GCSE results

As you may know if you live in the UK tomorrow (22nd August) all of the thousands of teenagers who sat their GCSEs will be picking up their results: myself included. To say that I am nervous would be an exaggeration of the highest level. I was fine (well I say fine if you can say that not being able to sleep and having very vivid dreams about failure is fine) until I watched the news and they said that "GCSE results this year are significantly lower than previously due to examiners marking papers more harshly". Well thats just great, thanks for telling me that when I am already a bundle of nerves, is it really necessary?

Its no wonder that so many people my age are having breakdowns over things like results, not only do we have the massive pressure that several single letters can completely change our lives and will impact us forever in whatever we want to do, but then you have high nosed people making things ten times worse than it needs to be. At least give us some hope that we have passed rather than squish it before we even know the results ourselves.

Then not only do we have people in high places complaining, but we have those who are older than us telling us that GCSEs are not important and that A-Levels are harder etc. Well yes I am perfectly aware that A-Levels are harder, thats obvious, a monkey could work that out, but at the time you found GCSEs hard as well. I also would count all my chickens that you were just as nervous as I or anyone my age when you were picking up your results, so why don't you stop complaining and shut up.

So thats my small rant and I have everything crossed that I have got the grades that I want and that what they are saying is not as true as they say.

Ignoring stereotypes

I have realised that there is a lot of things that I do or think that does fit with the convention of being a stereotypical teenager. It frustrates me that the older generation all dub us with the same brush; For example, I am completely different from my older brother personality wise and we are blood so what makes people think that teenagers are anything like each other just because we happen to fit in the same age category? I therefore thought I would write this post to prove that actually no, not every teenager that walks past you is going to mug you, their hood could just be up because, oh look at that, its raining.

"Teenagers don't care about their education, they would just rather go out drinking and doing drugs"

I think this is the most ridiculous statement I have ever heard. I know that the majority of my school year are splitting hairs over our GCSE examinations. Obviously there are a few that don't care; but for the most part, our entire lives are taken over by the inundation of revision we are doing each night; losing sleep over exams, not eating because of stress and completely avoiding all entertainment so that we won't get distracted. So for someone to say this is absurd, the majority of us work hard and whilst the results may not always pay off that is by no means a reflection of the amount of work we have put in but a reflection of harsh marking from the exam board or simply just not knowing the answer. 

I personally wouldn't rather go out drinking and doing drugs, in fact I have never even seen a drug in real life. I'm fifteen years old and I have never seen a drug: so why should I be categorised under the 'druggy teenagers' that society has branded us with? Obviously I would rather be doing anything other than revision, but why would that mean that I would want to go out drinking? Only the other week I was offered the opportunity to go out and drink to celebrate leaving compulsory education, but I turned it down and enjoyed a night at a McFly concert along with several others in my year. I do understand that a lot of teenagers drink but not everyone gets off their faces which is what I think people honestly think that we do. Please do not offend us by saying that you never even touched a drop throughout your entire teenhood. You're just being hypocritical over something that you yourself did as a teenager. 

Yes, teenagers mess up and make mistakes, sometimes the mistakes that we make are irreversible and in that case we will accept responsibility for those actions but we are allowed to make the occasional mistake because that is all part of growing up. Adults mess up every single moment of every single day, well so do teenagers; so why do teenagers get more stick about it than your average adult? Why is there such a sigma around being a teenager in this day and age? 

This morning after my exam, I came home and as I was revising This Morning was on in the background. They were discussing lowering the consent age for sexual relations from sixteen to thirteen. These kinds of conversations really frustrate me not because of the actual topic (and for reference I don't think the consent age should be lowered because if it does it makes it easier for paedophiles to pry and if people want to have sex then they will do it, they wont care about the law.) but because of the fact that this subject affects us: teenagers. So where was the teenage person? Only adults that don't really have a clue what its like to grow up in the society that we live in today, they never will understand because time has moved on since they were teenagers and its bloody difficult. 

The same goes with the education especially, this affects us more than it will affect any adult, so why are we not asked our opinion on the matter? If you want to get teenagers more interested in politics then ask their opinion and make sure that it counts. I can guarantee that that would increase interest in politics. If it seems that actually you do care what we have to say about situations that will affect our lives then a more concious effort would be made to keep up to date with what is going on. It would also ensure that there would be less chance of the law being broken because it would have been influenced by ourselves. 

Universities and the Future

Who ever came up with the idea that we have to chose our entire futures before we are even sixteen was stupid, very, very, very stupid.

