The Window

To outsiders,  the window wouldn't appear to be anything out of the ordinary. It was made up of two panes of glass, opening up in the middle by a turning handle. Occasionally,  especially in the summer months, the wooden panes would expand in the heat and the window would let out a horrific groan, as though it were struggling to push back upon he who disturbed his peace. On other occasions, quite the opposite would occur. A huge gust of wind might blow from the outside inwards, forcing the window open and rattling its glass panes in great triumph of its might and power. But for onlookers, this would have still been considered an ordinary window.
If is only on closer inspection that one may notice that this was no ordinary window. It's colour was a distinctive, unnatural stark white, which illuminated the living room it aboded. It would somehow hypnotically draw a person towards it, by its sheer luminosity, and one may realise that this was far from an ordinary window. The view it looked over was of a huge green field, with an abundance of nature and wild animals within it. In the foreground was a little river which ran down from a mountain which could be seen in the far distance. However,  it is not until one would open the window that one would realise the sheer beauty of it. The window brought us sounds - sounds of the birds chirping, of the wind whistling,  and of the stream resonating it's beautiful song of peace. The breathtaking combination of view and symphony would make it hard,  even for an outsiders to claim that this was just an ordinary window.

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I was bored and Father challenged me to write about one of the windows in our living room. This is the first and only draft which took roughly 10 mins to compose and write, but I feel it was pretty successful so I wanted to share it with you!

Pre-Uni Stress

First things first: I got into Warwick University.

Wahey!

Before writing this post I actually scrolled back a bit and found my post from when I visited the establishment with my parents. I had called it my "dream uni" and I am so grateful that they accepted me and I got the entry requirements for my course!

On the 18th, results' day, my Facebook feed was filled with posts from my friends publishing which unis they got into. It was an exciting experience for all - and those who may not have obtained their first choice still managed to find some great places through Clearing. Fast forward a week, and those who are going to uni all have a firm knowledge of where they will be spending the next three or so years of their lives.

Once knowing their universities,  many students joined their appropriate uni Facebook group and started group chats with their peers. I had previously joined several of these chats and made acquaintances with many on my course. However, due to my current lack of Internet  (I have to travel to the next village in order to get Wifi from the local café), I'm unable to be constantly online and replying to messages. Therefore, my friendships have become frail, to say the least.

Just this afternoon, I quickly checked the group chat, and found out all the participants had bonded with each other - a lot. The whole chat seemed to have their own inside jokes and nicknames with each other. I was but an onlooker to their little world. They were already meeting up with one another, and had planned outings as a group in order to create memories before studying at uni together.

This made me feel quite sad, and above all, lonely. It's fairly pathetic and melodramatic that I write this all on my blog, and I pray to the Heavens Above that none of these people were to find my blog. However, their closeness has only made me feel more distant from them. I have been, unintentionally, excluded from their tight knit. I feel alone before even starting uni.

I have to keep reminding myself that there are others out there who will be freshers,  like myself, who may have not even been part of this group chat and they too will have no friends on the first day. Even so, my mind is filled with panic about what's to come. The biggest fear is of course that of solitude. I'll be away from home, from my parents, from my boyfriend. My friends will be off at uni getting a whole new set of friends, and the little voice in my head tells me that they'll no doubt forget all about me. What's more, I'll be away from safety and where I feel comfortable. However, I ought to keep reminding myself that growth comes with going outside one's comfort zone. I will be able to push myself into situations which are different and thus exciting. I will find a new people, and new activities to occupy myself. I really ought to embrace this opportunity. And get a grip.

Paris • St. Raphael

This summer, I was offered the job of au pairing for a French family living on the outskirts of Paris. As I am hoping to study French this September at University,  I jumped at this amazing opportunity.

For those who have not heard of the term "au pair", it often entails a young student looking after children whilst staying at their house. A bit like a long term babysitter. There are many websites which enable families to find au pairs, such as this site which is very popular. I know many people, including one of my elder cousins, who hires au pairs over summer in order to help around the house and lessen the chore of keeping the children occupied. Before starting my job, one kind friend decided to tell me a horror story of how her parents treated their au pair - like absolute slavery! They would use the young girl to do dirty chores and act like a modern day slave who waited on their every word.

Thankfully,  my family is absolutely lovely. I look after three young boys aged 6, 9 and 12. Being an English au pair, my duties consisted of giving the eldest English lessons once a day (apart from Sunday which is rest day - a break for both parties!). They often let me have breaks from playing with the children, and allow me to go on walks by myself and explore each town. However, I try and spend as much time with the children as possible in order to alleviate the parents' stress as much as I can. Whether it be purposefully losing a race or beating their arses at Uno, I'll be down for it.

As well as benefiting them, this experience is also benefiting me. I'm able to practise day-to-day French for over a month with real French people (wow) who are willing to correct me when I'm wrong, as well as teaching me some "verlan" which is extremely amusing.  I hope that this month will enable be to be that one step ahead of those at uni, whichever it may be. Bring on the 18th.

TGIF: London

I love it when plans finally see the light of day. There is a sense of achievement, of satisfaction, as if the months of fantasising and meticulous planning were worth it all. There were many nights where I spent lying awake thinking about going to London with Adam* and on Friday, we finally went.

