tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-74190949978562961592024-02-19T17:43:52.346-08:00Honest Hippie Harpings.I think I'm honest.
I want to be a hippie.
I tend to harp on, alot.Creative Cravingshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14305566818778526574noreply@blogger.comBlogger75125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7419094997856296159.post-51405231484073907362014-12-21T08:33:00.001-08:002014-12-21T08:38:18.177-08:00THE PEOPLES CLIMATE MARCH.<div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16px; padding: 0px;">
It was the morning of the 21st of September, I was tired and sluggish but the adrenaline pumping through my veins catapulted me from my slumber. It was the day of my first protest; for something I have felt passionate about for years but have never acted out against, maybe for a fear of ridicule or a lack of knowledge, or simply that I was too young to attend similar events on my own. All that I woke up knowing was, we had the potential to change the world.</div>
<div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16px; padding: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16px; padding: 0px;">
A flash of a dreadlock, an awkward shift of a placard, the district line was growing evergreen. It was the morning of the global ‘Peoples Climate March’ and my destination was Temple Place, London. Hands stretched, allowing a plethora of creative placards to reach high into the sky, below, brimmed blossoming natural arm pit hair of its female beholders. An hour of standstill flew by, fuelled by the overheard sparkles of conversation, the pitter patter of passion. . I was home. A loud and varied cheer alerted us that we were on the move and like a waterfall of peaceful protest we cascaded through the city, ebbing and flowing through the most famous streets in London. The atmosphere was spectacular. As the sun beat down on us, it felt like the whole world was watching us and thanking us for our little, but noted, effort. Although, it may well have been the fact we found ourselves lodged behind a group of Harry Krishna with a mini-mobile stage, hefty amplification and a full band signing ‘Wild Thing’ on loop, that made us feel like the whole world was watching.</div>
<div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16px; padding: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16px; padding: 0px;">
Simply by studying the demeanor of the free-spirited protest attendees, I began to draw striking parallels between what I would associate with being an Eco-Warrior with what I would expect to see in a Feminist. Maybe it’s the phrasing that caused these links, as the lexical item ‘warrior’ elicits connotations of stereotypical male attributes; strength, power and aggression. With this in mind, a female Eco-warrior could be viewed as subverting society’s gender roles by expressing these ‘male’ attributes. Caroline Lucas of the Green Party is prime example of an eco-warrior, although heavily grounded in politics within in a system some would argue is anything but free-spirited, the basis of all her campaigning is to protect our planet, pouring all her physical energy into revolutionising green energy via her anti-fracking movement. The semantic links between an eco-warrior and feminist may be one reason my mind led me to ponder the similarities, but I feel it spans deeper into the roots of reason, into the earth. Eco-warriors wish to protect our natural land, they essentially fight for those that don’t have a voice (animals, plants, resources), which is what Feminists do for gender equality, they speak out for those who may see the problem but fear to act or those that ignore the problem despite suffering the consequences, or the mass of Western women who simply deny the suffering altogether.</div>
<div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16px; padding: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16px; padding: 0px;">
For years, we’ve felt the negligence of our Earth and of our most oppressed groups, it could even be claimed that the way in which we continue to destroy and consume our fertile land, mimics the way in which we exploit our women. The recent viral videos of Leonardo Di’Caprio and Emma Watson delivering powerful speeches at the UN summits on both climate change and feminism, evermore highlight the intrinsic nature of these topics. There definitely seems to be a rise in global awareness and it’s certainly an exciting time to be alive and to be passionate. Global protests fighting for Eco-change highlight a milestone in forward thinking in an age where the backlash can be strong and repressive to those who want to speak out. It gives a remarkable sense of hope for the future and creates a sense of community and courage for the activists in us all whether it be feminism, climate change, peace, LGBT rights, human rights etc. If we keep pushing forward, the world cannot continue to ignore these problems and the uneducated will lose the ‘un’ and the support will grow and things, eventually, will change.</div>
<div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16px; padding: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16px; padding: 0px;">
Ultimately, it’s not about why we need feminism; it’s about why we need equality for the land and land dwellers alike. We need to protect our Mother Earth as much as the mothers upon the Earth.</div>
Creative Cravingshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14305566818778526574noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7419094997856296159.post-90450041227773115822014-11-05T04:42:00.000-08:002014-11-05T04:46:04.420-08:00ESOUL<div class="MsoNormal">
I moved to London just over two months ago and have been
working as a Communication Support Worker in and around our capital. Today was
the first day in my new ‘English as a second language’ class. I was supporting
a deaf girl whose first language was British Sign Language and today something
amazing happened.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The room was heaving with people who had immigrated from
around the world to set up a base in London. Some had been here for years,
others simply months, one lady had been here for a mere four weeks. Within the
class we looked at the importance of conversational skills which meant I was
signing flat out for almost three hours yet despite this I was still mesmerised
by the pull of our capital, all these students were so enthusiastic about
learning more English in order to broaden their horizons here. It caused me to
reflect upon my own situation, I’ve slipped into city life rather easily, firstly
having English as my first language already puts me in a fantastic position, it’s
not until you witness English being taught that you realise how complex it is.
I also had a lot of friends already based in London and even family a short
train ride away which I often over-look. The people in the class had given up
entire lives, jobs, friends and family in search of a ‘better life’ in the UK. Maybe
I’ve been taking it all for granted, maybe I’ve been selfish for constantly
wanting to escape?<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Following an intense twenty minute group discussion about
money (payday loans, credit cards, bills etc) all giving one another advice on
how to stretch the pounds further, one woman from Jamaica hesitantly raised her
hand.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
She timidly exclaimed that she intends to save up every single
penny she can in order to pay for the flight back to Jamaica to start again
from afresh. She spoke passionately (albeit in broken English) about the simple
life out there and the unnecessary complexities she found over here. She
described the vegetable patch she hopes to nurture and the power of the
community spirit over there. Some of the other students instantaneously gasped
in disbelief, why would someone want to leave this country that we have fought
so hard to live in? A few solemn faces showcased a mutual desire to flee this
mechanical system, mine alike. Having
spent a few weeks volunteering on an Eco-farm in Sweden I knew how magical
daily life was when you are truly self-sufficient. The Jamaican lady went on to
ask in other words ‘What are we all hankering for? More? More?’ There was a
long pause of silence filled only with puzzled looks and pondering minds. She had
certainly refuelled the burning desire to find a simpler way of life in myself.
That night I preliminarily booked a trip to a healing retreat in Peru for a
month next year, I doubt I’ll ever truly be able to leave this country but the
longer I’m away from it, the more I’ll just be me.<o:p></o:p></div>
Creative Cravingshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14305566818778526574noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7419094997856296159.post-79445888656770689172013-12-18T04:42:00.003-08:002013-12-18T06:56:32.555-08:00 Vimeo needs to be more accessible!<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.18181800842285px;">-</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 18.18181800842285px;"><i>There is vast amounts of creative and visual content online that is still inaccessible to deaf audiences due to the lack of subtitling through online video hosts.</i></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; margin-left: 18pt;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 18.18181800842285px;">Being a CODA (Child of a Deaf Adult), I have found myself straddling both the hearing and the deaf world my entire life. I was involved with a Deaf and hearing drama group from a young age (Words Signs and Vibes) which provided me with some incredible opportunities to spread awareness and have an amazing time whilst touring with Sign Song extraordinaire Jayne Fletcher.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18.18181800842285px;"><br /></span>
</span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDgScO0r6lQHHmjL3zvioAM52JjE7co0VHBkeH014OcpcTFFDuzmBaXbmdxDZO0TeOeKH0mWS5vtwRNV-Pn1nZ0yk8auf8Sf4XFdfbHq0k6ZyHbE3i8JPAFmlSrB5ujeXJfC1cDQp7zQo/s1600/filmoreee.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDgScO0r6lQHHmjL3zvioAM52JjE7co0VHBkeH014OcpcTFFDuzmBaXbmdxDZO0TeOeKH0mWS5vtwRNV-Pn1nZ0yk8auf8Sf4XFdfbHq0k6ZyHbE3i8JPAFmlSrB5ujeXJfC1cDQp7zQo/s400/filmoreee.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Supporting the 'Filmore Gears' at Birmingham Artsfest alongside Jayne Fletcher and Emma Case.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1iv-SJk6QJXjkcah5L-0NJASWc0qiali12zaDVCqGSzCbGH5gXRNcvisfiIFA1gc6KKAEEbk_Y4cf_Yykk4SCLPtBxb6V17b-Rw4wDRw39NwMqRT4aJPGvD7cDNGNEUw7qnRBw1OIXs0/s1600/fill.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1iv-SJk6QJXjkcah5L-0NJASWc0qiali12zaDVCqGSzCbGH5gXRNcvisfiIFA1gc6KKAEEbk_Y4cf_Yykk4SCLPtBxb6V17b-Rw4wDRw39NwMqRT4aJPGvD7cDNGNEUw7qnRBw1OIXs0/s640/fill.jpg" width="424" /></span></a><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 18.18181800842285px;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 18.18181800842285px;">The beautiful visual aspects of the deaf world continue to inspire and aid me when making creative decisions on my degree. I am currently at Bournemouth University studying Scriptwriting for TV and Film and wherever possible I am writing scripts that are accessible to deaf audiences. For example <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CpntmoC5dDE">here</a> is a short film I wrote and acted in last year.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18.18181800842285px;"><br /></span>
<span style="line-height: 18.18181800842285px;"><br /></span><span style="line-height: 18.18181800842285px;">I am now approaching the second term of my final year on the course where I am feverishly writing a dissertation </span><span style="line-height: 18.18181800842285px;">centered</span><span style="line-height: 18.18181800842285px;"> on ‘The Lack of Deaf Culture Represented in Mainstream Television’ as well as A twenty minute short film with a deaf lead character.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18.18181800842285px;"><br /></span><span style="line-height: 18.18181800842285px;">With the increase in social media and video content on the internet I found myself becoming increasingly frustrated with the lack of subtitles featured. I want to be able to send my Mum a video and for her to be able to understand it fully without these constant barriers.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18.18181800842285px;"><br /></span><span style="line-height: 18.18181800842285px;">This is what inspired me to create an online petition. My petition asks Vimeo to ask its </span><span style="line-height: 18.18181800842285px;">up-loaders</span><span style="line-height: 18.18181800842285px;"> to make subtitled versions of their videos available.<a href="http://www.vimeo.com/"> Vimeo</a> is </span><span style="line-height: 18.18181800842285px;">a huge video host that specialises in short films that are usually Drama, Documentary mixed in with loads of Animation. It prides itself on its high quality content, rightly so, as it is brimming with thousands of exceptional videos, however, they do not even provide the unreliable captioning option that Youtube has. The captioning option is certainly a step forward but there needs to be more research poured into it as the result is often inaccurate gibberish.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18.18181800842285px;"><br /></span>
<span style="line-height: 18.18181800842285px;"><br /></span><span style="line-height: 18.18181800842285px;">Following this continual frustration I have recently signed up to <a href="http://www.amara.org/en/">Amara</a> to voluntarily add subtitles to videos so the Deaf/hearing impaired can access more content however it is incredibly time consuming and unrealistic for these online video websites to rely on volunteers to make their content accessible.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 18.18181800842285px;">They should be creating agreements in there terms and conditions (which every user must agree to) by which the uploader will be encouraged to add a subtitled option or version upon the upload of their video. At the very least it will make them think about other audiences that they could be reaching. Arguably it may take a few hours to do this but it would be worth it as the creator will be able to reach millions of more viewers and Deaf and HOH viewers will be able to access more content online. It may be hugely beneficial to those learning English as a foreign language too , as well as saving many volunteers’ hours or trawling the net and manually subtitling videos, in this instance, everyone wins.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18.18181800842285px;"><br /></span>
<span style="line-height: 18.18181800842285px;"><br /></span><span style="line-height: 18.18181800842285px;">This is precisely what my petition proposes. More subtitles online. If you do agree with what I am suggesting please do sign it this <a href="http://www.change.org/en-GB/petitions/vimeo-encourage-subtitled-versions-of-videos-to-be-uploaded-for-the-hearing-impaired">online petition</a>:</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18.18181800842285px;"><br /></span></span><a href="http://www.change.org/en-GB/petitions/vimeo-encourage-subtitled-versions-of-videos-to-be-uploaded-for-deaf-people"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">http://www.change.org/en-GB/petitions/vimeo-encourage-subtitled-versions-of-videos-to-be-uploaded-for-deaf-people</span></a><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18.18181800842285px;"><br /></span>
<span style="line-height: 18.18181800842285px;"><br /></span><span style="line-height: 18.18181800842285px;">The very least it will do is raise awareness and let these huge hosts know that they are preventing a huge body of people access to their videos.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18.18181800842285px;"><br /></span><span style="line-height: 18.18181800842285px;">Thank you for reading, Joanna.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.18181800842285px;"></span></div>
Creative Cravingshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14305566818778526574noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7419094997856296159.post-78323390080013965082013-08-22T13:15:00.000-07:002013-08-22T13:53:01.975-07:00Free-ak.* Warning this post has not been edited of even spell checked before posting, I wanted it to be as raw and free as possible, the filters of my mind tarnish it enough.<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Please view
this post as a stream of consciousness as opposed to concise and contrived. I
have no idea where this may lead but I haven’t done any free writing for a long
time, maybe that should be the theme of this post: Free. Recently I have been
expanding my mind and weary pupils at ridiculous hours of the morning, learning
all about the lives of Freegans and Dumpster Divers as they are so aptly named.
