Tuesday, 5 July 2011

The End Of An Era

I have finished two years of University now, and they have been two of the best years of my life. Sheffield is an incredible place, and, I was so very sad to leave. After weeks and weeks of essays and exams and stress, I finally finished and proceeded to go out five nights in a row, the ultimate night out being my early 'Sheffield Birthday,' which included a bouncy castle! How very childish, no, how very fun, yes.

So all fun and games, but really, it was sad. In my house of 7 (which is really more like 8 or 9), only 2 of us are going on a Year Abroad, and though Fergs and I will be living together again, we will not be living with the others. After spending the past 2 years living with them, this was really quite traumatic! I cried a lot - in fact we all did. Well, most of us. Mainly though, I'm happy that I got to do that and that they all became my best friends, we have had such an amazing time and we are BFFs now ;) haha. As always, some pictures to document the laughs.











Sunday, 24 April 2011

The Sauerkraut Cup 2011

Sheffield came in first and second place this year! Beating Leeds on numerous occasions throughout the day, it really was an epic day! I was even in the winning team ;)


The winning team!
Sheffield Lot!

Glorious!


Terrible Blogger

I have been such a bad blogger this year! It has been such a busy few months, gone so so fast. Now the impending doom that is 9 exams is looming, and I want to stay at home in London, not go back to Sheffield. Only because I know I will have to revise, though - however, the SOMLAL Ball is definitely something to look forward to!

However, I do have the best housemates ever. Fact.









Tuesday, 4 January 2011

Musical Memories of 2010

I have a 'musical memory' in a way - certain songs have such an effect on me that I feel physically transported back to a point in time.

I can feel my surroundings; taste the air, and remember so clearly exactly how I felt at that point. I can see everything is different to where I am remembering (unless of course the wave of nostalgia happens in that same place.)

There are certain albums that stick out to me when I think of 2010, and remind me of certain periods throughout it. All are amazing, I think :) By the by, not all were released in 2010.

  • Balthazar - Applause
  • Lykke Li - Youth Novels
  • Foals - Total Life Forever
  • Gorillaz - Plastic Beach
  • Miike Snow - Miike Snow
  • Jamie Lidell - Jim
  • Marina and the Diamonds - The Family Jewels
  • Alicia Keys - The Element of Freedom
  • Jeff Buckley - Mystery White Boy
Have a listen.



This poem is in Dutch but I'm going to post it anyway.

And no, I'm not going to attempt to translate it, because even though I could, the whole thing is a massive play on words and I don't know if it would be as good.




Vredesbespreking van het hart van Zorro
met de rust


Ik wil naast je liggen
zoals de golf naast de golf.
Ik wil één met je worden
zoals de golf met de golf.
Ik wil je volgen
zoals de golf de golf.
Ik wil in je reizen
zoals de golf in de golf.
Ik wil je leiden
zoals de golf de golf.
Ik wil in je verdwijnen
zoals de golf in de golf.
Ik wil je omhelzen
zoals de golf de golf.
Ik wil je zoals de golf,
blauw
en eeuwig reizen.

Al Galidi.



We did this in my Dutch Culture & Literature module, which is my favourite. I love poetry too, so this is excellent stuff. If you can understand, I hope you agree that it is beautiful.

Sunday, 26 December 2010

Can't think of a title

What a busy year this has been.

Almost at the end of it, I feel that I have achieved a fair bit, and done some absolutely amazing things. That being said, the only things that I really regret happened this year; I guess the good doesn't come without the bad, though.

Anyway! Highlights... Amsterdam with Uni, Travelling with the girls, Nederland to see the jongens, Munich with the DV - DV in general. I am so proud to be President of something that I absolutely love. We are such a beautiful community, it's amazing. I've also met some absolutely incredible people this year, that I think (and hope) will be in my life for a really long time.

I think next year is going to be a reallllly big one though - I have so much planned for it already. I'm excited, because the seeds of some things that could potentially be amazing have already been planted.

So bring it on, I say.


Wednesday, 24 November 2010

For Kenny.


There once was a boy and a girl.

She admired his legs whilst he played rugby, then accosted him at the Under 18s disco.


There were no complaints.


They became firm friends and wanted to get together, but timing didn't want the same.

Every time they met they had twinkles in their eyes; but that was all.

Until the time is right, and maybe it's getting that way.

