Highlights of 2015

Hey y'all,

Happy New Year! I hope you all celebrated in style, in whatever way that style may be! Me being me..well I celebrated NYE in style by eating rubbish food and ordering takeout ice cream with my BFF. So yes a nice quiet night in rather than out. 

Sorry that it's taken ages for me to post this. I've been busy and then I've been back at work. 

Anyway, like every year, here is my highlights of 2015. 2015 has definitely been a massive improvement to 2014. That year was just a blur, so much of a blur that I still think I am 23. When in reality I am 24. I think I feel this way, because I was so consumed with passing my PGCE, I forgot to live and when I failed, a part of me died. It feels like I've wasted my year as a 22 year old. It also doesn't help that I am going to be a quarter of a century old, it's depressing to think about it. But, I am trying to be more positive and trying really hard not to wish my life away.

Anyway, starting from January 2015

1. Italy - I spent two wonderful months in Milan, doing something I loved but forgotten my passion for. At times it was so stressful and it wasn't easy, but I don't regret it. I met some wonderful people and ate myself silly on gelato. I would have never done something like teach abroad, if it wasn't for failing the PGCE and losing my way. I guess this was my reason. Being in Italy didn't change me drastically, like I thought it would. It instead reignited my passion for education and teaching. That I can teach, that if you are passionate and determined enough, things will happen in time. I am still not a qualified teacher, but I am making steps that will take me there. I just need to hold onto my passion and love for it.

2. The Race For Life - After coming home from Milan and slowly starting to regret all those gelatos. I decided to sign up for the 5K Race For Life. This motivated me to start training for it. So I got into a morning routine of walking/running. This was good at the time as it got me up early and helped me keep fit.

3. Getting A Job! - As you read in my previous post I got myself a teaching assistant job. It took over a year to get a job, but I landed one, after spending months crying over 'my failures', teaching in Italy and constant applications. I finally did it! Definitely one big highlight.

Christmas presents from my lovely class.

Check out this amazing gift I received from one of my children. Such a lovely and thoughtful gift. The child's mum said he chose it & wrapped it himself!

4. Travelling - Four countries in one year! From Milan to the Alps (Ponte di Legno) to Venice. Then in the summer From Dublin to Galway. From Amsterdam to Breda, to Rotterdam & to Eindhoven. Then finally ending it in all, a winter trip to Budapest. I think my favourite place I travelled too in 2015 is Ireland, I just can't get enough of Ireland, closely followed by Budapest.

Milano <3

Ponte di Legno <3

Venice <3

Galway <3 

The Netherlands <3

Budapest <3 

5. My Cousin's Engagement - I helped my future cousin in-law propose to my cousin. It was a sweet and long walk around important parts of London (that linked with their relationship). Also pulled off some remarkable acting skills, skills I did not think I had. So amazing, It is Oscarworthy...so do look out for me walking the red carpet. 

Now I have bridesmaid duties!

6. Hunter Hayes - So as you all know my birthday is in June, well as a present from my sister and cousin I got to see Hunter Hayes play at the O2 in Hammersmith! It was the best present ever and he was amazing! Though I was absolutely knackered for work the next day. But definitely a brilliant highlight and we made it on the last train home. Unlike a previous experience...were we missed the train by literally seconds. We watched it leave...it was depressing but also an experience haha.

It seems Blogger won't let me upload over a minute long video, so here is a snippet.

7. New Arrival - The arrival of my new cousin. Baby Beau. Though she spent almost a month without a name, we called her New Baby (NB) for a while...sometimes that is what we still call her.

8. Moving on - And final highlight, is being able to let go of the past, of all that happened in 2014, that broke my heart. I have stopped crying constantly, I stopped blaming myself, though at times I do think it is my fault, but I have stopped thinking I was solely to blame for what happened in my PGCE year. It was a tough year, I didn't let myself relax, I didn't ask for help, I wasn't supported like I should have been, but it is important that I found time to forgive myself, and to see it as an obstacle, rather than a failure. I now know, when I do apply again I will be 10 times more prepared, I will have more experience and hopefully new found confidence. 



