Sixth Year Update: Finishing School, Yearbooks, Hoodies, Grad Night and Voting!

Hey Everyone!

I realise it has been a while since I last updated here and my YouTube series, ''Letters to the Leaving Cert'' so here is what has been happening in Sixth Year. This post is quite photo heavy but I hope all you visual people enjoy it.

Last week was our last week as Sixth Year students. The week really and truly flew by. On Tuesday we were given our hoodies, Wednesday was our awards ceremony, yearbook day and last official day of classes. Thursday evening was our graduation. I still find it difficult to comprehend that six years have passed in the blink of an eye. I still remember my first day as a First Year back in 2009, fill with excitement and wonder at the idea of a fresh start.

The awards ceremony was an absolute blur. All I can really remember is lots of clapping, music and smiles. I ended up winning four awards, an unexpected shock to me. I won an award for participating in the Senior History Quiz Team (we came second - by a point) an award for my history RSR (Research Study Report) an Academic (for my mock results) and a medal for having a 'Star Journal' ie a tidy journal.

After the awards, we all went and had our ''Last Supper'' together at lunchtime. We moved all the benches into the centre and all ate together. We had 3 last classes which we attended, giddy, hyper and excited for our new adventure. We all went to collect our Yearbooks and got as many friends to sign them before inevitably leaving. It was emotionally charged to say the least. I can recall sitting on the grass, gazing at everyone smiling and laughing, thinking how this will be one of the last times we'll see each other as one whole group.

On Thursday evening, we had our Graduation mass in the gym. We were all given a tree (mine was Hazelwood) which I planted on Saturday afternoon when the sun was beaming down. Afterwards we all got changed for the obligatory grad night out. We all spent ages taking photos (I have so many notifications of being tagged in photos over the past few days, it is hilarious) and headed off to the local hotel and then into town. I won't go into details but it was a brilliant night and everyone was in such high, flying spirits. It was a fabulous night filled with lots of fun and laughter.

On Friday, I went and emptied my locker and returned the key. It was strange saying goodbye to the locker. It was originally my brother's locker but I given the locker when he finished. I have 'before' and 'after' photos down below. I used to get many compliments and funny conversation starters due to some of my posters, mainly Dan and Phil fandom members spotted them!

I also voted for the first time this week! If you've been living under a rock, Ireland had a referendum on marriage equality (also one on presidential candidate age - which was rejected) It was quite exhilarating being a part of democracy. On Saturday in between study breaks I checked the counts, literally whooping and cheering when I heard that the referendum passed! I'm so proud to be Irish, especially as we're the first country to pass gay marriage by popular vote.

The Squad on the last day!

Sending snapchats to Jane

One of my articles in the yearbook! I have to say I'm quite proud of this article.

Some lovely messages from my friends at the back of my yearbook! 

Before I emptied the locker.. 

After the locker was cleaned.. sad times..

*credit to Robyn Burton for the photos below*

Post-voting selfie!

So that's all from me, hope you enjoyed this post. Next time I write will most likely be after the Leaving Cert. Next week I have revision blocks in school then it's the exams - scary!

Stay Strong, Happy & Fearless!
Aveen 

''Never Forget What You Are, For Surely The World Will Not...''

Hey Everyone!

It's been a long time hasn't it? I apologise for my absence since March 29, however I fear that these lengthy absences will become a frequent feature of this blog until June 18th (When I finish my Leaving Cert) For now though, I'm going to savour each blog post I write, as I know they will sadly be a rare occurrence.

This will be a Leaving Cert update I suppose, as well as my life obviously. No I don't have a life - it's only the Leaving Cert. Last time I updated, it was the start of my Easter holidays which I very much appreciated. The two weeks were filled with study, revision, Irish sraithpictiur and German bildergeschichte. It was tiring and a long slog, yet so worth it.

The two weeks after the Easter holidays were Irish and German oral time. My Irish oral was Tuesday 14th April. It lasted twenty minutes and I was extremely happy with it. I could see such a product of study and revision. (Fyi, I read Spailpín Fánach and got sraithpictiur 20, Samhradh Iontach!) German was the following Monday and went well too, which I am thrilled about.

