AFRICA OYE 2015

The Africa Oye is an annual festival that is held in Liverpool to celebrate everything African to food, art and music. I go every year and one of the main things I love about it is the coming together of different people from different cultures celebrating Africa.

Here are some pictures from the Africa Oye 2015.

How did you spend your weekend?

Amber x

BULLYING!

I thought I would write about bullying today as I know it is something a lot of people deal with, and it is something I have been through.

Firstly I want to define what bullying is in my opinion. I think bullying is when someone or a group of people physically or verbally abuses another person over a long period of time. However it does mean different things to different people.

I was bullied in secondary school and since leaving it's funny to see how everyone's paths are completely different to what I thought they would be. Even my own path. I feel extremely proud to be able to say I have an unconditional offer for a university that I love, studying something I am passionate about, but if I'm honest I don't think I would have pushed myself as much if I didn't go through everything in secondary school. I felt the need to prove certain people wrong and to prove myself wrong for believing what they said for so long. If you are in a position were you are being bullied use that anger you probably feel towards them to better yourself.

Lastly, even though it's hard, you should feel sorry for bullies. For them to be able to bring down another person shows they must be dealing with something very difficult in their own life. I used to try my hardest to pray for those who bullied me, that they would find happiness and would no longer feel the need to bully others.

"A bully grows weaker and a victim gets stronger."

I would love to know your thoughts and opinions on bullying.

Amber x

MY INSPIRATION...

...FRIDA KAHLO

Frida Kahlo is an artist from Mexico. She was born in 1907 and died in 1954. She is known for her self- portraits, Frida Kahlo said that she paints herself as she is alone so often. In her self portraits she always puts facial hair and a mono brow on herself.

Frida Kahlo inspires me because she was in a severe accident involving a bus and a car. She was in a full body cast for 3 months. She fully recovered however she would have relapses of extreme pain, which continued for the rest of her life. Considering all of this, she continued to be creative and didn't make any excuses to not paint. 

I also love reading her quotes to motivate and inspire me. Here is my favourite quote by Frida Kahlo.

• "I paint my own reality. The only thing I know is that I paint because I need to, and I paint whatever passes my head without any other consideration."

Who is your inspiration? I would love to know.

Amber x

HOW TO BE ORGANISED AND MOTIVATED

Lately I have been unorganised, which has resulted in me lacking motivation to revise and to clean my room etc. So if anyone else is in this position, I want to give you a few tips that helped me get organised and motivated.

1. CLEAN YOUR SPACE

I think it's important to have your room/ house/ flat clean and bright. When my room is messy, I feel overwhelmed and I can't be bothered doing anything. But when it's clean I am more likely to get stuff done! Put on some loud music and just get stuck in with cleaning and afterwards you will feel much better.

2.  DIARY/ CALENDER

I like to use both a calender and a diary. I use the diary to take with me as it is small and the calendar I keep at home. Calenders and diary's make it easy to see what your doing that week/ month and therefore you are always prepared for any events or exams or friends birthdays.

3. WALL MOTIVATION

Right in front of my desk I have a huge world map, and on it I have put pink stickers on the places I want to go. This keeps me motivated as it reminds me of the places I want to travel to, and to do so I need to work hard! You could also have quotes dotted around your home that can just remind you to keep focus and remain motivated.

4. POSITIVE PEOPLE

Surround yourself with people that are positive! I've noticed that when I hang around with negative/ lazy people their attitude starts to rub off on me, and when I hang out with positive, motivated people they inspire me and I feel empowered to do more! 

I hope these tips are useful to you! If you have any more tips on how to be organised and motivated please comment.

Amber x

REVISION TIPS FOR STUDENTS

Here a few revision tips that helped me with my exams last year and hopefully will help you with yours.

firstly I copy notes from text books in short form and using words that I can understand. the actual act of writing the words down onto paper helps me remember the information better. Also when doing this, I try and make my writing as neat as possible so that when reading over the notes later, I can read them easily.

Then I read the notes over and over again, which I know isn't the best method but it really helps me. I try and get the information stuck in my head. Also if your a psychology student, you know how the multi- store model of memory says that to get information into your long term memory from your short term memory you need elaborate rehearsal.

After doing this, I like to discuss what I've learnt with someone, usually my mum. I get her to go over my notes and say the title of a section and I'll tell her what I know from that section. This helps me to know what I know from memory and the things I couldn't remember I will just go back and read over it.

Lastly, when I feel confident that I have the knowledge I need for the exam, I do a lot of past paper
exams. You can get them from your exam board's website. They help you apply your knowledge in the way the exam requires you to.

I hope this helped some of you guys. I know most people's exams are over but all my fellow A2 student's still have our exams to come.

Amber x

LONDON TOWN

On Tuesday 12th May, I went to London! I went for an interview with a company to volunteer abroad. While I was there I also wanted to explore. This was my first time going to London completely alone and I wanted to make the most of it. 

As soon as I got off the train, I made my way to the 'Wellcome Collection' museum/ gallery. They had some very peculiar pieces of artwork.

I then went to the hostel I was staying at. I shared the room with two lovely ladies. p.s. I recommend staying in hostels as 1. They are cheap and 2. You meet the most fascinating characters ever!

After having a little rest, I then made my way to Camden Market. I have heard so much about Camden market from London bloggers and really wanted to check it out.

Amber x

YORKSHIRE SCULPTURE PARK

Yesterday my friend and I went to Yorkshire Sculpture Park for the day. The park is an open-air gallery. Some of the artists featured there include Henry Moore and Barbara Hepworth. The food at the cafe was also really nice. I had an egg and rocket sandwich and my friend had burger and chips.

Amber x