BLITZ!

I'm afraid I have neglected you terribly.

 My life this term has been a perfect wash of all things good and hence, very boring to write and read about. There have been highlights and interesting things, but in the effort and mindset of moving ONWARDS AND UPWARDS with my revived blog, I probably shan't bother going through the effort of remembering everything, finding photos etc, so y'all with have to accept that there is a chunk of a few months of my life that you will not be privy to, asides from the super brief update of things I can think of off the top of my head.

 Last time I blogged it was midway through christmas break, yet I am now blogging at the end of my Easter one. EXAMS! are coming up once again. Essays (3) need to be handed in but I'll try not ramble on about workload because that's never really fun to read. I have not gone home as I did last holiday, but spent the break intruding upon my boyfriend's family and home life and visiting the cute lil' town of Porthcawl, Wales where he was born and raised. We've spent a great deal of time doing everything and nothing as we do best; several London trips, the Lion King West End show, an overly expensive meal for 2 'poor' students, frolicking with baby lambs, one (ONE!!! IN A MONTH+) night out, and various adventures and ice creams walking down the pier on a nice day. I've managed to get a lil' bit of productive stuff done and I'm even more crazily in love (sop) so I'll count this holiday as a big tick. PLUUUS boyfriend's gone and booked his flights to Hong Kong for the end of Summer, where mama and papa Grant may accompany us on our additional detour to Phuket. Can we say exciting? YES!

So really, as of this term, my life has been:

• Lectures, seminars, film shenanigans. My coursemates are still bonkers as ever and I still love every minute of it.
• Spending silly but lovely amounts of time with the SO. Improving our cooking skills, watching films, playing games on a DS emulator. I'll try keep the cheesy stuff off the blog but I'm happy.
• Only having a FEW super!drunk nights this term. Bonus points to the one where I went blackout and magically behaviourally transformed into a toddler who intentionally spilled water all over the floor.
• Cute girl's nights with junk food, pizza, films and gossip. I love my girl's nights.

In all, nothing too exciting, but nothing that boring either really. 

 I guess another thing I could mention is that I've recently decided to get back into 'proper' photography.  As in, booking more 'proper' shoots, doing editorial-esque planned photoshoots with people interested in modeling. First step is really to refresh and rebuild a portfolio so I've planned a few shoots, so I may be talking about a few of them in the future.

Anyhow, ENOUGH of old stuff. Here are some photos from today's visit to a farm and the baby lambs (and boyfriend and me of course)

Mother teresa WHO??





That's what I'm gonna leave you with as it's past bedtime so I should probably shimmy back into bed. Will be back again soon (I won't quite make a promise but I'll give you an I'll-try-really-hard.)
MUCH LOVE!

Transatlanticism

I was counting down the hours until I took off to the skies.

The terminals and runways merge into one time and time again.

You find sanctuary in the clouds,

and solace by the sun.

So, I close off for comfort as I could walk for miles and miles;

and never reach my destination.

I sleep on my side without the safety of your arms.

The pavements no longer crunch,

And the leaves no longer fall.

The expanse of flatness we walked over, over and over,

Changes to tower over me instead.

And it casts a shadow that echoes in my head.

I attempt to make familiar feeling of this foreign scene.

Winter’s chill keeps my chest warm,

And five past sets me on fire.

Tangled in the duvets,

Gazing out the window.

The moon marks the nights we spent staring at the same starry skies that are now empty to me.

I am not a writer but I feel like you deserve some words from me.

Resolution

I only seem to ever blog when I have literally NOTHING else to do, which isn't really fair to all you readers! (Stats say there are somehow a few of you out there, okay, that's legitimate.)
Maybe my New Year's Resolution this year can be to start blogging again ... all the broken link pictures really got me into a right upset state because I like neatness, but hey, I can always just kind of start again on the same blog, right?


I'm back in Hong Kong now actually. As in, got off the plane today after a failed cab reservation that led to me calling a cab basically in tears down the phone, almost hitting a child with a rogue luggage trolley, oh, and getting an upgrade and having the whole aisle to myself and because it was Air New Zealand, it was basically AIR MIDDLE EARTH. (No kidding, that's like totally their seasonal tagline.)

