HIGHLIGHTS OF 2012

Best Moments of 2012

• Zumba Container Party (yes, that was January!)
• Meeting The Wanted after their concert in Belfast
• Seeing The Dark Knight Rises (twice)
• London with Emma to see EXO-K, Baker Street and Andy Warhol paintings
• Singstar Container Night - reliving the golden days!
• Learning how to create Motion Graphics and my Doctor Who website
• Leading two girls to Christ during Fused Summer Scheme
• Art Night at Kerri's house!
• 'Thorsdays'
• Roadtrips with the IMAmates listening to Mentallll Breaakkkkerrrrr
• Seeing BIGBANG in London!

❐ Biggest Achievement of the Year:

Learning to swallow tablets!
❐ Biggest Failure:

Missing an exam.

❐ Happiest Moment:

BIGBANG coming on stage at Wembley Arena.

❐ Saddest Moment:

Funerals - Granny Green and Great Granny Gordon.

❐ Biggest Shock:

Hearing Gangnam Style by PSY on UK Radio for the first time.

❐ Best Purchase:

2 pairs of Moschino jeans on sale!!

❐ Greatest Musical Discoveries:

Josh Groban and Hans Zimmer.

❐ Best Song of the Year:

The Chaser by Infinite followed by Mental Breaker - Block B in a close second.

❐ Best MV of the Year:

Fantastic Baby - BIGBANG
❐ Best Film of the Year:

The Dark Knight Rises, of course!

❐ Greatest Discoveries of the Year:

Sherlock and Sweetcorn.

❐ Biggest Addiction:

Buying and selling stuff on eBay over the summer.

❐ Favourite Celebrity Figures:

Matt Smith and Alex Day.

That was fun!
- Love Claudia x

BIGBANG LIVE

Hello!

Today I must create a post that I’ve been very excited to write about for about the past two years of my life. This, of course, refers to the BIGBANG Alive Galaxy Tour that was indicated to stop in London - leaving all European fans astonished, excited and determined when dates were released for Wembley Arena back in October. 

After Saturday 15th December sold out in a couple of minutes, many distraught fans, including myself, were delighted to see another tour date added for Friday 14th.

We flew over to London early that Friday morning and casually wandered around Oxford Street and Covent Gardens - London looked so pretty and festive. Everywhere was packed as shoppers attempted to conquer Christmas shopping. Our hotel was situated directly beside Wembley Stadium so it was fun to point out who was going to the concert.

After queuing for a very long time, we finally got in and found our seats - music videos played on the big screens which fired-up the audience as we waited. We also bought light-sticks, as Emma and I had learnt from our mistakes at EXO! You need a light-stick at a K-Pop concert.

At 7pm, the curtain fell, revealing the members in their Alive pods. For the duration of Tonight I think I was in a state of shock, following that, I screamed for the entire 3 hours.

Setlist

From someone who knows all their songs, the setlist played was perfect - with a selection of classics How Gee and Number 1, from previous hits Stupid Liar and Haru Haru to their latest work including Blue, Bad Boy and, of course, Fantastic Baby. These tracks sounded different than the original songs but were PERFECTLY remixed for live performance.

The members had their solo stage too. Notably, G-Dragon performed his latest work from One Of A Kind album and Seungri appeared with a very impressive Victorian British accent and a gun.
In between the set, Taeyang, Seungri and Daesung kept the crowd entertained - rapping, beatboxing, teaching us Fantastic Baby choreography and winding each other up. My heart nearly broke as they left the stage, but returned for an encore and performed 4 more songs, including Heaven, which is one of my all-time favourites!

Special mention to the acoustic version of Haru Haru - where T.O.P ACTUALLY SANG. Tonight and Hands Up were definitely my favourite performances of the night, although every song performed was spectacular.

Stage

The set looked incredible - not just a stage at the very front, but one which extended right into the middle of the arena with the audience surrounding around the edge. We had seated tickets, but we could see everything perfectly. A band played above the stage on an individual platform. The boys made the most of this stage, moving up and around so all the fans in the arena had a chance to see them up close. During the encore the some of the members walked down towards the audience, shook their hands and took gifts. TOP took a giant lollipop and reindeer antlers and brought them on-stage!

