Hello Paris.

 Hello all. Did you have a nice day? I hope so.

If you remember my last post, I attempted to articulate what I had experienced in relation the memorials of the First World War. Whilst I feel I failed on that account, I now feel it is time to show you what happened when we visited Paris the next day. Let me just say this one thing: A day is Paris is not enough, when I can go back?

So after 3 hours travelling on a bus, with charades completely over played to the point we could just say "you got this wrong last time" and the answer would be instant. We arrived at our hotel in Pairs, and trust me, after living in a cabin-like hostel in Belgium, the modern decor and 10+ floors was a definite shock to the system. As it was about 6.30pm, naturally we stayed in the hotel for the rest of the night (we aren't that wild, even though there was a disco in a questionable basement room).

The next day was actually crazy. We visited the Eiffel Tower, went on a two hour boat journey down the River Siene and then spent a good few hours wandering around the Avenue des Champs-Élysées (here I bought a mug from the disney store, fun fact.)

Here are some photographs I took. I hope they please your eyes.

Battle Fields Trip October 2014

Tyne Cot Cemetery

Last week, I was involved in a school trip to Belgium and France. Here, we remembered those lost in the First World War and tried to understand in more detail what we had been taught in the classroom. Whilst, to some of you, this may have seen a little depressing and not a good way to spend my half term, it was, however, extremely moving and extraordinary to be able to stand on the ground where the soldiers went over the top, commencing the Battle Of The Somme.

A poem found on the grave of a soldier
in Essex Farm Cemetery

Call me a history nerd, but I love visiting historical sites. Although, I still can't put the emotion I feel into words when I'm in an area of rich history. It occurs when I go to Hardwick Hall (probably my favourite place ) and it occured everywhere we went in Belgium and France, for example, in the
Carrière Wellington (Wellington Quarry) in Arras where thousands of soldiers lived under the city during the War. It was also a prominent area within the Battle Of Arras (9th April 1917), we actually passed Exit No. 10, where the soldiers left the quarry. With the messages left on the wall (from both World Wars), and the sounds the museum had installed, the quarries were fascinating but extremely sad and creepy - especially the area where the soldiers took their last prayer on Easter Sunday.

I'm constantly afraid that I'm sounding insensitive as I write this, I'm honestly not and I apologise if it appears so.

Tyne Cot Cemetery

Found on Thiepval Cemetery

The most moving event of the trip was when we watched The Last Post Ceremony - A ceremony that takes place every night at 8pm in Ypres under the Menin Gate, to remember those lost in the First World War. Usually it lasts a few minutes (Full details will be provided by an outside source, the link will be at the end of this post), unless it's an extended ceremony. The night we watched, visitors from the Lancashire Regiment attended meaning it was extended, which made this ceremony extremely moving - especially as after each wreath was placed, everyone which saluted. Maybe it was because that day we had visited several memorials, but that almost made me cry. Unrelated to the ceremony, we were stood next to the Mayors from the Lancashire regions and we were able to speak with them which was exciting and weird.

Newfoundland Park - Where
The Battle of The Somme
took place

  I wish I could explain to you the impact that the memorials have, but I just can't put into words. When you're in a classroom and you're told the facts, it really doesn't seem that many. But once you visit several memorials, and you read the names, it all becomes very real extremely quickly. Especially when you visit memorials that list the names of those lost in the War, for instance Thiepval Memorial which lists the names of those lost in The Battle of The Somme. Equally, memorials that feature mass graves, for instance the German memorial Langemark, are just as moving and sad.

Statue of the Mourning Soldiers in Langemark

I think what's important to remember is that every soldier was fighting for a cause, and there was no 'good' and 'evil'.

The Wreath we placed on Thiepval Memorial

Thank you for reading this. I apologise if it was a bit 'waffly' but I just wanted to share my experience. All of this, plus more, occurred within two days, it all happened so quickly I'm still trying to contemplate it. 

After we did all this, we spent a day in Paris, so expect that soon! 

Information can be found here

Places I visited:

The First Day

Bayernwald German Trenches, Wijtschate, Ypres Salient

Essex Farm Cemetery

Langemark German Cemetery

Tyne Cot Cemetery

Memorial Museum Passchendaele 1917

In Flanders Fields, Ieper

The Second Day

Wellington Quarry — la Carrière Wellington, Arras

Newfoundland Memorial Park, Beaumont Hamel, France

A Guide to WW1 Battlefields and History of the First World War

Thiepval Anglo-French Cemetery

Are you watching me?

No I don't have my laptop, or a laptop, but I can't wait any longer to write about this. Somehow I thought it would be acceptable to write this on an iPad. Technology is great.

