Today I wanted to talk about a website that I really really love and would like more people to know about. It's called Future Learn and it's a digital education platform owned by the Open University which aims to transform education by offering a huge range of MOOCs (massive open online courses) completely free.

The categories of course they offer are: Business & Management; Creative Arts & Media; Nature & Environment; Politics & the Modern World; Literature; Health & Psychology; Science, Engineering & Maths; Law; History; Tech & Coding; Teaching; Languages & Cultures; and Study Skills. As you can see there is a huge range of areas to choose from, with courses on anything from songwriting to a social history of English football, and from robotics to global food safety. The topics are often super specialist and niche, but there are also more broad introductions to different fields. There are also a range of levels, from those aimed at school leavers to those which recommend having completed some higher education.

Typically the courses are between 4-6 weeks long although some may be as short as 2 weeks or as long as 8. If you join at the start of the course the weeks will become available in real time, but if you come in later there is no obligation to do it week by week and you can go at your own pace. Most courses estimate between 2-4 hours of learning per week, but obviously it comes down to how interested you are and how much extra work or background reading you're willing to do.

Although the Open University offer a wide range of courses themselves, there are also many courses curated by their 139 partners, which are top universities and specialist organisations around the world. For example, my university (Durham) offers two business courses: 'Leading and Managing People-Centred Change' and 'Open Innovation'.

There is no cost to join the majority of courses, but often there is the possibility to upgrade (which typically costs about €50 - €70) to have unlimited access to the material and receive a certificate of achievement to prove participation. Like most people who follow the courses, I personally do it out of interest and enjoyment rather than because I have to or because I want to prove I've done it, but there are also some credit-bearing courses which can contribute to your professional development or even online postgraduate degrees.

I joined my first Future Learn course the summer after my first year of uni when I was back home for a couple of months with relatively little planned. I can't actually remember how I came across the site but I started two courses and completed them over a few weeks. Having an extra educational resource has been a help at various points in my career so far: when I applied for an internship in urban planning the following academic year I talked about how I had followed two related Future Learn courses in my own time, which of course showed a demonstrated interest and was a factor in getting me the internship. Earlier this year I took a course about remote warfare, which I mentioned in my Masters personal statement, and just this summer I joined one on international security as general prep for my MA. 

So far I've only followed courses in the 'Politics & the Modern World' category as they tend to interest me most and relate to my field of study. The courses I've joined and completed are:

On the whole my Future Learn experience has been incredibly positive. I love being able to really follow my interests and delve deeper into topics which I might have touched on in uni courses or back at school, and really get to grips with the nuances of the material. Also, the interface is really stunning and easy to use, as each week consists of a number of steps you have to complete. The feeling of clicking 'Mark as Complete' at the end of a task or long article is incredibly satisfying, and you can track your progress really easily. 

If you're someone who enjoys learning and feeling like you're achieving something at the same time, I would definitely recommend checking out Future Learn and browsing the range of courses on offer. I guarantee there really is something for everyone and it's such an amazing opportunity to add to your CV or academic record by just spending a few hours per week learning new things or expanding on existing knowledge. 

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It's September and the start of the new academic year, but it occurred to me that I hadn't yet wrapped up the old one. I intended to do this post at the end of the year, around June, however what with one thing and another I was incredibly busy throughout the whole summer - but I still wanted to keep some sort of record of my university experience that I can look back on so here we are! I did a similar thing last year, you can see my review of my first year here. I've decided to divide it up into three sections again: the city, the course and accommodation. Get ready because this is going to be another long one...

As a second year, I lived in a student house which meant I saw much more of the city than I had in first year when I lived in college and attended lectures a mere 10 minute walk away. It was great to experience more of the (admittedly tiny) city of Durham, and even venture into the outskirts *gasp*. I also started volunteering at a local Scout group which was a really lovely way of getting involved with the local community and getting away from the university bubble for a couple of hours each week.

One of the main things that helped with this was figuring out the bus system, which I made extensive use of throughout the year. Before that I'd hardly ever taken buses, apart from my school bus, so it was a little bit daunting at first but once I got the hang of it and learnt all the routes and numbers I was able to travel around quite efficiently. For example, there wasn't a direct bus from my house to where I had lectures, but I soon worked out which two buses I would need to take and after a while realised that it can be quicker to change at a certain stop than to go via the bus station. My house was a solid 30 minute mostly uphill walk to lectures and 40 minutes to college, so it was definitely worth taking the bus, especially on wintry northern days!

The academic side of my university experience improved enormously this year thanks to the modules I took, which I had a fair amount of choice in. It's typical to be able to specialise in your second year with any course, but for me especially it was a relief not to have to take any physical geography which I absolutely hated in first year. My compulsory modules this year were 'Social Research' and 'Theories and Concepts in Contemporary Human Geography', and for the optional ones I chose 'Political Geography' and 'Social and Cultural Geography'. All in all I think I made some good choices because I enjoyed both of the optional modules and they covered some really interesting topics, like for instance geographies of disability and theories of nationalism. They also proved to be the modules in which I got my highest marks for essays and exams, far beyond anything I had achieved the previous year. While we're on the topic, I also managed to get one of my essays published which was pretty cool, even if it was just in an undergraduate journal - I had to present it at a conference which was stressful as I'm not great at public speaking but it was a great experience and I suppose now I can say I'm a published writer??