The Members

They looked amazing - with a wide selection of costume changes between stages. Daesung’s hair was grey but wow it looked so good - he’s such a cutie on stage. Seungri was a character and made the most of every opportunity to practice as much English as possible but it was hilarious. G-Dragon was G-Dragon really, wearing a different outfit every time I managed to look at him. Taeyang ripped through a couple of vests, as expected, fans went crazy at all the nakeyness - not me though, as my eyes were fixated on TOP! Who looked absolutely gorgeous without revealing any flesh at all. Even Kerri acknowledged his beauty, and that’s saying something. The majority of photos that were taken were close-ups of him - I regret nothing!

My Thoughts

Where do I begin? I’ve never seen my ultimate favourite band before, so for about 90% of the show I was a hysterical mess. I knew it was going to be great, but I didn’t realise it would be so SO outstanding. It was worth every minute, every penny, even losing my voice for the following day. It was faultless - and I’m not being biased here because they are my favourites. Despite traveling for 14 hours from Korea, they put on a phenomenal performance and I adore them for such dedication. 

Many thanks to Emma and Kerri for making this trip a trip to remember and a perfect way to start the Christmas holidays!

Stay Fantastic Baby,

Claudia xo

FED-UP

Whats on your mind lately.

I worry about my workload at university - I just can’t WAIT for Christmas holidays because I feel mentally and emotionally drained. My parents are actually in America at the minute so I’ve been thinking of them a lot. I can’t wait for them to get back - like I thought it would be fun living up here, but right now I’m on my own and that’s not fun at all!

What's the best thing going for you right now?

OH MY GOSH I never said I was going to see BIGBANG did I?? So that’s probably the most exciting thing happening in my life right now. They are coming to London in December and Emma, Kerri and I are flying over to see them. I’ve never been so excited to something for a while - shame all this work needs to be done before I go though!!

Describe a typical day in your current life:

• Wake up early.
• Quiet Time.
• Do readings for course.
• Eat breakfast.
• Do practical work - Photoshop or InDesign.
• Mess about on Tumblr/Facebook/Twitter frequently.
• Do more work.
• Lunch.
• More Work.
• Tea.
• Clean.
• Dinner.
• Shower.
• Mess about/socialise until I’m too tired.
• Repeat.

DO YOU SEE WHAT MY LIFE HAS BECOME!? Actually can’t stand it anymore! 

What would you like to accomplish this year?

I’ve had a weird old year with it’s ups and downs. I don’t have any goals for the end of this year because it’s already November and near the end of 2012, so it’ll basically get into the routine of university life and work hard. Like, really hard. I’m kinda scared actually - This semester we have two practical modules instead of one, and Hannah and I have to do a group project together. I’m really afraid I’ll get depressed again due to feeling so anxious or else rot away in my room because I’m only on campus two days a week. Sigh! I’ll keep you posted on this one. 

Where do you see yourself in 5 years? 10 years? 15 years?
24 years old: I shall hopefully be a Bachelor of Arts with a job somewhere - I really don’t know what I want to specialise in yet, I haven’t made up my mind yet.
29 years old: Engaged maybe or married with a house. I was at this gorgeous house a couple of weeks ago and it’s made me realise how much I would love to build and design my own house. I’m being ambitious but sure, why not!

35 years old: I live in optimism that God will bless me with a loving husband and children. I don’t like being too positive here incase his plan is that I live alone (in my giant house lol) with, as Emma said, 100 westies. (Although I don’t plan to own any more westies after Toby - one’s a nightmare to look after, never-mind 100. Poo everywhere.) But if a family is part of his plan, I will be a very happy lady.

I don’t really know how to predict what I want to do because I know there’s no way 3 or 4 years ago would I have known that I would be where I am right now! So shall we wait and see? 

Stay tuned,
Claudia

LONDON

Bonjour,

I meant to write this last week but eh I got lazy and kept putting it off. Which I now realise was silly, because I won’t have as fresh a memory of London if I had written it sooner. Aw well.

I mentioned in my last post that Emma and I were going to London for the weekend! So yes, I have returned and much to share about our travels. I shall summarise each day now...

FUN FRIDAY

I had intended this trip to be stress-free, and if you know me at all, that wouldn’t be easy. Alas, this was not meant to be! Sean the Sat-nav refused to work to navigate us to the airport. Thankfully through trial and error, Emma remembered her bearings and we arrived in plenty of time. 

After arriving at Southend round 10am, we took the train in to London and found our way to the hotel. After dumping our suitcases we tubed it to Baker Street, where we went to Sherlock Holmes’ house! 

Following that we took a tour on an open top bus and saw all the sights, in comfort. A lot of the areas and buildings were under maintenance, presumably for the Olympics. Generally the city didn’t seem as busy as it usually would so we booked at the perfect time. 

