When I Feel The Heat, I See The Light

That Time I Had Vivid Dreams

Well, hello, dear readers.

Long time, no see and all that.

I have sadly neglected the Blog for some time - apologies.  As ever (I'm a broken record really) life has been insanely busy and I have barely been home long enough to think about Blogs let alone write one.

Yes, yes, I'm a Bad Person, okay?

In between starting my new job, friends, family, Brexit (I cried, k?! #noshame) passing Law school and adventures in between I have been crazy busy.

But enough with the excuses; here we are and I am raring to go with a new Blog Post.

The last couple of weeks have been insanely hot.

...show offs.

Well...hot for England anyway.

So hot, in fact, that poor BF has been suffering at night.  Although that has very little to do with the heat affecting him and entirely to do with his less than mentally stable girlfriend (c'est moi for those not following my eloquent ramblings).

The hot weather does strange things to me.  And my dreams.

I tend to have very vivid dreams throughout the year but, for some reason, when it is really warm at night (the sticky, oppressive, kick-the-duvet-off kind of heat) they get really weird but very real.

NB: Some of the following circumstances and conversations may have been dramatized (slightly) for humorous effect.

(Act 1, Scene 1. 
Two bodies lie in bed next to each other.  It is dark. It is silent. Suddenly...)

AJ: (gasps and sits up in bed) 

BF: (roused from slumber by movement next to him but voice laden with sleep) Huh? What is it?

AJ: I just need to check something. (AJ scrambles from the bed and moves towards the door.)

BF: Mm-hmm...sure....(Sleep is beginning to reclaim BF as he rolls over to continue peaceful slumber).

AJ: I'm just going to turn the light on. (AJ is stood with finger on the main light switch)

BF: Wait...

AJ: Ready? (AJ is poised)

BF: Wait, what?....ARGH!

(AJ has turned on the bedroom light and BF lies blinking owlishly as he is blinded. AJ has been prepared and has covered her eyes against the glare)

BF: AJ, do you have to do that now?! (BF is grumbling and rightfully indignant as he rolls back over)

AJ: (stunned that BF can even ask such a question as the vital necessity of turning the light on appears to have been lost on BF.  AJ must correct the misunderstanding)  I had to check for the jellyfish and octopuses!! (Author's Note: octopussies? octopussi?)

BF: (amazed silence)

AJ: There are jellyfish in the bed! They were on me. (AJ huffs and turns off the light, satisfied that the jellyfish and octopuses have moved on and will not return.  AJ returns to bed.) 

(As if that wasn't enough. A few minutes later...)

(AJ is curled up into a tiny ball on the edge of the bed and is clearly Throwing A Huff if her scrunched up face is anything to go by.  BF, now on the verge of sleep, edges closer and touches AJ's foot with his.  AJ pulls away.  The face scrunching worsens.)

AJ: I can't believe you had a go at me like that.  I was just checking for the jellyfsh! Unless you want jellyfish to be in bed with us.  

BF: (amazed silence - BF realises that this may be something of a trend during this relationship)

AJ: Harrumph.

BF: Love you, you nutter.

(The face scrunching stops.  AJ appears to have realised that there were never jellyfishes in the bed and that she has just woken up BF at 3am on a work night and that his slight annoyance at having been woken up in the middle of the night is, in fact, entirely justifiable.

AJ rolls over to BF's side of the bed and, for the remainder of the night, there may not be jellyfishes in the bed but there is certainly at least one limpet.)

And they lived happily ever after....until the next night where AJ decided there was a weedle in the bed that needed to be caught in a Pokeball stat.

Oh...don't look at me like that.  Did anyone really think that I wouldn't download this game?!

The Pokemon theme song is in my wedding playlist for goodness sake. (Sozlol, BF.)

&&Fin.

If Music Be The Food Of Love, Play On

That Time We Listened to Some Tunes

What The Buzz: #MusicMonday

Music to me is a big deal.

It forms a large part of my day - from listening to music whilst I get dressed, singing on my commute in to work, humming at the office and then doing the reverse at the other end of the day.

I, for one, am all for having a soundtrack to a life.

So the twitter trend #MusicMonday was an obvious choice for this blogpost.

Silent Discos are ftw tbh, lol. (#relivingstudentdays)

I think music is a very powerful thing as it can make you feel a whole range of emotions in about 3 minutes, recall a memory from years ago or change the atmosphere of a room almost instantly.  There are songs that can almost immediately bring me to tears and there are others that can bring a smile to my face just as quickly.