So, updates: I had my birthday on tuesday! 19 isn't amazing so far. I did get lots of lovely things including chocolate (duh always works,) and i did get sung to in Welsh which was cute. My party was the friday before which you'd know if I'd been bothering to update this but I haven't. Y'all haven't missed much, I swear - house parties and sometimes I went out but mostly just stayed in because I'm boring and afflicted with Couple Syndrome™ now apparently.

You see, I planned a fancy dress party with a wide theme and basically TOLD everyone they'd HAVE to dress up but actually didn't end up getting a costume until the DAY BEFORE MY OWN PARTY.



Portia and Esme also came down and it was nice to have a great CATCH UP HANGOVER SESH the next day when we all dragged our sorry asses to Spoons to devour breakfast. Spoons is becoming my hangover cure - testified by Saturday, when I woke up blindingly hungover at 7.30. Managed to get halfway down the stairs before I had to stop and rest, then turned the heating on and crawled back into bed and then I spent the rest of the morning feeling very sorry for myself and complaining in my delicate state before I was able to go have breakfast and then of course I was fine although quite confused after a very fun and strange house party.

I'm going to have to up my tolerance big time before I fall in the ocean heading home one night and drown.

Last sentence because I've moved to an island which requires ferrying - which is annoying but I can forgive that based on the disneyland fireworks I can see every night. The door also beeps like a maniac every time you leave it open which really confused me the first time. And we have no keys but use a hidden keypad which does admittedly make me feel like a spy every time i walk in which is awesome.

Been trying to dabble with a (writing) piece about traveling and the international lifestyle based on how many times I cross through airports and come through clouds every year, but I guess my mind's not in that creative a place at the minute. I'm going to have to get my hands on a guitar at some point which basically just suggests that I should get a new one for christmas, right?

No one's back for a week so i guess i'll be running errands and staring at the ceiling of an unfamiliar house wondering what I'm going to do with my life in the time being. I'd keep you updated but I think that would even bore me, so, later.

A Drop In The Ocean

Back again after a fruitful absence from the internet as Lucinda was over for 10 days. In these 10 days, we scaled mountains in a runaway mine cart, tripped over snakes, got hung up on by service operators, and made cocktails in my room watching studio ghibli films.

Rundown:

(1) Lucinda arrives exhausted. I drag her up to the top of the mountain and we get starbucks and walk down and I show her the city lights. Weather decides to be a dick and it's horribly polluted and doesn't look near as pretty as it usually does.

(2) I go for my last day of work whilst Lucinda sleeps off her traveling. I get back just as she wakes up. We wander town - looking in toy shops because we are so mature - and go for korean bbq. We use the excuse of having to eat lots to absorb all the alcohol we'd no-doubtedly be chugging later (jaeger night,) before heading out and indeed, consume a fairly impressive amount (for the two of us lightweights.) I end up dragging her home at three, exhausted cus of work.

(3) Visit to Lamma island with my parents. Walk around the island with proper chinese seafood. Lucinda's hangover fucks off at about 3 so it's all good. We watch cute films. Memory can't even remember what now.

(4) Disneyland! We start the day off with frozen yogurt because with a day that STARTS with froyo, there's no way it can be bad and it can only get better. Highlights include space mountain, the new grizzly mountain in all its shocking backwards glory, the philharmagic orchestra as usual because it's cute, everything about toy story land, and of course, FIREWORKS!!!

We got bows as well, cos we're cute.

NEVER FAIL TO GIVE ME GOOSEBUMPS.

Okay, I think y'all get my eternal undying love for fireworks at this point.

(5) Went to cheung chau late afternoon for more seafood - don't know why - and cycling. Rented bikes and cycled along the seafront until Megan got lost. After dinner, went to Sav's gig and ended up accidentally out at $10 vodka night for a bit. I finally have a witness as to how strong the drinks are here.

(6) Ladies' Night - went to Esme's to chill for a bit before going out for a letdown of a ladies' night to be honest. Too busy and we waited for like 15 minutes to get a drink. My guy friends had even more trouble, so we gave up and came home and watched films tipsy instead.

