Mermaid's Makeup

My name is Mercedes, I am a 20 year old student midwife living in the East of England in a house with 4 other girls on my university course. Some people are probably thinking "4 girls in one house, that can't be good", don't worry we do have 2 bathrooms and thankfully there have been miminal arguments up to now! Doing the profession that we do I think we are all fairly like-minded and caring/considerate most of the time which helps. With our long hours and night shifts it's also lucky that we are all doing the same thing as we understand how hard it is and help each other out. The hair found all over the house is a big issue though, as you can probably imagine! We do have a lot of fun though when we're not too exhausted from placement.
I used to be a rhythmic gymnast (with the pretty leotards and balls, ribbons etc) and competed for Great Britain in a few competitions but sadly quit when I was around 13 years old when I found it hard trying to balance training with my school work and social life. I went through a period of time where I did regret my decision to quit in about 2010 when I was watching the Commonwealth Games and saw girls who I had beaten in competitions representing Great Britain. Now though I realise that everything happens for a reason and I wouldn't be where I am in life if I had persued my gymnastics career, as great as it was. Although I am no longer involved in the sport physically, I am still very passionate about it as I spent 8 years of my life doing it, training 5 days and 24 hours a week, and love watching competitions if they are on TV or online.

I am now a university student studying to become a midwife and I am about to enter my final year in a few months which makes me very scared! With only 7 weeks off each year, shorter than most people's summer alone, and having to do 12 hour shifts, it is an extremely hard course. That being said, it is well worth it and I couldn't imagine doing anything else. Helping to bring another person into the world has got to be one of the most amazing things that anyone can do and I count myself lucky that I am able to be involved in such a momentous time in people's lives to share the experience with them. I don't plan on talking too much about this in my posts because there are obviously a lot of things that need to be kept confidential, however I may do some updates or general posts about placements from time to time.
When I do have a few free minutes I enjoy spending time with my family and friends and have also joined the university's cheerleading team. Like most people, when I used to think about cheer before I really knew what it was about, I thought it was a bit of a lame 'sport' where people wear ridiculous outfits with outrageous hair and prance around with pom-poms. Boy was I wrong! It requires a lot of hard work and commitment as well as teamwork and trust in your team mates. The strength and fitness required to be remotely good at it completely blew me away and when our coaches made us do conditioning and go on long runs; I soon realised there was more to the sport than what I had originally imagined. For anyone thinking that cheer is easy and shouldn't be considered a sport, I challenge you to join a team and then tell me if you still believe this! Over the past two years competing with my amazing team I have made some great friends, learnt a lot of new skills and also found a lot more confidence in myself that I previously lacked. Whilst it is hard work, especially when I am on placement and am working 12 hour shifts and then have to go to training, I really enjoy the sport, silly outfits and all! It truly is one of the best things I've done since going to university.
Anyway, enough about me! (Not that there is really anything else to add anyway). I hope you enjoy my blog however weird and wonderful it may be!
Talk soon,
Mercedes x