I also kept up my French module that I'd taken the previous year, although at the next level up. Again I think it was a good decision because it took the pressure off when it came to the dreaded term 2 where essay deadlines were concentrated, and meant I had one less exam to worry about (I did have an exam for French, two in fact, I just didn't worry about them!). Interestingly, though, it was the module I got the lowest mark in which I suppose is a testament to my improvement in modules relating to my actual degree.

Another course-related highlight was a 5-day research trip to Liverpool that I went on at the end of term 2. Even though our chosen topic was a bit weird (diversification of religious spaces, which meant a lot of hanging around in churches and cathedrals), the actual research was pretty successful and my group got some good data and ultimately made a decent project out of it. I really enjoyed the social side of the trip, as although it was fairly full-on and we were expected to dedicate the whole day to gathering data, in the evenings we did various activities and chatted and socialised with the academic staff which was surprisingly hilarious.

The other thing worth mentioning that's related to my course is my dissertation, which we had to start thinking about around December last year because the Geography department is ridiculously organised. Over the course of the rest of the academic year we had to submit various ideas and proposals, and I soon got mine down to the topic of European and national identity in the experience of European School students. I'm currently doing the fieldwork for it at my old school, which basically consists of interviewing groups of kids about their experiences. I'm enjoying it because I find the topic immensely interesting, but I can tell I'll be so relieved to hand this in come April!

Because I lived 'in college' in first year this year was my first living independently in a student house, which also meant the first time cooking for myself and generally being a responsible adult and sorting things out in the house when they went wrong. The house itself was gorgeous and modern, absolutely not the kind of think you'd expect from a student house but it was correspondingly pricey and quite far from lectures. I actually really enjoyed cooking for myself and not being constricted by college mealtimes, and although I hadn't been totally ignorant before I learned a lot about cooking and cleaning! It was also so nice to be able to collapse on the sofa in front of the TV in the evenings, and to share a shower and toilet with 2 other people instead of 14.

As I lived so far from college I didn't end up going back there very often, only really for formals and similar events. Although I really loved living in college as a fresher and it was a big part of my uni experience, I felt (and a lot of my friends agreed with me) that I'd sort of outgrown college and I was eager to move on to other things. Living out of college was was generally a good experience, despite some issues with my housemates, so although I had the option of moving back into college I'll be 'living out' again this year (albeit with different people and in a different house).

And that's a wrap! I think I've summed up the main points of my second year. If the contrast between my first and second year is anything to go by I hope third year is going to be even better, although being my final year it does mean that I have to start thinking about what I'm going to do after I graduate - at the moment I'm thinking of doing a masters, but I haven't planned any further ahead than that. Let's just get through third year first...

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Lately I've been watching a lot of films and basically trying to catch up on all the DVDs I purchased over the course of my second year at uni in those small moments of panic or stress where I impulsively did an Amazon order or seven. I've also been logging everything I've been watching on Letterboxd, which is basically the Goodreads for films - give me a follow to keep up with my watching if you fancy it! Today I thought I'd share my very inexpert opinion on the last few films I've watched, because whenever I watch something I have so many thoughts and feelings about it immediately afterwards and rarely anyone to discuss it with. Just a note to say this will probably contain spoilers...

Pulp Fiction (1994)

I've been meaning to watch this for the longest time - in my mind it's one of those classic films that people reference all the time and has had a huge impact on pop culture. I'm not familiar with Tarantino by any means but I knew roughly what to expect, which is what I got - strong language, violence and black comedy. Not to put too fine a point on it, it was nuts and horrific at times but in a weird way I actually loved it! The story is about a circle of mobsters and criminals in Los Angeles and their escapades which are slowly revealed to be interlinked. I have to admit that the chronology of the storyline confused me a lot and meant I ended up googling the plot to try to understand what was going on - it's kind of like a patchwork of stories which eventually come together in an intriguing and enjoyable way.

The Royal Tenenbaums (2001)

One of my favourite films of all time is Wes Anderson's The Grand Budapest Hotel so I expected to like this and I wasn't disappointed. It follows the lives of the Tenenbaum family and especially the three siblings who were viewed as geniuses in childhood but who experience disappointment later in life as their family breaks down. I felt it was a slight case of style over substance in that the plot was quite thin and predictable, but the characterisation and back stories are where this film really shines and I really enjoyed seeing the characters interact with each other. The other area where this film stuns is of course in the visual style, which is trademark Anderson with the beautiful colours and soft tones - basically the aesthetic of dreams.

Rating: 8/10

Mulholland Drive (2001)

It's no secret that I am deeply, deeply obsessed with Twin Peaks so lately I've been trying to explore David Lynch's other works. I hear that the original 90s Peaks isn't really a true representation of Lynch's style and art, which is more accurately reflected in the new series which I've watched the first 8 or so episodes of (and shall discuss in different post when I get home and can watch the rest!). Anyway, I have a box set of Lynch's his films to get through this summer, but I started with Mulholland Drive which was right up my alley. It's described as a 'neo-noir mystery' and tells the story of an aspiring actress who meets an amnesiac woman in Los Angeles, following their separate but interlinked quests to achieve fame and rediscover her identity. Although the film is set in Hollywood it takes place firmly within the realm of the absurd, with a plot that switches between seemingly unrelated vignettes interspersed with mild horror and dark comedy. This film was originally conceived as a TV pilot, but rejected and reimagined as a feature film which gives it an odd sort of narrative which leaves it completely open to interpretation. As a first venture into Lynch's film work, I was pleasantly surprised and appreciated the early 2000s aesthetic,

The Darjeeling Limited (2007)

This is another Wes Anderson film, which follows three estranged brothers who are reuniting for the first time since their father's funeral a year previously. They meet aboard the Darjeeling Limited, a train crossing the Indian countryside, and the film follows the events which occur to test their complicated and often conflicting relationships. I think there's something so charming about films, TV shows or books set on trains - which perhaps stems from reading Murder on the Orient Express at a young age. However, this was on the disappointing side for me - I think it suffered from the lack of a female lead somehow, but apart from that I can't put my finger on it. Having said that, the cinematography was stunning and I did enjoy watching it. 