So New Year's Resolutions for 2016.

1. Keep fit more. - The one year I don't make resolutions, I go and start running.But yes intend to maintain this. Including doing daily exercises which I have been doing quite religiously. (I've been getting up at half 6 every weekday, and do a little exercise before I start to get ready for work).

2. Be more positive. - If you don't already know, I am quite a pessimistic person, so to be positive...well it is a challenge. Something I really want to change. As I feel it will contribute to self confidence too. 

3. Write more. - I enjoy writing, so I need to blog a bit more, maybe even about makeup products! Anything just to get me writing again.

4. Drive! - I vaguely remembering this being a resolution a few years ago...Ha...yeah as you can tell that still hasn't happened. Oops. But this year I am determined!

5. Travel.- Last year I was very fortunate to travel to four countries. With work and my low income, this won't be as easily achieved but talks in motion for a city break. So watch this space, Sam is going on holiday! Even if it is Ireland again, just travelling somewhere is a resolution.

So ...once again sorry for such a late post. The second week of January is pretty much over, but I am still keeping out with most of my resolutions. 

Love,

Sam x

Summer of Weddings

Hey guys,

As promised here is a blog about my summer adventures. This year not only was I blessed with travelling to the country of the best gelato in the world, I got the chance to attend two beautiful weddings, one in the beautiful Ireland and Amsterdam. 

I have been lucky this year to have been able to travel to four different countries. As well as Italy, Ireland and The Netherlands, I got the chance to travel to Hungary's capital Budapest. (I shall blog about that adventure in another post.)

Anyway, as the blog title suggest this summer was filled with weddings. I went to four weddings, well (technically it is three, as one wedding was spread into two parts, but on different days). Once you heard the words 'four weddings' I bet you wanted to finish it off with 'and a funeral'. Sadly this was the case. I did indeed attend four weddings and a funeral. Something I didn't notice, until my mother quoted the famous 90's film title.(Something that I was quite surprised about.)

So the first wedding to start of my summer of weddings was in Mid - July. One of two London weddings. It was your typical Chinese Wedding, filled with lots and lots of people, lots of family members that I haven't seen in a while and some I would meet for the first time. Also and a lot of food. If you are not familiar with how a Chinese wedding goes, well... do expect to come out with a food baby, depending how much you eat, I would say you'll come out looking around three/four months pregnant, with your food child. In a Chinese wedding banquet, there usually is around 10 to 12 dishes, the number of dishes tend to vary, but here are a selection of photos, just to give you an insight of what you may expect at a wedding.

There usually is:

A rice dish.

A soup dish.

Crab balls dish.

A fish dish.

a lobster dish.

A poultry dish.

A noodle dish.

A pork dish.

A vegetable dish.

A seafood dish.

A dessert dish.

A sweet soup dish.

Here is a picture of me and my sister on the wedding day before we stuffed our faces with all the dishes above. 

If I have made you 'hangry' I am terribly sorry. Anyway that was wedding no.1, followed by a funeral. A week later I was on a plane to the beautiful Ireland. Where my family and I spent a few days before the wedding. I have previously been to Ireland before, back in 2012. I have also blogged about that experience.

check out the link below to that 2012 post. (The year where I blogged the most.)

Sam's 2012 Irish Adventure

Anyway, as I had been there before, and I am pretty good at reading maps, well I technically just have a good sense of direction, I was my family, and my parent's friends tour guide. Upon first arrival, we met with the groom and headed out for a good old Irish lunch before visiting the Guinness Storehouse. They've changed things around and refurnish since my last visit. I didn't pull a pint this time round, since well I already done it, so instead I got my free beer and was designated photographer for my family. 

Just a few photos from the storehouse.

After going to the storehouse, we headed back to the hotel and made arrange for dinner and an early night, ready for a whole day of exploring Dublin. 

The next day we went on a free walking tour of the south side of Dublin, starting from The Spire on O'Connell Street. It was a three hour walking tour of some of the famous places on the south side of Dublin centre. Starting off with the Half Penny Bridge, to Trinity College, to Temple Bar, to Dublin Castle, to St Patrick's & Christchurch Cathedrals. Luckily for us the rain held off until the end of the tour, when we were making our way back to the hotel. (typical really).

