The end of an era

Hey guys.

This post is going to  be a bit of a sad one I feel.

This time 3 years ago, I was sitting exams, to tell whether or not I was going to be able to get into uni. Im now sat here, writing this blog, being able to say that I've now finished three of the hardest years of my life. 

When I say three of the hardest years, I genuinely mean hardest. 

I've had so many breakdowns because I didnt think I'd get work done on time, I've had screaming matches with house mates over the most silly things, and managed to break friendships in two because of these. 

But ive also had some of the best times of my life. Ive met some absolutely incredible people, who I will never ever forget, and was able to have some of the most amazing experiences which I wouldn't have gotten unless I came two uni.

I was given the chance to manage two fantastic artists,

 Katie Collins
 The most lovely person with the greatest voice. Im literally so happy I got the chance to meet this girl, she has so much potential and I honestly hope she goes so far with what she does.

Sioux Falls
I think I learnt the most working with this band than I have from my course. Along with learning a lot, they are actually lovely people once you get to know them.

Please check these two artists out, you wont regret it.

I was also given the chance to run my own record label, Elmwood Records. I keep saying this but I dont think i've had so much fun than putting on the two gigs we hosted, and the first one was such a fantastic success, that I didnt think was even possible. 

I cant thank people enough for helping me out on my three years in Cheltenham, and I will be forever grateful for all the help I have received. 

Along with all the experiences I've had during these three years, the time I spent here wouldn't be the same without the people I have met, especially within the past year.

Three of them being Anna, Ellie and Emily. 

Although these girls have kept me a tiny bit sane throughout my three years, I also probably should thank the other people that I dont really speak to any more. Only because I can learn from mistakes ive made.

When I first made this blog, I did it with the intention of writing down my antics over the three years that im here. Saying that, Its only right that this be my last post, seeing as i'm no longer in uni, so "The Crazy Life of a Uni Student" doesnt really make sense anymore.

It's been a blast writing some of these posts.

TTYL,
Kirst x

Three months of hell.

Hey. 

Im literally not sure how long its been since I last wrote a blog post, so im using this as a form of procrastination.  Right now, I have a 10'000 word essay to write, as well as the other 7 deadlines I have coming up, but in true form, ive decided i'd rather sit on my bed typing on a laptop screen about how my life is at the moment and theres only one word I can use to describe it.

Fragile. 

Fragile because I get a bit trashed last night, and im feeling the effects quite seriously. Fragile because I literally dont have a moment to myself where I shouldn't be doing anything. 

Last night was the second day of Glostoneberet; a fundraising gig that Tone Radio put on to raise money to run the radio station and quite honestly it was the strangest evening ever.

We only really watched the four acts in the barn which were Jack Cooper, Sahara Breeze, Photo Finish and Ten Tombs. 

Jack Cooper, Sahara Breeze and Ten Tombs are all made up of first year POMS (popular music) and they all smashed their sets to pieces like they always do. 

The only word I can muster up to describe Photo Finishes set is manic.

There were death walls and people diving to get merch and even beach balls. BEACH BALLS!!! 

This all happened in the pool room of the Frog and Fiddle, which isnt the biggest venue ever so it was stressful, terrifying and at the same time,  hilarious. 

They also got a member of a different band up to sing Rock Show by Blink 182 and it was a pretty sweet set up!

I've already written a blog post about the last time I saw them live, which i'll leave here [x]

Afterwards we decided to have a little flat party and i'm really not sure it was the greatest idea we've ever had. I woke us this morning in the corridor with nothing buy a blanket around me and two members of photo finish laughing at me.  The flat also had to be fumigated because of the stench of beer.

I thought I would go onto something a bit more serious now.
I have three months left of uni.
So many things have changed within the past three years and now the thing that has had the most impact on my life ever is ending.
We've all started to tell people to shut up because people keep mentioning it. Its not because we're behind on work, its because so much is going to change after May and we arent ready for it. At all. We all keep getting really emotional at really silly points, like when songs like Fall Out Boy - Thnks For The Memories came in the last time we went to props, and now none of us can listen to it without getting really sad.

