T minus 5 days...

So Mermy has demanded that I update this so I thought I might as well (she also said please so I figured it would be rude not to) , though I have a strong suspicion that she is the only one who reads it.. which is fine by me!

So I went to Marrakech with the fam for 10 days. To say it was hot would be an understatement. It was so hot (42 degrees) that I genuinely thought I might melt. We moved into our house which was pretty cool, and one section of the pool was filled after a couple of days so Sibling and I spent a lot of time in there in the afternoon cooling off! Morocco is a really cool place, its completely different culturewise though. Like there, if you are out with a group of guys you have to tell them you want a drink and they'll order it for you. Its insulting to them if you order it yourself. Why, I don't know but it sure beats the hassle of trekking to the bar. Here its more likely if I turned around to a guy at our table and told them I wanted a drink they'd say 'thats nice, while you're up there will you get me a pint?' Not that they're lazy, just that, well, if I want a drink I can get it myself. And fair enough, I have two legs after all!

Apart from Morocco nothing else of note has really happened. In five days though, myself, Ashy, Emma and Maria are heading off interrailing! I can't wait, its just under a month of travelling around Europe. It's going to be such an adventure. Maeve and Rachel aren't coming which sucks, but they have formed a July posse with Paddy so I think they will be having fun in Ireland anyway. We're flying to Prague on Sunday, then we are going to Austria, Germany, Italy, somewhere random for 3 days (we haven't decided where yet, I think Rome was a possibility last time I checked...) Slovenia and Croatia. We're getting an apartment in Croatia for about a week, then we're flying home. I'm at home for exactly one night before heading off to Mayo for my cousin's wedding.

I am so unbelieveably excited about Interrailing. Not only is it a month away with 3 of my closest friends, but we get to choose and organise whatever we want to do. By we, I mean the others do because my organisational skills are zilch. I am in charge of not getting lost, which says it all...Not to mention that my mom came back from shopping today and announced she had a present for me for interrailing... It was a travel first aid kit. I kid you not. The sad thing is, I will most likely need it at some point during the trip...
Last Sat, Ashy and Maria convinced me for a good 20 mins that I had booked my flights for the wrong day and would be spending a night in Prague alone. They can be so evil sometimes! I was so worried when they told me that, especially because with my luck I'd somehow get on the wrong plane and end up in china or something....

I love travelling, and I'll be seeing so many new cities, I really can't wait! We're going to get rucksacks tomorrow, then I'll start packing. One downside of Interrailing, the whole minimising thing because I am a terrible overpacker. I think the fact that what I pack I'll be carrying on my back for weeks will help though! Basically July is going to be an incredible month, I'll even be turning 19 in Dubrovnik which should be fun! Then its home and resuming the job search, which I will definitly need because I will be BROKE after this trip... but right now I'm not thinking that, I am concentrating on me+3 of my friends+ a rucksack+ an interrail ticket+ at least 7 different cities...

Its going to be epic.

Summer adventures

Wow I have been terrible at keeping this updated! A lot of stuff has been happening recently, but the top two things would have to be the UCD ball and the lowlands tournament.

Having somehow managed to get through the ridiculous pile of work I had that week and surviving the presentation I had that morning, I went to Maeve's at the healthy hour of one o clock to start predrinking. We all bought different ingrediants and we made some pretty amazing cocktails, if I do say so myself. My personal fav was the appletini, and after a few rounds of cocktails we headed off to UCD for the ball. The ball was a good laugh though the weather was pretty crappy, by eleven we had retreated back to Paddy's to order pizza and warm up!

Exams came next, and those were NOT exactly the highlight of my year! The outbreak of ninja wars in the library did ease the pain of spending nice days holed up in the library studying. It began with Rach and Smidge sneaking up on each other and whispering 'you've just been ninja'd', but when Smiley ninja'd Maria's laptop and sent us on a trip around the library looking for it things got interesting... It was a good laugh anyway, definitly a way of cheering ourselves up in the lib!

The weekend after exams Rach, Maria Maeve and I went to the lowlands lacrosse tournament in Amsterdam. The tournament didnt start until Saturday but we left on thursday and went to Brussels and Bruges with John, Keith, Flopsy, Moffat and Bonagee. It was a good laugh and as usual I took like a million photos. We went on a nightime wander around Bruges the night we stayed there, it was really pretty. Then the next day we followed Rach's map to the places in the film, the weather was unreal as well which was even better! That evening we took a train to Amsterdam, well I say A train but really it had to change trains 3 times so we were on four different trains in five hours, not fun!

(apparently, I am an inanimate object...)

