''That's When I Could Finally Breathe''

Hey Everyone!

I am proud and relieved to say that I am finally back from an extended/unexpected blog hiatus. I feel sad that I abandoned TRLOA for a month but to be honest, it was necessary.

An awful lot of things have happened since I last wrote here. I found that compiling information and photos every seven days was becoming difficult and with a sickening tug I write - boring. I felt like I was stuck in a rut of doing the same every week. Life has become a mundane pattern of routine as of late and it is tedious. I thought that a break to breathe and live a little more would be more beneficial to myself, my blog and all of you.

Since my last post on February 22nd, I have had a quick month filled with highs and lows. I enjoyed my mid term and came back to school. After an agonising three weeks, I received all my mock results back. Overall, I was happy with them, I got what I need in the actual Leaving Cert which was absolutely unreal. I was a little disappointed with a subject or two but I now know which areas to improve upon for the Leaving Cert. It can't be denied that some results need to be taken with a pinch of salt (or a few!)

I also learnt that the stress of the Leaving Cert brings out the worst in a lot of people. People talk and say things without realising the consequences of their words. Despite the fact that what their saying is a blatant lie, it might be believed by others. Also, if someone is talking behind your back and blackening your name, metaphorically and probably physically, you are ahead of them. Actions have consequences. To quote the play Othello by William Shakespeare, ''Beware my lord of jealousy, it is the green monster which doth mock the meat it feeds upon.''

I actually went socialising during my month off! Below are photos from my friends Maeve and Tom's 18th and also a trip to Dublin Zoo with Spleodar! The party was a fantastic night to say the least. You know it's a good night when I only take one photo ie I was enjoying the night too much to capture it on a lens. The trip to the Zoo was the last Spleodar trip of the year which was sad. I joined Spleodar in Transition Year with a poor level of spoken Irish. I attended one of their Gaeltacht courses last year and was a Cinnire this year. My Irish has improved so much over the past few years and I will really miss all the cinnirí and daltaí.

I was with Grace for most of the day and other students in the club. We saw practically every animal and had a delicious pizza for lunch. The weather was beautiful and I took lots of photos of the animals and the sunshine on the bus home. *Cue a shoutout to the man on the Luas who waved back at us all*

Today is Mother's Day, tomorrow is my Mam's birthday and the next day is St. Patrick's Day. Busy start to the week indeed! It's scary to think how quickly time is blurring past. In two weeks I have my Easter holidays for two weeks then my Irish and German oral for the Leaving Cert. Deep breaths!

Credit to Chloe

Caítlín and I !

So that's about it from me, 

Stay Strong, Happy & Fearless!
(Something which can be difficult but gets me through each day. It is the small acts of bravery in life that define us)

I can finally breathe clearly. 

Aveen. 

*Lyrics Taylor Swift - Clean

My Gaeltacht Experience!

Hey Everyone!

I'm back home after spending three weeks in the Gaeltacht in Leitír Móir in Galway! It's slightly surreal to be speaking English, listening to music in English and typing away on my laptop after three weeks of pure Irish. So I thought I'd write a blog post about my experiences over in the Gaeltacht.

So I went on the bus to the Gaeltacht and as the area is quite remote, it took a few hours (six if I recall) and we were divided into our houses, the people who later practically became family! Each day was completely the same but also completely different.

The day started at 7.45 am, with breakfast at 8. We arrived at the Colaíste at 9.30 (we left the house at 8.55, walked for 15 ish minutes then got the bus) sang Amhrán na bhFiann with classes at 10.

We also had ceílís every night which were honestly brilliant and so fun. Each night had a different theme and you dressed according to the theme. We learnt so many songs and dances in Irish, soon I was thinking completely in Irish. I'm back 2 days from Leitir Móir and I'm still thinking in Irish.

The weather was amazing while I was there too. If you scroll through my photos (I had 145 photos but I picked my favourites which are below) you'll see some of the utterly gorgeous scenery that I was walking around for 3 weeks. The temperature reached 29 degrees Celsius a few days so sun cream (urchtar gréine) became mo chara is fearr! (best friend) It got to the stage where I was applying sun cream 4 times a day.

However I tan quite easily so I'm now incredibly brown after spending three weeks outside. When I arrived home my Mam exclaimed ''Aveen, you're brown!'' At the start of the photos I look my normal self however the photograph progressively show my skin become more tanned whoop.

My vocabulary in English still isn't quite up to its usual standard so I'm taking the next few days easy (which is why the language in this post is slightly repetitive, sorry, just not used to speaking English again!) and just catching up on what happened in the three weeks I was gone. I still can't believe I survived three weeks without my laptop, phone and Wi-Fi!

It was definitely a brilliant and unforgettable experience and I learnt so much new vocabulary which I'll definitely be using in my Irish exams. It's brilliant to be back home and chatting to all my friends (both in my
town and on the internet/idirlíon) I really missed you all!