The X-Files (1993-2002, 2016-)

A few months ago I noticed my mum had the first two seasons of The X-Files on DVD and decided to take them with me to uni for the summer term on the inkling that they would be my New Favourite Thing. What with exams I didn't get round to watching any, so I brought them with me on my internship and I'm slowly making my way through them. Basically it's a science fiction drama that follows the investigations of Special Agents Dana Scully and Fox Mulder as they look into unsolved cases involving paranormal phenomena. My mum was obsessed with the series when it originally aired and over 20 years on I am following firmly in her footsteps - I love everything about this series so far and I'm not even at the end of the first season! I adore the 90s setting, the characters, the unexplained paranormal aspect, and anything to do with the FBI (Twin Peaks, anyone?). There are just so many episodes and seasons to get through I absolutely cannot wait to see how the series goes on, not to mention the fact that its currently undergoing a revival.

As you may or may not know I just finished my first year of university. Throughout the past year I've done update posts at the end of each term (see term 1, term 2 and term 3) but I thought I'd do more of a general post to wrap up the year and reflect a bit more on what I have and haven't enjoyed. In fact, since I'm going to break it down into sections lets call this a review - see the links above for the more personal life stuff/drama if you're interested in that. I've been watching a lot of 'my first year at uni' videos on YouTube and they've been really interesting to compare my experience to and generally get an idea of what other people's first years have been like. So I hope this might help anyone who's trying to decide where to apply to uni (especially my university) or just wants a general idea of what to expect. Get ready because this is going to be a long one!

I don't think I've said it in as many words before (kind of for privacy reasons but whatever, I'm sure I've said it on instagram) but I go to Durham University. Durham is a really small city about 3 and a half hours from London on the train, way up north near Newcastle. It's most famous for its beautiful cathedral and castle, and its medieval origin means it's full of little alleyways, quaint cafés and cobblestone roads, while the river that runs through the city makes for lots of scenic spots. The centre isn't the best place for shopping but there's a New Look, Topshop and H&M which is all I really need! And of course there's a post office, banks, Boots, WH Smiths, Tesco etc, basically everything you might need on a day to day basis while Newcastle just a 10 minute train journey away for a much bigger range of shops. Durham is small, really small for a city, but that makes it friendly and it feels safe even after dark. The small size also means it's walkable, and it's a running joke that you can get from one side of the city to the other on foot in about half an hour.

To be honest location wasn't the most important thing to me when I was choosing where to apply because I was simply thrilled enough at the prospect of living in the UK. All I knew was that I didn't want to live in London - it just seemed like too big a step to make at this point in my life although I think I would like to live there at some point in the future. From a practical point of view it would have been more convenient to go to uni somewhere further south as it would be closer to London and therefore easier to get the Eurostar home, but in the end I made my choice based more on Durham's reputation than anything else. I'd visited once, back in February after I got my UCAS offer, but it wasn't an open day so my mum and I had just wandered around a bit and tried to get a feel for the place. I felt at home straight away and I'm really glad I made the choice I did because I've grown to love Durham. For me it was exactly the right decision, also since it meant I was able to adapt to life in the UK more easily than I might have done in a big city. It's also provided me with lots of instagram opportunities!

Durham Uni is an odd mixture between a campus uni and a city uni - which is sort of ideal because I couldn't decide which I preferred. In a way the university is the city, purely because it's such a small city and the buildings and colleges are quite spread out. For instance some subjects, such as theology and music, are mostly taught on the Bailey (which is the bit with the cathedral which sticks out into the river) while the languages department is close to the centre of town. Most other departments are located on the 'science site', a 15-20 minute walk from the centre and roughly central to all the colleges. For me this was the perfect set-up, as I was hesitant about choosing a campus uni because I didn't want to get trapped in a bubble but also a bit apprehensive about the idea of having to travel around a big city just to get to lectures.

I study geography (BA, any fellow geographers will understand the important distinction between BA and BSc) and this year I really enjoyed most of my course. I am VERY much interested in the human side of geography rather than the physical side (think population, migration, politics and cities instead of mountains, glaciers and rivers) but unfortunately I had a compulsory physical module in first year. I understand that the point is to have a good grounding in all aspects of geography, especially since there is an area of crossover between the two, but to be honest it was difficult to think rationally about that when I was having to research the effect of vegetation on river channel patterns or the factors that drive the ice ages. I literally DO NOT CARE AT ALL about any of that so it was only essay deadlines and the prospect of exams that got me through such boring topics. It also didn't help that I was starting pretty much from scratch with physical geography, as we focused a lot more on the human side at school and the last time I did anything about e.g. rivers was 2nd year secondary (so aged about 12). The only thing I had a small amount of background knowledge on was weather, but the lecturers seemed to be trying to cover literally every aspect of physical geography in a few months including climate, tectonics, water, ice ages and sea level rise. Geography isn't actually a required subject for entry which was slightly comforting, but everyone I spoke to had studied it at A-level where I understand there is more of a focus on the physical side. Case in point: my final bac exam was on the composition and history of the EU's parliament and other institutions, while someone on my course's A-level exam was on coastal management.

