Watched The Matrix at long last over the winter. Loved the whole concept and the action sequences and went on to watch the entire trilogy

After much deliberation I decided not to attend a ceremony for my degree. It just seemed a little weird when the OU is such a personal, long-distance thing - I've never actually met anyone from the uni in person haha!! But I have my certificate and I can put fancy letters after my name so for all intents and purposes I am an official university graduate!

Spent the last month binge watching the whole series and have garnered a whole new appreciation for the show and the mythology. Well worth the re-watch!

One of my American friends from camp came to visit me for the day and we wondered all over the city. So much fun!

Watched The Fifth Element while away this year, a SciFi classic

Number 2 of 3 done. Over the summer at camp I was... I guess you could call it in a relationship with another counsellor. We grew close in my first summer but this summer we got back and things picked up pretty much where they left off, naturally becoming more serious. He's very good with words, with expressing his emotions on the spot. I tend to clam up and just nod and say nothing, taking the moment in. So as I was travelling round, about a week after camp ended and a few days after we'd said our goodbyes in Boston, I wrote him a letter. It wasn't much, just a little piece to say all those things that I wished I'd had the courage and the vocabulary to say in those moments. But this guy, whatever happens now, will always be one I look back on fondly. I've never had a guy care for me and make me laugh and shower me with so much affection as this one. It made for a very special summer that's for sure. And I grew up and changed a lot because of him. He made a difference and so his letter is definitely a second of three towards this goal. (less)

Number 2 of 3 done. Over the summer at camp I was... I guess you could call it in a relationship with another counsellor. We grew close in my first summer but this summer we got back and things picked up pretty much where they left off, naturally becoming more serious. He's very good with words, with expressing his emotions on the spot. I tend to clam up and just nod and say nothing, taking the moment in. So as I was travelling round, about a week after camp ended and a few days after we'd said our goodbyes in Boston, I wrote him a letter. It wasn't much, just a little piece to say a (...more)

We hiked Bishops Peak in San Luis Obispo - definitely underestimated how tough it would be but the views at the top were simply spectacular

Spent a lovely 24 hours off camp at Old Orchard Beach in Maine
Then many subsequent beach days as we drove down the Pacific Coast Highway on our post-camp travels.

So this year at camp I was made the Yoga Assistant despite having never done yoga before!! I think it was based on my dance background. Anyways, I had the opportunity to assist class every day during the first 4 activity weeks with our Indian yoga master and learn the basics of yoga. I really enjoyed it actually - it's deceptively hard work!

One of the most mind-blowing things I have ever seen. Your brain just cannot process how huge it is from side to side. So beautiful and majestic.

Spent the day at Universal Studios Hollywood - so much fun

So I passed my final module with a distinction, meaning I'm able to graduate with a first in International Studies!! Feeling very proud of myself; the long slog has paid off!
Now all I have left to do is accept the qualification, book my graduation ceremony and walk across that stage!

Travelling around America after a second summer at camp, I have easily taken a photo every day for the entire 30 days!!

91/100 Retinue - a group of advisers and assistants accompanying an important person

87/100 Naggin - 200ml bottle of spirits in Ireland
88/100 Oocyte - immature egg cell, prior to fertilisation
89/100 Creed - a faith
90/100 Gillie - Scottish term for an attendant for hunting and fishing

Managed to raise £40 for a great charity through doing this. Job done

Examination for(hopefully) my final module sat today! Cannot believe it!!! Really hoping I've done enough to get the result I want. Only time will tell, about 6 weeks to agonisingly wait and try and forget it ever happened haha!

80/100 Obsequious - obsessively obedient
81/100 Defenestration - throwing someone or something out the window
82/100 Vapid - bland
83/100 Sardonic - mocking, irony
84/100 Taciturn - uncommunicative
85/100 Sycophant - a person attempting to gain an advantage through obsequious behaviour
86/100 Nadir- the lowest point (of fortunes)

50 questions all answered. Some were strange, some opened up a whole new train of thought; I think I'll review the answers in a couple of weeks and see what I can glean from the exercise. But I really enjoyed doing it and posting it all to my blog. Certainly makes your brain tick

The summer was so good, I'm going back for a second - 1 month and 1 day til I fly back

62/100 Facetious - treating serious business with deliberately inappropriate humour
63/100 Salvo - simultaneous discharge of artillery or a sudden, vigorous or aggressive act
64/100 Profligacy - reckless extravagance
65/100 Gumption - boldly initiative
66/100 Wight - spirit, ghost or supernatural being
67/100 Fealty - pledge of allegiance from one person to another

Signed up for a Colour Run to raise money for St Barnaas Hospice in two weeks time.