Here are some photos of my adventures in the Gaeltacht, if you're going on a course, or if you went on the same course as me, let me know down in the comments or wherever :D

Gaeltacht, Leitir Móir 2014

Some of the scenery. 

My wristbands and tan

With Mary and Aisling on the last night!

Selfie in the sunlight. 

Lots of doodles..

Last day of classes! (photobombed by some of the lads)

With Louise!

My class for the three weeks, Rang Naoise! (Who even was Naoise)

Last Day Selfie

Walking home from the ceilí and took this photo.

A selfie within a selfie

Some of the scenery

Last night in the Gaeltacht!

Last day selfie with Ashling!

Disco!

All the girls in my house :) 

Stay Strong, Happy & Fearless!

Hope you enjoyed reading about my time in the Gaeltacht, it was utterly brilliant and I'd love to go back next year (but I'll be doing my Leaving Cert *gulps*) 

Slán! 

Aveen xx

The Only Thing Embedded In My Mindset, Is How I'm Addicted To Progress..

Hey Everyone!

Lyrics: The Coronas ~ Addicted To Progress
Sorry for the later than usual blog post today, I was actually being sociable this weekend for once! *Shock horror*

This week was my second week back after Mid-Term, in reality it feels like two months. I'm utterly exhausted at the moment, I've actually no idea why I'm so tired. Everything seems to be so stressful and I keep wishing there was more hours in the day to either study or sleep.

It's honestly shocking how quickly time is flying by, in 3 months, I'll be sitting somewhere in Galway talking Irish. In September when I started Fifth Year, I felt that the year was going to last for ever and the Gaeltacht felt like an unreachable destination. With each passing day and week, it's edging ever closer in my mind.

Monday to Friday was literally a ''blink and you'll miss it'' type of week.But Pancake Tuesday was glorious, I'm definitely in love with lemon and sugar pancakes. I was extremely positive on Monday morning however this positivity evaporated by the end of the day. At the end of each day I was practically begging to go home, even the other students blocking my locker block would set me crazy. (I don't cope well with a lack of sleep as you can probably tell)

We had a maths test on Wednesday, which I had a number of sleepless nights over (Might as well be honest) Due to the classes abysmal performance, we were given another test on Friday which hopefully will be better. I've been having nightmares and weird dreams about maths nearly every night since Monday, it's been horrible! (Imagine maths equations like chasing you near cliffs and screaming to find the volume of random objects, yep)

On Friday evening was the last week of the Irish Club until September (It's Spleodar, can't say which one though, cos that's a little stalkerish) and my friends and I were sad that Spleodar was over as we loved talking in Irish, playing games, eating pizza and of course, gossiping as Gaeilge!

Which leads onto why I wasn't on the interwebs on Saturday! All the Spleodar clubs went to Carlow for ''Slogadh Spleodar'' where we were in a parade all over Carlow all carrying balloons for Seachtain Na Gaeilge. Afterwards we had lunch and listened to an Irish band called ''Mo Hat Mo Gheansaí'' who were savage and played lots of songs in Irish (including one of my favourites, The Coronas, Heroes or Ghosts, link below to The Coronas singing it)

After Mo Hat Mo Gheansaí's performance (which had everyone up and dancing) We went to another very Irish place, Supermacs. I will admit now, I'd never been to Supermacs, mainly because it's not in my town (Niall Horan is obsessed with the place apparently!) The place was full of Spleodar students. Afterwards we began rehearsing for the Comórtas (Competition) where each club had their own song to sing and the best would be the winner.

*laughs really awkwardly* Our song was about Domino's pizza, honestly. The song was to tune of Waka Waka by Shakira. It was honestly hilarious singing about pizza ''Ni Mhaith Linn Glasraí'' ~ We Don't Like Vegetables, that was a line from the song! I'd post the actual lyrics but I'm laughing so hard thinking about us standing up on the stage singing the song about pizza, only in Spleodar! :)

Overall, it was an interesting week, full of plenty of ups and downs, but that's just the unpredictability of life. I try not to compare my ''behind-the scenes to someone else's highlight reel'' It may seem that bloggers have ''amazing lives'' (I have been told this by people) But in reality, I'm the quiet girl in the class who rarely speaks unless to say ''here'' when my name is called. People think I'm oozing with self confidence, it's the total opposite. I love writing, and this is my way of writing.

Photos from my week!

A random selfie, I'm still getting used to my glasses. 

Top and hoody are both Roxy. 

The place where most of life is now spent. ie, studying (Student-Dying)

I bought this months issue of Company magazine with Zoella on the cover! I've read most of it and it's absolutely brilliant. I loved Zoella's interview and photoshoot, the Grease t shirt was gorgeous.

A random selfie taken this morning. I feel as though my glasses make me look younger? Idk.

''Aveen your parent teacher meetings are on Wednesday'' *Fear in my eyes* 

First trip to Supermacs with malteser ice-cream. Half my OTP (Dantesers)

One of my favourite songs possibly ever, Heroes or Ghosts by The Coronas, in Irish! 

Stay Strong, Happy & Fearless,

Aveen xx