Confessions of a Uni Student.

Dear Blog.

Second year on uni is hard. Like really hard. Remember last year when we all said "oh this year doesn't matter". This one does..and that's a lot of pressure.

Living with 4 best friends is hard; I'm not sure we're going to be best friends by the end.

It's strange to think I'm now an adult. I have my own house that I pay rent for, I take out the bins ever week and we actually have a cleaning rota! First year was like baby adult; now I think I'm an actual one.

The past 2 weeks I've spent longer in the library then I have sleeping. Lots of work means 8 hours in the library a day; stress means sleepless nights.

 A month and 21 days ago something happened. It's made me the happiest girl in Bangor. My best friend became my boyfriend.

Honestly? What could be better then the person that knows me more than anyone on this earth to turn around and say he feels the same, from the very first day.

Life has taken over my blog- I had to have priorities; and despite what I'd prefer, my work comes first.

I see people link blog posts on twitter and facebook and wish I was still part of that bubble. 

My boyfriend (yes, I said that. I have one now.) took me to the zoo for our month anniversary, the place I'm happiest, and then took me to the cinema on the way back as a surprise to see Skyfall, what I'd wanted to see for weeks. We got home and he cooked dinner for me. The next day he bought me chinese. He knows what makes me happy. 

I'm sat in the library writing this. There's a girl opposite with a really nice jumper on with a glittery collar- it's very Christmassy. She keeps giving me weird looks, maybe because I keep staring at her jumper.

When Lauren (Belle Du Brighton) got married and announced her pregnancy recently, I was probably happier for her than some of my real life friends. It's crazy how many friends I made in the bloggersphere. Congratulations Lauren :)

Things have been tough recently; I'm scared my nan's going to die soon, I have 6 assignments due in before Christmas, my best friend has changed her perception of me; and that hurts, I've been ignored, given snide comments, bitched about, I've been called stupid, I've had extra tutoring and no sleep so I can prove them wrong.

A lot of things are amazing; I believe in a God that's saved me, and He continues to do so every single day, I got a job on my own merit- something small but I might not be as poor soon, I have been blessed with a very lovely new best friend that appeared just when I needed her; she's awesome, despite our differences in what we believe is right for my life at the moment- my parents love and support me no matter what, I discovered singing again; that makes me happy. 

My blog was abandoned for a while, it was really hard as it was like my baby! When I saw Lauren's announcement I realised I wanted to get back on the horse and where I was, I can't guarantee anything regular- but I can guarantee I'm going to put my heart and soul into it. 

I love my blog and all of you that read it. 

From 2 months ago when I last posted; I hope you're all doing well.

Love, Elizabeth xx

Tweet Me : _lizabethstone 

I tweet pretty often; if you'd like to hear the daily commentary of my life.

 

weheartit 

Freshers #2

So last week was a killer.

It was Freshers week which meant only one thing...going out.

As part of the CU I had lots of things to organise during the week on top of living, which definitely became tough towards the end of the week!

I had to get up at 7am every morning as well as going out every night; so on average 3 hours sleep a night. Yeah, I don't know how I'm still alive.

We had my housemates 21st which meant absolute chaos. 6 of his friends came to stay in our house which meant a week long game of 'musical beds'. If you weren't quick enough in your bed, someone would beat you to it! Crazy.

So this is a week long OOTD post, I managed to miss out 3 days from either being a rush or a little too intoxicated (oops)

Dress: New Look childrens section

Dress: Topshop

Belt: Vintage

Dress: New Look Childrens

Belt: Primark



You can't see what I was wearing...fail.

But its the only picture of my outfit!

Top: H&M

Shorts: Jeans I transformed

Belt: Primark
Shirt: Borrowed from Zara :)
The shorts Zara is wearing are mine too!

Freshers was manic, absolutely crazy.

Especially Friday night- we had a houseparty with UV paint. As you can imagine, our house is covered in patches of UV paint!
We all had "I <3...." on our faces. Mine said Dan if you can't tell haha ;)

It was a Paint VS Foam party, but thankfully I managed to avoid all that jazz and have a good night without looking like a multicoloured drowned rat afterwards (although my face paint did look a little crazy!)

I am definitely paying the price for such a crazy week though, I had the dreaded Freshers Flu :( 

I spent 9 hours in the same position on my bed yesterday watching TV being looked after very well being fed tea and chocolate! I have the best housemates!
Lecture's started today, and I felt like death warmed up sitting in the lecture theatre, no joke.

