The EU Debate

After last night's votes and today's results, there has been a lot of chatter on social media about the referendum. I'm now sitting in a cafe and I can hear people all around talking about it. Some sound truly despondent. Some are laughing like it's any other day. As a country we were truly divided and we still are.

Personally, I didn't know what to think in the lead up to the vote. I don't pretend to know much about politics and I tend to stay out of it most of the time. But I knew this time my vote was important and that if I didn't put a cross in one of those boxes I would come to regret it.

I voted in. I believe that if you don't fully understand what this kind of change could bring, then why vote for it? I voted in because I knew that if we stayed those of us who didn't understand would have more time to learn and then there would probably be another vote in a few years. I also voted in because I believed it was the right thing to do.

Everyone is entitled to their opinions. The people who voted out had their reasons to do so, as a lot of people had their reasons to remain in. Now that the result has come through, I am left wondering what the impacts of this change may be.

A large number of the remain votes came from the younger generation. The people aged between 18-24 knew what they wanted for their futures. Figures I've seen have averaged around 75%. However, they have been left with a future they may not want. It will be the youth who will have to deal with consequences of this. And the even younger, the 16-18 year olds, who just watched it happen without being allowed a say at all. There's something inherently wrong with that.

I've just graduated from a university that houses so many international students. I know that a lot of the income to the university comes from international studiers coming here to learn, to experience and to contribute. Now I'm concerned what will happen to them. When students want to study abroard, whether that means them coming to us or us going to them, how easy will that be?

As a young person, I can't help but worry about the effects it will have on myself and my children. With the possibility of trade change will that affect houses, jobs, education? We've already dropped in economic power just from this morning's results. And how will our laws change? When the Lib Dem's left parliment, we realised the effects they had halting some of the suggestions that were being put forward. Will it be the same for this? I don't claim to know but they are thoughts that have run through my head.

European countries lit up their countries with our flag last night in a bid to convince us to stay. They may have done this for selfish reasons but it showed unity. Which we have dismissed. I will always believe in unity in numbers and we have voted for solidarity. I don't know what this could mean for us in the future. I just hope they will still stand by our side should we ever get into trouble.

We are not a perfect country. We are a country in need of help, reported on almost daily in the paper. And now we have further divided ourselves within our own borders. With all the terrible things going on in the world right now, I think we should be taking down barriers, not putting more up.

Everyone has their right to have their say. I'm not saying the people who voted out are wrong because that would be bigoted of me and I'm not that kind of person. I'm just using my right to express my own opinions and thoughts on the matter.

And who knows, we may be better off having voted out. Our country may progress even further now we are not constricted within the ruling of a union. Maybe we will become stronger economically, progress further than we ever thought.

Regardless of what the outcome was, we all knew that only time would tell on the results.

I promise my post next week - or maybe later this week - will be much less drab and much cheerier!

Finishing University and What Comes Next

It has been almost an entire year since I last posted a blog here. A lot longer than I am proud of. But now that university has finished and I have no deadlines around every corner, I've decided I'm going to start posting here again. I'm aiming for a post a week, optimistically, so we'll see how that goes.

Since the last three years of my life have been dedicated to my degree, I feel my first post should be about that such thing.

University takes up a lot of time. Even though it's only three days a week, it embroils itself into every aspect of your life. Your closest allies become those in your course, your computer becomes filled with mountains of documents for each module. Even when you go out you're wondering how you can incorperate the experience into an assignment. Well, I was anyway, but I have always been known to be a bit OTT when it comes to work.


I have adored my degree. It's been my home. Not only has it given me the opportunity to meet some amazing people who will be friends for life, but it has helped me to advance my writing skills exponentially. I experienced and adored modules I would have never seen myself taking. I can now call myself a screenwriter, a novelist and a journalist. University has taught me a lot about my own determination, resiliance and talents.

Now the big question is 'what comes next?'. When my lectures finished April and my deadlines came and went in April, I was thrilled to have some time where I could sit down, in my PJs, and watch iZombie back to back without feeling guilty. Or pick up a book and read without feeling the need to somehow fit it into one of my assignments. However, that freedom-feeling passed quite quickly. The nothingness soon reminded me that I would not be going back to university in September. So the job-hunt began.

Over my time at university I have tried hard to amount up experience that would help me to achieve a job at the end of my degree. I used my spare time to not have to worry at the end about what I would with no employment positions under my belt. However, it doesn't appeared to have helped as much as I had hoped. I failed to remember that everyone in England was finishing their degree at the exact same time as me, with thousands of people finishing the same course and wanting the same job. So every application I have been sending out has been returned to me with an upsetting decline.

Leaving university is difficult and I don't want anyone to have any preconceptions that it's any different. It's a race to find a job before your flat contract ends. It's a panic at what you're possibly going to do with your life now. But it's not all terrifying. I have some great contacts who want to help me find a job and are doing everything they can to help. I have some incredible family and friends who keep a smile on my face and constantly remind me that something will come along. And I have First Class Honours degree that I can be proud of, knowing I put everything I had into it and it paid off. There are so many opportunities out there and it only takes one person, one job posting, to spot you in the crowd.

What comes next is difficult to define but I know it will be as exciting as what has come before. I look forward to the next challenge, the new friends I will make and the hurdles of adult life I am about to face. Plus I have a wedding to plan and what came be more exciting than that?

Until next time readers...