Zoë Johnson

Yesterday was International Women's Day, and I've gotta say, it was super empowering! The positivity was fantastic, across both the national news and the internet. The best thing I saw was Louise Pentland (AKA Sprinkleofglitter)'s video 'I'm SO Sorry'  which, for me, really highlighted an issue that I could see within myself too. That sometimes I don't give myself enough credit, and even downplay my own achievements. I've done some things this year that I'm extremely proud of, and this post is dedicated to them! As mentioned in a previous post, I was picked for a Met Office Summer Internship earlier this year. These internships are highly sought and there is a rigorous selection process that you have to go through. I worked bloody hard to get this position, spent HOURS on my application and for my interview, made reams and reams worth of notes. So yeah, there it is, blowing my own trumpet and everything -  I got a MET OFFICE INTERNSHIP! While we...

Being stuck in boring and difficult Maths lectures this week has really made me miss France and the gorgeous holiday we had! Tom and I had a week off, supposedly for 'reading', so Tom, my family and I headed off to the alps in search of fresh powder! After our snowless ski trip last year, Mum had saved booking til the last minute when we were sure there'd be good snow. Thanks so this we got an amazing last minute deal, and were lucky enough to stay in the beautiful chalet in Briançon, captured below! It was our first time in the Serre Chevalier ski area, and we were blown away by how beautiful it is there! The first day I was ill, so unfortunately couldn't go out, but the next day was Max's 17th Birthday, and we had an amazing time celebrating on the slopes. The following day we awoke to a complete whiteout, headed up the mountain regardless, only to be met with a blizzard and less than one metre visibility!! So we headed back down the mountain and ...

As always, I have made a holiday montage video! Check it out below! Photos to come! Zoë x

Wow, it's been a while! After New Year I intended to blog more, as when I get round to it, I do really enjoy it, but hey ho, it never happened! So it's been over 2 months since I made my New Years Resolutions and I think I'm doing a pretty good job! My first resolution was to be less stressed, and I definitely have! It does unnerve me a bit how much I've calmed down... Perhaps it's due to the current lack of deadlines but I'm feeling pretty good! Let's see what happens when it gets into exam season! My second resolution was to be kinder and more considerate, and I think I'm doing a pretty good job at this. It kind of correlates with stress levels I guess, as it's much easy to be a good person when you're happy and relaxed! I'm very happy in my house at the moment, and my housemates and I are getting on really well. My final resolution was to be healthier and do more exercise. Again: tick! I've done it! Living at uni it's pretty ...

I've always found New Year extremely motivating. I'm one of those who loves a good cliché, such as 'New Year, new me'! It's a chance to turn over a new leaf, and refocus on what I want to achieve, what is important, and what isn't. I feel like I've learnt a lot about that this year. I've learnt to accept my changing views, opinions and hobbies, and not keep trying to force myself to stay the same. To try and 'go with the flow', which is really not something I'm very good at, but I'm working on it!! This Christmas was one of the best ever, and I think it is because I managed to let go of all my unrealistic expectations and stop stressing about unimportant things. I actually relaxed (for once!!!) and just let things happen. Granted, there were ups and downs over the festive season, as I know there are for everybody, but I'm learning to not let the downs stop me from having a good time. As I love a good old cliché New Year, I'm...

On Saturday Tom and I woke up at around 2pm feeling slightly worse for wear... No matter how much I drink I always get super hungover, and today was no different!! Tom was an angel and got up and made me breakfast in bed! A bacon sandwich and coffee, it was lovely! Bacon does always make me feel better... We stayed in bed for a while watching Chalet Girl and Grand Designs which was fun. I'm really loving the new series of Grand Designs and Chalet Girl is just such a classic! We also went for a lovely walk in the afternoon along the canal in Leicester. It was a lovely crisp autumnal day and it cleared our heads a bit! At around 7ish we headed out for a dinner reservation, and sadly I was still feeling a bit rough!! We had booked a table at Crafty Burger in St. Martins, which is something we'd wanted to go to for ages!! St. Martins Cafe has such a lovely vibe, its full of fairy lights, cool lampshades and other indie looking things! For our meal, I had the El Rojo Burger, ...

Friday began at 11 with a Meteorology lecture. We've finished thermodynamics now and have started the topic of radiation which is interesting. We spent the lecture learning about Sun-Earth geometry, which explains why we have seasons and stuff, and then talked about blackbody emissions. I headed home after the lecture to finish packing for Tom's and have some lunch. I felt like I was busy the whole of my lunch break but honestly I couldn't tell you what I did!! At half 2 I walked down to the bus stop to wait for a bus into uni. However after waiting almost half an hour I realised that I wasn't going to make it so headed back home! Totally gutted to miss a maths lecture ;) Turns out that it couldn't have been more perfect, as the entire lecture was non-examinable!! Instead I chilled at home, putting some work and music on my kindle to keep myself busy on the train. Time went very quickly, and soon enough it was time to walk to the train station. Normally I trav...