America, I Have Arrived!

I'm finally here! After months of planing and worrying, 9 hour bus rides down to London, and (too) many exams, I've made it to the US in one piece.  

I arrived into Newark last night and spent the night in New Jersey with a family friend. This is the view I woke up to (at 5 in the morning, my body clock is fucked!)...HELLO NEW YORK!

For breakfast I had some amazing pancakes with strawberries, and then I went to get my first mani-pedi. WHY ARE THESE NOT MORE POPULAR/CHEAPER IN THE UK? 

It was incredible, and so relaxing! I'm going to have to find somewhere that does them in Valencia.

We then took a stroll down to Carlo's Bake Shop, which is the bakery that 'The Cake Boss' is all about! If you haven't seen it, it's on TLC (my new favourite channel). We didn't go in because there was already a massive queue outside, but I did get my picture taken outside it.

I'm currently on the train after successfully buying my ticket from a woman named Joy, who ironically was not very joyful!

I can't wait to get onto the island and meet all of my work colleagues and housemates! 

I'll keep you posted! 

Girls Night Away

Last weekend I went away with a few of my closest girlfriends for a night to my Nana and Pop's (grandparents) caravan on the bonnie bonnie banks of Loch Lomond...ROADTRIP! Thankfully the weather was good, and we were able to have a BBQ (Homemade Nando's chicken...NOM!) and some cider to wash it down (before moving on to the wine and vodka). 

It's such a great feeling to be able to act like a complete idiot in front of people, and for them not to judge you. In fact, it's even better when they join in! Most of the night was taken up with strange dancing, drunken working out, and toilet talk. There wasn't even that much boy chat! Of course whilst doing this we were making our way through a massive pile of sweets, crisps and chocolate! (Hello fat day!)

I guess what I want to say with this post is that if you have a close group of friends, hold onto them! I may be going away for a year and will hardly see my friends, and I'm going to have to make an extra effort to contact and skype them. However, I'm pretty confident that when I come back, we'll still be able to act like idiots together and tell each other everything, including the fact that you've just done a smelly shit so you would advise them not to go into the toilet for a good 10 mins. So classy! 

Exams!

It's that time of year again that everyone dreads. There is so much to do, and yet every year I find myself (and I'm sure others do too) searching for the most random videos on youtube, or looking out an old box-set that I haven't seen in ages. This year, my chosen method of procrastinating is Minesweeper. I am OBSESSED! I wish I could go back to the days when I didn't know how to play it properly, and got so annoyed that I died so early on that I quickly gave up. Not now. I've moved up to the advanced level. Yeah, shit just got real! 

Exam time is stressful enough without making yourself even more stressed by spending so much time procrastinating that you find yourself on the morning of your exam thinking - Shit, I have no idea how I'm going to do this. That youtube video wasn't even THAT funny! - Believe me, I'm speaking from experience. 

So, I thought I'd tell you how I personally study more effectively, and hopefully this will help you out. 

1. Calm Down! - You're not going to be able to do anything properly if all you are thinking is - OMG, so stressed right now, FML. 
2. You CAN do it this - it sounds co clichéd, but if you don't think you can, then you wont. You HAVE got time, you CAN remember important points/quotes, you CAN do it! 
3. Sleep - if you don't get enough sleep, you're studying is going to be shit. Simple. The thought of studying is bad enough without your bed calling your name! Make sure you get at least 7/8 hours of sleep a night, and before you go to bed, do something that doesn't relate to your studies. Read a book/magazine, listen to some music, watch some tv. You don't want to be going to bed with facts and figures flying around your head.
4. Study in time periods - I always find this helpful. If I give myself a time frame of 2 hours to get something done, I have to get it done. Then you can have a 45min break.
5. Be strict - if you give yourself a time period to do something in, you can't be going on facebook/youtube or anything. It's only a couple of hours, so STUDY! 
6. Get rid of distractions - find a quiet place in your house, in the library or a cafe where you can concentrate. I find visual distractions the worst, so having the tv on is totally out of the question. I do however find it quite nice to listen to music, depending on what I'm studying. I always go on to http://8tracks.com/ and listen to a chill/study mix. 
7. Move around - or else your ass is going to hurt! Make sure that during your breaks you get up and move around a bit. If you're at home, do 20 star-jumps. It'll get more oxygen into your body and you'll feel more awake.  

I'm currently studying for my second year Uni exams and am so worried that I'll have to come back from America during the summer to do re-sits! Any type of exam is stressful, whether it's a 3 hour written exam, or a 10 minute oral exam (I have my Spanish oral exam tomorrow - currently shitting myself). You need to remember to relax. I know it's easier said than done, but soon they'll all be over...until next year. 

I hope there are a few points that help you, and if you have any others please let me know. I need all the help I can get!

Good Luck! 

xx

Busking!

After buying an amp and mic for busking more than a year ago, I finally hit the streets of Glasgow and broke my busking virginity! 

And I loved it!

Unfortunately it was a little bit rainy, and my amp ran out of battery after a couple of hours, but it was so much fun, and I can't wait to do it again soon :)

The Cup Song

There seems to be a youtube trend at the moment called 'The Cup Song' stemming from the movie 'Pitch Perfect'. I haven't seen the movie yet, as I'm so so so so bad at going to the cinema! (I still haven't Avatar, I'm that bad!) But I saw a clip of the movie on youtube where a girl is singing a song and doing really cool rhythms with a plastic cup. I then realised that loads of people were doing this, and that you can literally sing any song over this same rhythm! 

So...I gave it a go! 

Hope you enjoy, and feel free to browse through my other videos on my youtube channel. 

Thanks, 

xx

USA here I come!

So today I purchased my flight tickets to America! 

In 59 days I'll be jet-setting off to New York, and then on to start my job for the summer. 

My contract finishes on the 3rd September and my flight home isn't until the 16th. Any suggestions for what I can do in Boston and New York? And also in the surrounding areas! 

I just thought I'd let you know as this is the first big step in my travels this year! 

Hi there!

Hello! 

Let me start by introducing myself. 

My name is Sorcha May, and I am a singer-songwriter from Scotland. 

I am currently a student at Glasgow University and study Music and Spanish (strange combination, I know). Like I mentioned before, I'm a singer-songwriter, and am lucky enough be able to say that my job is to sing and perform! I love doing gigs and being able to write songs that people can enjoy and relate to. Although it's pretty small-scale at the moment, to be able to make a living out of it is the dream! 

Last week, my university classes finished, which means (other than studying for a few exams) I'm free for the summer! So, since I have all this time to spare, I've decided to try my hand at blogging. I have a few exciting plans for the months ahead and would like to share my experiences with you all. Here are a couple of them:

My first big piece of news is that I'm going to work in America for the WHOLE summer! AAAAAAAAAH!!! 

I've never been to the U.S before, but it's always been somewhere that I've wanted to visit. I'll be working at a golf/tennis/beach club a few hours north of New York, so I'm looking forward to being able to explore such an amazing city once my contract finishes. 

My next rather massive piece of news is that due to my uni course (the Spanish part), I have to go and live in Spain for my 3rd year! I haven't been told whereabouts in Spain I'm going yet, but to be honest, I don't really mind where I go...I'm going to be living in Spain! 

These are just a couple of the things I have planned over the next few months, and hopefully you'll enjoy reading about my adventures overseas and my musical adventures too. 

Here's a link to my youtube channel for a little taster of covers and original songs

Anyway, I hope you continue to read my blog and come along on this incredible journey with me. 

Lots of love, 

Sorcha May 

xx