I'm also one for new music.  I love hearing a song for the first time and becoming completely addicted to it.  And that's not just 'current' music.  My Dad used to do this weekly thing when I was at Uni which we labelled my 'music education' in which he would send me two or three songs I hadn't heard before but that were relatively old.  Plus I got to go to Reading Festival this year and listened to so many new artists that I had never heard of before.  The atmosphere definitely made it but the music was all incredible.

See you there, readers?

So I thought I would take this opportunity to post some of my new favourite songs that I can't help but love.  

(Plus it got to like 9.45 on Monday evening and I realised I hadn't done my What The Buzz post yet.  ...total professional over here, guys.)

Here we go, in no particular order (just keep Olly Murs away from this):

1. Pvris - Holy

This is a band that I didn't get the chance to see live at Reading but one of the girls I went with (hello Sophie!) said I should check them out when I got home.  I didn't think too much of it at the time and ended up listening to a Reading Festival playlist on the drive home (unwilling to end the weekend!) and heard this song.

When I looked up who it was, my suspicions were confirmed: Sophie was indeed a music maestro and should be trusted from here on out with all musical recommendations.

I think part of my love for this track may come from the Disney references but it is very catchy and the lyrics are at odds with the upbeat tempo which I really like.

Definitely one for belting out in the car.


2. The Other Tribe - Skirts



I heard this way back in 2012 when I was working at Sweaty Betty and my assistant manager's boyfriend had produced (? or something...I forget what it was in the end) this song.  When I first heard the song I thought it was the perfect summer tune and it takes me back to my uni days when things were easy and the only planning we did was whether we would be going out on Wednesday and Friday or save our pennies and just go super hard on Saturday.

When this song comes on I think of dancing around my tiny room with a glass of the cheapest rose wine I could find in Tesco, trying desperately to draw a straight(ish) cat eye with my liquid liner.

Ah, good times.

3. Sarah McLachlan - River



Okay, so this is a lot more mellow than the other entries so far.

But I love this song.

Seriously.

I don't know what it is.  I kind of like melancholy songs anyway and the lyrics came at a really poignant time for me.  Plus I have a thing for Christmas music so this is just ticking all the boxes.

The piano in this song is so elegant and the song doesn't rely on much more than the melody and the lovely tone of McLachlan's voice.

If you ever need a Christmas cry, this is the song for you.


4. Conchita Wurst - Rise Like A Phoenix



THIS. SONG.

If this comes on in the car, I almost lose my voice because I am singing with such gusto.

This feels like a James Bond theme with a sassy edge which I love.  This is a song with attitude and I Love it.  Capital 'L'.

For a Eurovision song entry I really think this was underrated in the charts.  I was so glad when the song won because I felt that it really did deserve more recognition.  (Also see The Common Linnets - Calm After The Storm.  Another epic Eurovision entry from 2014.)

Seriously, if you are not singing/shouting this by the end of the last verse and if you are not slightly out of breath then you have listened to it wrong.

Try again.

5. Uh Huh Her - Dreamer



This song played on an episode of Smallville (8x15 - Infamous for those that are interested).  It was a pretty sad scene in which we thought Lois and Clark were finally going to do something about all those feelings they were not-so-secretly harbouring for one another but then the writers (darn you, PTB!) let us down at the last minute.

It is one of those songs that was so perfect for the scene that it has stuck in my head ever since.

In other circumstances, I am not sure that I would have been so obsessed with it but at the time it was so wrapped up in the emotion of that particular scene and it felt so powerful.

I am a super fan of soundtracks/scores that are done well.

And so this song makes the list.


The above are just a few of the more random songs that have been stuck in my head either very recently or for quite some time.  There are, obviously, hundreds of others but most of those are Disney and people tend to glaze over when I start discussing Disney.

One of these faces or a combination of all three normally.

But hopefully you have been introduced to a couple of new artists or songs and if you like them then that is fantastic.  If not; no worries - everyone is different! (But you are wrong about Conchita Wurst. Seriously.)

Leave a comment with a song stuck in your head at the moment or any comments on the songs in this list.

For now, that is #MusicMonday and now, I'm off to listen to some more of my Reading Festival playlist.

Really though...2016? Yeah?

&&Fin.

Those Who Have Least To Do Are Generally The Most Busy People In The World

Day ?? - That Time I Tried to Catch Up

So I haven't been keeping very up-to-date with this since the last few weeks have been insanely busy! And, no, before you ask, not with work or Uni happenings.

Probably the main story of the last few weeks is that my friend, Sam, came to stay with me for 5 days which was very exciting and very awesome. =] We had a great time together, despite the snow, and I got to take him around my city. It was great. It made me totally feel in the Christmas spirit and miss being at home.