Here's to a more relaxing week ;)

Love, Elizabeth xx

PS: My camera wasn't focuing properly :( I'm trying to figure out waht's wrong to get better photos!

Tweet Me:_lizabethstone
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Poor Student Shopping.

As you well know, I am a student.

Not just a student, a very poor student.

It's amazing how far you can get without spending lots of money, and this week I've rediscovered the delights of Charity Shops!

So these are by far my favourites! 

They're exactly what they look like, brown boot heels! I was in love the moment I saw them and they are so comfortable! 

They were originally from Primark and I bought them for £4 :)

So these shoes are too big for me, yeah.

But they were pretty! You see the only proper heels I  owned were proper shoe boots with heels- I love them still, they have some great memories! But they weren't exactly summery... 

So a pair of more slimline black heels were in order. And as I said, I'm so very poor.

So charity shop it was! 

These were from New Look originally and I bought them for £3.99

The best thing about Charity Shop shoes? They're already worn in, so theres a lot smaller chance of blisters!

This was such an impulse buy... I know, that's how I'm so poor. 

But I was walking through the shopping centre, soaked to my skin and very ill. 

(more of that in a bit)

And I looked into a window of a charity shop and it caught my eye. How could I say no?

It's brand new with tags! I bought it for £4 and was was Primark before :)

So these weren't actually from a Charity Shop, however as I included them in it for funsies.

These beauties were from one of my lovely housemates! She bought them from Asos but ended up being too small for her, so she very kindly donated them to me :)
Very unfortunately, I wore them on Saturday and my feet were destroyed.

My blisters are insane. I tried stretching the shoes with a hairdryer and a spoon..but that hasn't seemed to help. Any suggestions?!

So it's Freshers Week here in Bangor. 

How could I tell? I'm ill, tired, have been out every day for the past 4 days and it's raining.

(it has literally not stopped raining in 3 days, it always rain in Freshers!)

You see, I made a bit of an error in judgement. 

I drank, and I drank...and I drank some more. Oops. 

I accidentally gave myself alcohol poisoning. Yeah. Bad move.

I've never drank that much and I never want to again.

I've been so sick, and so ill....eurgh, never again.

Safe to say I wasn't drinking last night..

On that delightful note, I am going to try and enjoy Freshers haha. 

I'm getting up at 7:00am every morning this week as well as getting in at 3:00am so yeah, tired.com.

It's one of my housemates 21st this week, so it's manic.

Wish me luck!

Have you found any gems in charity shops recently?

Love, Elizabeth

Tweet Me: _lizabethstone
Instagram: _lizabethstone

(apologies for the rubbish pictures, they were from my phone and like I said, its raining all the time so theres not much light!)

Rough Looking Night Out.

Sooo I went on my first night out in MONTHS.

Man it felt good.

There was peach schnapps on my floor, a lot of falling off my bed, and a lot of dancing.

Before you call me a drunkard, I'd like to point out I wasn't drunk at all haha; this is me naturally. Unbelievably uncoordinated. My housemates however- another story and the peach schnapps was definitely their fault.

Haha.

When I show you this OOTD, your first thought will 100% be 'wow she looks rough'. It's true I do.

But I'd like to mention- because of the peach schnapps and the falling over I couldn't take the pictures before I went out, so yeah. These were taken at 3:00am on a Wednesday morning- that's why I look rough.

(dedication to blogging right there!!)

Hey ho.

Dress: Topshop (on sale, £7!)
Belt: Primark

Shirt: My best friend Zara's haha. I love having fashionable friends.

My hair was curled...but then it was 3:00am.

How are you lovely lot?

Love, Elizabeth xx

Tweet Me: _lizabethstone
Instagram Me: _lizabethstone

Happy Pink House.

My MIA was definitely unplanned, however moving house is a lot more stressful than I imagined! (and we’ve not had internet until half an hour ago)

But, the main thing is; I’ve moved into my very own happy pink house.
And yes, it really is a pink house!

Packing was a nightmare, who knew I had so much stuff?! I mean, obviously I only bought the essentials, all 3000 of them!
My room is pretty big, and somehow I managed to fill it with so much rubbish.

I used 4 vacuum pack bags for my clothes, yep 4, with about 15 other bags full of ‘essentials’, like shoes and belts…definitely must haves.

I won’t lie the journey to Wales was literally the most uncomfortable thing ever. 

