A letter to my future self

Hey guys,

So this morning as a form of procrastination, I re-read all of my posts to see if there were spelling mistakes etc as I was probably too lazy to do it when I first published them (I am going to work on this). I came across my post, A Series of Unfortunate Events, where I wrote about a bucket list I wanted to achieve before I turned 20. I am going to be 21 in August and I just realized that I had done very few of the things I wanted to get done for last summer. So here is me ticking off another thing on my list.

Thanks for reading,

Kathy ❤

Dear future Kathy,

As you write this, you are sitting in the basement of the ORB in UCC. You are listening to Ed Sheeran’s Castle on the Hill and smiling at the lines, “But I was younger then, take me back to when We found weekend jobs, when we got paid We’d buy cheap spirits and drink them straight Me and my friends have not thrown up in so long, oh how we’ve grown But I can’t wait to go home”. I don’t know when you are going to re-read this. I hope you have achieved all that you want to. I hope you got that summer job in the bank that you wanted to. That you made it to Alicante.

I hope that you are no longer sick, that despite having a rough start to 2017 that now you are ok. I hope that you have stopped hurting yourself, remember that scratch you got off the briar in Gran’s house about 10 years ago? That scarred you. you scar too easily to add more to your collection yourself.

I hope that no matter where you end up after this hellish year of college, you are happy. I hope that the people you want to support you do, without questioning it. I hope that you do you, you can do this. Remember, you are who you choose to become. Don’t let anyone change your mind and tell you otherwise. As I sit here and write this, my minds is all over the place, I don’t know where I’m going to be in two weeks time. I don’t know if I’ll be living at home for the summer, if I’ll be in Tralee or if I’ll be in Cork. Wherever you end up, whatever you do, remember you got this girl.

No matter what you’re doing, go outside, take a walk. Ring Mum for a chat, then ring Anna. Tell them you love them. Live every day to the full. Don’t be afraid to fall in love. Don’ ever let someone hurting you change how you look at love and relationships keep wearing your heart on your sleeve and don’t let anyone change that. Oh, and finish that bucket list of yours. 😛

Ok I think this went in about 15 different directions, this is a prime example of what you were like at exam time.

Lots of love,

20-year-old Kathy.

 

 

Dissertations and 13 Reasons Why

Hey guys,

How is everyone doing? I know I haven’t written in weeks, life has been kicking my ass. It turns out that for me to be a semi functional adult, I need to nap.. everyday. Do I enjoy napping? Yes. Is it inconvenient? Extremely.

Over the last few weeks I have had to write a dissertation for college. It would have made life a million times easier if I had just decided to do a bit every week but alas I am the queen of bad decisions. I wrote my dissertation on NAFTA and the economic relationship between the US and Mexico. It was actually a pretty interesting subject, even if I do say so myself.

While taking breaks from writing, I watched 13 Reasons Why. It was my sister who convinced me to watch it, I didn’t really want to commit to a new series with my dissertation to do and exams just around the corner. If you haven’t seen it, its brilliant. Very dark and twisty but well worth the watch. If you don’t know what it’s about, a bullied teen, Hannah Baker, leaves 13 suicide tapes (instead of a note) explaining the 13 reasons why she killed herself. Some of the reasons were genuine reasons but some of them were kinda bullshit to be perfectly honest.

While watching the series, I was reminded of a similar scenario that happened an Irish girl in the US. Phoebe Prince moved to the US with her family from Ireland and following bullying, she committed suicide in January of 2010. 9 people who were in school with her were charged with criminal harassment, civil rights violation, rape and a number of other offences. When I was in school, one of my teachers made us watch a documentary on Phoebe Prince and the consequences of bullying.

I was lucky in school, I had some great friends, some whom are still some of my best friends to this day. Sure we had our ups and downs, bitchy remarks were passed but I don’t know where I’d be without some of these people ❤ I think what I want to say is that actions have consequences. Bullying kills, rumors and sly remarks eat away at someone and there is no need for it.