Also important news was the fact that I spent most of Thursday night in the Emergency Room with my friend who managed to fall down a flight of stairs (and they say that I'm graceless...). We didn't get home until 5.30am and then I made her sleep in my room so that she wouldn't be on her own for the night. Not exactly what we had planned for the night (our friend was turning 21) but it could have been a lot worse. The amount of stairs she fell down was pretty scary so I was just glad she wasn't in a full body bandage or in traction.

Everything else has been a bit crazy and I don't have the patience or the inclination to type it all up. I am, however, very excited for Christmas this year! I haven't been for the past few years and I can't really put my finger on why but this year I am totally in the Christmas spirit. I even went to buy fairy lights for my room.

We also have 'Kinky Christmas' coming up so we all need costume ideas for the night out. My friend wants me to go as an angel and I have found these shoes which I have deemed necessary: http://www.debenhams.com/webap
p/wcs/stores/servlet/prod_10001_10001_58958+1089547759_-1?breadcrumb=Home%7EWomen%7EShoes+%26amp%3B+boots%7EHigh+heel+shoes

They are necessary, right? Right?!

&&Fin

Fraternity Without Absorption, Union Without Fusion

Day ??  - That Time We Crashed Another Frat Party And Got Free Drinks All Night

The past few days haven't been all that exciting - lectures, writing up notes, food shopping etc.

However, we did have a bit of an exciting purchase the other day. We were in town trying to pay rent (we couldn't because there is a daily withdrawal limit of 250 and rent is 319) but instead we ended up buying shoes and a shisha!

Very exciting stuff.

We ended up smoking some apple flavour before we went out on the town on Friday night. We went to a couple of bars and danced and generally had a good time. Then we were getting peckish so we went to our favourite pizza place.

Then we went to the bar/club &Zo. It was fairly busy so the atmosphere was good but we didn't really know many people out and the average age appeared to be about 35. So we were about to go home until one of our friends saw us, grabbed me and pulled me through to the private/VIP section of the club. I was a little dazed but went with it because there seemed to be younger people there.

Found out about 2 minutes later that it's a private, black tie frat event.

Whoops.

Anyway, the head of the fraternity comes up to me and says 'you know this is a private frat party, right?' and I apologised and explained that I'd been dragged in by a mate and he just goes 'that's cool. If anyone gives you a hard time just say you're with me. Now...what are you drinking?'

And that was that.

For the rest of the night we were given all our drinks free and just danced away with all these frat boys. It was awesome. There was vodka, some appley drink, champagne. It was amazing.

I also appear to have come home with someone's bunny ears.

Best night ever? I submit that it just might be.

Or at least in the top 10.

&&Fin

All Women Are Flirts, But Some Are Restrained By Shyness, And Others By Sense

Day ?? - That Time We Played Connect The Freckles

Today was a day without lectures so, instead of enjoying the lie in possibilities I decided to get up early in order to acquire a washing machine. In our building there are 300 single rooms and, at the moment, only 4 washing machines that work in the laundry room. So it is a rare opportunity when you get to do your washing and dry it as well.

I was spoilt because I got three loads washed and dried including my towels and bed sheets.

Bliss.

I also went and did some food shopping, hoovered my room, tidied my closet and did some research for my Anthropology project. All in all it was a very successful day.

I got a call in the evening from my friend asking if I wanted to go out with the group of lads that she had been talking to (and I had briefly met) the day before when we went into town. It sounded like a laugh so I agreed and then she said that we should pre-drink with them which, again, sounded like a laugh. It was only afterwards, when I sobered up and thought about it, that I realised that agreeing to go to this guy's apartment in town, just the two of us, probably wasn't really that clever.

But hey ho, it's a happy ending so it's all fine.

We had to get a taxi because we had no idea where we were going and, when we arrived, we couldn't find the front door. We stood outside where we thought we were meant to and had to phone the guys to come get us. Instead of walking all the way around the building they just whistled at us (yeah, like dogs) so we could find the entrance.

Once inside the drinks started flowing and we played ring of fire which, of course, my friend and I were doing horribly at because we kept forgetting rules like snake eyes and question master. We had also made the horrible mistake of making each other our mates so that when one of us screwed up the other had to drink too.

And we screwed up a lot.



We had a really good time in the apartment and, when the booze started running out, we decided to head into town which was like 3 minutes from where they lived (made a nice change instead of the 40 minutes where we live). When we got there though it was really crowded and hot and I think we'd all been having a better time at the house because it was easier to talk and drinks were cheaper! So we headed back to the apartment and just kind of collapsed into any available seats.

