Long time no see blog. I may have *coughs* slightly, ever so slightly, abandoned my blog a bit. I could waffle on about all the reasons and what i've been up to but basically: life.

Today I have come to write though because something exciting is happening...

Th years are 2013-2015. I wake up, make my coffee right away (of course), slink back to bed, jump on my laptop and press refresh on my YouTube subscription page to see what new videos my favourite youtubers have uploaded. I get on with my day and then in the evening i'm going out to a nice dinner - so what do I do? Hop onto YouTube and see if I can find a makeup tutorial I can try out. Needing inspiration on what to wear? Hop on YouTube. Wanting to learn how to curl my hair with a straightener? YouTube. Missing Christmas? Youtube (Christmas Vlogs).

Everythinggg came back to YouTube with me.

What did I like so much about it that made me so obsessed? To the point where I watch it for hours on end over watching a tv series?

It was that YouTubers were relatable. They were like me..just filming in their bedrooms..using drugstore makeup products..doing Primark hauls..having baking fails. Content was more casual and not pristine. People didn't really care about instagram themes. Things weren't getting promoted every five seconds.

People are branding themselves these days and making themselves packages, everyone knows it's big business so many are jumping on the social influencer bandwagon. Heck, there are so many girls that I went to school with that are now trying to get insta famous by posting bikini pictures and with their almost 1000 followers are promoting a teeth whitening product.

The big YouTubers I used to love just feel out of touch now? I used to love Zoella. Just thought she was the bomb diggity. I thought she was quite similar to me - a girly girl who loved makeup and Christmas. I'd watch all of her videos without fail. The last few years I have just tuned out. I find her videos kinda difficult to watch these days? I still enjoy them to some degree but with her millions of dollars and lavish lifestyle I just can't relate.

And perhaps I am ever-so-slightly bitter when I hear YouTubers complain about how busy they have been? I'm an operating theatre nurse, so when I come home after a 10 hour day of running around, scrubbing in for long operations, doing copious amounts of documentation, liaising with the surgical team (which does include cranky people time to time), helping collect specimens for pathology, jogging to the storeroom for important equipment, more documentation...it makes my eye twitch in slight annoyance. Sure - being busy is subjective - but seeing someone complain about being busy and then going onto unbox their $2000 ASOS haul does make me slightly seethe.

I do really miss the cozy vibe of 2013 YouTube but these days social media is big business so I doubt it will ever feel the same again. For now I will try find the smaller YouTubers and bloggers to switch onto.

Sometimes life just feels like the Friends theme song

"So no one told you life was going to be this way"
(please tell me we all just mentally did the claps in our head?).

My friend quoted this to me the other day and I definitely had a "CAN RELATE" moment.

I'm 23 now. I've finished school, done a bit of traveling, went to university, got a job, and am now into my second year of working practically full time. It's an odd feeling because although in some ways I have my life together...but I still have this BIG inner question of: what next?

When I was younger I just assumed that as soon as I grew up and got a job then I was set. Now being in this stage of life where I have ticked those boxes i've realized it isn't what I thought it would be. I sound like such a millennial right now don't I?

I have some ideas and dreams of what I want in life and I plan to keep working towards them. For example next year I am 90% sure I am moving to the UK to work as a nurse and travel. Very exciting, but also very nerve wracking!!

These days we have sooo many options of what we can do which kind of liberates us but also gives up too much choice? It's like a buffet of opportunity which just makes you hot and flustered rather than feeling calm. And I mean..don't we all wish we could be bloggers? Imagine getting to take photos and write daily, the dream.

This is it on my face!! Of course this is nice lighting so it looks extra flawless but in real life it still holds up pretty well.

THE ROYAL WEDDING HAPPENED!

And was anyone else like me being a complete lunatic with how excited you were for it?

Seriously - at work I wouldn't shut up about it. I was asking anyone and everyone if they were watching it! I may be Australian but there is something I just love about a royal wedding. I love the traditions, watching the guests arrive, seeing if Eugenie and Beatrice will wear ridiculous headwear again, eagerly waiting to see what colour the Queen will wear, and most of all: THE BRIDE. Also seeing the loving gazes. It just feels like a Disney movie you grew up watching except it's real life.