(7) I think we went shopping today? Everything has sort of merged into one big memory again. Wandered Mongkok and the little malls and picked up some things. Came home (again) and marathoned studio ghibli. (Lucinda is now a big fan. Can't describe how pleased I am.)

(8) Ocean park!!! Despite it being a friday, it was literally the best day we could've gone... there weren't that many mainlanders as China's holiday was just about over. The longest line we had to wait in was about 15 mins and there were loads of new rides to go on! We cleverly went straight on the hair-raiser (new rollercoaster,) without actually looking at it which was lucky as once we were on it we freaked out as it looked far more horrifying than it actually was. Yay, reckless moment of bravery - 1.

From the collection of photos titled 'Laura & Lucinda wait in line.'

Lucinda had never seen pandas before !!!

Was disgustingly hot. Really, really bad. But it looks pretty.

babyyyy

Several long stays at the south pole encounter / north pole encounter / aquarium / ANYWHERE REMOTELY COOL AND AIR CONDITIONED for prolonged periods of time.

Also: they have a walrus now!!! For something so ugly, it really was majestically beautiful! Doing all its graceful backflips and just swimming around. We spent quite a lot of time just watching it.

We both actually didn't go on the turbo drop because she hates anticipation and this time there weren't any 11 year olds around to make me feel bad for not going on hah.

(9) Did more shopping today after a long recovery. Lingered in the cat shop for ages buying presents for Lucinda's boyfriend and I just looked since I hadn't been paid yet. Such a big list of things to buy now! Went out for the last time this night - jaeger again, and I also took Lucinda to see LKF which she liked. Since we're both apparently old now, we left earlyish.

(11) Lucinda left late at night so we just went up to the peak again and had new york fries (of course) and just stared at the skyline before dropping her off and then I came home and skyped boyfriend for like 3 hours to catch up.

Since then, I've gone shopping (and blown half my paycheck already oops not really,) and have just been playing guitar / piano and composing and drawing and running and counting down the days. As of now, 9 sleeps til i'm back in england with boyfriend :) Finally into single digits. Me & Lucinda both kept reiterating how this was the first time we'd complained about the length of a holiday. Sucks being so far away from half the people I care loads about for so long. Not long now. I've got a 12 hour (upgraded, yay!) plane flight and an extensive to do list once I land. So excited. ♡

Hello, I miss you quite terribly.

(Oh no, I'm quoting Hellogoodbye as a post title quick turn back delete my blog burn the body it'll never be found...)

Thought i'd better update about the last week just because I'm leaving soon, and big surprise, the longer I put off stuff, the less likely I am to care about it slash do it.

(1) Touchdowned in London and boarded a train to Joe's for his weekend birthday celebrations. In all, a fantastic weekend. Arrived - after getting lost DUE TO THE FAULT OF GOOGLE MAPS and not my perfect navigational skills - amidst a poker game which I didn't understand, which just escalated into drinking and waiting to head to Ministry of Sound. Going out in London is expensive so we declared it vodka o'clock early and just attempted to drink as much as possible.

London clubs are big, expensive, and have tight security. I had to pass through my second metal scanner-thingy in a day (hint: first one was airport security) and then we went in and had a really good night, ending in a 5AM walk home watching the sun rise over the river in a really nice scenic way, ignoring the fact I was walking barefoot because I just couldn't deal with my shoes any longer. (Class act, as usual.)

And then, because we're a bunch of Warwick students, we went to the natural history museum (!!!) the next day, following the world's biggest brunch that just had us all ridiculously full. We traipsed around and touristed and I fawned over the exhibits and dinosaurs whilst simultaneously tried not to die of pigeon attack.

(2) I actually started watching a TV show and started American Horror Story which I like because it's really not scary at all but the drama and plots are pretty decent and the acting is good and (not gonna lie,) Evan Peters is cute. I'm not too far in but I like it and then I'm going to, as I promised Sophie, watch Buffy. This is going to be a fun summer.

