Day 9

Met up with Ally who I lived with in first year. She is absolutely lovely. Quite a tomboy like me so she was such a good friend to me in first year with the other girls with whom we shared so little. She came over in her little blue mini and we drove into town to post her letter and buy some lunch from Tesco. We then walked through the fields to sit in the park by the Thames. We went through the meadows which were absolutely stunning with all the yellow, white and purple flowers. It felt so idyllic to be walking through such beautiful flowers in the sunshine with the dragon flies swooping about our knees (though it did cause my eyes to go mad with allergies!)

We ate lunch (prawn mayo sandwich and and a punnet of strawberries) and chatted on the river bank, then walked down the river path and back into town. We popped back to mine dancing and singing along to Bob Marley with the windows down in her car At mine we splashed our feet in the paddling pool with some iced tea and some reggae tunes.

Later that evening I worked on my summer ball dress, finally making some progress and then went to the Barley Moe with Mario. We chatted (bizarrely) about what names we'd call our children (Adonis and Celia apparently) and then walked back singing Bjork and Shania Twain.

Day 6

Woke up at a fairly reasonable time considering it was post party but was starving hungry (probably a bit hungover too if I'm honest) so we went to Monkey's for breakfast. It was really nice to just chill in the sunshine together for a bit just chatting. It started just Hannah, Mario and me but then Ed and Alex and Rachel joined us, which was lovely as Ed was going back to Paris that afternoon, and the Anna and Kirsty so in the end it ended up being a pretty chunky gathering. We went back to Mario's after eating but then him and Anna very kindly relocated to mine so that I could sit in my new paddling pool. We just chatted for the afternoon then I sorted myself out to get the train to my sisters and they went to Staines to go shopping. It was a really pleasant journey to sister's in the sunshine (surely everything's nicer in the sun) and that evening we went to Tesco's (as always with her, I'm getting alarmed with how frequently I visit Tesco!) and made pizza breads and garlic breads for tea.

Day 5

Party day!! About this time last year Leah and I, well I but I think I persuaded Leah sufficiently, decided that it'd be really cool to have a big house party for our birthdays but at that point had left it too late and so we decided to wait until our 21st's this year. My birthday isn't actually for 2 months but it still seemed the most sensible time to do it now. In the morning we headed off to Tesco's to get our supplies - paddling pool, jelly, gummy sweets, crisps and banners and then came home to make copious amounts of alcoholic jelly. We seemed to have the most random selection of alcohol left after the two years so decided to use this all up in our vodka jellies so our flavours were: rasperry and peach schnapps, lime and apple vodka and raspberry and creme de framboise (posh huh?!). We also made drunken gummy sweets but we only had apple vodka for this and I'll just say that the flavours definitely didn't merge well!

We got the garden ready with our new paddling pool but in a fit of protectiveness I had locked the new space hoppers up in the shed (it had been left unlocked last time) the night before only to discover that we'd lost the key a very long time ago. I found my Dad's screwdriver and we proceeded to rescue them by taking the door off and replacing it when we were done - something not to mention to our landlord! Leah then made us a freezer left over dinner of prawns and chips whilst I filled the 200 water balloons which we'd purchased. Once we'd eaten I went up to get sorted and Leah and Charlie's friends who were coming a long way arrived.

The party was quite relaxed to begin with, with the others pre-drinking and arriving later but it was really good to catch up with the friends who I hadn't seen for a while. It was a really perfect party in terms of being exactly what I wanted. It was really busy but not so full that it was unpleasant. I knew everyone there which not only made it so much fun but also meant that I didn't have any concerns about our stuff getting ruined but mainly it was fun because we did exactly what we wanted. I wanted to slip and slide at my party whilst dancing to 90s music and dammit I did. And yes I danced around to Five in my towel afterwards and had crazy hair and smudged make up for the whole evening, but did I care?? Hell no! It was such a perfect evening, I think the highlight probably was Mario's drag act to Poor Unfortunate Souls from the little mermaid but it was just perfect.

Day 4

A more productive day today. Leah came back to the house and I was finally motivated enough to start cleaning in preparation for our party. Leah and I worked really hard cleaning the house literally top to bottom, as having been ignored for 2 months throughout our finals it was a whole new level of grimy! The whole day was baking hot but although it made it sticky there's something far less depressing about cleaning a house full of sunshine which has all the windows and doors thrown open to tempt in a non existent breeze than a dark and grey one. It just feels more life like and gives you more energy.

After our cleaning marathon we were completely knackered but I still wanted to have some fun so, although I'd been hoping that someone would join me and no one said they would, I cracked the brand new slip and slide out in preparation for our party. I'd been itching to try it for ages so it was lovely to have a go. Having been so hot all day Leah was then tempted by our brand new packet of water bombs so it wasn't long before we were frolicking away in the garden. Charlie and Sheree came out and we ordered a massive amount of Chinese take away to eat (no way were we making that kitchen dirty again!) and I sat on a towel on the living room floor as we ate. 

