3 Days in London

It is 8am and I have already successfully bargained my way into getting Clinique’s Take the Day Off Balm for 19.55 instead of 24.50 due to a shelving error and what I can vaguely remember about advertising standards and consumer rights from Junior Cert Home Economics. So you can say my trip to London started off well.

My trip to London consisted of my 9^th and 10^th flights in 12 months. 6 of those were done solo. It is a fact universally known that flying on your own is 100% less stressful than flying with a companion. That’s how the Jane Austen quote goes isn’t it? On this trip I was accompanied by my older brother. What I had not accounted for was that the last time he flew was 4 years ago and that this is his 7^th flight in his entire lifetime. As we finally get onto the plane at 8:30am, I breathe a sigh of relief that for at least the next hour I know he cannot get into any trouble. This is what travelling with a child must be like.

This was only my second time to London. The last time I was there was July 2012, just before the Olympics so it feels fitting to be back during Olympic season again. I was 17 then, 21 now. A lot has happened in the past 4 years and I got this strange feeling coming out of Leicester Square tube station onto Charring Cross Road with the exact same suitcase I brought with me last time. When I was in London in 2012, I felt like I was an adult but really I relied a lot on my Mam then, for spending money, to mind our passports etc. This time however I know I am an adult. I have worked at least 2 night shifts a week for the entire summer to afford this trip. I did this without her. And while this is the 4^th trip that I have financed on my own, this one feels more poignant.

I have wanted to live in London for years, if the starting salary for a midwife wasn’t absolutely shit I would be moving there asap post qualification. The entire time I was in London I did not feel out of my element or like I was in a foreign city at all. I felt like I belonged and I think it showed considering I got asked for directions several times.

On my first day in the big smoke, we went to Selfridge’s. I felt rich just being in that store. Chanel boutiques beside a display of watches for 25000 pounds. The cheapest watch on this display was 15000. “I could buy that, I mean my life savings would gone and all I’d have is an okay looking watch but I mean I could buy it” my brother notes. After buying my first Nars and Chanel products, I leave feeling a million dollars despite only having a few hundred in my bank account.

After the typical trip to Hamley’s toy shop and a walk back to our hotel through Soho, we separate to our hotel rooms for a lie down. We need to conserve our energy for the main event of the day and the whole reason we planned this trip. The Warner Brothers’ The Making of Harry Potter Studio Tour. Like so many people Harry Potter means so much to me, I even have an Expecto Patronum tattoo on my right bicep.

I would hate to spoil the tour for anyone but it is necessary for any Potter fan. I had the absolute best time and it was so worth it. I actually cannot put into words how much I loved it. We did the tour in just about two hours. After a 20 minute train back to London, we quickly shove Pizza Express into our mouths and are back in our rooms for 9:30. I have never been so tired in my life.

On day two for some ungodly reason, I woke up wide-awake at 6:30am after waking up several times during the night. My body never sleeps well the first night in a new place. I got ready for the day with butterflies in my stomach. On the 10^th of August I saw Parts 1 and 2 of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child in the Palace Theatre. I somehow was lucky enough to score tickets in June. That morning after breakfast, we collected our tickets and headed to Buckingham Palace via St James’ Park. While I saw the Palace when I was last in London I didn’t see the park as most of it was closed off in preparation for the Olympics. It was beautiful. We also stopped by the Horse Guards Parade to watch the Changing of the Guard.

 I could have spent all day exploring. Unfortunately, I couldn’t as it was time to see Cursed Child!

I will not spoil a single thing because you know #KeepTheSecrets, but to people who did not enjoy to script book, you need to see it. The plot is merely a device to explore the characters. It is just incredible.

One of my good friends lives in Cambridge and he came down for two nights in London to see Harry Potter and the Cursed Child with us and to hang out for a bit. That night after Cursed Child we got the tube to London Bridge to go to the bar in The Shard. Unfortunately, we weren’t allowed in as all three of us were wearing Converse. They have a “dress code”. We laughed it off and we went back to our hotel for the night.

On our final day, in the morning I went to Charlotte Tilbury’s flagship store in Covent Garden. I loved it. I love Charlotte Tilbury’s make-up and had a whole list of things to buy since the pound is so good compared to the euro. Again, it was an experience that made me feel ten times richer and more glam than I actually am. Expect a blog post on my haul and in the future reviews of the products!

Later on that morning, we went to a market in East London near Brick Lane and it was everything you’d imagine an eastend market to be. Full of haggling, antiques and silverware that may or may not be stolen. But walking the streets of London with my friends I felt such a sense of belonging and home almost.

