October Review

Hey guys! This month was pretty quiet (by gut feeling), not as fun as September or July but still pretty cool. 

Thursday 1st

My friend Chloe turned 18 and I made this bangin' collage. We celebrated later. 

Friday 2nd to Wednesday 14th

I spent a lot of time working on my personal statement and UCAS application - very frustrating. The deadline was the 15th and my guidance counsellor helped sign off on it on time, then there was more application stuff to do and, now that I think of it, I have yet more forms to send off to reach England before the 5th of November. 

Saturday 3rd

Spent a lovely day in town with friends. 

Friday 9th

I attended the launch of the 2016 Drugs.ie Youth Media Awards as a past category winner (I'm so thankful for the iPad they gave me). I blogged about that so you can find it by scrolling down. It was a good event with nice food and interesting people, missed double Physics though which is unfortunate. 

This is me and another winner with presenter Miriam O Callaghan. 

Maybe there'll be a day where my hair works out, but it won't be soon. 

Saturday 10th

I hung out with Daniel in the morning, having slept over the night before, then went to DCU for the first day of the CTYI-Intel engineering course. Gabi was doing it too, which was awesome. We studied Newton's laws and basic mechanics the first week. 

That day I learned where Tara Street Station is in relation to O Connell Bridge, information which has proved very useful. Gabi and I wanted to go to Girls Hack IE but couldn't actually find its physical location so didn't. 

Sunday 11th

Nothing exciting happened, but I took an amazing photo of my brother, I love it. 

Tuesday 13th

Again, just family stuff - my sister and I getting acquainted with our baby cousin. 

Thursday 15th

I applied to three different universities in the UK for five courses: Natural Sciences, Chemical Physics, Physics with a Year Abroad, Chemistry, Physics. Really strange decision to make - very adult. 

That evening we had the school's open night. I've blogged about that, so scroll down the blog to find out more. It was fun. 

Saturday 17th

Second day of the Engineering course - we studied aerospace engineering including various plane wing designs and rocket troubleshooting. It was a bit strange since Gabi couldn't make it. 

I got lost in the area for an hour afterwards, so could only meet up with Ben for about fifteen minutes then. Good to see him anyway. 

Monday 19th - Tuesday 20th

Had big Chemistry and Physics tests that went infuriatingly badly, and a Maths test that went alright. We stayed an extra hour after school for maths to plan out our revision. 

Wednesday 21st

Cian's birthday. I think this picture is actually from September or August but it's great so I'm posting it. 

Friday 23rd

We celebrated Elayna's 18th (the following day) in school. A few people brought cake and sweets and made it really nice for her. 

That evening, I got the bus to Dublin in preparation for my trip to London the next day. 

Saturday 24th

The day of my long-awaited London trip for a meeting of the CREST Youth Panel of the British Science Association. I've already blogged about the meeting and will soon blog about my other experiences in London, so look out for that. It was a really cool day and I honestly - at risk of sounding melodramatic - felt like I'd grown up overnight. Knowing I could go to a different country and navigate London on my own gave me confidence. It was wonderful getting to see Floriane and Imogen at the meeting and Sobelema (Outbox) and Jason (CTYI) afterwards. 

When I got back to Ireland at 23:30 that night, Chloe's parents were wonderful and picked me up at the airport.

Saturday 24th - Monday 26th

Stayed with Chloe, had a great time. Particularly enjoyed going for a walk in the dark through a field filled with brambles (not even sarcastic - we had some awesome conversations). Went to see Mam complete the DublIn Marathon on Monday and meet Sonia O Sullivan. Alice found me in the crowd and we hung out with Mam at Starbucks for a while. Very impressive achievement!

Monday 26th - Wednesday 28th

Sleepovers at Alice's. Had a lot of fun - stayed up late watching comedians on YouTube, jammed on ukulele, went out for lunch, went Halloween shopping and went to the library to study. Alice is lovely and, in case she hasn't heard it enough already, an incredible artist and musician. 

Oh, and adorable. 

Friday 30th 

Went to an amazing sleepover/Halloween party at Daniel's with Chloe, John Joe and Joe and had a fabulous time. We watched Zombieland and played Never Have I Ever very tamely, then went to sleep at four. It was great fun. 

Saturday 31st (Halloween)

I went with everyone to the big Halloween reunion from Daniel's from 1 - 6.30, then stayed at Ben's and had a chill Halloween night. Some photos: 

Daniel and I on the DART to the reunion. 

Gabi went as Cinderella and I as Gabi's fairy (witch?) godmother. 

Mai and Daniel being adorable. 

Ellen looking amazing. I think she looks like a queen from Irish mythology. 

Me with PJ and Jack, who I haven't seen in about 5000 years because they live across the country. 

It was really great getting to spend some solid time with Ben - we got takeaway and just talked a lot, until just after midnight when the month ended. Here's Ben sounding very adult on the phone to the restaurant:

Academics and college application stuff were frustrating and not fun this month, but I think the social side compensated for it because that was awesome.