Kaleo

I wanted to do a post on this band called Kaleo (Kah-lay-oh) because they are really some of the best musicians I've come across in a long time, and whilst they are gaining quite a lot of popularity, they're still relatively undiscovered to mainstream music, and I just couldn't keep them to myself and not share with anyone I could.

They have massive diversity in terms of genre, its actually kind of bizarre. The first song I heard by them was a really folky-indie sort of vibe, but then some of their other stuff is country-ish and then a lot of it is also very much rock and blues. So it's kind of weird to believe it's all from the same band, but I love every different genre they've taken on so far, and there's definitely something for everyone. Also, regardless of the type of music, the lead singer's voice is like absolute gold and is also just super different and really strong, which carries them through as a continuous band no matter the genre. There is some lovely guitaring and cool little riffs which I love, and then just a lot of interesting lyrics and just overall musicality. It's safe to say I'm pretty smitten with them, and I really do find that I don't get sick of their music, even though I have long overplayed a lot of their songs. And lastly, I also find they their music just genuinely makes me so happy, I often listen to it in study week or when I've had a long day and am sitting in traffic and it just immediately cheers me up in sheer appreciation of what wonderful music it is.

They are from Iceland, but I do believe they've recently moved to the US because they signed a record label in Texas. There are 4 members of the band, and yeah they are just really worth a listen.

Okay so let me start with what is definitely one of my all-time favourites, a song called All the Pretty Girls. I feel like if you like anything folky at all you will instantly fall in love with this song as much as I have. I heard it for the first time a while ago, maybe half way through 2015 and just immediately loved it- and the music video is really lovely too!

Okay the next one is another fav, ahh it's amazing. This one has a bit of a country-ish vibe to it, just slightly so, and has such a lovely melody.  I am a personal fan of the little guitar riff in the middle and the whistling at the end. It's called Automobile.

I also feel like to fully appreciate what wonderful musicians these guys are, you should listen to a couple of their live videos, because they sound practically identical to their recorded versions, which is always something commendable of a genuine band, who aren't completely distorted by the works of the recording studio. They really keep things simple and down to the basics of just making good music- here is a live version that I really like:

Another one I love is called Pour Sugar on Me- this has a bit of a more blues-y or jazzy sort of vibe.  I discovered this one a lot more recently and it's really so cool, very different to a lot of music out there at the moment.

Two others that are also really worth a listen are Way Down We Go and I Walk On Water.

Way Down We Go has become relatively well known cause it played on quite a few popular TV shows (I heard it on the recent Suits finale, and I think it's on Fifa'16 too), and I think it might have made a couple of charts too. It gets especially cool near the end where it becomes a bit more like grungy and just so cool, definitely worth a listen (also, they did a live version of this in a frikken volcano (!), which as you can imagine has incredible acoustics).

And then 'I Walk On Water' is another, more recent one. I must say at first I liked this a little less than the others, but after listening to it properly, there's a part sort of half way through the song where it changes up, to like a bridge or something, and it just adds so much to the song, and yeah, now I love it!

Another one I love- I Can't Go On Without You. This is my current sort of more newly discovered favourite. I love the whistling and change in tempo in the intro. 

And then another all time favourite is Broken Bones- I don't even really know how to describe this, but definitely has a bit of the more rock-y side of their music, and the electric lead guitar is so cool, just listen:

Okay, so now for some of their like full-on rock stuff.... I must say somehow, even though I don't usually listen to a lot of this sort of stuff, I find myself loving this stuff just as much as the rest of it! They sound very similar to The Black Keys in quite a few of the songs, so it's that sort of vibe.

Here are some of my favs: Pretty Boy Floyd, No Good and Fool (in that order). 

The electric guitar intro to this one is so cool!

Okay so now that I have literally shown you just about every song they've released, I hope that maybe their music will bring some of you as much happiness as it brings me. I am dying for them to put out a new album soon, as the songs I've shown you now are almost all of the ones they've released since they formed a while back, so I'm super excited for some new material that I'm sure is soon to come. 

