University: My Thoughts as a Freshman + Helpful Cost-Cutting Tips!

So in about less than 24 hours, my university life will officially commence.

I am feeling the following things:

• Scared
• Excited
• Nervous
• Stressed
• Anxious
• Ready
• Joyous
• Scared

Tomorrow will be the first day of "frosh week" at my university. For those unfamiliar with what frosh week is, it's basically a week jampacked with events and parties for freshmen students coming into the university for the first time, geared towards building friendships with other freshmen and/or upper classmen and getting yourself familiar with the school and your professor. 

To sum it all up: frosh week is designed for maximum fun, as cheesy as it may sound.

It's a week with a bunch of games and activities, concerts at the school, season opener games, new friends, new profs, new school, etc, etc.

I don't do that well with meeting new people at first, it takes awhile to get me comfortable with it but I'm hoping to break out of my shell this week. Lucky for me, I won't be going into frosh week totally solo, I'll have my boyfriend with me, seeing as we're fortunate enough to be going to school at the same university.

After frosh week, we get one more long weekend and then it's CLASS IS IN SESSION on the 3rd of September. I'm pretty eager to learn (yikes, don't I sound like the most exciting kid ever?) but I am scared of not doing well. I've made all the vows and prayed every prayer that I will do well and be successful academically (amongst other things) but I'm just afraid I'll let things get ahead of me. I'm not a HUGE procrastinator, surprisingly enough and compared to most, so hopefully all my readings will be done on time and I'll be diligent enough to study suuuper hard for every quiz/test/exam/lab/etc.

Oh, Lord. Pray for me, guys, that I pass this year with flying colours and make the Mamabear & Papabear proud bears indeed.

On another note, another thing that's grinding my gears is the COST. I don't know any university student/parent of a university student who isn't pissed off at university costs.

Just for a quick overview, here's a list of what you'll be sacrificing your wallet for when you go to university:

• Tuition: For university, between $5000 - $12000+, it depends on the program
• Books: Between $800 - $1500
• Transportation OR Residency: Transportation can be between $250-$400/month whereas residency will cost you around $8000-$15000 for 8 months
• Necessary materials: Could be between $30 (if you're lucky) up to the hundreds (ie: Since I'm a BScN student, I'll be cashing out quite a bit for a nursing kit and other medical supplies, it depends on the program)
• Food: If you're on residence, you'll need a meal plan which will cost you an extra $2000-$4000 on top of your residence cost whereas if you're commuting, you'll have to budget around $50-$100 a week
• *A laptop: Around $500 - $3000 (BUT... some will argue that you don't need a laptop for university, just a pencil and paper and if you have a robotic hand that can write at a bionic speed or you're a completely incompetent typer, go nuts with that pencil and paper. I suggest buying a laptop, my opinion)

...See what I mean about university murdering your wallet? Student debt is not an uncommon thing, people, I see that now. Fortunately, there are tons of cost-cutting tips and I have some to share. Here they are:

1. APPLY FOR SCHOLARSHIPS/GRANTS/BURSARIES/OSAP/TUITION DISCOUNTS!!! This is probably my biggest cost-cutting tip. DON'T SLEEP ON IT!!! Surprisingly, many people don't take advantage of all THE FREE MONEY JUST SITTING IN THESE UNIVERSITIES!!! It literally takes 10 minutes at mosts to apply to these things and the requirements are usually: A) Be a post-secondary student B) Write an essay about how cool you are. I'm telling you, DON'T SLEEP ON APPLYING FOR THESE THINGS!!! 
2. If you're close enough to your university, look into commuting rather than living on residence. Commuting saves you TONS of money, residence nowadays is just ridiculously overpriced. Yes, I do know the commuting means you'll have to wake up an hour or so earlier than you would like to but in my opinion, waking up at 6 instead of 7 for an 8 am class is an easier sacrifice than $10000. *Note: This does not apply if you're hours and hours away from your university. In that case, please stay on residence.
3. Your campus store will offer discount codes - just ask around. Nothing beats getting something on sale/discounted rather than facing crummy full prices.
4. If you can and you have the opportunity to, PACK YOUR LUNCH and/or MAKE YOUR OWN FOOD! Meal plans are usually EXTREMELY overpriced and the food is not the most forgiving to that anticipated beach bod. 
5. Yes, I know it's university, you're of legal age and you want to go out to every club and buy bottles for every single table at that club. Unfortunately, your main status is that you're a STUDENT and not P-Diddy. You will have to prioritize your spending money and give yourself PRACTICAL allowances (and yes, that $250 sweater is very impractical).

