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

Vorfreude

The past few weeks have been pretty busy, but now I'm just a couple of days away from reuniting with the city that captured my heart three years ago today: Berlin! I'm really looking forward to our reunion; the week I spent there in 2010 was one of the greatest of my life. Yesterday I bought boots and other essentials for the trip, which means that next time I go shopping I will be in Berlin. Next time I get into a vehicle I will be on the way to Berlin. Next time I eat toasties I will be in Berlin (as long as I remember to take them). I'm getting rather excited!

Results day 2013

Today I received my AS exam results, and they were better than I thought they would be! Yesterday evening I was feeling rather jittery and anxious, so in order to relax, I painted my nails, using the polish "Galactic" from the Revlon Moon Candy range.

By morning, the nerves had gotten to my appetite; I could only stomach a handful of black grapes for breakfast. To keep my spirits up, I chose to wear my shimmery lace navy dress to school, despite warnings of wet weather. A little after 10am I left the house and walked up to school with my sister, who'll be doing the same thing next week to find out her GCSE results. Em was the one who spotted my name within the piles of paper; she lifted the sheet out, and we found out that I got 4 As! I'm really pleased with my results, but I know I need to put in maximum effort in year 13 so that I can feel joy like this next year too!

Happy/sad

Wednesday 10th of July was a day of contrasts for me; I awoke feeling refreshed and enthusiastic, but fell asleep with tear-stained cheeks and muddled thoughts. My emotions for most of the day were excitement about my sister's prom (a highly edited picture from the event is featured below), and anticipation for the NCIS season 9 finale, which aired for the first time on terrestrial UK TV at 9pm.

Prom people! (My sister is in the centre wearing purple)

Before the prom, I was nervous about taking photos for my sister, but once we were there I snapped away freely, capturing all of the main moments as the leavers paraded outside the front of the school. They were soon on their way to the prom venue, as my mother and I walked home. During the evening my excitement for the NCIS episode grew and grew, and it certainly did not disappoint; Jimmy and Breena are so sweet together, but the bomb blast and Ducky's heart attack on the beach moved me more than I expected them to. It didn't, however, prepare me for the bombshell that hit three hours later, when it was announced that Cote de Pablo is leaving NCIS. Initially I was in disbelief, but soon the reality hit me: Ziva will no longer be a part of the show. I cried a little, but I'm feeling better about it now; I'm just a bit apprehensive about the manner of her exit.

4th of July 2013 - A sort of Timestamp

On the way to school I listened to the U2 song 4th of July on repeat, which I didn't do last year. Today was better than I anticipated; biology went smoothly and chemistry was actually one of the best lessons of the year! Maybe slight pessimism does pay off... Today also marks one year since my school prom, so I've been reminiscing a little, but not too much - that was then and this is now and, although the event was wonderful, I'm happy where I am now. Tomorrow I will return to the city of blue-and-dreams-come-true to check out the university, which should be fun.

Mark Owen concert!

Last night, we threw ourselves away... but we made it out all right.

Yesterday my mother, Emily, Joe, Daisy and I attended Mark Owen's concert at the O2 Academy in Bristol. We got to the queue an hour and a half before the doors opened and my feelings, as we waited, were more of awe than excitement; I couldn't believe we were actually going to see Mark Owen live! The O2 priority queue extended much further than our non-O2 line, but we once the doors opened we managed to find a decent spot. The support act, Animal Kingdom, came on earlier than we anticipated and we enjoyed their songs, but the early start lead us to believe there would be another support act to follow. It turned out there wasn't; we realised this when we watched the rug, which Mark picked up from the set of Alan Carr: Chatty Man a few weeks ago, being laid out on the stage. The excitement continued to bubble up, then at 8:50pm the lights went down, the music began and Mark appeared! He started off with a couple of songs from the new album, which we weren't very familiar with as our (super deluxe, signed) copy had only arrived a few hours earlier, then he launched into the new single, "Stars" (available to download here), before Take That favourite "The Flood". By this point I was getting really into it, and still in disbelief at how close we were to Mark Owen, when a very familiar tune started and tears formed in my eyes as I realised we were about to hear one of my absolute favourite songs: "Makin' Out"! I put my all into singing along and dancing, while Em trustily filmed the song, and it was glorious! The rest of the show was the perfect mix of Mark's older solo hits, songs from the new album, and rousing Take That anthems, which were lovely to hear and sounded wonderful even without the other 3/4 members. "Shine" was another song which made me well up: I have so many memories attached to that song, which I didn't fully realise until we were there, hearing it live and dutifully singing along. Over all, it was an absolutely fantastic night that I will never forget!