Pages

Showing posts with label Friends. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Friends. Show all posts

15/12/2014

First Term Reflections

Last Wednesday was my last seminar of 2014 and the end of my first term as a third year. Third year is the year that everyone says is the hardest, the one where you will have no social life and will be working non-stop to the point where you begin to hate everything and everyone. However, my experience has been almost the opposite.

First term of second year was one of the most difficult times I have ever experienced. The amount of work we had to do was incredible in comparison to first year. We had at least one deadline a week for 11 weeks and along with playing sports and making time for friends it all got a bit  much. Third year however I feel as though I have found my groove. Don't get me wrong I still stress and panic occasionally over not necessarily the amount of work that I have to complete but more of the fact that the work counts for a hell of a lot more this time around.

Since the second term of second year (barring holidays such as Easter and Summer and the weekends) my alarm has been going off at 5:50am every single morning. I lived a very monotonous life of getting to the gym by 7am, staying in the library until around 5pm and then headed home to chill or go visit friends. However, a few weeks ago it all became way too much and I felt horrific as I was soooo tired and stressed so I decided to change things up a bit.

14/08/2014

WEST WALES ADVENTURE WITH ELLIE

A few weeks ago my friend Ellie from university came over to my part of the world for a few days. I hadn't seen her for a month or so thus it was super nice to have a little catch up. From Monday afternoon 'till Thursday morning we traversed West Wales from Carmarthen to Aberystwyth and from Mwnt to Aberaeron.

I know I live in the middle of nowhere and I think Ellie was a bit shocked at how in the middle of nowhere I do actually live but we do have some amazing views on the coastline and this is basically what I showed her.

Monday
Ellie didn't arrive 'till around lunch time on Monday so once I picked her up from Carmarthen train station and we went and had lunch at Pethau Da which is located in Pethau Bychain  on King St. After a lovely meal we perused some shops, drank some coffee and then hopped over to the beautiful Llansteffan. We decided to climb up to Llansteffan Castle just to see the incredible views that looked out towards the horizon. A great way to end a Monday!






Tuesday
A trip to Mwnt was on today's agenda and boy was I happy about that. Mwnt is my favourite place in the whole wide world. It has an awesome little beach hidden away between massive cliffs which not too many people know about, except for the locals and a few tourists. On top of the cliffs, overlooking the beach and the sea is the most beautiful church you ever did see and if I ever marry, this is where I want the ceremony to take place. Before Ellie and I headed down to the beach where we would later eat lunch, read and have a bit of a sleep (ok, that was just me), we climbed the little mountain that is near the church and sat at its summit watching the dolphins and attempting to see the coast of Ireland.






On the way home we stopped off in Aberaeron where we went for a little walk, bought some chips and ate them on the harbour wall. Scrumdiddlyumptious.

Wednesday
Today we headed north to Aberystwyth, a nice seaside town where my brother goes to uni and where thousands of tourists flock to in the summer to smell some fresh sea air. We arrived in the town at around lunchtime so after buying a few things on our little shopping date we finally downed tools and ate some beautiful sandwiches at Agnelli's. My brother is in the middle of writing his Masters dissertation so he spends most days up in the National Library of Wales in Aberystwyth so myself and Ellie went up to visit the Library. It had a really cool Dylan Thomas exhibition which I loved. Once we had finished looking at all the exhibitions we went and had a coffee in the Library's caffe.



Thursday
As Ellie was heading home in the early afternoon I had planned to spend the day outside walking with Hendrix but alas the Welsh weather got the better of us and with rain pouring outside we gave the walking a miss and started our journey back down to Carmarthen where we had a nice little coffee before Ellie was on her way back to Somerset.

I really enjoyed my few days travelling West Wales with Ellie. I am just continuously baffled by the beauty that surrounds my home and I am happy that I got to show off my little corner of the world to Ellie!


05/06/2014

LONDON DAYS

Since moving to Royal Holloway two years ago, I have taken central London being only 19 miles away for granted. My friends and I would just pop in and basically go to the same old place, you know the obvious places - Oxford Street, Westminster etc and I began to get bored of the city. My mum would come up to stay and she would just be fascinated and excited by the whole hustle and bustle of the place. She would love the tourist filled Selfridges and would just enjoy the fact that we were in London at the heart of civilisation rather than in the middle of nowhere with but fields to keep us company which is what we're normally used to back in Wales.