Here is where the drunkeness kicked in.

One of the guys says he wants to connect my freckles up. I think he's joking (people say it quite a lot) but he picks up a biro and starts joining the freckles on my arm up into some weird, box like pattern. Then the other arm. Then, there's me in a backless dress, and he sits me in front of him to join up the ones on my back.

Then he bit me. Like, actually properly bit me. Not a nibble or anything sexy. It hurt.

Then he decided to carry on with the freckles on my legs and stop with the biting. When I'm finally a human doodle we all decide it's time to go home and get some sleep because it is nearly 4 in the morning.

We say goodbye (discover someone has stolen one of the boy's bikes) and head home. It's only when I'm crawling into bed that I realise I'm not going to be able to scrub the pen off my back because there will be places I can't reach.

However, the guilty party did offer to give me a hand if I needed one.

What a gentleman.

&&Fin.

There's No IP Address Like Home

The internet died on me for a couple of days so this post is a few days mashed together.

Day 09 - That Time That I Literally Did Nothing

No lectures today so I had the entire day to do whatever I pleased.

As such I pretty much did nothing but laze around the house doing some reading.

&& Fin.

Day 10 - That Time I Found David Mitchell

European Union External Relations Law was first on the agenda. The class is quite dry but my Professor is David Mitchell's long lost brother. He has similar mannerisms and the same sense of humour and he's just so unbelievably cute that I want to take him on a picnic. Anyway, he's pretty much the only reason I'm going to stay in that class because EU Law bores me to tears but I think I can stomach it if he's going to be leading the way.

Decided to go out in the evening for the last ESN party to round up Fresher's Week. We went to Kokomo in a beach themed outfit so that was good fun. I think I had a little too much tequila but, other than that, I had a good night.

&& Fin.

Day 11 - That Time I Got Sick

Am slowly getting a cold and so my friend took care of me all day long and even cooked me dinner. What an angel.

Cannot type more as the sniffles are quite overwhelming me.

&&Fin.

All little girls should be told they are pretty, even if they aren't

Day 08 - That Time I Made A Great First Impression

Today was the first day of lectures but, in Groningen, the whole city shuts down on a Sunday (even all the big supermarkets, the restaurants and cafes etc.) and they don't tend to reopen until midday/early afternoon on the Monday so lectures on a Monday don't start until 11.

I think I should have been born Dutch.

I went to the first class which was Anthropology of Law. The professor was quite a young guy who was one of those teachers that likes to sit cross-legged on a table at the front of the class and have Deep and Meaningfuls with his classes. It looks like a really interesting class and I think he will draw out some interesting debates even though for the first session we just introduced ourselves and then he let us leave an hour early.

Because, you know, we only have 6 weeks to get this whole course in with just one two-hour lecture a week.

My second class was European Private Law.

I fear I may have made a grandiose error in picking this subject without reading the summary of what the course involves.

I appear to be learning about how Roman people invaded Germany and how that changed the way they transferred property.

I hated Property Law in my first year at University, especially transfer with deeds and titles, and now I've elected to take this module. That serves me right for picking subjects based on the days off I would have.

Lesson learnt.

When we got home we ended up cooking a vegetable curry and watching an hour of Bridget Jones' Diary on the TV. So glad we have a couple of English channels! The curry was actually really nice despite the fact that it was cooked in the kitchen that time (and cleaning supplies) forgot. It's really quite foul in there and none of the other students appear to clean up after themselves.

Plus, someone has stolen my cupboard. Boo.

Eventually my friend and I went to get ready for the 'Dutch' party organised by the University where everyone had to wear orange. After doing some tequila in her room we wandered off to get the bus because, alas, we still don't have lights on our bikes and it's a 60 euro fine if you get caught. And, you know what? I could probably buy another bike for that (a better one than my beloved Hoj I'm sure) so I'm not going to risk being stopped by the police.

We got on the bus and the driver informed us that we'd have to change buses at the Station Noord which we were fine with. We went to get on another bus and asked the driver if he was going to Grote Markt and he said he was so we sat down. But then, when we pulled away, we realised the bus wasn't facing the right way and we appeared to be driving out of the city. We looked at each other and were suddenly not quite so sure where we were headed. Thankfully, the bus went back on itself and we headed back into town but my friend still pressed the stop button too early. So the bus driver stopped and just waited.

And waited some more.