After reading Nineteen-Eighty-Four by George Orwell, I was left with many thoughts. Thoughts about life, safety and the intelligence of Mr. Orwell. (Not that I thought he was unintelligent, but I think he's probably one of the most intellectual writers I have ever had the honour to read. If I ever write a novel that intelligent I will have lived my life right). Of course I've read articles about this novel and each one pretty much stated that this novel could be a realistic prediction of a future we might face. I'm not saying I didn't believe them but I didn't believe them. Orwell writes about a future that is terrifyingly probable.

I mean, I learnt about Nazi Germany for my history GCSE, how easy it was for the Gestapo to listen in on the people, how easy it was to convince a whole population certain beliefs and how most of this was done with sheer fear. I like to think that we've learnt something since the 1930's, but something tells me if things get really desperate we will accept anyone who tells us they'll make everything better.

The human race is strange, the concept of power is even stranger. How is it that thousands, sometimes millions of people can follow the directions of others? How is that The Big Brother can have so much control over the society within Nineteen-Eigty-Four yet no one knows what, or who it is? We see with the main protagonist, Winston, how easily fear and pain can change one from hating (understanding the danger and nature of the society in which he exists), to loving something so barbaric and terrible. Could this happen in real life though? People tell you if you pretend to love something for a certain amount of time you'll begin to believe it. Usually this is related to your self worth and confidence, but I'm pretty sure it can be transferred to other elements too.

So basically, Nineteen-Eighty-Four terrified me, not in a screaming in the middle of the night way, but in a 'oh yeah politics is crazy and could potential ruin my life' way. I'm pretty sure I'm on the verge of over reacting but let's be honest, no one can predict what will happen in the future - especially a 17 year old girl writing her thoughts onto her blog and who has a tendency to be anxious about almost anything.

I hope you enjoyed this, or at least stayed with me until the end. Do you have the same fears and thoughts? I mean, I do have more complex thoughts, for instance what happens after death and why we exist but that's a story for another day.

Until next time, I guess.

Oh hello, October.

My laptop is still missing. I'm assuming it's still being fixed, but it's been so long I honestly have no idea. So no book review today people! I've finally learned how to type on this tiny tiny keyboard, but I have about 3 essays to write, a biology exam to revise for and a piece of English coursework to change. I want to get most of that done today. It won't happen but I have every hope because I just made the most fantastic cup of coffee.

So to keep you all interested and in the knowledge, that yes I am still existing in this world and I hate the fact I have no time to write a decent book review, I will create a short list as to why I am extremely happy it is finally October. (I even changed my calender on the first of this month because I am that excited)

• The leaves look pretty
• It's finally cold enough to wear scarves and hats
• It's the month Taylor Swift's new album, 1989 comes out 
• I'm going to see Ed Sheeran and I am very very excited
• Grace's Guide: The Art Of Pretending to be an Adult will be released this month. (And I need that because I will be an adult in a few months, someone help, where did my childhood go?)

• I'm going to to Belgium and France to visit the World War One memorials, and I'm really excited and interested to go. (ps. we'll also be visiting Paris which is somewhere I've wanted to go for years)
• COFFEE
• I can finally wear my boots
• I can finally wear the dresses I've acquired that aren't for the summer
• Jumpers can now be worn again
• It's lovely to be able to stay inside and not feel guilty that you're missing out on the sunlight in the outside space
• Listening to music feels 100% better and I don't know why
• You can eat hot dinners again without feeling like you're going to die 
• I will hopefully get my laptop back this month.

So yes. October is possibly the best month, and no one can tell me differently.

I shall now go and do all the homework. (ps if you do A Levels don't expect any free time - but also don't give up because A Levels = better opportunities for your future. Whoa that got deep. Abort) 

Bye! 

Broken Laptops and Revived Dreams

Wow Megan, calm yourself down.

But the title is kind of true to my situation right now. This week, has been both amazing and terrible.

Before I start, I was going to write about 1984 by George Orwell today, because yes, I have finally read it. But instead, life interrupted and got in the way. I will probably write about 1984 soon though. So watch out for that, I guess.

Okay, so back to the 'broken laptops and revived dreams' situation I have going on.

I'll start with the terrible thing: On Saturday, my laptop decided to be real cool and break - mid writing a history essay. Whilst it was still usable, I didn't particularly enjoy using a laptop with a crooked screen (I mean I have bad eyesight at the best of times), so my laptop has left my arms and has traveled somewhere to be fixed. Before you start with the whole "typical teenager speech, can't live without the internet" speech, stop. I can easily connect to the internet with my phone or ipod. That isn't an issue. What is an issue is the fact I have limited opportunity to write - whether it be school essays or blogging. It's coursework and UCAS season at school, which means I have to do everything at school. I pretty much only do my essays at home because I find it easier to concentrate and focus when there is no around me (which is impossible at school). The UCAS situation is even more worrying because half the computers at school don't even load UCAS properly. So basically I'm in a never ending spiral of "what am I going to do?!"

