Wednesday 4 October 2017

Month in Review: September


Hey! So I survived my first month of uni!! It's been a helluva month with a lot of changes, but I'm excited to share them all with you.

What I Read: 

The Lost Hero by: Rick Riordan: 4/5
The Son of Neptune by: Rick Riordan: 5/5
The Blood of Athena by: Rick Riordan: 5/5
The House of Hades by: Rick Riordan: 4/5
The Blood of Olympus by: Rick Riordan: 5/5
More Happy Than Not by: Adam Silvera: 4/5
Exit, Pursued by a Bear by: E.K. Johnston: 5/5 stars
Piecing Me Together by: Renee Watson: 4/5 stars
The Art of Being Normal by: Lisa Williamson: 3/5 stars
We are Okay by: Nina Lacour: 3/5 stars
Attachments by: Rainbow Rowell: 2/5 stars
The 100 by: Kass Morgan: 2/5 stars

Favourite Book: Look who got back into the swing of reading! You'd think I'd have less time due to school, but honestly I think I have only pushed myself to read more, and I have been reading a lot of short books to prevent myself from slumping. Besides the obvious Heroes of Olympus re-read I went on, my favourite book would have to be Exit, Pursued by a Bear! It was so empowering and feminist-oriented, I thought it was great.

What I Blogged: 

I'm keeping up with a semi-normal schedule lately. I haven't been posting twice a week anymore, but I have been posting once a week so I wouldn't say I'm in a slump. My favourite post would have to be my review on Love and Gelato. That was a fun rant to go on.

Favourite Blog Posts of the Month:

Veronika shares Classics she will Conquer this Fall 
Cee discusses Book Censorship

Life Stuff: 

Ok, so where do I begin? September 2nd brought FanExpo, aka the happiest day of my life. I was surrounded by geek-central, and I was so amazed by the cosplayers, the merch, and of course, meeting my favourite celebrities. I met Gaten Matarazzo from Stranger Things and Bob Morley from The 100. Both of them were so nice and I swear Bob is the sweetest person ever. He has genuine conversations with each person he met and he gave everyone a hug. I am still giddy about it.



I also went to the Stranger Things panel, and I swear, those boys are so funny!!! They had the entire room cracking up and they have so much energy, it's contagious. They were great.



I bought a GoT Lannister notebook from the event, which I have already put to good use. There were so many amazing things to choose from that I literally wanted to buy one of everything!! Overall, I was pretty nervous for FanExpo and extremely bummed that the main guy I wanted to go see, James Marsters, cancelled 2 days before the con, but I had the best time and am definitely going to go next year. It was worth every penny.

So that day was great, and then literally the next day, I was shipped off to uni! I spent the entire day in a shriveled up mess, because I had to be really sociable that night for Frosh week kickoff. I met some people who I spent the night with, but honestly, we had little in common and they were a lot more extroverted then I am. I was pretty uncomfortable the entire night.

Now for a partially sad storytime...

So by day 3 of uni I had realized that I hadn't really made any new friends, so I decided to bite the bullet and text the girls I had hung out with on the first night if they wanted to hang out. They said sure, and that they would great ready and would meet me at a place. Well I waited at that place for 3 HOURS and they didn't show. I waited for so long because I was quite honestly afraid to text them telling them to hurry up. So I finally did, and they responded saying that they had forgotten about me and had already gone out somewhere else, but that I could tag along if I wanted. So, I replied with a polite no thank-you, because sometimes I am just too nice, and facetimed my cousin and sister in tears for the rest of the night. Fun day!!!

The days after that I buried myself in work and just focused on my readings. I realized that first and foremost, I am here for an education and that I should put my energy into that instead of in people not worth my time. And so that brings us to today.

Currently, I'm feeling happy. I am on top of my work and enjoying my courses. They are hard, and I spend 5 hours everyday doing work, but I know that if I slack off, it will just get worse. I have talked and started warming up to a few other English majors in my classes, and so maybe a friendship will spring out of that, but honestly, I don't mind if I just make a lot of acquaintances. I've joined the creative writing club and have talked to some like-minded people there as well, and I've been having a lot of fun at meetings. I've got friends outside of school, and really, I'm just going to that place to get my degree. I could care less about parties, or homecoming, or being part of "the uni experience." And I think that's ok.

*deep breath* How was your September?




16 comments:

  1. I really like the sound of Exit, Pursued by a Bear. I'll keep an eye out for that book :)

    Oh my word you met Bob Morley????!!!! That is amazing!! I am so jealous!!

    I am so sorry about those horrible uni experiences :( I totally, totally relate to how you're feeling, and it is so difficult when you're an introvert in a group of extroverts. So sorry, Emily. That's awful. I hope you have some great positive experiences in October and meet some lovely new people.

    Amy @ A Magical World Of Words

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    1. Thanks Amy!! <3 I hope you find Exit, Pursued by a Bear!! It’s really worth reading :) I know a lot of people in the book community have similar experiences in uni. If only there was a university specially designed for people like us!! Hope you have a good October :)

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  2. Thanks for the shout-out! You're too sweet Em :)

    And f**k those people! They don't deserve you!!!! *grumbles*

    Get out of uni what YOU want to get out of it. If you don't enjoy sh**ty parties, then forcing yourself to go to them is only gonna make you miserable.