Until, eventually, I had to totter to the front of the bus and explain what had happened. To which he laughed and said he had seen the whole thing in his mirror and was waiting to see what we were going to do.

Bastard.

We made it to the orange party but it was so packed in &Zo that we ended up having to go outside every half hour or so because of the heat. I met my next door neighbour which was so surreal! He and a mate came to talk to Orty and I and he asked where we lived and then, when it turned out that was his building too, he asked what room and I realised he was in the one next to me. Score one for Amy with the nice Spanish bloke living next door.

We moved on to Rumba and decided to have a dance but we made an executive decision to go home when my friend had been grabbed for the umpteenth time that night and she'd had enough. She also had lectures at 9 and it was approaching 3 am so we called it a night and got a taxi.

Wherein the taxi driver informed me of this notion that all English girls are ugly. It had been mentioned to me twice before (in a roundabout way) but I had no idea about this assumption.

Is this what all foreigners think? That English women are the ugly bints of the globe? Is this a common stereotype for people outside of Britain? And where did this come from if it is?

I feel like I should defend my country and state, here and now, that I know plenty of absolutely stunning English women so back off world. Nyeah.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to pretend that I haven't spent the whole morning in my pyjamas with my hair like a bird's nest and act like I'm very busy with important University work.

&&Fin

The Man Who Missed Australia

Day 07 - That Time We Crashed A Frat Party

Today we decided to actually get up and arrive early for the cultural sessions of our ESN tour to make up for the failure of the previous day. Afterall, we did shell out a princely sum to be involved in all the activities and, thus far, we had made little to no effort to get involved.

The sun was shining once again. I feel very lucky with this weather. Especially as I still need to buy a raincoat. I fear I will leave it too late and wake up one day to find that it's monsoon season.

We met our group in the Grote Markt and took more pictures of City Hall in the sunshine.





This is one of the biggest Frat houses in Groningen and it always looks insane! All the people are wasted and normally in fancy dress which is awesome. For lunch we headed to Bagels and Beans again and I had the salmon with tomato and pesto cream cheese on a sesame seed bun. I don't think pictures can quite convey how insanely delicious these things are but I took one anyway.



Anyway, we carried on to the Culture Centre and signed up for various activities including Dutch History and Egyptian belly dancing. Because...well, why not, right?



The Dutch History session was really interesting and funny but also had some really quite dark moments included. But it was informative and the guys delivering the presentation were very good. We learnt about the 'Man Who Missed Australia'. He was looking for the hidden, mythical southern continent and sailed right around it.



(I knew we shoulda taken a left at Albuquerque.)

Then we went out for dinner and a comedy show which was done by students of the University in a society called 'Stranger Things Have Happpened'. It was very similar in design to 'Whose Line Is It Anyway' which I love so I was cracking up. They were really very funny and I felt guilty that I was almost expecting them to be rubbish. But it was a very good evening.

After dinner we were about to head home and one of my friends had her bike stolen which sucked because she thinks they got her house keys too. It was horrible and I offered her my bike to ride home but she found someone from her house to walk with so she went to sort that out.

I went home and changed into a dress for going out later that evening. My friend and I went to catch the bus and missed it by about 6 seconds. Then we called a taxi. Then another bus turned up so we cancelled the taxi.

It was all very stressful.

When we reached the town one of my mentors texted me saying he had left the University organised party because the prices were really high so we ended up going to join him in the bar. It was tiny and called Kasteel and I think I'm in love. It might be better than The Castle of Comfort and that's hard for me to admit.

We got there and got free shots and drinks given to us by the bar tender. Ended up talking to some Dutch guys that taught us a dice game. It was awesome.



We then went out for pizza and exchanged numbers so that we could hang out again. We also promised the bar tender that we would come back and make it our regular hang out place. We went to get pizza and then figured we should probably head home because we did have lectures in the morning.

On the way to the taxi rank we walked past this club and heard an English song playing. My friend still wanted to dance so we agreed that we'd stop just for a couple of songs.

Turns out it was a private frat party and we were let in because they thought we belonged to a sorority. We ended up dancing and doing more shots and just having a brilliant time. They played Whitney Houston 'I will always love you' even though I asked for 'I wanna dance with somebody' but it was cool because about 20 Dutch guys ended up bellowing the words at me and my friend.



(Although with a friend that looks like this, I'm fairly sure they were just singing to her and I happened to be there as well. Going out with this girl is not such a boost for the old self-esteem, let me tell you.)



We left when fights broke out and glasses started smashing.

But still, it was a good night. And we amused the taxi driver so everyone had a good time.

Life is good in the Netherlands.

&& Fin.