Last year I wrote a post on going to Uni at 25. 

Now I am officially 25 and I start university in July joining in second semester. Which sounds crazy to me! It still doesn’t feel real and I don’t think it will till I start my course.

At the start of January as the place I was working was pulling down the majority of the Back to school promo I started to have a mini panic attack that in less than 6months I was going to be starting school too and I didnt have any supplies or even know what supplies I need. So I panic bought some notebooks, highlighters and a pencil case, because why not?

But in reality supplies are the least of my worries.
For starters although I am enrolled into my course my current battle is payment. Studylink. Every kiwis worst nightmare. And I have never been taught how to use studylink.

My first issue is the fact that I can get my student loan payed for which is perfect but because I am in a relationship I am deemed unworthy, no matter what income I put into the box, for any student allowance. I am expected to live off my partner. Which I find absurd. The government should be making it easier for older people with lives apply for Uni without the financial burden. Not harder. For an 18 year old may use their student loan on accommodation and O week, I was looking for a little support for rent and food so not everything falls on my partner and so I can still work and study successfully. But that is not allowed.

Which is why I chose my university very carefully. I knew I couldn’t afford to study full time and I wanted online courses. When I found Massey university did distance learning I emailed querying if it would be suitable for someone working full time to take this course. I was told each course had 7years to complete it in and it was up to me how many courses/credits I wanted to enroll into each semester. They gave me advice on what people working full time and studying would usually do and it was completely in my control.
This filled me with confidence that I could successfully do this while still working and not be in financial shit. It gives me more control over my schedule and has meant I can ease myself in to studying again at my pace and not feel like im failing and made the worst mistake of my life.
Which is my biggest fear with going back into education.

-fingers crossed this doesn’t happen.- 

 Adopting a dog – Bringing Harmony home.

We visited the shelter on the Saturday, applied as we left and by Monday afternoon we had a call to say we had been successful and someone from the Waikato council would come round and check the place.
A note to remember when adopting a dog 99% of adoption centres will require you to to have a fenced in area.
By Thursday my fiancée was driving back up to Auckland to pick up our new dog. They de-sexed her that day so she was drugged and sleepy.

Within 4 days while working we had to run out the shops, 4 days before Christmas as well to add to it and get the basics for our new pup.
We knew we needed the essentials,

Leads
Collar
Crate

Food and water bowl
Toy.

We kept it simple for the start as it was hard to grab things in a rush and we didn’t know her personality yet.
We could not get dog food until we picked her up as we didn’t know what the shelter was feeding her. And a dog bed came the week after, but she was completely fine with her crate being from a shelter.
We didn’t splurge out on anything as we learnt that she drinks incredibly messily so we had to go and get her a new water bowl to cater that. We learnt that she didn’t fully know how to play with toys so we adapted what we bought her and taught her how to play slowly.

Her first couple of days she was unsure, sleepy, and cuddly as heck. Slowly we became a family as she learnt this was her new life. And for us being thrusted into this dog life meant there was no turning back. She was officially ours and I think the fact wed been talking about it for a while and thinking about it for years meant we didn’t second guess our option. There was no returning. She was ours to the end.

The end of last year I said yes to becoming Mrs Coop, and spending forever with my best friend. 

So as I navigate my way around wedding planning and engagement highs and lows I thought I would share on my journey to become a farmers wife.

The first thing that I learnt from becoming engaged is suddenly you are presented with the most annoying question. ‘So when’s the wedding?’  -insert eye roll -
I didn’t realise how much id hate this sentence till id heard it from the 6^th person wed told in a row. Along with the questions comes the comments, what to do, what not to do. I never knew that when you told someone about your wedding plans people think they have a right to comment on it as if its their wedding. And unless you are paying, you have no say.

But aside from the initial comments comes the wedding planning, which during a pandemic Is a little tricky when my family’s in the UK and despite everyone saying ‘youll have to have two weddings’ -double eye roll- you’re planning your wedding in NZ.
So first comes deciding on a date, to some say ‘Its too soon.’  And others say ‘That’s too far’ but for the two of us actually getting married, hoping on 2 years the world wont be as closed off as it has been the past year.
But before you have a concrete date you need a venue.

 

Do you know how hard it is to find a venue?! I did not think it would be this tricky. Especially when despite what you type into google, not everything pops up. I bought every wedding magazine I could find to help expose venues to us. However I noticed that they don’t love to share venues more than stores to buy your wedding dresses. Which was super frustrating when they are showcasing a real life wedding and no where on the page does it let you know the venue. Or the most common venue I see is ‘Their home.’ ‘Family batch.’ ‘Family farm.’
But recently after another late night scroll and search hoping to find a new venue to give us ideas, I learnt a trick to finding some venues that don’t pop up on searches. Wedding photographers.
While looking through some Waikato wedding photographers, a lot of them will showcase a couple weddings and the best part is, they show the venue! Which was how I found one that im fond of and cant wait to visit. But I checked and although its listed as a wedding venue, I cant find it on any other search!
So kill two birds with one stone, check wedding photographer sites as well! Not only do you get an idea on cost/what you like but also what suits you best along with hiding some hidden gem venues!

Let me know if you want me to share venues we’ve looked at/ visited as well.