Ramblings of a traveling student...

Because of the fact that I can't sleep and am just laying in bed staring at the ceiling I decided to make better use of my time and inform all you lovely peeps how my stay in France has been so far. So I've been here for just over three weeks now (I know time flies eh?) and I can honestly say that without a doubt the most hardest/horrible/funny now but not at the time moment that I've had was the journey we took getting here. I mean I cannot describe to you how utterly ridiculous we looked, we obviously had not thought that far past the plane journey. Let me put it into perspective for you: There were three of us, I had two pieces of luggage (one small suitcase and one large), each of my friends had three pieces of luggage (both had a large suitcase, one had two more small suitcases and the other had a backpack and a small suitcase), that equates to three people and eight pieces of luggage. I'm pretty sure we looked something like this:

Now you have the image, multiply that by three and there you have us. So now you're probably thinking okay grand, it was just a plane journey and they were there. No. I wish it was that simple. We got a plane. Then a bus. And after much conversing with the staff at the train station, a train. Then another train. Then we had to walk. With. all. our. luggage. And can I ask one simple question. WHY IS IT NECESSARY TO HAVE THAT MANY STAIRS?? I mean come on. Three people. Eight pieces of luggage. Several flights of stairs. Surely you can see the picture I'm trying to paint right now? We had to make a random friend named Sammy at the train station to help us. Even the train had stairs. What is this? I'm not exaggerating either. French people really love the bloody stairs. 

After that less than desirable trip to the city of Avignon, I find myself standing alone (my friends had to go to their accommodation, at a train station, with just the address of my house, waiting for a taxi, that never came. I decided I'd take a stroll up the street to see if anyone could help me, thankfully some kind man directed me to the tourist office where he thought they would be able to help me. Off I go on my way to said place, creating absolute havoc along the main street of Avignon with my two suitcases. When I arrived at the tourist office the lady was able to provide me with a map and directions, which I was very grateful of. But since I was late to meet my landlady and I was swamped with luggage I asked her if there was somewhere I could grab a taxi, she replied with a mere 'you don't need a taxi, it's 20 minutes walk away'. This was not an acceptable answer to me so I tried again. Nope. She replied with the same unhelpful answer I left thinking did she not see all that luggage? Finally after much difficulty I arrived at my landlady's house. What did I find? SHE WASN'T THERE. I had to wait outside her house with my two suitcases looking like a stalker for an hour and a half until she arrived home to inform me that I couldn't actually stay in my house for another week because the electricity was cut off. Surely that was something that they should have checked no? Exhausted and Fed up with the days events I barely managed a nod to all her questions and settled into my guest house. To say that the day was a bit of a nightmare would be an understatement, although it has provided us with a good story about our arrival. 

The rest of my stay has been quite enjoyable though, regardless of the few random days when I feel a little homesick in which case I just eat some spuds and I'm grand cause, ya know,  I'm Irish and all that. We've had a lot of time to do various things too though, which I will present to you in a series of pictures that will give you a snippet of the goings on, I'm not going to write it all because I'm too lazy and it would be far too boring for you. And let's be honest....who doesn't love pictures?

So here we are just chillin' by 'Pont d'Avignon' as ya do:

It's the place to hug tree and poles, I mean, why wouldn't you given the chance?

                         

These have 'Fanny' written on them. Like...why? Avignon is quite random..

I've eaten a ridiculous amount of bread and cous cous:

     

Crepes and BN's, I'll be a whale when I return:

                        

We even visited the Pope's Palace:

                              

I got interviewed (you can tell by my face I'm not very comfortable):

And the best part? We danced 'Sur le pont d'Avignon'...now how many of you can say you've done that?

Somewhere between all the picnics, visitin', and banter we've started into actual college work, but that doesn't mean we're going stop dancin', huggin' and explorin'...there's a plenty more for us to do. It just means we've got to be ninjas and juggle uni work and the oul travels, but hey, no mountain too high, no river too deep right? 

So there you have it people, a brief summary of what I've been up to the last few weeks (even though most of it was about my journey here)  and proof that I'm still alive, I'll keep you posted on the happenings in Avignon. 

À la prochaine mes amis.

P.S. I really need to remember that they drive on the other side of the road....this could become a great problem....

That time I was ridiculously bored..