I stumbled across a user of Instagram who holds monthly ‘Free- Markets’ whereby the salvage as much
quality objects, from clothing to bikes as they can and set up a stall on the
street so passers-by can pick anything up ; FOR FREE! This already had me in
the palm of their anti-capitalist hands but to put the organic home grown
cherry on the top this group host Freegan banquets in New York twice A month,
now I was totally swept under this new exciting hippie wave. I’m not sure of how many people know what
Freegans are, usually they are people who are Vegan and try to sustain their
diets by growing their own food, thus spending little money in Supermarkets and
opting out wherever possible in the Consumptive nature of our society. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I have had so many
slight opinions for so long but never truly felt like they were grounded
anywhere, but through stumbling across this bold groups movement , I honestly
felt like things were starting to click. I have never felt like I belonged in
huge supermarkets, I’ve never really wanted to drive a car even (I’d happily
cycle everywhere for the rest of my life) I suppose growing up a tiny village
until the age of 6 and then moving to a city may have contributed to this
overwhelming feeling of disbelonging. Anyway the strong community of like-minded
Freegans and those who believe in mutual aid (doing everything in their little
power to help as many people as possible) really struck a chord with me.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This sense of care
and help is what I feel is lacking in so many industries, potentially all
industries, I have heard someone exclaim ‘why should I do that, it’s not my
job!’ far too many times, if you work for a company or on a project you should
believe whole heartedly in that company or project and want it to move forward
in whatever way it can, even if it means mucking in with jobs that are not deemed
‘yours’. I know there are a hell of a
lot of people in the world who are doing jobs to just get by and may not take
(or can) take an active role in the structuring and shaping of the
project/company but I truly feel, anyone
at any ‘level’ (I hate the thought of anyone being ‘above’ anyone else) by
being that little bit more conscious of the people working around them, and
doing things to move the whole things forward will not only make them a happier
person and their colleagues happier but it will also reap those superficial
monetary rewards/targets which everyone is so focused on achieving.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I’ve had some real ‘birds
eye view’ moments recently, where I allow myself to totally extract everything from
the life I lead, all the feelings I have and almost analyse the human race and
world from an alien birds perspective. We are so odd. As a race, I have been
questioning the word ‘civilized’ an awful lot of recent for it is those who are deemed 'uncivilized' that seem to show the greatest awareness for the Planet and forming a mutualistic relationship with their surroundings, anyway, I don’t want to dwell.
There are so many reasons to be happy as humans, it’s the mindfulness and
appreciation that is needed, I would urge everyone to take just 5 minutes out
and view the world as a whole, then slowly bring it back to your life, all
those ‘significant’ worries soon evaporate and I usually just feel an overwhelming
sense on contentment at just being alive, just being able to breath, see, hear,
feel and read all about the world. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The point I have
been trying to make is, we may ultimately feel free, yet it is so hard to act
upon this natural desire to be free as responsibilities, that we create, weigh
us down and begin to cloud the beautiful vision we once had of the world, our
child-like awe, we become
surrounded by negativity but we can make a change and that’s what I aim to do.
I feel like a great cloud has been lifted and I have been observing life from a
slightly clearer angle, everything is consumption and a lot of it is without
even thinking about the consequences.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I have been a
Vegetarian for almost 10 months now (admittedly having a few small blips) and
know in myself and my body that I couldn't be a Freegan, or vegan for that
matter, but I can adopt some of their philosophies, I want to try and only buy
from local shops if I have to buy, I’m going to try and make/grow as much of my
own food as possible and I am going to gear myself up for a Dumpster Dive in
the near future. As I physically cannot stop myself from acting upon and
directly challenging the absolutely ludicrous laws governing food waste in
Supermarkets.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
PS. I am also looking at spending a minimum of 8 weeks in and Eco-yoga-commune in Peru. Some may call it escape, I call it real life and what it is all meant to be about!<br />
<br />
<br />
<a href="https://soundcloud.com/mutual-benefit/advanced-falconry">https://soundcloud.com/mutual-benefit/advanced-falconry</a><br />
<br /></div>
Creative Cravingshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14305566818778526574noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7419094997856296159.post-33263890807454556642013-06-15T11:43:00.000-07:002013-06-15T11:49:46.661-07:00The Politicians Husband. Poultons Review.<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMFWyB1T4JX06zL4fBsOIfVI0AlpImkTF44a4uePx1uo__6OzFn_ZF3jUL8b70hLx_1AMIkPQ86TDfjXjLd7lDRVXz8V2QuJ67iV6gMxLsmrnJmRPHL8d5CoW8PREiitlbCSlCu3goHns/s1600/pol.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="270" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMFWyB1T4JX06zL4fBsOIfVI0AlpImkTF44a4uePx1uo__6OzFn_ZF3jUL8b70hLx_1AMIkPQ86TDfjXjLd7lDRVXz8V2QuJ67iV6gMxLsmrnJmRPHL8d5CoW8PREiitlbCSlCu3goHns/s400/pol.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Politicians Husband, BBC 2.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 19px;">This three part drama proved to be a lot more controversial than I initially assumed. The first episode gently introduced us to the world of Freya and Aiden Hoynes lives as the golden couple of Politics. Each character was established well, with some really lovely moments of touch. I often feel underwhelmed by the portrayal of human contact in Television and Film and the importance of it in relationships. However I truly felt they highlighted, not obviously, but subtly, the closeness of the couple through tiny moments be it their hands grazing one another of the simplicity of exchanging affectionate glances, without the need for a raunchy sex scene, although that was provided and I am certainly not complaining.</span></span></div>
<h4>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: normal; line-height: 19px;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: normal;"><div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="line-height: 19px;">The raunchy scenes early on instantaneously allowed myself to place these 'wooden statues of power' , these politicians, outside the cold cage my judgement had banished them to and dragged them into the fiery passionate sexual sphere , directly making them more relatable. That is exactly w</span><span style="line-height: 19px;">hat I was already beginning to love about this drama, the humanisation of these figures in society who are far too often depicted as</span><span style="line-height: 19px;"> 'cold' with their only desire being the gain of power and status.</span></div>
</span></h4>
<h4>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: normal; line-height: 19px;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: normal; line-height: 19px;"><div style="text-align: center;">
Like the sex, the pace was anything but slow, forcing the viewer to keep up with every movement, name and headline featured. There was reference to The Guardian, Twitter and other technological influences on politics that so few think to address, However like some other recent dramas (the finale of Black Mirror) I didn't feel like we were constantly bombarded with this, or that we were watching the screen on the screen as TPTH provided us with tiny tid bits allowing us to gain a slight insight into how the outer world perceived this fairly claustrophobic family based lifestyle.</div>
</span></h4>
<h4>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: normal; line-height: 19px;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: normal;"><div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="line-height: 19px;">By the end of the first episode I was thoroughly impressed by the subtly in</span><span style="line-height: 19px;"> double Oscar nominee Emily Watsons portrayal of 'Freya'. One thing that did grate was the overly childish characterization </span><span style="line-height: 19px;">of their daughter</span><span style="line-height: 19px;"> (she must have been about 7, yet was still being picked up like a 3 year old) and her wooden acting didn't help matters either, but hey they're kids, they'll only learn!</span></div>
</span></h4>
<h4>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: normal; line-height: 19px;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19px;"><div style="text-align: center;">
The two later episodes felt less structured although I thought the opening scene of the second episode was truly GRIPPING tackling rape within marriage beautifully with a great soundscape and subtle character moments to show the effects.</div>
</span><span style="background-color: white;"><div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="line-height: 19px;"><br /></span></div>
</span></span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19px;"><div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: normal;">OVERALL, WELL WORTH A WATCH!</span></div>
</span></h4>
Creative Cravingshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14305566818778526574noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7419094997856296159.post-33790705229007710582013-06-15T11:41:00.003-07:002013-06-15T12:02:42.550-07:00I LOVE IDEASTAP!<span style="background-color: white; color: #2d2d2d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">IF YOU ARE A CREATIVE PERSON I COULDN'T ADVISE YOU MORE TO SIGN UP AT </span><a href="http://www.ideastap.com/">http://www.ideastap.com/</a> !<br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #2d2d2d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #2d2d2d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #2d2d2d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">I'm currently at Bournemouth Universities media school of excellence reading Scriptwriting for Tv and Film. I'm an aspiring Producer and Scriptwriter with keen focus on writing for Television Drama. I have written a handful of short films for Television Production students as well as orchestrating my own Originally formatted Talent Show 'Busking' and Writing and Directing my own 10 minute play 'Cardboard Cushions'.</span><br />
<br style="background-color: white; color: #2d2d2d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;" />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #2d2d2d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">Ideastap excites me.</span><br />
<br style="background-color: white; color: #2d2d2d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;" />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #2d2d2d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">I feel the potential of this platform, to bind and inspire creative minds could be one of the most exciting things on the web, because that's what the world boils down to, behind these screens, behind huge budget films, tiny theatre plays ; it's people. All too often we presume others don't want to help, but they do, creativity is collaboration. Nothing can rival the feeling of being a part of a beautiful creative process. The sparks that ricochet from that original awkward and clunky idea, that transform and blossom, I feel it is this natural high through idea generation that will continue to propel and inspire me through this bizarre but extremely rewarding industry.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #2d2d2d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">I have so many ideas that are bursting out of me, I still find it incredible that at the end of a 30 hour Writing stint, you would have created something that wasn't there before. Something that will float around an agents office or in cyberspace or maybe it will forever remain, happily, at the bottom draw of your cabinet. It doesn't matter where it ends up, it's the creating that is important. If there is one thing that has inspired me to continue with this crazy creative career path , it is the subtle impact our work could potentially have , whether it's raising awareness of an issue or making one person stop and reflect for a single moment.</span><br />
<br style="background-color: white; color: #2d2d2d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;" />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #2d2d2d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">I truly feel there is nothing more exhilarating than having others surround you during those magical times, I love like minded creative spirits!</span>Creative Cravingshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14305566818778526574noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7419094997856296159.post-49388231147357538792013-05-14T16:11:00.005-07:002013-05-14T16:13:19.747-07:00Tame Impala.<br />
<h2 style="text-align: center;">
<b>Brixton Academy 30/10/12</b></h2>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZ3vP8M-Q2QnMXDo6ULWW_jJ13s_mVlxejewzerIjv3Jh_fFQBFlX6-wRUennswOpOLxnVpMqgWjWbqpc4TWABenkGam3l9Kb5Aw7-x_CRIZ2gip6e7xiqXrA4Nw44N0LcseIgWyrsIBs/s1600/tame1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="270" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZ3vP8M-Q2QnMXDo6ULWW_jJ13s_mVlxejewzerIjv3Jh_fFQBFlX6-wRUennswOpOLxnVpMqgWjWbqpc4TWABenkGam3l9Kb5Aw7-x_CRIZ2gip6e7xiqXrA4Nw44N0LcseIgWyrsIBs/s400/tame1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; clear: left; color: #2d2d2d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.286em; padding: 5px 10px 13px; vertical-align: baseline;">
Brixton academy boasts an atmospheric and alluring venue, with it’s roman themed décor we truly felt like we were outside on a warm Italian evening. The ceiling seemed never ending, providing the perfect echoes for Tame Impalas encapsulating electric tones and dream-like melodies. Fortunately the set didn’t stray from their golden ‘Innerspeaker’ days which were anything but Tame.</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguo-M74vVJrVKB2BidFHeM4Pkf4wUno0Bx9rdToZxzAgVuVNYBGLp85tWRZ0VP3nX3_uAVGkOHMFAJ8QUKVEq-tZZACFBDdwQ9Rbph2EwjXa9Z1l0SpMzNKOM_8SJyWbC2D6V_lP0jAuE/s1600/tam4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="270" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguo-M74vVJrVKB2BidFHeM4Pkf4wUno0Bx9rdToZxzAgVuVNYBGLp85tWRZ0VP3nX3_uAVGkOHMFAJ8QUKVEq-tZZACFBDdwQ9Rbph2EwjXa9Z1l0SpMzNKOM_8SJyWbC2D6V_lP0jAuE/s400/tam4.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Support: 'The Amazing Band' which were what they stated.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; clear: left; color: #2d2d2d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.286em; padding: 5px 10px 13px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; clear: left; color: #2d2d2d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.286em; padding: 5px 10px 13px; vertical-align: baseline;">