I am currently in year 11 and fifteen years old, I most certainly do not feel old enough to be doing GCSEs let alone thinking about what I want to choose for A-Levels and also in short deciding what kind of university course I want to do and how many UCAS points I need to be able to further my studies. It's completely crazy! I'm pretty sure that the majority of teenagers my age go through this exact or similar feeling of feeling like a very small fish in an extremely big pond. 

I had a careers interview today and a sixth form parents evening thing last night, seeing all of the information that they threw at us and the options form for the subjects we want to continue with next year was extremely overwhelming and made me panic slightly. It suddenly became very real that in fact I am considered old enough to make these decisions and whether I'm ready or not I will have to decide soon enough what I want to do with my life, and pray that everything will work out and be okay. 

But right now I am just going to focus on passing my GCSEs and decide what I want to do on results day.... fun times lie ahead for me.....

20 Random Facts About Me

1. I have an absolutely massive phobia of dogs, so bad that I cannot go near one, it is also one of the things that I hate most about myself.
2. My ultimate aim in education as of now is to get a B in maths GCSE
3. It takes a while for me to class you as a friend, but once I have I will do anything to protect/defend you.
4. On Pottermore I was sorted into Ravenclaw
5. I have written to JK Rowling but I only got a standard reply, however, she did sign it so it is one of my most prized possessions.
6. I have dyed my hair red, dark brown, black and even had dip dye but today I have returned to my natural colour
7. My ultimate goal in life is to become a freelance journalist or writer 
8.  I am so proud of my brother and would regard him as one of my biggest influences (I would never tell him that though, haha)
9. I am extremely close to my family and I tell my mum anything, I'm not afraid to ask her questions that most people would find embarrassing to ask 
10. I have a hamster called Fred, I used to have one called George who sadly died with kidney problems in September, despite their names they are both female. Fred is the most spoilt hamster in the world so much so that I cannot get her anything else from Pets at Home because I already have all of it!
11. I was named after Jane Austen's novel 'Emma' my dad chose it because he studied it for his A-Level literature and is one of his favourite books.
12. I am most like my dad in terms of temperament and personality and many say that we are like two peas in a pod.
13. I have a thing for men with dark hair and prominent cheekbones (e.g. Daniel Radcliffe and Colin Morgan) 
14. My least favourite doctor who companion is Martha Jones, she tries way too hard flirting with The Doctor when he is very clearly still not over Rose. Rose is my favourite, followed by Donna.
15. I plan to get a tattoo when I am sixteen of a Mickey Mouse outline on my foot, its going to be really small but I've wanted it for ages and I can't wait, I'm so excited. I also want to get The Deathly Hallows symbol somewhere on my body, but I will wait until I'm abit older for that one.
16. For A-Level I plan on studying English Literature, English Language, History and Welsh
17. Although I have no idea what kind of degree I want to major in when I get to university.
18. I am the worst person ever to watch a horror film with because when I get scared my arms just flail around and I end up hurting people. Also I put a scarf on my head so that I can hide my face. You've been warned!
19. I want a kitten/cat more than anything else in the world, especially a ginger cat.
20. I have approximately 20 posters I love collecting therm, they all include Harry Potter, The Hunger Games, Ed Sheeran, Brave and The Beatles

Bucket list

I always think that it would be really cool to make a bucket list, but I've never really gotten round to making one. I'm sure that as I continue on through life more and more items will make this list but for now it stands as this.
I did however, find a small list of things from a few years ago so a few of those will be interspersed and crossed off if I have completed them. So in no particular order, here we go...

1. Pass all of my GCSEs with C's and above

2. Get at least one A* in a GCSE examination

3. Get accepted to study A-Levels

4. Visit Australia 

5. Ride a camel 

6. Go to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter

7. Meet any of the cast of Harry Potter (especially Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson)

8. Meet JK Rowling

9. Write a novel

10. Become a freelance journalist

11. Move to New York to live for a few months if not a permanent move

12. Visit India 

13. Have a corn dog

14. Swim with dolphins 

15. Have a cat

16. Go to university

17. Have an IMac or Macbook

18. Impact someone's life

19. Visit Canada 

20. See all seven wonders of the Modern World- (which are- Taj Mahal, Chichen Itza, Christ the Redeemer[in Rio], Colosseum[in Rome], Great Wall of China, Machu Picchu and Petra [in Jordan)

21. Go on a train and get off at a random stop and spend the day there

22. Get a reply from JK Rowling

23. Be able to take my parents on holiday

24. Pass my degree

25. Speak a language fluently 
26. Meet Ed Sheeran 

*This is all I can think of for now, but I'm sure I'll do updates on this post regularly.