Two posts in one night? That shows how little I actually do with my life. 

Right. So some of you might know that I have a brain full of ridiculous and pointless facts that nobody in the entire world could possible care about. And a lot of them are pure ridiculous and probably not true anyway. If I could remember my college work as well as I remember these then I'd be doing far better. Here's a few for ya to ponder! 

1.     Cat's are lactose intolerant (you're not supposed to give them milk. It's a myth)

2.     Walt Disney actually had a fear of mice (so obviously it's logical to create a cartoon about a mouse)

3.     Everyone's tongue print is different (I really don't know why I know this but I do!)

4.     Arachibutyrophobia is the fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of your mouth (I just thought this was funny)

5.     It's impossible to lick your elbow (everybody knows this)

6.     Apparently (because it's probably not true) people who suck ice cubes have more sexual desires than those who don't (ridiculous right?)

7.     French speaking residents of Belgium are called a Walloon (maybe I'll be one, one day!)

8.     You can't hum while holding your nose closed

9.     It's impossible to sneeze with your eyes open (please don't try it)

10. Coca-Cola says that only two people know the recipe and they aren't allowed to travel on the same plane in case it crashes. (what if one dies, then the other dies, will there be no more coca-cola?)

11. It's not possible to tickle yourself

12. Ketchup used to be a medicine

13. SWAG originally meant 'Secretly we are gay'

14. Coca-cola would be green if colouring wasn't added to it

15. Prostitution has been observed in penguins and chimpanzees (what a random thing to observe)

16. On average a person spends an overall of 2 years on the phone

17. On average right handed people live nine times longer than left handed people (if this is the case I am royally screwed.)

Okay methinks I should end it here. There is one thing and one thing only that we have learned from this post: I really really need to find something better to do with my time, this is starting to get ridiculous. 

Changing Tides

Okay I haven't posted in about a month. The reason being I was extremely busy getting things ready for France and then I was on holliers in Italy! So here I find myself sitting in a guest house (my actual house doesn't have electricity) in France. Where did the summer go eh? I was thinking the other day before we left Ireland how different I thought my life would be now. It's really amazing how your life can change in such a short space of time. I know for a fact that my life is far far different than it was this time last year. It's exciting and scary all at the same time, I think that applies to everything though. It's the uncertainty that scares us all a little bit. Don't deny it now just because you want to seem hardy or whatever, there's always that small part of us that would like to know how our future is going to pan out because lets face it, the dynamic of our lives changes each and every day. I mean if you think about it, really think about it, there are so many questions you could ask yourself that truly demonstrate the unpredictability of life. That person you swore you were going to marry one day? How often do you talk to them now? Maybe a lot, maybe not so much. But it's not the same right? What about that best friend that you had plans to travel the world with? I bet you only talk once or twice a year now. The classmates you once knew at school? You only catch up with most of them when you bump into them on the town or on nights out. Am I right? What did you always dream of becoming when you were little? Bet your aspirations have changed a great deal now, unless you're that small percentage that has had the same dream since they were five. All of these are pretty reasonable questions. They may seem harsh but they're not really. I guess it's just the way life goes. I mean, it's natural to lose contact with people as life goes on. And maybe it's lack of effort on your part or theirs, or both but it just happens. See, this was one of the fears I had about going on a year abroad, that I would lose a lot of people who are very close to me without either parties noticing it. But then I realised that if I make the effort with everybody that's not going to happen.

I mean of course I've lost contact with a lot of people over the years, not because we wanted it to happen, but because our lives were heading in different directions. It doesn't mean I don't still care, because I always care a great deal about people who have played a significant part in my life, it just means that we were at different wavelengths and grew apart.  Yes, it can be sad but if that's what was destined for us, so be it. Think about it a little. If you had kept in constant contact with every single person you once knew how would you ever fit new people into your life. No each person is the same. And that's what's so exciting about meeting new people. A breath of fresh air is what I like to call it. You'll always have the memories of times shared with previous friends and whatnot but it's also great to make new memories with new people. Just because you may not talk with them every day like you used to does not mean that you don't have a bond anymore. If anything it really shows who your true friends are. The ones who send the odd text or Facebook message, or the ones who'll stop to have a conversation on the street with you and it'll be like you never stopped talking in the first place, these are the people that will always be your friend, no matter how long you don't speak for, or if you both live in different parts of the world, or even if you don't see each other for a long time, they'll always be there. These are the ones to cherish.

