Sad about Long Weekends

I normally love long weekends. Bank holidays are normally the biz. But alas, this year, it was not fun.

Due to my A Levels (which are next week - someone shoot me), I've had to stay inside and revise the Communist regimes in Russia for History and trade alliances for Geography. Usually, the weather is horrific on bank holidays. The number of times I've had to spend bank holiday inside because it's tipping it down outside isn't countable on my hands.

But this time, oh no, the sun has been gloriously shining! What a surprise! The one time I have to stay inside is the one time the weather is glorious!

So my family are all out right now with family friends, having a drink at the pub and walking the dogs. They are enjoying the sun, But I am inside. Sulking.

Unlikely Views

Just a little note to say I've had views from the UK, USA, Russia and Germany!

How brill is that? Thanks to everyone whose looked at my little blog! x

I've Got 99 Problems and A Levels are 97 of them

I have been on study leave for a week now, and I cannot honestly say that I've used my time to effectively revise. It's not because I haven't tried - trust me I have sat in the dining room for an hour with books, paper and coloured pens surrounding me and I still haven't been able to get anything done.

This is partly because I am bored. Bored of learning about brown earth soils for Geography, reading Othello for English and trying to remember some facts about the Russian economy under Nicholas II. After this month I will never have to study any of these subjects again - something which I am very happy about.

I've just got to stick the pain of constant revision and ridiculous facts until June 7th and then I am free. Free of exams forever (I have no exams at university - my course is entirely coursework based).

I cannot wait to be free of the monotonous school life - I'll have weeks to roam around London and other places, doing what I want and then I have my two goodbye occasions and that's it. I'm done with school forever. No going back.

This is scary, but I guess it has to happen.

This hasn't gone anywhere, but hopefully you get the idea that I'm not happy that I have to sit inside revising stuff I don't really need to know when I could be out in the real world trying to enjoy my life.

5 Things That Have Made Me Happy This Week: 11/5-18/5

1. Going to the gym for the first time - I felt amazing afterwards. I especially love my new Nike trainers - lilac, light grey and lime and they look amazing.
2. Last Night Celebrations before Muck Up Day - got a bit drunk and had a laugh with my friends. I was definitely to drunk to watch Easy A and made a point of proving it to everyone.
3. Muck Up Day - last day of school ever! How crazy is that? I can't believe I'm actually old enough to have left school.
4. Re-discovering my love for Friends - how could I forget how good that show is? Chandler never fails to make me laugh.
5. Modern dance lesson - Our dance is just so awesome and I love it! 

Carraway, Gatsby, Buchanan.

So last night I went to see The Great Gatsby. Holy smokes. I have never seen such a beautiful film. Ever. Lurhmann did an amazing job in adapting the book - it was exactly how I imagined the scenes when I was reading it.

Both Tobey Maguire and Leonardo DiCaprio did an amazing job as Nick Carraway and Jay Gastby. What's more, their best friends in real life! How cute is that?

I though Joel Egerton and Carey Mulligan did a good job too, although I dislike Daisy as a character (I think she's very selfish and weak).

I can't even begin to explain how beautiful this movie was, so I'm not going to try. But anyway, you need to see it. Even if you don't like the 1920s you should see it. Even if you don't like Fitzgerald you should see it. Even if you don't like DiCaprio you should see it.

Just go and see it ok?

You won't regret it.

The Great Gatsby: Excited much?

I have long awaited the release of The Great Gatsby.

Whilst hearing mixed reviews about Luhrmann's newest film (apparently it's not for fans of the book - and I absolutely love the book), I'm still very very excited. From the advert, the film looks beautiful; the colours and camera angles and attention to detail all seems to be like what I imagined whilst reading the book. Some people have said that it's too exaggerated and not realistic - firstly, it's a film, therefore nothing will be completely realistic, and secondly, it's the 1920s! It was a different world then! After all, 'the buildings were higher, the parties were bigger, the morals were looser and the liquor was cheaper'. Yes it's over the top, but if it wasn't it would be boring to look at.

I'm also a massive fan of Leonardo DiCaprio. I think he's a brilliant actor, just watch Shutter Island or Inception. I really hope that he's up to scratch in this film - he looks like his is from the advert, and I hope that this really is his shot at winning an Oscar.