I'd considered other courses at other unis before I decided on Durham, mostly because they were more flexible in terms of what modules you could take in first year, as while a lot of unis have compulsory modules in human and physical (both BA and BSc) there a few who don't and I was desperate to find a way to avoid the dreaded physical. In the end the reputation and quality of teaching and research at Durham won out and I endured a year of reluctantly learning about earth systems, but it was honestly the worst part of my whole university experience. Think of a school subject you really didn't enjoy and were forced to take, then imagine that at university level where you have to read academic articles on stuff you find deathly boring and also don't understand - yeah, not good. On the plus side, there was an awful lot of stuff I was interested in which helped me struggle through the boring stuff. For instance, blocks I really enjoyed covered cities in the Middle East, landscape, domestic violence, the financial crisis and the migrant crisis. I also got along pretty well with my compulsory research module, in which we received a grounding in methods that would help us carry out various pieces of research. Luckily next year should be a lot more interesting as I've chosen modules that I actually enjoy, though there are still some compulsory ones.

For me one of the most exciting things about uni was being in an academically stimulating environment with so many lecturers who are truly world experts in their field. It's not like school where you might sometimes wonder if the teacher has even studied the subject, let alone is qualified to teach it - these people know their stuff, and the reading lists were full of books and articles written by the teaching staff. Speaking of reading lists, holy moly it was overwhelming. I don't know what other unis and courses are like, but for every lecture we were expected to read about 2-3 journal articles, which may not sound like a lot but they can be 40ish pages and with 9 lectures per week it got on top of me really quickly. I struggled to even read one article per lecture even for subjects I found really interesting, and when it came to my physical module I basically didn't bother with anything more than the recommended textbook after a couple of weeks - what with reading for essays, prepping for tutorials and practicals, writing up lecture notes and generally trying to sleep and have a bit of a social life it was too much to handle. So yes, I found my course quite demanding but I also knew it was to be expected, especially at a high-ranking uni (also since Durham is ranked 2nd in the UK for geography, woop).

I should probably also mention that I chose to do a French module as one of my optional ones which for me was a really good choice. I'd studied French for 13 years (and taken some subjects in it at school, including geography) not to mention lived in a French-speaking country nearly all my life so it seemed a shame not to keep it up a bit longer. I'm by no means a natural linguist and I have next to no confidence speaking in another language, although my writing is pretty decent, so for me this was a great opportunity to improve my confidence orally in a different environment from what I was used to. The course was aimed at post-A-level ability, which to be honest was much lower than what I'd been doing at school, so for once I found I was one of the best in the class (not trying to sound arrogant here I promise!) and that really encouraged me to participate and speak up more. It also meant that it was a module I didn't feel too worried about, as nothing was really new and I didn't have to work that hard at it. Most of the course consisted of speaking exercises in pairs or small groups, re-learning grammar and reading or watching news reports and videos about French society and culture. The only thing I felt was lacking was any writing, as we did a few small exercises but not as much as I was used to and I missed gabbling away in French on paper! I also really enjoyed having a break from geography and learning in a completely different way, which is the main reason I've decided to take the next level up next year to try and carry it on a bit further.

One of Durham's distinguishing features is its college system. You can think of colleges like Hogwarts houses - they're kind of like halls in that they function as accommodation but they also have their own facilities, sports teams and societies, as well as identities and reputations. I'm not going to talk specifically about my college, but I know it was the college experience that really made my year at Durham. I think it can be easy to get lost in a big university where everything is so anonymous so it was so wonderful to be able to experience student life at a smaller scale. Everything at college level is so much less scary than uni level, from joining societies to playing sports or just heading down to the bar of an evening - which made such a difference to someone like me who's introverted and isn't that great at socialising. For example, when I was studying for my exams I found it much less intimidating to revise in my college library than to head to the university's main library. It was also really easy to meet new people not on your course and from different years as everyone eats together and there are so many fun college events throughout the year, from formal dinners and balls to bar quizzes and secret santa! There's also a whole support system of people to help if you have a problem or just point you in the right direction, which was so lovely when I was ill and struggling.

My college is divided into accommodation blocks, and each corridor has about 14-16 people who share a lounge, toilets, showers and kitchens (although thankfully I was catered in first year so I didn't need to worry about cooking for myself). Unlike in house or flat-type setups there was nothing forcing you to interact with the people on your corridor if you didn't want to, which was both a blessing and a curse because sometimes it could feel quite isolating. Luckily there were some really lovely people on my corridor who I'm living with next year, and it also meant that it was easy to get out of your immediate living environment and socialise with people in other blocks. I was so glad to have a single room as I'm one of those people who definitely needs their own space and I'm also a bit of a neat freak so I don't think I would have dealt well with sharing a room!

I think that's more or less everything I have to say about my first year. Aside from the ups and downs I went through personally it has been a really positive experience and I'm confident I made the right decision both in terms of my course and the university itself. Although I didn't feel comfortable immediately it was easy to find help if I needed it and I felt like I had settled in by the end of the first term. Hopefully next year I will feel even more at home and start to enjoy uni life a whole lot more!

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Lately I've been busy with decorating and clearing out stuff around the house (thanks brexit for making my parents realise we may be moving sooner rather than later and so a lot needs to be done to get the house shipshape and get rid of a decade and a half of accumulating junk) but I've also had quite a lot of time to plough through books at a rate of knots. Case in point: I re-read the entire Twilight saga in under 6 days - not my proudest achievement I have to say. Anyway, here's a quick run-down of what I've been reading lately and my somewhat convoluted thoughts.