(3) Just got back from Joe's in London again cause it was nananananana BATMAN WEEKEND. Dark Knight Rises at the Odeon in Leicester Square. Pigeons aside, it was pretty much the nicest two days. Me and Joe filled in bits of 'This is Not a Book" -

and caught the sunshine and we had Zizzi's with Toby and then watched what was one of the most engaging, well made, and emotionally involving ends to a trilogy. I shed a few tears.

After this and after I paid for the most expensive frozen yogurt ever - i was JOKING when I said i'd pay £10 for a froyo because it was funny because it was a gross exaggeration but turned out apparently to be almost true - and then me and Joe headed back to his. From then on, we constructed a very impressive fort with sofas and sheets and pillows. Touched up with glasses of wine - great idea for good lightweight me who seems to always fall into delusions of 'I can totally drink that really quickly' - and THIS IS NOT A BOOK. Didn't quite stay away and watch the sun rise on the roof-bit as planned but it was still pretty much perfect. (And really quite twee as well, HAh.)

Taking off back to 852 on Monday. I haven't been back since APRIL. I miss the little things and of course my dog and the things I constantly complain about here ... but I'm just a really good complainer, aren't I... Lizzy's back there and Esme and Sav and Izzy and the rest of them all. Should be quite a busy month or so, even if I'll be away from my England people for 2 months. I've planned my England room anyway, to the utmost detail, now just to try get a job so I can afford to pay for my extravagant ideas. I need to stop planning things.

Italy 2012

Backdated a bit as per usual - will do a quick post on Italy first before diving into the weekend's antics on the next.

So, following the wedding: zorbing, beach trips, mud, grass, nature, mud, mud, mud, wales, wind. We didn't really do too much apart from eat and go to the tesco and chill with the fam. I made it my mission to sit as close to my south african family as much as possible just to hear them speak because I love their accents and the kid is actually really cute and she loved me and it was a beautiful friendship.

Went back to my gran's for a day, then my aunt's in London for 3 before Italy. In between then, met up with Andrew & Toby and had ~* LONDON ADVENTURES *~ which involved walking along the embankment, debating about going into my precious aquarium (we didn't :( !) 5pm sake at wagamamas, and shots off some dodgy vendor on the pier and a mission to find a book. I'D REALLY MISSED THEM, MY SEPARATION ANXIETY IS AWFUL.

SO, ITALY.

Arrived late at night and it was up to me the genius to figure out how to change the language on the gps (everytime my dad has a go at me for doing something stupid, I now snap back 'IF IT WEREN'T FOR ME YOU'D STILL BE STUCK AT ANCONA AIRPORT TRYING TO CHANGE THE GPS LANGUAGE,') and because of this, I was put into the front seat to navigate because, y'know, my Italian and navigational skills are excellent.

Italy is gorgeous. Because of the way it's set up - lots of little towns and villages on the tops of mountains - it was even prettier at night. Neatly scattered lights amidst the pitch-blackness, almost as if they were a reflection of the stars ...

and then we realised it was around 38 fucking degrees in the daytime and I was no longer happy.

Not too much to say really, so I shall post some pictures from Rome and then move onto a new entry to keep things neat. (Plus I'm aware this is boring.)

 

Image heavy, word heavy.

Alright, I've quit being so dramatic - a little bit. Basically, I'm now tucked away right out in the sticks of Wales with appalling network and very slow internet connection - what's better than a SUPER LONG BLOG ENTRY!

Mostly concerning the post-exam shenanigans in full, wedding stuff, and my summer plans. This is a very selfish entry because it's all me, me, me, but let's not kid ourselves, literally everything on this blog is about me because I am just apparently a terribly self-obsessed person.

So, I basically didn't drink for like... 1 or 2 days of those 2 weeks we had off after exams. There was all the going out with different people, the casual drinking in the evenings, and the westwood bbq of course (and our alcoholic teacup!)

Two photos nicked off Abi from... Smack lie below, I'm pretty sure it was, on the thursday after THE HANGOVER. Basically, I think, based off my memories, the two weeks went like this:

Wednesday: Pop

Thursday: (Hangover from fucking hell,) Smack

Friday: Evolve, foam party.

