wahoo I got my malaysian gifts

The morning after the babysitting, me, the French student and the Spannish student, had the most horrible lunch imaginable lol. Well I didn't, they did, First off there was no bread left, so I couldn't make sandwiches as planned..

Then the boys suggested I could make some fried eggs, I mean how hard could that be? the gas wouldn't turn on properly, and I couldn't find any oil...

Then I got the gas going and tried substituting cooking oil with olive oil. Oh dear god all the eggs stuck to pan. The eggs looked so unappetizing I just wanted to die. But the two boys ate them, How? I have no clue. After they finished I rushed to try and wash the pan before my uncle came home. I hadn't even finished boiling the kettle and in he came. Kill me now! Kill me now!

He didn't react badly, however it turned out that there was actually frozen bread in the freezer... oops, could of saved myself a lot of embarrassment, Anyway then my Uncle drove me to the train station. The Air festival was on in my town that day, The radio said that there was an 80,000 people crowd expected and to expect huge traffic jams getting into the town, so I thought the train would be the best option.

The train arrived on to the platform absolutely jam packed with people, I opened the door to the first carriage no room, second carriage no room, and so on so eventually I just had to push my way in with my rucksack on my back. I swear it was busier than any train or bus or subway I went on in China.

Anyway I texted my friend Danny when i got on the train, he was also traveling to my town today to see me and the air festival, I don't think I could of picked a worse day for him to come lol. He had to get a bus and then a train to see me.

Luckily we both made it without suffocating, and we headed to the beach and watched the air festival, then headed to Mcdonalds, where he presented me with my gifts,

A pink leather purse

Postcards of Kuala Lumpur

Doraemon comics

Then after we went back down to the seafront luckily a lot of the crowds had started to head home and then we went to the carnival and went on a load of different rides.

This was great for me because I had been trying to persuade my boyfriend to go on some of the rides all week, the most I could get him to go on was the Ferris wheel.

But anyway It was a great day :) and its decided a trip to Malaysia is definitely on the cards :)

The Waterford trip - Fail lol

On Sunday my boyfriend came home from work late, things are starting to get crazy at his work again. @.@ anyway as soon as he came in he said quick get dressed up, Ping and his new girlfriend Cherry are staying in a hotel in Bray

Heres a picture of Ping and Cherry

So we rushed out the door, literally and met them in the Martello in Bray and chatted for awhile and decided to make plans for the next day. Ping was thinking of going to Wicklow. But to be honest I didn't think there would be enough stuff to do there. So in the end we decided we would go to Waterford and stay in a hotel down there. So we all agreed to meet at 10'oc on Monday morning and get KFC for breakfast and hit the road.

It all sounded so great, then when we were walking back to our apartment, my boyfriend got hungry and we decided to get fish and chips. Then a series of unfortunate events followed. We got shortchanged by 10 euro. so I had to go back and complain, then we went back to the apartment and my boyfriend said I didn't bring my key did you? no...

Our Landlord owns a pub about 5 minutes away so we walked there and explained to one of the bar men that we had forgotten our key and then he said the boss is away in Spain and all the keys are kept locked in his office, but his wife will be here tomorrow so she will be able to help you. OH SHIT

Then we thought maybe we would try sleep in my boyfriends friends house. but i was wearing contact lenses and had no cleaning solution or anything with me. Also it was 2am so we decided our only option was to walk to my house. So we walked up and crept into the house and my boyfriend had to sleep in the spare room and i slept in my room.

I couldn't sleep a wink because i had been drinking and he couldn't sleep because he felt like a criminal. He left my house at 6am before my family woke up and walked around the seafront until the bosses wife gave him the key.

Halleluyah!

Then I packed my stuff to go to Waterford and then my boyfriend said I don't want to go wahahaha i'm too tired. But in the end we got in Pings car and set off. First stop Tesco, where we bought wayyyyy too many snacks! Chicken drumsticks ribs, chicken nuggets, sweets, red bull, coke, fruit, nuts you name it,

Then we drove aimlessly for about 2 hours and ended up in Wexford??? We missed the Waterford turn. so we had to turn around and head back. then we got to Waterford and spent an hour trying to find a non fee paying carparking space mission impossible.

Then we went shopping in the small shopping centres, then the next mission find a hotel, that we can afford....  we walked up and down and around and could barely find any. then we went to the tourist office and they gave us a map and showed us where the hotels were.

Ping and his girlfriend went searching while me and michael ate our ice cream merrily :) then they found possibly the most expensive hotel in Waterford, with a swimming pool spa, free parking and so on.

I can't swim, Ping can't swim and Ping's girlfriend Cherry can't swim. so I thought it seemed like a waster of money but dispite my efforts to persuade them to go to the one down the road, for 60 euro. it had to be this hotel.

Then we got the car brought it to the car parking space. bought new swimming togs. Ms. Cherry was extremely choosey lol I want padding I want such and such colour blahblah. then we went for dinner.

It was a restaurant right beside the hotel. Ping looked at the price and said yup lets go here. Not even checking what was on the menu. Surprise, surprise it was Indian and guess what they all hate Indian food. lol

Then we went back to the hotel to relax and then we went swimming!!!! I have to say dispite my lack of enthousiam about the swimming pool it actually turned out to be the highlight of the trip!

The best part was they had lots of equipment for people who couldn't swim like floats and so on. So once I used them I was flying along :) and they also had a hot tub. which was a first for me!

