University education costs £3325 per year (as it stands) in tuition fees and several thousand pounds per year in living expenses, books, equipment etc. Thanks to student loans the money is accessible to anyone from any kind of background who wants to go to university. The only real difference between students from differing backgrounds is the ability, or inability to pay back the loans after the degree has been completed.

Doing an undergraduate degree isn't just about the studying though. The opportunity to move away from home is a priceless chance to meet people from walks of life that you might never have had the chance to experience yourself, and I've now met people from many different kinds of families and places all over...

Writing in blogs is a little bit narcissistic in a way, because you either write them purely for your own selfish enjoyment or you write them because you think other people ought to enjoy what you have been doing as well. There is no real generosity in sharing a blog, or anything like that. It's all just self-indulgence, be it direct or indirect.

I have my own personal blog, deep in the depths of the internet, hidden behind a fake name. Purely for my own indulgence, as I obviously don't care who else reads it otherwise I'd share the link with people. Occasionally I've shared it with friends. Once, a friend of mine at university thought I'd be an interesting focus of a project she was doing on identity. She felt like she had hit...

omeone said to me recently, anonymously, that I have no common sense. Now, I study full time, hold down two jobs and barely get into trouble of any sort, so what exactly IS common sense?

Now, if we are talking common 'behaviours and attitudes', I can appreciate that I don't have any. I'm the only one of my old school friends to not have children yet, so I'm one step behind them in that sense and couldn't say I have the maturity they are presumed to have even though my job involves teaching and looking after children day and night, so what actually is it that makes you qualify as an adult and having this common sense?

I guess 21yrs old is the general age for adulthood, so I'm not quite there yet anyway. But when...

It's actually been a whole year since I updated my blog. My summer has been quite amusing so far to say the least, though I have exams this week as I was ill during term time. I can't sleep right now and it's a bit of a pain. Especially as I have to go to work at 9. My exam is in the afternoon but I didn't see the point of taking the day off, it'd only give me time to worry and I don't want that, I'm anxious enough as it is.

I'm working 9-5 at the moment as a research intern in the Institute for Advanced Studies. The pay is pretty good and it's pay day on Thursday, so I'm really looking forward to paying off my bills (yes, really!) and going home for a night. I'm bringing my little sister up to Lancaster on Saturday and I'm...

This week I have been working as a student ambassador on the day shift. I have been on the creative writing course which has had its ups and downs.

My group has a mixture of shy, loud, cheeky, extremely bright (year 10's already doing AS levels) and what I guess can only be referred to as 'normal' level children, so preparing for their GCSE's as they all should be at that age.

Yesterday we won the 'tower challenge' (building towers out of newspaper and sellotape) for the best design! Our tower had a star shaped base because we are all special unique stars! Our prize was a box of celebrations to share!

Today we put together a poem about our time on the course for our 5 minute presentation tomorrow. My...