Grace and I met up, went to Costa and filmed some AwkwardSprinkles videos. As you can imagine, with constant time constraints, I haven't even had time to look at editing the video, let alone posting it! I can't say for definite when it'll make an appearance, it may have to wait until the end of June as study for me is going up a gear (metaphorically to fifth gear at this stage) so we'll wait and see. I don't like making promises I can't keep so I won't say for certain.

I also proof-read The Sibling's thesis (which was interesting but literally made no suggestions for corrections, yay!) I also went out with my friends for my friends 18ths on two consecutive weekends! First up was Caítlín's 18th (photo below!) It's fair to say we had a fun night and all went out and had a brilliant night. This Friday night was Maeve's 18th (photo below!) and we went out again. Conversation flowed so easily between us all. In reality, it made me sad to think that after the Leaving Cert we mightn't have such fun night outs when we're all in different places for college. Thanks to the internet however, I think it'll be a lot easier to stay in touch. So it's best to just enjoy everything while it lasts.

The 'Vote Yes' bus visited my town/school during the week! If you don't live in Ireland I should explain. On May 22, Ireland is holding a referendum on marriage equality. Here is a link if you're interested. As I was 18 last September, I'm registered to vote. As I believe every citizen of Ireland deserves equality, I am voting yes. I believe everyone in this country should be equal. I also got a badge with ''Tá'' which is the Irish for yes from the Yes Equality people which is stuck proudly to my school pencil case. If you aren't registered, get it done quickly, I think the closing date is near.

Selfie with Grace!

Costa trips are a girl's best friend. 

With the girls for Caítlín's 18th! 

Saw this on Yik Yak, I always loved this quote. (It is also the title of this weeks blog post as I'm still catching up on Season 5 after the orals)

Maeve on her birthday, we went out too but I don't have any photos!

The Yes Equality Bus in town! #VoteYes

Mam and I were glued to the news watching for the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. Prince George and their latest addition are too cute!

My brother sent me this snapchat of me, needless to say it is my favourite photo!

My Yes Equality badge! 

So that's about it from me, 

Hope you're all well, it's only as I type these last few words have I realised how much I missed blogging! Hopefully I'll be blogging more regularly, fingers crossed! 

If you're also doing the Leaving Cert, how is your study going? Let me know in the comments!

Stay Strong, Happy & Fearless!
Aveen xx

''She Ran Away To Chase Her Dreams, And They Said She Wouldn't Make It Far.''

Hey Everyone!

As you may know, it's been nearly two weeks since I last posted here. I genuinely do have reason(s) for this, however the main one is just Sixth Year/Leaving Cert. I always knew it was going to be a gruelling and difficult year, especially when you choose to do all Honours subjects.

Most nights now consist of going home from school, starting my homework, dinner, back to homework and study, sleep and repeat. There have been days where I haven't touched my laptop and just check some notifications in the morning on my phone running out the door.

I've also developed a wonderful coffee addiction. I was expecting this to happen, after all when you study/do homework for 4+ hours each night, you do need a nice dose of caffeine. So now each morning begins with dragging myself to get a cup of coffee (2 shots) which still doesn't quite make me feel awake for some reason.

I do occasionally leave my bedroom by the way, last Sunday I travelled to Limerick city.
My brother goes to the University there and I plan hopefully to study in another college in the city too. We visited UL and Mary Immaculate College, for primary teaching. (Bonus points if you figured out what I want to do!)  As my brother has attended the Uni for a number of years, we've made frequent trips to Limerick (despite taking over 3 hours to get there!)

While we visited, the 'Granny' was also there. The streets were absolutely covered in confetti and as the All-Ireland hurling final was that day, there was a lot of Tipperary jerseys (#TippToWinTheReplay #AnyoneButKilkenny) We also went to one of my favourite places, Penneys! I'll have a Autumn Haul pretty soon, so stay tuned for that!