Friday, 12 November 2010

Fed Up

I'm really fed up and a bit bitter at the moment. Everywhere seems to be couple central, and though I'm not entirely short of interest, nothing ever really seems to happen, and it's very frustrating. I miss that feeling of really liking, or even loving someone. Wanting to be with them, and spend time with them. The same people always seem to be in relationships, how is that fair?! Perhaps they can't be on their own, which isn't a good thing. But still. It's annoying. The same goes for a lot of my close friends too - gorgeous girls who are AMAZING - but still, nothing. What is actually occurring? The only answer is to move abroad, I say. People I like seem to be abroad!





I want to be like her, the saucy minx.

Nan (Thought I did this weeks ago?)

My nan is an absolute BABE. She's doing GCSE photography and took pictures of all the Grand-kids for it - but I only have the ones of me on my laptop, so will put the rest up later. Here are a few!






Sunday, 10 October 2010

Too Long

It's been too long since I've written on here..! I had a lot of drafts that I never published, for some reason.

I'm back in Sheffield now - but before I talk about Uni life I'll update on the end of my summer in pictures and words...

I went to Ireland to see my Dad, and my friends, it had been 2 years since I'd been. I have no idea why, I used to go all of the time. I love it because I like to go on long walks and I did, when weather permitted. My best friend there, and anyway, Kara, turned 20 and had a hilarious night out for it. True friends are tested by passing time and distance, and she passes the test every time - I would tell her anything. Literally. That's what real friends are for.

I got lost in vinyls in my loft, my Dad's record collection is quite literally endless. I also watched loads of videos from when I was little, and immensely enjoyed it!

I also saw someone I used to love, and got another glimpse of what that was. Just a glimpse, though - was enough.




The most exciting thing, however, was going to Holland to stay with my friends. They live in Eindhoven, so I flew there from London Stansted for a grand price of £16. After some chilling and buying nappies in Albert Heijn with Stefan and Tho for Yves, we had dinner then went out to De Thomas where Yves works! A Dutch man told me he liked my headband, but that's about all I understood, my Dutch is strained when there's loud music playing and too many biertjes have been drunk!





Then we did a bit of 'Roadtrippen' from Horst to Maastricht in Rusty. (Nils' car) We cooked some Paella at Frauke's then went to see the Belgian band dEUS at a free festival, and drunk a few too many biertjes again. The next day we looked around Maastricht and it is really beautiful, it was a gorgeous day, and I loved it, it's very quaint.


After gathering my things in EHV, I got the train to Nijmegen to go and see James who is there on his year abroad. And who I miss ridiculously. If you get off the train at Nijmegen-Lent, it's vaguely scary - it looks rather bare. But Nijmegen itself is also gorgeous - there's even a bit of a hill! I couldn't cope with that after getting used to how flat it was. I stayed with Yves on my last night before I went home, and on the morning of my early flight it was pouring down with rain. Real case of pathetic fallacy right there. Then home through the tube strikes.


I felt so down when I got home, I had such a good time, and I feel so at home. My friends are all amazing, and I feel so at home with them that I felt I could easily have stayed and just happily slotted in. Also, I rode a bike. But mainly rode on the back of Stefan's, which was so much fun, even though I had a sore bum. Basically, Ik hou van Nederland!





That picture is of Lucy causing mischief out of my window - namely wolf whistling then hiding. Honestly! Being back in Sheffield is so good. We have our beautiful little house and even being back at lectures is pretty good. I love the whole experience - learning (yes, really, I love it), going out, and just being with all my friends here. It really is amazing.


So this has been a blog-update, rather than one of my more pensieve posts. But there we are. I read this poem today, one of my French friends has to do a presentation on it - I wouldn't fancy doing this in another language, as much as I love them.

Crazy Jane Grown Old Looks At The Dancers


I found that ivory image there
Dancing with her chosen youth,
But when he wound her coal-black hair
As though to strangle her, no scream
Or bodily movement did I dare,
Eyes under eyelids did so gleam;
Love is like the lion's tooth.

When She, and though some said she played
I said that she had danced heart's truth,
Drew a knife to strike him dead,
I could but leave him to his fate;
For no matter what is said
They had all that had their hate;
Love is like the lion's tooth.

Did he die or did she die?
Seemed to die or died they both?
God be with the times when I
Cared not a thraneen for what chanced
So that I had the limbs to try
Such a
dance as there was danced -
Love is like the lion's tooth.

WB Yeats.

