Monday 26th May 2014 // Monthly Favourites

Within the past couple of days (now that AS exams are over and I actually have some free time) I've finally had time to rekindle some love for my favourite past-times. Yesterday I managed to see my best friend Jayson again, but other than that I've really been enjoying my own company. I don't know why. This means that I've spent quite a lot of time alone; whether it be watching movies, reading books, blogging, writing songs or whatever.

One thing I've rediscovered, is my love of Italy and all things Italian. I was having a discussion with a couple of college friends about what the hell I'm going to do if I fail my AS-Levels when I began to consider spending some time in Italy; which hadn't crossed my mind in a while. When I was quite young, I picked up a book called 'Pretty Face' by Mary Hogan, which I wouldn't recommend reading unless you're around 13-14, but nonetheless when I read it I became obsessed with a small town named Assisi, which is situated within the Umbria region of Italy. The book told the story of how a largely overweight girl was sent over to Italy (specifically, Assisi) where it was believed she could lose some weight. The main character managed this by climbing the mountain there every day in order to see her friend/boyfriend Enzo. It's all very gay but it's a lovely story to read if you're a young teenager, or if you just feel like falling in love with Assisi. Since then, I've had an overwhelming urge to visit Italy, and who knows, maybe even spend a portion of my life there. If I'm really gonna go all out on this 'all things Italian' point, I could also mention Marcus Butler's YouTube video "Drunk In Italy". I watched the video with a friend at a sleepover, and was amazed by the fact that they actually party in the streets! It's just that you wouldn't see a rave on the pavement in England, complete with strobe lights and everything, now, would you?

Leading on from this first point, I've also rediscovered my love for learning languages. Even before I read 'Pretty Face', I was well on my way to learning basic Italian, and a little bit more French. At this point I might only have been 8 or 9 years old. I was short of things to do at weekends so I attempted to learn Italian by reading a short children's Learn Italian book, and learning French via PC-CD ROM. Recently I realised that hardly any of either language has stuck in my head - if you asked me to speak a sentence in Italian I would have said something as simple as "Caio, amore mio" - and I can say even less in French. Annoyed at myself for letting it slip, I spoke to my friend Dan about it, who shares a passion for languages (though he's much more concerned with German). He was able to direct me to a free app on the Google Play store called 'Duolingo' which is extremely helpful for learning languages. I've been using the app for four days and I can already speak Italian to a Level 6 standard. It'll be vital that I learn at least some of the language if I want to stay in Italy long-term. If you're interested in learning a language, I highly recommend this app as you can go at your own pace, and you can choose whichever language you like. It also reminds you at intervals to keep up with studying at times when particular sections might be fading from your memory.

Something entirely new I discovered just over a month ago is Game of Thrones. I can't say with certainty that I know all the characters' names or that I understand all the story-lines because I have only seen from the end of Season 3, but I did fall in love with the Sixth Episode of Season Four: 'The Laws of Gods and Men,' where we begin to see (almost) everyone rally against Tyrion who is by far my favourite character. And I have to say *spoiler alert* "I DEMAND A TRIAL BY COMBAT!" was definitely the highlight of the season. I would love to read the books, but sadly I don't have any yet. Plus, I'm already started on two books, 'It's Kind Of A Funny Story' and House Of Night's 'Revealed,' as well as having purchased three books (including The Lovely Bones and Eragon) over the weekend. Surely, there'll be some book reviews coming your way soon.

Meaghan xx

My Wonderful Trip To Whitley Bay!

This year, I was kindly invited by Paige and her parents to join their holiday at a caravan park in Whitley Bay in the Newcastle area, along with Paige's brother Connor and his best friend Sam (who I was later to find hilarious). Ofcourse, I joyfully accepted - even though I knew I was going to have to be ugh, sociable. The idea that me and Paige could add to our collection of YouTube videos (@ YouTube 'paigeandmeaghan') excited me - and the idea of collaborations with Connor and Sam (@ YouTube 'adoucheandaboob') just spurred me on further. I'd seen some ADoucheAndABoob videos before; but had never met Sam in person, and therefore hadn't really appreciated just how much work he puts into his videos with Connor. I'll go into that later. But truly, during the exam period this short YouTuber holiday could not have been any more appreciated.