The Secret History by Donna Tartt 

Okay. This is a rare thing for me to say because I don't often come across a book that deserves this praise, but I think this may be my Favourite Book of All Time. It's kind of like a cross between The Catcher in the Rye, PRIVATE and Looking for Alaska, but in the best possible way: you've got the outcast, disillusioned by society and estranged from his family; then there's the semi-elite boarding school/university setting and the inner circle of a select few students who seem to be beyond the rules and live an opulent lifestyle, plus (spoiler alert) murder; and finally the mystery of it all, the way the main character idealises the others and gets sucked into their lives. I can't quite put my finger on why I though this was so brilliant but it absolutely captivated me. I think it's also the setting, parts of which are so well drawn it took my breath away, and just the whole pretentiousness of it all. Basically I love everything about this book. It was kind of slow to start with, especially as the first chapter basically tells you what happens in the end, but it soon picked up and it was interesting to see the events unfold in such a way that they reached the conclusion that was initially revealed.

Life of Pi by Yann Martel

I knew I wasn't going to love this from the moment I opened it - 'boy ends up stuck on boat with tiger and has an adventure' is definitely not the type of thing I'd usually go for, but I got the book a couple of years ago when it was popular and decided I ought to get around to reading it, purely to say that I'd read it. It fulfilled my expectations exactly: the subject matter didn't appeal in the slightest, but to give the author credit it was well-written enough to hold my interest as I found myself still wanting to know what happened in the end. I think I might have enjoyed this a few years ago, but it just didn't wow me. I definitely won't bother re-reading this in the future but it was an afternoon decently spent.

The Miniaturist by Jessie Burton

I both loved and hated this book. It's set in Amsterdam in the 1600s, which would normally make it a winner for me because there's just something about 17th century Holland that appeals to my historical fiction-obsessed side - not to mention the thrill I get when my 6 years of learning the language mean I can understand the odd snippet of Dutch. It differed slightly from the usual storylines of novels set in that era which (in my experience) tend to be told from the point of view of a maid (e.g. Girl with a Pearl Earring, while here the protagonist was the new wife of a merchant. Nevertheless it still held my attention and I was really enjoying the story, trying to imagine possible solutions to the main conundrum of the plot: who is the miniaturist and why is she so interested in the protagonist's life? I was avidly anticipating the big reveal but to my immense disappointment it never came, as the ending just sort of petered out into nothingness. I hate unsolved mysteries in books and this annoyed me no end, pretty much ruining the book for me. I got the feeling the author was just enjoying building up the mystery but actually had no clue how to provide an explanation for it so didn't bother. A promising read with a disappointing end.

The Originals by Cat Patrick

I've had this book on my shelves for absolutely ages, at least since my dystopian YA phase and probably before that. It's about three girls who are clones and each live one third of the day in the public eye: one does the morning at school, one does the afternoon and the third goes to evening classes and a part-time job. I thought this was an intriguing premise and it was certainly interesting to puzzle out how it would work in practice, but I felt that the plot itself left something to be desired: half the book seemed to be taken up with the narrator (one of the clones) whining about how she couldn't date some boy at her school and trying to find ways to convince her mum to let her... which bored me to tears. Towards the end of the book things seemed to pick up and there was a bit more action, but the ending fell flat in my opinion and didn't seem to resolve much. The whole thing reminded me a bit of Meg Cabot's Airhead trilogy (which is about a girl who has a brain transplant and how she deals with waking up in a new body) but without addressing the nitty gritty reality of living with a nebulous identity in society and the implications of this at a national/governmental level. All in all I was mildly let down but it was still quite a good read, though I think I would have enjoyed it more a few years ago.

Lucky by Alice Sebold

This book is truly not for the faint-hearted. The first chapter describes the narrator's brutal rape in a local park in her first term of university, and no detail is left out - thankfully I can only imagine what it must have been like to write that. What makes it even more poignant is that it's autobiographical, and Alice Sebold does an amazing job of keeping the integrity of her character intact throughout. The story follows her coming to terms with her ordeal, dealing with the reactions of others (including her friends, family and community) and eventually succeeding getting justice at the end of a long court case. It's truly heartbreaking in places, uplifting in others and generally well worth a read. I could see quite a lot of overlaps in terms of subject matter with Alice Sebold's other book The Lovely Bones but Lucky is told from a very different perspective, almost like the story has been flipped. To say I enjoyed this doesn't seem quite the right word to use but I would definitely recommend it.

Today I thought I'd do a bit of a different post and share my thoughts on my new laptop which I got a couple of weeks ago while I was in the UK. To be honest I wasn't expecting to get a new one, although my old one was on its last legs and direly needed replacing - but it just sort of happened and I'm not complaining! Although I'm far from an expert on all the IT stuff I do know the basics, that is to say enough to make an informed choice (with a little help from some tech savvy family members) so I hope this post will be useful for someone.

The main thing I was looking for in a new laptop was lightness, portability and not too small a screen. As you might imagine this proved a little tricky to reconcile because in general the lighter the laptop, the smaller it will be and so the smaller the screen! My previous laptop was a 14" screen and to begin with I was adamant that I wanted to stick to 14", partly out of habit as I'd got used to it after previously downsizing from a 15", and also out of practicality as I need to use it for writing essays and would find that hard to do on a tiddly little 11" notebook thing. But in the end 14" turned out to be hard to find as most lightweight laptops tend to be 13" or 13.3" - my new one is the latter and I have to say after a couple of days I stopped noticing the difference. It's perfectly big enough for my needs and the convenience of the weight and portability easily makes up for losing 0.7" of screen.