Happy listening! 

My Realistic Studying Tips and Essentials

So its that time of year (well for me anyway) that March exams come around. I must say I tend to find this set of exams particularly stressful in the degree I'm doing, I think I never quite feel ready, you know, like taking that first step towards being assessed since coming back at the start of the year. As much as I would rather just ignore their existence, they are fast approaching, and we've had this whole week off as a study leave, so it's fair to say I haven't really been doing much else, there has been little sleep and a ton of coffee. But seeing as I've got my little routine and am (as much as possible) into the swing of things, I thought I might share with you some of my study essentials- the things that get me through all the chaos and help me stay focused on the work and make sure I have covered everything in time. And then in general, whilst I definitely don't claim in any way to be an expert at this, or a "good studier" per se, here are some tips that generally help me out a bit (and are a bit more realistic than the typical ones they tell you).

So here are my study essentials: 

Stay organised: in general, I find that in order to keep on top of things it really helps to have a diary where I can write down what I'm studying each day and then little sticky notes and post-its to write down anything really, things to look up that I might forget, reminders of lectures I haven't covered, whatever it may be, I often feel really anxious if everything is just in my head as I get worried I'll forget about it, so it's always good to write things down. 

Stay awake: Easier said than done. I really find that tea helps me get though some of the long days of studying. A good cup of tea is always something that relaxes and cheers me up a bit. This study week I've been alternating between good old normal Five Roses tea and then Peppermint tea, which is so delicious and quite nice and refreshing for studying. In saying how much I love my tea, I very equally rely on a good cup of coffee to get through some of the early mornings and late nights. We recently got a Nespresso machine, and my coffee-drinking life has changed, the coffee is so delicious and definitely gives a necessary little boost every now and then. 

I also find that my snacking increases massively during exams, haha, and so often a good energy bar or something like that helps to keep up the energy (although I'll be honest, the Nakd bar in the picture is deceiving, my snacks aren't usually nearly as healthy and usually involve a lot of chocolate). 

Stay calm: in general I try to make my study environment one that I am calm in, this sounds a bit silly, but the way I think of it is that I'm spending 15-18 hours a day at my desk, so it is definitely worth lighting a candle or some fairy lights, having a good cup of tea and in general just creating a productive environment. The candle I lit all the time whilst studying over the last few weeks is the Yankee Candle in the scent Black Cherry, and I am absolutely obsessed, it is probably one of the most delicious smelling candles I've ever come across! I don't usually listen to music while studying as I pretty much need to study in complete silence, but this does vary from person to person. And every now and then, if I'm typing stuff or looking up things online opposed to just writing out notes, I'll plug in my earphones and listen to some good music. 

Avoid distraction: for my fellow procrastinators out there, I'm sure you'll agree that it is vitally important to get up from studying to get some lip ice, or to put on a pair of socks, or watch the latest Buzzed video, haha. I find that it's really good to have everything I might need at my desk with me so that I can't be distracted to get up and go get them, because once I leave my desk who knows what the world of procrastination will have to offer. I generally have some hand cream and lip ice with me and any other little bits and bobs I might need. 

So by third year medicine, I will say that I've done my fair share of studying, it's definitely a lot of hard work, and so like I said, I definitely am not an expert at this studying thing, hehe, but I have had a lot of experience in it. I always used to hate those speeches they would give us in school and first year, or that come up when you google this sort of thing that say like get 8 hours of sleep, eat super healthy, exercise all the time, work efficiently, don't stess- it's just all so unrealistic, which is why I wanted this post to be about things that realistically work for me. Of course I don't have time for 8 hours sleep or to eat no sugar at all, maybe that works for some people, but for me exams are stressful and bring on a lot of anxiety, and most of the time I am literally just trying to get through and am desperately trying to cover all the work in time. And so here are some general tips that usually work for me:

1) A study timetable helps me keep on top of things. Now, I know this doesnt work for a lot of people and can make one stress if you're constantly behind (which I always am), but in general I like to know what I want to cover each day and I find that for me, this is the only way to plan my time so that I don't end up with like 20 lectures to do the night before the exam. And even though I often don't end up achieving everything I plan to do in the day, the timetable allows me to see the plan for the weeks to come and assign time somewhere else. Without a plan I just worry that I'm leaving important things out and that I'm not spacing my time efficiently, so if you think this sort of thing might work for you too, do give it a try.  