Day One:
I woke up exceptionally early on a Friday morning to trundle around to Paige's house with my laptop bag and toiletries, ready to jump in the "Banter Bus" - or larger car - that Paige's mum Donna had borrowed from her own mother especially for the trip. Paige and I sat in the back where the boot would usually be, filming with my Canon PowerShot, whilst Connor and Sam sat in the seats in front. It made for a ridiculously fun journey. I don't think I'd ever used Instagram so much. Paige's dad insisted on having Queen on throughout the journey, which obviously made for some fun moments during the high-pitched 'Bohemian Rhapsody'. Despite having never come into contact with Sam, and despite my inability to NOT BE awkward around strangers, everyone got along just great. Everything was marvy. Approaching Newcastle, we ofcourse reached the M6 toll station. For some reason, one of us decided that this was in some way similar to the "Mexican border". On entering Whitley Bay itself, we passed a large Mosque-like building that did bear a (slight) resemblance to the Taj Mahal. It was decided amongst us all that Whitley Bay would now be known to us as "Mindia" - a combination of Mexico and India. We arrived a little early at the caravan park, so Paige, Connor, Sam and I went onto the kids' playground whilst the adults waited for the keys to our new temporary home. Once we got into the caravan, Paige and I were lucky enough to get the biggest room, with a double bed (a luxury I am denied at home). Looking around our room we were happy to discover that we had an en-suite, and it became a game to try and hide it from the rest of the "family" - passing it off as a boiler. Thanks to a considerable amount of snooping from Paige's mum while we were out, our secret was soon uncovered. That night we all went out to "The Lighthouse" the Park's own entertainment venue, where of course Paige and I were the only ones to dance (for about 10 minutes) and Paige caught the eye of a stranger. At the end of the night, we returned to the caravan and uploaded all the footage from my camera to my laptop, ready to be put together.
The PAM 'Day One' video is live at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s8OY0L7dRRo, wheras the ADAAB video is available at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=px6i7v4X54Y.



The Taj Mahal? Decide for yourselves



"Mindia"

The room Paige and I shared

Day Two: We filmed all day. Today - after suffering electrical problems and several goings-off of the smoke alarm - we caught an unfamiliar bus down to the beach, where it was our intention to visit the actual lighthouse on the shore. We never made it on day two, thanks to the rain, but we had fun nevertheless. Paige's parents did their own thing, whilst we teenagers explored the seaside town. We found a cool fancy-dress/prop shop where we bought some funky glasses; which we foolishly thought would diguise us from Paige's parents. In actual fact, her parents walked past as we exited the shop - foiling our plan completely. We roamed on, and discovered an old red phone booth which we branded as a "TARDIS". After dinner at various places (it appears we all had very different tastes) we walked along the beach and found items such as a "Mindia trophy" (a large stick), "Harry Potter's wand" (a thick twig), "Hulk's Bogey" (a huge rock covered in moss) and even a scooter. If Connor could get his hands on it, he tossed it into the sea. We then walked back to the caravan to get ready for another night out. This time, the stranger who had admired Paige the night before, built up the courage to talk to her and turned out to be a perfectly nice young man called Liam, of the same age. Liam's sister, Niamh, played pool with us and seemed to have a thing for Connor. It was a nice little love-square really. We arranged to go swimming as a group the next day, and I went back to the caravan early to do some revision, leaving them to their games.
The PAM "Day Two" video is available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tYA5nx3LE3Q
The ADAAB video is available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ocN1ABsDICE



Our "disguises"

 

Connor, Sam and I - Fun on the Beach

There were some funny moments along the way

 

Night-life

 

The "TARDIS"

The Last Day: Today we walked back into Whitley Bay town, where we were determined to get to the lighthouse. The weather was beautiful, and so it didn't take long for the tide to go out. Liam and Niamh met us on the beach and joined us on our quest. Walking up the long, water-soaked path to the lighthouse was actually really romantic, and when we finally reached the end of the path we were surprised to find a couple of seals - and more rocks for us to climb. After spending about an hour or so just climbing and chatting, we made our way back to the caravan park, where we all gathered our things for the swimming baths. I made a mockery of myself in the pool, where everyone was only too happy to learn that I cannot swim. I'll give it to them though - my grip on the sides at the deep end was laughable. I spent most of my time clinging for dear life on Paige's back, whilst everyone else found it funny to splash water in each other's eyes. Some dancing even occured. At four o' clock, I returned to the caravan to make sure everything was properly packed (curse my worrying), but everyone else decided to stay out to say a proper goodbye to Liam and Niamh. Since I had spent the least amount of time with them, I wasn't too familiar, and just gave them a friendly wave from the car. Everyone was quiet for a long while during the journey home, and you could tell we all wanted to stay a while longer. Horrid exams.
Unfortunately, the PAM "Day Three" video is still in the process of being edited, but ADAAB's is live at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESul_Ml_zmA.

Liam and Paige - We returned to the Beach

The "Love Bridge" - The Lighthouse was in our sights

Connor and Niamh - We all enjoyed the rocks

Silliness and swimming

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