Anyway, onto the important stuff. The model is an HP ENVY 13-d053sa (see it on PC World here) and I have to say it has some impressive specs. It weighs a mere 1.3kg, has a whizzy i7 dual core processor, 256 KB SSD storage, 3200x1800 screen resolution and three USB 3.0 ports.

The weight is unbelievably light for a laptop (I sometimes forget I'm holding it) and is the main reason I chose it as next year I'll be doing an uphill 30 minute walk to lectures every day and there was no way I could carry my old one which weighed in at more like 2.2kg. The i7 processor is a considerable upgrade and probably a lot more than I need as I don't game or use powerful programs, but it's nice to have things work that bit faster. The lack of storage is mildly disappointing, but it's just a function of the reduced weight and doesn't bother me that much as I don't keep movies and things that take up a lot of space on my laptop, especially now I'm using OneDrive to store photos and files. The screen resolution is meaningless to me but I have been assured it is excellent so I'll take it.

The keyboard is very swish and apparently an 'island-style' one, whatever that means. Some buttons are in a slightly different place to my old one which was off-putting at first but I'm getting the hang of it now. The only thing that still annoys me is the fact that you have to hold down alt to use the home key as it's part of the arrows, but I can probably live with it in the long term. The touchpad is a million times better than on my old one which was horribly unresponsive and had a weird textured feel, but I still use a mouse if I'm just sitting at my desk as I'm so much faster with it. A cool feature is the fingerprint reader which I use to sign into my Windows account - so much quicker than typing in a password!

All in all it's the perfect laptop for me and I'm excited to make full use of it next term when I go back to uni - it's lightweight, slim and generally super swishy. One feature which it doesn't include and which is pretty much vital for me is a DVD drive, but I've got around this by buying an external DVD drive/writer. This is pretty much the best thing ever because it means you can still watch DVDs on your ultra portable laptop without having to compromise on size. They come with a USB connector cable and are really easy to use (or at least this LG one was): all you have to do is plug it in, install the software and hey presto. Well actually not quite because I did still have to install a DVD player program (this one) as well, but now it works just fine.

I would definitely recommend this laptop to anyone with a decent budget looking for a portable laptop but not a tiny notebook, and especially to university students as portability can be pretty important if you take a laptop to lectures every day.

I hope this was helpful to someone or at least somewhat informative!

x

I recently finished reading the Forbidden Spaces trilogy by Helen Grant and I thought I'd review it here because I've realised I love and hate these books in equal measures and I need somewhere to vent my frustration and praise. You'll see what I mean. Anyway, the trilogy consists of (obviously) three books: Silent Saturday, The Demons of Ghent and Urban Legends. I'd read Silent Saturday a couple of times before, but I only acquired the other two relatively recently so this is the first time I'd read them all together and in one go.

I've been a fan of Helen Grant's books for a while (she is perhaps best known for The Vanishing of Katharina Linden, but The Glass Demon and Wish Me Dead are equally creepy and gruesome and all set in the German town of Bad Munstereifel) so I was beyond excited to find out she was writing some novels set in and around Brussels, i.e. close to where I live. The first book, Silent Saturday, is named after the day before Easter Sunday when - according to Flemish tradition - the church bells fly away to Rome to collect eggs for the children. It came out on the day itself of 2013, the day after which I attended the book launch at my local English bookshop where Helen Grant was chatting with readers and signing copies - I very boringly asked about her inspiration for the novel etc etc, but I was really happy to get a personally signed copy!

Anyway. As I said, the books are set in Belgium: Silent Saturday is set mostly in the area to the south east of Brussels, The Demons of Ghent is (surprise surprise) set in Ghent, and Urban Legends returns to the same area as the first book. This was appealing enough in itself for me, as while there's never any shortage of YA novels set in the UK or US, it's much rarer to come across a book which is actually set in the area you know when that area is in a relatively small and overlooked country such as Belgium. However, I soon realised that there are disadvantages to having familiar streets and landmarks connected with a story of murders and serial killings, which I will get to later.

A quick and not entirely spoiler-less summary: the protagonist is 17-year-old Veerle De Keyser, who lives in an unnamed Flemish village to the south east of Brussels. She goes to school in a bigger town and lives a relatively normal life in a small house with her mother, albeit dominated by the latter's obsessive caution and fear for Veerle's safety at all times - especially as one of Veerle's favourite pastimes is scaling the climbing wall in a nearby town. In the end it is more or less as a direct result of this claustrophobic environment and an unwillingness to return home one evening that Veerle, on the way back from the climbing wall, decides to get off the bus and investigate a light in an abandoned and ramshackle castle she passes every day. There she meets Kris Verstraeten, a boy she knew from her village but who had moved away. But they have a deeper, more horrifying connection: ten years ago on Silent Saturday they climbed up to the top of the church tower in their village to see if the church bells had indeed flown away, and happened to witness the child killer Joren Sterckx on his way into the village, holding his victim (this is described in the first chapter and becomes central to the story). Back in the present day, Kris introduces her to a group of urban explorers, the Koekoeken (or Cuckoos), who break into empty buildings all over Brussels and the surrounding area for the thrill of it. Soon Veerle and Kris are exploring a series of luxuriously opulent houses that stand empty much of the year, doing a little maintenance work in payment for spending time there. Veerle's climbing skills come in extremely handy for scaling the front of buildings, too. But soon they realise something sinister is going on in the heart of the Koekoeken: people are disappearing without a trace and soon bodies start turning up. Kris and Veerle hatch a plan to lure the killer out into the open...