Spent a lovely afternoon reading in the sunshine in Green Park on a visit to London to get my visa for a return to camp. It was just what I needed

55/100 Livery - a special uniform worn by a servant, an official, or a member of a City Company or a business that offers vehicles, such as automobiles or boats, for hire.
56/100 Tautology - saying the same thing twice over in different words
57/100 Co-option - process of a group subsuming a smaller or weaker group with related interests; replicate aspects but not the full ideal
58/100 Gimlet-eyed - sharp-sighted
59/100 Raconteur - a person who tells anecdotes in a skilful and amusing manner
60/100 Provenance - geographical origin of commodities
61/100 Terroir - the combined effects of a given location on a given product e.g. climate, soil
(less)

55/100 Livery - a special uniform worn by a servant, an official, or a member of a City Company or a business that offers vehicles, such as automobiles or boats, for hire.
56/100 Tautology - saying the same thing twice over in different words
57/100 Co-option - process of a group subsuming a smaller or weaker group with related interests; replicate aspects but not the full ideal
58/100 Gimlet-eyed - sharp-sighted
59/100 Raconteur - a person who tells anecdotes in a skilful and amusing manner
60/100 Provenance - geographical origin of commodities
61/100 Terroir - the combined effects of a g (...more)

Preparing for my last TMA - ahhhhhh!!!

Slowly working through these - on the last of the Shopaholic series at the moment.

19 books in 19 months - it's not been consistent but it is an average

Weekend 2 was a trip to Go Ape (another goal on this list) with the work ladies.
Weekend 3 included a road trip to Derby, partying with camp friends til 3am and drinking faaarrr too much, then driving home the following day.
Weekend 4 was the solar eclipse and a social visit to my old dance school.
Then this weekend started on Thursday as that was the end of my working week with a killer night out with two of my favourite girls, having my first tequila slammer, taking so many photos and dancing the night away
All in all, it's been a fun month of weekend socialising

37/100 Timpani - kettledrums
38/100 Whicker - whinny, neigh
39/100 Scad - a large quantity; usually used in plural
40/100 Alacrity - brisk and cheerful readiness
41/100 Nix - put an end to
42/100 Beguiling - charming or enchanting, often deceptively

35/100 Barrage - concentrated artillery bombardment over a wide area or an artificial barrier across a river
36/100 Paragon - a perfect example of a particular quality, model of excellence

Started this goal off with a bang! Drove myself all the way to Birmingham and back to spend the weekend with one of my school friends who I haven't had the chance to have a proper catch up with in a long time. Except for the hour long break down 25 minutes from my house the journey was actually really easy and I quite enjoyed myself! Felt very proud to have made it to Birmingham and had a proper laugh sharing gossip and memories and going out to a comedy club. Then today we slept and chilled out and watched crappy TV and it was just perfect. Such a good trip

Spent a lovely afternoon wondering around the Tower on a day trip to London. Very interesting and so much to see in there. And the Crown Jewels are so opulent!

30 days done! I think it's actually a good thing to pause and reflect on the day you've had and the small things that make you happy. It's been an eye-opening project!

28/100 Contrition - sincere remorse for wrongdoing
29/100 Chutzpah - audacity; gall
30/100 Supercilious - behaving or looking as though they believe they're superior
31/100 Aphorism - terse saying expressing a general truth
32/100 Terse - sparing in use of words
33/100 Frippery - showy or unnecessary ornament in architecture, dress or language
34/100 Precession - change in the orientation of a rotational axis of a rotating body

Done! Didn't win but really enjoyed the experience. Definitely going back again. A great laugh with friends.

One hour to go til my first bingo experience!

11/50 Remote Deposit – cashing in a cheque without going to the bank, so from home or the office by scanning the image through to the bank. Usually done by businesses, but growing rapidly. Made legal in the US under the Check 21 Act in 2004 to prevent financial meltdown in the event of a loss of rapid long-distance transportation.
12/50 Football at the 2009 Southeast Asian Games – held in Laos in December 2009, men’s under 23s national teams, women no age limit. Malaysia won the men’s gold, Vietnam the women’s.
13/50 Canadian River-class Destroyer – a class of 14 destroyer ships (fast, manoeuvrable, long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels and defend them from smaller, powerful, short-range attackers) in the Royal Canadian Navy, all named after Canadian Rivers. Used during WWII after acquisition from the British Royal Navy; in service 1931-45.
14/50 L’Ametlla del Vallés – Spanish village in Catalonia, population 8,111
15/50 Mareks Jurevičus – Latvian basketball player, played for his national team, now plays in France’s club Elan Chalon, very accomplished, plays shooting guard or small forward
16/50 Wagonette – small horsecar with springs, passengers face each other, drivers bench is separate and front-facing
17/50 Sara Davidson – author of Loose Change, which was later adapted in to a TV series, journalist and screenwriter
18/50 Nanai Station – train station on the Mooka Railway in Mashiko, Japan
19/50 Palestinian Freedom Movement – political party, believe in ending the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip
20/50 Rudolf Veiel – German General of the Panzertruppe (armoured troop, tanks) in WWII, Nazi Germany, distinguished role in invading Poland, France, Yugoslavia, Greece and the Soviet Union before his armoured days, 2 years in American captivity at end of WWII (less)

