48 HOURS IN HASTINGS UK

Saturday

Since I have finished my internship in August, I have had some time to myself over the summer. In that time, I spent 48 hours in Lincoln, and I have also recently been to Hastings in East Sussex.


My boyfriend, Joe, is from Hastings when we aren't at uni together so I go there to visit him from time to time when he's at home and I really like it there.


It's right on the sea and Joe's house is walking distance to everything so I got a lot of steps in. When I drive into Hastings I get to drive along the sea front which is so pretty and it always seems to be nice weather when I go there.


beach huts in Hastings


When I arrived in Hastings, we did our usual walk around by the beach and through the town. We have a little tradition of going to this little local seafood shop by the beach and getting some food so we did that on the first day and sat on the beach for a little while.


I also love to get an ice cream when I'm near the sea so we did that too, after eating our seafood. Hastings has so many local seafood restaurants and fish and chip shops, you really can taste the difference in freshness with it being a seaside town.


In the evening, we went for a few drinks but didn't stay out too late.


The next day, we went to the seafront again and played some minigolf. Joe won, I am still yet to beat him but it's going to happen one day!


After spending the day out again, we went to a seafood restaurant in the old town called Whites. The old town in Hastings, is more individual restaurants, shops and pubs as opposed to the new town with things like Primark and Pizza Express. I really like that they have both options.


Seafood platter in Hastings


We had a huge seafood platter which is unlike me because I'm really fussy with food. I just wanted to try it because we were right by the sea and I thought I'd like most of it. All of it was so nice apart from oysters, I don't think I'll eat one of them again in a hurry. 


After we ate so much food, we went for a few drinks on the pier. Hastings pier is quite big and since the social distancing rules have come into place, they put a DJ set on the pier with a bar and tables for drinks. I have never had drinks on a pier before so it was something new for me.


Just before leaving on my last day there, we went on a dog walk at a really pretty country park called Fairlight, it had such amazing views to the sea.


I quite like writing about places that I visit in the UK, so I will definitely be doing more 48 hour style blog posts whenever I go anywhere now.


Where's your favourite place to visit for a weekend away?


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Related Read: 3 Days in Suffolk


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THE MASTER MINDSET DIARY - AMANTHIS REVIEW

Tuesday

 *AD - PR sample. I have received this product for review but all opinions are my own. For more information, see my disclaimer.


I recently received the Master Mindset Diary starter kit from Amanthis. Amanthis is a small stationary business that aims to create affordable stationary.


Master Mindset Diary starter kit


The diary runs from August 2020 until August 2021, so it's perfect for studying. When I first flicked through the diary, I noticed that each month has a calendar view of the month for you to write things in if you just wanted to see what you had on in the month. There are also weekly pages for planning your availability week by week. 


Each page has a positive quote on the top, which I really love and before each month there is a quote to keep you going. My favourite thing about the Master Mindset Diary, is that it isn't just a space where you can plan your time, it also has positive affirmations, space to write goals, productivity levels, moods and achievements. 


I'm going to be using my Master Mindset Diary for university, blogging and just life in general because it has already started helping me to plan for the new academic year.


Positive quote in mindset diary


In the starter kit, I also got some Goal Getter pencils, a couple of pens, a list pad and a finance tracker. I will definitely be using the finance tracker while at university this year. 


I do really like a diary and most of the time, I prefer a January - January one but this mid year diary is going to help me so much in my final year of uni. 


Do you like using diaries to keep organised? 


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Related Read: 5 Steps to Becoming More Organised at University


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TOP TIPS FOR STARTING UNIVERSITY

Saturday

It's almost time for university to start again, and a lot of you may be starting for the first time. I am going into my final year this month and I wanted to share with you some of my the things you should know before starting university. Everyone has different experiences with uni, but I will be basing my advice off of the experiences I've had.

Graduates throwing caps

Tip 1: Before moving into your new place, see if there are any groups or group chats you can join beforehand for your halls or course or just uni in general. You might be able to get to know some people before meeting them and this can take so much pressure off if you have already kind of spoken to them online.

I joined chats when I was about to be a fresher and I actually met up with some of the people from the chat before starting uni. I wasn't going to live with them but this was so helpful because if I didn't make friends with my flatmates, I knew I had other friends to do stuff with. Ultimately, I got on so well with the majority of my flat.

Tip 2: Don't panic buy - Before starting uni, I did the classic Ikea trip and bought all sorts of stuff that I have never used, like a potato peeler. Have I ever peeled potatoes? No. That's just an example, you may well use a potato peeler but just think carefully about what you will actually use so you don't waste money. 