This is what I've learned in the last few weeks, that you'll always have friends. No matter where you are or what you're doing they'll always be there. I mean you can never forget the memories you made with great people right? Make the effort to keep in contact with people, it doesn't have to be everyday or even every week, just as long as they know you're still there they'll be there. Life changes far to fast for any of us to take for granted the good people, don't let yourself down by ignoring the true ones while trying to impress the fake ones. The loss outweighs the gain, trust me.

Who needs grown ups anyway?

If somebody had told me that being a grown up was so difficult. I would have opted against it. (yeah like that's possible.). It's strange when I think about it. I remember the times when all I had to worry about was who I was going to hang around with that day, or what I was going to spend my next installment of 'pocket money' on. I mean, can anyone pinpoint the exact moment that they stopped being kids? It happens so suddenly that you can't even comprehend that it's happening until it's been and gone. In the blink of an eye you're faced with questions that you never even thought about before. What school should I go to? Should I trust these people? How am I going to afford to live from day to day? The things you always heard your parents talking about become real, become something that you have to learn to cope with. It's overwhelming to say the very least.

As we get older we realise that life isn't always a ray of sunshine, despite what we may have previously thought. It starts to get far more serious and challenging than before. It's one hurdle after another. Time and time again we have to prove to ourselves that we can surpass everything and anything, sometimes it's extremely difficult, other times not so much. We make decisions based on how we feel in the heat of the moment, these can be the right ones, or unfortunately a lot of the time they can be so very wrong. But this is nothing to feel disheartened about because in the end you made the decision, dealt with the consequences and moved on. It rapidly becomes a tiny tiny thing in a long line of other things. It becomes insignificant in the grand scheme of things.

I used to look forward to being a grown up. So many opportunities and experiences to be explored. New people to meet. New everything. It all looked so simple from that perspective. Like it was a piece of cake. Oh how very wrong was I? I mean I'm not saying life is bad. Cause it really isn't. It's actually quite beautiful to be honest. I do love life. Most of the time. It's just those times that seem so rough, so rough that it feels like they'll never pass. But they do and they will. In that moment though it's like there's this rain cloud that won't go away, you know the ones that literally stay for days? (okay, that means every cloud in Ireland,I know but just roll with me here). Eventually though, the rain goes away. And what to we find? No rain. Duh.

Lets be honest with ourselves here. We've all made mistakes, some big, some small. At some time or another we've made absolute gobshites out of ourselves. But it's okay, why you ask? Because we live in a world where one gains respect by drinking a large bottle of an alcoholic beverage in under an hour. In my oh so valuable opinion, this gives us the right to act like utter eejits because if that's how you gain respect these days. So be it. Gone are the days where respect meant role models and good attitude. Oh world, what it happening?

I tend to just throw caution into the wind these days. There's no point holding back right? I mean, each day we grow a little older. And although I'm still only a mere twenty (yikes) years old, it feels like I've been on the earth a whole lot longer. Maybe that's because of obstacles I've had to overcome or things I've experienced. I really couldn't tell you why. But I've learned that people are going to have something to say about you either way, so why not give them what they want? Give them something to talk about. Let them waste their precious time thinking about you. Then you'll have won.

In a particularly difficult time of my life a wise (most of the time) man (my Daddy) said to me 'sometimes I think these things were made to test us'. I for one, could not believe he had said it. I mean, I hadn't had a lot of 'inspirational' pep talks with my dad over the years so this definitely made me think. And I realised he's right. I mean what would be the other purpose of challenging times other than to test our coping capabilities. If these are all tests, I want to pass them all. I don't want to fail at life. What a disappointment that would be. The trick is to defeat life, not let life defeat you. Lets let that be a lesson learned.

Another look into my random thoughts. Until next time my little chickens.

"Where'd the days go, when all we did was play? And the stress that we were under wasn't stress at all just a run and a jump into a harmless fall" - Paolo Nutini

Let your ears be filled with the sweet sweet melody..

I have recently discovered many new artists thanks to the recommendations of a friend. I now have found many new obsessions. I love listening to music, but moreso I love music I can relate to. Many of the songs I have lisened to from these musicians I have been able to relate to in some sort of way. I thought I'd share some of their work with you so that you too can enjoy the magic that is them.