That evening, we met Amy and her friends, Matt, Hannah and Jeremy in Piccadilly Circus. We caught up and ate pizza, and then Emma and I went to see Phantom of the Opera. The show was pretty amazing, despite our odd seating. (We were basically looking directly down at the stage?) Definitely a great night out though. 

SHOPPING AND SEOUL SATURDAY

First stop on Saturday was Covent Gardens - which is definitely the place to visit over the weekend. Market is open and the place was buzzing that morning. The stores are so cute and there were musicians and performers entertaining the busy shoppers.

I had the bright idea of making Saturday the ‘big Korea day’ so suggested we should eat in a Korean restaurant. After researching online, we discovered a little place off Soho called Seoul Bakery - a dingy little cafe which served Korean dishes. What brought this odd little place to our attention was the fact that both SHINee and Super Junior’s Siwon had ate there, and signed their names on the wall. Not only wanting to see that, we also both lived in hope we would accidentally bump into EXO too.

It certainly was a strange place to eat, and we felt both super awkward going in but were warmly welcomed by the friendly waitress. I ordered some kind of spicy soup and Emma ordered an egg dish - both were yummy. It was bizarre to be eating out and 2NE1 playing in the background, haha.

Before we left, we were given pens and sticky notes and left our memories on the wall, a common practice in Korean cafes. It was a lovely and enjoyable lunch! For the record, no, we didn’t meet EXO.

Next stop was Harrods and Hamleys - both crucial places that must be visited!! Harrods was outstanding, of course. Hamleys - not so much. Emma was convinced she saw Robert Pattinson walk past on Oxford Street, but after following him...yeah it wasn’t him. To my delight, after four years of waiting, I finally visited the Irregular Choice store, it was wonderful! We went to HMV and gasped at the amount of K-Pop CDs they sell now, and I bought Heartbreaker by G-Dragon and 2NE1’s Second album. (In celebration of the holiday.) After wandering about for a few hours, it was soon time to get ready for the concert!

MBC KOREAN CULTURAL FESTIVAL

We took the tube to the O2 Arena and got some weird looks from other K-Pop fans, who were maybe unsure if we were actually fans or not. Not meaning to be stereotypical or anything, but it’s very easy to recognise fandoms. K-Pop fans are an unusual crowd - often spotted with vividly coloured hair, multiple piercings, light-sticks, high-tops etc - and that’s just the girls. The rest of the audience consisted of mainly gay white boys, asian girls and asian girls’ boyfriends. I’m just observing and making assumptions here! Surprisingly Emma and I were some of the more average-looking people there. We dressed to impress! What if we bumped into EXO?? Surely we needed to TRY to look decent beside flawless Kai?

We stood in the line for what seemed like hours after a tasty burger in the arena, talking to a group of girls whom we met at the burger restaurant. Wye Zhi and Leanne, both DBSK fans, were the two Emma and I made friends with. It was so SO bizarre talking to other people about K-Pop though?!? Unfortunately we didn’t get to see any of the girls after the show and didn’t think of getting our photos with them at the time.

FINALLY we got into the indigo2 arena and THE SHOW HAD ALREADY STARTED! After a stressful period of trying to find our seats, we soon realised we only missed one 4minute song - who opened the concert. (I would be more pissed off about this because it was up to o2/concert organisers to open the doors earlier, but again if we cared THAT much we would have been in the queue earlier.)

The atmosphere was tense - the whole building was going CRAZY. Like I’ve seen in shows and live performances how much the audience screamed, but it’s so different when you’re in the crowd. You can’t help but join in. (I lost my voice the next day, whoops! I’m surprised I didn’t go deaf either.)

4MINUTE opened with four songs: Volume Up, Mirror Mirror, Huh and Hot Issue. The girls had stunning silver and black matching outfits on with a shiny jacket and fringed skirt. 

In-between the K-pop artists performances, traditional acts kept the audience occupied. The first guy performed stunts and the second was a modernised traditional music group called Queen. They played a variation of beautiful and contemporary songs.

Following that, more traditional male dancers appeared, called the Samulnori team, who skillfully whipped back and forth tassels which were attached to their head? It sounds strange but I was enthralled! Afterwards, a combination of the cultural entertainers performed the classic song, Arirang, wearing traditional Korean dress robes.

Next act up was NORAZO - a comedic and eccentric duo who isn’t the most well-known act of the three, probably gained at least 2000 new fans that night in the U.K! Emma and I were flabbergasted at how awesome these guys performed live. It was a blast - and our hearts melted when we saw how incredible Lee Hyuk’s voice is! They performed Happy Song, Curry, King of Sales and Superman.