Ok I think that’s my rant over for today, I now have a super romantic date with my economics notes 🙂

Write soon,

Thanks for reading,

Kathy ❤

Life gets in the way

Hey guys,

Its been a couple of weeks since I’ve uploaded. I came on today just to have a quick look at my stats and whatnot and it was only then I realized how longs its been! Life really has been busy the last few weeks. That being said I haven’t done anything except go to college, work and the doctor.. I don’t even know where time goes anymore.

So a quick life update, I have had about 15- 20 doctors appointments since I hurt my shoulder back in February. I have had two finger infections, a sinus infection and have had to have bloods taken. When I went to the doctor about having a finger infection (the first time) she told me that my body was basically falling apart because of stress. She also tole me I should get my bloods done once I was finished the course of antibiotics I was on that she prescribed me. A week later,  I was back in the health center  again to see the doctor to get my bloods done. When I was there I complained of a sore throat and she started tapping my face and came to the conclusion I had a sinus infection, resulting in more antibiotics (if you guessed it you get a virtual prize :P). When I was there she was asking about my general well-being/ my course (I go to the Student Health Clinic at my University). It came up in conversation that I had a massive panic attack the day before so she referred me to the counselling service in the same clinic.

A few days later, I was in the library studying for a Spanish test (I know, student of the year award goes to me) when I got a phone call from my doctor saying that some of my bloods had come back funny and that I needed to come into them first thing the following morning. When I arrived the following morning I was a bit concerned because I didn’t know what was going on. I went into the doctor anyway and she explained that my vitamin b12 levels were half of what they should be which explained why I had been sick so much recently and why I have absolutely no energy. To fix this, I get to get a series of b12 injections. There are 5 of them :O I have had 2 already so only another 3 to go!

The following day saw my trip to the counselor. I literally went in and started talking to him and just started bawling crying.. which I continued to do for the entire session. He told me things about myself and my course that I knew but didn’t want to admit to. He also helped me to come up for a backup plan if my exams don’t go to plan in a couple of weeks time. I’m not going to share that plan with anyone just yet as it is a secret and I don’t know if I’ll need to implement it just yet.. That being said, I’m kinda excited about it 🙂

Other than doctors appointments I have been really pissed off at the whole Bus Eireann strike thing. Yeah most people won’t know what that is so its all g 😛

I would also like to thank people who read this blog. When I logged on today I have people reading from Vietnam, Malta, Russia, Portugal, Spain, USA, Canada.. I’m Irish so it’s amazing to see my ramblings and rants being read by people from so far away (and from closer to home too)

Anyway I’m off to get an award so I shall talk to ye soon,

As always, Thanks for reading,

Kathy ❤

Studying, Stress and a Subluxed shoulder

Hey guys,

My apologies for not uploading sooner, I have had a kinda crazy month! College for the last month has been nuts! Between RAG week (where I was really boring and didn’t even go out once) and study my time-table has been pretty full. I also managed to injure myself at work so that’s always fun.

So during the summer I had two exam repeats as I failed them the first time I took them. That couple with a bad ending to my au-pairing experience left me in a bad mental space. I felt worthless and genuinely didn’t want to wake up in the morning after falling asleep. I got into a bad routine of not going to bed until around 2 am and not waking until around noon. I would then spend the entire day sitting on my bed on my laptop studying for my exams. It was bad and it was a contributing factor to how I was feeling. Things were also not good with my parents at the time, partially due to them not liking my then boyfriend and partially due to me coming home early from Spain. All these factors added up led me to have daily panic attacks and to my self harming. Obviously, none of this was ideal. This led me to go on and fail one of the repeats I had to sit. Once again, not ideal. I found that once my boyfriend and I broke up in October, I felt much better. I was able to focus more on uni and work and my mental health improved. I was on an upwards stretch until I hit a bump recently. The month of March is crazy for me, I had an exam on the 9th, an assignment (3000 words) due for the 27th and a Spanish test worth 30% of this years grade on the 29th. It’s a lot of pressure by itself but when you have your mother on your back EVERY FRIKIN DAY it makes things even worse. Recently things haven’t been so great for me. Stress levels are high and I started self harming again. I haven’t in about three weeks and the marks on my arms are healing but they are still there.

