October 2016 - Rachel Ellen

Sunday 23 October 2016

Autumn updates

The blogging community's collective favourite time of the year has come around again, Autumn! The weather is dipping meaning more chunky jumpers, scarves, hats and gloves. The trees are vibrant shades of reds and oranges and Halloween is just around the corner.



In the educational world, this means things are getting serious, we're not a newbie anymore, we have so much more knowledge already and we're so tired.

So far on my course (if anyone is interested) I have about 3 trees worth of notes for Media Law, I have done hours and hours of Shorthand, I've been in discussions about the ethics of journalism, learnt a lot about news writing and even more about multi-media.

We have been taught about filming, photography, voice recordings, both on mobile and the specialist equipment. I think I've learnt more in my four weeks of this course than I did in three years of my undergraduate degree.




A picture I took in one of my multi-media sessions

I think, unfortunately the fun stuff is out the way, and now I'm moving on to the serious work, we're thinking about assessments more and more, which is terrifying, I feel like I've only just started.

How's everyone's educational year going so far?
Or are you missing/not missing education?

Thanks for reading,

Rachel xx

Ps. Here's another picture from a multi media session, I haven't found any appropriate context to share this so here it is!

It feels like modern art


Wednesday 12 October 2016

Goodies From The Body Shop


Last Friday I visited Meadowhall in Sheffield with my boyfriend for him to look for a birthday present for his Gran. On our journey we ended up in The Body Shop (no surprises, it's the title of the post) and when I was in there I was told about a little deal they had on.

You could get any three single items for £20, and that includes the big pots worth £28, so really, how can you say no? My favourite smell from The Body Shop is the British Rose, it's just so gentle, but unfortunately, they didn't make that in the big pot, so instead I picked up two big pots of the Moringa body butter, quite a flowery smell, nothing overpowering, and a smaller pot of the British Rose body butter.



So, £28+£28+£14= £70 worth of stuff for only £20!!

But that's not all...

They had another deal (another! I hear you say) that if you spent over £25 you got a free tea tree set. As my boyfriend had chosen something for his gran, we had spent the more than enough.




Within this set I got:

Skin Clearing Mattifying Toner
Skin Clearing Foaming Cleanser
Mattifying Lotion

Which in total should be £20, totally for free. So I spent £20 and got a heavy bag full of stuff! So pleased.

Unfortunately the deal isn't still on, but they have just put a sale on (I only know cos we went back for more, gotta think of Christmas!)

This post does sound like it's in line with The Body Shop, but it really isn't, I was just so excited!

Thanks for reading,

Rachel xx

Sunday 9 October 2016

Learning Shorthand


Two weeks ago, I started my Masters degree in Magazine Journalism and I think I've been tired for those whole two weeks. I have had so many contact hours in uni, in fact I did more in my first day than I would have done in 2 weeks in the final year of my undergraduate degree! The whole thing is so fun and so crazy and scary. I'm meeting a whole new set of people, learning a new set of skills, and so much knowledge. 

But for today I am just going to talk about shorthand. I am in uni Monday - Friday at 8am for shorthand for 2 hours. 8AM! I haven't missed a single one so far which is a lot better than most people! 

Shorthand is a skill that many journalists have, although it is becoming less used. Shorthand is defined on Google as "a method of rapid writing by means of abbreviations and symbols, used especially for taking dictation." But basically is like learning a whole new language.



It really does take time and patience to learn and I am finding it so difficult, but I have to keep reminding myself I am only two weeks into the course.

To leave this degree with the ability to write in shorthand will be so special though, especially in the world of magazine journalism where it is much less common to have it. However, with the amount I am working on it and thinking about it, it is starting to drive me a little crazy, as my Tweet shows:

Seriously though, I think I need to get out more! However, me and my boyfriend have just started watching Orange is the New Black and we're really enjoying it, now I need to wait two weeks until he visits again so we can carry on watching it!

Let me know if you have learned short hand, or if it's something you want to do!

Thanks for reading,

Rachel xx






@templatesyard