5 Things That Have Made Me Happy : 5/5 - 11/5

1. Finally getting around to joining the gym - I've been meaning to join for absolutely ages, and now I've finally done it! I can't wait to go almost everyday during study leave. I just love me some cross-training!
2. New clothes for the gym arriving - on a similar note, my mum ordered my some leggings and tops and trainers especially for the gym. They're all black, grey and lilac so I look really coordinated and I feel ready to get up and go as soon as I put it on.
3. Having a laugh with my friend Emily - she's been doing her 15 HOUR art exam all this week and I'm tremendously proud of her for finishing her amazing collages. We had a good chat in the common room yesterday and we agree on so many things - this friendship was meant to be!
4. Sports day - alas, I did have to do the 800m, but I didn't come last! My friend Jemma and I jogged at the back and managed to overtake someone without even trying so yay for us!
5. Modern dance lesson - I'm absolutely in love with our dance to 'Candyman'! It's such a fun dance and this morning my teacher seemed really annoyed that I wasn't studying dance after school.

Washington D.C and My America Trip

In early April I was lucky enough to take a school History trip to the fantastic state of Maryland and then go onto Washington D.C. This was easily the best school trip I have ever been on.

We started out with two nights just outside of Baltimore, and during those days we took trips to the Antietam Battlefield, where we practiced some flag-signalling which was used during the Civil War (1861-65), and took a night trip around Baltimore harbour on a speed boat.  I absolutely loved Baltimore as a city - it's very clean and fresh and uncluttered.

I can't say I was taking flag-signalling very seriously:

Loving Antietam battlefield - but I still don't understand how battles just 'happened'. Did someone just shout from behind Union or Confederate lines - we're going to attack them now?

Sunset over Baltimore harbour

Baltimore harbour at night (how beautiful!)

Over the next few days we went to Annapolis, a historic naval town, where we had a walking tour and went to visit the U.S. Naval Academy, which had many beautiful buildings and incredible stories.

Me (second on the right) and the rest of the girls in my year hangin' at the harbour in Annapolis:

Once we had moved hotels, to D.C., we went to watch the Washington Capitals play ice hockey at the Verizon Centre. One of the boys on the trip is a massive ice-hockey fan and the Caps are his favourite time, so needless to say he filled me in on all the details of what happens and the rules and the players (we re-named Ovechkin, Overchicken, much to our amusement). All in all it was a great night and I enjoyed it more than I thought I would.


During the rest of the trip we went on walking tours of Frederick, visited the Pry House Dressing Station (a very important private house-turned-hospital during the Battle of Antietam, Sept. 1862), the National Museum of Civil War Medicine, went to visit the site of the historic Gettysburg battle, and went to a basketball match and a baseball match (back in Baltimore - let's go O's!).



Unfortunately, there had to be a last day. The sun was gloriously shining, and our whole group was going to be together all day. We started with a trip on the metro, and a walk up to Arlington Cemetery. I wasn't prepared for how beautiful the cemetery was. The grave of John F. Kennedy, with the eternal flame appropriately placed, was a real tribute to the President. We then walked up to Arlington House, the house of General Robert E. Lee, who never returned to his home after he chose to go with his state during the succession of Virginia during the civil war. After this, we walked back down to the Potomac river (without realising it we had crossed into Virginia to visit Arlington), and we for lunch.

The very beautiful Arlington Cemetery and the eternal flame of J.F. Kennedy

After this, we went to the Lincoln Memorial. And holy smokes, it is beautiful. The amazing architecture, combined with the memory of one of America's greatest Presidents (millions of black Americans had him to thank for becoming free citizens), was a really amazing experience. We then walked down to the Vietnam Memorial. This memorial is a true representation of the war. The memorial itself is a great, black gash in the landscape, representative of the country being torn apart by the war.

The Lincoln Memorial

The Washington Memorial Pond (unfortunately the memorial at the very end was surrounded by scaffolding due to an earth tremor causing a crack)

Lincoln's statue inside his memorial

The very beautiful and respectful Vietnam Memorial - I particularly liked the representation of the war 'tearing' the country apart

We then ventured on, sweltering in the humidity, to the White House. It really is such a beautiful building, although smaller than I thought it would be. After my friend saying a couple of very silly things, for example, she was looking at an allotment patch and said 'do you think that's where Barack does his gardening?'

Barack's Pad

After dinner, we walked back through D.C. towards the Capitol building, which was just as beautiful as everything else we'd seen that day. It was spectacular.

The incredibly beautiful Capitol building

Magnificent sunset over D.C.

On our last morning went down to Ford's Theatre - the very place Lincoln was assassinated. It's an incredibly well preserved place - the box where he was shot by Charles Wilkes Booth was in perfect condition. It was also interesting to learn about Booth himself. He was quoted saying to another actor 'By the time I leave the stage I'll be the most famous man in America'.

Little did the other actor know what he meant. After shooting Lincoln (I was told that there was only a small thud during the performance which the cast took to be some disturbance backstage, before Mrs Lincoln started screaming. Booth then jumped from the box, dashed across the stage and took off. 'By the time I leave the stage I'll be the most famous man in America.' I guess that was true.

