Life Update

So my Campus is definitely closing and I've now started the process of transferring universities for September 2015. My life is in total upheaval at the moment - we're moving house, my parents are splitting up, I'm moving to university and also in the process of transferring universities - so posts will be few and far between until my life calms down.

Laura

David Koma at London Fashion Week!

We arrived at Somerset House in London last night after navigating the nightmare that is London's replacement tube services to find hundreds upon hundreds of the most fabulously dressed men and women I've ever seen. We arrived an hour early because it took so long to get in to central London that we didn't have time to go exploring like we originally planned. There was also this funky bike race type of event - I'm not entirely sure what it was even now - but seeing so many bikes was an entirely new experience.

The tickets we won were to see David Komas' SS15 collection at 7pm. We ended up on the 5th row which wasn't ideal for an aspiring fashion photographer as there were so many bodies in the way, but I enjoyed every second of it nonetheless! I could sit and watch fashion shows all day long and not complain; there are no words to describe the adrenaline rush I got from taking photos at my first ever fashion show! A lot of my images suck for a variety of reasons - mainly people's heads in the way - but the decent ones are fantastic. Even if I do say so myself.

This was an absolutely amazing experience and even if you're not wanting to work in the world of Fashion I would highly recommend you attend a catwalk show. I can't wait to start my university course next week (please sign the petition against my campus being shut down here) and this was undoubtedly the best way to get the ball rolling for my degree!

Please do not steal my pictures. You can re-post them on your own platforms but please credit photographer Laura Goldup. Link to my website here.

Not the Usual!

As previously mentioned I move over 200 miles away to attend university next weekend. Just this morning I have found out that they're planning to close my campus. It's taken me a year to get in to uni and not once have they told me they were planning to close the campus in that time.

The petition against the closure is so close to its goal and I want to do everything I can to help. I don't want to be carted off even further away from home this year or next year or the year after, and I don't want to be in a campus with nobody but the students in my own year. Neither does anyone else.

Please if you have a spare 30 seconds then sign this petition against the closure and spread the link anywhere you can. You'd be helping thousands of students, not just me.

Link to petition: http://www.newportliberaldemocrats.org.uk/savecaerleoncampus?recruiter_id=2540

Thank you from the bottom of my heart to anyone who signs.

Laura

Moving to University Masterpost!

Moving to University is more than likely the first time you've spent any considerable amount of time away from home where you have to fend for yourself - for me it certainly is! Since I move away to Wales next weekend I figured I'd write this post to share some of the awesome benefits of being a student that I've discovered over the past few weeks.

Money Things

• Apparently 3/4 of students are in some form of part time employment during uni and a lot of these people will be overpaying on tax and NI contributions throughout the year without even realising it. Obviously each case is individual and you're going to need to do your own research on your own circumstances, but chances are you'll have overpaid on tax/NI contributions and you will be entitled to a rebate of any overpayments. Please note this only definitely applies to the UK - I have no idea about anywhere else in the world but if you don't ask you don't get!
• A student bank account is a necessity. I, for one, had no idea about student bank accounts until around a week ago - I didn't even know they were a thing until I stumbled upon a Facebook group for students and they posted about the best student bank accounts! Link here. (I am no way involved with this organisation) I've opted for the student account where I get a free £60 Amazon voucher and an immediate £500 overdraft which can be increased to up to £3,000 over the duration of my course. This overdraft is going to be essential for me as I won't get my student loan for at least a week after I move! There is also a really handy comparison grid which tells you what the crack is with the offers from different student accounts - most of them come with freebies such as vouchers, free rail cards or a free NUS card! Definitely worth looking in to.
• Pretty sure everyone knows this, but, there are tonnes of websites/organisations/companies that offer student discount and you'd be crazy to miss out! The most popular student discount places are NUS (link) - £12 per year, UniDays (link) - free, most high street shops such as New Look, Paperchase, H&M, Apple Education Online (possibly in store too but I'm not 100% sure) (link) and Ark to name a few!
• Buy unbranded/basic everything. There is literally nothing wrong or drastically different about unbranded products. If it wasn't decent enough for consumption/use then they wouldn't be allowed to sell it. Supermarkets have drilled it in to our heads that branded = better and basic = substandard, and while that may be true for some products, the general rule of thumb is that you won't die if you eat/use unbranded/own brand products. Swallow your pride and try switching from branded products to the cheaper versions in the first instance - if you can't stomach the thought from going to branded products straight to the cheapest available, try moving down the price range. Most supermarkets have brands, own brand and then 'basic' versions of the same products and chances are you'll be paying more for the same thing inside the packet just because it has a name on it. A bit like clothing.

