A Happy Almost Birthday Girl

Having two homes is strange, getting mixed up between relating to both Essex and Winchester as ‘home’ is even more confusing. I will be in Essex and say ‘I’m going to go home tomorrow’, when I’m situated in the place that I was born and bred. What does it take to call somewhere a home? I often fall victim to calling most places I spend more than a night at home; for example, the apartment we stayed in, in Berlin. Realistically though, as I have probably mentioned before, Winchester has become a second home, so much so that I’m afraid of leaving.

I love going home to Essex, I love the familiarity of it all and the comfort but obviously a long with that comes less freedom. You do get used to living away from family, and organising everything for yourself, working at your own pace and merging back in with family and less privacy can be difficult. One thing I often found frustrating was not having a proper room. For a good 11 years of my life I shared a room with my sister, then she went to university, but technically we still shared a room. I cannot blame anyone for this, we just did, and still do not have enough money for more rooms. My sister has bagged herself a great new job (well done sis) and got a lovely flat to herself, which means I officially have my own room, even though I constantly labelled it mine for a couple of years previous. What’s even better is that in two weeks it is getting revamped. The room is getting stripped of the depressing blue and ridiculous amount of blue tac marks from my ‘emo’ days of flooding the walls with photographs, tickets and bands. I don’t know if anyone can relate but my room often makes me not feel my age. I think the environment you are in can tamper with your mind. We once had a university lecture in one of the Primary Education classrooms and it felt so strange. Of course my room was not that bad.

Again it is not anyone’s fault, my mum is an extremely busy person and has to do a lot but it’s finally come round to my room and I could not be happier. Today we went to look at beds and I found my dream bed. Yes, it is a double!  The first time in my life I am getting a double bed. The design of my room will include two flowery wall-papered walls with a colour scheme of cream, black and red, a black elegant, metal-framed double bed, a two seat sofa on one side of the room and splashes of red with curtains and bedding. I cannot wait for it to be done. All of this makes the idea of moving back home after finishing university at Winchester, and when my contract ends, much more appealing. I spend a lot of time in my bedroom chilling out and writing so I think it will be perfect when it’s finished.

Today was exceptionally nice because I also got my first 21^st Birthday present from my family. My mum took me to collect my Canon 600d which also has a zoom lens included. I have wanted this camera for ages for two reasons. I absolutely love photography and do not do enough of it, I need a lot of inspiration and at the moment my current SLR is a bit broken. The second reason is because it also records moving images. After a small, constant regret of dropping Media Production in first year, I have wanted to make short, creative films. As some of you might be aware at Christmas time I made my first video blog post with my friend Michaela, and since then I have wanted to make one on my own. However, I have been putting it off from being both afraid and extremely stressed out with work-load at university. The 600d seems to be a camera that a lot of YouTubers use, therefore maybe in the near future I will made my first video blog post in my newly decorated room! A few weeks back I attempted to record a video on my phone, but it went terribly wrong in so many ways. To complete the day I played about with my new camera whilst watching The Pianist with my mum. It’s nice spending quality time with her as we don’t get to do it often.

I cannot wait for tomorrow to celebrate my 21^st with some of my best friends, even though not all will be present. At the moment, with exams and university, it is difficult to get all my friends in the same place, but at least some will be there. I get to party into my birthday on the 4^th May (Star Wars Day) - I have the coolest birthday. Then, I am going for a posh meal with my family during the day. We don’t often dress up, so it will be really nice for the occasion, plus we are going somewhere completely new! 

It seems that the end of university is wrapping up nicely and it’s safe to say I’m pretty happy at this precise moment. It’s nice to end such a crazy and up-and-down three years at a high, rather than a low. Also for a person who doesn’t often enjoy their birthday it seems that my 21^st may actually turn out alright after all. Fingers crossed and touch wood!

Laura May.