COMPETITION TIME

At the end of June the Mermaids headed to Stratford to compete in our last competition of the academic year. Everyone was nervous but we were prepared. This was the very first competition where I wasn’t nervous and was actually excited to compete! It was also the first competition where I was flying, as opposed to basing.

The routine was creative, we knew it like the back of our hands, so we were all confident.

When we arrived, the atmosphere was amazing, we all received our ‘athlete’ wristbands and went to take a look at the arena. The stage was big, although smaller than some we’ve competed on, and the lighting on the stage was dramatic which helped with the overall feeling of the competition. The seating was tiered and went up quite high so it was quite daunting I’m not gonna lie!!! Everyone was walking about in their uniforms with their hair and makeup ready for their routine.

As we looked around we saw soooooo much merchandise. There were tons of bows in all different colours with loads of different patterns including glitter (there was a load of glitter). There were also loads of cheer tops and sweaters, and a lot of Nike clothing too.

When we went backstage to warm up, that was when the nerves kicked in. We saw other squads practising their routines and were cheering on others as they completed a full out. We stretched, practised jumps, stunts, tumbling and warmed up so we didn’t injure ourselves (although this didn’t work for me (!!!!) unfortunately).

Then it was our time to compete and showcase our routine to the judges. It was exhilarating and the feeling was incredible. Going out there and competing with great people is an amazing feeling. We worked hard together in order to make the routine look good, and luckily we had no stunt falls or bobbles!!
Unfortunately, at the beginning of the routine, I came down funny from a stunt and twisted my ankle which was very painful. But I had to carry on! I wasn’t going to let my team down just because of a sprained ankle. Although its still very painful and swollen I had to carry on for my squad. It’s been 3 weeks now and it still hasn’t healed so hopefully it does soon!

I had an amazing last competition, and can’t wait to be reunited with my squad in September!

Cereal Killers Cafe

The other week Jade and I decided to give Cereal Killers Cafe a visit as we are both obsessed with cereal and had seen good reviews. We went to the one in Shoreditch, which was the first shop they opened, a second one being opened in Camden a few months ago. It was set back a bit and was a little difficult to find but once we did, we knew we had arrived in the right place. Why? BECAUSE OF THE QUEUE. We were waiting for about 15 minutes to even get served but once we did we understood why it took so long in the first place.

There were SO MANY different types of cereal, it was so difficult to choose just one! Then there were the toppings which we had to consider, and even the type of milk to have on our cereal!

You could choose three cereals to mix, so I decided to go for Frozen marshmallows, Hersey’s Cookies and Cream and Lucky Charms St Patricks’s Day. For toppings I went for Mars Mix, Reese’s Pieces and extra Marshmallows. We both chose semi-skimmed milk and for a drink we had Cream Soda. 

There wasn’t much seating upstairs because the queue took up most of the room but there was a downstairs, so after we poured golden syrup over our cereals (just to add to the overly sweetness) we made our way downstairs and seemed to have stepped into a 1990s style bedroom which held tons of 90’s memorabilia and old style TV’s.

After a Instagram worthy photoshoot, we tucked in and even though the bowls don’t look considerably huge, trust me they were! Jade and I felt so full afterwards but would I go back again? HELL YEAH. It was so good! Next time I think we’ll try the Camden one though...

Mermaid Awards

The other week my Cheerleading Squad held their annual Mermaid Awards which is an event where all the cheerleaders are recognised for their hard work throughout the year. There are some funny awards too, so the evening is a lighthearted and fun event to attend. This year is was held in Greenwich and we had the whole of the upstairs of the pub to ourselves to drink, eat and receive our awards.

This year, there were around 6 awards which received a plaque, a cute bow keyring and a certificate, then other awards received bows and a certificate. The bows were really cute, so I’ve put my one on my keys, other people put theirs on their bags. Because YES I WON AN AWARD! And I couldn’t be happier with the award I received this year. Last year I received ‘Take it on the Shoulder Award’ which was showing that I can take some banter! This year my award was more focused on my cheerleading ‘career’. Committee on the Mermaids decided that I should be the one to get the ‘Most Improved Flyer’ Award and I love it!

Last year I didn’t fly at all, I mainly based. But this year, I was hit by the flying bug and started loving it! I was also really happy with the comments that committee made along with my award, they said that they were surprised by my technique and wished that I had started flying earlier on! So I couldn’t be more pleased. It made me want to fly more and become better than what I am!

I can’t wait to see what award I’ll get next year! Bring on 2016 cheer!

SUMMER BALL!

Last year the university held a summer ball amongst the university grounds and it was amazing. There were festival rides, food stalls and a silent disco but this year it was so. much. better.

This year it was a more festival themed event so the dress code was much more relaxed. I wore a playsuit from Missguided, a kimono from New Look and shoes from Topshop. So I was really comfortable! We arrived quite early because we wanted to have a turn on everything before it got busy. When we first arrived we had a quick go on Twister (which is always fun) and then we had a go (or five) on the bumper cars, these are always my favourite things to go on as they are so much fun. We kept going back to these throughout the night. Then we had a go on the Ferris Wheel which was also really great but quite scary (I’m not great with heights FYI). They also had Zorbs, which are quite difficult if you’ve had a bit to drink - you can NEVER stand back up once you’ve been knocked over!