Dae2Baek Movement starred next - a dance group who psyched the audience up dancing to songs by Wonder Girls, BAP, T-ARA, U-KISS and of course, BIGBANG. The crowd went MAD when Fantastic Baby played! So awesome! Two of the male dancers teased the audience and the response was wild.

4minute members returned wearing Hanboks (traditional Korean dress) for a fashion show. Other models wore hanboks designed by Park Su Nyeol - who was present in the audience and made an appearance at the end. Although this was very enjoyable I was itching to see EXO, lol.

It was clear I wasn’t the only one, the audience couldn’t contain their excitement and at the end of the fashion show people were chanting “EXO EXO EXO!” Cue a blacked out arena and video titles. What’s funny here is I’m not even a big EXO fan, but I couldn’t help but join in with all the screaming! We were both giddy with excitement! 

The boys strutted on stage and History immediately started playing. After much trouser-flapping, sweet moves and lets face it, obvious lip-syncing, they introduced themselves. Well, I THINK they did. Girls were screaming so hard it was hard to decipher what was being said. And I wasn’t quite able to tell them apart, but that’s okay - because my eyes were focused on Kai and his sparkly red vest.

After a stunning performance of Angel, incorporating some sweet-ass ballet moves from my man Kai, EXO finished with MAMA, their debut track. It was absolutely fab! But alas, it was over in a flash - I was expecting them to do another song, but Emma explained that they usually do two, so it’s a surprise they sung Angel. Didn’t mind though because the three they played were absolutely perfect! My ears were ringing and my throat was killing me but heck, it was worth every minute! *adds day to favourite days of life list*

SLEEPY SUNDAY

We took it easy on Sunday - we visited the National Gallery - which was okay for a while then I got bored and began hallucinating that all the paintings were the same (I think I was still on an EXO high so everything else other than Kai just wasn’t worth my time.) I saw Van Gogh and Claude Monet paintings though which was very exciting and caught my attention.

We headed across to the National Portrait Gallery after which focused on modern art and, well portraits. And I saw my first ever real Andy Warhol painting, so it certainly was the icing on top of the cake! 

Then basically we had to head home - although it was just a weekend, it was a weekend of epic proportions, squeezing in so many fun happenings, making many fond memories for both of us.

I only have one thing to say...when’s BIGBANG touring?

PAUSE

Hello! Short break from the meme thing to update y’all on my happenings in my pathetic little life. Okay not really, life has been alright.

University and Summer

In the middle of May I finished my exams and handed in my final pieces of coursework, which meant I was free for the summer. Hooray! Yes it’s nice to have a break however I was worried I wouldn’t have anything to do because I have 132 days off until I’m back again! (That’s quite a lot, compared to the 60/90ish days we had in school.) Therefore I devised a list of people I need to meet, places I need to go and things I need to do. So far these lists are flourishing, with a few things crossed off already - including baking, painting and sunbathing! Good stuff.

Granny

Despite my fun expectations for the summer, sadness crept it’s way into the Green family household this week. My Granny Green was battling with cancer for over three years, and alas, the condition was triumphant where on Sunday 10th June, she peacefully passed away in hospital. Although it was expected, it was still an upsetting and shocking occurrence for all of us, especially Dad. Being one of the eldest of the grandchildren, I was invited to read a few verses from Proverbs 3 at the funeral. Not an easy thing to do, but she chose the verses herself so I knew I had to make her proud. It gave me great comfort because it was some of my favourite verses. “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.” Wise words to live by methinks. Granny was a very special lady - greatly missed, but now in the arms of Jesus. 

Mural

A few weeks ago, the community’s two Primary schools got involved in painting a mural which will be placed on one of the ugly walls within the village. It’s part of a scheme to make our area more attractive. (Unsure how successful this scheme will be, but supporting Mourne none-the less) The team required volunteers so they invited me to assist the kids. I LOVED it! I forgot how wonderful it was just to sit down and paint. Surprisingly, the picture only took 4 days to create and in my opinion it looks pretty sweet. The mural will have it’s big unveiling on Wednesday this week at 1:45pm, so you are all invited to see the masterpiece!

