I figured I would put together a list of highlights from year one at Queen's, while they're fresh in my mind, as they are worth remembering! I could probably write a whole blog about each of them. I've also probably missed out a whole bunch. I also apologise in advance for the length of this blog. If you have no interest in my life, stop reading now.
- Teriyaki Chicken. Must've spent half my money, and Gemma's, this year on Subway. As in the fast food place, not the mode of transportation. Gemma's constant ability to get her hands on coupons meant that family feasts consisting of 4 subs, 4 toasties, 4 cookies and 4 drinks for a tenner were a regular activity/sport. For a while there we went at least twice a week. Beautiful.
- Meeting Plum. Katie Wallis is the one person who I can clearly remember meeting (no offense to the rest of you). We were on a treasure hunt in Fresher's week. She had her bright pint Queen's Student Union brand new hoodie on, and it was the main subject of our conversation. I thought she was fake. She thought I was a bitch. We got over that. She's quite possibly the least fake person you will ever meet. Honest. Genuine about what she thinks, who she is, what she feels, what she loves, and who she loves. I admire this. The way she pronounces plum I also admire.
- Butting in. One day I walked past Clement's coffee shop. I noticed Becca sat there. I had met her once. I decided I would go in and attempt to befriend her. She was with Mary and other people. I sat with them. We went shopping. Our relationship grew from there.
- Tina Turner. Becca and I bonded properly when walking back from town. It's Belfast, IE it rained. and the wind blew. Becca's usually styled hair lost its perfection. Tears were shed as we fought against the wind on our walk back to Elms. Metaphorical tears.
- China China. All-you-can-eat chinese buffet. 6 pounds. Desert included. Not much else is needed to be said really. So many fond memories. Too many, almost.
- Diet Coke. It came to the rescue on a regular basis. Sometimes along with Gemma. The two got me through some trials and tribulations. Don't know where I would be without them.
- Meeting up with Megan. Randomly. My old neighbour. In Belfast Centre. For lunch. And a shop. Out of the ordinary. Fantastic.
- Skype. USA-Australia-New Zealand-Laos-Switzerfrance-England-Belfast. Made the distance seem not too distant. Enough said.
- Hendrik's house parties. Christmas, pancake-day, Lasagna and Poker night. Unlike anything I've ever been to. The mulled wine I'm convinced was spiked. Trippy evening. The pancakes made German Disney music sound normal. The Lasagna was one of the nicest things I've ever put down my throat. The poker night was less about the poker and more about the whiskey and cigars. Never felt more masculine. Hendrik, and Anne-Catherine, thank you.
- Free lunches. Tuesday's soup, Thursday's sausages and Friday's atmosphere made life, and bank balances, happy.
- Amy's 'sick' visit. Take sick. Think of it in every sense of the word. Now you have an idea of our time together. She arrived with a cold. We went clubbing. It was a fun night. Amy spoke to me about yoghurts in her sleep. We woke the next day. Amy was borderline dying with illness. Managed to hit up China China with Gem though. In bed by 9 that night after watching The Little Mermaid. Amy was even more ill, if possible, the next day. I went to class, she slept. She joined me for lunch. We went into town. We hit up Frank's for dinner and drinks. Home. In bed by 9.30. Slept through 3 alarm clocks and woke up after her flight had taken off. A bit of bad language followed. A few phone calls. Booked another flight later that day. Back to sleep. Lectures. Amy in a cab. Sick visit.
- Calvin Harris. We were up on the North coast of Ireland with surf club. After a day of no surfing due to severe water conditions, Antonia, Justyn and myself were buzzing to do something exciting with our evening. We found out Calvin Harris was playing at Kelly's that night, so got a ride with James. We managed to get in half price as we pretended to be part of a DJ's 'friends and family'. Fantastic evening, including A and J pretending to be French, and me translating for them, some Up Your Viva madness, a fantastic show by mr. Harris, an hour's walk, and a taxi ride with a pervert, driven by a Irishman with a crazy handlebar mustache.
- Robin Hood. The Disney classic was central to me and Plum's first bonding experience. 'Seize the fat one!'. Our last trip to the cinema of the year we watched the new Russel Crowe film.
- Twirls at Chestnut 4. I think I spent more time in their kitchen than in my own. In fact, I'm pretty sure I did. Movie nights, Xfactor, Over the Rainbow, parties and endless chats about the smell of the place made the deserted weekends priceless.
- Church hopping. With Sam. Epic.
- Globalisation. How I loathed Tuesdays and Thursdays at 11am first term. LOATHED. Despite everyone's obsession with Eric, and John (?), the hour sure as hell dragged on a bit. Christmas was even made dull. I miss it.
- Film Studies. Went to 2 tutorials and remained awake during 5 lectures and 4 films. When I wasn't asleep I was scared. When I wasn't scared I enjoyed it. What a peculiar course.
- Movie House Cinema on a Tuesday. Most Tuesdays the cinema called our names. 3 pounds entry meant that even films like 'Edge of Darkness' felt worth seeing.
- Australia. A 40 degree Christmas holiday. I don't think I even have to say anything else. Too much went down. Best 3 weeks of my life.
- Josh's visit. Arrived just in time for Lucy, Becca and I's Birthday celebrations. Fantastic night at Stiff. Followed by a fantastic few days with Josh. Highlight: Potato farls, beer and Glee.
- GHREH.
- Epic results moment with Plum. In her room. The Journey pumping out on the radio. Both of us doing far better than expected. Beautiful.
- 'Have you booked your flights yet Gina?'. She took her time.
- Lucy's. After watching 500 Days of Summer, we proceeded by blasting some music. Lucy went mental. It was brilliant.