I haven’t told most people about how I’m feeling, mostly just one of my best friends, who I regret telling because he gets so worried about me. I don’t know why I’m writing this but it feels kinda good to let it all out and put an order on things. I still haven’t told anyone about this blog so I won’t be spilling my secrets to my friends and family. I have 5 exams coming up at the end of April/ start of May and I am absolutely terrified of failing. I can’t take much more of feeling like a failure, despite me spending nearly all my free time in the library since this semester began.

In addition to this, I haven’t been able to keep up going to the gym which is my stress relief due to injury. At the start of February, I sprained my ankle coming out of a lecture. It took about 2 weeks to recover and I was looking forward to being able to go to the gym. One Monday at work, I was all excited to go to the gym the following day when I was carrying a crate of beer and suddenly I had a crippling pain in my shoulder. I immediately dropped the crate (Onto a keg so it didn’t have far to go) and went in search of my manager. When I found her, I explained what happened and she was all concerned but there was  nothing she could do and she just reckoned I’d pulled a muscle. The following day, I went to the medical center in college and went to see the physio who diagnosed my shoulder as being subluxed. She said basically, my collar-bone popped out-of-place and back into place spontaneously. Fun right? Basically its just been one thing after another recently. I now have an infected finger cause stress is quite literally making my body break down. Yayyy.. Another prescription!

Anyway, Thanks for reading guys,

See you soon,

Kathy

Valentines day and RAG week

Hey guys,

This week is RAG week in UCC, my university. Every year in colleges across Ireland there is a week dedicated to raising money for charity, its official name is Raise and Give week. That being said, a lot of people use it as an excuse to start drinking early and keep drinking for a week. Both bars on campus start serving at 2 pm, there is music, DJs, bands and other various events throughout the week. The different clubs and societies are running various events for the week, the Commerce Society are holding a Nearly Naked Mile (American Pie flashbacks anyone). There are also events such as a wedding, The Rose of UCC, a Karaoke night  and a drinking competition called the Iron Stomach. All in all, there is a pretty good buzz around campus (once everyone wakes up :P)

Coincidentally, Valentines always falls in the middle of RAG week. This year, I am single, but I do have a Valentine ❤ I started seeing someone a few months ago and he agreed to be my Valentine when I saw him last week so I have plans with him this evening 🙂 Because he isn’t my boyfriend, I didn’t get  him a card and present or anything and am now kinda regretting it.. I’ll be freaked if I didn’t get him anything and he has something for me :O Advice anyone?? 🙂

Sorry for the short post, I now have to speak to my friend in Spanish for an hour!

Thanks for reading,

Kathy ❤

4 weeks in..

Hey guys,

How is everyone dong today? Me? I’m a zombie.. This is what happens when I get 5 hours sleep after working an 8 hour shift but apparently going to college  and getting an education is important? Who knew right 😛 Ok, I joke, I just found it really hard to peel myself from my bed this morning. I have been pretty good at keeping up on my college work this semester, that being said I do only have about 11 hours a week.. 🙂 Yay me!

I have developed a couple of good habits during the start of this semester. Firstly I was back in the library on my first week. You might say ‘But it’s the first week back, what do you have to be doing on week 1?’.. Last year, I would have agreed with you, as I was so busy over the Christmas break, I had loads of research to do with regards to my Erasmus next year, if you haven’t read my last post, The Alicante Diaries: Flight Booked, please be a bae and check it out!! I had to research classes and calendars and look for accommodation and all that fun stuff. I think coming to the library week 1 really set me up for the semester. I now have my favorite computer in the whole building (trust me its a big library) and I’m able to come here and study and charge my phone as its right next to a plug! Winning at life so I am! 😛

So another good habit I have developed has been to start printing my lecture notes! Last semester a number of the lecturers were really sound and brought the printed notes to class but this semester it’s up to us, so I decided I’d better be a good student and print things! Today alone I spent about €15 on notes, a fancy accordion type folder and a mini stapler (because every girl needs a pink mini stapler)!! I can use these notes now to make me focus and keep my attention during class as opposed to spending my time on Facebook… I used to bring my laptop to college but it’s such a brick that I decided that I didn’t really need it this semester and my back is thanking me for it 🙂

In addition to these things, going to the gym has been such a great thing to keep me going! I must admit that I haven’t been going quite as much as I should have been in the last week due to an old knee injury reappearing and being a general pain in the ass but hopefully I’ll be back in business by Thursday!