It had been some time since I had last visited London and to behave as a tourist. My family and I normally go up there with a set purpose and get caught up with the busy flow of London life. Additionally, when we used to live in London, there was no 'need' to visit the sites as we were surrounded by them all the time. It would seem unnecessary to spend a vast amount of money on tours and tickets when I saw the famous landmarks on a daily basis. Unfortunately, this meant that I never acted as a tourist - by which I mean just getting an underground day pass and going wherever my heart desired.

My love of art and culture is what identifies me as a person. I was fortunate enough to visit the Saatchi Gallery at the time when the Rolling Stones' exhibition was being held. It had only recently been opened (we visited London on Friday the 8th and it opened its doors on Tuesday the 5th) and I believe that the iEC (who put on the exhibition) did a fantastic job at capturing the feel of who the Rolling Stones really were.  For those who are interested, the exhibition is shown up until early September, so I'd think that it would be a great place to visit in the summer holidays. The nine show rooms were filled with the band's original instruments, exclusive video footages, and even personal diary entries. What interested me the most was definitely the flamboyancy of the costumes that each band member wore. It made me realise that when creating a business (which, essentially, is what a band is), everything to do with that business must be congruant with the band's image. The Stones were outrageous and appealed to those who wanted to rebel and I could sense the rebellion through their lyrics, their clothes, and their general attitudes towards authority. 

After walking along the Thames in search of food, Adam, his father and I finally found a cute little vegan restaurant in the middle of Covent Garden called Le Pain Quotidien. Although it was extremely busy, the waiter managed to sit the three of us down in a corner. My first impression of the place was that it looked very 'Instagram Worthy'. I declined to bring this up in conversation with the other two, as, no doubt, they may have judged me, but the overall feel of the café was that it was very modern and simplistic. The tables were wooden and the simple table decoration included the salt and pepper in two lovely glass jars. The menu itself was overall very health orientated. From a quick glance, I could see that their food was all dairy and gluten free, something that has become fairly fashionable of late. Personally, I think it's just marketing and people jumping on a bandwagon, but who am I to speak? Whenever I get McDonalds' vouchers I can't resist the carbs and the grease and don't even question whether it's doing my body any good. It's cheap food and keeps me going. Anyway, I digress.
Above, I attach a photo of what I had to eat. I don't think the photo does it justice - my Avocado and Toast was topped with super seeds, citrus cumin salt, lemon juice and olive oil. It was delicious. Since the bread gave its name to the restaurant, I thought the bread would be a must-try and it did not fail me. It was quite heavy, understandably so for a dish on the 'main meal' section. If I were lucky enough to go again, I would probably try one of their soups of the day as I saw that it was a popular choice amongst the other customers. Adam's father also had a drink which was a mixture of milk and cinnamon which was absolutely gorgeous, but I can't find its name on the menu. Does anyone know what it's called? 

Our next adventure was to explore Regent Street. It was around late afternoon so the crowds were dwindeling down by this point, so we were able to visit most of the shops that we wanted to. When people say that everything is bigger and better in London, they're not wrong. When we visited Topshop, there were about 5 different floors and one could easily get lost (if one didn't have someone like Adam to follow, who is 6"3 and whose head towers over everyone and everything). Each floor contained a different attraction. These ranged from a barber's shop, a beauty salon, and even a cupcake store! I felt that everything was overpriced but I loved browsing through it all. I could have spent hours just exploring the shop, but I was keen to get going since Adam said he had a 'surprise' for me... 
If you know me IRL, you'll know my obsession with cuddlies. I'm 18 years old yet I am as excitable as a 5 year old when it comes to stuffed animals. Adam knows this and lead me by the hand, rushing me slightly until we were outside one of the biggest toy shops that I have ever been to: Hamley's. I felt like a little child again when I walked through the doors to be faced with sooooo many toys! I rushed around hugging giant teddy bears, screaming with joy and trying to pop all the bubbles that were constantly being blown in my direction (it's more likely that I was running towards the bubbles rather than them coming towards me, but that's a minor point). 

Our shopping spree lasted the majority of the afternoon, and as our little luncheon of healthy stuff was a good five hours ago, we all decided to go to the Yo! Sushi as it was conveniently situated at Waterloo Station, where we were due to catch the train back to Bournemouth. Again, this restaurant was another first time for me. I have only recently started to like sushi (surprisingly, since I'm Asian and ought to have 'embraced' my culture before now), but now that I am living healthier (slightly contradicting what I said earlier about McDonalds), I love the fresh and clean taste that the sushi leaves on my palette. At Yo! Sushi, the food arrives on a conveyor belt and one can simply pick out what one fancies. There is also the option to order food, where one has to press a little button which lights up a post at your table to beckon the waiter/ess over. I loved the novelty of it all and would certainly go back again.

Unfortunately, our day was drawing to an end and the journey back on the train gave my feet time to recover after the long day of walking everywhere. As I lay my head on Adam's shoulder, we started to plan the next trip we were going to go on together. I can guarantee that this summer will be filled with a lot more adventures! in futurum expectat.