However, this all began to change (although Westminster is still one of my favourite places in the City). Days were spent discovering the city with friends, family and on my own (I quite like going around London on my own). We would have mulled wine and chorizo and rocket baps in Borough Market during christmas time after watching novice ice-skaters fall outside the tour of London. Brunch was eaten after a morning of strolling around Notting Hill and Portobello Market. I began to scratch the surface of London, the real London that is, the London far from Oxford Street.

Last week my friends and I decided to get all touristy and head to a few museums and galleries that are in the city. What's great about the museums and galleries we went to which were the British Museum, Tate Modern and National Portrait Gallery, is that they are all free. In fact the majority, if not all, of the museums and galleries within London are free so go and explore! We spent hours in the British Museum strolling through centuries of history that varied from the Enlightenment to Asia, Europe and my favourite, the ancient Egyptians. The Egyptian exhibition was extremely popular and you had to push yourself through groups of people in some sections but that didn't take away from the magic of it all. We were able to see and to read about actual mummies and their tombs. I know that I am a history student so this might interest me more than others but seeing coins or jewellery that were made in 400BC just blows my mind.


If modern art is your thing then the Tate Modern is for you. We strolled through  4 floors of free exhibitions with varying opinions of the art that we saw. On the top floor there is a great view of St Paul's which I urge you to see if you ever visit the Tate. There was a Matisse exhibition on when we visited but you have to pay to see that exhibition but from what I have heard, it is well worth the money.


The David Bailey exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery has been on the top of my to-do list for a very long time and since exams are finally over I headed over to Leicester Square last Saturday to witness the cool photographs for myself. This specific exhibition was £12 for students and it was well worth the money but there are plenty of exhibitions throughout the gallery that are free. With portraits of artists, african tribal figures, rockstars such as the Rolling Stones and models like Kate Moss the whole experience was awesome and I am glad I got to witness it before the exhibition finished last Sunday.


After a bit of lunch we roamed around Shoreditch in East London and it was great. Brick Lane was filled with Indian restaurants, underground vintage warehouses and vinyl sales. We roamed around Spitafields market where we sat, had a coffee and watched the world go around. While exploring the area we came across Rough Trade which is a famous and very awesome record shop and it is in here that we discovered their photo booth so obviously we had to have some photos taken :) I have to say I really enjoyed my first proper taste of East London and I am looking forward to another trip of East London exploration.




So the next time you head to London, steer away from Oxford Street, just jump on the tube and get off at a random station because I am sure you will find treasures in every corner of the city. Also, when you walk around the city you come across some spectacular architecture and some stunning houses. My friend and I would regularly stop and look at flats and houses and their great doors - massive strong doors which just makes you want to own a flat or a house in central London. If you are a lucky person and are looking for luxury apartments in the city then be sure to check out Redrow London :)

I'd love to know where your favourite London spots are - tweet/intagram me @lisagwawr and use the hashtag #LoveLondon :)

01/08/2013

SUMMER ADVENTURES // CARDIFF, GBK & IPHONE

It has happened guys. I knew the day was going to come but you are never really ready for it are you. Yes, you guessed it - my iphone has broken. I can happily live without a phone for a long while and I don't suffer from text withdrawal symptoms but the camera. I use the iphone camera for the majority of my blog posts and just as a way to capture daily events. It wouldn't be that bad if I lived close to an apple shop but as I live in the middle of nowhere I have to do a 200 mile round trip to Cardiff to get it fixed. Yup - 200 miles! Well anywho, Carwen, Ruth and myself had planned to go to the capital on Tuesday to get my phone fixed but we were late in deciding train times and by the time I went to book an appointment at the Genius Bar there was none left - nooooo! Although I couldn't get my phone fixed we still went and had a lovely day.

