You can take the girl out of Essex, but you can't take the Essex out of the girl.

Hi, I’m Amy Dobson.

I’m 20 years old and currently study Journalism at the University of Lincoln.

I’m in my first year and I’m having such a great time.

Don’t get me wrong though. You have you ups and your downs.

The days where you will lay in bed all day feeling horrendously hungover and the days where you feel fresh enough to walk up steep hill (the worst hill in the world, incline is absolutely ridiculous, however, it beautiful and painful all at the same time.)

For my first blog, however, I am not going to talk to you about my life at university but more the struggles of moving far away from home.

I’m sure you’ve guessed it. I’m an Essex girl. I could probably go as far to say I am a very typical Essex girl. I love my fake tan. I love my hair extensions and my oh my do I love a good night out at the sugar hut (a popular club in Essex.)

Last year, however, I moved from Essex leaving my wonderful family, my incredible new baby nephew and a group of the most fantastic people you will ever meet that I am so proud to call my friends.

People move away from home for all kinds of reasons. My reason was to start university. Now moving away alone has a whole new meaning of the world struggle. My 3 biggest struggles of moving away from home are…

      1)Cooking is just…no. If you can cook, moving from home becomes slightly easier. I, however, crave my sisters home cooked meals. The most perfect roast potatoes on a Sunday, her cherry and coconut loaf that leaves little to be desired and her homemade pizza that is just something else. For your first few months away from home, you may choose to live on microwave meals. I opted for this easy way out which resulted in the microwave becoming my new best friend.
2)Cleaning. It has to be done. Only you don’t just have a room to clean anymore. You have a kitchen, living area, bathroom, etc. Being students, we are either doing work, at uni or too drunk to find our phones let alone clean the kitchen. The struggle becomes real when nobody has cleaned in so long, the whole side of the kitchen is sticky from vodka shots after a Monday night at lovedough and week old bowls are stuck to it like glue.

      3)Home sickness-its inevitable. You will miss your family, your friends, your animals and even the little eight-legged freak that sits in the corner of your bathroom that you have bizarrely befriended and pledged never to kill. I moved 158 miles from home and thank god everyday for facetime, Skype and technology altogether.

We all know moving away from home can be a frightening experience. Especially moving in with people that you don’t know, however, they will become your best friends. In my case, even though they take the absolute mick out of my largely ridiculous Essex twang, we’re like one big (at times extremely dysfunctional) family.

A x

my wonderful family x