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!!

Best day ever!

Well maybe that is a slight exaggeration. But it was pretty close. I woke up this morning to a text message from Maria with possibly the best message to read when waking up at 9 in the morning-

'Its snowing!' Looking out my window the entire road was basically covered in a blanket of snow. In my excitement I called Maria, and she told me our exam results were up. Lovely. Possibly something that could ruin an otherwise brilliant day. 

Went on the internet and found my results. 3.67. 'Wtf does that mean?' I asked Maria. She was still confused so I asked sibling. She knew. Was pretty happy it must be said. 

Since we all had a snow day, Maria Ashy and I met up outside Maria's for snow related frivolity. It was so pretty, I literally walked all the way to Maria's house grinning, most likely because I had been hoping that it would snow for months. We built a snowman who we named Hitler the Builder Snowman and made snow angels and threw snowballs. Basically we acted like five year olds... it was AMAZING! 

After a while we went inside for hot cider/tea to warm up. Maria and I attempted to play lax with a snowball, which went surprisingly well.

 Ashy laughed and took pictures. Then Ash went home to shower and me and Maria showered in her house. When Ashy came back in the panda (her car) we decided to go on a food mission to Dunnes. It was then we realized some ASSHOLE had killed Hitler the builder snowman. All that was left of him was some branches, a builder jacket a carrot and some coal. It was pretty upsetting, it has to be said. Poor little snowman. 

After getting a load of food in Dunnes, we went back to Maria's to watch the witches and amuse ourselves by  saying what her dog was thinking in russian/german accents. Yeah, I think the snow went to our heads too. 

So basically I had a really good day today. I am SO happy in finally snowed, and I didn't fail my exams. Because of the whole snowstorm warning I am not going out tonight, but I think sibling and I will watch a chick flick and eat chocolate, because we are JUST that cool. 

25 things you don't know (or particularly care) about me...

So Elyse sent me this chain thingy, you have to write 25 things that people don't really know about you. I figured I might as well chuck it up here, I have been neglecting this blog a bit...

1) I am ridiculously squeamish. This is number one purely because the girls just subjected me to an entire show about plastic surgery and when they actually showed the operations, I nearly threw up.

2) I get scared really easily. In fact, I get scared by so many things that people find it entertaining to invent other things I am afraid of, because I will admit a lot of my fears are fairly random. For the record, things I am afraid of- eyes, clowns and swans. Things I am not: pianos. No matter what the girls say!

3) I used to be really shy. I am still hardly the most outgoing person in the world (i even refuse to ask for the bill in a restaurant) but looking at myself now and how I was two years ago, I guess I have grown a lot, even though...

4) I am unbelieveably insecure. This can be a drawback when you also give out a vibe that says 'mock me', but I am getting pretty good at telling the difference between banter and people genuinely not liking me. Even so, I still get a lot of those moments where I am like 'wait, does this person actually hate me?' I guess that is just insecurity kicking in, and generally I get given out to by the others when I ask it.

5) I can't hold a grudge. I also can't really stay mad at people either. I am a total pushover, and I hate it when people get mad at me. What upsets me the most is when people get mad at me for stuff I had nothing to do with, or things outside my control.

6) I always look for the good in people. Even though I do get annoyed with people ( I am hardly a saint) I always try to see things from their point of view. I think that everyone is nice deep down, just some people are scared or insecure or whatever. It takes a lot to make me give up on someone, but sometimes this means I hold onto things I really should just walk away from.

7) I always apologise, even if it is not my fault. Today, rachel hit me (lightly, not a full on punch to the face!) then said 'dont get in the way of my fist!' Without thinking i went 'sorry.... wait a sec!' I guess I have a total guilt complex or something. Cillian says I have 5 consciences, but i think that he is exaggerating.

8) I can honestly say that so far first year has been one of the best years yet. I have made some amazing new friends, been to new countries and started new things. Lacrosse has played a big part of it, which is weird because I have never been a sporty person. It has been the first sport that I have liked enough to stick with, even if I am not the best at it. This probably has as much to do with the people and the social life as with the sport though...

9) Speaking of amazing friends, I found it really hard to say goodbye to the ones I made last semester, especially one legend from minnesooooooooooooooota. ( Sorry Mal, you know I can't say it without mimicking your accent). I am ridiculously emotional and bad at goodbyes anyway, but I prefere missing them a lot now then never having met them.