11/50 Remote Deposit – cashing in a cheque without going to the bank, so from home or the office by scanning the image through to the bank. Usually done by businesses, but growing rapidly. Made legal in the US under the Check 21 Act in 2004 to prevent financial meltdown in the event of a loss of rapid long-distance transportation.
12/50 Football at the 2009 Southeast Asian Games – held in Laos in December 2009, men’s under 23s national teams, women no age limit. Malaysia won the men’s gold, Vietnam the women’s.
13/50 Canadian River-class Destroyer – a class of 14 destroyer ships (fast, (...more)

27/100 Escarpment - steep slope or long cliff from faulting separating a level area to differing elevations

2/50 Lance Storm – professional Canadian wrestler, won 13 championships including 3 simultaneously in his World Championship Wrestling stint (the only one to ever achieve this), now has a wrestling academy in Calgary
3/50 2006 IIHF World Championship Division III – International Ice Hockey Federation tournament in April; Iceland won and both them and Turkey were promoted to division II
4/50 La Belliole – commune (town) in Burgandy, north-central France, population of 257
5/50 A17 – road connecting Newark to Kings Lynn, 62 miles across the Fens, overused and mostly single carriage way
6/50 Media in Visalia, California – Visalia Times-Delta is the major daily, many Spanish papers including the main one, El Sol
7/50 2012 Saint Francis Red Flash football team – university team played division I, ending the season in tied 4th
8/50 Church of San Juan (Salvatierra) – church in Salvatierra, Spain, designated a Good of Cultural Interest in 1984
9/50 ThinkServer – a series of servers from Lenovo, designed to reduce the need for IT support by easing the process of server management
10/50 Colin Hercules Mackenzie – Special Operations Executive (sabotage, reconnaissance and espionage in occupied Europe and South East Asia) spymaster during WWII (less)

2/50 Lance Storm – professional Canadian wrestler, won 13 championships including 3 simultaneously in his World Championship Wrestling stint (the only one to ever achieve this), now has a wrestling academy in Calgary
3/50 2006 IIHF World Championship Division III – International Ice Hockey Federation tournament in April; Iceland won and both them and Turkey were promoted to division II
4/50 La Belliole – commune (town) in Burgandy, north-central France, population of 257
5/50 A17 – road connecting Newark to Kings Lynn, 62 miles across the Fens, overused and mostly single carriage way
6/5 (...more)

After wanting to do this literally for years, me and some of the ladies at work are heading over to Sherwood Pines in just over a months time to Go Ape!
Can't wait - I've been missing swinging from the trees since camp ended so looking forward to the adrenaline rush that comes with it all!

It's assignment weekend!
Gone from being so behind just after Christmas to feeling very on top of things and prepared for this one which is good. Can't believe I can count the amount of assignments, tests and exams I have left to do on just one hand - where have the past 4.5 years gone?!

As time has gone on with this project, as I've grown and as my life has changed, I've realised that the goals I set way back when may not actually still be applicable to me anymore. Reaching 490 days remaining, less than half the time, and only having completed a quarter of the goals, change is needed. With some goals, I just didn't estimate the length of time they'd take to complete. Others my 21 year old self was desperate to do but my 22 year old self is not so bothered about.
So I've decided that I'm going to have a goal overhaul. I'm going to realistically look at this list, get more proactive about those I can achieve, substitute any I feel are no longer relevant and really find the mindset to pursue this through to the end. (less)

As time has gone on with this project, as I've grown and as my life has changed, I've realised that the goals I set way back when may not actually still be applicable to me anymore. Reaching 490 days remaining, less than half the time, and only having completed a quarter of the goals, change is needed. With some goals, I just didn't estimate the length of time they'd take to complete. Others my 21 year old self was desperate to do but my 22 year old self is not so bothered about.
So I've decided that I'm going to have a goal overhaul. I'm going to realistically look at this list, get (...more)

Been feeling in such a positive mood recently so decided to start this 5 positive things challenge. I've modified it slightly from the original goal to reflect what I want to achieve from it - I'm not restricted to writing it before bed, it can be done whenever. For example, I've done today's already and I've only been up for 3.5 hours!!
I'm going to be blogging these everyday so I can look back at them in weeks, months to come when I might be feeling a little low. I've set the reminder on my phone to do it every day, so here goes!!