After dinner I had a big water fight with Leah using loads of our water bombs and then just whatever plastic bits we could grab from the kitchen! We even managed to tempt Sheree out despite her cries of 'I can't play I'm black!' (She didn't want to get her hair wet and have to sort it out again) but after copious amounts of clingfilm and a shower cap she was down for a water fight if we promised no head shots. It was a really lovely way to spend an evening, even more so plopping into clean sheets after showering off all the crime and water of the day.

Day 3

Had a lazy day in the sunshine. Anna came over and we went to Tesco to buy a paddling pool but they didn't have one that was big enough so we just did some shopping and came back and made a Victoria Sponge but we didn't cut it properly so it had a hole in the bottom couldn't be filled.

Day 2

Mario drying off in the sun after I so cruelly soaked him - and made him go round twice.

I was a bit tired and hungover from our foray to the pub the night before and so my plans of getting to Thorpe Park at opening time were slightly scuppered. I woke up at 8.15 feeling like death and decided that it was a no go day and we were retiring back to bed. But by 8.30 with a little dose and lots of water the world seemed a decidedly brighter place and I merrily rang Mario to wake him from his slumber and rouse him to the Thorpe Park Fun Bus. However, this was forgetting that the night before I had promised that our earlier plans of park opening arrival had been updated to a post-pub we'll get there for 11 plan, and thus I was met with an extremely affronted creature who quelled my cries of 'but I'm so excited' with 'well I'm tired so we cancel each other out, we're going later!'. We did eventually get going and had a lovely day. It was particularly fun taking him round where he hadn't been and I knew the park so well. This was particularly fun when I told him that 'Loggers' Leap' was a gentle and scenic boat ride and he got soaked on both the dips. Similarly his reaction to 'X no way out' going backwards was suitably surprised. The weather was great so I was really glad we choose that day and my new sundress meant that I had a lovely tan but was maybe a poor decision with some of the blowier rides!

Day 1

Went shopping in Staines with Mario. I discovered that we weren't as shopping compatible as previously thought, with very different taste in our 'good' shops. Also he has that same bored look when waiting in the changing rooms that straight boys do when they're taken shopping, it made me realize just how much I rely on him for advice! I bought two blue and while summer dresses from H and M for the warm weather. I went to Gospel rehearsal in the evening and we learnt Sign No More by Mumford and Sons, which although I was initially skeptical about, sounded lovely. Afterwards we sat in the quad outside Crosslands and then Mario persuaded me to go for 'a quick one' and Monkey's which turned into staying until closing time when the police turned up (very exciting) and Mario walked my home like the lovely boy that he is.

Summer of Fun!

This blog is so named because way back in the summer of first year the concept of a Day of Fun was created. It was a day when me, Ed, Dan and Cat were together spontaneously and there was good weather and on such a day you had to be completely spontaneous and only do fun things. They're some of my favourite memories of the summer in first year and so the blog was given their namesake. However, times have changed, Ed's in Paris on his erasmus language year, Dan's in New York studying music enterprise for a year and Cat graduated and has moved back to the depths of Wales and all of a sudden I am in my very last weeks at my uni EVER! 

This is a very scary thought and so I have made a resolution to make every last day count and spend them doing things I love with the people I love, and I shall record them here to prove to old and boring Sarah that I didn't waste my final days of Uni and that I had fun! And thus, I spent this evening at the pub beating Leah and Mario's bottoms' (to paraphrase Basil Fawlty) at Backgammon. My three weeks of fun begin here.

Success

I got in.

I'm going to be a doctor. 

It is a very surreal feeling - its taken me more than 2 months to process it enough to actually want to write this post. At first it felt illusory - it was just a bit too good to be true. Then I was terrified and intimidated by the connotations and practicalities - 'I'm never allowed to make a stupid mistake again' and 'wow I am going to be in SO much debt'. But now finally I am happy. Far more than happy, I am thrilled! Absolutely fulled to brim with boundless enthusiasm for the rest of my life. 

I'd done my research (a lot of researcher!) and I knew what I was letting myself in for with the debt, the dramatic lifestyle change, the reality of 10 more years of official studying and a lifetime of learning but your feelings towards these change dramatically when they suddenly morph from a mere  possibility in the future to an imminent reality. A fantastic open day at the Uni addressed every single one of these worries with constructive solutions and since then it's been smooth sailing. 

There is a tremendous satisfaction in wanting something for a very long time, working out what you need to do achieve it, implementing those measures, and finally, after a lot of hard work, achieving exactly what you wanted. Even more so when you're been born into a family who although loving and supportive in every way, aren't able to offer the privileged advantages, financial support and guidance which many of your competitors will have revived.  It was not at all easy but I'm proud to be able to say that this is something I did for myself and it's going to be so very worth it.