In the second book, Veerle leaves her old life in Vlaams-Brabant behind and goes to live with her father in Ghent. She tries to stay out of trouble but soon enough she is introduced to a whole other side of the city: the sprawling rooftops, a maze of surfaces and heights that prove to be no trouble for Veerle's climbing expertise. But there is something else roaming the rooftops - and when people start falling from great heights, their crumpled bodies found surrounded by salt, Veerle knows there is something dark and dangerous at work.

The idea of the 'demons of Ghent' is central to this book: the legend surrounds the painting 'The Adoration of the Mystic Lamb', by the Van Eyck brothers, and claims that the hundred and seventy people in the painting were painted from real life models, and their punishment for being immortalised in art was that they could never die, except by violence. The demons that roam the rooftops are there to make sure they never get to rest. The way the book revolves around an old legend reminded me a lot of Helen Grant's other books, especially The Glass Demon and meant that for me it didn't have nearly the same impact as the other two books in which the villain is a cold-blooded killing machine stalking his prey for the hell of it and so there is very little of the mystical/mythical quality found in her earlier books. In fact this became particularly apparent, as in all three books the chapters where we see Veerle are interspersed with chapters from the point of view of the villain - namely De Jager (or The Hunter) in books one and three and 'the man who was Death' in book two. To say these chapters are chilling and creepy is an understatement, but De Jager in particular was able to turn my blood cold with the sheer evil that he exuded, in a way that 'the man who was Death' couldn't.

I won't go into the plot of the third book because it's spoiler city for anyone who's read the first. Silent Saturday and Urban Legends are closely connected in terms of storyline and everything else, to the point where I was beginning to question the point of The Demons of Ghent altogether. It's true that you could read Urban Legends without having read The Demons of Ghent, but you could not read it without having read Silent Saturday - or at least not appreciate it. The second book works almost as well as a story on its own than as part of a trilogy, but I have to admit it did allow for some character development and the setting up of a couple of key plot details for the final instalment.

Grant's writing is well-paced and easy to read. In thrillers/crime novels I always look for that moment when all the strands come together to form the bigger picture, and there are plenty of those in the series - often this can be done clumsily, but Grant weaves the strands skilfully, dropping crumbs here and there and leading the story in twists and turns so that the reader can never quite see all the way to the end.

I really loved the characters of Kris and Veerle: they were tangible and had a lot of depth, as well as realistic emotions. This was combined with just the right amount of gusto and bravery in dangerous situations to keep the reader interested, but not enough to dismiss them as ridiculous stupid thrill-seekers. I thought Veerle in particular was courageous and dynamic in the appropriate situations, but equally cautious and reserved when the moment called for that. The whole love triangle thing (first with Kris's ex-girlfriend and then with a boy Veerle meets in Ghent) didn't really do anything for me, but ultimately I realised the relationship between Kris and Veerle is really essential for the final showdown at the end of the third book.

The other thing I loved about these books is the way Grant really captures Belgian culture and the language divide - a difficult feat as it's not as simple as people might think. The descriptions of Ghent and it's stunning old buildings were one thing, but I was impressed with the way the language differences were acknowledged without needing a huge explanation. As this is something I regularly have to explain to people who don't live here, I appreciated this a great deal. I also like that Grant kept the names of towns according to their respective languages: for example Namur keeps the French version, while Ghent and Brussels use the English spelling so as not to confuse the reader. The mentions of British expats were perhaps uncomfortably close to home - but all fair comments, and I enjoyed seeing that mild conflict in a couple of places.

All in all I really enjoyed this series. Except for the fact, of course, that I now automatically associate certain places I've been driving past all my life with the scene of murders and other gruesome deeds. My enthusiasm over finding a series that was set in my adopted country waned ever so slightly when I realised that this is not just your average YA thriller. These books are unflinchingly horrifying in the details you probably wouldn't want to know, so they're definitely not for the faint-hearted or the squeamish - which I would probably consider myself to be, but I survived by sleeping with the lights on. I would really recommend the series to anyone who's ever lived in Belgium (friends, I'm looking at you) and to anyone who just really enjoys a good thriller.

x

Bonjour,

I'm going to be honest: I wasn't expecting to like this book. I was expecting to be wildly disappointed in the lack of magic, and in the departure from the extraordinary world that is the Harry Potter universe. I was expecting to feel betrayed by the very idea that J. K. Rowling, the woman who wrote a series of books that had been fundamental in shaping my childhood, had dared to jeopardise the credibility of said universe by revealing that she was, in fact, merely a writer, by actually writing something else.

But I'm glad to say that none of my fears materialised and I enjoyed this quaint little book (I say little, it's over 500 pages but definitely very quaint) a great deal. Granted, my childhood was ripped to shreds when I spotted the first use of the f-word, among many other unexpected bombshells - but I soon realised that J. K. had decided to go all out with the shock factor and luckily the impact wore off after the first fifty thousand occurrences.

The book begins with the death of one Barry Fairbrother, a man in his early forties who dies unexpectedly of an aneurysm, ultimately triggering the events of the rest of the book. This is because he held a seat on the Parish Council of the tiny, picturesque English West Country town of Pagford - and as soon as this casual vacancy in the council appears, the other inhabitants of the village either rally their forces to continue his work or seize the opportunity to take his place, resulting in two opposing factions.