10) I am ridiculously disorganised. I leave everything to the last minute, and while I always PLAN to do something it takes me ages to get it done. I have meant to apply for my driving permit since november 2007, my age card since july, and i still have to send someones birthday present which i meant to do a good two weeks ago...

11) I was extremely well behaved at school, i think that is why I am such a slacker in college. I just find it hard to motivate myself to go to a boring lecture when I could be hanging out with my friends.

12) On the flip side, I also have high standards grades wise- I want to do well while doing the minimum amount of work. Yes I am lazy, I know that!

13) I am still secretely pissed about getting 495 in my leaving when I wanted 500. Is this extremely silly and childish considering I got my course, which is all that really mattered anyway? Yes. Does it still annoy me? Yes.

14)After working so hard, I have a sneaking suspicion that I made a mistake going straight into pure english. Not that i don't love english, I just worry that I narrowed my options too soon. What annoys me the most about this is the fact that this is the EXACT point my mother made to me, but I was convinced it was what I wanted to do.

15) I am awful at making decisions, which is frustrating when trying to decide big things like 'am I in the right course?', and also minor things like 'what are we doing tonight?'.

16) I have no idea what I want to do after college. This might come from my lack of decision making ability, or else from the fact that I am 18 years old and that is WAY too early in my opinion to be making big choices.

17) I would love to write a book, but I am not sure if I have to attention span to write one, not to mention the writing talent. However Maria decided to inform everyone we met in Bulgaria that this was what I will do, so technically I am obliged to now...

18) My friends are one of the most important things in my life. Several of them I have known since I was four, others I made in secondary school or else in college. One of them is my sister. They mean so much to me though, and are always there for me when I need them. I can't imagine not having them.

19) I have never been so surprised, or happy as when Maria Ashy and Emma turned up in my hospital room to visit me after my operation. I really didn't expect it, and it meant a lot that they would get about two different forms of transport just to come see me for like an hour.

20) I have never gone on a waterslide, because up until this year i wasn't able to put my head under the water. In fact I have never had a swimming lesson, or at least a proper one (i have vague memories of having them when i was about 4) I taught myself to swim, which means that I am ok at it but hardly amazing or graceful!

21) I have hearing problems in my right ear. Its hard because a lot of the time I don't hear what people are saying, but I hate telling people about it or asking them to repeat themselves, so generally I smile and nod. I have a feeling a lot of people think that I am rude/stupid because of it.

22) I havent eaten meat in about nine years, and I don't plan on eating it at any point in the near future. I know people find it strange, but at this point the thought of it actually repluses me, not to mention my system physically couldn't handle it. I am a vegetarian for moral reasons as well as not liking the taste, though wierdly I sometimes get cravings for MCDonalds bugers (even though i didn't like them back when i ate meat) and cocktail sausages.

23) I want to go to New Zealand for a year to study, but I am also scared about being literally the furthest geographically away from home that I could get (unless i went to the antarctic). I was there in 5th year though with the family, and absolutely loved it, so I do want to go back.

24) I can act like a complete child/geek. I love getting a lift into college with sibling, because we dance to the cds in the car even though people around us can obviously see us. Sibling and I both act like complete children, which I think is why we get along so well. She is also just as prone to 'grassy moments' as me, in fact after meeting her Elyse said 'wow, you make sense now.' That said, she is also brilliant at giving advice and if anyone upsets me she always offers to take them out (i generally refuse though). She even helps out my friends if they need it. However, she is ridiculously pretty smart and finds it really easy to meet new people and sometimes it is hard not to be jealous of her, even though we are really close.

25) I want to go to at least one country in all the continents of the world. So far I have been to Europe, North America, Australia and Africa. I am tempted to count Asia, but as I never left Singapore/Hong Kong airport, I think that might be cheating...

Recent adventures...

So I haven't updated this blog in a shamefully long time. Well, like two weeks. And I was on a different continent with limited internet access for a week of that. So really it is not my fault.

The last few weeks of break were good. A highlight of it would have to be the MAARMEK night out. We decided to go for a group dinner in Gourmet burger in Dun Laoirghe, a strange choice considering that two of us are vegetarians, but ashy and I had falafel, which was AMAZING! Maeve decided it would be fun to torture the veggie for a while and started waving the remenants of rachs burger in my face and rubbed in on my glass and fork and stuff so i couldn't use them, but I am used to that sort of lovely treatment so it was grand!