(apart from when I was on a plane in the middle seat with a very fat fast asleep stranger in the isle and I was desperate for the toilet, but that’s another story) 

We had the left back seat down with things overhanging it by at least 10cm, then you had me and my brother squished in the back next to each other; each holding at least 2 things. I thought I had packing light down to a T…I was wrong. It was a very uncomfortable 6 ½ hours.


It was meant to be a sad face- turned out to be a pout.

Next stop was our house, it’s a gorgeous house- it really is. It’s 4 floors with the bottom one having the living room and the kitchen which is down from the front and flush with the back, two more bedrooms up stairs, then mine and 2 bathrooms on the next floor with 2 attic rooms on the next one up. Mine, although big has original windows; they shake in the wind, are so thin I can hear every word said outside, and have lots of cracks in them..that’ll be fun in the winter.

I’m such a homebody, so I decided to stop myself being homesick I would plaster my room in familiar things. Everyone has said my room is “homely”, I think that’s code for ‘full of rubbish’ haha.


Before... I had a lot of stuff.

 After! My 'getting ready corner'

So that’s our house.

What makes it even better? It came with the best video collection.

We have Flubber, The Jungle Book, The Rescuers, Mulan, The Lion King, Mrs Doubfire; The Classics.

On Saturday we watched James and the Giant Peach, I’d forgotten how amazing the film is haha. However never noticed how obscure being eaten by a ‘Giant Cloud Rhinoceros’ actually was, I used to think they were real!

Now I have internet, I will endeavour to be a good blogger again!

We have freshers week next week, and despite having to get up at 7am every morning; I will have fun. Plenty of OOTN for you I’m sure ;)

Hope you all forgive my absence, and you’re all having a fab September :)

Love, Elizabeth xx           

An English Summer.

English Summer:

Supposed to be ironic. English summers typically consist of rain and little sunshine, until 'global warming' changed it. Traditionally when someone describes weather as 'an English summer' they mean rain when there should be sunshine.

urbandictionary

Perfect summers day are far and few between in England. This summer we've have a few glimpses of them, and the rest? Well it's rained and been cold, typical.

Thing is, some of us get really fed up of the summer because we know exactly what will happen, it will be hot for approximately 6 days spread out within the summer and it will almost certainly rain for at least 2/3rds of the rest of time. So we take action and decide to go on holiday abroad! 

 And this happens..

I feel sorry for this man.
Everytime, we get ridiculously sun burnt and look like a lobster, and people how they can tell we're brits?!

So once we've recovered from the sunburn, and gotten over our post-holiday blues, we crack onto making the most out of the summer!

For me, a perfect summer's day is when it's really hot, everyone really happy and I spend the day in the sun.

Yesterday, I spent about 3 hours in a garden centre, sounds weird. But it was so lovely in the sun! My parents want to buy a shed hence being there- but looking round all the flowers and the (weird- who'd have naked people in their garden?!) statues.
And today I had a beaaaautiful day!
I went to church in a lovely summer dress and came home to get my BBQ on!
I am officially 2 stone heavier than when I started haha.

It was sunny, it was hot and we had masses of food, what more could a girl want?!

I made kebabs, they were tasty :)

So afterwards we played boules, but we hadn't played it for so long that all the water that was inside of the balls was either all gone or leaking out of it- so turned out to be a bit of a wet game!

Despite the weather- I think summer is definitely a time to make memories with the people you love, whether that being in your garden playing boules, going to a faraway country, or sitting inside playing Monopoly watching the rain. 

How's your summer been?

Love, Elizabeth xx

Tweet Me:_lizabethstone
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Ps- I've been a bit MIA recently I know, but I'm finally back from all that camping and hopefully got my mojo back! :)

Paralympics.

Paralympics: An international athletic competition for disabled athletes.

Unless you've been living in a cave for the past 2 months, you'll know that the Paralympics are happening at the moment. 

There are massive differences between the Olympics and the Paralympics, for one the logo is completely different. For the Olympics it's the well known 5 interlocking rings, whereas the Paralympics have 'swoops' that "represent the Paralympic motto 'spirit in motion'."*

link. *

The sports are different; some adapted for the disabilities of the athletes, some completely different- such as goalball, and boccia.

I for one think that the paralympics are vastly underrated until it actually happens.

Whereas there's such a massive build up for the Olympics, once it's over people tend to forget about it until they see the Paralympics happen- and realise just how amazing it is.

