A busy 3 weeks!

So yet again ive been lax in my blog posts, my apologies! Its been quite busy since my last post with both uni and personal stuff so its all been a bit manic but I finally feel as of im settling into uni again and that I am ready to tackle thrid year! 

Lots has happened since the last post and lots of juggling has been going on to make sure everything is done and completed on time and people are happy! 

So since my last post I have attended and helped out at two open days for the university (Friday 18th and Saturday 19th) and as always they were fantastic, I genuinely love helping out for open days and speaking to potential law students helping to adddess any problems or concerns they may have and answer questions from a students point of view and give a different perspective than that of the lecturers :) for example lots of people ask about accomodation which is something the lecturers dont really know about personally so thats where I step in! :D 

Its also been quite manic with university work but it's all about keeping calm and just getting on about it which is what I do! There has been lots of seminar prep to do over the past few weeks and as ive still been trying to get to grips with the topics its been taking longer than normal but I think thats because more is expected of you in third year but also that the work IS harder which it should be! But I think im getting to grips witht hat one now and feel like im understanding my topics far more than I was to begin with :) 

Ive also got my first draft of my dissertation plan!!!!!!! WAHOOOO!! Im so happy to have my first draft - its rubbish and I know that but I have something down on paper so I can now spend time building on it :D my supervisor has been a great help too and im really enjoying writing it all up...so far ;) 

Ive also been trying to juggle work and home life alongside uni which is proving a little difficult but having a job alongside uni is a great help at the same time, it allows me to focus on something completely different and take a break from law (as much as I love it, studying it 24/7 can prove more of a hinderance than help and just cause more stress!) and also the extra money is good too as its helping me save for my masters degree! :D 

Home is obviously something that you cant miss out on, no matter how busy and stressed you are with university nothing is more of a stress reliever than going home and getting a hug from your mum and dad and a proper home cooked meal! IT CANT BE BEATEN! Ive spent a few days over the past week or two at home mainly because my mum is unwell but its been the break I needed and after everything, I think its reset my clock and now im raring to go with univeristy! 

Back to uni - I was elected the student representative for my year group last week which im really happy for and I have my training for that today (in half an hour!) and then my first student and staff meeting as a student rep (I attended the meetings last year as a law society representative so I know how they run!) so im looking forward to carrying out my role through the year :D 

Finally before I finish this rather long blog post thats more like a splurge of things on the page, the university trip to London I was going on has been postponed :( Im quite sad about it as I was really looking forward for the trip and spending some time with people I love to pieces! But im so glad its just being postponed though and not completely cancelled so at least now I can save some more so it can be even better than it would have been! :D ROLL ON LONDON 2014!!!! :D 

But anyway enough of my ramblings!  I must dash to finish getting ready for my student rep training! 

Bye folks!

Karina 

October Update!

Wow! so it was over 3 weeks ago since my last blog post!

Time really is flying by and its almost like 3rd year is going to be a whistle stop tour if im honest!
Over the past few weeks I've been so busy trying to keep up with university work: including seminar prep, meetings and research! alongside my paid job working in the bridges (which I absolutely adore, and kinda wish that I had more hours there despite already being really busy!) and then actually trying to see friends,family and my boyfriend!
Its all rather crazy and slightly stressful but I didn't expect anything less with it being third year.

So what have I actually been doing i hear you cry?
Well like i say things have been pretty hectic with university work, were now into "proper" lectures rather than introduction lectures and I can honestly say that I am loving all my topics! They all have various different aspects to them that are fascinating, I'll briefly explain them to you so you get an idea of what my third year is like:

Family Law: In family law the majority of our work is centered around the institution of marriage, were currently looking at what constitutes a Void, Voidable and Valid marriages, and the statutory provisions governing those areas which are mainly S11 and S12 of the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973 which govern the grounds in which a marriage can be Void or Voidable. This area is fiercely interesting, and creates a lot of debate when in seminars as every person has a different view as to each of the provisions and as to what marriage is to them. There is also large debate regarding the Same Sex Marriages, again which I find very interesting!

Succession: Succession is all about Wills and Probate really, so it can be a rather morbid and potentially upsetting discussing death in the lectures and seminars (especially for myself but we shall leave it at that for the time being!) but lets face it we all have to die eventually and whether it  (god forbid!) be sooner or (hopefully!) later its something that will effect us all eventually - therefore succession is a very practical module in that respect.We are currently discussing the make up of a will and its characteristics - including the problems with home made wills. Again a very interesting subject especially for myself.

Equity and Trusts: This links quite nicely to Succession as it also deals with Wills to a certain extent and deals with the creation of trusts within wills and discusses (lightly) the rules regarding equity. Equity is only a small subject in comparison to Trusts therefore we focus mainly on the trusts side of equity and trusts. We are currently looking at the Three certainties of a trust and this is what we are being assessed on so its paramount for us to understand and for us to research these areas.

Space Law: WOW! What an area!!!! I'm so excited to be studying this module! We only have Space Law every 2 weeks like our other seminars but as we don't have weekly lectures these workshops are 3 hours long. We have had 2 workshops since starting back at university and we are still getting to know the basics of Space law. Its a heavily influenced international law module which I will be truthful I didn't expect but its very interesting as I've never studied any international law previously (I've avoided it if I could!). Our main statute is currently the Outer Space Treaty which we spent the last seminar analysing and discussing to who and what it applied to - In our next seminar we are looking at Astronauts :D

OCT: Yikes! Another HUUUUUGE module that is fascinating! But must be taken very seriously at the same time. For those who may not know "OCT" stands for "Organised Crime and Terror" - so quite controversial and very dangerous territory! We are looking at the legal areas and statutory provisions that govern terrorism and terrorism laws relating to the UK. Its a very fast paced and constantly changing area and for our next seminar we have been given the task of Defining terrorism - a VERY hard task!

Dissertation: Well this is mainly a self taught module as most will know - we have had 2 lectures around how to set out the dissertation and with some general information on methodology and how to structure our dissertations, alongside do's and dont's and lots of helpful hints and tips as to how to go about our dissertation! I started research for mine during the summer but now im focusing in further on a topic so sadly some of that research is now not relevant but there is a lot that is so im still ahead....a little! But now I must ensure that I keep up the work on my dissertation and not let it slip because I don't have lectures or seminars in it. I cant wait to start writing it up.

So a quick (ish) update on what's happening at uni! Not much is happening outside university at the moment accept work but that's just work and its fun! Ooooooo I did treat myself to some gig tickets as well!! My first ever gig will be......(drum roll!) FALL OUT BOY!!!!! Woooo :D That's in March and I cant wait! I'm hoping it will be a little break from everything I'm doing at university and be a little treat, so fingers crossed!

Anyway off to do some more research! Space law this time as I've spent the day reading my articles for my dissertation so I need a little bit of a change :)
Toodle Pip!
Karina