Olympic Torch

As you all may be aware, the Olympics are being held by London this year! Although I’m not a big fan of sports, I think it’s pretty awesome that the country has this opportunity to host such a big event. The big gold Olympic torch is currently traveling round the U.K, which included Northern Ireland. One of these stops were in Newcastle, so we had the chance to travel down at 6:50am on Wednesday 6th June to see it run by! It was a really lovely atmosphere and worth getting up so early to see. 

London

Woooah, I think I’m transforming into a different person lately because Emma and I have booked a weekend away to London! If you know me at all, this isn’t something I would even THINK about never-mind carry out. (Although Emma threatened to get my sedated when going through the airports, man I hate airports...) However!! I have turned my life around - I’m making the most of my opportunities when I am young and have the chance to do something fun, yada, yada, yada...

OH yeah, so the reason we have decided to undertake this mission is because Korean pop groups called EXO and 4MINUTE are doing a concert in the O2 arena. Heck, it was cheap so we booked it - plus we organised tickets a broadway show! We shall also shop and sight-see. So we’ve made a mini-holiday out of it. I’m VERY excited! 

It’s also stroking “See a K-Pop concert” off my bucket list. Oh, and I’ll have to learn Exo’s names before I go, just incase we run into them there - I only recognise Kai! 

Look here we all are in Piccadilly Circus. These babies aren't anything compared to my presh presh BIGBANG but it’ll be fuuuunnnn!

E is for...

Emma

I questioned Emma in school today about this meme because I was struggling to think of words for some of the letters. So I gave her the letter E, and she replied “Obviously, write about me!” So here it goes Emma...

So I’ve known Emma Hanna since 1st year, maybe a little bit before. We knew through her teacher mum and my teacher aunt working together yadadada. So here is a timeline of our friendship.

1st Year Claudia: A complete loser. I’m so glad I didn’t know her, because if Present Me went back to 2003 she would beat the crap out of her and Present Me would cease to exist.

1st year Emma: Also a loser. Known as Mrs Hanna’s daughter, and the smartest girl in the year who read the dictionary.

Conclusion: We had each other: losers together. Fairly happy in our loser bubble.

2nd Year Claudia: Blonde. BLONDE. Why did I dye my hair blonde?? Anyway, 2NDY ‘Claudz’ wasn’t much cooler but at least it wasn’t first year.

2nd Year Emma: I don’t really remember Emma? We all hung out with Rachel, Tina and Laura so I think I paid attention to them more.. or maybe Emma was very quiet.

Conclusion: Not very close to be honest.

3rd Year Claudia: Go DIE. DIE. DIE. DIE. I hate hate hate 3rdYearClaudia. Big EMO. When I see Emos in our school/everywhere else I want to smack their face off and tell them to stop wasting their time being depressed and go and listen to some good music that doesn’t tell you to kill yourself.....Thankfully I have matured.

Any benefits of this year? Well I think being like this for a year built up my character which you see today: I’m still mean. >:)

3rd Year Emma: I think I bullied Emma in 3rd year because I hated everything. Sorry bbz. Thanks for sticking with me through that horrendous time of my life.

Conclusion: The past stays in the past. Just don’t bring it up again ever. “You can’t repeat the past? Of course you can!” -

JAY, I REALLY DON’T WANT THAT PAST REPEATED. ☹

4th Year Claudia: I went past the immaturity and started to go out places. I also cut my hair into a bob. (Note to self, don’t ever ever do that again: it’s hell to grow out)

4th Year Emma: We were friends. We drifted away from Rach etc and started hanging out with Jordan, Kerri etc.

Conclusion: Things got better.

5th Year Claudia: Ah! My JoBros Year!

5th Year Emma: I remember Emma liked Narnia and Transformers.

Conclusion: We were very good friends again. Even if we had little in common.

L6th Claudia: Hehe! The year I started my ‘obsession’ with Asian guys! I found Super Junior on Youtube, and it went on from there. I also put on a lot of weight. Boo! And school was really getting me down from the workload and I didn’t go out much.

L6th Emma: Emma also joined in on the Suju obsession and it was surely the best craic! Haha, Emma's favourite was Hankyung! (Still makes me laugh for no apparent reason) We had FunFridays at Emma’s house and it was the highlight of my week.

Conclusion: We learnt Suju’s names and some Korean too, this language practiced on a real Korean guy in London! Amazing.

U6th Claudia: Ah! Last year of school!! I lost a lot of weight and think I gained more confidence. So far, I’ve been so busy going places and taking part in different activities as well as juggling schoolwork and a social life. And I still like K-Pop but I’m not as addicted as last year. S’all good!