The photos below are from my trip to Limerick, there was also meant to be a photo of a horse on the green grass area of a housing estate in Limerick which unfortunately didn't upload (probably because it's a stereotype of what Limerick is supposedly like)

Sitting in campus in UL 

Sorry for how brief this post is, I just wanted to write SOMETHING as soon as I could. I have two further blog posts for the next few days planned so check my Twitter for updates! 

Stay Strong, Happy and Fearless!
Aveen xx

PS, you know you are a Leaving Cert student when all the LC Meme's and accounts follow you on Twitter! How terrifying. 

Lyrics: 5 Seconds of Summer ~ Social Casualty 

Stay Free, Don’t Go Cause We Don’t Need No Shows''

Hey Everyone!

If you can read this it means I've survived my first week as a Sixth Year student! I went back on Wednesday morning with my blazer, new school bag and a knot of nerves and anxious feelings in my stomach.

It was slightly strange going back to school for the last time, it felt much more real when I realised that the day was my last ever 'back to school day' in secondary school. We got our timetables sorted and had Assembly which was littered with the words, ''Leaving Cert,'' ''Achieve your potential,'' ''Results day'' and ''Points'' at approximate 30 second intervals. As you can imagine my back to school nerves just increased tenfold during all that. (Not fun but I feel most of the year all needed that little DMC)

I have some different teachers this year but most of them are the same. In all honesty by the end of the first day, it felt as if I never even left the school for 3 months for summer. Slightly sickening however I'm glad with how smoothly I've adjusted to going back to school.

I don't really want to talk too much about school in this blog post. A main reason for this is that a lot more people from my school now know about The Random Life of Aveen. It has made me feel much more conscious about what I type here. At first this was a place where I could write quite freely, however now I think that certain topics are either censored or an absolute 'no-go' zone.

It's a little weird to say but two of my teachers mentioned my blog to me during the week. One of my teachers saw me in the corridor saying that they saw the article of Grace and I in the local paper and congratulated me for it. Another mentioned it in class time and wrote down on the white board what website to vote for me for 'Best Blog Post' in the Blog Awards Ireland was and made everyone in the class write it down in their journal. (My face turned beetroot red in all of this but I genuinely appreciate the gesture)  If you're curious about what the competition is, the link is here.

 I wouldn't go as far as to say I feel restrained in what I can say or discuss here, yet it is playing on my mind that there are many more eyes on my page, reading my words and possibly looking for something meaty or juicy to discuss during lunch on Monday. I won't lie but I got that feeling on Wednesday morning at approximately 10.25 am. Not calling people out however I would just like it known that if you talk about people in a large crowd, there is quite a high chance that said person could be 8 paces ahead with quite good hearing. That is all.

I'm quite grateful it's now the weekend, I was only in school for three days yet I feel completely drained.
I will most likely be even worse as the year progresses. Fun times to look ahead to! (Along with a possible coffee addiction) In Fifth Year I became quite dependant on coffee however I stopped drinking it over summer. I think I'll be back on coffee quite shortly though!

To try ease the pain of starting Sixth Year, I treated myself to a new pair of Converse! They're blue and utterly gorgeous! I'm nearly too scared to wear them as they're immaculate! I have a teeny bit of an obsession with Converse, I wear them in different colours depending on the outfit! I was in my local bookshop and picked up ''Eleanor and Park'' by Rainbow Rowell. I'm currently engrossed in 'A Game Of Thrones' ie the first book of GOT which is excellent so after that I'll read Eleanor and Park probably!

All my family were in my house today (Sunday) for a local event in the graveyard (everyone visits the graves of their loved ones and a Mass is said then everyone goes home) So the majority of my aunts and uncles on my Mam's side of the family came up to visit. Needless to say the house was packed for most of the afternoon! It was great seeing most of my relatives, except that none are my age, they're all either toddlers or adults! I seem to forget that I'll legally be in adult on September 26th this year

My Week In Photos!