Anyway, I have a lecture in 25 minutes so I should probably go and get myself organised!

Write soon guys,

Thanks for reading,

Kathy ❤

 

The Alicante Diaries: Flight booked

Hey guys,

So as I am studying Spanish in University, next year, I am doing an Erasmus which means I will be going to Universidad de Alicante next year. I am really excited and I thought I might as well chronicle my adventures while I’m there.

In August, I, along with 3 class mates and another 4 people from UCC will be arriving in Spain for the year. We are required to take classes that to relate to our course, so as I am a business and Spanish student, I need to balance my subjects equally between Spanish and various business subjects, be they law, economics, tourism or anything else related to the business world that I find interesting and can make it to. I also need to take some Spanish language classes which will be interesting seeing as my Spanish is currently pretty dismal.

A friend of mine is in his 4th year of Spanish in the same Uni as me and he spent last year studying in Mexico which is really cool. I was considering going to Mexico but if I was there, I would be there for the year. whereas when in Spain, I can come home for Christmas and the odd weekend here and there if I really wanted to. It’s a bit more peace of mind being only 3 hours away as opposed to being on the opposite side of the world.

I have already begun looking at places to stay when I go over! I have my flight booked for August 29th and the excitement is starting!

Write soon with more updates,

Thanks for reading,

Kathy ❤

 

Something not college related

Hey guys,

Wow it feels nice to sit down and write something that I am not going to be graded on! I should be writing an essay on right-wing politics in Ireland but when you end up stalking the LinkedIn page of one of your sources I think its time to take a break… Right?

How has everything with you guys been? For me, things have been kinda tough recently.. College is absolutely kicking my ass! I have so many hours, assignments, exams and study to do I spend all my time when I’m physically in college doing work. This semester I promised myself that this would be the term I get fit, that I would work out a couple of times a week and get my body all toned and into shape.. Wanna guess how many times I’ve been so far? Ahh go on, guess.. I’ve been to the gym exactly zero times so far this semester. Way to go Kathy right 😛 (Oh and if you guessed zero, way to go you!)  So in an attempt to counteract my non-existent gym routine, I downloaded a pedometer onto my phone. So despite me not getting a chance to go to the gym at all, I do get in some exercise and some exercise is better than no exercise! 🙂 Ok so back to my pedometer, basically it is an app on my phone that counts the amount of steps I take in a day. Ideally you are supposed to take 10,000 steps a day. I usually like to aim for around 12,000. Today my total has been 7,720 and given that it is almost 9pm I don’t think I’ll be doing that many  more. Tomorrow though should be better as I am going for a haircut, which I have to walk to from college and then plan on having a wander around some of the shops before making my way back down to campus to study 🙂 Yeah I really do have such an exciting life..

So as in addition to college I got a job! Whoop whoop 😛 I literally spent the entire college year last year trying to get on and no luck so when I finally got one, I was delighted! I am working in the bar of a hotel near my house which is a bit of a struggle at times but most of the time I really enjoy it! Its such good experience to have on a CV and it can be fun in addition to that! 🙂 I work with a great bunch of people and we manage to entertain each other during our shifts.

Between college and work, I don’t have time for much else! I am a serious Netflix addict and I genuinely just don’t have time for it at the moment (Sorry Netflix), anyone else super excited for the Gilmore Girls reunion??

Something else that gave under the pressure of not having any time was my relationship. Myself and my boyfriend of 9 months broke up due to not seeing each other. We were in a long distance relationship with him living in one city and me living and studying in another, not exactly ideal when the one fight we had been about us not seeing each other. We are trying to be friends but it is damn hard..

Anyway in positive news, we are actually getting a proper autumn for the first time in a long time! Its crisp and bright, the trees are fabulous colours and leaves are falling naturally as opposed to a storm coming and them being there one day and gone the next. I always get slightly obsessed with taking pictures, especially of the sky,this time of the year! 

Ok so I think I’ve let my brain run away with me enough for one day! I’ll talk to you guys soon!

Thanks for reading!

Kathy ❤

My cat Hallie