A sea of indie shades and psychedelic waves washed over us as we stood in awe of the band and the captivatingly simple motion graphics that seamlessly merged into the music. Kevin Parker mid-set honestly announced ‘We can’t believe how nice you’re being, we thought you guys would hate us’ which only added momentum to the already swaying crowd. </div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; clear: left; color: #2d2d2d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.286em; padding: 5px 10px 13px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8YnM94O62cwiHTWMBdOunSs9VGa4vexvaGuiWck4sAPglnEuBJt6sKiQRAGhYFJGWir9HqVGE4zukwq7SO_bV7GHDFK4TvDi0Jfu0t5S-lQGxNu7fs298ABiRiU652te3eFjF6VceyO4/s1600/tame2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="270" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8YnM94O62cwiHTWMBdOunSs9VGa4vexvaGuiWck4sAPglnEuBJt6sKiQRAGhYFJGWir9HqVGE4zukwq7SO_bV7GHDFK4TvDi0Jfu0t5S-lQGxNu7fs298ABiRiU652te3eFjF6VceyO4/s400/tame2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; clear: left; color: #2d2d2d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.286em; padding: 5px 10px 13px; vertical-align: baseline;">
Absolute highlight of the gig was an exclusive mash-up of ‘Half Glass Full of Wine’ they performed as their encore. Just incredible, I’ve been bopping to the beat ever since.</div>
Creative Cravingshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14305566818778526574noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7419094997856296159.post-87784264379438511292012-12-24T08:41:00.001-08:002012-12-24T08:51:41.582-08:00Bones Festes Bonita.I recently spent five days in the absolutely beautiful city that is Barcelona , instantly propelled into my top three cities, behind Berlin and Budapest.<br />
<br />
This was our first glimpse of the glorious city;<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBFzGhALFKW-SveWTbZyG4tOcEduxYWNdjDhyphenhypheneQQ9Rm38pHTbVcdYpL9I8umipn35mUGexIMBVF-lCJhq0FM1shVA31-UJsf1K1o-3p_WsagR0fasr_000JLL7QtQj4yrhJYiA34wQNdw/s1600/XMAS1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBFzGhALFKW-SveWTbZyG4tOcEduxYWNdjDhyphenhypheneQQ9Rm38pHTbVcdYpL9I8umipn35mUGexIMBVF-lCJhq0FM1shVA31-UJsf1K1o-3p_WsagR0fasr_000JLL7QtQj4yrhJYiA34wQNdw/s320/XMAS1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
We were scheduled to stay in the seaside town of Santa Susanna but decided to stay in a Hostel (Lullaby) smack bang in the middle of the city on the first night as we were so captivated by the place. There was so much thought and detail behind everything, from shop window displays to hotel lobbies, we were absolutely mesmerised. Like everything seemed to be in Barca, the Hostel was effortlessly stylish and really well run. Shame there were many a brawl on the street outside of our room that kept us from retreating to the much needed land of nodd, resulting in the worst nights (lack of) sleep during the whole trip.<br />
<br />
<br />
The next hazy sleep deprived day was spent mooching around the city, being totally awe-struck by Gaudis architecture ;<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhheU4018GJDYzeHubeMcSK8lVug2IU5n62LuKx_RHuAoFlIQ9mIcvFn9C8ZsV4E1rPtdzzORnzpx0Q27gGiwtddT1ntu35MI5yUJ34PyWnnrWQlAR6SYSl_75BZleSRcQda1GYzAbZvnA/s1600/gaudi.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhheU4018GJDYzeHubeMcSK8lVug2IU5n62LuKx_RHuAoFlIQ9mIcvFn9C8ZsV4E1rPtdzzORnzpx0Q27gGiwtddT1ntu35MI5yUJ34PyWnnrWQlAR6SYSl_75BZleSRcQda1GYzAbZvnA/s320/gaudi.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
(oh my gaud it is incredible)</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9Gfp_mRlvKu55MiMydhWsZHqvxR4OeLgtuDSl5CKWKiHPPZ50tUHQR-zu992ghQLNLP0uahZjRc0xkgzl0zXXTcD1ODYz1qBFk54K2PVzIDNvseRIa94sftphBQ0yqxXBv18xleYcRek/s1600/gaudi2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9Gfp_mRlvKu55MiMydhWsZHqvxR4OeLgtuDSl5CKWKiHPPZ50tUHQR-zu992ghQLNLP0uahZjRc0xkgzl0zXXTcD1ODYz1qBFk54K2PVzIDNvseRIa94sftphBQ0yqxXBv18xleYcRek/s320/gaudi2.jpg" width="213" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
picnicking outside the Cathedral and discovering some true gems like this beautiful vegan restaurant;<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqUPH3BorrnOXNMRC0Tj1ux9hKXIFvkSCsL8uT8b9gQr18a_Su16b9R3BVHr-RBQbUelTcGGb8xsFkxYgxiKY84iiqVjJDB2BGr15-FKCDw8ezzPcN73lHqx08xb2R34omquJpcLuVr8Y/s1600/xmmassss.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqUPH3BorrnOXNMRC0Tj1ux9hKXIFvkSCsL8uT8b9gQr18a_Su16b9R3BVHr-RBQbUelTcGGb8xsFkxYgxiKY84iiqVjJDB2BGr15-FKCDw8ezzPcN73lHqx08xb2R34omquJpcLuVr8Y/s320/xmmassss.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
We hadn't actually checked how much the train to Santa Susanna was and had visions of forking of 40 euros plus, with a £100 budget for the 5 days we were worried to say the least. To our absolute relief it only cost 4.30 euros, for a 90 minute train ride! We arrived in Santa Susanna at about 9pm, we worried we would be to late (a day and a half) to check in. But that was the least of our worries.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Once we'd walked down the beach for about 20 minutes to find our Hotel we also found that is was boarded up with a sign reading 'HOTEL CLOSED', on closer inspection it had a list of all guests that were meant to stay there and contact details for another hotel they could stay in. Our names were not on the list.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQHJoekvTwcDs9H37mOkaludkJPk9CL0I353oADWH0YS442MLdYd4FY8tV3DViGFPfrnz_2bFbrmIrBFBN5ZcBNcNbOL-XvJWxucnh5yJQtHrOPzYkinQcgpleR_oBrhyruhYl6WcahX4/s1600/xmmass.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQHJoekvTwcDs9H37mOkaludkJPk9CL0I353oADWH0YS442MLdYd4FY8tV3DViGFPfrnz_2bFbrmIrBFBN5ZcBNcNbOL-XvJWxucnh5yJQtHrOPzYkinQcgpleR_oBrhyruhYl6WcahX4/s320/xmmass.jpg" width="213" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
As, you can tell, we were overjoyed with this news. We decided we'd chase up the Hotel the others guests had been allocated to, somehow made it in time for the last train to Callela where we were directed to Hotel Amaika.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
The lights were off. We were faced with another sign, diverting us to 'Callela Palace' A 10 minute walk away, my friend who studies Tourism installed further fears as he was dubious of any Hotel that bore the name 'Palace'.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
We planned our whole speech, demanding rooms even though we weren't on the list, demanding the train fare back towards the city, proving our rights with various documentation however when we arrived at the warmly inviting plush Palace the receptionist simply said 'Ohh we've been expecting you'. Talk about anti-climax. We would've been happy with any old room, all we craved was some silent slumber but the Hotel was even better than the one we had originally booked with. It had an indoors pool, sauna , jacuzzi and every room had a balcony that backed out onto the most glorious view of the hills.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
The next day was spent exploring the beach and hills, we found a beautiful ruin and watched the sunset . We could see all the way to Barcelona centre. It was magical.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFFuMk3ZE8H_voXrK-grm3B9RbboPhTI3su7DXCYJCt4oZjFHBmUjNeowbXbgv8klHF0dh7sBaw2nefg4_DIMOd63RqHU94lTmB4lW68GJV49WkfVUqf5BqFkovca1XMDcl0EuhEByTy0/s1600/xmmmmassss.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFFuMk3ZE8H_voXrK-grm3B9RbboPhTI3su7DXCYJCt4oZjFHBmUjNeowbXbgv8klHF0dh7sBaw2nefg4_DIMOd63RqHU94lTmB4lW68GJV49WkfVUqf5BqFkovca1XMDcl0EuhEByTy0/s320/xmmmmassss.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Once we made it back to ground level we supplemented the local Tapas and drained the local Sangria supply.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
We were warned by everyone of the pick pockets but, probably due to the fact we went in December, we didn't come into direct contact with any, as far as we know anyway (cue the moment we look at our bank statements and realise we had our bank cards stolen).</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
The last two days were spent getting lost in the city, stumbling upon the most beautiful restaurants and spending far too much money on good food whilst visiting Gaudis 'house of bones'.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtaHaBTcp0Z2jmXy6xQs2GDlzBDrzy9NUzQrLMMM-9lpdQr8rHjmI5Ch2Di1vM89YhkzWKJtobCVuE7KWseCXRC_DHfOvv3vI5gZpvTn7kIp2eGPQYRd3TRhzDdLWXReR-EpPOQmleksg/s1600/xmasss.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtaHaBTcp0Z2jmXy6xQs2GDlzBDrzy9NUzQrLMMM-9lpdQr8rHjmI5Ch2Di1vM89YhkzWKJtobCVuE7KWseCXRC_DHfOvv3vI5gZpvTn7kIp2eGPQYRd3TRhzDdLWXReR-EpPOQmleksg/s320/xmasss.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilbNELRltZexbyYs_ZK1g8XaxQoTmsG0naBCidFFCtKvYdpHn_14iqjyAbSo44rHrz1U3a8lf9KneIuZVSiKJS2GvWmmmXp_tm89awaezINDFMBH1zcVvd8R4L38aPYeBtStRVjmGrmUM/s1600/xmassss.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilbNELRltZexbyYs_ZK1g8XaxQoTmsG0naBCidFFCtKvYdpHn_14iqjyAbSo44rHrz1U3a8lf9KneIuZVSiKJS2GvWmmmXp_tm89awaezINDFMBH1zcVvd8R4L38aPYeBtStRVjmGrmUM/s320/xmassss.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEjYtW1ritmxa363_sy6_j-XSIXXKZdMmgfzbVfKMkAb-PvNg3fdV8Iba6fOGSs8DiP-4kOZZLdrh_f7MUY1FQ6PsNXk39Xcm53S6jo0GpGanyWgvnO6tjSNeNo_7tHuA2HmrPHdCZOR4/s1600/xmasssss.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEjYtW1ritmxa363_sy6_j-XSIXXKZdMmgfzbVfKMkAb-PvNg3fdV8Iba6fOGSs8DiP-4kOZZLdrh_f7MUY1FQ6PsNXk39Xcm53S6jo0GpGanyWgvnO6tjSNeNo_7tHuA2HmrPHdCZOR4/s320/xmasssss.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQiMNO6IEXOekVTJzNE25k2EqkQDaZQi4hPHv5HDTGYZhG2VWWy-gEWb-ragzwmtewdsJz1y_mBU6LBfkF5mnMVfYuvbCSG49FRS2C9gkHlPzbkw61U7xsXQCwoVf4v171lPdP6tnqcv0/s1600/xmmmmas.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQiMNO6IEXOekVTJzNE25k2EqkQDaZQi4hPHv5HDTGYZhG2VWWy-gEWb-ragzwmtewdsJz1y_mBU6LBfkF5mnMVfYuvbCSG49FRS2C9gkHlPzbkw61U7xsXQCwoVf4v171lPdP6tnqcv0/s320/xmmmmas.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
One moment that I will never ever forget occurred on the last day. We were sitting on a park bench in the centre, having lengthy conversations, mainly about tiny details of the beautiful landscape we were surrounded by. Despite the deep converse, my attention kept wandering to an old beggar man who sat on a bench on the other side of the park, all he seemed to own was a can of lager but seemed oddly content.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Throughout the two-and-a-half hour conversation that took place on the bench I would glance over at the man, who for the whole time was fiddling with his can, and what appeared to be a knife, not wanting to provoke him in anyway or seem rude, I would quickly turn away from him but was still totally captivated.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Then he stood up and began walking over to us, slightly aggressively but with an optimistic bounce in his step. He then handed me the most beautifully crafted candle holder whilst saying 'Bones Festes Bonita' which means 'Happy Holiday Beautiful' in Spanish. Before I could properly say thank you (despite shouting 'Gracias, es Bonito' pretty loudly after him) he had bounced away, waving backwards, towards us with a beaming smile.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
The single thought that he had nothing materialistically yet bore such creative skills and gave away all that he had ,makes me feel warm and fuzzy. In that one moment, it felt like Christmas. </div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3VF2U2br65C8QQQdbb5B8jkYnbAOYf_TgL5i3QUTuGwkJWC_2HtIQmcqa-JkdzsP2kCMW6OtzIrois4kqf4c38AU9FeqHkO77Y2nXS3VYENsJ3dxDWGvUIwmg7-VVmU_mV6WfpjylWbw/s1600/xmas.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3VF2U2br65C8QQQdbb5B8jkYnbAOYf_TgL5i3QUTuGwkJWC_2HtIQmcqa-JkdzsP2kCMW6OtzIrois4kqf4c38AU9FeqHkO77Y2nXS3VYENsJ3dxDWGvUIwmg7-VVmU_mV6WfpjylWbw/s320/xmas.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
I was petrified we wouldn't be allowed to bring it back into the country as we only had hand luggage and it was pretty damn sharp, luckily, by a few (probably illegal) means it's now sitting on my window ledge, a permanent reminder of the good in Humanity and my beautiful Barcelonian break!</div>
<div style="text-align: start;">
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<br />
<br />Creative Cravingshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14305566818778526574noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7419094997856296159.post-56804661872063206082012-07-24T05:31:00.002-07:002012-07-24T05:31:37.993-07:00Deactivation.<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
it's 04.43am, through hazy hungover eyes I relentlessly
scroll down the news feed in hope of stumbling upon something of interest ,of
worth, yet again I'm faced with superficial statuses that leave me feeling
nothing but frustration and distain towards society and what we have all
become. Drastic maybe but true for me nonetheless. Just think of all the
knowledge, now I don't mean updates on people we don't really knows holidays, I
mean real factual knowledge that will inspire us in ways that we never thought
imaginable we could consume if we didn't spend so much time on facebook, absorbing
often pointless, drivel by undereducated (myself included)of pretentious
(myself included) teenagers. </div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
When a sibling replies to an update of the day with ' I know
already, I've seen it on facebook' I think that's when I really sat up and
questioned the power of this website, because if we strip it back, that's what
it is, just a website. I don't want to be constantly updated on my best friend’s
lives let alone people that I've met once or sometimes not even at all! I would
rather sit down face to face and talk, catch up like they used to, heck even as archaic as
it may be even an email would be more enjoyable, something tailored to you.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
Being a budding scriptwriter I really feel we have lost the capability to tell
stories, and tell them well, whole experiences are summed up into statuses or
captions.I'm going to challenge myself to have a facebook free summer, see how much I can read, learn and enjoy without hundreds of opinions clouding my sight. This will be a test for me, who actually wants to contact me, and who
will really invest their time to tell me what they've been doing recently
instead of expecting me to just peruse their life online.</div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span>Creative Cravingshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14305566818778526574noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7419094997856296159.post-67712209732008526182012-02-23T15:20:00.001-08:002012-02-23T15:26:33.265-08:00You came on your own. That's how you'll leave.But I didn't come on my own, although that's how I'll probably leave.<br />
<br />
Today it's my Birthday, it seems so odd writing/saying that, I normally say our. Today is the first day my twin sister and I have ever had a Birthday apart.<br />
<br />
Last night/this morning at 12:00am we turned 19, that time last year we were literally counting down every hour minute and second to finally become 'adults'. This time last year we were getting ready to have our first legal night out in Birmingham. This year I spent the night in my halls in Bournemouth, eating pizza and watching films whilst my Twin spent the night in her halls in London. Although I had company the first thing I did was ring her.<br />
<br />
The conversation started with excitement and congratulations as we both dug out our birthday cards from family friends and members, deciphering handwriting and stereotypical envelope colours we managed to open the same cards at the same time. When it came to opening the card from our parents we both stopped talking, stopped reading and just started crying.<br />
<br />
It was such an odd rush of pure sadness. I think we finally realised it would never really be the same. I'm not sure about her but I had a flood of flashbacks, every memorable birthday, big party, but mainly the wake up call. Our mum would bring us bacon buttys every year and watch as we opened all our cards and gifts. Eventually the poor soulds who had the pleasure of our company whilst we were wailing managed to calm us down.<br />