The tournament itself was great, we were playing with four of the Irish team and three girls from Bristol, so we learned loads from them. Playing Man down in extreme heat was not ideal circumstances but it was fun. Maeve's knee got injured during the second match but she still came and sat in ridiculous heat to cheer for us which was so cool of her, she didnt even complain when her knee was hurting her or anything, what a legend! Rach, Maria and I ended up playing with the Gin and Juice girls in the final because they needed a goalie and some extra players, they are one of the best teams I have ever seen! (they are all Americans who were payed to come over to England to coach lacrosse) Basically it was a really great weekend, and good preparation for playing Mount Saint Marys this week! The boys are playing Loyola as well which should be interesting, then on Sunday I leave for Morocco with the family.

I think that is pretty much all the interesting stuff from the past while, I should really try to update this more regularly!

End of an era....

Well more of a semester. Lax is pretty much finished for the summer now, unless they keep up training which I think Amie is trying to organise, so hopefully it isn't!

The last few weeks have been MAD. We had Dublinfest from the 6th-9th of April. All we had heard were the others going on about how amazing Dublinfest was, so we were pretty excited for it. Intense doesn't even describe it! I played for both UCD and Dublin (most of the girls did) so I played 11 matches in two days. Both teams made it through to the semis, though Dublin forfeited theirs. UCD lost to York A, but we cheered ourselves up by doing cartwheels and team games and taking silly photos. The boys won which was really great, they were thrilled, John was so happy he lost all his hair.

The nights out were pretty good. I was too wrecked on Tuesday to go out which made Paddy pronounce my shit as 'weak' but it meant I was able to function the next day... there is no way i would have made it through 5 matches that day with little sleep, I have no idea how Maria did it!

The nights out were a lot of fun though, it really was such a good week!

This week we had the guys vs girls match which was actually the most entertaining game I have ever played, most likely because we had NO rules whatsoever. We were even told to hit the guys which I felt bad doing... but it might have been a LITTLE fun, probably becuase I knew there was no way I am in any way strong enough to do anyone any sort of injury. Needless to say, we won, though maybe the game was a little biased....

Friday was the last boys match of the semester, and also Tavis' last night in Ireland. The girls pre drank in Aries, went to the match, and then pre drank more... it was a messy night in general. We went to mess'rs for a change, the music wasn't nearly as good as usual which was sad but it was a great night. Tavis is the first American to go home this semester, It was so sad to say goodbye to him!! I was so upset we even took a 'sad face' photo. I think it shows the sadness pretty well... haha. I am not even thinking about the others leaving, I am very bad at goodbyes! It sucks that this happens every semester.

Tomorrow is our AGM. Flopsy is making joke prizes which some of us our quite apprehensive about but we have been assured it is all in good fun... It should be interesting anyway. Either way Rach Kate and I (and I think some of the other girls) are getting pizza before, which is something to look forward to! I have a 2500 word essay due tomorrow which I have barely started, in fact I just have a lot of work due this week. It will be a bit of a bitch getting it done but I am not letting it stress me out... it is only first year after all!!! Friday is the UCD ball which should be great, provided I get all my work done! I have a lovely group presentation to do first... The last few weeks have and will be pretty hectic between all the work as well as Dublinfest and other events. I can't believe how close this year is to being over... I don't want to think about it!

Doing some severe Amsterdammage....

So on the 12th of March we left Dublin for what was my second UCD lax tour.. we went to Amsterdam... It was pretty good it has to be said, very different from Karlsruhe! There wasn't as many nights out, more drinking in the hostel which was good craic, though the last night out has to have been one of the best. We ended up in a bar (girls got free in, woo!) which had a podium, a pole, and brilliant music... what more could we want?

The weekend was pretty good team bonding wise as well, Maeve and I were in a room with some of the girls we didn't know as well on the team, which was great because it gave us a chance to really get to know them! Also in our room were Bonagee, John, Flopsy and Keith, the latter two taking it upon themselves to become the trips comedy duo. To say that I got slagged would be the understatement of the century- the abuse started about half an hour after I walked into the hostel room and ended when we parted ways in Dublin...While the constant abuse did leave me bruised and battered (literally...what fools EVER gave those two long poles?) I can honestly say that they are two of the most entertaining people I have ever met... even if a lot of it was at my expense. I thought John was going to die from laughing at one point... It was ok though, once they got to know the other girls (and saw the size of Claire's make-up bag) they eased off a bit...

Amsterdam was so much fun, I couldnt be bothered going through everything that happened (because lets face it, noone cares) so I will just write down the best bits!

1) the ridiculous conversations Maeve, John and I had on the last night, about islands of small people and whatnot.