I was very fortunate to be able to get a day pass for the Excel centre on Thursday. For the past 3 months I've been trying and trying to get tickets for either the Olympics/Paralympics, I didn't care where or what I saw, I just wanted to say that I'd been part of history. When I saw they had tickets up I literally ran to my dad screaming "tickets tickets tickets!!!". Thankfully he saw quite how desperate I was and bought some for me and my brother.

I have to admit, I wasn't prepared for the day like I thought I was. I genuinely thought I'd go in there, watch a couple of sports and then go home again- not being a majorly sporty person.

But it was so much more than that, for the Games Makers greeting you at every corner, to walking up the stairs to the seats in the arena (I thought it felt like I was climbing the stairs to an x factor audition, if you get what I mean).

It was all very exciting, they used all of the arenas and packed them out.

We first went into the Table Tennis, there were 8 matches going on at the same time so was pretty hard to focus on just one match but I kept my eye on the scores. The athletes were either in a wheelchair or with prosthetics/limps. Being able to move and keep control as an able bodied person is ridiculously hard in my opinion (or maybe that's cause I'm so uncoordinated) but it was really admirable.

A Team GB athlete came out and there was a massive cheer, although she was in the pitch/area/table bit furthest away from us so was pretty hard to tell if anything was happening!

We were pretty close to the nearest match, and we had fun guessing their nationalities!

So the sport I really wanted to see was Judo, and we waited in a mahusive queue to get in as having a day pass didn't give us priority to the sports.

Eventually we got in, and man was it worth it!

We sat pretty close and there were only two mats this time so was a lot easier to focus on what was happening. We sat there and watched for 10 minutes and I started thinking "Well, they're fighting as i nothings wrong, why is this the paralympics?!" After pondering for a while, we realised that the athletes were actually being led into the arena, onto the mat and the referee was very hands on.

That's right- they were visually impaired. They did judo, without being able to see properly. Wow.

I can't say how much of a hindrance their sight was to them, but it genuinely didn't look like they were at all. But judging by the actions of the referee (placing their hands on each other at the start of each round, leading them to the centre of the mat) they were pretty impaired.

The fought for their livelihood- and it was so amazing to watch. The atmosphere was so supportive.

Then Ben Quilter came out, Team GB. He cheer he got was incredible, everyone was chanting "Ben", clapping, stamping their feet.

You know when you watch on TV, and everyone cheers for Team GB?

Well it was actually like that, was so good to be part of it.

Ben actually lost the match I saw but went on to win the rest and win the bronze at the end of the day!

But every throw, every move- the crowd was behind him 100%.

(This wasn't actually Ben fighting)

So my brother really wanted to see sitting volleyball, so off we trot to the arena next door.

And wow, just wow.

I've never seen inspiration quite like watching those guys.

So Sitting Volleyball is just what it says, they're on the floor playing volleyball. The net is 1.5m high for men and 1.05m for women. I'm not sure what I expected, but I definitely didn't expect to be quite so moved by watching them.

We watched Team GB vs Russia, Russia's ranked 4th in the world, we're 24th so the odds didn't look great from the start.

When Team GB came out, I have never experienced anything like it.

I've been to concerts, seen Paramore in the O2 with thousands of other people, but nothing matches the cheer that those guys got coming onto the court.

There was clapping, cheering, stamping, flag waving, screaming, chanting; all mixed together to welcome them.

The team is actually allowed 2 'minimal disability' players, but only one allowed on the court at any point. These guys had both legs, working normally (or it seemed so) so I imagine their disability was elsewhere. The rest of the team either had one leg or no legs.

I'm a vein person, I admit that- I care way too much about my appearance, and when the team came out I was almost in tears. I had so much pride and respect for our team (and the Russian one too) for overcoming their 'disability' and to train and work hard to compete for our country, well that was just amazing.

The team was introduced one by one, each getting a massive cheer. The team has a special player, I think they acted as a captain/coach but a player (or something like that), and when he was introduced I noticed a group of soldiers in the crowd. As they announced his name the soldiers started shouting like I've never heard and holding up banners for this man- they were so proud of him.

After doing a little research I've found out he was "a Gurkha who was injured on patrol in Afghanistan and who has come through the Ministry of Defence's Battle Back programme"

This man had basically had his legs blown off in Afghanistan, overcame all of that then became so good at sitting volleyball to be the special captain person in Team GB. If that's not incredible I don't know what is!

 

Team GB.

The enthusiasm of the crowd continued throughout the whole match and I really felt like we were all right there with the athletes, every point they scored we cheered, and every point they lost we groaned.

It was an hour of unforgettable true patriotism.

We actually lost the match, but we improved throughout the whole time and we played so well.

 In play. Like I said, we had amazing seats.
It was after the Sitting Volleyball we felt so drained, physically and emotionally. (Well me anyways) 

We tried to queue for the Power Lifting but the queue was hundreds and hundreds of people long and they'd stopped letting people in the arena. Doing a one in-one out system would mean we'd have been standing in the queue for hours!

We called it a day and went home.

I went home really inspired, with so much respect and pride for our Paralympians.

I complain about being bad at sport and therefore never doing it- I can imagine it's so much harder with a disability; but they overcome that and strive to be the best that they can to compete for our country.

My 2 pence on the Paralympics there, hope you enjoyed :)

Have you been watching? Or been lucky enough to witness it yourself?

Love, Elizabeth xx

Tweet Me: _lizabethstone
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PS- I had the most hectic week last week and now I'm away for a leadership training university thing.
Camping again.

I promise I will get back to you all, just give me a couple weeks. I'm home for a week after Friday then back to uni!

(scheduled post)

Engagement conspiracys.

The world is full of conspiracy's and apart from the obvious (the moon is actually made out of cheese, cats really do meow in different accents- just me?) I'm sure that everyone getting together in relationships, breaking up, getting engaged and married happens AT THE EXACT SAME TIME.

Maybe it's the seasons, makes people want other halves, or to be alone. I've no idea, but one thing I do know, is that practically everyone I know under 30 has just got engaged, just got married or due to be married in the next year. I'm not kidding. I feel under pressure to meet someone, and I know everyone's looking towards my brother to reveal his mystery woman! (the fact I know her name and have done every possible investigation on her- ie facebook stalked, and still not met her is quite frustrating!)

This year I've been to one wedding of friends, 4 friends engaged, one wedding in 2 weeks and the other 3 are due to get married next year. Is everyone suddenly craving marriage?! 

Anyway, I went to an engagement party! It was a classic bank holiday Monday garden-threatening-to-rain-the-whole-time party. With strawberries and cream and everything, how posh! 

OOTD:

You know when you look back at photos and think "why did I pull that face, I look SO miserable"

I was happy, honest.

Shirt: Tesco (birthday present)
Vest: Topshop

Jeans: Primark

Sandals: Primark

Necklace: Primark

Does anyone else feel the same? EVERYONE getting together?

Love, Elizabeth xx

Tweet Me: _lizabethstone
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One Year Older. (and a onsie)

Helloo,

As you know it was my birthday recently and I thought I'd share a few bits with you :)

Since I'm moving into my new university house in 3 weeks (scary..an actual house. Not so scary cause it's a pink house) my parents went down the practical route this year.

Some things I asked for, some that I've always wanted...and a toolbox.

Yeah.

So I asked for a jewellery hanger to put on my bedroom wall, as last year in halls I used a Tupperware box for most of my necklaces and bracelets. Cue half an hour untangling until I got the piece I wanted, only to change my mind. That happened a lot.

So I got this beauty, it's actually bigger than I imagined, almost half a meter..I was definitely not expecting that. However it's ever so pretty.

(That's what I asked for)

Want to know a strange fact about me? I don't like sandwiches, unless they have bacon or sausages in them- total exception.

So there is one thing that my parents thought of to solve those many lunch times, a toasted sandwich maker.

Yep, I don't know why, but I <3 toasted sandwiches but not normal ones- and it's such a treat to go somewhere where they sell them.

But no more..I actually own a toasted sandwich maker!!

It's so exciting! I've literally been living off toasted sandwiches, I tried out some new recipes. Some not so great, note to self: don't put scrambled egg in a toastie machine, it spits out the egg and hisses.

(That's what I've always wanted)

The toolbox.

Last year before I started university, my mum told me that I must have a toolbox, as I'll definitely need it once I'm living away from home. Apparently it was essential flying the nest equipment.

However I disagreed. I thought "Why on earth would I need a toolbox?!"

Then one rainy day in Wales (is there any other kind?!), my printer broke and it wouldn't let me get the cartridges out to replace them.

What did I need? A screwdriver. Did I have one? No.

I took it upon myself to tell my mum this story, and guess what I got for my birthday?!

I should have expected it really.

Isn't it pretty? A hammer that turns into a mallet, pliers, a spanner and a screwdriver with 13 heads.

Impressive, I shall never be in need of a screwdriver again.

(That was the toolbox, obviously)

I've told you how much I love red pandas.. they're just the cutest. I want one, I wish I could hand rear one and it would be my best friend. I have a toy one called Ming Carlos, and he's amazing. This fact isn't lost on my flatmates. They're also amazing, I don't necessarily want to hand rear them, (that would be wierd) but they are my best friends. Now I have actual, physical evidence to show you how awesome they are...ready?

 That's right...a red panda onsie.

I love it.

I keep on putting it on and then waiting for 10 minutes until I overheat and take it off haha.

Bear in mind that I live in Wales half the time, so this will come is handy SO much. Also, it's so so amazing, like beyond the scale amazing. 

It has a tail, ears, and is all fluffy!

The little story: In uni, onsies are really popular, mostly the Primark  tiger ones but so many people have them! So after a while I started thinking, wouldn't it be so cool to have a red panda one?! So one day me and my flatmate decided to have a look for one, we finally did..but it was £40, and there was no way I could spend £40 on a onsie, whilst at university, whilst I already buy 15p washing up liquid which makes no bubbles (it's rubbish, but hey- I'm a poor student). So gave up on it.

When I was camping, at the second festival- one of my future housemates (he's best friends with my flatmates too) came to join the fun..and bought my present. And it was this!!!! Words cannot describe how happy I was.

They're awesome.

Exciting birthday eh?

So I also got some clothes which I'm sure will feature in OOTD's  and lots of gift cards to buy lots of clothes! As well as little bits, but I'm sure you wouldn't appreciate seeing everything.

As well as me growing older..so has my blog!

This summer my blog is one year old, how exciting! It's been such a whirlwind and I've got to know such awesome people. I genuinely don't know what I did without you lot keeping me company. 

Thank you for everyone who's followed me, commented and generally been really really nice to me. I've mentioned previously, but having this escape in the bloggersphere helps enormously.

So the next couple of weeks are really busy for me, but rest assured I shall continue to blog- it just might be very sporadic!
This week I'm working in London doing some IT work for a couple of days, going to the paralympics for the day on Thursday (I'll be sure to blog about that!!), going to the zoo on Saturday, (eeee, red pandas.) then going camping again on Monday till Friday at a camp to do with my university's CU.

I'll be full of stories after that manic few weeks! 

Has anyone else had an exciting birthday recently?

Love, Elizabeth xx

Tweet Me (I'll be tweeting throughout my exciting weeks!): _lizabethstone
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All camped out.

Holaaaa,

I'm back! Back from the world of mud, tents and icky icky showers (for those that read my Guide to Glamping, it was very similar haha)

I had an incredible time away and I wish I was still there (note to self: things are a lot simpler in a world with no signal, no Internet, my friends and a tent).

Some of you eagle eyed on twitter and Instagram may have noticed that I actually returned on Wednesday, but I took a little blogging break so I could recover, wash all the mud off and sleep! My first night home I slept for 13 hours cause I met a guy and chatted with him for 6 hours the night before as camping is exhausting!

Shall I start at the beginning? Guess it's the best place.

The journey there was hellish, I spent the whole 6 hour drive with 13/14 year old boys poking me and shouting at me- I was seriously fed up.

Once I got there I ditched the young'uns and pitched my tent- and it began.

For those that didn't know, I went to a Christian Festival. The structure was pretty relaxed, with meetings twice a day, optional seminars in between, with cafes, a cinema, sports, and tvs dotted around the place.

I know you must have an opinion on this- but please be kind, I've had a lot of negativity in the past.

So I volunteered in a cafe called 'Soul Action Cafe' which was ran by a company called 'Tearfund'. Tearfund works towards completely abolishing People Trafficking, and is 100% fairtrade.

Did you know a child is sold into slavery every 2 minutes?

Although I can't go to Africa, Asia or another place in need, volunteering in the cafe was my way of contributing to the cause.

Anyway, as part of the job, I was on door duty (checking wristbands which were needed for the festival), being on the till, stocking, and making the drinks for people.

Among other things, I learnt how to use the coffee machine! Achievement of the century haha. I can now make lattes and capaccinos to perfection, of course I don't actually have a coffee machine- so I'll never have to show off my skills. 

I was on a team with 4 other girls, and I made some incredible friends during the week. I taught them the coaster game (flipping beer mats off the counter, classic pub game.) and they sang happy birthday to me.

I was the oldest of the 5 of us, and they all knew eachother already...recipe for being left out right? No way, they were the sweetest girls ever and all the shifts that we did together were so much fun.

At the end of the week we all had a piece of paper passed round and we wrote encouraging things about eachother..I could have cried, the girls were so sweet!

I was team C, so I worked at least once every day :)

So I worked in the cafe for the first 5 days, including my birthday!

My birthday, my birthday was one of a kind.

I was camping, obviously.

My youth group gave me two birthday cakes and sang to me- gave me a card which they all signed. How cute!

Me and my friend then decided to live on the edge, and decided to play 'Seminar Roulette' haha.

So my friend chose a venue and we went, the warning signs should have come when a woman said "Are you here for the workshop?" 

That's right, we walked into a hip hop dance workshop- not that you know me personally, but by taking one look at me you'll be able to tell just how uncoordinated I really am. 

We had to learn a whole routine and do improvisation to spell out 'freedom' with our bodies....and then show people.

I've never laughed so much in my life, between the leg kicking, the leaping, and the throwing myself back and forth, I came out with many many bruises.

It was probably a 'got to be there' moment, but I so wish you'd all been in that dance class with me, it was flipping hilarious.

Me and my friend also did some tie-dye! I know, exciting! We chose a t-shirt, was literally given some elastic bands and told to go crazy! 

I had no idea how it was going to turn out, but it was pretty good in the end. Mine somehow shrunk in the process, so it's more of a crop top now haha, but I'll wear it when I'm feeling adventurous.


Obviously I was home by this time haha, but this is how it turned out :)

Once the first festival was over, my working was finished- and could enjoy the second festival. The second was geared up to people my own age rather than the teenagers the previous week, so my friends from my uni came to join us whilst my youth group went home. 

It was such a fab week.

My friend totally glamped, he bought a portable fridge for his tent, a chair with a foot rest and pillow, and managed to cook a fry up every day! 

The week in itself was so good, there was about 5000 of us on site, (pretty small compared to the 10,000 the previous week) and it did genuinely feel like a holiday. Minus the mud, icky toilets and horrible showers.

For the majority of the week we had a heatwave, yay! Which was a lovely break from the monsoon weather we had the week before (my tent collapsed a few times during the nights!) and the people running the festival put on the loveliest surprise for us of a giant hogroast!

 That's right, 5000 people having a hogroast, in the glorious sunshine, was actually bliss.

Like I said, bliss.

Without going into massive detail, and making this a very long post; I shall tell you this.

My week was so good, I learnt so much about myself and my friends; and my faith got even stronger.

 A snapshot of one of the main meetings, it was a square stage in the middle of the giant* tent. 

*I say giant, it's the biggest in Europe (the world?) Fits over 15,000 people.


And why not? 

They offered to dress us up and put us in front of a green screen...would have been rude not to.

So, my time away was pretty awesome.

I met some lovely lovely people, really grew in myself, and the experience was one of a kind.

Now what have I missed in the past few weeks?!

Love, Elizabeth xx

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Guest Post: Nail Tutorial

This is a nail art tutorial using things, which are always in the house, Enjoy ;)

1.       Choose nail polishes, that you want to use: I used neon ones, which are really hot this season ;)

2.       Start up with the base coat, to protect your natural nails.

 

3.       Put the first coat of the nail polish (I used the neutral one, it looks great with juicy colors!)

4.       Eventually put second coat to cover your nail really good :) Wait until it’s completely dry.

 

5.       Now, take a tape (use a transparent one – I took a green one just to show you, it can stay on the nail polish)

6.       Cut the tape into to pieces and stick it to your nail, creating a V

7.       This is a time for first neon nail polish, paint your “tape nail” with it J

8.       And do it with all your nails…!

9.       Use a top coat, to protect the pattern ;)

10.   Now take another neon nail polish.

11.   And… a pen!

12.   Splash few drops of nail polish on the paper, and dip the tip of the pen in it. Make the dots around the triangle.

13.   And this is how it looks! Easy to make and totally cool!

This post was written by the beautiful Bessana Blue at http://thefanglejungle.blogspot.co.uk/, she has serious style. Definitely check out her blog for some clothes inspiration :)