University Life: Everyday goodies

Hello everyone ♥ As many of you are in school, university or college I thought it might be nice to do start a series about university (or "academic") life. I mean look at it, university is where many of us spend the whole day! Or at least some part of the day.

I admit it. I have a complete obsession when it comes to stationary! (Hi Brooke, I know we feel the same way :D) So this is gonna be a picture heavy post. 

In addition to that, I kinda live by the idea that the things that I carry around with me every day have to look extra pretty. As you might know I bought a Louis Vuitton bag this year and yes I use it as an every-day bag. I don't save it for special occasions. Although I'd never go clubbing with it or take it to a football match haha. I also wear my Chanel lipstick (the only expensive lipstick that I have! No, I am not a snob!) very often. I don't care whether I will use it up one day or not. :D

Now on we go ♥

First things first. The bag. I have many different ones but if I had to pick a favourite it would be this lovely thing by Fossil. A present from my parents for my 18th birthday. It's a leather bag and I guess a guy could wear it as well so I added a pink ribbon ages ago. It came with a super heavy key as decoration which I removed. Hmm what else. I think in order to make this entry a little bit informative here is what a good uni bag should be (to my mind):

- of a decent size! Not too small, not too big. No sports bag, sorry. (I don't like the design of many of them. Maybe I haven't found a pretty one yet but I hate sports bags!)
- it should be possible to carry it cross-shoulder. I don't like backpacks so a cross-shoulder bag is a must have for me as I don't want to have issues with my back by the time I am 30 years old.
- neutral colour ♥
- it should have more than one pocket so that you can store your wallet, your phone, your water bottle etc.
- preferably leather because you want a bag that lasts you for a while.
- labels that I have made some good experience with are: Fossil, Bree, Guess. Many girls in Germany carry longchamp bags to uni but I think they really hurt your shoulder.
- a good uni bag is a nice suggestion for a christmas present ♥ 

Unfortunately this one doesn't fit folders but I don't carry folders anyway. (More about this below)

Notebooks. This sounds so obvious but check this out. I differenciate between throw-in-my-pocket notebooks and the ones I use for studying. Let's call them study- notebooks haha. In case you are wondering why I keep them: I am what people call the "visual" type when it comes to studying and revising for exams. I can't remember facts when I only hear them. I need to write everything down ;D If I ever do a study-tips section I will come back to that.

So a notebook for university should be:

- super pretty so that it kinda motivates you to write things in it :)
- not too big because you might want to carry it to the library or to your preferred place for studying
- not too expensive! Spending like 20 quit on a moleskine is ridiculous. My special tip is TKMaxx (thank you Yuxi) because they do some pretty good deals with stationary! Other than that I'd say just keep an eye out for them, especially when travelling. I found some lovely notebooks at random places such as supermarkets our sightseeing places, museums etc...♪

 

Miscellanous ♥

If you look at the photo you know what I'm talking about. Sticky notes, a nice eraser, highlighting pens, paper clips,... ♥ Everyone is different but I love using these. Most of the time I forget to do so though :D (For example I know that I have many highlighters but I use the yellow one like all the time)
You just have to find out what works for you ♥ These things are not expensive and you might laugh now but I bought many of these at our local supermarket.

As said before, I don't use big folders. Instead, I use paper folders but I believe they are not very well known outside Germany. The way it works is that you collect everything relevant to your course in a paper folder and once you're done with a specific topic or once it gets too heavy, you put all the paper into a larger folder :D The good thing about these paper folders:

Let's say you study English. On Monday, you have linguistics (blue folder) and cultural studies (orange folder). On Tuesday, you have linguistics but you don't have cultural studies so what would be the point in carrying the orange folder with you ;) My university bag gets really heavy as I also carry a bottle of water around with me. Paper folders help me to "save a little bit weight". Hopefully you get what I mean.

Index Cards - my greatest love ever since I had to learn definitions by heard. They come in all sizes ♥ You can usually choose between graph paper which is good for science, ruled paper and plain paper. My favourite is plain because it doesn't distract my eyes. Haha, I'm so weird.

Index Cards really help you when you start preparing for exams. You can carry them anywhere, they rarely break (their material is thicker than paper) and you can kindly ask people to help you rivising with them. :D

My desk ♥ Haha I don't know why I added this photo. This is it in it's idealized state. It looks quite tidy, doesn't it? I personally can't concentrate when I have thousands of things laying on my desk so I tidy it up every one or two days. For some reason I tend to put everything on it: My wallet, my phone, my laptop...(Even when I don't need it for studying). Bad habit! A tidy desk helps me to focus on whatever I have to do most importantly. :D Is this just me being strange? Or does anyone feel the same?

If you are wondering what the little airplane is doing on my desk ~ my friends gave it to me five years ago before I went to England for half a year. It reminds me of them and it kinda symbolizes that you really have to work hard for what you want in life. (At this time I wanted to be a pilot :D) I think Barney from how I met your mother has an airplane poster in his office too, hasn't he? :D

Wohouu that was it ♥ What do you think? Do you also like stationary? What are your "everyday" goodies when it comes to uni life?

Many kisses