U6th Emma: Don’t know how Emma does it, but she’s doing 4 A-Levels and soldiering along well. We don’t talk about K-pop as much, and we haven’t had a FunFriday since September! We still talk away though!

Conclusion: All is well!

Yup, I think that’s it. There is probably so much more that could be included here but my brain is going as mushy as the snow tonight! ☃

Happy Snow Day everyone!

Lots of Love, from your favourite blogger,

Claudia

27. THE FRIENDLIEST PERSON YOU KNEW FOR ONLY ONE DAY

Dear Erica (and Lauren!),

Hey! Remember me? Yeah, the unfriendly best friend of Emma you met in London at Easter this year.

Firstly, I’d like to apologise for that. I was very rude. I never met either of you before and was a little put out by your strong Englishness and tremendously loud voices. I also think I was very tired that day too, so I just shut my mouth and switched on my irritated yet vacant expression. To be honest, Emma looked concerned. But I didn’t want to spoil the meet-up so I just let you’s talk away about skiing memories.

You took us into the strangest shops ever. Shops I hate! Top Shop and Urban Outfitters. But because I didn’t want to cause a fuss, I again, kept my mouth shut. I must say I was amused when you got your photo taken with Afro guy in Top Shop. But flip, you were giving me a headache. Why did you talk so loud!?! Erica, I know you were only trying to be nice to me, but to be honest I didn’t like you at all.

The most ridiculous shop we went to was American Apparel. We don’t have this shop over there and I was googling in horror at a place that only sold skin coloured pants and leggings for 50 quid.

Then we went to TK Maxx. That was more like it! And I bought my first Irregular Choice bag. Which made me feel a lot happier about the day so far.

The highlight of the day was when we went to Starbucks. We bought our teas and coffees and sat downstairs. We talked about our cultures, dialect and teen pregnancies! It was hilarious and a lot of fun.

Aw wow, looking back at that now makes me feel so unhappy! I’d do anything to repeat that again. So we returned to the hotel later, because the group was going to the cinema. Lauren had to go, but you stayed. Emma, you and I sat and talked in our room for a while. That’s when I began to like you better. You were such a nice girl, so sweet, pretty and enthusiastic about everything, even when I was being a moody child and not wanting to speak. I’m more comfortable talking one-to-one than in a group, incase you thought I was crazy.

Then as we headed off to the cinema, we all crossed the road, but you stayed on the other side, and we didn’t get to say a formal goodbye because nobody realised except for Emma. I really wish I did realise at the time. Even though I only knew you for one day, by the end of it I felt like I knew you a lifetime.

If we ever meet again, (l hope we will!)

- Claudia

24. THE PERSON THAT GAVE YOU YOUR FAVOURITE MEMORY

Dear Emma, Kerri, Alison, Jessica, Alison, Hannah, Sheepy, Andrew and Hutch,

Hello-I immediately thought of London when thinking of my favourite memory of this year.

Well where do I start? Firstly, I was worried that because I was looking forward to it so much it wasn’t going to live up to my expectations. But boy, I was wrong! It was so much better! I think because we were 6th year and basically could do what we wanted. Freedom is good.

The second thing I was worried about was who was going. I wasn’t sure if we all could get on. Again, I was wrong. I think we were all so excited it hardly mattered. We all helped each other, especially the boys carrying our heavy luggage. The train journeys were great craic too!

Okay, let’s see, what all did we do? *flicks open diary on days 30th March- 2nd April*

Well I wrote here that we left school at 5.45am on Tuesday 30th March. We all were going to different airports so I was with Hannah, Alison, Hannah and William. The flight was around 8.30am and we got the train then tube to the hotel. Easy peasy. We were the lucky people. 3rd years in our group weren’t booked for their flight so they had to get a later one. And the other group’s train journey was an absolute disaster. Someone jumped in front of the train, supposedly!

So we had time to have a wee look round Wembley, which was pretty cool. Others arrived then, with their suitcases! But people were still missing.

Okay skipping through, that night us 6th years went to see WICKED! In the Apollo Victoria Theatre. Wow, just thinking of it makes me cry because I want to see it again so so badly! It was immense!

Fast forward to the next day, we had our first breakfast in the hotel. Thistle Marble Arch, again. Same as we went to in 3rd year, but it’s a really nice hotel. Anyway, this is where Emma and I discovered waiter Henry Chang! Well we named him that. Bless him.

It says here, we done ‘a bit of shopping’ so was that the day Emma and I got lost finding Hamleys? Maybe it was the day Jessica went to Pandora and Superdry and we saw the hottest dressed Asian guys on earth at the bank machine? Funny I didn’t write that down...?