1/50 Britten Sheriff - a prototype light twin-engine aircraft designed by John Britten

The struggle is so real. The motivation is seriously lacking. But I'm pushing through as best I can. It comes in fits and starts. For days I can be completely not bothered about doing any work. Then I'll have a run of coming in every evening and powering through before returning to the same unconcerned state of the preceding period. But it's getting there, slowly. The end is just about in sight.

7/100 Irascible - having or showing a tendency to be easily angered
8/100 Avarice - extreme greed for wealth or material gain
9/100 Munificence - the quality or action of being extremely generous
10/100 Ebullient - cheerful and full of energy
11/100 Ubiquity - state/capacity of being everywhere, especially simultaneously

6/100 Jurisprudence - science of, skill of law

4/100 Intrinsic - belonging naturally; essential
5/100 Petrichor - the smell of Earth after rain

3/100 Visceral - relating to instinct>intellect

1/100 Pecuniary - relating to money
2/100 Sequester - isolate/hide away

'Dear John' read, 'What the Nanny Saw' begun!

The one New York related goal I didn't manage to tick off on my recent visit. Well, I guess I'll just have to go back then...

My whole post-camp travels amounted to a road trip without a pre-set destination. I've always been one for planning things out to a T, getting the dates and times of where we're going, making sure I have maps from every arrival and departure point, liking to be in charge of tickets and bookings and just generally being way OTT with organisation. It's in my nature, partially genetic I think! However, with post-camp, I was so in denial about the end of it all, so wanting to extend the experience, that departure day arrived and I had literally no idea what I was doing. I'd arranged a lift out of camp, then that wasn't quite going to work out and literally I completely made up every single thing I was doing that day, and most days after, as I did it. It took me on a complete whirlwind trip across the East and South of the USA and I wouldn't change it for the world. Just goes to show that disorganisation can be a good thing sometimes (less)

My whole post-camp travels amounted to a road trip without a pre-set destination. I've always been one for planning things out to a T, getting the dates and times of where we're going, making sure I have maps from every arrival and departure point, liking to be in charge of tickets and bookings and just generally being way OTT with organisation. It's in my nature, partially genetic I think! However, with post-camp, I was so in denial about the end of it all, so wanting to extend the experience, that departure day arrived and I had literally no idea what I was doing. I'd arranged a li (...more)

Fallen behind with the madness of camp but working on finishing 'Dear John' before the end of the month. That will be 10 books in 13 months, so I really need to up it and set some time aside to read on a regular basis. Hopefully I'll be able to fit it in around the studies once they kick in too!

So camp and travelling and Southern cuisine and fast food kind of set this back a little bit, but it's all part of the experience! To be fair, it's not really that bad as I did that much exercise at camp that I toned up quite a bit, meaning I'm only just outside square one. Back on it now I'm home and getting in to some sort of regular life routine though.

Passed my two modules from last year with a distinction and a grade 2 pass! Was so relieved to get those results while I was away. Signed up for my final module now - can't believe I've reached this point!!!

After much considered reviews and opinions, on my recent visit to NYC I ascended Top of the Rock instead and had an amazing time, going up at dusk and waiting til dark, seeing the city light up from the skies. So pleased I invested my money on that. Who knows, I may go to the top of the Empire State next time, but for now, mission accomplished.

New Orleans, LA makes 5/5!

Such a fun place and even better when illuminated at night!

Visited Liberty Island and Ellis Island as part of my post camp travels. Surreal experience seeing her so close, but she's smaller in real life than I imagined.

Dewys, Portland ME - August 22nd 2014.
The Pourhouse, Boston MA - August 23rd 2014.
Fin's Sushi & Grill, Boston MA - August 24th 2014.
Plus so many more I can't even begin to remember - goal thoroughly accomplished.

Bonjour! - French
Guten tag! - German
Hola! - Spanish
Привет! (Privét!) - Russian

Journal kept for just over 2 months throughout my camp experience. Cherishing those memories for the rest of my life

Final day off from camp; war wounds to prove it! So much fun but think I've experienced the pain enough to stick to laser tag from now on haha!

Toasting marshmallows and making my first s'mores this summer - all a key part of the camp experience!

Had my first sushi dinner August 24th in Boston. It was so good!

Portland, Maine
Boston, MA
New York City, NY

Into The Storm and Guardians Of The Galaxy

Books taken to the BHF shop on Wednesday 11th June.

Been placed at a beautiful summer camp in Maine. Leave in just over 2 weeks!!

No success at the camp fairs in January and no contact since then from any camps so I'm still unplaced disheartening, but went to pre-departure orientation yesterday and they're very hopeful we will all be placed so keeping my fingers crossed.
On to the visa application it is!

Just finished 'The Lost Symbol', another excellent novel from Dan Brown.

Continuous assessment done - crazy ending to a crazy year of study! Just the two examinable assessment pieces to be done now - 8,000 words in the next month. Will start on those tomorrow - still on a come down after the stress of the last two assignments haha!!