2) Maeve drawing cat whiskers on her face for our match

3) Flopsy's recent surveys

4) The half pipe (even if thanks to a certain Mr O Leary I ended up crippled... never listen when Paddy says step to the right!! haha)

5) The science museum

6) General room banter for example Maeve: 'if I had the motor skills i'd kick you right now'

7) Aoife's singing

8) The yummy ice cream in V and Ds.

9) Making poor John stay up telling me stories when all he wanted to do was go to sleep.

10) Maria and I nearly beating John and Paddy in our epic game of beer pong... one day!!!

11) Singing songs on the way back to the hostel on the last night, 'Cheer up sleeeeepy jean... '

12) the music on the last night in general...not to mention Ashy's reaction when she saw the pole, what a legend!

Basically it was just a savage trip... now there is two weeks to Dublinfest, which everyone keeps going on about being the best week ever so I am pretty excited for that! I just have to catch up on all my collegework first... fun!!

March Madness

So March has barely even started and already there is a ridiculous amount of stuff happening. I have been spending waaaay too much time in college this week, not actually studying (all my essays were due last week and now I am FREE) but doing other random stuff, such as canvassing and t-shirt designing. Basically now whenever Paddy/John says they need us to stay for a meeting I will run away, because it inevitably means that I will not leave college until late that night, and it will involve heavy lifting. Well, the heavy lifting was only incorporated yesterday, but I had just given blood and somehow ended up picking up and organising all the heavy (smelly) boys gear while Maria got to just sort out jerseys with Paddy. I could point out the possible reason why she gets away with it but the two of them get enough grief from Zak and John without me putting it online! On Tuesday Maeve, Maria and I stayed to help design our Amsterdam tshirts, which was a bit of a laugh. We wanted hot pink. We even convinced them to get hot pink. Then the next day Paddy 'The traitor' O'Leary accidently sent Maria a message meant for John, something along the lines of 'I am thinking of getting different coloured shirts for the guys.' FOR SHAME Paddy!

So now the boys are getting blue tshirts and the girls are getting pink. I am excited, it must be said... this time next week we will be in Amsterdam! Germany was so much fun, and this time most of the girls are going... Rachel isn't though, which is sad, she is going to play with rocks in Antrim. Not cool Rach! It will be good to play against another real team as well! Last weekend was March Madness which was so much fun... Lots of nights out and lots of lax, it was great! It was the first time most of us had played in a proper tournament thingy too, well for the girls at least! The guys managed to win in possibly the most exciting final ever, though Bonagee yelled at us girls for cheering too loudly which was kinda funny, though not nearly as funny as Paddy's reaction when he found out.

Maeve and I have also been trying our hands at politics UCD style as well. We somehow managed to get involved in Mike Pat's campaign team (he's running for ents) and spent the last 2 days canvassing for him which was a complete laugh. I spent yesterday morning campaigning, the afternoon giving blood, the evening cleaning the storeroom and then we went to Keith's comedy gig, which was absolutely hilarious! Then today we spent most of the day in the science block before we actually went to a class... I have come to the conclusion that I am cursed though, whenever anyone comes to give blood with me they are not allowed to do it, I am the only one that can... Maria and Fitzy came with me yesterday and neither could do it, Fitzy because of an exam and Maria because of the whole prison record... I mean the fact that she was in Mexico. ( I hope she never reads this blog or I will be in trouble...)

I would have thought that all my do-gooderness would help me out karmically, but it appears not... sadly I managed to loose my phone in the su, at which point some lovely person picked it up and... kept it for themselves. So I have no phone and no numbers which is frustrating!

So that is basically what I have been up to recently, lax, canvassing, lax, loosing my phone and blood donating... Its been a pretty fun week actually! This time next week I will be on my second UCD lax tour in Amsterdam, I can't wait!

The only thing to fear is fear itself...

Bullshit. As a ridiculously easily scared person, I have to say that there are a LOT of things other then fear to be afraid of. Clowns for example. And Swans. Not pianos, no matter what the girls say...

So last Friday I got over pretty much one of my biggest fears/issues, eyes. Yes I know it is a wierd thing to be freaked out, and to clarify it is touching, poking, injuring and the thought of eyes coming OUT that scare me, not just eyes in peoples' heads because that would be silly and make making eye contact impossible. That is what John thought and he laughed at me for like a million years before I could explain. Anyway I decided that my lack of being able to see the ball was seriously detremental to my ability to play lax (and my lack of skills also tend to cause a problem) so I decided to get over the whole fear thing and just get them. It was essentially an afternoon of torture with my optician, Mona, poking me in the eye. But much flinching and
desire to cry later I was wearing some lovely contacts. Mona wanted me to play in them, and handily we had a match that evening so off I went with actual vision. It was pretty exciting.