Anyway the point of this post was to give a shout out to Meghan Markle. Her makeup surprised me. I thought she would go full glam but instead opted for an understated look. A sheer base showing her freckles, barely any contouring (if any), a subtle smokey eye, and a nude lipstick. It a world where people are constantly wearing more and more makeup it was refreshing to see she went natural.

I don't want to hate on the current culture of full glam makeup because of course people should be able to wear whatever they like on their face and yada ya...

But I think it's important for everyone to remember their own natural beauty. I quote I love is "makeup should enhance not conceal". It's so true though, if you have cute freckles then you shouldn't go to great lengths to cover them up you should embrace them as they add to your beauty. I think whoever did her makeup did such a great job of making her look so effortlessly gorgeous.

Please tell me you read that last bit of my title in Eminem's voice

Guess who's back..back again...Shady's HOLLY'S back...Tell a friend..*breaks down in dance*

I uh, *coughs*, dropped the ball on the whole blogging game. It's not that life hasn't just been busy (it has) but I guess I just kinda lost my blogging mojo. It happens, happens to many bloggers at some point. You lose motivation and get distracted by other things. I found that I wanted each post to be super high quality that I just put pressure on myself. I think this in turn just made me not want to post unless I thought it was good enough. Then I realised...why does it matter! I always set out to do my blog as a fun little hobby and I want it to stay that way. Although the bar these days for blogs are set really high I know that i'm just doing this because I enjoy it and it's a fun creative outlet! So here I am back again. I'm just going to kick it old school.

So what have I actually been up to these last few months?

WORKING
I officially finished my "graduate year" in February so now i've rolled into the next year and am technically a second year nurse. The last year went so quick and I learnt so much! I still love my job as an operating theatre nurse and feel so lucky I get to see such cool things every day.

GETTING MY UK NURSING REGISTRATION
I have started the process of getting my UK nursing registration..which is...totally hard guys. I've sat a first exam (which I passed) and now have a few more things I have to do. It's exciting but also rather stressful. I'm hoping to move there at some point next year so we'll just see how it all goes. I'm about to put up a blog post on how I passed my first exam (the CBT) for anyone in my position who needs some tips.

LOTS OF FRIEND THINGS
Birthday weekends (helloooo Byron Bay! helloooo Brisbane!). Hens weekend, a wedding, dinners, picnics, etc. I've got such a solid group of friends so it always keeps me quite busy with the catch ups.

PLANNING TRAVEL
So i'm coming to the UK for 3 weeks in June! Because...why not! I have missed it a lot so i'm going for a little trip. Will also visit one of my close friends in Positano, Italy which will be a dream. So that's all exciting.

CONCERTS
In the last few months I have seen The East Pointers, Ed Sheeran, and Lana Del Rey. I have a few more coming up with is exciting.

So if you're reading this i'm guessing you're also an international nurse trying to get your nursing registration in the UK. As you may have discovered yourself or seen in the forums: it isn't exactly a walk in the park.

I have spoken to nurses at my work about going over to the UK to work as a nurse and they recall their time over there so fondly saying it was such a fun time and a great travel opportunity. For them  it was easy! In recent years they have made it a lot more difficult for international nurses to get their registration. Fun times! Ultimately it will be worth it but for now it's a little stressful.

I sat the Nursing Midwifery Council's (NMC) Computer Based Test (CBT) and passed first attempt after only two weeks of study.

After reading through the many forums it occurred to me that perhaps I shouldn't have booked the test so quickly, I should have given myself more time to study. I was a woman on a mission though and was determined to get it done. After passing I now have some great tips advice to give anyone else who is going to be taking this exam. :) As per the confidentiality agreement I signed before taking the exam I won't give any specifics but more give guidance on how best to study.

What the CBT is on and how to pass it
The NMC provides this handy booklet so have a read through of it.

There are 120 multiple choice questions and the exam goes for 4 hours. There are a portion of questions which are deemed critical questions, and you have to pass 90% of them to pass the test overall. I believe I read somewhere there are about 20 critical questions. On the exam it doesn't tell you which ones are the critical questions but they would be ones on things such as medication calculations, consent, and safeguarding. It made me very nervous that I had to pass basically all of the critical questions to pass overall but these things should be common sense for everyone. So try not to stress on these, just focus on reading up the policies again and you'll be fine.