First thing was first - we had to go and get lunch because we were starvin' marvin. Having been reading the Burgers and Bruce blog recently I really wanted a burger and, well, there is only one place to go and that is Gourmet Burger Kitchen by the Library in town. I had the beef burger with bacon and avocado. Wooow - delish. Also, I have no idea what's in their relish but it's the best I've ever had. Once we were energised we did a bit of shopping. I've been searching for some records recently and they are so expensive everywhere - £24 for a Justin Timberlake vinyl anyone? Crazy. The only time I've been willing to pay £20 for a record was when I found Springsteen's Darkness on the Edge of Town album in Portobello Market. Anywho, Urban Outfitters currently have an amazing collection of old school records which is just awesome. 2 albums for £10!! I picked up U2's Rattle & Hum and a 50's rock 'n' roll album with artists such as Jerry Lee Lewis. Yaaaay. I also picked up a Beatles and a Guns 'n' roses  tee before heading home.

We had such a cool time together and sometimes when you're away at uni in different parts of the country you start to forget how awesome it is to be around people you've been friends with since you were 10/11 years old (gosh, almost 10 years! whaaat?!). Diolch Carwen a Ruth :)

Apologies: I have only got pictures of our meal at the GBK because as I stated earlier I have no camera at the moment. These were taken by Ruth. 




Me trying to create an artistic background for the photo . . . yeah . . . 

19/07/2013

SUMMER ADVENTURES // BBQ with friends

After a good swim, some blogging and some cleaning I headed over to Ruth's house because she was having a little BBQ with some friends. I brought some fresh watermelon and pineapple and we had some burgers and salad for dinner. Yuuuum :) It was such an awesome night to have a BBQ because it was scorching all day so the evening was nice and fresh. I haven't seen a few people for ageeees because of uni and everything so it was really cool seeing them on Tuesday night.

After some food we sat in the garden having a chat and catching up with what's been going on in our lives since we left for uni almost a year ago. As well has having a go on the trampoline we played with Ruth's two dogs and during like the millionth game of fetch I attempted a new throwing technique which should not have been tried as I threw Oscar's toy burger in to the top of the tree. It was a case of Bye, Bye little burger, it was fun while it lasted. Sori Ruth!

I eventually made my way back home after midnight after an awesomely chilled night of catching up with friends :)














06/07/2013

SUMMER ADVENTURES // CARDIFF

Thursday afternoon after a morning of exercising, blogging and getting myself together, I drove down to Carmarthen with Ruth to meet my mam. We then changed cars and three of us made our way to Cardiff. With mam having to be in the Vale hotel by 7:30am with work, I decided to tag along to have a day or two in the capital. We were staying in our friend's house as she is currently in Australia watching the Lions. After we dropped our stuff off in the house we caught the bus in to central and had a delish Wagamamas for dinner. We watched Horrible Bosses and made our way up to bed.





I woke up early the next day to order Arctic Monkeys tickets that were being released at 9am. I was trying for Earls Court tickets just because EC is so much nearer to me while I'm at university but within a matter of seconds they were sold out. I then immediately tried for tickets for their Cardiff gig and got them instantly. Therefore, in October myself and Nicola will be seeing the AC! woohoo. I first saw the Arctic Monkeys around seven years ago in the CIA for their Favourite Worst Nightmare tour and they were superb so I'm super excited to see them again! Nicola and myself have so many gigs planned for this summer together - Reading fest, Kaiser chiefs, Arctic Monkeys and Stereophonics! It's going to be awesomeeee!

Myself and Ruth ate our breakfast in the garden as it was sooo hot and it was only around half 9! We eventually got ourselves together and we headed in to town. We browsed around a few shops and both of us treated ourselves to a new pair of Urban Outfitter sunnies - in preparation for this heat wave we have been promised :) For lunch we ate at Madame Fromage which is an awesome deli down Castle Arcade in town. They have the best baguettes, cheese and also they have some heavenly cakes - wowza! Having been filled to the brim with deliciousness I headed in to the Apple store and bought myself a brand spanking new Macbook Pro with retina display :) I've always had second hand laptops that have been passed down through family members so I thought I'd treat myself and buy a new one for uni work and for my blogging. So far it is awesome - and because I'm a student I got a £70 iTunes voucher! If I was on twitter right now I'd be saying #winning.









