May Favourites!

I've never done one of these favourites posts before but I thought hey, might as well start. Hopefully I'll do one every month but who knows.

TOMS I've wanted a pair of these for ages and I happened to see them in a sale, so I treated myself. They're honestly the most ridiculously comfy shoes you could ever invest in. I was a bit worried as I have quite flat feet, but my feet don't ache wearing them at all. They're just so soft and all round lovely to walk in! Plus every time you buy a pair of shoes, they donate a pair to a child in need, so you can feel good about your purchases. You can find them here :)

YouTube I've been a little obsessed with YouTube recently. I just love watching vlogs! This month I've been really enjoying the Sarconnejolys. I have no clue why but they're just so cool and the children are so cute!

Whiteboard It's May which only really means one thing - exams. I seem to spend most of my day revising but I constantly panic during the evening because I feel as if I haven't done enough. Right now I feel as if I should be revising sand dunes for geography but I just feel too tired. However, when I do revise, I use a whiteboard. I'd never used one before this year but they're absolutely amazing. You can really easily organise your thoughts and test your knowledge, plus it's eco friendly - think of all those trees you're saving!

Running I really enjoy running and go with my friend Katie. We both started off pretty bad although I think we've really improved. We always run over the fields with our dogs and it's just so nice to clear your head and be outside. Also, you get a real sense of achievement once you've finished as we always try to extend our route each time, so you get to push yourself that little harder - it's the best feeling once you've finished and you know you've managed it!

Spotify I've probably spent way too much time listening to songs on here but I just love it so much. My favourite songs are definitely Bills by Lunchmoney Lewis, See You Again by Wiz Khalifa and and Cheerleader by OMI. They're just so good! My favourite artist of the month would have to be the Irish singer Orla Gartland. I found her by accident but I love her music, especially Souvenirs and The Ground. You can download Spotify for free here.

Here's the four of us all kitted out ready - it's like wearing a straight jacket!

Shooting As I recently mentioned in this post I do shooting every week. I went on a school trip down to Bisley which is the national shooting range to try shooting at distances of 300-600'. If I'm honest I was excited but also really nervous as there were only four of us and the other three I didn't know brilliantly, but it was such an amazing day out. The guns gave such a massive recoil - you feel like you've moved really far when you pull the trigger! 

Just to end this post I'll show you something that's cracked me up this month! I admit I find it funnier than it probably is, but I almost cry with laughter every time I see it!

Thanks for reading! What have been your favourite things this month? 

Lizzie 

 xxx

P.S Let me know if you'd like me to make this a monthly thing in the comments :)

Dublin - Day 3

Today was my last day in Dublin - it's gone so fast! 

We got up quite early as we wanted to make the most of the day as we had to leave at about 5:45pm to get to the airport on time for our flight. I'd really hoped to have a waffle with nutella, as I'd seen them yesterday at breakfast, but they didn't have them on today :( I had another huge full Irish breakfast again - it's probably good we left today otherwise I'd be getting enormous!

The river Liffey in Dublin near our hotel

We took the bus to Kilmainham Gaol. It is a former prison where many of Ireland's political prisoners were kept, tortured and executed. I found it really interesting as I didn't know anything about Irish history before I went. Plus, it's only €2 for students which is seriously good. You go into this museum area before you're taken on a tour around the prison. The conditions were absolutely appalling. Obviously prisons aren't nice places but they used to keep the prisoners in the dark for 23 hours a day, the only hour they were allowed outside they had to walk in circles with their heads down, unable to talk or even make eye contact. A lot of political prisoners were kept there, mostly leaders from the 1916 Easter Rising where the Irish Republicans tried to gain independence from the rest of the UK. I know it sounds really really silly but I hadn't even realised Ireland was once part of the British Empire.

Is it just me or does this look like the prison on that CBBC show, The Slammer?

We then took the bus back to Trinity College after a seriously yummy cake at the coffee shop in the prison. We took a walking tour around the college that allows you to get into the Old Library which contains the Book of Kells. I really like taking walking tours when I'm abroad as they're normally conducted by students who are basically the same age as me, so they pick things that young people are interested in as well as all the main sights. I hadn't heard of the Book of Kells but apparently it's the oldest book in the world. It's beautiful. It's handwritten with lovely drawings throughout. The Old Library is also really cool and looks like something out of Harry Potter! There are loads of spiral staircases between floors and floors of books. They even have those ladders that let you reach the top shelves, which I always thing are cool.

Next it was lunchtime - we got quite a lot done in the morning! I had this scrummy goats cheese sandwich with tomato and red pepper soup with a cider. I love being 18; you can just order alcohol - it makes me so happy and I have no idea why!