It was the most incredible three days. I cannot wait to go back.

Laura
xo

Imagining the Future is a Kind of Nostalgia

I've been feeling very nostalgic as of late. Right now my Spotify playlist is full of All Time Low, My Chemical Romance and random indie songs that were hits in the late 00s and early 10s. In January, inspired by the tenth anniversary, my love for High School Musical was renewed after marathoning the trilogy in one sitting (oh Zac Efron, you filled 11 year old me with butterflies and give 21 year old me hot flushes). You bet that very same nostalgic emo playlist is also filled with the entire HSM discography. I'm going to see Harry Potter and the Cursed Child in August. Being excited for a new Harry Potter story is so strange. I haven't been excited like this since I was 12.

I think this nostalgia has been ignited for two reasons.

Number 1: I looked after two teenagers in work and had intelligent, mature conversations with them. Then I realised that they were both born after 9/11. That was the first time I have ever felt old. I watched their eyes sparkle with wonder as I told them my where-were-you-during-9/11 spiel. I was just dumbfounded by how 9/11 is history to them. It reminded me of my parents telling me about the moon landing.

Number 2: I'm entering my final year of college in September. Unlike the average final year student, I don't have a full year left. I have my finals in December and on the week of  January the 9th 2017 I start a full time job as an Intern Midwife. This is my last ever summer out of the 'real world'.

While I'm terrified, I'm also equally excited. I will finally be getting paid for what I have been doing for the past 3 years. Let me tell you nothing makes you question your life choices more than feeling exhausted at 2am, only halfway through a night shift that you are not being paid to do. I am so excited to quit my job as a Healthcare Assistant. The uncertainty of getting work and being on call is nerve wracking.

I'm also preparing to be searching for jobs in the UK. Specifically Cambridge to go live with my equally Potter-obsessed pal Adam. I keep looking at RightMove and having to slap my hand because the earliest I will be able to move there is in well over a year.

This reminded me of a quote from a book I loved as a teen. The jewel in the crown of YA fiction when I was 15 was Looking for Alaska by John Green. "Imagining the future is a kind of nostalgia". At the time I didn't really get it, just thought it was an interesting quote. Yet, as I get older it really speaks to me. We imagine the future to escape the present. We keep doing that until we're old and grey and it's too late. Imaging the future to escape the present is something I have been doing for years during my struggle with depression and anxiety.

So that's my goal for the latter half of 2016. To stop "wishing my life away" as my mother would say.

Laura
x

Tidy Room, Tidy Mind

I have a problem. I cannot throw anything away. I learned it from my mother and from my Nana. Nana was in her late teens to early twenties during World War 2 and they just never threw anything away as most of it was rationed or kept "just in case". She passed this down to my mother who has passed it on to me. Not a Christmas goes by without my mother asking me if I want a biscuit tin to keep or God forbid someone buys a new pair of shoes as my mother asks me again, if I want it for anything.

So my room is constantly a tip. Shoes overflowing, research articles for college on the floor because there's no room for them anywhere else.

It makes me feel claustrophobic. Studying is so difficult in my bedroom because I get so distracted. I tidy in small amounts but it never helps.

So tomorrow is the big clean. I've decided it. It's 11:44pm on a Friday night and I might be a bit ambitious but I've decided it.

Tomorrow. D-Day.

Hopefully this won't be another idea of mine that crashes and burns but I crave tidiness like I never have before.

Or maybe this is just me procrastinating working on my dissertation and trying to justify it.... ah well.

Sure fuck it, be grand.

Laura

Breaking Free

"But your faith it gives me strength, strength to be believe"

Hey the girl who inspired me to return to blogging started her first post with a HSM quote so it's only fitting that I do too (and we both know who's the bigger HSM fan between us). 

Recently my friend Sinead returned to blogging and described the reasons why she stopped/ lost interest. You can read the post here, it's fantastic. She describes being afraid of what people/ potential employers would think of her, and trying to fit the beauty blogger mold that isn't for everyone. As I was reading I was shocked, these were the exact reasons why I stopped. I became inspired. To blog, to journal but again I was struck by fear- would Sinead think I was copying her? Trying to steal her thunder? Then I laughed, I was making excuses again. 

So here I am, a twenty something student midwife, 5 months, 2 weeks and 5 days away from starting a full time job and entering the real world. As I start my final year of college, I know that this is a big year that will continue to define me. I will want to remember this, not just the memories or experiences, but how I thought about things, my views and how I looked at life.

Sure fuck it, be grand.

Laura