My Sixth Year timetable *cries*

That's all from me for this week, back to the books for some study! (Did all the homework on Saturday but still have some study to do, it never ends!) 

Stay Strong, Happy and Fearless!
Aveen xx

Lyrics: Gerard Way ~ No Shows 

I started listening to Gerard Way's new album (the two songs released so far) and they're so different to his music with MCR, yet I still find his new songs quite easy to listen to. What do you think? Were you a hardcore MCR fan before they split?

Every Lesson Forms A New Scar, They Never Thought You'd Make It This Far..

Hey Everyone!

This week I finished Fifth Year and my Summer Exams! *Happy dance* So I won't be back in school until late August/early September to start Sixth Year, aka my last year in secondary school. I personally find typing that sentence both exhilarating and also quite, quite terrifying.

I finished up exams on Thursday at lunch time which was nice I have to say. Ever since I've basically stayed at home on Tumblr, tried to finish packing for my trip to the Gaeltacht (It's on Tuesday, my nerves are shot at this stage) and went to Costa two days in a row for a 'Last Supper' of a Costa drink.

I printed a map and directions to the Gaeltacht for my Mam and her first response was ''WAIT, YOU'RE ON AN ISLAND FOR THREE WEEKS?'' She also suggested that it's ''Next stop America from there'' So you can basically picture me being on an island speaking Irish, surrounded by bogs, sheep and stone walls  and being over an hour away from Galway city, this will be interesting!

If you're wondering if my blog will remain active for the duration of the trip, the answer is YES :) I have enlisted in the help of some lovely bloggers who have written guest posts on various topics which will all be posted sometime during the 3 weeks I'm away. I also have written some posts myself but I will be out of contact with the interwebs until June 25th.

Maybe an internet detox is what I need at the moment. After finishing Fifth Year I feel that I need to get away for a while, so many this will be 'killing two birds with the one stone' as it were. I feel that I'm, in a way, too connected to the internet and my thumb is on the pulse of the internet far too often. Once I wake up I check my emails, Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr. I check those websites continuously throughout the day. I think that a detox for three weeks would do no harm, but I will really, really miss blogging, tweeting my bloggers friends and just communicating with everyone. It's going to be hard to adjust but we're allowed to write letters over there which is good!

I honestly am not quite sure what else to say about this week. I basically spent the majority of it cramming, sleeping and panicking over exams, which is always a great way to spend your time. I subsequently spent the other half of the week just reblogging gif's of Dan & Phil and whatever else popped up on my dash.

my latest YouTube video!  Titled ''Negativity On The Internet'' If you liked it please give it a thumbs up or comment! 

Selfie with my Costa today

Sitting in The Sibling's Room 

''Aveen have you packed for the Gaeltacht?'' 

''Everything including the kitchen sink''

Sadly, this seems to be my last post until June 25th at the least. 

I can feel butterflies of nerves as I type these last few sentences as I really don't want to leave the blogging world for three weeks, but it'll be worth it and I will be coming back. 

'Till Then,

Stay Strong, Happy & Fearless, I will miss all of you so much!

Slán Abhaile.

Aveen xx

**Lyrics: Taylor Swift ~ Eyes Open

As You Wait Alone, Hiding Tears Of Doubt..

Hey Everyone!

I've spent the last week or so studying like a maniac for my summer exams so apologies for being quiet here, Twitter and Tumblr. I can't honestly believe that the school year has less than two weeks left. The first day of Fifth Year seems like only yesterday. In September I'll be starting my last year of secondary school, a thought that seems just crazy and utterly surreal!

Due to the incoming exams, I haven't been doing a lot recently that is of much interest. 'The Random Life of Aveen' hasn't been that random as of late, more filled with stress, fear and doubt due to exams and teachers nicely telling us to study.

On Tuesday in Ag Science we went to a nearby field with oil seed rape, which is then turned into rape seed oil! It's a bit of a tongue twister to say out loud. Our teacher told us to take selfies with the crop so here's mine! As I'm a 'senior student' by being in Fifth Year, we're allowed to wear blazers instead of the woolly jumpers. They're actually quite comfortable and you stand out from the sea of jumpers in the school too which is strange at times.