<br />
Throughout the day we kept each other up to speed with our whereabouts she even skyped me from a noodle bar in Leicester Square. Technology is a live saver. The last call of the day through a crackling line consisted of her slurring 'Joo it's our birthday, I'm so drunk. I love you'.<br />
<br />
I guess we have to realise that we're leading independent lives now, it's just so hard.Creative Cravingshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14305566818778526574noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7419094997856296159.post-3973578448227572212012-01-28T06:49:00.000-08:002012-01-28T06:49:13.879-08:00Ubuntu.As much as I admire and endorse the usage of the Operatng System this post isn't about that, it's about the philosophy of 'Ubuntu' from which the OS stemmed.<br />
<br />
A few nights ago I found myself trawling through the web in search of inspiration, starting on facebook (surprisingly). I've been really interested in the idealist views of the Zeitgeist Movement for a while now and they recently posted <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1Qabs_F8j0">this</a> video. The short documentary mainly revolves around the ideology of a resource based society, a society in which I whole heartily support.<br />
<br />
Living in my ideal bubble money would be totally obliterated, we wouldn't need weapons, war or even oil (which is probably at the heart of most wars). WHY CAN'T WE ALL LIVE IN HARMONY.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Anyway, the video is where my naive ears first heard the word 'Ubuntu' I was instantly drawn to it and googled, wikied and youtubes it straight away. From inspirational speeches from Mandella and Bill Clinton to 'How To's' of the Operation System I sat through it all, gob smacked. I truly think for the first time I was resonating with something philosophical.<br />
<br />
'Ubuntu' is a south African word which has been translated by hundreds of people and applied to hundreds of different situations but my favourite translation is;<br />
<br />
<em><u> 'I am what I am, because of who we all are'</u></em><br />
<br />
For years now I have felt myself eventually coming to the conclusion that this sense of originality and individualism that we all (secretly or openly) desire is just a fascade. Whether we like it or not we all all influenced by hundreds of things in hundreds of different ways on a daily basis in this current society. Everyone wants to beat everyone, to have more money, to have the most 'desirable' features but eventually we we all wear out. The world will be populated with egos, not humans. We all need to just stop. Zoom out of our 'hectic' and 'complicated' lives and realise how simple life can be, if only we would let it.<br />
<br />
We don't need to stress over our favourite pair of jeans ripping, our beloved mug breaking, or gaining a few pounds or even loosing a couple of quid. Appreciate the time we spend talking at crazy hours of the morning, the times when we can't stop laughing and heck even the times when we are so bored we think our brains will just blackout. Even in those moments ,we are so lucky , we're given so much, to feel truly 'bored' (in which itself rattles my brain, is anyone truly ever 'bored') is almost offensive to those who don't have what we have. <br />
<br />
Anyway as much as the tangent is proving therapeutic to me , it's probably boring (or is it? ha) you. The feeling I got after a long night of delving deep into African philosophy and community spirit is the closest I think I've ever felt to having an epiphany. <br />
<br />
Life is too short to fret, in fact you shorten it if you do. So smile more, laugh more and RELAX MORE.Creative Cravingshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14305566818778526574noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7419094997856296159.post-34508572586607976472012-01-27T06:44:00.000-08:002012-01-27T06:44:00.340-08:00Twindom.Although my sister came down for a weekend in November half of my flatmates were either at home or had prior commitments so this Monday was the first time a handful (I have 17 flatmates) got to properly talk to her. I think my course mates who have only ever known me found it the strangest. One close friend kept looking at me and mouthing ' I can't do this' whilst reacting to my sisters laugh which is apprently identical.<br />
<br />
I suppose we've never been exposed to anything quite like it, our entire lives have been spent with people being totally aware that we are twins (partially because we used to spend every waking moment together) so this is all a bit new. I can't imagine how bizzare it must be for one of my friends to meet Abi for the first time. When I try and think about how I would feel if I were in their position I actually feel uncomfortable.<br />
<br />
Boyfriends is a new one too. I met my sisters boyfriend for the first time at Xmas, as she met him at Uni. He didn't cope very well, he found it very hard to not compare our every word, smile or intonation, he is adament that we are totally the same. I still don't think he has gotten his head round the idea, almsot 2 months on!Creative Cravingshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14305566818778526574noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7419094997856296159.post-40541212138817779822012-01-18T09:55:00.000-08:002012-01-18T09:55:04.623-08:00Uni-belivable.The past 24 hours have been everything I wanted out of Uni. You'd naturally assuming milk cider and mosh pits wouldn't mix well but last night was one of the best nights in Bournemouth.Surrounded by flat mates and coursemates, I wouldn't wanna be anywhere else other than the middle of a sweaty mosh pit on a Tuesday night.<br />
<br />
This morning was spent drawing naked men for a free 'life drawing' class and this afternoon was spent devising and writing comedy sketches in the form of 5 second films in the bar on campus. I love Uni so so much.Creative Cravingshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14305566818778526574noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7419094997856296159.post-80420490355951117412011-12-31T05:59:00.000-08:002012-01-12T06:05:55.212-08:00Why 2011 has definitely been the best year of my entire life;<div style="text-align: center;"> Stopped sucking my thumb</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;"> Passed my driving test ( 3 weeks before my sister may I add)</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
Became an 'adult' in age.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-RZ_B1lHqFYc/Tv8RWUP_S1I/AAAAAAAAAPM/8n1_iKM2uAE/s1600/CNV00013.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="214" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-RZ_B1lHqFYc/Tv8RWUP_S1I/AAAAAAAAAPM/8n1_iKM2uAE/s320/CNV00013.JPG" width="320" /></a></div> <br />
EMMA AND PETE GOT MARRIED!<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsOIjq5KKvx_vmb5Sjc91Q4FU5ITBm0Zj8vtHyLG5tLwpfsayMXjGxARV48-D0hFTIc5D9UqvlupInZp5FiXWD1slQfnw7_rlZv5vTV5dtzBYY9EykVeI96L0cm5YSDMN7aSJhdkV99rU/s1600/CNV00017.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" kba="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsOIjq5KKvx_vmb5Sjc91Q4FU5ITBm0Zj8vtHyLG5tLwpfsayMXjGxARV48-D0hFTIc5D9UqvlupInZp5FiXWD1slQfnw7_rlZv5vTV5dtzBYY9EykVeI96L0cm5YSDMN7aSJhdkV99rU/s320/CNV00017.JPG" width="214" /></a></div> <br />
<br />
Survived A-levels!(only just)<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Jvp9X7NZfmQ/Tv8Sm67gHCI/AAAAAAAAAPs/DKhKhh6nHCE/s1600/DSCF2755.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Jvp9X7NZfmQ/Tv8Sm67gHCI/AAAAAAAAAPs/DKhKhh6nHCE/s320/DSCF2755.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<br />
Spent four weeks travelling Europe.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiTq5_BaYX8BQepwRJ_5Yt2IVqwzjCA1RZgjb_uB2SUEB4D4dxjfvJjrp3b7S4tC9FpVipVH3AB5z1Puc38ZB264r952hRnVbbAor6yL0XEXHASklFQjWGbx76v79mvsi2tfkvndTa8Lo/s1600/CNV00038.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiTq5_BaYX8BQepwRJ_5Yt2IVqwzjCA1RZgjb_uB2SUEB4D4dxjfvJjrp3b7S4tC9FpVipVH3AB5z1Puc38ZB264r952hRnVbbAor6yL0XEXHASklFQjWGbx76v79mvsi2tfkvndTa8Lo/s320/CNV00038.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
Soundwave Festival Croatia.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgr-f5NpftQrFy0xmCAwtJNzZ9wraPtObkzVvT5jOtWbrovTORlQvuqQnSamBxmPoH65BKowkZeBZ0czGco0HIwvuNQuT3huIksOpr_oiHpGSr_Nft6lcyiPNr3-LWREuKK6RfFkQ5rObs/s1600/FH010011.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="216" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgr-f5NpftQrFy0xmCAwtJNzZ9wraPtObkzVvT5jOtWbrovTORlQvuqQnSamBxmPoH65BKowkZeBZ0czGco0HIwvuNQuT3huIksOpr_oiHpGSr_Nft6lcyiPNr3-LWREuKK6RfFkQ5rObs/s320/FH010011.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div> Had my first proper proper job as a playscheme worker.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-vl44M2gOyi0/Tv8TMnaWwRI/AAAAAAAAAP4/QtujRgAe75k/s1600/IMG01164-20110811-1126.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-vl44M2gOyi0/Tv8TMnaWwRI/AAAAAAAAAP4/QtujRgAe75k/s320/IMG01164-20110811-1126.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
Got into Bournemouth University!<br />
End of the Road Festival.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wv5xRwKC8ek/Tv8Tjmo6xeI/AAAAAAAAAQE/MJfqPQy32wY/s1600/DAN.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wv5xRwKC8ek/Tv8Tjmo6xeI/AAAAAAAAAQE/MJfqPQy32wY/s320/DAN.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<br />
Bought Mooshka my beloved dutch bike.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-4apozp6DLqA/Tv8UCTfFDNI/AAAAAAAAAQQ/gwQa9Iwmy-I/s1600/IMG01464-20110831-1217.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-4apozp6DLqA/Tv8UCTfFDNI/AAAAAAAAAQQ/gwQa9Iwmy-I/s320/IMG01464-20110831-1217.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
Moved to Bournemouth!<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-8_z1Ww3Vs7Y/Tv8UbjmLjvI/AAAAAAAAAQc/XG3nsM2ZgbE/s1600/1stnighhht.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-8_z1Ww3Vs7Y/Tv8UbjmLjvI/AAAAAAAAAQc/XG3nsM2ZgbE/s320/1stnighhht.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<br />
Granny got a boyf!<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-8hP0gT3FSqo/Tv8Uo28yjMI/AAAAAAAAAQo/fAYgcnbe-ow/s1600/DSCF4599.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-8hP0gT3FSqo/Tv8Uo28yjMI/AAAAAAAAAQo/fAYgcnbe-ow/s320/DSCF4599.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
Voulenteered at British Heart Foundation.<br />
<br />
Hitch Hiked to France and back for charity.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YE7E233Hpx4/Tv8VEgjofsI/AAAAAAAAAQ0/tA-rQjNSvmw/s1600/IMG02101-20111113-0847.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YE7E233Hpx4/Tv8VEgjofsI/AAAAAAAAAQ0/tA-rQjNSvmw/s320/IMG02101-20111113-0847.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
Co-wrote and Co-directed my own play!<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-07jBWItA8jE/Tv8VMo0jvRI/AAAAAAAAARA/qJnIEpLASQ4/s1600/IMG02350-20111210-1533.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-07jBWItA8jE/Tv8VMo0jvRI/AAAAAAAAARA/qJnIEpLASQ4/s320/IMG02350-20111210-1533.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<br />
Started sucking my thumb again (this is not a good thing) ah well at least lent is around the corner.<br />
<br />
Although it'll be a challenge I like to think 2012 will be even better. Thank you to everyone who contributed to the most unbelivable year of my life ; I wouldn't change anything.Creative Cravingshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14305566818778526574noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7419094997856296159.post-4388605563735138952011-12-20T11:29:00.000-08:002011-12-20T11:38:15.344-08:00Routeen!After 4 months of living on my own (well with 17 other flatmates, but independently nonetheless) coming back home was one of the most bizarre things I have ever experienced. From having my own room and life to being chucked back into a shared room with my twin sister and having to share EVERYTHING, it all feels very odd indeed.Adapting to the sudden influx of fruit and veg and being fed proper food wasn't hard at all, feeling the strains of parental control however has taken some more getting used to. From minuscule responsibilities of walking the dog, to having to justify my spending habits (I really wish I didn't have my bank statement sent home!) , I've seamlessly slipped back into driving and my thumb has slowly slipped back into my mouth!<br />
<br />
THUMB RELAPSE;NOT GOOD. <br />
<br />
The initial yearnings of a long bath, dishwasher and endless access to wireless Internet soon wore off, especially my dreams of not having to wash up for 12 days , due to the fact our dishwasher is broken and won't be repaired until after Xmas! disaster. Once all the easy food in the fridge and easy viewing on the TV that my parents had recorded had been consumed ,despite having the starting of a pot-belly, A strange feeling of emptiness washed over me in the bath (pun intended). There's not enough to do here but almost too much to occupy me, I find myself aimlessly logging in to facebook for hours, just to play catch up with my flatmates who are dotted about the country, enjoying their other lives. I'm finding it very hard to separate my student life and my family life.<br />
<br />
Although I've managed to catch up with a lot of my nearest and dearest including all my neices and nephews, eaten extremly well and slept even better, there is a massive part of me which is itching to get back to Bournemouth ASAP! I have a whole new life down there, everyone knows me as me, a fully formed arcticle (which in itself is debatable) whereas here I feel as everyone knows my past , what I used to be, but not who I want to be. It all gets very complicated and confusing which represents my current state of mind perfectly. Before Uni everyone tells you of all the great times you'll have both at Home and there but no-one warns you of this feeling of dis-jointment and bewildreness.Creative Cravingshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14305566818778526574noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7419094997856296159.post-87784322063979259022011-12-16T04:28:00.000-08:002011-12-16T04:28:45.628-08:00Hometime already.After spending the morning on the beach with my flatmates family and NEW PUPPY I've just finished packing to go home for Xmas. Two days ago we had our fake Christmas with the flat, spread amongst 4 kitchens, we fed 14 people with 3 chickens and all the trimmings, to say we were stressed was an understatement. We played wink murder, yes, at the dinner table and exchanged our secret Santa gifts. It was such a lovely evening which was finished off with mince pies and Alladin.<br />
<br />
Part of me is yearning for good food, good sleep and a good rest but another part of me wants to keep up this momentum. It'll be the first time alot of us have been separated for longer than 4 days, which is weird. At Uni you're worried that you'll fail to keep up with people from back home but now we'll have to consider keeping up with our Uni friends just as much. I'm sure it'll be fine.Creative Cravingshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14305566818778526574noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7419094997856296159.post-73758432916431681672011-12-02T03:40:00.000-08:002011-12-02T03:40:47.040-08:00I AM ALIVE!Just need to write something to let everyone know I'm still alive, I want to blog so badly but have literally been so busy. From writing and directing my own play to trying to learn German aswell as completing coursework its all been a bit hectic. But I am alive, malnurished but alive.<br />
<br />