You're probably wondering how I'm typing this. Well I'm using a tiny, tiny laptop which the rest of the world calls a Notebook. First of all, I would like to actually hurt the person who invented this machine, mainly because it is so difficult to type like a normal human being. So think of me, when you're using your normal sized keyboard. I'll be the one crying in the corner because I can't type my biology essay properly. Yeah, when you get to A Level biology you have to write essays. Essays for science, who knew?

Enough of me complaining and what not, back to the whole "revived dreams". Well, my dreams weren't revived exactly, but they seem more possible now. The dreams I'm talking about? Well it's just one dream. Or is it an ambition? Basically, next year, I want to study History and English at university. The only issue is that every university I look at wants triple A grades. Whilst I have faith in myself I may achieve this in the summer (or at least I'm sincerely hoping I do), my AS Level grade for English was a B. Yes I know that for most people this is a fantastic result, and I'm not trying to say it's a terrible grade or anything like that. However, for me, this grade was disappointing because I had aimed for an A, and I knew I could get an A. So when I realised I was only 5 marks away from an A, I was more annoyed with myself because I would have to resit the exam for five stupid marks.

I never did listen to my teachers when they said a few marks would be the difference between grades.

So thankfully, my English teacher suggested remarking the exam. Whilst this has it dangers of it being marked lower, I truly did not care because I wanted that A so badly. Probably a dangerous attitude, but I'll live with it. It took about a month for the paper to be remarked and somehow, the exam board gave me 7 more marks. SEVEN. If you've taken exams and what not, you'll understand that 7 marks is a lot. So now I have an A in English (yay), but it's actually caused me more worries. If anything I expected a few marks extra or lower (two or three, but I needed about five so I wasn't hopeful), but to give me seven suggests it wasn't marked correctly in the first place. How can we trust our grades on results day if this happens? If I had received the original result this year, I potentially wouldn't have gotten in to university.

I suppose I should just except the fact that essay marking is subjective and may potentially ruin my future.

Wow nice thought to end this blog post on, Megan.

When did I start referring to myself in third person?

I'll make this more cheerful. It's now Autumn and Autumn is great. I've already started wearing my boots and scarves.

Also, my friend Charlea writes a fab blog here and I've been loving her blog recently. She writes really intelligent posts, plus she also writes for The Indiependent (in fact she introduced me to the Indiependent really so now you HAVE to go look at her blog and follow her). Yeah, go look at Charlea's blog if you like great things.


Okay I need to go write essays and learn how to type.

Bye bye

I was a Reading Activist?

This summer I did something pretty cool. You might not think it's cool, but I do and that's why I'm writing about here, about one month later.

As you can tell by the title (if you read it) I became a Reading Activist within the month of August. But what is a Reading Activist? Why was I one? What did I do? 

Well let me tell you.

Every summer, the libraries in my county, do something called the Summer Reading Challenge that's aimed at children from the age of three to eleven. To do the reading challenge they only need to read six books, and after reading each book they receive different prizes. When they have completed the challenge they receive a certificate and a medal. What makes it so awesome is that the kids can read anything they want, from joke books to novels about pirates. The challenge also reinforces that reading is actually fun, I strongly feel that the pressure to read from school means that many people, especially children, see reading as some sort of task and burden. In fact people who tend to read for pleasure, because they generally enjoy it, tend to be mocked and teased (hey primary school peers how are you doing?). The children who joined the challenge were actually enthusiastic about reading, yes it was because they were winning prizes and what not but that's not the point here. 

From my first day - I was excited and terrified and my hair
was actually kind of decent. It rained walking to the library
and my hair was ruined. Life.

But what did I have to do with all of this? I stopped being under eleven a long time ago. I actually spent the majority of my time sat at a desk talking to different children, persuading them to join the challenge, giving out prizes, and generally have a great time talking to them. Have you ever had a conversation with a child? Much more entertaining than adult conversations. Although one child did mention she owned an axe which is worrying. I also got to wear a cool t-shirt which was extremely comfortable. As I volunteered on a Monday, I got involved with the craft sessions that were run in parallel to the Challenge. The Challenge was mythical themed so one week I would be helping colour in mermaids, and the next I would be listening to a boy telling me that his shield is better than his brother's because his has blood painted onto it. There was also a session on Fridays, unrelated to the Challenge, that featured young children singing - that was entertaining and cute.