That 5th rule is going to be a doozy and a half for me to follow but I'll try my best. 

I'm just SO ready to be able to enter a more "adult" life and be able to study what I actually WANT to study this time. Although, I'll be missing the childhood mindset and responsibilities when the most we had to remember was to get Mommy or Daddy to sign a permission slip. Now WE actually have to sign these slips ourselves... ugh. 

Going into university for the first time has made me scared for venturing out into the Big Girl World and leaving behind the security blanket that was my childhood/young teenagehood. I so took comfort and took advantage of everything that came so easy to me years prior, I know that now and I'll regret something and of course, I'll miss it.

Unfortunately, I have no choice but to put on my Big Girl Pants at this point in my life and go into university with my head held high, Macbook in tow and a venti coffee that is the only thing standing between me falling straight asleep on my lecture hall floor.

If I'm offering you one big tip on university, it's this:

Work hard, play harder. Be humble. Meet new people. Keep those family and any other loved one close. Be goal-oriented. Achieve. Break out of your shell. Explore. Laugh. Cry (really hard sometimes). Be open-minded. Make good decisions. Be kind to one another.

Good luck to all other freshmen - I'M PRAYING FOR ALL OF US! 

Good luck to any other university student out there.

University, I'm comin' for ya'.

Cheers.

Sty xo

THEY FINALLY CAME IN, 6 MONTHS LATER!! - Deandri: Gerti Shoe Review

Now.. if you can still remember..

6 months ago, around February, I won a contest on Instagram with Deandri where they gave 2 people FREE SHOES!

I was super, extremely ecstatic and I even wrote a blog post about how super, extremely ecstatic I was.

THEY PROMISED ME THEY'D COME IN 1 MONTH AFTER I WON THE CONTEST.

Well.. it's about 6 months later and they arrived at my door yesterday.

I won't be grouch about it though because THEY'RE FREE and they're $120 originally so.. 

THANKS, DEANDRI!! 

Here are some pictures for you guys.

(All pictures are taken by me, myself and I and are taken with a Canon Rebel T2i)

..Were you drooling? I know I was. I practically slept with these bad boys.

So just an FYI, Deandri is a shoe company that's based in California where they specialize in handmade shoes.  The wooden heel and platform is pretty much their trademark.  When you first hold these shoes, you can immediately tell of the effort and craftsmanship that was put into them - they are incredibly handmade.

Kudos, Deandri.

So I did order the GERTIS in BLACK.

I believe you can purchase these in either black, white or nude, I'm not too sure about any other colours.  I do know that Deandri sell SOME shoes in pink, maybe even just one type of shoe, but I'm not 100% on this so don't quote me on that.

I've already worn them around my house a few times, as you do, and they're ABSOLUTELY LUSH to walk in.  The heel is no more than 4 inches long PLUS it has a thick ol' platform so essentially, your foot is almost flat.  The only "uncomfortable" factor is that if you're not used or too keen on chunky, clunky shoes, these can get pretty heavy for you so you may have to walk around in them more often to get used to them and to break them in better.

Other than that - THEY'RE SOOOOOOOO COMFY!!!

They're made of real leather - super soft and not shiny whatsoever, yay.  The whole bottom part (the heel + platform) are real wood and, as I mentioned before, very well made but can get very heavy so if you have delicate feet, just wear these around the house to break them in before wearing them out.  They came with white laces and I can pretty much think of about 5 outfits off the top of my head that I would wear these with.  They're insanely versatile.

I did order these in a size 6 (I'm normally a 5.5) but since Deandri doesn't sell shoes smaller than a 6, I had to order their smallest size and honestly - they're absolutely fine, they fit my feet great.  I do have some wiggle room but I like that because in the case the my elfish feet decide to grow into normal human size, I can still wear these and get my "money's worth" out of them!

They are a bit pricey as well, they're originally $120 so if you're looking to splurge or just want to invest in some really good shoes, I do suggest looking into these.  They are quite casual due to the size of the heel and the colour, they're super comfortable to walk in and they step up that shoe game, you know? 

I will have a shoe-unboxing video up on my video channel so I'll link that in another blog post when I have that edited!

