How to Deal With Homesickness at University

Happy Tuesday everyone!

This week marks the first week of freshers for many across the UK. For many first-time freshers this is an exciting time in your life, your first taste of independence and living away from home. Although this is a very exciting thought it can also cause some anxiety.
I believe that everybody experiences homesickness at some point during his or her first year of University. For some, homesickness can last longer than freshers week. I like 50-70% of UK students suffered from homesickness at the beginning of my University experience, so today I have decided to share with you some tips that helped me overcome my homesickness at University.

The symptoms of homesickness

As well as emotional symptoms like sadness, anxiousness and in some cases depression, homesickness can cause physical symptoms such as tiredness, lack of apatite, lack of concentration, dizziness and headaches.

 Stay in touch with your family and friends 

Keep in touch with your family via phone calls and Skype - this will make the distance feel less. Also social media is a great way to keep in touch with your childhood friends. Create a group chat to share your University experiences with each other.

Arrange for friends and family to come and visit you

Instead of escaping University and the feeling of homesickness, invite friends and family to come and visit you so you can explore your new surroundings together. Organising visits ahead of time so I had a date to look forward to really helped me when I was experiencing homesickness. 

Make your room feel homely

Bringing some home comforts to University will help your room feel more like home. Student accommodation is notorious for being... well basic, so fill your room with photos fairy lights and fun bedding.

But don’t spend all your time in your room

 Although homesickness can make you feel anxious and lethargic, don’t spend all your time in your room. Head out to the communal areas and bond with your flatmates - this will take your mind off your homesickness and make each day pass quicker rather than drag when you're alone in your room.

Experience University as much as you can

 Although you may want to hide away, make sure you fully experience University. Homesickness is only temporary so spend as much time carrying on with your daily life. Spend your days off exploring your new surroundings and making memories that will last forever.  

Finally, don’t give up

Although it may seem like the best option to leave University and choose a different route, (for some it is but don’t make any decisions in the first month or two) but like I’ve stressed in this post homesickness is temporary so don’t make any decision you may later regret.

For me homesickness feels like a lifetime away - it’s been three years since I left home for the first time to head to University. I have now graduated and am living back at home, and trust me I am so jealous of everybody heading to University this month. As I think back at my time at University, the fist few weeks of homesickness does not come to mind, the good times I experienced have overpowered the anxious times. Writing this post I had to think very hard about how I felt as my mind almost forgot about my short time dealing with homesickness.

I hope this post helped with anyone dealing with homesickness.

See you Sunday,

S  xo

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END OF AN ERA: We Graduated!

Happy Sunday! 

Being our final year in University, this past year has been the busiest and most academically challenging of our lives, meaning that sadly our blog had to be put on hold. After graduating and taking some well deserved time to relax, we are back on the blogging-wagon!  Today's post marks the end of an era and a beginning of a new one, by showing you what we created during our final year at University.

Here are some images of our work that progressed our skills to lead up to our final year.
We both learned to use SketchUp to create store and window designs for a merchandising module, with S continuing branding onto a webpage and app.
K also loved the illustration module to progress her collaging technique. 

 

Two and a half years of studying led us to the biggest project of our University education so far: our Final Major Projects. As this project equated to 60 credits of our degree, it was certainly a labour of love!  4 months were spent in the library building up (200-page!) research books, while the next 4 were spent in the University building or at our desks developing our ideas and creating our final outcomes. After what felt like the longest year, we finally bid farewell to the biggest collection of work we've produced so far, and began the 6 week project of creating our portfolios ready for Graduate Fashion Week in London!


Below shows an insight into both our FMP's: 

S created an in-depth VM Toolkit & Assortment Plan, Digital Store Design, Online & Physical Promotional Material and a curated Blogger Event for watch brand Olivia Burton.

K created a proposal to pitch a limited-edition collaboration between beauty giant M.A.C Cosmetics and shoe and accessories designer Sophia Webster, including product design and branding, layout design, photography, merchandising design (physical and online) and promotional materials.

We hope you enjoyed this more personal post about our last year at Uni and what we've been getting up to while we were away! We're so excited to start blogging more regularly again, so check for a new post from S on Tuesday!

S & K  xo 

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We're Back: and More Inspired than Ever!

Hi everyone,

As some of you my have noticed, there has been a lack of posts over the last few months here at Eleven Oh Seven. This has been due to our time and creativity being focused on our Final Major Projects for University.   This‘FMP’ is our largest piece of work that makes up half of this final year's credits/marks. The last 5 months have been spent developing our projects and creating work that will eventually make our professional portfolios, something that took a lot of focus and dedication, so we thank you for being patient with our lack of posts!

