what's in my university bag!

How are we all? Besides university, life hasn't been terribly exciting for me - although I do have a trial shift for a job on Friday (tomorrow when this post goes live). Keep your fingers crossed for me, because I really need this!

I thought I'd do a little what's in my bag because I've never actually done one before and thought it'd be interesting to do. I don't know about you, but I really like seeing what other people carry around from day to day. This is literally what is in my university bag, as I put a photo up on Instagram of my bag asking if you wanted to see what's in my bag, and I got a few likes so I thought - why not?

Here is a basic overview of what is in my uni bag (shoutout to Lily Pebbles, whose blog is featuring on my laptop, haha).

Now let's take a deeper look at what I carry around all day:

Lecture book! I prefer to take my notes by hand, as I feel it gives you more flexibility with note taking. Generally after this, I type up my notes (I've been a bit lazy today and am blogging instead of studying, oops), and keep them all in a folder named after whatever week or module it is. I "created" the tabs myself, by buying folder separators and labelling them with either week number or module number. It's a total mess inside but I find it easy to work with handwriting, although I must admit, my hand gets a bit sore, especially after my three hour evening lecture :(.

Laptop! I don't really need to bring this to university if I have my lecture book to take notes in, and if we do need to use computers, for example in a tutorial, we use the desktop ones on campus. However, I really like having this around so that if/when I have spare time, I can type up my notes, review notes, or blog (although that's a bit cheeky). It's especially handy if I ever need to access material online for lectures, when you can't exactly rush out and find a desktop. If any of you are going to uni, I would really really recommend getting a laptop! I have a MacBook Air, which is on the pricey side, but any old laptop will do, or even a tablet with a keyboard (but a keyboard is a must). I keep mine in a laptop case because it is rather precious to me and I would like to keep it safe! This one is from OfficeWorks.

I think bringing your food is the best option, as I tend to overspend on takeaway from the cafes on campus, and typically don't eat well. If junk food is offered - I'm sold. This is not what we want, however, so I try to bring my own lunch and a few snacks. Today I brought a simple pesto pasta with chopped cherry tomatoes, which was super simple to make. For snacks I usually have chopped up veggies (carrots, cucumber, or celery), individual yoghurt pots, home made protein balls, home made muesli bars, cheese and crackers, or a simple piece of fruit. There's a whole variety of things you can bring!

Water is vital! I chug down at least one bottle of water while at uni. Something about note taking really makes me thirsty, I guess? There are so many benefits to drinking water, and they're all well known so I won't list them here for you. I really think it's so distracting to be dehydrated though, as side effects like headaches can really knock your concentration. And try to bring water from home too! I know I sound a little hypocritical with a Pump bottle here, but in my defence, if I do have to buy a bottle of water, I buy this brand as the plastic is thicker and I can therefore reuse them. Not to mention, if you buy, say, two bottles of water a week at $3 a bottle, and you have 26 weeks of uni, that's over $150 on water alone, when you could be getting at home for free! Or at least included in your water bill, haha.

iPad! Any tablet is useful here - I usually use mine to and from uni. I catch public transport, and I really like reading on the train. With my iPad I can download virtually any book I want for a fraction of the cost of a hardcopy, plus it's accessible anywhere. Also isn't this case the cutest?! I also use it to listen to music, because I'm terrible at keeping my phone fully charged, so by the time I'm heading home, by phone's on flight mode, on silent, and the brightness turned fully down. Oops!

My purse! Always an essential in any bag, this one holds the ticket to getting to and from university, (i.e., my SmartRider), my student ID, money, etc etc. Very useful, especially if I'm falling asleep in my lecture and need a pick-me-up latte. ;)

Other bits and bobs! My phone is pretty obvious, bandaids for any blisters or paper cuts or little boo boos that may occur (I swear I don't say that in real life), hand sanitiser for when germs strike, lip balm to keep your pout nice and hydrated, and a pen because how else are you going to take notes?? I also like having my hair pulled up while taking notes, because it tends to drape down over my face if I look even slightly down. Lately I've been obsessed with giant claw clips, as they're super flexible and you just kind of throw up your hair and clip it in place. I do like to take a hair tie as well though, just in case. Maybe I'll feel like rocking a pony tail, right? This is also where I'd have my earphones but someone forgot them. Who was it? We'll never know...

I hope you enjoyed this post! Tell me what you carry around in your university or school bag, or work bag. Or any bag! Until next time.  :)

xx Silje