turn up and I didn't think anything of it, it was unusual but I just thought maybe she was ill or just tired. It was getting to the end of the youth club and K's mum turns up, frantically asking people if they've seen her. K's mum was very strict and barely let her daughter go anywhere and she also worked at K's school so she never got to do much, because of this I didn't take her serious at first when she said K was missing. As she'd start panicking if her daughter didn't message her every half an hour. Often before the youth club K would meet up with this guy she was seeing but she'd either tell me about it beforehand or she'd only be a little bit late to the youth club. I thought she probably just went ...

You could say that I took several L's when it comes to my second year house, and you would be 100% right. One of the most annoying things about the house that we choose is the landlady, the woman has more than a couple screws loose. One day I'm at work on my dinner break trying to watch a quick episode of Suits and relax before my shift that evening when I get a call from an unknown number. Normally i wouldn't even pick it up but I assumed it was one of my colleagues whose number I hadn't saved yet so I picked up. Only to have this woman say to my she's thinking of breaking the tenancy agreement. Like imagine how I felt in that moment, I was confused on so many levels, why and how could she kick us out before I've even moved into the house. Naturally I was bricking it because there's practically no way to get a new house this late in the year and there was barely any on campus accommodation left. So it was either commute for 2 hours everyday or pray and h...

Some people chose to live with people they're cool with but are not their best friends, because if there were arguments due to the living situation they'd rather lose the acquaintance than someone they're really close to. However this comes with positives and negatives, if your living with people you don't spend that much time with, you don't know them on the same level as your besties, therefore you can't anticipate how they will act and react to different situations, which can cause issues in the house later on. Also if you're closer with someone you'll have more motivated to not let the petty house issues ruin your friendship. On the other side, although someone is really close to you that doesn't mean you should live with them. News flash everyone says they're tidy and will be a considerate housemate but when you really get down to it, it might be a different story. 

The thing about uni motives and student nights is that the dress code can be very casual. Depending on your uni, the girls will be wearing jeans, a top and some trainers or a skirt/dress but either way, when it comes to footwear uni motives are not for heels. If you turn up to freshers week in some super high heels you can barely walk in your toes will be trampled into oblivion and you may find yourself being carried away in the mosh pits. I would say that if you love your heels then bring a few, especially one that is neutral that can go with various outfits just in case the dress code is a bit more fancy. But on the regular night out, some converse or vans or any other casual trainer will be perfectly fine, still check the clubs dress code because some don't allow certain trainers. Some key wardrobe essentials for nights out are: (insert pictures) black skirt plain crop tops in various colours a bum bag plain bodycon dresses Lace top/bodysuit cycling shorts denim shor...

The most important and easiest way to make and keep friends at uni is to make effort with them. At the start everyone is friends with everyone and people are super friendly because no one wants to be left on their own. But by the end of the year people usually find their friendship groups and some of those people you were hanging around during freshers seem like a thing of the past. Some would say that your friends in secondary school and sixth form are only your friends because you see them 5 times a week and there's only a limited amount of people to be friend with. This is the reason you'll see a lot of solid friendship groups breaking down and no longer speaking to each other once they've gone to uni or one person having a complete personality and interest change as they become their more authentic self. But with uni friends it's not like this, even if they do your course there's no guarantee when next you'll see them again, so if you want to hang out you...

When you go home to visit make sure you take evrything you can back with you. If you've lost some cutlery, take a couple from home, stock up on some toilet rolls. Anything you might find useful you should take because that will help you save money and this can then be spent on moore important things like going out. If you don't feel like washing up all the time, go to poundland and buy some paper plates and cutlery. These are cheap and cheerful and you can just throw them away after.

I was super blessed when it came to my flatmates, especially considering I wasn't orignally in this flat and I only switched because some people in a uni groupchat said my hall was far away from the action. But I have to say this is one of the best decisions I've ever made. Everyone in my flat got along- well everyone who made an effort- and there was never any real beef between us. Two of my closest friends from uni are also my flatmates and with our other flatmate also being in our same friendship circle you can imagine how active our flat was. The only complaint I can say about my flat was the kitchen, it was absolutely disgusting. I didn't even know that many kinds of mould even existed but I saw them all. We even got threatened to have our cleaning services removed a few times and we just about made it to the end of the year. I don't even know how I managed to cook and eat in the filth filled place. It's just funny because only half of my flat of 10 actua...