Saturday: Skool Dayz (a.k.a super grumpy-angry-emotional strop night)

Sunday: Westwood BBQ (adventures with the alcoholic teapot)

Monday: Chilled night in but I drank anyway.

Tuesday: Smack (intention,) Koko's (where we ended up.)

Wednesday:~~~ SOBER DAY ~~~

Thursday: Saint's (WITH PORTIA!)

Friday: Smack

Saturday: ??? Stayed in here again I think. Don't have recollections anymore. Someone tell me if I have this wrong.

Sunday: Summer party!

Monday: Gatecrasher

[EDIT] I am silly. Andrew has informed me that the first Friday was just plain Evolve and the missing Saturday was foam party. THERE WE GO THEN. Both were good nights. SEE, EVERYTHING KIND OF JUST MERGED INTO ONE. [/EDIT]

This looks absolutely appalling. Hannah came down to visit on the Tuesday after so obviously couldn't bring her out - wanted to show her the standard uni lifestyle (minus the hardcore partying of course... she is fourteen.) I warned her we'd probably just sit around drinking, and true to that, we just drank and made a giant, very impressive fort.

 

I don't have a lot of photos from going out because I brought my disposables to use up and didn't want to bring my big camera out after already losing my lens attachment during Skool Dayz... I have yet to get the disposables developed. They should be hilarious. I've skipped out another huge event too: THE SUMMER PARTY Basically, despite it being a ridiculous £38 and had taken me ages to help set up - they made me carry heavy things and my arms hurt so much for a few days because I am a weakling... this was pretty good fun. DISPERSED PICTURE POST TIME!!!

Basically, there were three fairground rides - the waltzer, the rhythm rider and dodgems - and the stage where a few acts played. Headliner was Noah & The Whale (who I really do love,) and other standout ones were Miss Dynamite and Jakwob I guess - although I didn't watch either of them.

(With Tara a bit before Noah & The Whale came on!)

Me, Erika and Toby, after collecting our tickets with the others at 10-11ish, headed down at 12.30 because we wanted to go on the rides. We basically ended up alternating between the 3 several times whilst the lines were fairly short. The other stuff was really all fair stalls and inflatables and whatnot. OH, AND THE REALLY CUTE COCKTAIL TENT (of course I would pick that as a highlight,)

We actually went back around 4 to chill for a bit - I'd had 2 hours sleep the night before... WHERE THE HELL DID WE GO, IT'S COMING BACK TO ME THAT I WAS EXHAUSTED BUT I DON'T REMEMBER WHERE WE WENT... and we went up to Joe's room to drink and watch a film, and it turned into 'Accidental naptime with Abi, Laura, Joe & Toby,' with us all just asleep during the film... except Toby, who watched it.

Went back to catch Noah and go on more rides. I thought they were brilliant - the artist liaison lot (I didn't work that day because I didn't like any of the artists massively enough) said they were all really nice... even though a lot of them were late in typical band fashion.

In all, it was just such a nice day - and such a nice way to end the year (sort of, even though I didn't leave til wednesday.) There was this really ice bit where the sun was just setting and they were playing L.I.F.E.G.O.E.S.O.N and all my favourite people (almost) were in sight and Joe was holding my hands up and dancing and Megan was waving at me from a bit away and it was just really nice, awh. (sap!!!)

As I've been writing this, Abi's been putting photos up from her camera - so I guess here's some more image spam...

This night was... no idea... not Saint's... Smack I think! (oh god, they're all jumbling into one.)

I love this :')

Joe making the photo cute by closing his eyes...

Rest in peace tongue piercing, 2012 - day my parents arrived to see me at uni :(

God, looking back at these now really makes me want to go back! It was such a fun, spontaneous two weeks - just doing whatever, waking up whenever (lol, not really,) and hanging out with my favourite people. Most notable nights were really - well, all of them. There was the freezing to death from the foam party - which was a bad idea. Turns out, the foam got taller than me a lot of the time and not only does it kill your eyes, but it makes things hard to breathe, and god forbid, 'choked to death on foam' is just a far too embarrassing way to die. Kept having to go to the bathroom to just rinse off, leaving us all sopping wet and wandering around in the cold outside getting hypothermia. Literally sprinted off the bus and had the nicest shower of my life afterwards though...

