Beyond The Degree

A month has passed since Ariana Grande's charity benefit concert One Love Manchester took place, in response to the IS bomb attack during her Manchester segment of the Dangerous Woman tour, which resulted in 22 deaths and several hospitalisations.  I know that my opinion and feelings certainly can't vouch for everyone's but personally, while I was watching the concert I do not think that there was a moment where I was dry-eyed. Even within the interview breaks and commentaries and the camera panning across Old Trafford, I felt an overwhelming feeling of the nation's unity and strength. When the camera showed a policeman holding hands and dancing with a group of children, I couldn't help but feel proud and joyful as I saw the people of the nation coming together and standing with each other during a global tough time.  Ariana has my unconditional admiration and respect as I view the concert as a benchmark which truly represented a 'fight for what is righ...

When reports come to light that girls under 10 years old are seeking genital surgery because they are disgusted by their genital’s 'wrong shape and size', I think it's safe to say it can be confirmed that 2017's pressures of perfection have reached its pinnacle. With social media's easy accessibility and the ability to view porn at the touch of a button, it is no surprise that insecurities are starting to manifest in the minds of young children. Daily, young people are bombarded with expectations to look a certain way, but have these expectations of perfection reached a new level? Breast augmentation surgery has been around for years, nose jobs? Standard and lip surgery to get the perfect Kardashian pout has been the rage for a while now but genital surgery? This is something when I first read that completely took me by surprise and surely surgery at such a young age can be seen as comparable to genital mutilation which is illegal in the UK but prevails to be r...

Hi guys, I am prone to using social media but often I find myself forgetting it’s open for the world to see. It should be considered that when we use social media and post photo’s, these are things that we are actively choosing to share. We choose to let our followers know about the happy moments, whether that it’s our 3 year anniversary with our partner, or that we are sipping cocktails in the Santorini Sun absorbing that vitamin-D, or that we’ve got that new job which we had strived so hard to get, and if you want to share that then that is fine you have worked hard for it and that is something to be proud of. But what can often be disregarded are the sad times. In a sense, social media can be seen as a blessing. Imagine if Dr. Martin Luther King had Instagram, the protest videos he could have shared would have resulted in further global uproar. Imagine if the suffragettes had Snapchat, then we would have all been forced to watch them chaining themselves to parliament building...

Hello,  It is me, I have returned from the dark abyss, a pit of eternal blackness I like to call the Spring Term of Semester Two.  Around eight or so weeks ago, me and my friend started to look at holidays to help keep us sane and to give us something to look forward to and we decided to book to go to Berlin! We managed to survive the 5 days and also Katie put up with me for this time, which is a miracle within itself.  It was a truly wonderful trip even though I did come home without my German Football Beau, a desire of mine that I had longed for since the 2014 World Cup, but Hey-ho! I had such a good time I decided to write a blog post about it so here are 6 must do things, that may be obvious to some, but are accessible and can be done in Berlin, Germany!  1. Visit the Holocaust Memorial & Museum to The Murdered Jews of Europe - If you ever find yourself in Berlin, I highly recommend going here as it really is remarkable. I am no art connoisseur, ...

Last month flew by incredibly quickly, but somewhere in the blur that was February the world celebrated Black History Month. This celebration of black people's heritage and achievements originated in 1915. I openly admit that growing up, I was extremely ignorant towards educating myself and understanding race and as a child, was not aware of colonialism (of several countries and ethnicities throughout history), and racism etc, until I was maybe 5 years of age and experienced first-hand racial discrimination. I do not blame anyone for my ignorance, and as a child and now as an adult, I often look to see the best in the world and view it through rose-tinted glasses (probably an impracticable way of life but oh well, I'll learn.) But, I do feel like the atrocities of colonialism are still covered up. If I was a parent or teacher, I would often question how to go about telling children about the atrocities of the world. Is that the right thing to do? Is there a right age f...

Last week was Health and Wellbeing week at Loughborough University, following from my previous post, I thought it would be appropriate to address Health and Wellbeing and why it is so necessary. On Wednesday, I attended the Health and Wellbeing Fayre at the Student Union. This fayre consisted of smoothie making (with a bike), painting, arts and crafts, fitness challenges and lots of goodies. An idea that I loved and stuck with me, was a jar which was filled with 31 positive notes for the month. Unfortunately, I do not have a jar, but I do have a pretty box that I can use to imitate this idea as the last 3 weeks have been quite stressful as everything seemed to be happening at once. It has been quite hard to keep up with it all and meet deadlines, socialise, participate in extracurricular activities, exercise, get 8 hours sleep, eat 3 meals a day, stay positive, etc. But this made me realise that even though I enjoy these things, and some of them are necessary, I do need to find ...

HAPPY 2017 EVERYONE! I hope so far your year has been going great. To any students reading this who have finished their exams well done! To those who haven't keep going you got this. 2016 was filled with highs and lows. Terrible events happened daily in the world and sometimes watching the news was draining. Towards the end of 2016, Trump winning the election and electoral college ruffled many feathers, but as we live in a democracy, he earned his presidency. Despite the craziness right now we must remain hopeful that he becomes a good leader, he certainly has the power to be, and that he becomes more understanding of the people's needs. There may be a time when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time where we fail to   challenge and question. Hopefully, this year will be better for you in all aspects! :) A phrase that is frequently thrown around is self-love. Now the dictionary defines self-love as 'regard for one's own well-being an...