We took the bus to the Little Museum of Dublin mostly because it was free with our bus ticket but also because it looked interesting. There's a whole floor dedicated to the band U2, so if you're a fan, I'd definitely recommend it! It takes you from the Victorian era (I think. It might be a little earlier/later) all the way through to the present day. There was this amazing bit where there was this shop sign up on the wall and these two elderly ladies were talking about how they remember seeing Santa Claus there at Christmas as children. I love times like that, because it just makes everything so real.

That's pretty much my day and time in Dublin. Hope you enjoyed reading it :)

Lizzie

 xxx

Dublin - Day 1

Heya!

So today was my first day in Dublin and my first ever time in Ireland. I absolutely love the place! It was really lovely weather today, which I think always helps, but still it's a great city.

I flew in this morning. Yup another morning flight where you have to set your alarm for 4am! But on a positive note, for pretty much the first time ever I didn't set the security alarms off. I know it's sounds weird but seriously, every time I leave the UK I get searched and set all the scanners off. I don't know why. I once left my iPad in its case by accident and they took it away to do swabs on it, I'm such a numpty. Do you guys get this or is it just me?

We checked in at the hotel and had a little look around the area. Our hotel is in the Temple Bar region near the river Liffey and Trinity College. We went to this lovely little restaurant for lunch. If I'm honest I didn't think it was going to be up to much because there was no one else in there and for some reason it looked odd, but it was absolutely delicious. Plus, as a bonus, once we'd sat down loads of others started arriving so there was a nice atmosphere. The meal was about €13 for three courses which they served all on one plate. I had seafood chowder to start, steak, Guinness and mushroom pie with veg and potatoes and for pudding, profiteroles.

oh look, there's muggins ready for lunch

After lunch I sat and wrote my post cards as part of post crossing, as mentioned in a previous post here. I must have been there for ages because the French family next to me were joking that I hadn't stopped and could I write theirs. I bought the stamps for them in the main Post Office. If you ever go to this city just go in and look around it's completely free! It's just like it would have been in the 1800s I imagine as it's all pretty ornate with wood fittings etc.

We wondered down to trinity college after lunch although missed the last walking tour - I think I'll try to do that later in the week. It's a great place. I wasn't too bothered about going as I live near Cambridge in the UK so have seen quite a few colleges, but this is totally different. It's so odd as once you've entered the gates it's almost silent and you can't hear any of the hussle and bussle outside.

Trinity College

We left the college and had a look down the main the shopping street - I think it's the Oxford street of Dublin. It's weird how Ireland is a completely different country but a large proportion of the shops are the same as those found in the UK. We stopped at this pub just off the Main Street for a drink. I had a pint of cider which was really refreshing. Personally I don't think I've ever been drunk (although my friends may disagree) but I definitely felt really tipsy afterwards! How ridiculous is that?! A pint of cider and I was just like woah I can't concentrate on anything and got seriously giggly. I've never felt like that after just one pint so I'm going to say it must have been super strong... I tell myself this to stop me feeling like a lightweight!

We got back to the hotel and I did a little more revision. I'm panicking so much for these A levels. I'm just so scared that I won't get the place at medical school that I've been offered! Aaaah. Ok I'll stop there otherwise you'll just get a very long panicked ramble!

My dad fancied a Thai meal so we went there for tea. If I'm honest I really didn't fancy it but I didn't want to stop him as he'd been looking forward to it all day. It was quite nice but I think it's one of those things where I didn't really fancy it so I didn't enjoy it as much as I could. We shared a plate of mixed starters and then I had some tom yum soup, which was really scrummy but pretty spicy. I had duck red curry for my main, which was lovely and I really would've enjoyed had I not been ridiculously full. But oh my goodness it was spicy! When a Thai place says very hot don't think 'ah yeah it says that but I'm sure it's not too spicy'. It is. Always believe the menu.

We had a lovely little stroll along the river after tea. Do you do this? My family always goes for walks after tea when we're abroad, which I really enjoy. Especially at this time of year when the weather is nice and it stays light for ages. 

We returned to the hotel and I really wasn't sleepy so it was just revision, revision, revision! Tomorrow we're hoping to go to the Guinness storehouse as it's meant to be a bit rainy and it's indoors so it seems like a good plan.

Lizzie
 xxx

P.S. This is being uploaded a bit late sorry as the wifi in the hotel wasn't great.

Birthday in Paris - Day 2

We spent our birthday in Disneyland Paris! It was absolutely amazing!

We started the day with such a nice lie in because staying up till 2/3am two nights in a row is seriously tiring! We then went and had a really scummy breakfast of croissants, french baguette and all things yummy, and then opened our presents afterwards. I got a camera from my dad, which I'm so pleased about as now I can take lovely photos that will help me to remember all the fun things I've done and places I've been, in years to come. Apryl's mum got us both a beautiful silver necklace with a clear jewel pendent, which is just so lovely!

Disneyland was absolutely brilliant! I just love how everything is so colourful and everyone's so so happy. It was the spring fesitval when we went, so there were thousands of flowers in so many colours.

We went on pretty much all the rides I think! My favourite one was definitely either the Indiana Jones one or big thunder mountain. They were both roller-coasters and even though I've been to Thorpe Park with bigger ones before, they were seriously good. I also loved the small world ride where you sit in a little boat and sail around the world - the music is just so cute! One of the attractions was to drive around a course in a little car. I thought I was going to be good at it as I'm learning to drive but oh no, I was so bad! We crashed loads of times.

The great thing about Disneyland is how you can eat soooo much scrummy food and no one judges you! I had a burger with chips for lunch, which we ate outside (yep, it was pretty hot!). the burger was really cool because it was in a bagel which I've never seen before. I'd like to say I stopped eating after that, but no, this happened:

The most candyfloss I've ever seen

At the end of the day, Apryl, Chris (Apryl's dad) and I pretended that Chris was a really famous person. It was absolutely hilarious with Apryl trying to get his autograph and me running up beside them trying to get a shot of 'the celebrity'. So many people were looking so I'm pretty sure they believed it! Chris then photo bombed so many people's photos. There's this one massive group photo where Chris is standing at the back smiling away, and absolutely no one noticed.

To round off an amazing birthday we went to this little restaurant in Paris near our apartment for a yummy meal. Once we were back we had cake, because really there's no such thing as a birthday unless there's cake. It was absolutely delicious! The local patisserie made it for us. I didn't think I would be able to manage it after eating so much that day but it wasn't too filling at all so it was all good.

Ok, so a really bad picture but the cake was insanely good

It was such an amazing weekend away! The Monday was horrible - getting up at 4am to catch our train and then straight into school for a full day of lessons, but it was completely worth it for the brilliant time I had.

Lizzie
 xxx

Thank you!

I don't really know how to write this but I really want to, so I'm hoping it'll all just come out ok.

These last few years have been quite difficult for me. My mum died, home life was really tough, moving schools and so many other things I won't go into here - on top of everything applying to medical school and actually trying to get the grades! There have been so many times when everything seemed so horrible and the world was just black. I don't know how to explain it. I wanted to feel happy I really did but I just couldn't. I'd always have this constant nervousness and sadness even though there would often be no reason for it. Don't get me wrong, of course I did have days when I was happy, but for so long I felt like I was trapped in this unhappy place, while everyone else was enjoying life. However, this post isn't about all the upsetting things, this is about saying thank you, because throughout the time there have been two ridiculously special people. I know for sure that if it wasn't for them I wouldn't be here today. Not necessarily ending it, more I wouldn't be the person I am today. They were always there, through the good and the bad times, when I was panicking and crying but also when I was laughing and having fun. They always stuck by me and were just a face-to-face chat, Facebook message, phone call or email away. I can't say thank you enough to these people!

http://www.thequotepedia.com/images/06/thank-you-picture-thank-you-quotes.jpg

People say their best friend is the best, but I can assure you they obviously haven't met Penny. She's the greatest person you could ever meet. Unbelievably kind, gorgeous, amazing fun and a brilliant listener. Every time I was upset even about the most trivial things, she was always there, making me laugh and stopping me worrying. I have some of the best memories of my life with her, even the most simple of things like eating dib dabs on the business park bench to the greatest things like going on our first holiday together to the Edinburgh Fringe. We were both so scared we wouldn't remain friends when we went to different sixth forms - how stupid we were!

The other person I'd like to say thank you to, and I know Penny will be able to guess this, is Mrs Hague. She's an insanely amazing teacher at the school I moved to for sixth form, and she's just so lovely. I trust her more than anyone in the entire world (except Penny of course!). I don't think she knows how much she's changed my life. I feel I could tell her pretty much anything; she's been like the mum I no longer have.

If you're in a dark place right now, I can promise you it will get better. Talk to someone you trust and you know will understand; you can always talk to these guys. I never believed I would feel happy again when I was about 14/15 but I can assure you with all my heart it is possible.

This post doesn't even begin to tell you how thankful I am for these people in my life, but it's a start. I know they may never read it, but I think it's really important to thank people, whether its due to something massive or the smallest of things that meant the world to you.

Thank you!

Lizzie