Lauren Jane by Lauren Geall
My blog is basically an online expression of my personality – a mix and match of books (stereotypical English student, right?), lifestyle and general ramblings. In 2017, I’m really looking to take my blog further with more varied posts, including fashion and more of my photography. I wish my blog was easy to categorise, but I’m absolutely loving blogging at the moment and really enjoy experimenting with my content and working on new ideas. If you love books, you might also want to check out my accompanying Instagram account @laurenjaneblog, where I post lots of book photos with short reviews and updates on what I’m reading.
Tess Takes on Canada by Tessa Boyd
I have always loved writing, and had been thinking about branching out from History essays and attempts at fiction to blogging for a while before my year abroad came around. It’s definitely a trend to start a year abroad blog, but particularly when I started scouring the internet for testimonials and advice before my move to Canada, 90% of the blogs I came across had been abandoned less than a month in. I was determined to keep mine up, and to not get bogged down with overly-emotional, homesick diary posts or dull narrative descriptions of places I’d travelled to. My blog is primarily for me, to reflect and to look back on the year when I’m done, but I also wanted to make it interesting, humorous and useful for any other students contemplating studying abroad. I wanted to document the highs and lows, the funny interactions with Canadians, the culture shock and educational contrasts, my genuine recommendations for cities I’d visited, and a proper guide to my own very underrated city, Ottawa. Essentially, my blog has become an online scrapbook of the little moments that have made the whole moving-continents thing the hardest and most rewarding thing I’ve ever done, and a way for me to document the life lessons I’ve learnt along the way.
One Thousand And One Somewheres by Bea Fones, Comment Editor
This is a travel blog geared towards young women travelling solo on a student budget. I started the blog after interrupting my first year of university and going travelling. Convinced that the decision was the best I’d ever made, I wanted to share my experiences and tips with others who were considering doing the same. Being a young woman travelling alone has far more benefits than drawbacks, and I discuss all of these and more on my blog – it’s a truly no-holds-barred view into my travels! I’ve travelled solo in Germany, India, Thailand and Cambodia, as well as several other trips within Europe. I’ve grown so much as a person through travelling, and seen some truly amazing places which I’ll always remember. I’ve volunteered, couch-surfed, ridden motorcycles and bungee-jumped around only a tiny part of the world; I hope to always continue exploring! If you’re considering travelling solo, do it! Don’t listen to those who would second-guess you; the hardest part is making the decision to go!
Plant Based Lives by Olivia Horncastle, Online Comment Editor
I am a Geography student and a passionate plant-based blogger and health coach (what a mouthful)! To me, plant-based living is the way forward and my aim by blogging and health coackign is to help others change their lives by changing their diets. In my first year, I was an avid meat and dairy eater and was perhaps the last person you would expect to become a vegan health coach! But within a year, the girl who once laughed at vegan health freaks turned into one! I now truly love this way of living and blog all about the lifestyle and amazing benefits it has. I also coach people into transitioning into this way of eating because I want to teach people that eating well at university does not need to be boring and expensive. You can live off healthy and cheap wholesome meals such as pancakes and ice cream and pizza – all made from amazing plant foods! So, if you are looking for some inspiration, want to lose weight, get more energy or feel healthier, then take a look at my blog and health coaching options to find out more.
Faraway Lucy by Lucy Ronan, Online Lifestyle Editor
I run the award-winning travel blog, Faraway Lucy, which focuses on unique, affordable travel for students. On my blog I write travel guides, accommodation reviews and lots of tips to help others travel too. Alongside travel I also write the occasional personal post so you can get to know me better! I’ve been writing my blog since December 2014 and it has gone from a little hobby to a part-time job. In April 2016 I won Highly Commended in Travel at the national UK Blog Awards which was a huge achievement. Thanks to blogging I have made so many friends from around the country and have been sent on press trips to Thailand, Ibiza and even glamping in Devon. My next trip is to Belfast where I’ll be reviewing their Game of Thrones tour (I’m an embarrassingly big fan)! I also have a YouTube channel where I post travel videos; my blog is very visual, and photography and film are just as important to my blog as my writing is.
Rachel Ashenden by Rachel Ashenden, News Editor
I run a food blog which is primarily a platform for creating my own vegetarian recipes and reviewing local cuisine. Through Instagram, I promote my culinary creations online in the hope that one day Waitrose magazine and BBC Food discover my website and offer me a job (I’m still waiting, by the way). The graduate dream is to break into the world of food journalism, and eat and create my way through life. I decided to build the website – and even splurge on a WordPress domain name – when I worked on the food desk for The Sunday Times, and wrote two columns to accompany A.A Gill’s restaurant reviews, which were sadly some of the last ones he was ever to contribute to the food journalism world. What makes food so important to me, and integral to my happiness, is that there are certain foods or meals that evoke nostalgia; I try to portray this sentimental value by musings or rants which accompany the recipes. Food journalism is largely an impenetrable territory, but I am working hard to break into the profession by providing a recipe a week in the hope that it will build up my portfolio. A recipe book contract would be the absolute dream, though I’m not sure avocado and tarragon ice cream is everyone’s cup of tea.