Firstly...the Blue Prints
This is what they look like if you haven't seen them already. They are pretty much the only resource you are given. At first when I saw them I was quite overwhelmed and had no clue what all the symbols meant (the Y, E* etc). What is also overwhelming is all the links they give you...SO. MANY. LINKS. So how do you best make sense of the blue prints?

Well firstly it's important to note that all competencies with an E* mean they are on the exam and are a crucial area to study. As for the Y's...yeah I still have no clue what those mean. Make sure to take special note of the ones with the E* next to them

After reading through all the competencies I then went clicking through allll the links..
If I can give you advice on the links it would be: have a quick read of them but don't spend too much time on links where the information you know already. I spent hours and hours going through all the links taking notes on every single one and reading back on my notes I realised it was all a lot of common sense/ repeated information. They are very useful to read but I think it's best to really take note of particular areas you aren't so sure about. It's also great to read in depth on the NMC's own policies and codes. I found the medication management one was handy, and also The Code which is mentioned a lot. The NMC I notice is very big on safeguarding so make sure to read up on all those documents.

Just try take a deep breath. Make yourself a coffee or tea. Click through some links, take some notes on important things you want to remember. Take breaks regularly. You'll get there.

Secondly...The Royal Marsden
If you've been on forums then there is a good chance you have seen this mentioned time and time again. At first I just kept brushing it off thinking it's fine I don't need to buy a textbook, i'll be right. Then I just kept reading up on how fantastic this is as a resource and many people who had passed the CBT recommended this.

Well...now i'm recommending it! Is it essential for passing? Not really, it's hard to say. Is it really helpful and will be an awesome resource for when you do the OSCE? ABSOLUTELY!

Basically I think you should get this. I bought it on amazon and just got it kindle edition for about $50. This textbook is great as at the end of each chapter it has exam questions which you can test yourself on. As an operating theatre nurse there are a lot of clinical skills I haven't used in a long time so this was great to read and refresh my memory. You won't only use this for the CBT but it will be great for the OSCE as well so I think it's definitely worth buying. I know it's expensive..and after all the other costs associated with getting the UK registration it's just another thing to buy..but I really do think it will be worth it and may make the difference between having to retake an exam or not.

The Forums..

Now come on, who else in desperation has gone to the forums for any and every hint on what to study? To be honest the forums SCARED me. Absolutely scared me. Hearing all these tales of people failing..people saying different things..it all became a bit too much for me stressing me out further. I think avoid them as much as you can. Although they do provide some guidance once you have written out some of the tips from people just click exit and start studying.

What should you be studying in particular...
I can't really give away too much here but really think of the things you do day in day out in nursing which are deemed very important? Medications for example. Medication safety is such a big thing everywhere in the world for good reason. Brush up on your medication calculations, you can't bring a calculator into the exam so as you can imagine they are quite easy to compensate for you having to work it out just on paper. Consent is also a very big part of what we do day-to-day, so read up on the policies and laws surrounding that. As you may have noticed in the NMC blueprint there are a lot of articles on safeguarding so they are great to have a decent read through.

In the NMC booklet it breaks down the questions as %: Professional values make up 27%, communication and interpersonal skills make up 10%, nursing practice and decision making make up 33%, leadership management and team working make up 13%, and unique specific competencies to your field of nursing make up 17%. This is a good like gauge of how they assess you.

What to do on the day of your test...
Give yourself good time in the morning. Make a decent breakfast, and do something to relax yourself. I just read over my notes a last time just refreshing my memory on things. Realise you have 4 hours to complete the test which is more than enough time, I actually only took 2 1/2 hours and spent the last half hour just going back through all my questions double checking. Realise that you probably already know all of it already. It's a lot of common sense and isn't as tricky as people make it out to be. The pass rates for first time are 75-80% so the odds are already in your favour. If you don't pass the first time least you then have an idea of what the content is like and you are then able to go back study areas that you feel you may need more knowledge about.

If you have a faith (i'm a christian) make sure to pray as this always calms my nerves and makes me feel like the weight has been lifted off my shoulders.