Sarah Ward

It’s very rare for two teenagers to save enough money for a day out that doesn’t include shopping. However, my friend Alix and I decided to get the train one Saturday to go to Nottingham Trent University’s open day, and stuck around for a few hours to explore the city. As we’re both studying A Levels it was nice to have a day where we could be carefree and relax.

I set my alarm for 5:00am, and it was a complete shock waking up and seeing it was still dark outside because I had never had to get up before 6am in my life. Our train was at 8:30 which gave us enough time to get ready and then walk to town in the pouring rain.

Thankfully it had stopped raining by the time our train got to Nottingham, and we only just managed to catch the bus that took us to the University. Alix is studying a completely different course to mine which was on a different campus, so we went to look around the Clifton campus before coming back to the main city campus. We both really loved the University and although Alix is taking a year out before going to University, I sent my UCAS application off a few weeks ago and was over the moon to receive an offer from the University.

After all the formal stuff was done and dusted, we had to get lunch because we didn’t really have time to get breakfast. We didn’t have much money after paying for our train tickets so we decided to go to Greggs because it was close by and relatively cheap.

The city itself is stunning and has so many beautiful attractions. We didn't get as much time as we'd liked to look around because we didn't want to miss our train back, so we focused mainly on the city centre and, of course, the shopping centres. Nottingham has so many shops that we unfortunately just don't have where I live, such as Urban Outfitters, so it was really refreshing to be able to explore something new.

Overall, it was really fun to be able to spend time with a friend and get completely lost in a new city together. If you're currently in the process of applying for University, I highly recommend that you go to an open day, because it completely changed my perspective of the University and the course itself.

Autumn is my favourite time of year; big jumpers, brown leaves, and cosy nights by the fire. I haven't always been a fan of coffee, however during autumn I find myself reaching for it a lot more because I think it's the perfect weather for it.

Something that always excites me about this time of year is that coffee shop's start releasing their seasonal drinks. I always make sure to take the time to go to Starbucks and enjoy one of their pumpkin spice lattes, however me and my friend came across a small coffee shop in Lincoln called Coffee Aroma that had their own version.

All drinks were fairly cheap, under £3, and for an extra 45p you could add pumpkin spice syrup to any drink you purchase. Your drink gets served on a really cute board with a glass of water and a shot of espresso just in case you prefer your coffee a lot stronger.

This is, by far, my favourite coffee shop to go to. It's not a very large building, however it creates a really calming atmosphere with acoustic music playing softly in the background and letters written by customers stuck on some of the walls, giving it a more personal feel.

If you're ever in Lincoln I highly recommend that you go here. They do amazing coffee's and hot chocolate's, and always provide a positive atmosphere.

It’s like there’s a wall between you, and the person you want to be closest to. You want to climb the wall, but you’re scared of falling, because falling means there’s a very good chance you’ll get hurt. There’s also a possibility that the person on the other side of the wall will get tired of waiting for you. So sometimes, you have to rationalise, is the wall worth climbing?

No one asks nor deserves to be anxious or depressed, yet it still happens. Anxiety is talked about a lot more today than it has in the past, making every anxious individual feel a little less alone. However, this can have some negatives.

I’ve suffered with anxiety for as long as I can remember, always putting it down to being shy or socially awkward. But being scared to message your friends in fear of rejection, being scared to even leave your house in case people look and talk about you, surely these things aren’t normal? I suffered in silence for the longest time – at school, pretty much everyone at some point says that they have anxiety, talking about it so calmly as if they’re talking about their hair colour.

It’s because of this that I was so scared to tell people, that people would think I was exaggerating and trying to excuse my behaviour.

There is a very large difference between feeling anxious, and having anxiety. It is very normal to feel anxious about any number of things; a test or job interview coming up, meeting new people, but anxiety is different. Anxiety impacts every part of your personal life on a daily basis. It has put an intense strain on most of my relationships with others because I wake up every day with an irrational fear that prevents me from being me.

Anxiety is real. It is not a phase, or something that just happens to you. For some people, it is their life.