Here are some photos of what I live a minute walk from literally;<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtnqW0tcENZSTkuFntXE4dOZ764-sYW4SZR77j4EOTJoRH__4WeyKaq_PzsV-rLBdxDVskQRfUGsELx8lrYwhk7n9sv6m8h_wXPLdhLUpk5xKssq6PAGvZet_6zDfl5l8DwfwBOUbzVR0/s1600/FH010011.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" dda="true" height="216" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtnqW0tcENZSTkuFntXE4dOZ764-sYW4SZR77j4EOTJoRH__4WeyKaq_PzsV-rLBdxDVskQRfUGsELx8lrYwhk7n9sv6m8h_wXPLdhLUpk5xKssq6PAGvZet_6zDfl5l8DwfwBOUbzVR0/s320/FH010011.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsk5UA1aVzjvgJQqBB8YVrf7_mkdzBW4oETRtpDsy84uzIA6FBLlpkOjYwQmPvO5GfYY-zbnLM0RcwZRgE1bV0-JPZaT3STB9fF9aBfNo8mk60MqA8soXZ6eGxg9PbnkjgyjFcINhTPRU/s1600/FH010012.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" dda="true" height="216" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsk5UA1aVzjvgJQqBB8YVrf7_mkdzBW4oETRtpDsy84uzIA6FBLlpkOjYwQmPvO5GfYY-zbnLM0RcwZRgE1bV0-JPZaT3STB9fF9aBfNo8mk60MqA8soXZ6eGxg9PbnkjgyjFcINhTPRU/s320/FH010012.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlX2eb-RA_Twc7ekqPxhibyQXMos-SQImDPNmjlHykn5bYYLwFZ8sTmPmt9ujkIuMUgNYL7woDo3Pzh08pbisJcHVSbbvt2lz-DOOEFCPlmuXKGSPAk0ltY-xVst3FAVynBicbMDv0VOE/s1600/FH010013.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" dda="true" height="216" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlX2eb-RA_Twc7ekqPxhibyQXMos-SQImDPNmjlHykn5bYYLwFZ8sTmPmt9ujkIuMUgNYL7woDo3Pzh08pbisJcHVSbbvt2lz-DOOEFCPlmuXKGSPAk0ltY-xVst3FAVynBicbMDv0VOE/s320/FH010013.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Creative Cravingshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14305566818778526574noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7419094997856296159.post-83783009687030836592011-10-23T16:12:00.000-07:002011-10-23T16:15:11.324-07:00Freshening up!<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">It's 3am in the morning when I'm writing this, it's finally quite enough. To give you a rough idea of my living conditions and basic quality of life ;my halls were once a 10 storey car park which now has a night club at the bottom of it and it opposite a homeless shelter. Despite all these tiny details, it is home and will be for the next year. For the first time in 10 days I finally feel relaxed enough to write something. I've just had my first full week of being a university fresher and can honestly say I have never met so many amazing, inspiring and insightful people in such a short space of time, it is insane! I have contracted 'freshers flu' (I basically feel like poo warmed up) by lack of sleep and lack of decent food (not to mentioned a steep increase in alchohol intake). University is a bizarre but brilliant place, I'll try and describe my first week as well as I can.</div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">The journey down to Bournemouth was intended to take 3.5 hours but ended up being 5.3 hours as someone had pre-set the sat nav to avoid all main roads, taking us on the longest ,wettest, most pointless route imaginable. Once we arrived at my university halls we cracked the car boot open, just as the heavens opened. Due to the downpour and possible downpour from my mothers eyes I shooed the parents as soon as I had everything in my room and had used their help enough. They left me £5 to get a proper full English breakfast before the starvation commenced.( I wouldn't dream of spending a fiver on one meal now!) Once in my surprisingly spacious new room I began to unpack whilst setting up my iPod docks. It was so strange how conscious I was of what music I was playing due to first impressions, I think I spent more time sifting through 'shuffle' to find an appropriate unpacking and meeting song than I did actually unpacking! ridiculous! I went around knocking on my new flatmates doors (as daunting as anything!) and grabbed two of them and went to the shops.Eventually corridors filled as much the parents eyes. A question that soon became the most asked question ever of 'what're you studying' was our first topic of discussion ,if ever there is a pub quiz night, my flat would win, we have it all from biological sciences to computer animation. Everyone is so friendly, we've already started planning weekly meals and film nights (we'll see how long our budget and film collections last).</div>On the first night 'I have never'(a drinking game) got us all suitably sloshed , finding out some hilarious stories along the way (one girl broke her boyfriends nose accidentally whilst having sex). Fully tipsy and ready to socialise we headed to what is now our regular, the Old Fire Station, which is literally an old fire station renovated into a pretty amazing club. The next two days consisted of drunken divulging in drinking games, eating absolute rubbish and being totally sleep deprived. By the third day we were all physically and mentally drained so headed to Lidl to stock up on some much needed fruit and veg!<br />
<br />
The second night was 'Back2school' at the Old Fire Station but once we saw the que to get in we decided to go elsewhere. We found a club called Lava , £1 entry and all drinks (including the essential yagerbombs) were £1.20 ; heaven. I met a fellow scriptwriter in the smoking area after he'd banged his head on the wall, he claims this never happened but I blame the concussion. The club soon turned into a sauna and we craved cold air so headed down to the beach.It was 2am on a monday night and was the first time that I had seen the beach since I had arrived, naturally I ran as fast as I could into the icy waters, luckily I couldn't feel it as I was conveniently numbed by this point. <br />
<br />
The next day were spent nursing my hangover and feeding my hunger, we had a quite night out at the Acoustic Fayre and saw some brilliant live music at The Old Fire Station. A personal highlight was the last act called 'Stanners' who sang Jamie.T covers, but had been given free beer the entire evening resulting in him forgetting the majority of the lyrics and turning to the audience for guidance.<br />
<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">The days that followed were spent sunning overselves on the surprisingly scorching shores as the heat wave began. We were in heaven! Our clothes were full of sand and our bellys were full of Harry Ramsdens fish'n'chips! One of my favourite and most poignant time I had was actually spent alone. I went for a bike ride down the seafront which gave me the opportunity to actually soak up what was happening without feeling hungover or distracted in anyway. The sun was beating and my face was beaming, I felt so so happy and privileged to be living in such a beautiful place. </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><object class="BLOGGER-picasa-video" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0" data-thumbnail-src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgn7m3jPKybqPBpxZ4rViUvXgOv47H26Tg2VUSL7N-_tCC1wvosfmourD9llujuTrlFZL5CTSNtVNObVwYP2MgFKkJuXO44yr-GTYuPkXwTU83_gGtdykLnJuymGFoIi1_zXpXXgq16xAc/s1600/VID+00041-20110921-1550.3GP" height="266" width="320"><param name="movie" value="http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?videoUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fv13.nonxt1.googlevideo.com%2Fvideoplayback%3Fid%3De1f36bcff5996ca7%26itag%3D18%26ip%3D0.0.0.0%26ipbits%3D0%26expire%3D1319431532%26sparams%3Did%2Citag%2Cip%2Cipbits%2Cexpire%26signature%3DCD1B571EA40CCDFEBC7713DF42F533174809C54E.A46357884997E2B1E507096F97505DC5E0C5918A%26key%3Dlh1" /><param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF" /><embed width="320" height="266" src="http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?videoUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fv13.nonxt1.googlevideo.com%2Fvideoplayback%3Fid%3De1f36bcff5996ca7%26itag%3D18%26ip%3D0.0.0.0%26ipbits%3D0%26expire%3D1319431532%26sparams%3Did%2Citag%2Cip%2Cipbits%2Cexpire%26signature%3DCD1B571EA40CCDFEBC7713DF42F533174809C54E.A46357884997E2B1E507096F97505DC5E0C5918A%26key%3Dlh1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"></embed></object></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">To continue the beach themed day nicely we went to the 'Beach Party' at the Old Fire Station, I'd love to go into excessive detail about it but the truth is, I can barely remember what happened after we got into the que. I do however distinctly remember the sheer ,excruciating agony of receiving glowstick juice(this is not an innuendo) to the eye ball! The strange thing is when I went to the toilet to extract the scream evoking liquid I bumped into my flatmate who was already rinsing her reddened eye after being put through the same hell moments earlier. Like ,well everything in this snap happy life this turned into a kodak moment.</div></div><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjA-9fn_8ZamY8xjbuuJfR9BhTHpJ1IjSGKQna-QZ-bL14eJCRtgBNfNmbXpTrHnDH7rXS0BkyNr2GwO8bdGTH63VhCgoP9JyxOMmcu65G9rNkVLbNydcGzE4ObykXGixY37sYD8wUpH9Q/s1600/bourne12.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" rda="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjA-9fn_8ZamY8xjbuuJfR9BhTHpJ1IjSGKQna-QZ-bL14eJCRtgBNfNmbXpTrHnDH7rXS0BkyNr2GwO8bdGTH63VhCgoP9JyxOMmcu65G9rNkVLbNydcGzE4ObykXGixY37sYD8wUpH9Q/s320/bourne12.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I hope you enjoy our pained faces as much as we did the morning after!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>The night ended with an hour conversation in a chippy about films. Something that has been a continual conversation focus since I met other scriptwriters. I ended up inviting four people back for a sleepover (bearing in mind I'd known them 3 days top) , it's strange how quickly bonds form in such an intense environment though! We took all the cushions off the chairs in my living room and made a bed the size of the floor. The night was spent giggling until we slept. The laughter continued into the next day as we were given a break with 'Comedy Nation' at the Old Fire Station, it was absolutely hilarious.<br />
<br />
<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">My idea of freshers was wreckless drinking, drunken regrets and lots of sick but I hadn't encountered any of these things (okay maybe my drinkign was a little wreckless) but we were so tame! We spent the first Friday shopping for our first Sunday roast and beach bbq. We each contributed £5 and managed to buy enough food (including stuffing and parsnips) for the roast and two bbqs that followed! Our Friday night was even more wild as we stayed in baking cakes with our Romanian flatmate who is possibly the nicest boy I have ever met! If that wasn't crazy enough to feed our adreneline cravings we topped the night off with 'Bridesmaids' which was surprisingly less chick flicky and more crude than I ever imagined!</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div> <br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1NEpziIiUM1McCpGLqK0i4wYXh6-Xxfpkav1ZVztovhxnUkdoL-l2VV6G1URtNAfFdA2jRBGONQKsRPcvkHDadcTZFhD9LqsO6tolDv7OPe4sLQKuMGOJvu99uqD5CdzIvMUrNXASlkk/s1600/bourne31.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" rda="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1NEpziIiUM1McCpGLqK0i4wYXh6-Xxfpkav1ZVztovhxnUkdoL-l2VV6G1URtNAfFdA2jRBGONQKsRPcvkHDadcTZFhD9LqsO6tolDv7OPe4sLQKuMGOJvu99uqD5CdzIvMUrNXASlkk/s320/bourne31.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">After living off bread and butter for a week, these badboys were heavenly!</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Saturday was spent walking to the campus, soaking up some sun then winding down with a beach bbq. My flatmates boyfriend provided the bbq and the insanely loud sound system and the night was just beautiful. After filling out stomachs with steak, burgers and sausages, playing a bit of frisbee,dancing round in the sand and singing some disney classics , we went home (when you get to the point of singing disney classics it's usually home time). </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiWagq_XJEvDzsEHN6I1W7WJGExteymF0NL0tCaBCUl_0qjGHB3u717rtUqEFg4lWNCGs-8htFOy_HXhaU3rYv6HblvvcojEYtYBfyh1ITrYZbrkiuiAW_gVi8JJBT8lBDLj9OvJ8LEEM/s1600/bourne35.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" rda="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiWagq_XJEvDzsEHN6I1W7WJGExteymF0NL0tCaBCUl_0qjGHB3u717rtUqEFg4lWNCGs-8htFOy_HXhaU3rYv6HblvvcojEYtYBfyh1ITrYZbrkiuiAW_gVi8JJBT8lBDLj9OvJ8LEEM/s320/bourne35.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div>Once we'd changed out of our smokey and sandy clothes we went to our favourite bar, Inferno, where you can get a drink and play pretty much any board game you want, for diddly squit! The games were childish and the night was still young. So a few of us headed out in search of 'sound circus' , a heavy metal rock bar. After having yager bomb pitchers and far too much sambuca we couldn't believe our ears when they stopped the music in aid of an annual award ceremony! It was, and still is one of the most bizarre things I have ever witnessed. To start with the host, intentionally or not, resembled dracula an unholy amount and the recipients were crayolas! There was also an award for best pole dancer which was basically an excuse for the host to get far too excited. We were given party poppers to pull and really did feel like an odd, gothic, slightly incestual family.<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOPt8H64mB74ngbmuNVRHTFBgW56T3EvvN8RvMfaG11hbYnzo67Iy3HO7YQ2UoyX-G2vvtsiK219TW_6e3oksHHGuVn0L6iEre6OxLiqWwwuDL1McA2kRSiu5NDOoSdbXlCdAfrif-v2Y/s1600/IMG01646-20110925-0041.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" rda="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOPt8H64mB74ngbmuNVRHTFBgW56T3EvvN8RvMfaG11hbYnzo67Iy3HO7YQ2UoyX-G2vvtsiK219TW_6e3oksHHGuVn0L6iEre6OxLiqWwwuDL1McA2kRSiu5NDOoSdbXlCdAfrif-v2Y/s320/IMG01646-20110925-0041.jpg" width="320" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDx_7i_MSCz-lWlwVHBeX2mghK-z1yErDPtk_I_6Ulze5cORltbtHmPuomZEU0Gbu-C2BZMv44mML9YU0kJkbcmnCZR0AsEez7uITJ8hSruCPJpkvhQiZNcMKF7189pWCynKEpddLhIbc/s1600/heheh.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" rda="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDx_7i_MSCz-lWlwVHBeX2mghK-z1yErDPtk_I_6Ulze5cORltbtHmPuomZEU0Gbu-C2BZMv44mML9YU0kJkbcmnCZR0AsEez7uITJ8hSruCPJpkvhQiZNcMKF7189pWCynKEpddLhIbc/s320/heheh.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;">After Saturday nights shinnanigans Sunday didn't start til about 3pm. With a Sunday Roast to cook by 5pm the pressure was on we only had 2/3 ovens working aswell! We had two hours to cook two chickens , carrots, potatoes,parsnips,stuffing and gravy not to mention homemade yorkshire puds! Three of us did most of the cooking, between two kitchens, just to remind you though,our kitchens have no windows and a vent that you can barely call an extractor fan, oh and we have to keep the kitchen doors shut to prevent setting of the fire alarm. All in all our kitchens were roasting more than the chickens! 40 minutes into the cooking, the fire alarm sounded. Turning off all of our cookers we ran down the stairs, leaving potatoes and carrots still on hot hobs our timing was thrown right out of the window! We joked that we caused the fire, until the joke died along with a part of me as I saw smoke coming out of my bedroom.</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;">After 20 minutes of worrying, the building was given the all clear, except we could all still definitely see smoke coming out of my bedroom. Once we were allowed back in the building I paced it up the 7 flights of stairs to check on my room, it was fine. I looked out the window with such relief as I realised the vent from the extractor fans is placed just above my window. Drama over, we got back to our roast. 2 hours later than expected but still highly appreciated our first ever flat roast was ready! Having small kitchens the sweat the food out of you before you even tuck in forced us to eat our dinner on the floor of the living room.</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizYFyc4YM0k7pifgkQ5FjFpnmF5g-rL28j28uv0wpyY-_y-bwU7l13d3XQM7wQLREroRpr5xCuuUsWVRqEMkX0a_pUT_B6JSyRUnHlbZ430J9var1BaAo1WvSEarT12DaEQ6F7G-T7p-0/s1600/IMG01685-20110925-1755.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" rda="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizYFyc4YM0k7pifgkQ5FjFpnmF5g-rL28j28uv0wpyY-_y-bwU7l13d3XQM7wQLREroRpr5xCuuUsWVRqEMkX0a_pUT_B6JSyRUnHlbZ430J9var1BaAo1WvSEarT12DaEQ6F7G-T7p-0/s320/IMG01685-20110925-1755.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiymhS3snVEMPPLwFcaQHrQflqI_2_XWVBGkT5IuJXDaa8cwQy1k2nWKL9gm5Gcin4RvWVhPH5J0qDIjlmz9TwWvP8u8MhsT_cRuyLbO4WRWRzlbCacCY2_Bntn2nVGpf1mruhi4LwCswI/s1600/IMG01690-20110925-1832.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" rda="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiymhS3snVEMPPLwFcaQHrQflqI_2_XWVBGkT5IuJXDaa8cwQy1k2nWKL9gm5Gcin4RvWVhPH5J0qDIjlmz9TwWvP8u8MhsT_cRuyLbO4WRWRzlbCacCY2_Bntn2nVGpf1mruhi4LwCswI/s320/IMG01690-20110925-1832.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVnR3SzKEXm3zIZwapqiytJrPjxbcUcRySq13Is6fD1Fon1AhTM5ykYYwpI-9IA7Ybed99kJjdjDCuZGwJZKXwGE2qNLNAGwyDLXl1SM870zBnnAiTVqReoyY4kIKdbfDs6swdnkMP8m4/s1600/IMG01689-20110925-1832.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" rda="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVnR3SzKEXm3zIZwapqiytJrPjxbcUcRySq13Is6fD1Fon1AhTM5ykYYwpI-9IA7Ybed99kJjdjDCuZGwJZKXwGE2qNLNAGwyDLXl1SM870zBnnAiTVqReoyY4kIKdbfDs6swdnkMP8m4/s320/IMG01689-20110925-1832.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">We finished our beautiful beach weekend off with a film, five minutes into it however I was flat out, the week full of new faces and new places had taken its toll and I just couldn't keep my eyes open. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Freshers week was unbelivable, luckily that was just the first week and we had another whole week of freshers to go!!</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div>Creative Cravingshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14305566818778526574noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7419094997856296159.post-55062370430031046412011-10-20T11:17:00.000-07:002011-10-20T11:17:50.535-07:00European adventures: Wroclaw (Poland!)<u>In Wroclaw in Wroclaw, it's raining in Wroclaw!</u><br />
