It shouldn't be this difficult...

I though I had finally found something I wanted to study. It was an online study with the Open University, which isn't really what I wanted, but I figured that even if I went to a "proper" university I would have to do a lot of work on my own, so I have to to just make myself focus and study.

Then it came to the payment options… Let me tell you, studying in the UK is NOT cheap!! The full cost of what I was thinking about studying would come to over £15000 for the whole degree.

First I tried applying for a tuition fee loan from Student Finance England. They would not approve my application as I have not lived in the UK continuously the last 3 years and I am not from an EU country (the EEA countries were not included in the countries eligible for a loan).

Then I tried Open University Student Budget Accounts, they would also not approve my application, there was no explanation but I'm guessing it's because I don't make enough money so that maybe I wouldn't be able to pay the monthly instalments.

The last thing I looked at was support from Norway. I have to be in full time education to be eligible for that…

I guess people just moving to the UK just can't get a part-time education unless they have heaps of money to spare.

It is tempting to go into full-time education just so that I can get financial support from Norway, but I'm just worried they won't approve me either for some reason or other. Moreover, just the idea of studying instead of working when I have been working for so long is terrifying!! 

I don't know what I'm going to do, but I feel like getting a good education should't be so expensive that people struggle to get one!

Baslow Circular via Froggatt Edge

Usually when I go for a walk in the peaks I walk from Baslow to Bakewell via Chatsworth but yesterday I decided to do a new walk. I found this walk on the visit Chesterfield website as well, it's walk number 6.

The walk was really nice, it starts with a long uphill walk, steep at times but I walked to the top without having to stop for a breather so not too steep. Then there is a long walk along Curbar and Froggatt Edges with beautiful views. You can choose if you want to walk close to the edge or further in, the view from the edge is definitely the best and, as long as you have half a brain and watch where you're going, there is no danger of falling off the edge.

On top of the edges were definitely the busiest part of the walk, there were heaps of people there taking advantage of the lovely weather and lovely view. Because of the direction I was coming from Chatsworth could be seen in the distance behind me.

I'm kind of glad someone was walking in front of me when I was looking for the way down from the edge as it wasn't marked, although I'm sure I would have found it anyway since I was keeping an eye out for the tiny path. The first 50 meters of that path was quite steep and rocky so it's important to watch where you put your feet.

After going down from the edge the walk is fairly flat and goes along the River Derwent a lot of the time. 

In all it was a really nice walk, but I think if I walk again I will walk the other direction so as to get the lovely view of Chatsworth in front of me instead of behind me. I can totally understand why a lot of people were only walking on the edge. 

Part of this walk (right before you start walking on the edge) overlapped with the Robin Hood Inn Circular walk so the two walks could easily be tied together depending on what you wanted to see.

The Worst Expiry Date...

Isn't it strange, and rather sexist, that most people feel that in a straight relationship it's more natural for the guy to be older than the girl? People tend to think it's weird, or "wrong", if a woman is with a man more than a few months younger than her. A relationship seems to be more socially acceptable if the guy is the older one (as long as he's not 30 years older), double standards anyone?

To be honest I do prefer it when the guy is the same age or older than me...

I think it's because from a young age we're taught the whole "women mature quicker than men" thing, and therefore women will be more compatible with an older man.

Which is silly really, men never mature!

I'm not saying I would never go out with someone younger than me, or that there is anything wrong with women dating/marrying men younger than themselves, but personally I wouldn't actively go out looking for someone younger than me. From what I've noticed, a lot of men in their 20's just want to have fun, they don't want to commit. Of course everyone is different, and I do know men that have gotten married and had kids in their 20's, but most men don't want to think about all of that until they're in their 30's or later. Which is fine…. For them.

It doesn't really matter how old a man is before he decides to settle down and have kids, his sperm quality might get worse as he gets older, but technically a man can have kids until the day he dies. 

For woman it's worse. We have an expiration date. Which sounds really bad but it's true; at a certain age we can no longer have kids the natural way. It's the worst expiration date in the world.

I'm not saying my "clock has started ticking", but as I get older it is something that I think more about. I don't want kids yet, but I might want some when I get older, something that I might struggle with anyway due to my PCOS.

Say I want kids in my early to mid thirties… I'll be 27 soon, I want to find someone to spend some "alone time" with before possibly having kids. So I want to find someone that is ready to at least think about settling down, which will probably be someone my age or older. 

When looking at online dating profiles I always avoid the ones where the guy is younger than me, even though I've had crushes on guys that are younger than me in real life. 

I think I need to find something to do outside of work, to get out more, and try to find someone offline, instead of looking at profiles and judging people too quickly based on picture, age, location or whatever information they decide to share about themselves. And also to do an activity to make me happy and stop over-thinking the whole relationship thing… It will happen when it happens, online or offline.

Life isn't a fairytale, a prince won't suddenly come riding on a white horse to whisk you away. You can't just sit around waiting for something to happen, you have to get out, live life, have fun, meet new people... In the end one of those people will turn out to be your prince.