Here is a song by Lights which features Coeur de Pirate, both are Canadian musicians. The song is called Peace Sign and I really think it's so beautiful.

Coeur de Pirate also has other songs which I love. This is one of my favorites:

She also has other songs that you should check out that I think are amazing. Try listening to 'Comme les enfantes' or 'Adieu'. I really really love her music, its so beautiful!

Through listening to Coeur de Pirate, I found another singer whose work I enjoy. Her name is Joyce Jonathan. I like her music too, here's a video for 'Je ne sais pas' but you should also check out 'Pas besoin de toi' and 'Les souvenirs' too!

                          

I know most of these songs are in French, but even the melody is amazing so you should definitely listen to them. Even if you have no idea what they're saying.

J'adore la musique, c'est très belle. La vie serait ennuyeuse sans elle. Écoutez et apprécier mes amis!

Spontaneity.

So I haven't posted in a while. The main reason being that my life has consisted of eating, sleeping, working and attending parties. As you can imagine there wasn't much time for anything else to be honest. All that 'living' is hard work let me tell you!

I'm not exactly sure what I intend to write here. I just kind of decided that I should post again. I guess spontaneous things are the best right? Most of the time. Except when it lands you in stupid situations. Then it is not the best.

Like sometimes I get the urge to jump on a train (cause I love em) spontaneously and just go somewhere. While this seems like a pretty normal thing to do in my messed up brain, it really isn't. I mean. What a waste of money it would be just to travel back and forth on a train. And for what? To look out the windows at trees, green fields, houses and more trees. Yeah. Real exciting. Trains are quite good for thinking though. Like, so peaceful. Unless there's a bunch of crazy teenagers who think they're 'all that' trying to pick a fight with the other passengers (this has happened). This makes for an unpleasant journey. And awkward. Yep, I definitely felt awkward. On the other hand, many of my life decisions have been made on trains. And they worked out so it must be an effective method.

Have you ever noticed also that some of the biggest decisions you make are made spontaneously in the shower? Why do we suddenly think that this would be the perfect time to sort through our deepest problems? Once again the human brain baffles me. It's like we think the shower is going to present us with all the answers we have ever searched for. Oh look, the hot water hit me, now I must make a decision. Whaaaat? Bitches be cray! Like okay, yeah maybe decisions like what I'm going to eat for lunch, or what I'm going to do tomorrow is grand. But decisions like I should move country or I'm going to buy a new house should not be made in a moment of pure relaxation cause by the heavy stream of hot water. No. This can't be sensible.

Spontaneous shopping. Now, this has to be one of the worst things to ever hit the human race. Ever. I once spent €100 in Penneys. In one go. I still wonder how I managed to buy that much stuff to amount to that much money. Like what was I even doing? I can guarantee half the things I bought that day were hardly worn. Such a waste of perfectly good money. And shoes. Oh my god. I think my eyes just see some shoes, then my brain says 'these would go nicely with the other 20 pairs that lie unworn in the bottom of the wardrobe'. I rarely ever need new shoes. I mean, I only ever wear one of two pairs. The others lie neglected in my room. I should give them away I guess. But maybe I'll wear them in the future (the phrase which is common amongst the female population.) I mean let's be honest girls, we're never gonna wear them again are we?

Aaaand then we have spontaneous nights out. These are often some of the best times of your life. Just deciding to up and go. No forethought needed. They do often end in ridiculous antics but a little bit of insanity never killed anybody right? Or did it? I don't know. You know the nights where you're determined to have a quiet few but suddenly it turns into a mad one. Unexpectedly. Like a flash you're in the midst of music,dance and drink. But who can complain? That's what being young is all about. Spontaneity.

So there you have it. Another extremely random post. And actually it's probably a tad boring but hey, who cares? I sure don't. Later peeps.

Alcohol induced shenanigans.

So here we find ourselves in the month of July. Time goes fast doesn't it? The topic for this post came quite easily for me after a spontaneous adventure last Saturday night. What may the topic be you ask? Drunken Antics. There. I said it. It is a post full of the ridiculous things that people (I) do when drunk.