* All names in this blog are fake in order to ensure the privacy of my friends and conceal their identities. However, the characters are all real people and the events actually happened

Edinburgh Trip

Somehow I managed to get my parents to fly me up to Edinburgh for a couple of days. God only knows how I managed to persuade them, but on Tuesday, Mother and I flew up to get absolutely #rekt in Scotland.

Obviously, that was sarcasm. We went up to visit the University, which, I can finally confirm, I put as my insurance! It was a long and arduous decision to make, but hopefully it was the right one. If anyone here is hoping to study at Edinburgh or has done in the past, please don't hesitate to send a quick message!

What first took me by surprise when getting off the aeroplane in Edinburgh was the weather. Being in Scotland, I assumed that it would have been colder, especially in contrast to 'Sunny Sunny Bournemouth', where I had flown from. The skies were blue, and the city looked gorgeous.

Along Princes Street

The Castle I didn't get to visit !!!

We were quick to dump our luggage off at our hotel. We had booked into a Travelodge on Rose Street, which was located conveniently close to Princes Street. For those who haven't heard, this is Scotland's equivalent of Oxford Street in London. In my opinion, it's also much nicer, as if you turn away from the shops, Edinburgh Castle is up on the hill towering down over you. Edinburgh feels much greener, much cleaner than the busy streets of London. On the third and final day of our visit, Mother and I went on the SightSeeing tour bus which was £15 each. It enabled us to hop on and off for the whole day, and pick it up again only 15 minutes later. The tour guides also offered us the opportunity to buy discounted tickets for different places (such as fast-passes to Edinburgh castle), but unfortunately we didn't have enough time. Maybe if I go to Edinburgh again I'll write a blog post describing my adventures then.

Great for the elder. Childhood memories were brought back to Mum and she exclaimed 'Ohh I had one of those!' every five seconds.

Scottish Parliament. Eye sore. Looks like guns are on the side of the building.

Mother and I

Please can someone tell me what this is

I can't remember, sorry. Looks cool though.

Moving on to the University - wow! Well, the day wasn't very well organised, but they had a cool app available on AppStore and GooglePlay which enabled you to schedule your day. My main lectures would be in St George Square, and it all seemed very modern and clean. After getting lost several times around the city, I came to realise that I was getting to know the city by doing so. As someone once said, "The best way to find yourself, is by losing yourself in a new city".

The Boathouse

Every time I've been to Christchurch, I have always had such lovely days out. Today was no exception - the sky was blue, the birds were singing, and it was surprisingly nice weather considering that tomorrow is forecast 'torrential rain'. Hurrah for Easter.

I arrived in the center of town at around 10:30am, and spent half an hour sitting by the river reading Simone De Beauvoir.* I have recently found myself wanting to escape social media more and more, or just technology as a whole. There's a sense of release for me when I don't have to be looking down at my phone all the time. I'm able to look around me, take a deep breath of fresh air, and just appreciate my surroundings. That being said, I was reading on my Kindle, and was on loudspeaker to Adam**. Oops.

When arriving at the Boathouse, we were pleasantly greeted by a waitress who showed us to our seats. I'd recommend booking, as even though their most popular times are in the evenings, lunchtimes do get busy, especially since it is in a prime location opposite the quay. As shown above, I ordered Boathouse Burger (£12.75) and Adam ordered Chargrilled Halloumi & Roasted Vegetables (£12.95). Both were cooked to perfection, and served on an aesthetically pleasing dish. #snapchatworthy

Unfortunately, we were both too full to be able to slip in a Sticky Toffee Pudding or two, so we instead walked it off by visiting the ruins and walking along the rivière. I truly believe that an experience is enhanced when the weather is pleasant, but also, or even, more importantly, when you're in such great company.





* For those who haven't read The Second Sex I would highly recommend it. It tackles the treatment of women throughout history and is arguably what created the second-wave of feminism.

** All names in this blog are fake in order to ensure the privacy of my friends and conceal their identities. However, the characters are all real people and the events actually happened

Ramblings #3

I AM SO ANGRY AT ALL THESE HIGH STREET BRANDS THAT USE FRENCH WORDS/SAYINGS ON THEIR CLOTHING WITHOUT EVEN CHECKING IF THEY'RE SPELT CORRECTLY.

You'd think they would have enough money in their design department budget to be able to check up to see if the words are spelt correctly, right? Well, apparently not, and bilinguals are able to pick it up VERY quickly.

I was in River Island today (NO I'M NOT GOING TO KEEP THEM ANONYMOUS BECAUSE I'M SO ANGRY) and they had a t-shirt which said 'soigné' written on it. Nice material, nice colour, nice style, but not a nice saying!!!!!! I assume they meant to reference Kanye and the typical 'blessed' and wanted to add a nice twist to it. Fair enough, indi3 af. But the term in French actually comes from the word 'soin', meaning to 'care'. This, when conjugated, can be translated to 'to be cured from'. WHICH DOES NOT MEAN BLESSED. PLEASE GET A NATIVE OR NEAR NATIVE FRENCH PERSON TO CHECK YOUR PRODUCTS BEFORE PRODUCING THEM.

Rant over.