They also had a really cute caravan photo booth which had cute bunting around it and loads of fancy dress items inside which you can take the photos with. There was also a donut and candy floss stand which unfortunately I didn’t get round too but apparently the doughnuts were amazing and the pricing was really reasonable! There was also a silent disco this year, better toilet facilities, a karaoke tent and a tent with a live band. It was one of the best nights I’d had in ages.

One thing which I loved from the night was the big GRE letters and a huge chalkboard which you could write messages on and photograph for memories. Such a great night, thanks University of Greenwich, it’s been a blast!

Sports Award :)

On May 1st the Student Union threw an annual event called the Sports Awards where the SU give out awards for students who have either been on a sports team for two years or more or whether they believe that the sports person has done really well in helping their sports team. It’s a huge event where everyone dresses up and its genuinely a really fun night to take loads of pictures and eat a two course meal.

When we first arrived we were promptly ushered to our seats as they were bringing out the main course. I had chicken with red wine sauce and dauphinoise potatoes (which if I am totally honest, wasn’t my cup of tea). However, they TOTALLY made up for it with dessert. I could have had two of these and would be happy. It was beautiful, warm chocolate molten cake with vanilla ice cream and it was BEAUTIFUL (I have a right sweet tooth if you didn’t know already) 
Afterwards they gave out awards. Some of our Mermaids achieved 'Full Colours' and others 'Full Blues'. Unfortunately, the SU had forgotten my award which was a little disappointing but I still had a photograph with Harry (the new president) and my award will be posted to me. 

After this we had opportunities to take photos with our teams and mingle amongst other sports teams. They then put on the music and turned the lights down and we had a bit of a dance before we all went to Sparrows to finish the night! Overall a great night, hopefully next year I’ll be able to receive my Full Colours from being on a Sports Team for 3 years. 



Fingers crossed!

Here is a picture of what I wore to Sports Awards. My dress and heels are both from Missguided (you can get student discount on Unidays - SO worth it) and my bag was from Primark.

YEAR THREE: DONE.

So on April 20^th I uploaded my final piece of work, my Dissertation. It makes me really sad to think that my three years at university is over because I don’t want to leave. I’ve met some seriously amazing people and I don’t want them/me to leave. I’m going to miss seeing everyone so much and living the student life.

I’ve got two weeks work experience coming up at my old primary school so that will help towards me getting onto a PGCE. I hope that I’ll get onto the PGCE here at the University of Greenwich, but I can’t guarantee that I’d gain a place so I’m just keeping my fingers crossed. Regardless of the fact that I may or may not be coming back, I still don’t want to leave this degree. Film Studies has been so interesting in so many ways I don’t want to study anything else!

Although this degree has given me so much work to do, (7 assignments in Term 1 and 8 assignments in Term 2) I’ve actually enjoyed doing the work because I find it so interesting (who else can say that they watch films and then write about them as a degree topic?). My university experience has been amazing. I didn’t expect the three years to go the way they have but I’m glad I did. I will miss it!

I’ve had so much fun with my cheerleading squad too, The Greenwich Mermaids. If anyone is thinking about joining: DO IT! It will be the best decision you’d make. The people who I’ve met have been so lovely and supportive of what you do. With the squad there is always someone to talk to. It’s one of the best things I’ve done since joining the university.

I don’t want to leave L

TOUR 2015.

A few weeks ago I arrived back from an amazing holiday with the university sports teams and this makes me really sad. We departed for Lloret de Mar on April 6^th and arrived at the hotel at around 11am on the 7^th. It was a 20 hour coach journey (which was really tedious after a while) but it wasn’t as bad as last year for me because I took some travel sickness pills! This meant there was no ill feeling for me for the whole 20 hours and it felt so great!!

On the coach on the way there we played Take Me Out with the little coach lights above each seat and played loads of other games to pass the time. When we got to the hotel we each went to our rooms, unpacked and then headed straight to the pool. It was soooo windy on the first day which made it quite cold and then we all went in the pool and put up a few stunts which was fun! I’ve decided I want to fly more as opposed to basing so Tour was a great opportunity to try out flying a lot more. Even though it was windy on the first day I still ended up burning my nose!

Over the course of the week we went to the beach twice (and took loads of tour/cheerleading photos – of course), went to a foam party (which I had to leave early due to an extremely painful eye – annoying I know!!!) and had so much fun getting to know one another. On nights out we all wore the same outfits and all of them looked really good. On the first night the whole University of Greenwich dressed up as Pacman, on the second night we dressed up as Hawaiian Hula women (which was my personal favourite), the third night we were dressed as Nicki Minaj (!!!!) and the final night we were angels and devils (which I also loved).

Here are some photos from Tour:

I had soooo much fun this Tour, the Returners and Freshers got on really well and I got to know some amazing girls and I’m so glad it went well. Last year there wasn’t much bonding but this year everyone got on really well so I’m happy with how this Tour went. I hope the Freshers enjoyed it too!