If you don't have something, you can always go and buy it. If you do have the opportunity to talk to your flatmates before moving in, it might be worth seeing what people can bring so you can share stuff. You will need to save all the money you can!

Tip 3: Buy some sliders! I tweet this one a lot because I wish I knew it before uni. Your kitchen floor probably will get messy quite quickly due to the amount of people living in your flat if you're in halls. The last thing you want to do is go into the kitchen barefoot or in socks and get something gross stuck to your foot. 

Also, fire alarms tend to go off pretty regularly so it's easier to just slip a pair of sliders on instead of spending ages putting shoes on. You will not regret investing in a pair for uni, and they have plenty in Primark to choose from if you're on a budget.

Tip 4: Forget about college - College is a pretty stressful time and uni can be stressful too, but it's so different to college so try not to compare the two. Use uni as a fresh start for yourself and just try to have the best time while you're there.

Tip 5: Try and be as organised as possible - There is a lot of stuff to do at uni and if you're moving away from home, there may be lots of things you want to get out of your new city. Just make sure you plan out your time for everything so you can work hard and play hard. Yes, you are there to get a degree but you may as well make the most out of where you're living and make the most out of uni life. Read more here about staying organised at university.

Are you starting university this year, or do you have any more tips for uni students? As I said, I am going into third year so if you have any tips for that, I will need all the help I can get.

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HOW I REACHED 10,000 MONTHLY BLOG VIEWS

Tuesday

This post contains affiliate links so I will earn a small commission when you buy through these links. Please see my disclaimer for more information. 

As a lot of you may know, I have been blogging on and off for over 4 years. It was kind of just a hobby for me as and when I felt like it, and it wasn't until the coronavirus lockdown until I started blogging regularly. After regular blogging since April 2020 and putting in more hard work, I am proud to announce that I received 10,700 blog views for July 2020. This is a massive success for me since in April, I had just over 1000 blog views for the month. Thank you so much to everyone who has been reading and supporting my blog over the last few months.


Celebration balloons


How did I achieve this?


I still wouldn't call myself an expert when it comes to blogging and I know that there are people out there with a lot more views than this. I am still always trying to learn more about it, but I'd just like to share with you how I got to 10k monthly views in the hope that I could help some current or aspiring bloggers. 

It's also important to keep organised and you can do this by using The ULTIMATE yearly blog planner from Of a Glasgow Girl.


Sharing my blog everywhere


After writing and publishing a blog post, I would promote it over every social media channel. I will create an Instagram story of the post, prompting people to click the link in my bio to see my blog. I will also share the blog on my Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and sometimes LinkedIn if it's relevant to my audience on there.


Twitter


The main source of my blog traffic comes from Twitter. I will share 3 blog posts a day on Twitter, including new ones and old ones. I schedule these posts using Buffer. Make sure to tag in retweet accounts when tweeting blog posts as the blogs will be retweeted and will reach more people.


Here are some of the blog post retweet accounts I tag:

  • @bournemouthbloggers and @sotonbloggers - make sure you use your local equivalent of this if there is an account for it. 
  • @bloggerstribe
  • @cosyblogclub
  • @BloggersHut
  • @theclique_uk

On Twitter, there are also daily blog post engagement threads that you can add your blog posts to. Post your blog on these threads and be sure to interact with other creators and comment on other blogs. I use threads from the following Twitter accounts:
  • @GoldenBloggerz
  • @unpredictedpage
  • @_kayleighzara
  • @cosyblogclub
  • @theclique_uk
  • @BloggerDreamsRT
  • @TRJForBloggers
  • @BloggersHut
  • @LaurenyLoves

Pinterest

I only started using Pinterest a few months ago and I am still learning lots about it, so I am by no means an expert. I managed to get my monthly unique viewers on there up quite rapidly but the clicks through to your blog is the main thing. Some people get most of their blog traffic from Pinterest so it's worth using for your blog.

Basically, you just need to create lots of pins for each of your blog posts to promote it on there. There are lots of useful guides out there about using Pinterest to attract traffic to your blog, I am still getting to grips with it at the moment but I managed to get over 100 views from Pinterest in July so it was a good addition.

Advice if you are starting a blog

If you are new to blogging, I would just say set aside some time to promote your blog as well as writing it. Consistency was the key to reaching my goals for me so just try and give yourself a routine.


I haven't spent lots of money on my blog and don't think you need to in order to be successful, it's just your personal preference in how you'd like to invest in it. Also, spend time trying to grow your social media too as the more followers you have on there, the more members of the potential audience you will reach by sharing it on there.

Once again, I'd like to say I'm not an expert and I am still learning about blogging every day. Let me know if you have any blogging tips that I've missed out, I'd love to know how you promote your blog!

Some extra blogging resources


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