2) Get some sleep- anyone who knows me would call me a complete hypocrite saying this, as I really don't get much sleep at all, particularly not during study week or exams. But what I will say is that I have tried the all nighter before an exam thing before and it does not work. In fact after almost falling alsleep in an exam in second year, I have made a real effort to try and ensure at least 6 hours sleep the night before an exam. Obviously you know what your body needs and what you can function on, and I won't tell you to ensure 8 hours sleep every night because I know for me personally, that just isn't possible when there's so much to cover, but I will say that it is important to listen to your body and sometimes it's better to just get some sleep and allow your brain to process the information from that day than to cram until ungodly hours in the morning.

3) Making notes is something that I find really helps me. I again, know that people study in really different ways, some people like reading and just taking in, some like to watch Youtube videos, other prefer pretending to teach the information back to someone, whatever works for you, do it. But what I have found is that even though it's a mission to make notes, writing it out slowly and only the super important stuff helps me to process and understand, and also means that I have a page that I can go back and look at again if I have time. I find it too unorganised having so much information in my head without having written any of it down, but again, everyone for his/her own. 

4) Taking breaks is absolutely essential. There have been a few days in study leave when I found I was too stressed to take a break at all, and literally worked through from 6am-2am, even working while eating dinner or taking a bath. I found myself on days like that getting really really down, it's not sustainable to just work 24/7 and small breaks doing things that make you happy or calm you down are super important. I found that going outside, like walking my dogs or something like that always brought on some much needed fresh air, as study week can bring on some serious cabin fever. I would say that obviously exercise is super important in study week, but being honest, I find that with exam stress, the thought of going to the gym is time-consuming, tiring and just not something on my agenda during exams. So if you're one of those people that it works for, great, definitely go for it, but otherwise I don't think there's anything wrong with taking any study break as an opportunity to nap or watch whatever you can find on TV. I also find a good relaxing Lush bath is always helpful. Otherwise some good old Buzzfeed or shows like New Girl and Modern Family that are light-hearted and only 20 minutes, I find are absolutely perfect for a little study break. 

5) And lastly, work in a productive environment and stay focused on the end goal. I often find that I can let exams completely dominate my life, and whilst learning to over-come this is not something I've quite yet achieved, I do think there comes a point where I need to tell myself that things are what they are, as long as at the end of the day you've really worked hard and put a lot of effort in, there really is only so much you can do. There's only so long I can take nights of 4 hours of sleep, mass eating of junk food, lack of socialization, and all the rest associated with exams, and you really do need to pace yourself so that after 2 weeks of studying and 1 week of exams you aren't completely depleted. So where possible try and stay focused on how happy you'll be at the end of exams, and what exactly it is you're hoping to achieve. I'll also say that I find working at a neat desk helps me a lot. Sure, organised chaos is most definitely a thing, but as long as you know where everything you need is, whether this means in a file or a pile of notes somewhere on your desk, it really helps to stay on top of things. I also find candles and flowers and things like that help to make the hours sitting in the same desk chair a bit better. 

I hope that maybe this has helped any of you out there going through exams or wondering how best to study effectively. I know that everyone works differently, but the main message I'd leave you with is to know yourself and how your body reacts to stress and to just avoid as many means of procrastination as possible. And be kind to yourself, allow yourself breaks and sleep and chocolate if need be. And good luck xxx