On Thursday morning we had a fire drill in school which was eventful! The fire alarm goes off so often in our school that we just generally ignore it, like if there ever was a fire we'd probably all burn to death. The entire drill took around half an hour which was good as it was during class time!

Down below you'll see I bought a toy sheep, who I've named Claudia! The town I live in is hosting 'Golden Shears' ie the Sheep Shearing Olympics in a way. Needless to say the entire town has gone crazy with sheep related items. I love sheep so I think it's just brilliant that everywhere is covered in sheep. All the shop windows have sheep related displays and some of the election posters even have sheep related puns which I found was hilarious. Nearly all the shops are selling sheep teddies which is just adorable.

I told my Mam that I'm bringing Claudia The Sheep to the Gaeltacht, but she said I'd have to give her an Irish name when I'm over there, so she's now called 'Sive' as I recently read the play of the same name. Wow the optimism!

Saturday had brilliant weather. I went down the town to go to Costa and practically everyone was in shorts or summery clothes which is very strange for Ireland. I went into town, did a few things and bumped into my friend Nora so we spent a while chatting before I went home to study, fun.

My brother finished his third year in University on Saturday as well, which is annoying because I've become used to being the only child at home for most of the year! *Cries* At least September isn't too long away...

Photo with the field, holla. 

''Hey Aveen what have you been up to lately?''

Say hello to Claudia The Sheep!

These are the types of snapchats that I send... 

*Lyrics: Birdy ~ Shine

That's about it from me for this week!

Stay Strong, Happy & Fearless!
Aveen xx

Bubbles And Flashbacks

Hey Everyone!

This week was what can only be described as an insane week. Today of course is Sunday and it's rare when I can't recall the previous Monday and week.

I decided that this week I wouldn't use a song lyric as my blog post title, so I chose two things that have been quite prominent in my week this week, bubbles and flashbacks. That does sound slightly weird, however it is easily explained.

Bubbles. It was the lovely Grace's birthday on Wednesday and her birthday party on Friday. As a surprise, Chyan and I organised to bring in bubbles that day to surprise her! The bubbles were such a hit with everyone else that I was asked (forced is another adjective I'd use) to bring the bubbles to Grace's house on Friday. All seven of us spent a multitude of hours simply blowing bubbles in Grace's room. (Sorry about the floor)

We had a brilliant night so a huge thank you is in order for Grace! We all had a brilliant time, especially watching Gossip Girl and telling stories from my trip to Galway, sorry if I slightly traumatised you all about the time when I was pushed off one of the cliff edges..

Another thing that has been playing on my mind is, flashbacks. This one is slightly more difficult to describe in a few words or even paragraphs. This mainly occurred this week as I had to write an essay/speech for English about ''A speech we would give at our graduation from school'' The title really had me thinking.

We all have random flashbacks and recollections to our past, even something insignificant that happened earlier that day, I've noticed I've been having a lot of flashbacks, both positive and negative. I try to stop myself having flashbacks, especially at the horrid and dreaded hour of 4 am.

You may be wondering what my mind thinks of in my 'flashbacks' well, it's flashes of memories from my childhood and early years as a teenager really. One minute it could be a happy memory from age eleven, the next, a memory of crying in the playground as I'd been chased by girls in my class screaming profanities of how I'd never amount to anything.

But this is not what this blog post is about. As I wrote in the essay/speech, ''Don't let your past steal your future'' I'll let them wonder how I got this far, I'm wondering that myself, but I'm still travelling towards bigger and better things.

My Week In Photos

A random selfie before going to Grace's party 

With Aisling & Vivien !

'All of them' 

Selfie with Viv 

Casual selfie with Aisling

A 'very good' selfie with Grace

That's about it from me this week, check out my very first beauty haul here! 

Stay Strong, Happy and Fearless!

Aveen