This is just the end of the beginning

I've always thought of break-ups as something to be feared. As it turns out, they can be quite the opposite. Yesterday brought about the end of my first relationship. The idea that our relationship would be fine after I moved away was one that we both doubted internally, but refused to admit to each other until now. It came about in a phone call. As nice as it would have been to be home, getting back to Melbourne is such a chore when you're still on your learner's. I texted to ask if I could call, and before I knew it my phone was ringing. The anticipation was the scariest part. We exchanged pleasantries as usual, and updated each other on our lives. We both knew it wasn't the same though, so we agreed that it was time. Yes, I was upset. Yes, I cried. Interestingly though, once I hung up the phone, most of what I was feeling was relief. Relief that I could stop pretending that everything was okay. Relief that I could move on and not feel bad. Mostly though, relief that it was mutual. We're still friends. We're always going to be friends. For me, friends is enough.

The Princess and the Peach Rings: An interview with a fellow strategic communicator

Annabelle Cannon is obsessed with Disney princesses and snacks.

The 19-year-old Strategic Communication student has the appearance of a princess in street clothes, with long wavy blonde hair and a plethora of pink accessories. She crosses her legs, and explains that the princess infatuation began at birth. Her mother named her after Belle, the titular princess from Beauty and the Beast, and bought her a lot of princess toys during her early formative years. This is not an uncommon phase for little girls to go through, but according to Cannon, she “never grew out of it”. Cannon also collects Disney princess dolls, owning a large couture version of both Belle and Mulan, which are “probably worth a couple of hundred bucks”. She also has six smaller princess dolls, which are now out of production, resulting in Cannon having to search far and wide to complete her collection.

Cannon is not just in it for the dresses and fantasies though. She appreciates and advocates the messages the stories send to young girls, and struggles to understand people who oppose them: “when there’s a princess with a prince, people complain that it’s implying she needs a man. When there’s a princess without a prince, like Merida from Brave or Elsa in Frozen, people complain that she’s a lesbian”.

A self-confessed “snackaholic”, Cannon’s other love is food. She partakes in both savoury and sweet snacking, idiosyncratically and without discrimination. She eats Maltesers one of two ways: shoving a whole handful in her mouth at once, or eating the chocolates individually, eating the chocolate coating first, followed by the malt centre. She smiles to herself whenever she thinks of the “soft cold happiness” that is ice cream. She sings ‘Hungry Eyes’ by Eric Carmen when waiting for her two-minute noodles to cook. When told to ‘help herself’, Cannon never declines. Unfortunately for the rest of us, Cannon still manages to maintain the presentation of a modern day Disney princess. Some people have all the luck.

You can read about Cannon’s snacking misadventures at http://snackaholicsanonymous.blogspot.com

Welcome to the city (if you can really call it that)

This is my fourth week living out of home. It's new. It's kind of scary. It's probably the best decision I've made in my life.

My name is Holly, and I'm a strategic communication student at La Trobe University, Bendigo. I'm living on campus here, but I'm originally from Essendon, eleven kilometres from the Melbourne CBD. Clearly I'm new to this whole regional thing; I'm a city kid at heart. I'm unnerved by the lack of traffic and aircraft noise here. I'm confused by the huge blocks of land, and even more perplexed that none of them are up for sale. I can't fathom why everything is so spaced out, and so far apart. I like my shops and transport in close quarters to me at all times. I'm living with seven girls at the moment, the most cosmopolitan of whom hails from the bustling metropolis that is... Shepparton. Don't get me wrong, I love my housemates and I love it here. I just don't understand growing up next door to a chicken chicken farm (that's a chicken farm that sells chicken, as opposed to an egg chicken farm), or knowing everyone in your town because there are only six hundred people living there.

Anyway, enough from this city rat. I'll drop in again when I think of more opinions the internet needs to hear.