Thank you so, so, so much, Deandri for giving me the opportunity to own such amazing shoes for free!  I'm super grateful! 

You can check out Deandri online here. 

 (***NOTE, MY PACKAGE CAME WITH EXTRA LACES ((4 NEON ONES)) AND SOME DEANDRI TEMPORARY TATTOOS ((4)).  I'M NOT ENTIRELY SURE IF THEY DO THAT WITH EVERY PACKAGE THEY SEND OUT OR IF THEY JUST GAVE ME SOME EXTRA GOODIES FOR WINNING A CONTEST)

Stay tuned for my next post!  Since it's summer break, I'll posting a lot more on here.

Ciao,

Sty xo

This blog post is not sponsored by Deandri.  They do include a free pair of shoes which I won in their Instagram contest.  Other than the items mentioned, I was not given anything else for free nor are they sponsoring me.

DEANDRI'S INSTAGRAM GIVEAWAY (My first time EVER winning any contest EVER!!!)

ACKKK!!!

I'm in a current state of shock, happiness, bliss and absolutely everything good in life.. and I have been for the past 24 hours!!!

Why is that, you may ask?

Well..

As a proper shoe fanatic and fashion enthusiast, I am well obsessed with everything from Jeffrey Campbell to studded denim to Doc Martens to collar details.. THE LIST IS ENDLESS! 

My current fashion obsession for about a month? 

ONE WORD: DEANDRIS.

For those of you who don't know, Deandri is an amazing clothing which a girl called Deanna Richmond has started (22 y/o & from LA).  Deandri sells everything from clothing to jewellery and (probably the most exciting part for me) HANDMADE SHOES!

Yes, HANDMADE shoes, my darlings!!!

Now Deandri (www.deandri.com) also has an Instagram (@deandri) and on their IG, they hosted a giveaway where 2 winners win... (dun dun dun) A FREE PAIR OF FREAKING SHOES!!!

And among the two - ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

I WON I WON I WON!!!

Now you can imagine my sheer and absolute delight - as a person who has never (EVER EVER) won ANYTHING in ANY contest her entire life & who's brain functions as 50% fashion, 50% everything else - when I found out I won!

I have literally been busting my BUTT posting submission after submission after submission (after submission.. after sub-- you get it) on MY Instagram (@ohmystysty) trying, hoping, praying that I win and to my fortune, I did. 

So this post serves to do a few things:

- Gush and gush and gush about my first time winning any contest ever

- Expressing my everlasting gratitude to Deandri for allowing me a free pair of BEAUTIFUL (AND OH MAN, DO I MEAN BEAUTIFUL) pair of shoes which I have been proper obsessed with what seems like forEVER

- Promote such an amazing, one-of-a-kind, handmade, BEAUTIFUL brand and try to convince you lot to pick up a pair yourself

I hope you were okay with me expressing the magnitude of my happiness at the moment. 

When I receive the shoes that I chose, I will make a proper post about it, pictures and all! Who knows? I might even make a SHOE UNBOXING VIDEO? ;) 

Ciao!

Sty xo

Disclaimer: Deandri did not ask me to promote them in any way possible, I am not getting paid by them.  I am merely promoting them solely on my own, they have not asked me to do so.  Other than the free pair of shoes I won on their Instagram Giveaway Contest, I am not receiving anything from them whatsoever by promoting them in this post.

Welcome to Blog World, Sty!

Well aloha, Blog World!

This is my first post out here and I'm not quite sure what to do with my first post but I guess a little introduction would be nice! Haha. 

Well, I'm Stiffra Armamento but I really go by Sty (I prefer it to be that way anyway, haha).  

Why did I start a blog?

To share my love for FASHION with the world and be part of a community who shares the same passion as me!

So yes, my blog will be mainly fashion-related but as my header would suggest, I will also be posting miscellaneous posts once in awhile, probably about food or.. whatever! Hehe.

I'm still working on getting my blog up and running but here's my 'hello' to you all lovely people out here! 

Stick around and I won't disappoint,

Sty xoxo

PS:

I do have a Twitter and an Instagram and you can follow me both at:

@OHMYSTYSTY

While my Tweets are mostly about what crosses through my mind every hour (sometimes every few minutes, I won't lie, hehe), a lot of my fashion-related pictures are on my Instagram!