Many hours have been spent in the Uni library, which was made more tolerable thanks to Radio One and Spotify playlists, and pack after pack of biscuits and chocolates (guilty!) also helped us stay sane through the past few months.  But now that our projects are submitted, presentations have been given and we’ve taken some time to catch up on sleep, we are more inspired than ever to start blogging again!

With the slight absence of blogging it has allowed us to evaluate our style and schedule, and with that said we will now be back blogging twice a week, on Tuesdays and Sundays.

We hope you are as excited as we are and looking forward to see what’s to come at Eleven Oh Seven!
In the mean-time, catch up with us on our social media channels (see below!)

 See you Sunday. 

S & K  xo

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OUR MONTH ON INSTAGRAM: October

Happy Halloween!

We can't quite believe it's already the end of October, the time seems to be really flying past now we're back at Uni full-time. We've had a hectic month with work, presentations and deadlines but made some time for ourselves too - read on to see our month through our Instagram: @eleven0hseven.

 This month we themed our posts around Halloween, with an alternative costume themed post (including Lauren Conrad's Mary Poppins idea above) and a Halloween make up post to give both us and you some inspiration for the holiday.  As we mentioned earlier, we've been super busy with Uni, so spending days at home working in our PJs has been a regular routine for us!

Along with working hard, we've made sure to treat ourselves too (an essential for post-deadline celebration) and in the form of desserts no less! Bunkhouse in Cardiff not only has the cutest interior ever, but also Nutella hot chocolates to die for. We highly recommend this place for the chilled out vibe and gorgeous treats. K also went to Roath Farmer's Market this month and had to sample something from Pwdin Cart's amazing selection of cakes and desserts. How nice is their packaging too?!

We hope you've enjoyed your October and welcomed the changing of the seasons as much as we have - hello warm coats! - and are looking forward to November with us. We'll see you soon for a post all about what the new month has in store for Eleven Oh Seven.

Happy trick-or-treating if you're celebrating Halloween tonight!

S & K  xo

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LATE SUMMER DREAMING:The Ultimate Stationery Post

If you haven't already guessed we LOVE stationery! From notebooks to planners and pens, we love it all and with a new academic year approaching, it's the perfect time to stock up on our stationary favourites!

S' Stationery Loves

 When it comes to stationery I love colour, in particular pastels. These Sharpies will make any shopping or daily list look pretty. The start of an academic year is for me the best time to start a new planner and diary and after K introduced me to the duck egg blue Anthropologie diary, it has sat on the top of my stationery wish list. The Kate Spade tackle box is a stationery's addict dream. From paper clips to pencil sharpeners, it has everything you need. Bees have become an obsession of mine as of late, I even have a bee phone case here so this busy bee note pad is a favourite of mine. During my time at University, desk planners have been my life saviour which means I couldn't not add in a desk planner. 

1.  Pens - Sharpie 

2.  Diary/Planner - Anthropologie

3.  Notebook - Sloane Stationery

4.  Tackle Box - Kate Spade

5.  Desk Planner - Abigail Warner

K's Stationery Loves
I'm the same as S when it comes to stationery, I love pastels and neutral tones! This yearly time planner from Kiki K is a recent one on my wishlist after finding them on Instagram - I'm obsessed! I'm a known list-queen and am always making daily 'notes-to-self', so this list notepad and weekly list planner are absolutely perfect for me. Washi tape is also a new obsession of mine - it's cute to decorate with and also super handy to stick things up whilst adding a little colour. As for my last three stationery loves, you can't go wrong with a classic Moleskine notebook or Stabilo pens! And this Kate Spade gold stapler is just too gorgeous not to include, right?!

1.  Planner - Kiki. K

2.  Notepad - Katie Leamon

3.  Weekly Desk Organiser - Rifle Paper Co.

4.  Notebook - Moleskine

5.  Stapler - Kate Spade

6.  Washi Tape - MT Tape at Nouvelle Daily

7.  Coloured Pens - Stabilo

Hopefully this post makes you want to buy 10,000 notebooks. As you read this post we'll be buying everything from the list above!

See you Sunday!

S & K  xo

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FROM US TO YOU: Late Summer Dreaming

Welcome to August at Eleven Oh Seven!

This month is all about Late Summer Dreaming for us, as August always feels like the countdown to the end of the summer break. Being pretty prepared girls, (and who doesn't love an excuse to hit the shops?!) we love to prepare for the early Autumn and a new University term throughout August, seeing all the latest Autumn/Winter trends emerging and checking out the latest stationery for the new academic year.

August at Eleven Oh Seven will be filled with inspiration for you (and us!) for the upcoming early Autumn season and new term of University, college or school, featuring laid back fashion, our stationery loves and plenty of lifestyle posts in-between.

Check our social media links below to keep in touch with us, we love to connect with you!
Instagram
Twitter
Pinterest

S & K  xo