Valentine's Day/Big Wheel

For Valentine's Day last Friday, my boyfriend and I took a trip on the big wheel in Manchester Picadilly. The big wheel used to be found near the Triangle, at the back of the Arndale Shopping Centre but was taken down so that during the 2012 Olympics tourists and citizens alike could watch the sports on the big screen which is positioned in front of rows of stone benches next to Selfridges. 

I took a ride on the wheel when it was near the Triangle and from judging both rides, I think the new positioning of the wheel is a good thing. Although its previous location gave just a nice a view, the area around it was cramped and tourists would always come up to me on Market Street and ask me where they could find it. The new positioning is right bang in the middle of Manchester, near the train station where most people arrive at and near the big department stores Primark and Debenhams, so no one can really miss it.

A sky ride was erected in the middle of 2013 which allowed people to pay around £6 (if my memory serves me) for a ride which took you high up in the air so that you could get a good view of central Manchester. If I am right, this ride was a test to see how many people would use the ride and how much profit it would generate, as the big wheel has been put up in its place. Maybe I'm wrong, but that's what I'm assuming in the mean time.

The wheel took us around 4 times for the student price of £6, which was incredibly worth it. As we went around the second time, two police cars sped by on the ground and pulled up at a shop, where a crowd of people were gathering. We got a birdseye view of the action and it was quite exhilarating. The view at night was beautiful, especially with the coloured fountains below (something I recommend going out of your way to see, if you ever find yourself in Picadilly) and the iconic silhouette of the Hilton Hotel in the distance.

After the big wheel, we found ourselves wandering around by Albert Square, then a quick trip to King Street then finally at the sweet shop in the Arndale. All in all, it was a Valentine's day well spent (and our first!)

New Music: Five Seconds Of Summer (5SOS)

There's four of them, they're Australian and they've supported One Direction on tour; Five Seconds Of Summer are a perfect match for a teenage girl.

They're about to tour the UK (buy tickets here: [x]) and they've recently been scouring the country to promote their new single, 'She Looks So Perfect'.

The single has a catch opening which, teamed with an initial Harry Styles voice-a-like makes for an undoubtfully successful debut.

The band (Luke, Callum, Ash and Michael) rose to fame last year when they supported One Direction on their second and world tour following the release of the album 'Take Me Home'. '5SOS' were suddenly known worldwide by Directioners, who flocked to the band on twitter, increasing their popularity through word of mouth- er, tweet.

I just felt the need to share this song with you all as it's really catchy and cheers you up after a hard day of work!

Twitter: [x]

London Calling

Please forgive me for the clichéd post title!

On Monday I travelled down the M6 en route to London, capital of England and home of the Queen, Sherlock Holmes... and Boris Johnson.

The trip was arranged by the Media department at my college and only cost £90 for a one night stay in a three star hotel, a trip to the London Eye and a tour around the new headquarters of the BBC.

I've done a little montage vlog of the two days and I hope you're willing to spend 6 minutes of your time listening to Beyoncé and Ellie Goulding and watching some shaky filming and awful, rushed editing. Drop a comment if you like, drop a comment if you hate.

I'll probably do a written review below when I have the time to fully reflect, but for now, enjoy! (Video is at the top of this post)

Media Coursework Results

Hello guys! Today I bring a quick personal update and some brilliant news.

I am currently studying A Level Media and on Monday our semi-official coursework marks were released to us and I am proud to reveal that I achieved an A* overall!

The coursework consisted of a blog [x] and a music video [x] which we made in October. We could choose any song to use and my group decided on Bastille's song 'Flaws', which they recently (re?)released as a single, so obviously we must of inspired them to make it a hit...

We really worked hard and I think my advice to any other Media student who wants to do well is bulk out your blog with good quality posts and don't worry if you're not confident with your video, it can turn out rubbish and as long as you mention the mistakes you've made then you've justified your work and you've shown the examiner that you can criticise your own work constructively.

We were only on the border of an A* though so I am a little worried that the examiner will lower it slightly and we'll fall back into the A grade boundary. But even an A is more than I could've hoped for!

I also received my mock exam results. Which were not so good, to be honest. I achieved an E in Maths, a D in English Language and Literature and a B in Media. You can see where my talents lie. 

I did enjoy the maths exam though and I'm a little baffled to where I went wrong. I'll be revising profusely over the next few months, I can't afford to get anything less than a B overall, as my offer from Leeds University wants AAB overall. Wish me luck!