<br />
The train journey was 6 hours and probably the smoothest yet, no thunder storms, no directional errors and I slept for 4 of the hours so it went pretty quickly indeed! On the train on the way to a new location I'd make a habit of whipping out my electronic translator ( a family friend bought it for me so I was determined to get some use out of it!) I'd teach myself and attempt to teach the others basic phrases like please and thank you. 'Jimcoya' , how you say it ,not spell it ,was thank you in Polish , I can't get it out of my head,whilst out there however I could not pronounce it at all! I made a habit of declaring my feelings of a country pretty early on. Annoucning ' I LOVE POLAND!' pretty much as soon as we crossed the border was maybe a little bit rash.<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrPd6sRvRLyIVmLKpqHFk4k71C3fNkYlt_WXe5Lf1ad9CagFd1HDbzDX43L8cfzgmLDTqQKVgnEDOLMQCkvSUToM4Y7jdWViAJrtjdSNAPPxUcZFEUGWP8ic_FRUkirlkHiqAZptA-yGs/s1600/CNV00051.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="428" qaa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrPd6sRvRLyIVmLKpqHFk4k71C3fNkYlt_WXe5Lf1ad9CagFd1HDbzDX43L8cfzgmLDTqQKVgnEDOLMQCkvSUToM4Y7jdWViAJrtjdSNAPPxUcZFEUGWP8ic_FRUkirlkHiqAZptA-yGs/s640/CNV00051.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br />
We arrived in Wroclaws temporary train station ( rubble,falling ceilings, paper walls) with no water, no food, no Polish money and no idea where we were in relation to the centre or more importantly our hostel! We walked through what appeared to be the slums of Poland, the entire time I was absorbing the new scenery I was dreading our two nights there! The slums soon turned into streets and streets turned into a beautiful square, bearing a much needed cash machine. We took out what we thought was enough money however when changing currency and exchange rates so much it was hard to keep track of what we were actually spending! Cash in had we headed to the first shop we saw, stocked up on crisps chocolate and supposedly,water. I was so dehydrated. The taste of carbonated water was the last thing I needed ,I was thoroughly gutted, it even said it in English on the bottle! The others found it mildly amusing, much to my dismay. Through asking many non-English-speaking Poles we eventually (after 3 hours of lugging our bags around, in the sweltering heat) found the 'Moon Hostel'. <br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj255tDxhpyurNYb47h0pdXVhHbe9qiFvfdHIBITBk5FfwQbMI2-Agg_uhQekURW-PPNo9kgxcgPLMCLaLQ_XcWRwKTP0UI9RhaL-N9DEEL-dhINdVmO07aWAfuOkjJnfj-JlPrHwC986g/s1600/CNV00059.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="428" qaa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj255tDxhpyurNYb47h0pdXVhHbe9qiFvfdHIBITBk5FfwQbMI2-Agg_uhQekURW-PPNo9kgxcgPLMCLaLQ_XcWRwKTP0UI9RhaL-N9DEEL-dhINdVmO07aWAfuOkjJnfj-JlPrHwC986g/s640/CNV00059.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Our backs were dripping with sweat, we were utterly exhausted after having to climb 3 floors of steps (later realising there was a lift), Eds feet were swollen and we were all sickening. John had been ill from day one and we had all slowly contracted it, morphing from your average, bearable cold into sneezing fits,headaches and phlegmy chests! Drained but still determined to get a fresh taste of Poland we went to the square, which we had earlier passed but had been too exhausted to appreciate. After walking around the entire block in search of a suitable place to eat we finally settled for an Italian, how very Polish!</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0rrIJPZkrOXqL7iDVV9kdoh8fTSs0Zn8cRt-DUdPW4pfQfkRQIZX3EbOuxGmOFvyA5t0vTPpDZHvWbI3D_fHOjd1UlpB0BJS7AXpkKmMFGcE_zWJ77CtzsB7S7M_ABIYRUrb_kpc0l9E/s1600/CNV00062.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="428" qaa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0rrIJPZkrOXqL7iDVV9kdoh8fTSs0Zn8cRt-DUdPW4pfQfkRQIZX3EbOuxGmOFvyA5t0vTPpDZHvWbI3D_fHOjd1UlpB0BJS7AXpkKmMFGcE_zWJ77CtzsB7S7M_ABIYRUrb_kpc0l9E/s640/CNV00062.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">After our meal we roamed the secret streets of Wroclaw, passing courtyards brimming with people and beer, lit up by candle light. In that moment of peering in through the iron gate I realised that Poland was nothing like I'd thought it would have been. Firstly, I was expecting it to be cold, I even packed jumped and jeans especially for this leg of the journey, secondly I thought it would be fairly expensive but it was beyond cheap! We managed to get two hefty jugs of authentic Polish beer for about £5, squeezing about 3 glasses out of it each, calculating as about 41p per pint! Beer goggles donned we walked back, batting about the idea of getting tattoos. Thankfully we dismissed the idea, however hilarious it may have been. </div><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNQWnbkWKX_IH3kl2NZm6P9MXEm6Pa1D1_aD_5xF0WdvxiZoFTBDgPXehhQypgHPk-Ethoe4B25TASedideawBf9TVX0C6IrikmQX-_s-sK3H_ImK0TdjA2qrvNTGrKK3rLbSNnXNJF1s/s1600/CNV00052.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="428" qaa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNQWnbkWKX_IH3kl2NZm6P9MXEm6Pa1D1_aD_5xF0WdvxiZoFTBDgPXehhQypgHPk-Ethoe4B25TASedideawBf9TVX0C6IrikmQX-_s-sK3H_ImK0TdjA2qrvNTGrKK3rLbSNnXNJF1s/s640/CNV00052.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br />
<br />
<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Our one and only full day in Wroclaw was set to be a corker. The weather was scorching and our spirits were high, despite our drinking antics the night before. We had one of our longest lie ins of the whole trip (until 10am) however we managed to do so much with the day. We had no plans, we rarely did but simply explored until we found something of worth to do. We walked through the town, through parks and beside the river, eventually stumbling across the fairly famous 'Panorama'. A 360 degree painting with 3D elements, we booked tickets for an hours time and filled the wait with blueberries in the park. We managed to keep ourselves entertained for quite sometime by simply seeing who could throw a blueberry the highest, catching in it their mouth. Leaving a mound of squished blueberries behind us, the ones that never made it, we walked over the hill to the Panorama. </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQJPg2STWGhbypZ14KTB_6ehkYEizaJYmN-F82l_Ka8SjN-Ql7xzzUR7KtIGWbdDCygcbyPCicJsEM1gXDQYcejB3QcaP9ylNRtuDjQYOEgETbFMwMEp4yGaHmGp3vU1kWpi3zsZNT-2M/s1600/CNV00054.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="428" qaa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQJPg2STWGhbypZ14KTB_6ehkYEizaJYmN-F82l_Ka8SjN-Ql7xzzUR7KtIGWbdDCygcbyPCicJsEM1gXDQYcejB3QcaP9ylNRtuDjQYOEgETbFMwMEp4yGaHmGp3vU1kWpi3zsZNT-2M/s640/CNV00054.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">There was an English commentary that I found very interesting although after 20 minutes of listening to the same man, talk about the same painting, we began to bore. Energy fully zapped we needed some grub. We saw a boat cafe with a jetty and decided it was perfect. It not only looked great, but the food smelt great, we ate pork straight from the barbecue with complimentary gherkins, bread and mustard. Probably the most Polish meal we had the entire time. On the jetty we saw people canoeing down the river and after letting our food settle, decided to join them. We entered the non-English-speaking boat house and managed to explain what we wanted, through hand gestures and familiar phrases. To hire a canoe for an hour was something silly like £3, we spent 45 minutes travelling in one direction at a leisurely pace then spent the last 15 minutes, having realised the time, going as quickly as our little arms would take us back to the boat house. When we returned the spectators and boat owners were laughing at our flustered states and typically touristy time keeping.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIhScg_-dEJFzg4_4Bv0OYoj-FSYDSTXet1PKz9UZaHArr7U31RuUkA-rBFG96o5DJiqW2NsxV6Uvawb5s4QWmzNcZwOjuN-1npVQrIwkFwi-xBBZTo3_xibequ-qncUmPVLt1hUB6CV0/s1600/CNV00016.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="428" qaa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIhScg_-dEJFzg4_4Bv0OYoj-FSYDSTXet1PKz9UZaHArr7U31RuUkA-rBFG96o5DJiqW2NsxV6Uvawb5s4QWmzNcZwOjuN-1npVQrIwkFwi-xBBZTo3_xibequ-qncUmPVLt1hUB6CV0/s640/CNV00016.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br />
<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">We already felt we had filled the day with fun but the best part was yet to come. We caught a tram to the not very Polish 'Japanese Botanical Gardens' and wandered into a massive fountain with synchronised music. Straight away we were blown away by the beauty of the place, I still couldn't believe we were in Poland and the sun was that strong! We hadn't even reached the proper gardens but one we did, we knew. There were ornate bridges, coy carp and symbolic statues, had you have been transported there, not knowing where you were you would genuinely believe you were in Japan. After a few hours sunbathing on a jetty and watching an entire synchronised fountain performance we headed back to the hostel.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhje6zL7fStKkvevCNZxC7C7bua6J2hZHdXMhFMwH73daL9WrcDyUPDnzBaWlCXKmVP6sEfekycsLFUunZ3xMVAiGEHT3xexd61t_vHtqy-PWExMD17Lt8qQm9WCMclUFYGsCfHnLvhtls/s1600/CNV00053.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="428" qaa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhje6zL7fStKkvevCNZxC7C7bua6J2hZHdXMhFMwH73daL9WrcDyUPDnzBaWlCXKmVP6sEfekycsLFUunZ3xMVAiGEHT3xexd61t_vHtqy-PWExMD17Lt8qQm9WCMclUFYGsCfHnLvhtls/s640/CNV00053.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">When we went out on the evening we were greeted by a huge stage and an even bigger crowd, full of football fans. It turned out that Wroclaws football club had won some cup (clearly not a footy fan) and all the players had come to the city to see their fans. We were kind of annoyed,intrigued ,but annoyed. The beauty of the square at night time was ruined by dramatic X-factor esque music (which was repeated for every player) and strobe lights. We ate quickly then went to find a bridge that we'd passed the day before. We found the bridge and much much more, the bridge was full with locks (with lovers names on) but once we crossed the bridge we heard the all to familiar sound of an acoustic guitar. Following live music, as we found ourselves doing alot, we reached a small band of boys, one on guitar, one on Cello and one singing. It was magical, as was the majority of our time in Poland.</div><br />
<br />
<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">I say majority as the travel day that followed was one of the worst.<br />
</div>We woke up at 7:30am in order to check out and leave plenty of for getting lost. We asked the receptionist at the 'Moon Hostel' which tram to get to the train station, which she confirmed was the number 17, a fairly frequent tram. Naturally, as soon as we caught one glimpse of a '17', suitably placed on the front of a tram, we ran for it. Running , I do not mind, but running with 15kg of bag on my back is not fun at all. Puffing and panting we only just made it onto the busy tram. Once settled in the fact we were going to make our train to Prague we began trying to relax but a rather rough polish family had made us their sole source of entertainment for the journey. They sniggered at us , clearly analysing our stereotypical 'tourist' appearance. However they may have realised that we were infact going the wrong way on the tram, forty minutes before we did. As soon as rows of shops turned into rows of crops and the number of bus stops and people dwindled, we began to get worried. We looked around the tram in hope for someone who spoke english. I noticed that there was a woman behind us reading an english book and asked her the question we had all been replaying quitely for the past half an hour ' are we going in the direction of the train station' she needn't have replied as her face confirmed our doubts, we had been travelling the wrong way for forty minutes, with 8 minutes to go until our only train left the station.<br />
Thanking the lady profusely we got off at the soonest stop and ran across the road to catch it the other way. We had given up on the idea that we were actually going to make it to Prague that day. We got off the tram with no idea which direction the train station was, it even began to rain. Perfect pathetic fallacy. We had truly given up so we sat down to eat on a wall. Eventually we made out signs that pointed us to the station and quickly got up with our last threads of hope , we made it across the road when Ed realised that he was no longer in possesion off our 'European train timetable', bascially our bible! The threads of hope had snapped, Ed traced our steps as well as he could in search of the book but returned with a glum face. We all slumped and sighed, wallowing in one of the lowest points of the whole trip. A cheeky grin sprung on Eds face just before he got to us, pulling his jacket up he revealed the book! A little bit of happiness was enough to encourage us to continue on our quest; find the train station. Once a basic direction was acquired through asking various locals we managed to find it, after 2 and a half hours, for what should have been a 30 minute tram journey we made it, to the temporary train station which had no reliable train timetable, no seats, no shops, nothing bar rubble and pipework.<br />
<br />