Trinity College.

After a long day of walking we had dinner and had an another early night as we had booked a trip for the following day, that would take us to the west side of Ireland. To Galway. Something I wasn't so keen on doing. I really didn't want to go on a two-three hour coach ride to the other side of Ireland. But it was well worth the early rise and sitting on a coach until my bottom was sore. The weather held up, the sun was shining, it was a beautiful, yet very very windy day. I never fell in love with the country more than I did, on that day in Galway. In the photos you will see that, I never packed for long distance walking, and Gail force winds.

This series of photos, shows you just how windy it was. It was ridiculous, the moment I step of the bus, I was knocked off my feet by a massive gust of wind.

This was taken on the Cliffs of Moher, it was so beautiful and magical.

One day I would love to go back to Ireland to explore more of it's beautiful landscapes. It was my favourite trip of the summer, even if I had been to Ireland before, I will definitely go back again. Also because an Irish accent is my weakness. Who doesn't love an Irish accent. 

One reason I was so apprehensive about going to Galway was that the wedding was the following day. Though I arrived back to Dublin pretty late, I still incredibly glad I went, It was so beautiful, I just cannot describe it with mere words. 

We spent the wedding morning getting ready at the hotel and checking out, as we would be spending our final night in Dublin at the hotel of the wedding venue. 

 It was a lovely and beautiful wedding, as I had been pre warned about Irish weddings, it indeed went on to past midnight, to I think at least four in the morning. Being an old person that I am, I barely stayed up past two. Which in my defence was a very good effort on my part. Surviving on three to four hours sleep, we were out of that hotel, and went to visit a local park before heading to a shopping centre and eventually to the airport for our flight home. 

Upon arriving home you would have thought I wouldn't have a relaxing weekend but nope I had a day break before the second half of this wedding. As you see the groom is an age old family friend who's bride was Irish (hence an Irish Wedding). The happy couple also decided to host a Chinese banquet for those who could not make it to Ireland. Which well as you can guess, I was carrying another food baby. 

A ring that I got given from table 6, on this table was the groom's uni friends.

Two days after the banquet I was on another plane to the Netherlands for the final wedding of the season. Landing in Amsterdam we got a taxi to the city centre. Which I highly do not recommend, unless you have cash to spare. I went with my parents and they were paying. But a 15/20 minutes taxi journey cost us almost 60 Euros, which is a ridiculous amount. I would recommend getting the train into the centre, it is easy and a hell a lot cheaper than a taxi. 

We stayed in a very nice hotel that was quite central. We spent two night in Amsterdam, and exploring the city centre as well as the outskirts where the beautiful windmills lie. 

Above are just a few photos from Amsterdam.

After spending a couple of days in Amsterdam, my parents and I caught a train down to Breda (I did it all by myself, buying tickets and with my mother constantly pestering me whether I got the right tickets or not), where my mum's friend lives. (we were attending her youngest daughter's wedding). There she took us to Rotterdam and Eindhoven. The Netherlands is pretty, but in my view it doesn't have anything against the Irish beauty. 

These were really cool, cubed houses.

The day of the wedding finally arrived, and the venue was beautiful. Not just that, while we were there. It was one of the hottest weeks in Amsterdam. A huge contrast to Ireland where it was freezing and I was wearing tights and a coat. The wedding venue was beautiful, it was an open bar the dinner was amazing. But it lacked one thing. Air conditioning. I drank so much water, I made myself bloated and couldn't enjoy the delicious meal. Which consisted of three starters, one amazing main and an ice cream cake for pudding, which was Mango flavour. Everything about that wedding was amazing but the lack of air con. I was dying, and as you know I don't bold well in heat. 

So that was my summer of weddings, sorry for bombing y'all with all my photos, Ireland was my best summer holiday but the best food definitely goes to wedding no.4! It was a total shame about the air conditioning. 

I hopefully will get another post out about Budapest before the new year. Looks like I might back to my blogging ways.

Wishing you all a most wonderful and magical Christmas.

Sam x