Ferg is annoying <3

Sunday, 11 July 2010

Lyrics

The other day I was walking around somewhere in London, and, as the weather is so glorious at the moment, I sat down in the sun and just listened to music. And I wrote down some of my favourite lyrics in my little pretty book that I carry around with me (from the Van Gogh museum in Amsterdam).

So I am going to write some in here; they are all totally random I think, at the moment I don't think there's a theme..



Why pamper life's complexities when the leather runs smooth on the passenger seat?

This is just brilliant, plain and simple.

Take that smile off your pretty face, cause' you don't have much I can't take away.

I love that. The power that one person can have over another so bluntly put; yet you can so imagine it happening. Blindly in love, the smile fades as quickly as it came.

I need direction to perfection.

Don't we all? I mean, nobody who is a perfectionist would like to admit this at all, but it is true. Although the cliché is that nobody is perfect, some people are close. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, of course. That cliché is just a timeless excuse, really - but not for me :)

I close my eyes on the dance floor, forget about you.

Again, simple. But I really sympathise with this feeling, wanting to bury yourself in the night, in the music, in the atmosphere, in the crowd; basically anything apart from think about who you are trying not to think about. Let the alcohol (that is inevitably involved) flow through you. Excellent!


Quand je suis dans mon lit je ne rêve qu'à toi, et quand je me réveille je ne pense qu'à toi. (When I lay in bed I dream of nothing but you, and when I wake I think of nothing but you)

It sounds better in French! This song is beautiful, and poignant. There is quite a lot of repetition, but it kind of just cements this incredible adoration of this object of somebody's affection. It captures that incredible feeling of infatuation, when you feel like you physically cannot think of anything, or anyone else.


She'll loan you her toothbrush, she'll bar-tend your party.

Can't even begin to describe this song. This girl...What a girl.


After sex, the bitter taste, been fooled again, the search continues.

I adore this song, mainly because it compares these emotions to the Berlin Wall, so it's very exciting if you're me. These words though, they're sung with such kind of grit in his voice. Not just plain anger at being duped once more, but disbelief in this happening again, and a reluctant acceptance that the 'process' starts all over now. And only in a few words.


She don't believe in shooting stars, but she believes in shoes and cars.

Different things make us happy.


Then you gazed up at me, and the answer was plain to see, cause' I saw the light in your eyes.

These definitely aren't done justice by just writing them, such an old, classic tune. The first time my Dad played this I was instantly caught by it, it's infectiously catchy and I loved that chorus line. Because you do know, don't you? If you really like someone, then they look at you that way - we all know what Todd's on about. Beaut.


This is our last embrace, must I dream and always see your face? Why can't we overcome this wall? Maybe it's because I didn't know you at all -

- Kiss me, please kiss me, kiss me out of desire, babe, and not consolation.

Oh, Jeff. Why did you have to die?
These lyrics, this music, it does things to me that other people can't.

I really, really identify with these lines in particular. You don't want it to be over, you know it is. You've clung on to every tiny, minute, little shred that was left, because it was love, or at least, you believed it to be so. And it all wasn't quite as it seemed, so... Even though you don't want to end this familiar thing, you know that it will be to your absolute detriment if you don't. So end it now, end it nicely before it gets worse.

But perhaps a desirous kiss may be too much to ask for?




So basically this is a massive ramble, but that's what blogs are, I guess? I just like talking really, and music. Excellent combination, really.

And a couple of pictures I took a while ago..





Monday, 21 June 2010

Summer Starts...

Exams are over, I'm back in London, and my Treasure Hunt Europe is complete! Therefore I have copious amounts of time on my hands.

The last few days of my first year of University were pretty mental, and now I'm home and have time to think, it has hit me that I'm 1/4 of the way through my degree. How disgusting! I cannot believe how quickly it has passed; and now it all counts.

I have so much to look forward to next year, though; having my own house to share with some of my best friends, all of whom I have made this year; being President of the German Society, and LEARNING more, yeah, I'm a massive geek, whatever though, I enjoy it ;)

Also, hopefully more travelling like the ridiculous amount I did in the last week! Our main destinations were Amsterdam, Luxembourg, Strasbourg and Berlin! So I started in my second favourite place, and finished in my ultimate favourite! On Wednesday, we were in the last 3 all in one day, it was an unbelievable experience. We went through Brussels and Antwerp and Lille too, and we saw so much in 5 days, so many places that I went to go back to; Here are some photos...




















I do love a bit of travelling. Hopefully this summer there will be a lot more in store for me, but it
all depends on time and money.

They are the key to everything.