We also went to Harrods, which was good. Then we went to the V&A museum which was interesting.

Oh! And we met Emma’s friend Erica from sking and her friend Lauren. Jessica didn’t believe we were actually meeting up with someone, but even though it was awkward at first it was super fun at the end. Starbucks and talking about our culture and stuff is so interesting. We were ‘jamming.’ :D

Later that night we went to the cinema and saw ‘The Blind Side.’ This film was amazing, and at first I wasn’t keen on seeing it. But it’s out on DVD now, so go buy it. Ohh but there was a problem at the cinema? With the woman who supposedly was manager didn’t understand group tickets or something? Mr Cunningham was going to kill her, but to be honest I felt sorry for her! I’m guessing from my bad memory that we went to Pizza Hut before the cinema. Andrew’s pizza didn’t arrive and he got it for free!

Thursday, we started the day with Madam Tussauds! We had a wee chat with R’Patz and Johnny Depp and the boys met their idol, the Pope.

Then we went shopping to Covent Gardens. We ventured into a cute wee shop called Octopus and that’s when I discovered I lost my Audrey Hepburn brooch! :(

For a quick cuppa, we went to a little place called Candy Cakes that sold the most adorable cupcakes.

Aha! According to this, today was the day we ‘saw the most stylish asians ever! :)’ LOL. And duh! Emma and I got lost in Picadilly Circus that day! When we asked for directions this stupid man made us go the wrong way! Ah it was awful looking back on it, but it was fun exploring the place. Emma’s feet nearly fell off though! By the time we met up with the others, it began to rain, so we headed back to the hotel to get ready for...

THE LION KING! Two theatre performances in a week! I think we would have enjoyed this performance if we saw it before Wicked. But it was brilliant anyhow.

On our way back, us and a couple of third years observed a show on the street. This little Asian guy was doing magic tricks and used Sarah Tompkins to help. He wasn’t that good, lol, but he did make a table float! And he was from South Korea, so at the end Kerri, Emma and I went over and blithered some Korean to him that we had been learning. And Emma said she loved him.

To continue, Emma and I got lost for the second time that day, probably because we were so past ourselves. THANKFULLY Emma knew what tube to take to catch up, because I was having a mental breakdown already.

Also this day was April the first, so Kerri joked that her and John broke up the night before. The thing was, we ALL knew, but we thought we were pulling a joke on each other so we all played along. It worked very well! Very smart, Kerri...

Then, in a flash, it was Friday. Good Friday actually. That day was my least favourite, just because it wasn’t as epic as the rest. It rained a little while we were in Windsor. There’s really not many shops either. We went to the Good Friday service in the church. After we got food and Kerri decorated her fish. However the train journey home was excellent, squirrels! And the man behind us tutting, LOL.

So then, before we knew it, we were home! It all went too fast. And I can’t even remember all the fine details. It was absolutely brilliant and wish we could all go again.
Thanks all for making it as great as it was!

- Claudia :)

1. BEST FRIEND

I was given this idea from this crazy yet totally cool E.L.F on Livejournal. Some of mine will possibly be shorter so I might put a few letters in the same post. :)

-Claudia

Hannie, Hankma, Emhyun, Stitch etc

Dear Best Friend, THANK YOU for being you. Without you in my life I would be an insecure and uninteresting person. Honestly, even though we are completely different in some ways we are so so alike! I don’t think I would be my usual, crazy, obsessive self without your influence. I love when we exchange glances over something really ridiculous that we both relate to in class.

But that’s what makes your company so much fun. I dread the day that we will break for university, but do you promise we will meet up?! No really, we NEED TO. I need to see if we will remember all of Super Juniors’ names in a few years. :) Don’t you be away galavanting the world and forget your old Claud! You be expecting a stupid text someday along the lines of “Toby eats seatbelts” “I will nuke your cat” or even “Kyuhyun’s out of the army!!” teehee.

Even though sometimes I don’t understand your elaborate speech you have always helped me along in school work, which I do believe made me work harder academically. (In other words, I copied your work.) I also want to thank you for dealing with me right through school. Can’t say you were my favourite person back in junior school, but now I’ve learnt how to appreciate your friendship. Actually, I don’t know how you stuck me! I was horrible in 3rd year.