Not only did I get to talk about books for two hours straight, I also met some really interesting people who were also volunteering alongside me. For instance, a certain individual had previously volunteered to help dig up historical graves. Fascinating yet terrifying. I had to stop myself from asking all the questions in fear that I would look a little creepy. There was also another volunteer who had been a reading activist the year before, I met her before I started and this really relieved me that this experience would not be a waste of time, especially if someone was willing to do it for a second time! 

This was my first 'official' volunteering thing outside of school, and even though I was super nervous and terrified that I would do something wrong, I had a really good time. I know the idea of sitting at a desk and talking to kids about books isn't for everyone, but I learned a lot of things and I actually feel way more confident speaking to strangers now. My previous self from a year a go would never have spoken to anyone or done anything remotely different. Although my initial motivation to apply was so that I could get experience and what not, my interview made me really excited to do take part in the challenge - or at least get others to do the challenge. Can I also mention that my interview was really fun? All the interviews I've had in the past have been extremely serious and, if I'm honest, a little dull. That kind of atmosphere makes me so nervous that I forget everything and anything. So shout out to Steve, who interviewed me, for doing a great job. I could have spent my summer doing nothing except hanging out with friends and living on the internet. But I didn't and I'm extremely glad. 

If this sounds cool to you, then you can learn more about it here

Until next time, guys. (It may be a review a book oooooooo) 

Ps. Don't forget to check out The Indiependent (it's moved to WordPress and it looks all fancy and stuff) (also I'm still reviewing Doctor Who so if you like that go look) 

PPS. My friend Sarah has tumblr now which uses to show her art - if you like cool drawings please follow her! 

PPPS. (Is this even a thing?): I'm thinking about starting another blog about my university/applying/a levels/ experience. Yes. This may happen. Look out for that! Also my YouTube because I haven't plugged enough things already. 

Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell

Have you ever wanted to jump inside a book and read it forever? Or just simply rewind time and experience it for the first time again? This is what Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell had me wishing when I saw the back cover staring back at me this morning.

Earlier this year, if you recall (even though I only mentioned it briefly here when I had a crisis because of internet language), I read Fangirl. Whilst I enjoyed the book, in some areas I found myself wanting to pick up something else. Maybe that's because I was uncomfortable with how much I could relate to Cath. who was so introverted that she excluded herself from everyone and never left her dorm room. It also mirrored some fears I have about university. (Thankfully I've been to university summer school since then so I know I can interact with strangers and they will respond positively towards me). Anyway, enough of my emotional state and back to the book. To quote John Green, I fell in love with this book slowly then all at once (that's how the quote goes right ? I don't know).

Initially, I was a little to reluctant to read/even want to read Eleanor and Park. But then I saw the adorable cover and the fact it was on offer in a bookshop I went in? Yeah I couldn't resist. Whilst the blurb is a little misleading - I mean late night phone calls only happen once in the whole story. Once.  Never mind the deviance of the blurb, this story is not only about falling in love but it is also about family and the different elements that can alter a family how a family interacts and behaves.

Eleanor, a girl uncomfortable in her own skin, despite her outrageous choice of clothes (which I enjoyed residing immensely), lives within what could only be called a broken home. With 4 siblings and a reckless drunk for a step father, Eleanor lives a dangerous life with little safety whilst she watches her every move in fear of being kicked out by Richie, her mums new husband. She attracts attention as soon she steps on the school bus, and not in a positive way either. This is where she meets Park, and the relationship begins.Whilst the initial awkward silences and conversations had me cringing in my chair, the two protagonists soon become friends through comic books and music.

The only thing that irritated me throughout the book, is the behaviour of Eleanor. However, it is stated throughout the book that she is rude, and not a nice person. I suppose her circumstances have lead her to behave in way that has no regard for anyone else. (As someone who is constantly worrying/interested in how other people respond to my behaviour, I struggled to relate or sympathise). Thankfully, the book is written in two-point perspective, which allows us to experience both Park's and Eleanor's response to events within the novel, especially the ending which was, if a little predictable, excellent.

After reading, I now believe it deserves the hype it has been given. Rainbow Rowell is an exceptional author and should be placed with the likes of John Green and Sarah Dessen. I also may or may not want to read other novels by her now. Yes.

Eleanor and Park can be purchased here.

Until next time, I guess.

PS. I've been writing more stuff for The Indiependent which can be found here, so go check that out!

Also new YouTube video! (You can subscribe if you like). I danced and did the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge