The beauty of the west!

Congratulations! You've finished secondary school! You're future awaits you! Now it's time for that all important holiday with your friends!  Some go to Spanish resorts, or party islands like Ibiza.....or, you know to the west of Ireland!  That's where we went anyway.  I say 'we', what I mean is myself and 10 of the best people I know who I consider to be my second family nowadays :)

So, here's a brief summary of our adventures to Co. Kerry! Spent 1 night in a hostel in Killarney, ate some ice cream, went out and had some craic then woke up (not in the happiest of moods) and headed to our next destination of Dingle.  A bus and a taxi later we were at our new homestead( aka a house belonging to one of girls families).  A bit of wall hopping was required, then a trudge down a hill of year long growth and we arrived!  Rooms were divided up, food was put away and off to the beach we went!  Honestly one of the best beaches i had ever seen was before us.....a good hours walk before us....but still...look how preeeeettttyyyy!!!!

The next day was your typical leaving cert holiday stuff.....seeing dolphins, dogs on donkeys and a spot of mackerel fishing would have been eventful enough, but, cause we love a bit of excitement, we burnt a fuse, knocked out the electricity/water/every appliance (R.I.P chicken paella) and sat and spent the night having DMC's and drinks and takeaway food....BEST.DAY.EVER!

Our final two days brought us off to Ballybunion to take in the beaches and people that it had been so renowned for....and they were right!  Experiencing those beaches during the day was one thing, but at 5am.......WOAH! They were out of this world...or maybe i was out of the world, like I said, 5 in the morning! Two drinks ceili (inside joke alert) was our new game to play along the streets and it felt like a whole new world to venture to.  Also those beach places honestly don't understand how cool it is to have a beach to go to when the nightclub closes...that's the best thing of all!

Sadly, the holiday had to end.  We all had to take the two buses and a lift back home to reality and the coming days were filled with loss of our new found freedom and happiness and the true beauty of the west.  The people are what makes it so special over there, along with a touch of scenery ;)  Something else that made those five days the best ever were the people I spent it with, whom I had always called my friends, but once we returned home we realised that we were something more. We knew when to save someone in a baby bananas(Inside joke alert) situation, when to catch someone when they get electrocuted and when to make sure there was always a vegetarian dish prepared(sometimes).  Like I said, Kerry changed us...it changed us all.  We might've left Wexford friends...but we came back family...and I hope that never changes.

May your odd socks be ever together!

xx

Aislinn

The Future....and other stuff!

It's that time of year again.  No, not christmas, still have to wait 121 days for that! September is a new beginning for many people.  Maybe it means a new job, a new home or in many peoples cases a new school year.  Whether it's your first day of secondary school or the beginning of third level education, it doesn't matter.  We're all equally nervous!  It usually means new friends, new surroundings and new difficulties to face.  It's important to put focus on your future but also know that it doesn't change who you are as a person depending on what you study or where you go or if you do third level at all!

You can always count on Gandhi for a bit of advice ;)

In Ireland, the CAO points system determines your future pretty much.  The day you get your results, you add up your grades to see whether you'll have the points to fulfil your dream.  We spend 6 years building up to this moment, but something that no one in all those years prepares you for is the disappointment, the heartbreak and the unknown of what to do next.  News stations, reporters, photographers, none of them ever focus on the upset people, the people whose whole lives have just crashed before them.  All you ever see are the happy girls jumping in the air.  Don't get me wrong, if I had succeeded in getting what I wanted, I'm sure I would've been right there with them, but not this time around. 

 

                                                           Yeah....Not so much!

 What is important is to go out that day/night, talk to your friends and other people and realise that you are not the only unsatisfied person out there.  That would be the number one thing i would recommend as someone whose been there.  The next few days are all a bit blurry and uncertain until Monday comes along, and with it the ACTUAL day that determines your future: Offers Day.

Me, along with everything I own!

No, I didn't get my first choice of going to Maynooth, but by Monday I had accepted that and nearly moved on.  What I did get was the exact same course, at Maynooths satellite college in Kilkenny, and in a way that makes me more happy.  I'm half Kilkenny anyways, I'd never be far from a home cooked meal if I desired it and it's only a short drive up the road.  It's been a week now since I found out, the dust has settled, and still when people congratulate me, i think back to that unhappy girl, crying her eyes out on results day.  She thought that was the end of the line, little did she know it's (hopefully) only the beginning!

May your odd socks be ever together

xx

Aislinn