The sun was beaming down on the city and with no wind I thought I was melting! Ruth and I caught the bus to the train station and then a train to Newport where my brother was picking us up to take us back home.


I love Cardiff. The uni wasn't for me when I went on an open day there but the city itself is just beautiful. It's more like a town than a city really, well if you compare it to London it is. I would love to live there one day. It looks ever more awesome in the sun.


24/06/2013

SUMMER ADVENTURES // London visit

Aloha.

Last Wednesday I arrived in Paddington, London (from Carmathen) at around 9pm where Hollie was there to meet me. As I arrived so late we just headed back to Hollie's house, where I was staying until Sunday. She lives towards the end of the Central line (tube) so not that far from central London.
Thursday we got up fairly early and headed in to Holborn to meet our friend Laura for lunch. We were heading towards My Old Dutch pancake house where they have the most amazing pancakes known to man! I had a pear and cinnamon pancake, Laura had an apple and cinnamon one and Hollie had lemon and sugar, all of these had some vanilla ice cream on top. Wowza! After we were filled to the brim with pancake we headed towards Waterloo where we were going to the IMAX to go and Watch the new Superman Film - Man of Steele. It was really awesome and the 3D was actually insane! It was genuinely like you were in the film. If you ever get a chance to go and watch a film in an IMAX theatre please do it. We were all shattered after the film for some reason so all three of us headed back to Hollie's house to have a chill, eat some Bran Flakes and sleep in preparation for our next day of adventures
.



 
Camden, Notting Hill and Portobello Market were on Friday's agenda. Camden was our first stop and Laura had never been there before so we went there to show her the iconic London area. The place is filled with stalls selling band t-shirts, knock off Nigel headphones, jewellery and is filled with hippies, rockers and hipsters! While we were there i bought two prints - one of Springsteen and one of Jimmy Hendrix. We soon finished in Camden so we grabbed some lunch and made our way in the direction of Notting Hill.  
 


 

Notting Hill has to be my new favourite part of London. It reminds me of one of my favourite parts of New York which is SoHo. So calm & relaxed and unlike central London nobody is rushing and shoving you out of the way and running for trains that will reappear in less than 2 minutes! The houses, oh the houses! They have to be some of the nicest houses I have ever seen within a city. If I ever win the lottery I will purch myself in the multicoloured, ivy covered beauts that are Notting Hill houses! We went into an awesome book shop which was filled to the brim with books, magazines and comics (awesome!) and then made our way through the market in Portobello.





My mam has every Springsteen record except for my favourite - Darkness on the Edge of Town. There were numerous record stalls there and the last record in the pile on one of these stalls was Darkness so I grabbed it! The guy said all the Springsteen records had gone up in price since his sold out, 5 star Wembley performance which is understandable! I was sooo happy to find it though :) after having a look around we headed back on the central line to Hollie's house and on the way we said bye to Laura as she headed home. We finished the evening with delicious spaghetti bolognese and the 'Truman Show'.
Saturday was much more of a chilled day with myself watching the Lions beat the Australians in the morning and Hollie and I heading to the nearest town to look around in the afternoon. We popped in to the travel agents and while we were there we picked up some travel brochures. Hollie and I spend most of our time, actually almost all of our time, talking about where we want to go, what countries, when and what we'd like to do there. If you don't dream then you'll never do, that's what I say! We grabbed a delicious red velvet cupcake and later on we shared some Oreo milkshake - yuuum :) Before we walked back to Hollie's house we popped in to a really cool boutique type shop called Source. There were so many awesome things in their and Hollie pointed out to me an awesome poncho style rain coat, bright pink, which was on sale from £45 to £15 - bargain. I couldn't pass up the opportunity as I think it'll be awesome for Springsteen next month if the Millennium Stadium roof'll be open and for V & Reading festivals later on this summer. Great find :)
 

 

 
The rest of the evening was chilled and I headed home on the 9:30am train from Paddington to Carmarthen while watching Woody Allen's awesome film, Manhattan, and reading my book. Myself, Mam and Dad went out for Sunday lunch when I arrived back in Carmarthen and then we called in with my grandparents on the way home and had an awesome surprise :)



It was a cool time in Landaaaan.