Polo in the Park

On Friday on of my besties Rebecca ( You should check out her blog English Prepster, well worth a read), headed off to Polo in the Park. We can never resist a day out with the opportunity to dress up! The day was a great success, and even the weather was beautiful!

Polo in the Park has been going on for 7 years now and has grown in strength every year, with last year over 22, 000 people attending. For purposes of Polo in the Park the rules of Polo have been slightly modified. At Polo in the Park the pitch is smaller and is 8 sided in order to keep the ball in game for longer, the ball is also slightly heavier again in order to keep the ball in play longer and to make it better suited to a smaller pitch.

Each game is divided up into 4 Chukkas, each chukka lasting 7 and 1/2 minutes and the last chukka lasting only 7 minutes. This leads to a fast, action packed game that is really enjoyable to watch.

Rebecca and I thoroughly enjoyed our day watching the polo and drinking pimms! Would recommend to anyone who enjoys a good day out!

For those of you who are interested I am wearing the blue lily skater dress from Dorothy Perkins, with classic white heels from New Look and a Blue Jacket stolen from my Mum! The Hat I got from a market stall in Derby.

Ruth xx

Bows before Hoe's

One of the new things I tried and fell in love was cheerleading. When I started university I wanted to find a new sport something I hadn't done before, and cheerleading fit the bill straight away, its perfect for me, a girly yet fun sport. The cheerleading team at the university of derby (Team Derby Ravens) is a stunt team, so this involves throwing people in the air and catching them, so it can be very dangerous at times, I have already dislocated three fingers. Cheerleading requires a lot of effort and dedication; from working at the gym to improve your stamina to stretching every night to work on your splits. One thing that is great about cheerleading and particularly Team Derby Ravens is that it is a team sport and very much a family.

Within this team I work in a pod of 4, this involves two bases, a flyer and the back ( me).

As you can see everyone has great fun whilst performing, the photo above is from the universities national competition; we came 6th in our category. We also cheer at the side of matches for other university teams, showing our support.
So that is a little more about my life, and about the things I get up to and LOVE.

Ciao

Ruth xx

A First Year's Perspective

This blog is about me and my life, I'm currently just finished my first year studying psychology at the University of Derby, and i'm not going to sugar coat it, it's hard. Exams have never been my 'thing' and I do struggle, luckily I was sensible and found a psychology course which is mostly coursework (play to your strengths people!) However, university was still a shock to the system. I suffer was dyspraxia with affects your hand eye coordination and also your concentration. Although I have learnt to cope with this, I must say since starting university I have really struggled in the concentration department, and its not because the lectures are not interesting. I think perhaps it is because at school the classes were so small that teachers would quickly notice when I had gone into a daydream and act upon it, yet at university we are in lecture theaters full of 200 people and seminar classes of about 30, its much harder for the lectures to notice, let alone know who I am and what issues I may have. I also find the lack of structure at university hard, it a very your on your own situation, which is very different from school, where I was greatly helped through my exams by a wonderful sixth form adviser. This year at uni has been a shock to the system (luckily for my course first year doesn't count, so I have two years to get my ass in gear) but it has also allowed me to see where and how i need to improve. I understand that i need to have a lot of structure to my studying (I'm thinking almost a 9-5 day, studying within those hours) and organisation is the key! I need to take myself away from any distractions and make the library my home, more reading around the topics! However, i have loved my first year at University, living away from home and having more independence, I think is an important lesson in life. I have learnt many life lesson this first year at university and whether I pass or fail my university degree the experience gained will be well worth it (not that I plan to fail). During my first year at university, I have made some mistakes, fallen in love, learnt the art of drink multiple night in a row and then having to get up  the next morning for lectures, started a new sport (cheerleading, you will hear much more about this in future posts, but I LOVE it),  and I'm looking forward to the challenges and friends that next year will bring.

Ciao

Ruth xx