I remember the day we had to sat beside each other on the first day in first year. (Due to Mrs Fry’s mistake of forgetting to give Laura a seat, so she placed her beside Tina instead) You had a funny purple bootleg pencil case, and mine was a Hedgehog. I remember you drew a bell and Rachel Haugh painted her nails with tip-exx. That’s all I remember. Seriously, what did we talk about back then!?!

Someday we will go to Seoul. I’ll even allow you to shake my Hyukjae’s hand. (If I don’t suffocate him first that is) Looking back at all our good times, I can’t think of any wasted or regretful moments, (Asian Magician just popped into my head as I typed this?) And I hope there won’t ever be any in the future! You will never understand what powder is, and I won’t understand how Hangeng used to be your favorite, and we both will NEVER understand how Daesung is able see through those tiny eyes, but anyway you are the coolest person ever.

- Claudia

A.K.A: Heechlaud, Claudia Jonas, Claudia Weasley, the ‘dessinator’, Claudhyuk, Claudz, Claudwook, Claudomort Dom’s Biggest Fan, Claudiaissocoollike etc

LONDON

best time of my life.

FABBYDO!

Elloo!

Well I just realised I totally forgot about continuing my blogging session yesterday. It took hours to clean out my wardrobe. I tried on everything and now have barely anything left. Most of the stuff was just old or didn't fit. I need new jeans and a pile of new tops. Like loads of my lovely shoes are gone too! And I adore shoes. :( But on a brighter note, mum was shopping today and got me a new top for London and a beautiful pair of Irregular Choice for London! Have a look:

Strange, aren't they? I looked them up online on the Irregular Choice site and they all have special names- these are called Fabbydo. Ha that's such a funny word.

DREAMS

Hello,

Haven't blogged properly in a while, well that's the way it feels. I've been busy, but at the same time I haven't done much. I really need to start preparing for my art exam in school, but I just can't be bothered.

I have dreamed like every night this week, I do like that. I look forward to sleeping now. I think last night was the best night of sleep I've had in months. But I wonder why it has started. After asking Kerri and Emma, they said they were dreaming a lot too. And Jared tells me his silly dreams every morning when we are walking down the road to get the school bus, so he has been dreaming too. Let's hope it continues.

During the day I've been in a good mood for no particular reason, especially today. I was at the gym this morning, then Jared, Mum and I went and got coffee. Now I'm home and the house is peaceful.

I can't wait for London! We had another meeting on Thursday and every time we do I get even more excited. We are only there for like 5 days, but our schedule is jam-packed.

Darn, Mum just appeared from nowhere and decided she wants to help clean out my wardrobe. I must leave. More later.

-Claudia

ENGLAND

Hey,

Believe it or not, I'm sitting in England.

Dad saw this car he wanted, so we all went over during half term to maybe buy it.

It's quite boring really, I'm just sitting with Jared in the Audi sales place.

I'm stealing internet. ^_^ so it's all good. :)

UPDATE

I took a day off school today to revise. I never do that. It's weird.

I haven't started yet.

But I have started to IRON! I hate it.

Okay, here is how the New Year's Resolutions are going:

Be crazy and adventurous:-

• Go out in the weekend
• Try new food- Mum gave me lamb chop for dinner yesterday and I was near sick.
• Wear different clothes
• Go different places
• Listen to range of music-Started to listen to more K-Pop, love it!
• Learn new language-Learning Korean.
• Watch movies- I have Transformers to watch.
• Plan events and carry them out.- Currently planning LONDON. My Birthday party too, less than a month.

Meet new people- hmm, I don't know if I have done this one yet or not.

Become closer to God- I should really have more quiet time.

Learn to drive- STILL not behind the wheel. But I sent my provisional away yesterday!

Save money- I put money into my bank account there on Tuesday. Desperately trying to save for London at Easter.

Become nicer to people- Temper? Okay I guess.. but I have been moody round the house, possibly exam stress. And I don't swear as much, that's good. I think I have been more polite, but I forgot about this resolution so these are all guesses.

Lose Weight- die die die die die die die

Exercise- woo! I was at the Gym on Tuesday evening and I think I'm going again tonight. I wonder will the fit Chinese man be there...

Become more creative- fail fail fail!! I haven't done any "fun" art yet, just school stuff. Actually quite proud of my school stuff though...

Volunteer- No, still lazy and useless as ever.

Pass exams- Well this isn't going to happen if I don't start revising!!!

WILLPOWER

WILLPOWER

WILLPOWER

Emma and I saw Kerri dance to "It's You" last night. It was amazing. I scorn my foolish younger self for refusing to go to ballet when Mother asked me to.