<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_oQB_NS3lyre3ZZJj6gHUms4xr6v8LUQxX6UfGvNHwQBUXhGg9muIgrRACqR0FQHXzkKbF_LT-bh-m5hMOeuQLF6Go0FwEXcbdlw8vRmym4h8W5kc_bMRbJBfi9iZQIkpikhfuD0m_tM/s1600/CNV00063.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="428" qaa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_oQB_NS3lyre3ZZJj6gHUms4xr6v8LUQxX6UfGvNHwQBUXhGg9muIgrRACqR0FQHXzkKbF_LT-bh-m5hMOeuQLF6Go0FwEXcbdlw8vRmym4h8W5kc_bMRbJBfi9iZQIkpikhfuD0m_tM/s640/CNV00063.JPG" width="640" /></a>John being the most spontaneous of the group toyed with the idea of going to Warsaw then catching a night train to Prague. We wern't having any of it, after the two hours we had been through all we wanted to do was get out of Poland. John came up with the plan of going back to Germany (Dresden) the to Prague from there. We all agreed it was the best idea depsite having to wait 4 hours on the cold concerete floor. Eventually we made it onto the correct platform, unaware that the train we wanted had been stationary for the past 30 minutes and was literally just about to depart! We ran as fast as we could and just about squeezed onto the packed carriage. We were forced to stand for 40 excruitiating minutes, John even had a nose bleed which only added to the stress. </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzpIoJzumVUenZEkqc00qws6QT6pa56_ehahDAZiV52PhcJq6cWFQekcr-atbrG5wUE9wRp1Qx3vuGMjgcCDrx3U3_IxQtq3e7phiaHySKP4TruNOutpzoyN-IIsEg67JiKRJUKtfsfpU/s1600/CNV00065.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="428" qaa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzpIoJzumVUenZEkqc00qws6QT6pa56_ehahDAZiV52PhcJq6cWFQekcr-atbrG5wUE9wRp1Qx3vuGMjgcCDrx3U3_IxQtq3e7phiaHySKP4TruNOutpzoyN-IIsEg67JiKRJUKtfsfpU/s640/CNV00065.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Once we finally made it to Dresden we treated ourselves to ice creams and sandwiches then boarded the 17:08 to 'Praha', so after 10 hours of waiting , standing, running and bleeding, we were finally on the correct train with the correct destination!</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><br />
<br />
<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>Creative Cravingshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14305566818778526574noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7419094997856296159.post-74997860918032795292011-09-17T05:51:00.000-07:002011-09-17T05:51:31.193-07:00A Universe-away.from.the-cityTomorrow I am leaving Birmingham and going to Bournemouth. I have just completely gutted my old room so that my brother can quickly re-inhabit it. I'm sure most people are leaving the majority of their possessions at home but it seems like I am taking everything and hardly leaving anything here. My dog has been moping about the entire day, she knows I'm going because the same thing happened with <span style="background-color: yellow;">my sister </span>last week, one minute boxes appeared in the hallway and the next minute she was gone (for what my dog must assume) for good. It's so hard as I can't actually tell her that we'll be back. <br />
<br />
I currently feel like raiding the fridge and cupboards for healthy food to gorge on before my three year binge of rubbish food and too much alcohol commences. I just feel so unprepared. I can't wait to meet new people in one sense but in another I finally feel completely content with my friends and life at home. Change is good though. We'll all be back for Xmas before we know it and laugh at ourselves for making such a fuss about leaving. Just at the moment it has all become so real.<br />
<br />
I have my possessions sporadically spread around the house due to all these room changes. When I return for holidays and weekends I'll have to share a room with my sister but I think we'd want to anyway. She has been away for a week now and it already feels like I've lost touch of what is happening in her life. It's all part of growing up I guess, not living in each others pockets all the time. Tonight I'm going to the Electric cinema in Birmingham to say goodbye to one of my favourite places for a while (I probably won't be able to afford to go to the cinema much when I come back), I'll tuck myself up in my old bed , in my old room, with my dog and try and get some sleep.<br />
<br />
I am so nervous.Creative Cravingshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14305566818778526574noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7419094997856296159.post-27126357589465974022011-09-09T04:25:00.000-07:002011-09-09T06:57:50.972-07:00seperation.This summer has been one of the best summers I have ever lived through, from Interrail (which I will eventually finish writing about) to many bike rides, to End of the Road festival( which I wanna write about) and some very memorable evenings out! The home town fun is nearly over (for a while) as close friends are slowly making their way to their new university's, and their new lives. It's all very exciting, naturally, but it does feel as if it's an end of an era.<br />
<br />
Who will remain in close contact and who will drop off the face of the planet? all that is left to do is wait and see I suppose. I told myself last year when I saw older years writing status' about missing home 'what is the point in missing something, that will only make you have a crap time away and won't get you home any faster' but now as I'm allowing that thought to slip away I fear I may miss home and my sister more than anything.<br />
<br />
We went to separate colleges but still came home every evening to each other. Since I returned from travelling we've slept in the same bed almost every night, despite having our own double beds, I think we're clinging on. Despite the initial strangeness of being apart I think university will do so much more for us than any usual siblings, because we've never truly been seen as individuals, even with our close friends it's 'I'm just with the twins' or 'I'm just at the twins house'. For years I have admittedly been robbing my sisters clothes, make up and jewelery so having to go out and buy essentials for myself I'm already starting to feel less dependent, don't really know how well I'll cope with an extremely reduced wardrobe though!!<br />
<br />
Although it's all very scary at the moment, not knowing who we will meet or what will happen. I can honestly say I have never been so ready to leave home I think travelling triggered it. From being totally independent for a month, with money, food, safety, everything, returning home to my parents asking questions revolving around where I'd been or how much money I had spent (although it was my own 'hard earnt'(I worked on a play scheme, the best job you could possibly ask for) money). I'm just craving that independence again.<br />
<br />
So my sister leaves tomorrow and I go the following week. Only time will tell.Creative Cravingshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14305566818778526574noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7419094997856296159.post-71016237006208712812011-08-21T12:24:00.000-07:002011-08-21T12:38:11.184-07:00European Adventures: Berlin.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Chillin' in Berlinin<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcsJRJjrvScCPFc-qOsKxKt9lNheDlbzgo1396jDhkdy7UR3_2IIdPK9IU7JtTeniqogYTSK2ZWUWwLNAPXur2SPwJFmuVCpsu-IHnCFgpkDYHsEjMraTb1WznehFQ7SaBy6-q6OlN8-0/s1600/CNV00044.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="428" naa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcsJRJjrvScCPFc-qOsKxKt9lNheDlbzgo1396jDhkdy7UR3_2IIdPK9IU7JtTeniqogYTSK2ZWUWwLNAPXur2SPwJFmuVCpsu-IHnCFgpkDYHsEjMraTb1WznehFQ7SaBy6-q6OlN8-0/s640/CNV00044.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><br />
<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">We woke up at 6:30am to leave Amsterdam in order to get the 8:32 train to Berlin from Schipol, only we arrived at Schipol at 8:35 ,missing our train by a few minutes! We had to wait 2 hours and 45 minutes for the next one. Mand and John passed the time by erratically playing snap causing me and the surrounding people around us to jump out of our skin every few minutes. Once we finally got on the train we managed to bag table seats for the four of us. Within the first few stops though we found ourselves hopping from seat to seat as we hadn't made reservations (we sound so unorganised!). Eventually we found seats which weren't reserved and settled down for what soon became one of the longest journeys of the entire trip. The train journey was meant to be 6 hours maximum but due to going the wrong way (I have no idea how that is possible on a train track) and then being caught in a thunder storm we ended up staying on the same train with limited food and water for a bum numbing 9 and a half hours!</div></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Despite how hell-like that sounds I found it all enjoyable , having adopted the role of 'sloth' I managed to sleep through the majority of it anyway. Once we arrived at Berlin Hbf we got the S-Bahn to our hostel ,which turned out to be anything but the 'hostels' we had in mind! When we got off the S-Bahn storm clouds were brewing and I was adamant we would get caught in a downpour, even attempted to put my waterproof on, luckily it didn't rain. We found our Hostel really easily, well anything was better than the maze that was Amsterdam.We thought our Hostel in Amsterdam was alright until we were exposed to the wonders of 'Plus Berlin'. When we walked into the massive reception the wind was blowing and the 'reception' sign was swinging violently, I thought it was meant to swing until a member of staff shouted 'close the doors!' and the sign stopped swinging. Besides the disappointment of the simple sign the place was so cool, and spacious! Walking with our jaws on the floor we opened our room to discover a massive en-suite, bunk beds and cupboards,luxury! From our room you could see out into the courtyard which had ping pong tables and rabbits roaming about it. We genuinely thought it couldn't get better, until we saw the restaurant,bar,swimming pool and sauna! For 10 euros a night we truly couldn't believe it. </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Although we'd been up since 6:30am we were determined to check out the city before our friends came the next day. We walked around,admiring the graffiti and the layers upon layers of posters until the sound of live music diverted our attention we responded accordingly, by following it. The sound lead us to what looked like a standard house, as we stepped through the door way an enthusiastic barman beckoned us into the room (which looked like a front room) where a Swedish band were playing. There were quirky paintings on the walls and candles everywhere, I'd found heaven. We had our first tastes of Berlin beer, suitably named 'Berliner' listened to the bands entire set,then decided to headed back to our PLUSh pad. </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTT4-WRY3OPVn49W58QBwnusQ1MhZ_YplAH0FIDcFvDAeW6rrH6-nD7ES4fYCw-OdtfPc6Hmk8znIJVpe6YypFP5dSpmxESGGHFB-jW0uc8qWF9qiOrHnUY-6zbjEtNH3HdnDQostcq5w/s1600/double.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="345" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTT4-WRY3OPVn49W58QBwnusQ1MhZ_YplAH0FIDcFvDAeW6rrH6-nD7ES4fYCw-OdtfPc6Hmk8znIJVpe6YypFP5dSpmxESGGHFB-jW0uc8qWF9qiOrHnUY-6zbjEtNH3HdnDQostcq5w/s640/double.jpg" t$="true" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
Our first morning in Berlin was an early one, due to a very high pitched, non-english speaking cleaner. If I was ever worried about feeling disorientated when waking up in different countries every few days this wake up call only confirmed them. I completely forgot where I was, which country I was in and was totally unaware of who the hell was shouting 'House Keeping'. Ed was also in a total daze and found himself quizzing the house keeper as to what time it was. The cleaner replied in German then continued to bash about in the bathroom, forcing us all to heave ourselves out of the beds.<br />
<br />
<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Our friends from home who were also visiting Berlin at the same time as us ,even staying in the same hostel arrived at 'Plus' at about 10:30am.We headed straight out to explore our surroundings. We walked through backstreets, beer in hand, with John leading the way we ended up getting lost at least three times so decided to get the more reliable 'S-Bhan' to Alexander Platez. When we arrived hunger had set in and the smell and previous recommendation of the local 'Currywurst' stall was too much to ignore. We sat on some grass to experience our first proper 'country' dish whilst a few of the other lads, after all day and night travelling, had a little doze. The lads decided to head back to the hostel to check in properly and more importantly catch up on their sleep in order to hit the bars later on. The 'Interrailers', myself ,John,Mand and Ed decided to stick around and explore further. We walked down the longest road I have ever walked down to arrive at the Branden Berg gates .As soon as we arrived the 5 year olds inside us all surfaced and we found ourselves instantly drawn to Mickey Mouse , as a natural response we seized the opportunity for a photo. Only after the quick snap Mickey removed his glove and repeatedly pointed towards his dirty palm. We had no idea what to do, we had no change and couldn't speak German, I think we just walked away, with our once pristine image of Mickey thoroughly tarnished.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsKxG4mZkAYTVGXuSvcy3bNT_wX5sfaVBxa2uLwIIs6aVitoHjs4CB5Dw0Rz_IckL28l5dEJT_AcjI4cDWlMMJ6kGXdRVROlCSLNdoG-6bTSQe3MNnhhUV7pyXP4xALCXPBn6z_-BAYCQ/s1600/CNV00035.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; height: 225px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; width: 318px;"><img border="0" height="428" naa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsKxG4mZkAYTVGXuSvcy3bNT_wX5sfaVBxa2uLwIIs6aVitoHjs4CB5Dw0Rz_IckL28l5dEJT_AcjI4cDWlMMJ6kGXdRVROlCSLNdoG-6bTSQe3MNnhhUV7pyXP4xALCXPBn6z_-BAYCQ/s640/CNV00035.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ed outside the Reitzster</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">We walked through the gates and ended up at the Reitzster, where we sat for a while, the weather was beautiful as was the building.After lazing about we decided to walk back down the very long road to explore the 'Siegessaule' which we had earlier passed.The exploration consisted of climbing the thing! There must have been at least 200 steps, and after a days walking around the city we were thoroughly drained. It was completely worth it though as the views from the top were astonishing. We were able to see the park we'd walked through and how green the city actually was, we couldn't see a great deal for trees! After the grueling ascent and equally as fear evoking descent I was very happy to be back and ground level, once across the deathly roundabout that the Sigessaule sat on we went in search of a comfy seat and some refreshments. Following signs for 'cafe' we ended up at a quaint 'English' Garden however, ironically, non of the waitresses actually knew English. After quenching our thirst with large coca colas , pulling putrid faces then taking ridiculous photos (something we made a habit of doing at every meal, or drink time) we caught the S-Bahn back to our Hostel.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div> <br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWJmGCD7XCFFXMJzJ4ZBmI5OBjO055O6pXjvxUs8qkXSWoHud_QynkzjPa3yNyL5P_2vWBCsZxy3vy57evHJoSuw6pm0kwn_AUetRWA3cYmlcc2H4lgF_agYb9AroDKiMO8cpaIh80JyU/s1600/CNV00036.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" naa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWJmGCD7XCFFXMJzJ4ZBmI5OBjO055O6pXjvxUs8qkXSWoHud_QynkzjPa3yNyL5P_2vWBCsZxy3vy57evHJoSuw6pm0kwn_AUetRWA3cYmlcc2H4lgF_agYb9AroDKiMO8cpaIh80JyU/s640/CNV00036.JPG" width="428" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Siegessaule.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>When we returned to the hostel our friends from home had already done all their basic shopping which consisted of, shots,amaretto and lots and lots of beer. With this concoction floating about the place and after a few dirty pints we were tipsy to say the least. We went on a Berlin bar crawl, starting from a bar that we didn't realise was in fact a gaybar, well that was until we noticed the pornographic paintings within.We then hopped from rock bars to beach bars and finally to a shisha bar where we got a true taste of Berlin and more importantly, mint tobacco. We decided to call it an early night and headed back to Plus at about 3am as we were going to the Zoo early the next morning.<br />