Isn't it strange when you think about the nights you've had a little too much to drink. Don't deny it people, it's happened to the best of us. You get to wondering what actually happened during those hours that you can't recall. What did I say? Where did I go? Who was I with? Did I steal something? These are all things that race through our minds the following day. The fear. One of the many things I hate about drinking. I mean the drinking is great in the moment and you always have the best craic imaginable but the next day you actually feel like you are literally about to die. Like everything in the entire world is out to get you. Once it was so bad I was scared to go outside. I don't know what the hell I thought was going to happen if, god forbid, I walk to the shop. Of course this is all part of the affects of alcohol. Yet, we still continue to drink. The human race confuses me once again. Time after time. No matter how much we've fecked up at the hands of alcohol in the past, we continue. Although don't people say drunk words speak sober thoughts? Gosh, I fear what I've been telling people. Meh, who cares. They were probably drunk themselves. See. That's the funny thing. We almost always forget that the majority of the time the other person/people were drunk to so the likelihood of them remembering is quite slim. Unfortunately for me, my friends have great memory after nights out...

I'll tell you a story. Last Saturday night, it was my friend's 21st, so naturally we all went out for a few celebrations. A few turned into a lot. Drink after drink. Shot after shot. My inhibitions rapidly worsened. Everything started to become a blur. I mean, I don't remember a lot after one o'clock. I'm not ashamed though (clearly, I'm telling this story to the internet) because I have not been so diabolically drunk in a very long time. Now, normally people go to the pub, drink or whatever, then (because they know they should sleep) they go home. My drunk brain does not have this rationality. My drunk brain decides that it's a good idea to go drinking 'down the 'nal' (judge me, I don't care) as we so like to call it. I had never done this before. It was a new experience. One that I only partly remember however. It was good craic, this I do remember. I recall that my brain also thought it would be a good idea to go paddle in the river. In my clothes. It a was a good idea. Until I fell in, so ya know, that was cold. I remember being cold. Then, if I hadn't already displayed myself as a gobshite, I decided to lie down in the grass and admire the buttercups, typical drunken happenings as you all probably know. Never in a sober state have I admired buttercups. I mean, they're only yellow. What does drunk me think is so pretty about them? I'll have to ask her. This is the extent of my recollection of Saturday night, it was a good time though. I had needed to let loose for quite a while and I think it is safe to say that I accomplished that task. So there you have it, my spontaneous adventure landed me in a hilarious situation. College has changed me I tell you. The amount of silly things I have done has sky rocketed since beginning. Between walking into shop shutters and sleeping against flower pots (all alcohol induced) I have enough stories to last a lifetime, why be embarrassed? Youth is sacred, it doesn't last forever. I could tell you plenty more stories (that have been recounted to me by others) but I'm not sure they're even safe for the vast space that is the internet so you'll just have to do without.

I also think it's interesting to watch other people when they're drunk. It's like you meet their alter egos. Sometimes it's entertaining, other times not so much. The stories you hear from drunk people are most definitely one of a kind. And I'm pretty sure extremely exaggerated. Oh my god, you jumped out of a plane without a parachute and didn't die? No drunk person, I'm almost certain you had a parachute or else you would not be standing here in a drunken state talking to me. (not a real story, just an example.). Also they always try to tell you they're younger than they are. You're 25? You have grey hair and wrinkles. Uh-Uh don't think so mister, nice try though. Some people are violent. I try to avoid these at all costs, I'm out to have a good time, not die. Some are absolute perves. No! You cannot chat me up person who is three times my age. Ugh. However, even if some of these memories can be quite disturbing for us, they can all build up to make pretty good story material and one things for sure, you'll always remember those times. I do laugh when I think about the crazy times I've had on nights out, sometimes I laugh at myself for being so ridiculous, other times I laugh at others for being so god damn entertaining. But hey, it's never gonna stop right? So why not embrace the mad and weird times? After all life's gotta have a bitta spice. Or else it's just plain boring.

While it's good to go out and have the craic with a bitta alcohol thrown in, I feel obliged to add that you should most definitely be careful when it comes to alcohol. Especially all you young'uns out there who've yet to find their happy medium. Don't over do it on the experimenting. Trust me, I've been on the wrong side of alcohol one too many times. It ain't too pretty. Go out, have fun, laugh and be silly. You're only young once, make the best of it while you can.