What I want to know is why my school didn't include this as an English set text for the theme of 'family and community ties' that we were assigned over these past two years, because there are some seriously complex and many-layered bonds between families and communities in this novel. The relationships between parents and children, husbands and wives, old and new members of the community are stretched to breaking point, directly or indirectly because of the divisions that occur as a result of the council election. At one point I actually had to sit down and draw a diagram showing all the links between the characters because I was losing track of their respective family groups, their alliances and above all where they stood on the central bone of contention that divides the town: the matter of the Fields housing estate and the question of its continuing association with the village of Pagford versus the nearby city of Yarvil. This whole issue is immensely complicated so I won't go into it to much, but it really is central to the story.

What struck me most about this book was how accurately J. K. Rowling captured the essence of a small, rural English town and its inhabitants. To draw perhaps the only possible comparison with Harry Potter requires returning to the opening paragraphs of The Philosopher's Stone, which I have included below for your convenience:

Mr and Mrs Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much. They were the last people you'd expect to be involved in anything strange or mysterious, because they just didn't hold with such nonsense. 

Mr. Dursley was the director of a firm called Grunnings, which made drills. He was a big, beefy man with hardly any neck, although he did have a very large moustache. Mrs. Dursley was thin and blond and had nearly twice the usual amount of neck, which came in very useful as she spent so much of her time craning over garden fences, spying on the neighbours. The Dursleys had a small son called Dudley and in their opinion there was no finer boy anywhere.

This novel, terrifying in its ordinariness, is quite an extraordinary feat. Rowling takes such a mind-numbingly dull idea and setting, and over the course of the story manages to deeply invest the reader in local politics and fictional feuds, to the extent that I found myself eagerly anticipating both the outcome of the election and the new council's first meeting afterwards. Poorly written, this book would have been incredibly tedious and boring - but as it stands, and in the highly capable hands of the author, The Casual Vacancy is a curious mix of comfortably familiar, scandalously realistic and oddly thrilling. Above all, it offers a fascinating insight into the intricacies of human nature: the characters are so real, their thoughts and passions so absurdly commonplace and relatable, the setting so nondescript, that the town of Pagford could quite easily be any small country town. But that doesn't stop the intricate web of loyalties and vendettas the author weaves between the inhabitants of Pagford being any less fascinating.

I read a review somewhere that claimed the pacing was slow and that it only picked up around page 300. While I don't disagree, I think the first more slowly-paced section is necessary for all the characters to be introduced and to establish the rhythm of daily life in Pagford. Action or adventure are not words I would ever use to describe this book, but there is a certain sense of crescendo in the final chapters as it builds towards the epic conclusion (which left me feeling a bit teary, I have to admit).

All in all I very much enjoyed The Casual Vacancy (I gave it five stars on Goodreads), but I'd be wary of recommending it to everyone. If you pick this up thinking it's going to be like the Harry Potter series in any way, I'd suggest you think twice and at least read the blurb before starting it. If the story of a small town appeals to you, go for it, but don't read this just because J. K. Rowling wrote it.

Please let me know if you've read The Casual Vacancy and what you thought of it!

x

I had my last exam yesterday, which means this is officially the first day of the summer holidays for me! I still have to go back to school for graduation next week, but I'm really looking forward to that actually - I'll probably do a really emotional post about leaving school behind blah blah blah. Now that I have more time on my hands, I can dedicate a lot more of it to blogging and hopefully come up with some interesting and creative ideas for posts. Having said that, I'm proud that I managed to more or less keep blogging through the entirety of the exam period!

Today I wanted to talk a bit about a fashion/lifestyle newsletter I signed up to a month or so ago, the Newsette. Someone on Polyvore sent me a message asking me to check it out, so I googled it and easily found the website.

It basically does what it says on the tin: it's a newsletter with four main parts (things to do, things to know, best pics on instagram and some sort of list of tips or must-have items) that is completely free of charge and drops into your inbox every day. 

The first section is short and generally comprises a link to another website, and ranges from anything from frizz-resistant hairstyle ideas to how to eat healthy at Dunkin' Donuts. This is followed by a few somewhat frivolous news items, mostly to do with celebrities, viral news stories or videos, or general current events, each with a link to find out more if the brief summary catches your attention. The 'best pics on Instagram' section is a nice visual element, often featuring well-known bloggers such as Kristina Bazan (who seems to be featured in every other edition). The last section is a bit more miscellaneous, including features such as music awards highlights, fashion must-haves, tips for flawless skin, smmer bucket lists, hairstyles, most buzzed about beauty products and lots more. You can find examples of past issues on the 'archives' section of the website.

Basically, the Newsette is the ultimate accessory reading material for your typical Starbucks-going American girl: it comes straight to your smartphone 'before you grab your morning latte'. It's light-hearted, fun, takes about a minute to scan through and gives you a few little windows into the worlds of fashion, makeup and the internet. Given it's completely free I think it's worth a quick sign up, just for the knowledge that something short and sweet will drop into your inbox every day.

The only actual criticism I have is that it's so American-orientated: mine arrives mid afternoon, which roughly corresponds to early to late morning in the States, which isn't a problem in itself but the whole 'before you grab your morning latte' is slightly redundant. I think it would be a nice idea if each subscriber could set their time zone and receive the newsletter when they want.

All in all I'm glad I took a couple of seconds to sign up to the Newsette - click here to go to the website for more information.

Bonjour,