    Take care of yourself, k? :)

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    1. Yeah, that’s what I keep telling myself. I am at my happiest when I’m cuddled under a few blankets reading a good book, so why would I deprive myself of that?? Love ya, Cee <3

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  3. Happy October, Emily! AKA STRANGER THINGS 2 MONTH!! I can't believe you met Gaten Matarazzo; he seems really sweet and funny.

    Yay! You read Exit, Pursued by a Bear! I also loved it, although I find my old review cringey haha.

    Anyway, I'm really sorry about that friend group incident. They don't seem worthy of your time. I would focus on your classes and take care of yourself. <3

    anna | annaish

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    1. Thanks Anna!! Omg Gaten was such a sweetie. I’m so happy I gave that book a shot because it really surprised me. I’m sure we’ll be chatting about Stranger Things a lot this month haha!

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  4. You've read quite a lot of books! It's been forever and a day since I read Heroes of Olympus. I might just have to give it a reread. Sorry to hear about those mean girls. It gets better. The people who I thought could be my friends the first month of college are not the same people I'm currently friends with. You might not want to go partying or any of that stuff, but I think it's still important to find some friends so that you have a support system while there and people to hang out with outside of an academic setting. School is important, but so is making sure you've got a fulfilling life.

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    1. Thanks Sierra! Re reading the series was so fun. And thanks for the advice. I know it will come with time and I am warming up to some people now. I just need to find people that fit with my personality, you know?

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  5. Woah, you've certainly been reading quite a lot despite this being your first month at uni and all! My reading hasn't been all that good but I'm slowly coming back on track :))
    I'm glad you had fun at FanExpo, Em! It sounds amazing!!!
    I'm really sorry you had to go through that!! They sound really horrible and don't deserve one second of your time, GAH. There's still plenty of time, though, and I'm sure you'll find your own circle of friends very soon! Partying and what not is hardly important but it IS important that you have someone at uni to be by your side and I hope you get some amazing friends very soon. You deserve nothing less <33 Till then, chin up and keep being awesome!

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    1. Haha yeah, I have been vigorously reading to cope with all the other stress so far. Thanks Ruzaika <3 I hope it will come with time. For now though, I’m just grateful to have the support of the book community.

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  6. Gah, I'm sorry about those girls, they sound fucking horrible, meh. I started uni last year, (this is my third semester) and, believe me, I totally get being nervous about getting friends. I'm not sure from your post if you like parties at all, or if you HATE them like I do, but if it's the latter, I don't think you should force yourself to go to any parties. Obviously, I'm from a different country, so the whole mindset is a bit different here (uni parties are not such a big deal here, not like in books and whatnot), but I've never gone to any parties, yet I managed to get some truly amazing friends pretty early on. I found that the key, at least for me, was to be open to talking to all kinds of people (like between classes), and even if it is scary, approach new people! Tbh, many of my discussions started because I was lost in the building lol. Or, one of my friends I started to talk to because she was wearing a Dan and Phil tee, and I thought she cannot be a bad person (she really isn't). Or another girl who was ALWAYS reading something on her kindle, and I *needed* to know what, so I asked her. Also, PLEASE DON'T PANIC IF YOU DON'T FIND FRIENDS SOON! Every day is literally a new chance of finding friends, I swear. Also, if you don't like someone, or if you feel bad hanging out with them, leave them asap. I didn't have anyone like that at uni, but I did have a friend like that before, and meh, NOT.WORTH.IT. Also, one last thing, I don't want to sound like I'm preaching, I just want to help - this semester I have some classes where I don't really know anyone, and while that makes me nervous, I also find that people are generally nice, and so even if you don't have any "true friends" in certain classes, don't be sad. :) Here's to hoping your October will be better! <3

    Also, FanExpo sounds AMAZING! Thank you for the shout out! <3

    Veronika @ The Regal Critiques

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    1. Aw thanks for the advice Veronika! You’ve actually been very helpful. Yeah I don’t like parties like you, but I have been warming up to some people in my classes and I do find common ground when someone is wearing a t shirt from a show or band I like. So that’s good :) I know things will get better <3

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  7. Oh no, I'm so sorry about the friends thing, I know the feeling. I struggle to make friends perhaps more now than ever since I just came out of a really bad manipulative friendship situation. I've been at college for about 8 months and I still don't feel like I have a solid group of friends but I am finally feeling very comfortable talking to people in my classes and just being myself which is honestly the best thing you can do despite it being much harder than it sounds. Although, I've found it's much easier to not have that solid friendship group outside of high school. I'm glad to hear you're warming up to some people because it is kind of hard. I wish you the absolute best and I hope you can find some people who appreciate you and won't forget about you. Enjoy yourself Emily!

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    1. Thank you Brooklyn! Yes, I think both you and I have similar struggles. I hope both of us will find our solid friend groups! :)

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  8. Goodness you had a busy but fun time didnt you. Attachments is my favourite Rainbow Rowell book, its just so funny.
    Gill @book_magpie

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    1. I actually didn’t enjoy it all that much! It just wasn’t for me :(

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