Then we went back to the room. relaxed. couldn't sleep, tossed and turned all night and then woke in time for the breakfast buffet. Then we drove back to Dublin and went to the cinema to see Bad teacher. It was a nice ending to the trip.

But the moral of the story is don't go on a trip unless you have a plan, you know where you are going to stay, where your going to eat, and most importantly what your going to do. Thrust me it would of saved a hell of a lot of arguments.

Security Alertt: Bomb in Dublin

Monday was D-day for my big Global competitive strategies presentation. For the last month or so, me and my group have been working our ass off researching Korean conglomerates such as Samsung, LG, Lotte group etc. in particular their presence in the medical sector.  we were trying to find a potential partner for an Irish medic company who sells sleep monitoring equipment, random I know, but seemingly very high tech.

Anyway after hours of practicing our presentation on Sunday afternoon and editing the report, we felt we were as ready as we would ever be, and agreed to meet one final time on Monday at 1pm to do a final run through and then we would do the presentation in front of the teacher during the class, which was between 1.30-3.30.

So on Monday I got up at a normal time and headed to Bray DART station (Train station) at around 11.30. bought my ticket, sat down as normal, train zoomed off. Then we got to the second station and there was an announcement

 
"This train will terminate in Dun Laoighraire, the buses will accept train tickets"

This didn't phase me too much because I know there are lots of buses going from Dun Laoighraire to Blackrock where my college is. However when we got to the third stop Dalkey, (where my Grandma used to live before she bought the apartment) a quiet little village with not much in it, just some restaurants, a few pubs, cafes, post office, newsagent and a castle.

Another announcement

"This is the last stop, the train is terminating and will go back to Bray, You can use your train tickets on the bus"

I knew I had 2 options one go back to Bray and wait for a bus, but I didn't have my timetable and the Bus only comes every 40 minutes. the other was to stay put and wait for a bus in Dalkey and take my chances. In hindsight I think I should of gone back to Bray.

Anyway a big mass of people (mostly tourists) headed to the bus stop. Despite going to Dalkey so many times to visit my Grandma, I had never once tried to get a bus, and I now know why.

We waited and waited and waited and by 1'oc there was still no sign of a bus. I text all my group mates and told them what had happened and that I would be there as soon as possible... Then I heard one lady with her granddaugter saying they were going to get a taxi to Dun Laoighraire. I was so desperate at this point I didn't care about the cost. I just wanted to get out of there. So I asked could I join them.  so did a polish girl.

No sooner had we arrived at the taxi rank, we saw the bus whizz buy us. SHIT, then we waited what felt like another hour for a taxi to show up.  The taxi cost 2.50 euro each which was actually much cheaper than I expected. By the time I arrived in Dun Laoighraire it was 1.40pm I waited and waited for a bus  and there was no sign I was so close to trying to get another taxi when eventually at 2.10 the bus showed up. I arrived at college at 2.30 during the class break. Then next up was our presentation.

When I got home from college I found out the reason for all the cancellations. Apparently there had been explosives found in Dun Laoighaire which potentially could have gone off. The gardai (police)  army squad all had to come disarm it.

Better late and safe than sorry.

What an adventure!

Today was a very hectic day, I had to get up at 7.45 rush out the door to catch my bus and then once I arrived I had to start practicing for our presentation. To be honest I am usually a big bag of nerves before the presentation and I dislike practicing, the less times I have to perform in front of people the better.

Today was no different the first attempt at practicing gave me stage fright and I just went completely blank and I had to apologize to the rest of the group and go rooting for my notes. The second time I was talking like a mouse, very quietly. Then we gave up and decided we would be fine.

One thing I am always super worried about when doing presentations is that we will be under time. Which is absolutely totally embarrassing and it happened to me once last semester when I was presenting with a different group and I felt like it was all my fault. I tend to speak a lot faster when I am nervous. I just want to get it finished as possible. So since then I always prepare a little more than necessary as a back up.

Another thing that is a little annoying about college presentations is that some are formal some are informal. Most people like informal because we can wear whatever we want. But I actually prefer formal because I feel if your going to do a professional presentation then you might as well do it dressed professionally.

However I find Irish formal clothes for women is really lacking and lagging behind the likes of Asia. Which is not a surprise. Recently I was skimming through some Japanese fashion Magazines such as Vogue, Seventeen and Kera all April editions and came across some of these pics. The first few are Cute Formal

 

 Here are some gothic takes on Fomal wear, I don't know if i would be brave enough to try them..

 I might try the one below..

 I like the one below its not overly gothic and looks quite sweet

Here are some vogue formal wear

 

The funny thing about the presentation was that it was on a company called Sunflower, which are involved in Tire repairs in Lithuania and Latvia. Ironically me and my boyfriend use Sunflower and Rosemary as code names for each other. When we are messing around. But I never imagined a company with a name like Sunflower to be involved in Tires.It just seems so girly.

ultimately the presentation was a success. Then I came home and It was a beautiful sunny day so me and my boyfriend decided to go out and have an adventure. We went and climbed Bray Head! 

 This is BrayHead in the distance.

 Here's the view from the top

 This is the Dart/Train going around Bray Head.

 We also saw a bungee jumper today

Then when we followed a path which led us to the middle of Greystones's Highway (the next town to Bray) we then had to walk all the way back to Bray. (A good 7 miles) My boyfriend was so stubborn and didn't want to take the bus back because "today we are walking" 

This is the Pathway we followed

So now my legs and feet feel really sore. and my boyfriends eyes feel really sore, he caught conjunctivitis.... Not a happy camper. So I'm playing nurse. Although he is a very stubborn patient.