<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXyVKM2_oPHTFj7CZUNsiLmLBAN5Nlr8LqQ0hd7W1gHWuykPbCfeH7ESOKgCnopKUOXSwXS59mUV_n9LGmZQAacyFG6oMP_AvEa2Yg0L9g2V1Dvu8a3lFnIzrdruwIJPOVYUsxkPh2CN4/s1600/adssss.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" qaa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXyVKM2_oPHTFj7CZUNsiLmLBAN5Nlr8LqQ0hd7W1gHWuykPbCfeH7ESOKgCnopKUOXSwXS59mUV_n9LGmZQAacyFG6oMP_AvEa2Yg0L9g2V1Dvu8a3lFnIzrdruwIJPOVYUsxkPh2CN4/s640/adssss.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">After a few dirty pints, worse for wear.</td></tr>
</tbody></table> <br />
<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">The 'Zoological Gartens' were beautiful. From Bears to Sloths it had them all, a personal favourite, as always is watching the monkeys and their ahem, unusual, habits. Once we'd witnessed enough wildlife we headed back to our Hostel in search of the Berlin wall. We thought we'd have to get the S-Bahn but after asking a local man it turned out that the wall was a few hundred metres away from our hostel! We started at the East Side gallery, wrote our names on a tatty sticker, admired the graffiti then rested at a beach bar alongside the river.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKSELFfNZR8MpYnPS4ngiuKwjByFxmm9jH786vHgpvGJN56MTIXVy5EKmNR0Lxq8BvtKUWIyyXr_FLMNHpuI5IdMYUEWzVBqQ-RgKk0mZfrCWbMazBDAPTcMyYhVlAcytaxbSRm6XpT5g/s1600/CNV00010.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="428" qaa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKSELFfNZR8MpYnPS4ngiuKwjByFxmm9jH786vHgpvGJN56MTIXVy5EKmNR0Lxq8BvtKUWIyyXr_FLMNHpuI5IdMYUEWzVBqQ-RgKk0mZfrCWbMazBDAPTcMyYhVlAcytaxbSRm6XpT5g/s640/CNV00010.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;">When we returned from our cultural trip to the Berlin wall the lads were already in the pool.We had urgent washing to do as dirty clothes were festering in our bags, we put them in the washing machines then quickly donned our cozzies and soon followed (swim) suit. bad bad joke. The pool was freezing but the sauna was sweltering, still we appreciated it all as we remembered it was only costing us 10 euros a night! After we'd 'swam' (no swimming was actually done) we went to check our clothes and put them in the dryer in hope that they'd be dry for the nights outing. 35 minutes later our clothes were still soggy! We couldn't be bothered to hang around by putting them up to dry so I went out in damp socks, yum! The night started with more dirty pints in the lads room. One of our friends hadn't yet turned 18 so we were worried whether he would get in to Lidos 'Rock AG' night. It turned out that he got in fine whereas we were questioned for ID! With us all feeling happy that we all made it in the tone was set for the entire night. The music was brilliant especially in the silent disco. We all went in, dubious and doubting but within minutes we'd found a station we liked and began to belt it out, I'm sure you're not meant to actually sing a silent disco but we did nonetheless. Being the only British people in the small room at the time we dominated, probably because we were the only ones who actually knew the lyrics. I caught glimpses of the locals moving their headphones back as to hear the lyrics first hand from our mouths. Most of the night was spent there,loving every moment. The interaillers amongst us had to leave as we had to catch our train to Poland, leaving the Hostel at 7:30am. We thought the night couldn't get any better , until we walked back to the hostel, through an under passage ,to discover an amazing band playing a public gig! From that magical moment onwards, I started to realise just how much I loved Berlin.</div> <br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiNor2R885TIEwTd4Wxfwsf_3T5RjzIcK6yf7JgSFJ9qMceo9pyrw1AQ5v7sfUv_lgDHIQQauxDlnbKyZzNODaPXcUKDn2WFOFeX3pgn8N64uUIsIkuPxgointeN3dNqJXUxlbEZrTBsg/s1600/CNV00048.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="428" qaa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiNor2R885TIEwTd4Wxfwsf_3T5RjzIcK6yf7JgSFJ9qMceo9pyrw1AQ5v7sfUv_lgDHIQQauxDlnbKyZzNODaPXcUKDn2WFOFeX3pgn8N64uUIsIkuPxgointeN3dNqJXUxlbEZrTBsg/s640/CNV00048.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td></tr>
</tbody></table>Despite our early night (of 2am) the lads weren't content with our early departure, singing screaming and banging on our door, they let the whole of our corridor, the hostel and probably Berlin know that they had returned. We got them back in the morning by returning the favour by banging on their door, hoping they already had banging heads. We grabbed breakfast at the local bakery and walked to the train station feeling like we'd only just got off the train there! We witnessed creatures of the night crawling out from every crevice who had clearly been drinking and dancing the entire night. With that lasting image, we left Berlin, full of beer and freshly baked bread!<br />
<br />
Bye Berlin, you certainly wern't the CurryWURST place we went!Creative Cravingshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14305566818778526574noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7419094997856296159.post-5876601599294236392011-08-09T14:22:00.000-07:002011-08-09T14:22:30.734-07:00ASBO-LOOT-LY RIDICULOUS!I have never been so enraged in my entire 18 years of life. <br />
<br />
Having been evacuated from our work place early my sister and I found ourselves glued to the television , watching footage of familiar shops in Birmingham being ransacked. When things get close to home they really do have a huge impact. Videos from the <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-14456065">bbc website</a> left a nasty taste in our mouths and a storm brewing in our minds.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
The London,Birmingham,Leeds and now Manchester riots highlight everything that is wrong with humanity. I am all for the power of the public and political protests but these riots are purely opportunities for criminals to club together to reek havoc. The fact that rioters who have been interviewed cannot even confirm which political party is in power shows just how naive and mislead they really are.They claim the reason they are 'forced' to loot is due to the recession , which causes me to struggle to see how ruining small businesses and local shops is going to do anything but sink us deeper into it! A little bit of logic would go a huge way right about now.<br />
<br />
If I were in charge I'd place a curfew so that anyone found on the streets past 9pm would be arrested, immediately, we need to nip it in the bud. Why are we laying down and just letting this happen? Water canons, rubber bullets, tear gas, anything to shake them up! What really annoys me, despite wanting to emigrate myself, this country has so much to offer, so many opportunities. Why can't these hooligans remove their masks, metaphorically and literally, and see what they've got and appreciate it!<br />
<br />
One thing that made me smile is watching<a href="http://www.twitvid.com/4JTZH"> this</a> video of a woman who stands up for herself, her local businesses and Hackney. Also on the news they mentioned how 600 people turned up to help clean up Clapham streets, despite the minority that is truly ruining everything for the majority there are still good people in this world. I haven't lost all hope in humanity, yet.<br />
<br />
<br />
The looters need to get a lives of their own and stop ruining everybody elses.Creative Cravingshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14305566818778526574noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7419094997856296159.post-24220470726055507162011-08-07T04:08:00.000-07:002011-08-07T04:13:03.415-07:00European Adventures ; Amsterdam.<strong><u>Damn you Amster!</u></strong><br />
<br />
<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">On July the 3rd myself and three friends embarked on our month travelling around Europe, full of apprehension and excitement. We caught a plane from Birmingham Airport, where we all gained an insight to how heavy our bags were. The lads weighed in at about 11kg each and Mands bag weighed at about 13kg. Myself probably being the lightest and in turn, the weakest ended up packing and therefore carrying a back-breaking 14.9kg bag! Carrying it for a few minutes in the airport allowed me to forsee the sheer pain I'd be in for the entirety of the trip. I have an obsession with the number 23, something I've been meaning to blog about but have always put off. We were seated in row 23 (a,b,c,d) which I convinced myself meant that everything would be alright. The journey was surprisingly smooth, having only travelled with my parents in the past I was used to constant stress revolving around passports and tickets but already I was seeing for myself how easy travelling could be. The plane was <span style="background-color: yellow;">sprinkled</span> with your typical 'Amsterdam' visitors, people who go purely to abuse the lenient marijuana laws, young and old.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgerJKmb7jFyJz823FZ0lNYcPmY4l9pODHX_hef8Hd9On56yCSn_O86gp3BAwEafV_kLtA_0o8K1OHPYPZvXTS-cSDmkjkAHCq9uoVl3Gja8GcLtdcWzxfuvtlyKHHrpBjF105E8fUCSOo/s1600/CNV00016.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="427" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgerJKmb7jFyJz823FZ0lNYcPmY4l9pODHX_hef8Hd9On56yCSn_O86gp3BAwEafV_kLtA_0o8K1OHPYPZvXTS-cSDmkjkAHCq9uoVl3Gja8GcLtdcWzxfuvtlyKHHrpBjF105E8fUCSOo/s640/CNV00016.JPG" t$="true" width="640" /></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">As soon as we arrived in Amsterdam I realised that the seedy city I had in mind had been completely abolished by its clean streets and beautiful buildings and parks. We managed to get a great ,unplanned, tour of the city as we got lost for 3 hours trying to find our Hostel! Once we arrived, we realised that we must have passed the street at least 4 times , even stopping for a break, to nearly give up on our search, opposite it! Our first hostel experience was pleasant, it was better than what I expected anyway. We had two other people in our room, which was interesting. The first night we sampled the coffee shops, accidentally stumbling across the HIGHly regarded 'Abraxus' ,that in itself was full of awkward moments, from not having a lighter to coughing after the first drag.If anyones been to Amsterdam you'll know that it all looks scarily similar, especially at night time, after certain chemicals had entered your blood stream, all this amounted to usgetting hopelessly lost again (something we later made a bad habit of). After another 3 hours trek,we came back to find that the key we had left in reception was missing and we had to wake the two people (who we'd never met before) in our room in order to get in. After a few ambiguous knocks we gave up and went to get a spare key from reception, once in the room though the giggles kicked in. The whole idea of us trying to undress really quietly in the pitch black as to not disturb two women we didn't know at all just tickled me, as it did the others. We found ourselves cramming in the toilet ( we had an en-suite) to brush our teeth and more importantly try to extinguish our giggly bouts.</div><br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmyY78Ey8lKaJ5mDkIpWBpY9xyY3NH4NoUFSMv5i0VNcRBzUlgUyyLSasA1KkRKgN9axNAZmTdRZnajQo_32GQSEnD6yslkR4F21GWVWMJ33Em-0fwHbG_DGLr0IQ7c5fTOQIlBzPctnQ/s1600/CNV00020.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="428" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmyY78Ey8lKaJ5mDkIpWBpY9xyY3NH4NoUFSMv5i0VNcRBzUlgUyyLSasA1KkRKgN9axNAZmTdRZnajQo_32GQSEnD6yslkR4F21GWVWMJ33Em-0fwHbG_DGLr0IQ7c5fTOQIlBzPctnQ/s640/CNV00020.JPG" t$="true" width="640" /></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">In the morning we had to endure the same pain as we tried to get ready in the least noisy manner, having packed my bag with everything being in individual plastic bags,this was near impossible! Once we had escaped the room we went downstairs to claim our breakfast that was included in the price. Everyday the lads had a cup of tea and I ended up having multi-vitamin with bread and butter, very exotic. The three days we spent in Amsterdam were mainly spent at Vondel park, we'd go to bakeries and the market in search of fresh,cheap and local food, buying baguettes and humus we had a beast of a picnic in no time. The sun was shining so much that by the end of the day we were all a shade of crimson! On our second evening we went to Anne Franks house. One quote that really resonated with me was her desire to 'ride a bike, dance, whistle, look at the world, feel young and know that I'm free' because it almost exactly summed up how I was feeling, knowing that she never had the freedom made me emotional but appreciative of the opportunity I had, as I had never felt so free.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvvIaFiuWh5tc9-vrnE_LpwAObp2Vkczp5sXhgq3-fzq2CEkpgdUI4LBkjVKMyr4MXUmIhr8KaTh0NI3aKqdbvMpjBtvebvgeDRcXWeTrgNMmh4EO5RgSXInNE9bgKuNu751QJP2hnWBk/s1600/CNV00022.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="428" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvvIaFiuWh5tc9-vrnE_LpwAObp2Vkczp5sXhgq3-fzq2CEkpgdUI4LBkjVKMyr4MXUmIhr8KaTh0NI3aKqdbvMpjBtvebvgeDRcXWeTrgNMmh4EO5RgSXInNE9bgKuNu751QJP2hnWBk/s640/CNV00022.JPG" t$="true" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;">After another exotic breakfast of bread and butter and multi-vitamin our last day in Amsterdam was spent hiring bikes and almost being killed by trams. We hired them for three hours and within 5 minutes of loosing the lads me and Mand got hopelessly lost and ended up at the Hienekin factory! Luckily I'd bought a phone to use whilst away and rang the lads to meet up in our beloved Vondel park. Once we came back to the Hostel Mand discovered that her expensive filter bottle had leaked all over her Interrail pass and Passport! Although her hair was now green in the passport photo no serious damage was done,luckily. Panic over we went out to eat (something we did every evening whilst there) at some cheap Italian restaurant 'Venisia' and headed over to 'Easy Nights' for a spacey dessert. Returning to our hostel we noticed we had new guests in our room and always enjoyed trying to guess their age,nationality and gender.After a few hours they kicked in, from water fights to whipping wars we giggled ourselves gaga. We slept like babies, we needed to as we were travelling to Berlin the next day.</div>Creative Cravingshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14305566818778526574noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7419094997856296159.post-21402173986636329832011-06-30T13:27:00.000-07:002011-06-30T13:27:52.169-07:00saying goodbye.Today I said goodbye to my twin sister for 5 weeks. She's going to Greece for a week and I'm going Interrailing for 4 weeks, this will be the longest we've ever been apart from birth. I'm a bit apprehensive about spending so much time away from her, who will tell me when I really do look like shit or when I was out of line. It will be good practice for Uni I suppose but it still sucks at the same time. Bar that tiny disadvantage Interrail is set to be the best 4 weeks of my life. With tours of Anne Franks house, Bone Museums,Boat parties and music festivals how could I not enjoy it? I'll be sure to blog blog blog and blog until I blog myself to death about it.Creative Cravingshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14305566818778526574noreply@blogger.com1