What to Take to Uni

• Clothes. Obviously. But keep in mind that the less you take, the more often you'll have to do your laundry. On the other hand, the more you take, the more laundry you have to do in the end. Find a balance between taking enough clothes to last you long enough so you're not in the laundry room every few days (and therefore paying for the washing machine more often!) but not so much that you don't have anywhere to put it. No, the floor doesn't count.
• If you're terrible at ironing like me then take as many clothes as possible that don't require expert ironing/any ironing at all.
• Focus on taking warm and comfortable clothes initially as it'll be the dead of winter before you know it and if you don't have a coat I can guarantee you will regret it.
• Money to last you until your loan comes in.
• Over-door hooks, desk tidy/desk drawers and coat hangers. Utilise your space.
• Any bulk foodstuff that you're sure you won't be able to purchase while you're there. E.g. I'm taking a bulk box of coffee that I'm getting from Makro because I need to use my mums Makro card.
• Personal documents: ID, EHIC card, passport photos, CV, bank card, confirmation letters (place at uni, room confirmation, any insurance documents, any tenancy contracts etc)
• That funky tool that's a bottle opener but also a corkscrew but also a mini knife.
• First aid kit and any medication you need.
• Your course equipment.

I can't think of anything else right now. If you have any other suggestions or knowledge to share, let me know!

Laura

SheInside Update

A while ago I mentioned my experience with ordering from SheInside for the second time. My order had been misplaced somewhere in China and the estimated shipping period had been and gone so I went after a refund. I've seen online that a number of people haven't managed to get their money back from SheInside but this post might help some of you that are in the same situation as I was!

As with my first order I worked out the dates when my order was supposed to be shipped, when my order was supposed to be delivered and the PayPal dispute deadline. Generally the shipping estimates SheInside give allow a 2 week period before the dispute deadline comes around - for example my dates were as follows:

Order placed: 6th August
Shipping: 13th-15th August
Delivery: up to 5th September
Dispute Deadline: 20th September

During the days before my Shipping deadline I got on to SheInside customer services warning them that if my order wasn't sorted by the 5th then I'd be opening a dispute - see my last post on this order here for my email correspondence. Vigilance is extremely important here as they will almost definitely try and fob you off with compensation credit to spend on the site or ask you to wait longer to see if they can 'find out what happened'. You need to be extremely clear about what you want when you're in the process of getting your money back or else you could get stung by missing the dispute deadline.

The morning of the 5th I got straight on to PayPal and opened the dispute. I would have done so sooner than this date but I figured that if I opened a dispute before the estimated shipping period was up then I'd just be told to wait until it was done with. My message to SheInside on the dispute claim quoted the past emails I'd sent them, reminded them of the fact that I pre-warned them that I would open a dispute, and also stated that the only way this dispute would be resolved is if they issued me with a full refund. I also gave them a 7 day time limit to issue this refund before I escalated the dispute further - as PayPal automatically close a dispute if there's no resolution within 20 days. I also sent their customer service department a separate email stating that I'm now after a refund. SheInside didn't reply back with any more plea bargains - instead I received a full refund this morning and a fairly pleasant confirmation email that my refund had been sorted.

Good luck to anyone after a refund from SheInside!

Laura

London Fashion Week(end)?

Disclaimer: I am in no way affiliated with Vodafone or Facebook or LFW. I have not been paid for this post.

I entered Vodafone's competition on Facebook to win 2 tickets to London Fashion Week. Or is it London Fashion Weekend? I have no idea I've seen a million different things ha.

But I've only gone and won it!

I'm actually going to Fashion Week!

There are literally no words to describe how excited I am right now. This is the absolute PERFECT start to my Fashion Photography degree - where better to find some awesome street style than at LFW?!

Going to have some absolutely AMAZING posts coming up in the next couple of weeks!
(I promise I'll get round to doing all the posts I said I'd do previously. weh)

Laura

SheInside Review #2

Okay so after my first success with ordering from SheInside I placed a second order for me and my mum. This order has somehow got lost in the post in China - Royal Mail haven't even received it and the 15 working day delivery period will be up this Friday (5th September). Not only has my trust in this company been completely violated but I am also extremely disappointed - I will not be ordering from SheInside again. I will be opening a PayPal dispute the minute the Friday post comes - more info about my experience to follow.

As I said in my previous SheInside Review - please be vigilant if you are ordering from this company and do not hesitate to exercise your right to open a PayPal dispute if anything seems wrong.

These are screenshots of my email correspondence (in order).

Me:

Them:

Me:

Them:

Me:

Them:

Laura