The other nights were good fun - I kept going through alcohol ridiculously though. As in, a surprising amount for such a lightweight. I am very generous when I've had a bit to drink though - I just like making people try my concoctions! Me and Jordan went through our 1 litre SoCo as well..

Anyway, enough uni moping - I'll get to see some of the hallmates SOON as you shall find out later so STAY TUNED, DEAR AUDIENCE!

Better move onto Wales and whatnot. After a relatively painless 4-5 hourish car ride (I slept for a lot and then just sat there listening to music,) we got to this place a.k.a way out in the sticks in Pembrokeshire. Long story short, wedding held here because this place (Druidstone,) is where Amy and Mike met, and where both their families went loads.

I mean, although I was being all mopey, it's nice to chill and talk with my sister again. I've also started talking to my parents again, (I started on Friday, really,)

So, had to be up for SEVEN for hair and makeup. I was quite astounded - "it can't possibly take that long!" I said. IT TOOK TWO AND A HALF HOURS. Two hours to sort my mane out into some intricate hairstyle - there were seventy hairclips in my hair. SEVENTY! I was still finding some this morning - and half an hour to make my face look somewhat acceptable. We then sat around and I put on my cinderella bridesmaid dress WHICH WAS LITERALLY LIKE FIVE SIZES TOO SMALL AND VERY TIGHT AWH.

Bridesmaids :') It was absolutely FREEZING. We were all shivering so much and the photographer kept telling us to think warm thoughts. Cheryl came up with 'I AM ON A WARM BEACH, I'VE NEVER BEEN WARMER.'

Wedding party! Amy looked absolutely stunning (Mike not bad too,) and she actually so calm - my poor aunt was the one running around worrying about everything. Everything did go okay though. My goals of the day were not to trip going down the aisle, and not to fall off a cliff - probably considering how damn windy it is here. I was already blown by the wind into a muddy ditch on the first day.

Following all the bibly stuff - oh, and I managed to have a massive coughing fit during prayer and then whispered 'Oh bloody hell' because I wasn't thinking and got quite a few glances oops - we went back for the reception and after party. I got changed into something I could comfortably exhale in EVEN THOUGH I WAS STILL FREEZING.

Basically after that it was just food and drink and food and drink and dancing. Lots of all of it. ESPECIALLY FOOD, I'M STILL FULL GOD MOM AND DAD IT'S NOT DINNER TIME UNTIL TOMORROW SH.

There were also fireworks, which you will all know are my favourite things on this PLANET. They were beautiful and even though I was cold, having them go off less than 30m above my head was still magical and made me so so happy.

And then I went inside and officially became the happiest girl in the universe because THERE WAS A WHOLE TABLE JUST FOR CHEESE AND ONE FOR CHOCOLATE. I DON'T EVEN NEED TO ELABORATE ON THIS. CHEESE AND CHOCOLATE, GUYS.

 

Those were pretty much the wedding celebrations - danced with everyone and was running around and everything was just beautiful and it was really cute. Got given the loveliest charm bracelet - AND COLOURED PENCILS, my cousin knows me well - for a thank you bridesmaid present thing, bless. Danced with my baby second cousin, who is the cutest and most energetic girl ever. She came to see us this morning to show off her dress as well!

Now all the guests have gone and the bride and groom as well off to Mexico - it's just really our family and the South African cousins here to chill for the next four days. Today's grand adventure was literally going to Tesco. I know we're going to a theme park for one of the days... the other ones... maybe I'll just have to sit here and write long blog entries.

But overall I've cheered up; I suppose part of that is to do with the fact that after this and ITALY (!!!) I'll be going over to London for Joe's birthday and will get to see him and some of the other hallmates. Hopefully we'll be able to chill apart from that too - I'd love to force them to play tourist with me. It also means I don't have to send Joe his birthday presents - because that would be ridiculously expensive - and can just send a card (which is on the table,) instead. Thank god. Sending a bottle of alcohol cross-country would probably be quite expensive... and just a bit weird, hah.