Prüfung und Pesto

Almost two weeks ago I sat my German A2 speaking exam. During the night I dreamt that I completely messed up, as documented in this tweet, but as morning rolled around, I became unusually calm. We were able to meet our examiner at the start of the day, and it was reassuring to find that she was just as jolly as we'd been told. After this brief introduction, Chris, Nilloy, Daisy and I left, while Rosie began her fifteen minutes of preparation. The remaining four of us returned to the Study Area, where we nervously carried out last minute revision and I correctly guessed that the word for sadness is "Traurigkeit". Over the course of the next two hours, Rosie returned, and Daisy, latecomer Lily and Chris all completed their exams. Finally, it was my turn. When I arrived, I was somewhat thankful to find that Chris was still in the examination room. Upon leaving he seemed content, which was encouraging. Before I could begin my exam, the examiner had a quick break, but she soon returned, and allowed me to choose my card. After this, the invigilator ushered me into the planning room. The time went by rather quickly, but I did manage to plan all three questions, so it was already going better than the dream. Thankfully, the topic was interesting and I had a lot to say about it. I recalled my Exposé faultlessly, then I only needed clarification on one of the questions during the discussion. Afterwards I couldn't stop smiling, and psychology breezed by in the afternoon. Later on Daisy drove Chris, Emily, Georgina and I to meet Rosie for a celebratory meal. Earlier, the examiner recommended that I have a big meal to commemorate the effort I put into the exam, so at the restaurant I chose the Rigatoni al Pesto, which almost put me off pesto for life, then later I shared a lemon meringue dessert with Chris. Coming home we realised just how great a driver Daisy is; her concentration never faltered despite the noise coming from her passengers, Chris in particular. It seems really odd that I'll never do another German speaking exam, but it's also a relief. Now I just have the three hour written exam to complete, as well as six exams from my other subjects... not too much!

An Awesome Achievement

On Friday evening, Chris, Chelsea, Rosie, Jade, Emily and I were once again the only student team at the PTA quiz night. Despite protest from Rosie, we incorporated this into our team name, selecting the moniker, "The Good, the Bad and the Sixth Formers". We weren't expecting much in the way of success, due to our prior inability to place any higher than last, but we were hoping for a fun night of revelling, snacking, and completely failing at the music round. Peculiarly, the picture round was delivered to us at the beginning of the night, and the largely recognisable faces were just the motivation we needed when our team captain, Chris, fell ill and had to leave a quarter of the way through. Our performance was satisfactory, with four being our median score; however, we soon found ourselves in the dredded last place. Nevertheless, things began to look up after a  round featuring school-related photos, which  garnered us six points. This score was in part due to Chelsea's guesses of "Grange" for the ones we didn't know, as one of the answers was Grange Hill. After the interval, we continued to maintain a five point deficit, even after scoring just three out of twenty in the music round. As the end drew near, the leaderboard was displayed less frequently, so we were unaware that our score of eight in the joker round on the subject of "days" had brought us level with the team above us, "The Winos". The final round focused on history and with my and Chelsea's knowledge, we were able to snatch up four points, while "The Winos" obtained… two! We were delighted with the result, and we also made history, being the only student team ever who had not placed last! Woo!

The Big Reunion snubs girl groups in favour of boy band only tour

In contrast to the excitement of last year, this time around I will not be attending any shows on the Big Reunion Tour, because the powers that be have decided that the groups Eternal and Girl Thing are not what the public wants to see. Instead, fans will watch the four remaining acts from the 2014 line-up, 3T, Damage, A1 and 5th Story, as well as the three boy bands from last year, 5ive, 911 and Blue. While I would be happy to see the groups from this year's series, I begrudge paying more than £50 per ticket for a show I've seen almost half of already. It also seems incredibly unfair on Girl Thing and Eternal, who have worked just as hard as their male co-stars to make the reunion work. Various news articles state that the girl bands were dropped to boost ticket sales, but for me it's had the opposite effect.

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Why won't my drafts save on the blogger app? I almost finished a post on Thursday or Friday, but now it's nowhere to be found...
At this moment in time I am about to commence thorough, timetabled revision for my A2 exams. I will soon complete my chemistry coursework practical (finally), and I am also preparing my Exposé for the German oral exam. One week ago today Muse Watson retweeted my tweet, which was delightful! Midweek I ventured to Cardiff again to check out the university, and I was bowled over by the brilliance of the Students' Union complex. This uni decision is harder than I anticipated, and it's becoming a question of what I want most: freedom or family. (Incidentally, both of these options are also titles of  NCIS episodes.)

One down, eleven to go

A month has passed since we rang in the New Year, and for me 2014 is already shaping up to be a great year. During January I received a third university offer, and attended a visit day at another institution, which is likely to be my firm choice. Yesterday we purchased our first concert tickets of the year, which will allow us to see some of our favourite groups performing together including Backstreet Boys! We've also discussed going on a family beach holiday, something we haven't done since 2010. I'm undoubtably excited about these developments, but the notion that the events won't occur until after I've finished my A levels is mildly frightening.

Happy New Year and all that...

It's 2014! It's been 2014 for 16 days already, but until today I hadn't managed to write a blog post. I've had a pretty uneventful start to the year; revision for mock exams has taken up some of my time and so far it's gotten me an A*, A and B but other than that, nothing much has happened. Despite the unexciting start, 2014 will be an important year for me, as it marks the conclusion of my school life and my transition into life as a university student (results permitting). Whatever happens, I hope it will be enjoyable.

Berlin October 2013 - The Best Bits

It's hard to believe that two months have passed since we boarded the coach to go to Berlin, but it's true! Here's a countdown of my 20 favourite memories from the trip of a lifetime:

20. Arriving at the bowling alley
19. Playing on the climbing frames at Potsdamer Platz
18. Dancing in the cage in the club
17. Playing a mass game of UNO in the hostel corridor
16. Finding the tower U2 jump off of in the Stay (Faraway, So Close!) video
15. Playing card games in the evenings
14. Filming the tour of the room
13. Visiting the East Side Gallery again
12. Bowling while "Roar" was playing
11. Eating delicious desserts at the hostel
10. Waiting to go up the TV Tower
9. Drinking peach nectar in the club
8. Playing UNO in the Eurotunnel
7. Receiving and eating the Spreewald Pickles
6. Daisy's Wurst joke: Chris: "I hope it's not Bratwurst..." Daisy: "That would be the Wurst!"
5. Being in the Reichstag dome
4. Mrs R's announcement intro: *tap* *tap* "Toot! Toot! Hello, can you hear me?"
3. Waiting to board the U-Bahn train to Zoo Station
2. Miss A's Goodbye Lenin apology
1. Walking home from the club