DO NOT go to the library if you want to do work! I know this sounds a bit odd but every uni student knows this is the truth. The library is where everyone goes to sit around and kid themselves that they are doing work because they have a textbook open or are discussing "ideas" with their peers. Trust me it's a trap. Even if you go to the library with the intent to study people will come and distract you from this goal very quickly. This is the place where you will see everyone and when people come of to just say hi, it always seems to last hours. If you haven't got serious, i need to fully concentrate work to do, then by all means go to the library- i've had my fair share of fun times in there and if you're just doing your research for your coursework you can try ask some of your peers for ideas. In general in the daytime the library is a no go area because it's too packed, i usually went to the library in the nightime as it was more quiet I...

We all know what they say first year doesn't count and at most uni's it really doesn't. I'm not going to lie to you and say that 1st year is really just a rest year for your brain after all the hard work you did for A levels or Btec and I also can't guarantee that there will be the massive jump that all your teachers warned you about. From my experience it really depends on the course you do and what uni you go to so really you've just got to roll the dice and hope for the best. One crucial piece of advice I would listen to is that you should pattern your coursework and try to get the top grades in that. So even if you flop on your exams you have those grades to rely on. The first piece of coursework at uni you submit will have you so confused because the writing style is completely different at uni but i assure you after a couple you should get an idea of what they are looking for and by the end of the year you'll be wondering why you spent so long on ...

noodles spaghetti bolognaise chicken nuggets and chips Faijitas pizza pasta and meatballs burgers

In first year I didn't have a job and my student finance, along with my pocket money was just about enough to live on. I would say once you get paid your student finance pay for your rent straight away and then what ever is left divide between the number of months until you get your next student finance. Then only put the money for this month in the current account and put everything else into your savings account. if you can practice disclipline then you should never have no money at all. Of course there are always moments when it's like you only have £20 left in your account and you have to decide between eating that week or going to a motive- I always picked going to the motive -

Need to know about uni mandem I know on the TL we've all seen countless tweets of girls describing how uni boys did them dirty and how men are trash and you should avoid them all at uni. But this isn't the full picture. While there are a lot of trash guys at uni there are a few good ones too and the number of good ones definetly increases with the year they're in, in uni. Some boys don't even act trash in first year but they are still not willing to settle down until at least second year because that's the 'rule'. Well I know of a few people who got into relationships in first year that i think can actually last a long time and theres others that are in relationship which are not so healthy and who i think may break up sometime soon. So ladies there is a chance that you might find a rare gem that wants to be your boyfriend in first year but I don't even think you should be looking for one. First year is your time to be selfish, to learn more abou...

So you've gotten the grades and you're going to uni now, if your anything like me you're going to be worrying about a million and one things but I'm here to help ease some of this. Social The number 1 piece of advice I would give is to try and make a few friends before you get to uni. There are apps such as Campus Society that has freshers from all across the UK where you can discuss uni life. Or you can go on Facebook, search for your uni and there's bound to be loads of freshers groups for you to join. I even reactivated my Facebook just to do this and it really paid off for me. Not only do you find out about some of the freshers events early which you can get a discount on, you can also join group chats for your subject and for your hall. A lot of people actually post which flat they are in on these groups and this is a good opportunity to get to know your flatmates before uni begins and will help you to feel a little bit less nervous on your first day. I m...

I'd say go to as many of the freshers events as you can even the ones without drinking and don't be locked away in your room. At uni you can meet friends in the most random places like in a toilet at a motive or in a queue to get some free freshers merch for example. If you are in your room you will miss out on this opportunity, when everyone is at their most friendliest. I would suggest that you go out with your flatmates and look around the campus at the very least on your first night, so you can get used to the environment.

As we all know Baby Ariel became famous on the musical.ly app. The place on the internet where kids 15 and below go and lip sync badly to age inappropriate songs, while twerking on a handstand in their darkly lit room for their followers.  Well Baby Ariel was one of the first to actually blow up from this app and taught us once again that anyone can become famous for anything on the internet... These days she's a social media queen with millions of followers on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook etc. But has her quality gone downhill as she's blown up?... My gut reaction is no, she's definitely improved since her first few videos where all she did was kinda move the camera awkwardly and do a few random hand gestures, to now when she does all kinda camera tricks like changing clothes mid video. Let me tell you that for all the slack these musical.ly kids get the sh*ts not as easy as it seems, take it from someone who once badly attempted to make one just to see what all the...