- Various jogging partners. Started with Christie. Then moved on to Katie. Becca joined once. And then Rory stuck. I'm going to miss that route, and the conversation. And Rory's outfit choice for each run.
- Discovering Ava 6, and recruiting Stu. We went to see a crappy house with Becca, Mary and Katie. Complete mess. We liked the road so called another number we saw on another house. Mrs Cassidy answered. We got a viewing the next day for a house across the river. We fell in love with it. Somehow we recruited Stu to join us, who also loved the house, despite the state it was in when we visited it with him. What better way to celebrate than at Maggie May's, and then at Nando's. Not on the same night.
- Sunday roadtrips. Well, Sunday roadtrip. It was meant to become a regular thing but only happened once. It was the time Fiona, Jocelyn, Katie and Becca and I went up to the north coast for an afternoon. Beautiful day, fresh air, great company and food. Perfection.
- Carole visits. Bed by 10 first night. Second day consisted of lectures, free lunch and shopping, followed by a trip to the cinema, nando's and a walk back home stopping off at every pub on the way back. Wednesday, St. Patrick's Day, was spent in bed with pasta and the OC, then a few house parties around Elms, topped off with a fantastic night at the Limelight. Got back around 3, got given lollypops on the way in which is always nice, watched just enough of A Knight's Tale to see Heath Ledger smile, and then sleep for 3 hours before having to walk down to the bus station so Carole could catch her flight. Walk in the rain I might add. Joy.
- Unlimited texting. A new phenomenon for me. This meant that lots of time was spent telling Gemma trivial things about my life. I tried it with other people too but I think they got bored of me.
- Theology games. With Rory. Nothing to do with the Bible or Quelle. Just became an entertaining pass-time. By the way Kelleher, I've come up with more categories we need to put to use.
- Tesco's. Food shopping, never something I thought I would enjoy. Maybe it was the possibility of seeing Mary behind the counter, maybe it was thinking up new meals, or even the excitement of being able to choose what went in the trolly. Whatever. Epic.
- Sandwich making. Justyn had to make about 1044300343003245002134230001 sandwiches for some event and called me up for some support. We had a pretty efficient system going down. Ate a fair few once we were done, to make sure they were suitable for others.
- Cooking. NEW. FAVORITE. HOBBY.
- Meeting Niall was creepy. We were at a gig. I was introduced to him. A while later he tapped on my shoulder and asked me if I was Abi's cousin. I am. Turns out the person she told me she knew at Queen's also went to the church I had started attending. Small world. Creepy.
- Abundant Life Church. Wonderful people.
- ICELAND. 5 Anthropologists crashed our house in Geneva for what was meant to be 5 days. We had a TON of good laughs. Busy week. Lots went down. Including mountains, museums, food, food, food, wine, boats, buses, shops, coaches, french towns, walks, parks, deception, disgrace, sun, sleep, theological 'debates' and hot men. The week came to an end. Had our last night out on the town. Woke up the next to discover flight cancellation due to ash in the sky. In the sky, ash. We consequently spent 4 days tanning, and ended up getting a coach from Geneva to Gatwick. And then a flight from there 12 hours after arriving in London back to Belfast. Adventure and a half. An adventure, and a half.
- Josephides. Semen, pigs, wigs, shells, and who knows what else. She was a fascinating lecturer. Only attended her so-called lessons in an attempt to understand her brain. Unsuccessful. She puzzles me.
- Trip up north. Finally got myself up to Coleraine with Gemma to visit the Wilsons minus Kiki. Fantastic weekend. Food was plentiful. Company was wonderful. Weather was delightful. Charity shop shopping was successful. Emma returned content.
- Maggie May's. FOOD.
- Flashing Christie. Speaks for itself really. It was accidental. And rather humorous.
- The library. The only place where revision was even slightly efficient. Library dates became the only activity to do with others that was guilt-free.
- Botanic. The so-called heat wave that hit Northern Ireland the weekend before our exams started caused a great amount of people to fill Botanic Park. Never thought I would get a suntan in Belfast, nor did I think revision would ever be fun.
- Wakeboarding. After snowboarding, is the best sport ever! We eventually made it to some lake in Southern Ireland somewhere after the McCune beast of a car broke down on the way. Mikel fixed it. And we wakeboarded. And it was awesome.
- Kiki's list. I was ecstatic when I discovered a list of 30 things to do in the month of June from my pretend-to-be-Asian friend. Beautiful.
- Becoming Gemma's bodyguard. A strange man had the key to her house and was staying in there. As she is a weak woman and I am strong, I stayed with her for several nights to keep her safe and protect her soul.
- Post-exam all day banter. After exam number one, a large group of us sat in Speakeasy for about 8 hours doing absolutely nothing. It was when I realised how much I was going to miss the Anthropologists.
- Continental Markets. A 4 day event. I went 3 times. Once with anthro folks. Got some Tartiflette. And some noodles. And some Spanish Churos from the French stand. And a beer from the German beer tent. Then went with church folk. Got a Venison burger. And a Smoothie. And the most amazing doughnuts I have ever had. And then went with Gemma. Got a flipping huge burger. And some melted chocolate poured lavishly over strawberries and fudge. I miss it.
- Cleaning number 88. Gemma forced me to help her clean her rather filthy house of the mess that she wasn't even responsible for. Turned out to be a fun evening. Highlight was finding 2 pounds that I kept.
- Loading boxes into Gina's car. Well not so much the loading of the boxes, but the fact that she was willing to let me load boxes into her car. And take them to her house for the summer. Let's hope she doesn't get burgled, for many reasons.