The fun really started when we decided that we were too cheap for proper dessert and wanted pick n mix. I never realised how few places sell pick n mix at nine o clock at night. Rach, Maeve and Kate were in one car and Ashy Emma Maria and I were in the other car, so it turned into a bit of a race. Well as much of a race as you can have when one car's engine is like twice as big as the others, and when neither of the drivers will break the speed limit on the basis the road is icy and no-one wants to die in a car crash. I was pretty happy that it was Ashy driving though, as the excitement kind of got to Maria and she tried to make ashy go the wrong way around a roundabout, and also drive in front of a luas. Real safe Mermy!

We finally found pick n mix in stillorgan, and after buying ridiculous amounts of sugar we contemplated what to do next. Then we decided- TREASURE HUNT!!! Only instead of treasure we needed photos- one wearing a strangers hat, one with a dog, and one with a member of the team wearing a false mustache. Into our cars we got and away we went! Emma Maria and I scared some poor man buying a ticket at the luas stop, but he was nice and gave me his hat. Then we accosted some lovely couple and their adorable puppy. Finally Maria and I sprinted all the way through Dunnes to buy spray cream for ashy's mustache. Finally we went to the top of Dunnes car park to claim our victory. Sadly Rach, Maeve and Kate decided to change the rules at this point and say that we needed the mustache in all the photos. We refused on the basis we were already done, they argued back and then we realised wait, we are not having an argument about a false mustache. That is just silly.

Sadly I haven't got our team photos as Maria STILL hasn't sent them to me, but I do have a few! Sometimes the most fun things to do our the randomnest. People probably thought that we were insane, but we had fun anyway, and that is all we care about!

The next week I went to Morrocco with the fam to see the house there. Wow. I am still in shock. I had never been to Africa before and it was so different to anywhere else I have ever been. The house is sooo nice (i hope it doesn't sound like I am gloating, I am just really excited about it!) and I managed to bags the coolest room. It has a really sweet window seat in it, so I can see myself getting a lot of writing and stuff done there! The development will be ready in june, I can't wait to bring the rest of MAARMEK over, especially Maria as she is a big french nerd and will love speaking french all day. I should really practice mine...

Celine, who runs the development took sibling and I out to some clubs in Marrakech with herself, her boyf and some friends. Woah, they do things differently there! It turns out that is you are part of a certain group you just go to Marrakech at the weekend and go mental. Underground clubs, VIP areas, champagne... sibling and I were like well ok, 92/Mess'rs will seem a bit different now! I don' think i opened a single door the entire time i was there. ONe day the doorman literally RAN past sibling and I to get to the door first. It was scary.

It was pretty sad though, because on one hand you have all these rich people spending 120 euro on a bottle of champagne... which is the equivilent of another persons wages. For a month. On our last full day there my father put a pair of shoes in the bin, as it had been raining the day before and he had discovered that they now let in water. They were in good condition, but obviously living in Ireland you can't have shoes you can't wear in the rain. One of the housekeeping people came to him and asked if she could have the shoes for her father. Dad had to write a letter saying he was giving her the shoes, she wasn't stealing them. It was pretty heartbreaking, spec since sibling and I had been out the night before with all the flashy morroccans buying bottles of champagne as big as our waists (I do NOT want to know how much those cost). Celine said she doesnt normally go to those kind of places, she finds them too flash, but she wanted sibling and I to see them. It was really cool, I had a lot of fun and a little superficial part of me got a total kick out of the whole vip treatment thing but... I prefere Mess'rs with its little dancefloor and its kickass Abba medley!

Marrakech is a savage place, I am pretty excited to go back and bring the girls over. It was also a pretty decent way to end the holidays, even if i was sick for the first few days (playing lacrosse in shorts, in january is never a good idea... though i wish i had gotten the memo about the MONSOON!). Sibling and I had so much fun as well, though we watched way too much deal or no deal in french, french soap opras and also italian gameshows... the last one was the most annoying considering sibling speaks fluent italian and I can just about say my name and ask for directions!

So that is about all of my adventures to date! We have a lacrosse match against dublin/trinity tonight, I had forgotten how badly I suck at that sport! But we are going to Mess'r after, and that means Abba medley so I am pretty excited! Actually having to work now is a bit of a shock but it is nice to see everyone again in college, and as a first year arts student I am not under TOO much pressure... yet..