We then took a trip to the Lincoln Cottage, where Lincoln lived every summer during his presidency. He would ride to and from the White House every single day. The Lincoln family used this house as a place of solace and calm after the loss of one of their children, which I think was brought across beautifully. The idea behind the cottage is that the memory of Lincoln is preserved, and not purely his 'things'. We had a very informative guide, who was incredibly passionate about Lincoln and the legacy left behind. He told us stories about helping to find a man's wife who had been killed in a boating accident, over Confederate lines, and when two Englishmen came to visit him late at night and he popped out of bed to see them, in his pajamas.

Due to the lack of things in the house, the things which are still there are allowed to be touched. In the living room our guide told us we could sit wherever we wanted, including on the sofas, which were over 150 years old and definitely belonged to Lincoln. I couldn't restrain my excitement as I sat down and whispered to my friend 'Lincoln will have sat on this sofa!' We also had a visit into his library/study, and saw the very desk on which he probably wrote the Emancipation Proclamation - a decree that freed all Black Americans in the rebel states on January 1 1863. Goodbye slavery.

Also, in his bedroom, there is another desk, however this one was an exact replica. Our guide told us that the Obama's had visited the cottage, and that one of Obama's children asked if she could take the desk in Lincoln's bedroom to White House to do her homework on it. She was asked why, and replied 'great ideas were thought of on this desk'.

After a final lunch at the amazing Hard Rock Cafe, where they wouldn't let me play One Direction so I opted for Blondie's Heart of Glass, and made friends with our waiter, it was back on the bus to the airport, and I had to say goodbye to one of my new favourite places in the world.

And that was the end. The end of one of the best trips of my life. To spend such a lovely, sunny trip with two of my best friends and some others, wandering around one of the most beautiful cities and states in the world was really special.

I hope that I can return to America soon, and enjoy even more of Washington D.C. and visit many other states and cities to appreciate this amazing country.

HTML Woes

Unfortunately for me, I have absolutely no idea how to edit HTML. Literally no idea. I've tried watching youtube tutorials and reading posts about it, but it's still just a jumble of letters and numbers to me.

I don't really know where I'm going with this, but hopefully when I go to uni in september they'll teach me something about it (I'm going to study Fashion Journalism so they might teach me about internet journalism and editing websites etc).

5 Things That Have Made Me Happy: 27/4--4/5

I wish to start a new series of posts on this blog which are all about the things that have made me happy over the past week, just so I can look back and remember what made me smile.

1. Two Door Cinema Club at Alexandra Palace with two of my friends - absolutely loved the vibe of the crowd and everyone dancing and screaming along to one of my favourite bands
2. My dogs greeting me when I come home - I love hearing the little scrabble of paws on the floor as I open the door and my dogs rush to say hello.
3. A great geography lesson - our lessons on a thursday after lunch are always the best. I spent most of the lesson laughing with Jemma and trying to make everyone else's spider diagrams about globalisation, NICs and development beautiful - not everyone insists on colour coordination like I do.
4. Pitch Perfect - on a friday night, whilst all our friends were at the Beyonce concert, myself and Jemma decided to get a chinese take-away, have a chat and watch Pitch Perfect. I'd already listened to all the songs, but hadn't seen the film, so it was lovely to finally get round to watching it; it's definitely one of my favourite films already. We also had such a good chat, with a lot of laughter (mostly at my expense). 
5. Dance lesson - a dance lesson on a saturday morning is the best way to start the weekend. This lesson is my modern lesson, and as we've got a show coming up we're practicing our dance. The song we've chosen for our last ever show (sob sob) is Candyman by Christina Aguilera. I absolute love the beat and the sassyness (I don't know if that's actually a word) and today we finished the dance!

One Of Life's Little Pleasures:

Receiving my copy of Vogue in the post every month always makes my day. No matter how bad my day was, it'll cheer me up. Or even if I had an excellent day, it'll make it even better. Having a physical copy of the publication you want to work for in the future pop through your letter box is one of life's little pleasures.

A little extra bonus this month (not including Kate Moss' beautiful cover) was the brand new Miss Vogue! This publication, which I only found about literally this afternoon (from Liberty at libertygeorgina.com, is just like the American Teen Vogue, which is absolutely ace! I haven't started reading it yet - I'll do that tonight - but I'll do a post about it when I have the time. I'm also planning on doing a monthly Vogue post, just about what I liked in the issue and what inspired me, however I can't make any promises.

Seeing as of June 7th I will have finished my school career for good - end of A Levels at last! - I will be able to update my blog much, much more. Hopefully there will be the occasional fashion post, in amongst all the daily ramblings, food posts and little chats I'll be posting.