It was pretty sweet being able to see during the match, I am not sure if I played any better but for once I managed not to get hit by the ball so that is what I call a good match. After I had to go back to Monas to get the contacts taken out (making everyone think that I am scarily close to my optician as it was ten o clock at this point.) An extremely good looking boy opened the door when I got to Monas, but sadly I was still in my ucd shorts and hoodie with match hair and no make-up so that was not fun. It turns out Mona sent him out to open the door to me as we were both in first year UCD and asked me what I thought of him as i was learning to use my contacts. I think it really shows how terrible my love live is when my OPTICIAN is trying to set me up...

More horrific eye poking later (this time at my own hands I am sorry to say) and I had managed to take my contacts out, put them back in, move them and take them out. All in half an hour, which I am pretty proud of. Then it was bye Mona's hi Elyse's for general lax debauchery. We were wrecked so after moving to Roz's once the mean security ppl kicked us out of Belgrove Ashy, Maeve Emma Rach and I left about one. We detoured by the chippers in Stillorgan which was AMAZING!

So now I am the proud owner of contacts. My order won't be in until Friday, just in time for March Madness which is pretty sweet, so until then I just have to practice with one set, putting them in, moving them, and taking them out. So basically its like half an hour of self inflicted torture. Fun! Its pretty scary doing it, especially because I had such issues with it in the beginning but it is totally worth it to be able to, you know, SEE. Maria, Kate and Rach have informed me that it gets easier after a few weeks so I am hoping for that! But either way I have still gone from literally curling up in a ball if someone put their finger near their eye to succesfully poking myself in the eye... Even if it still terrifies me!

Why I am NOT looking forward to this Saturday...

So I have never been a huge fan of Valentines day. This may have something to do with the fact that being generally single on Valentines day makes me a LITTLE unresponsive to the whole 'shower your loved one with chocolates and flowers' advertisements... Yeah, show your love by giving her weight issues and hay fever. GOOD PLAN!

Ha can you feel the bitterness seeping out of your computer screen? I know I probably sound like a bitter old maid (which is quite alarming since I am all of eighteen years old... ), but I just think that it is a TAD unfair that there is a whole holiday devoted to allowing couples to  parade smugly around the city and make everyone single feel alone and unloved. I mean, is there a day where single people get to rub the advantages of being single in couples faces? No! Should there be? Yes! 

I have nothing against couples. I am not one of those crazy people who is so bitter at the thought of it that they harbor irrational hatred towards all couples and will end up releasing that anger in one violent, bloody burst of rage. What I do have a problem with is those couples who insist on PDA'S at all hours of the day. If I am in the SU for an hours break at 10 after being in college for nine o clock, there are several things I don't want to see. One is that they have no pepsi in the shop, because I have an addiction and that would make me cry. Also, i do NOT want to see some random couple shoving their tongues down one-anothers  throat... get a ROOM people! Or at least a quiet corner, the couches in the middle of the su are public domain. Odds are I have just eaten, please don't make it come back up!

 

I know what you are thinking, if I was in a relationship I would probably feel a lot differently. And I guess you are kinda right. Yes, I would love if someone gave me a rose or something, and god knows I would never complain about free chocolate... but it is more the pressure put on people to be romantic that I hate about it. To be honest, I think it would be so much cuter if, instead of on valentines day and paying ridiculously jumped up prices, someone surprised me with a random flower on just an ordinary day. There is no romance in Valentine's day anymore, just an intense pressure on people to spend extortionate amounts of money on overpriced gifts. How is it romantic if they are OBLIGED to do something sweet? Doesn't that take the fun out of it, or at least the sweetness of the gesture?

Maybe I am just a crazy bitter person, but personally I think I have a point. And it is not like I am overly jealous of people in long term relationships, because to be honest the thought of commitment makes me want to run as far away as possible, as fast possible to find a place to hide! Yeah, commitment and I aren't exactly best buds... That said, a little part of me would love to be part of one of those couples that walk around just looking so happy to be with each other. Yes I watch the notebook or 27 dresses and think 'I want that.' Then I come back to reality and think 'feck that, I would be sick of it after about a day'. As much as I try to deny it, a small part of me wants the romance and the attention and the gifts from Valentines day. Luckily that is only a very small part of me, near my foot...

I am all for showing people that you care about them, but is it really so sweet if hallmark is basically telling you to? That said, part of me may be secretly hoping for a rose on Valentines day... sssh don't tell!!