I realise that the most change thats happened has been within the last year.
Right now: I have a 20 hour job, whereas last year I was skint and living of pasta most days
Im managing two acts, Sioux Falls, a fresher band who are literally the nicest guys and Katie Collins, the same young lady as last year
I dont talk to the same people as I did last year, but made a few more friends along the way.

All this being said, im pretty sure I was more happy last year. I was less stressed, I saw my family more, and I didnt have the looming threat of my last deadline.

Im pretty sure I got told in second year how much of a bitch third year was but I never anticipated it was going to be this awful.

Thats it for now,
TTYL,
Kirst x 

AmsterDAYM, that was a good trip.

Hi guys!

As most of you know, I went to Amsterdam over the weekend and honestly had the most amazing time. This trip was simply to get some downtime after a crazy first semester of third year, get to know some of the people from other courses/years and put on a gig in a venue which is probably something i'll never get to do again and i would honestly recommend it to anyone. 

DAY ONE.

What we did.

• The coach trip was one of the most long and painful journeys i've ever done. We were on a coach for about 13 hours and ive never been so bored in my entire life. We did pass through countries like France and Belgium which was pretty cool, despite Belgium being completely void of anything besides factories. At one point, we started playing hangman on the back on the flyers that Ellie had for the gig. Masz joined in for the majority because we mainly were choosing to guess rugby players, and I guessed his straight away because he'd chosen a welsh player and put some of the letter in already. (He chose Dan Lydiate)
• Due to the pathetically long trip, we arrived at the hostel at 7pm. Anna, Ellie, Emily and I decided to break from the group to go for a little explore because we were all tired from the journey and werent really feeling a heavy night. After about 5 minutes we rejoined with the other group who were going to the other hostel to get on it. Although the walk from the hostel was about half an hour, it took us roughly about an hour because 3 out of 8 of the group were steaming. It was bloody freezing but I don't think i've laughed that much in a while. Getting lost literally has never been so much fun. 
• About 5 minutes after getting to The Winston, we decided to grab some food and head back to sleep because we were all so tired and getting quite ill. We did, at this point lose an Anna because she was pretty game to get drunk. We found this cute little food place called Chipsy King who sold the best chips ever.

DAY TWO.

What we did.

• Considering I was with three of the most laziest girls ever on this trip, we managed to get out of the hostel relatively early (12pm?) to go get breakfast. We went and found the IAMsterdam sign and went into a little restaurant that was there called Cobra Cafe where I had a hot chocolate (Warme chocolademelk) with a shot of Malibu and a cheese and ham toastie. We then went and took a load of photos with the IAmsterdam sign. 
• For the next part of the day we went and looked around the shops whilst Anna went to be cultured and look around the Van Gogh Museum, which im kind of gutted I didnt go to, looking back. Heres the part I shame Emily because she managed to spend €40 on Mac lipsticks. They were quite pretty though, so at least she has a good eye for red lipsticks, and to be honest, im suprised she didnt spend much more. We also went to Urban Outfitters where I also shamefully spent some money in their sale. (sucker for an UO sale)
• GIG TIME!!! -  Today was the day that we put on the gig for the musicians that managed to get through auditions. Being a part of the ALT Music committee, I was one of the people who helped pick the line up for this gig, and honestly I think we made the right decision. Im gonna stick soundclouds/songs for the people who played at the bottom of this blog just because I can. Like any normal gig, we were all pretty hanging by the time the gig started because European shots are huge compared to the UK's. In between the time the gig was on and by the time I went home, I had some of the weirdest conversations of my life with people i was there with and lecturers. So by 2am, I did something that EVERYONE would be suprised at. I decided I was too drunk and told Anna and Ellie I was going to walk back to the hostel. Ellie and Anna didnt like this idea, so quite literally shoved me into a taxi. I was completely fine paying for this taxi myself, but Ellie obviously wasnt because she almost gave the taxi driver €50 to take me back. I got back to the hostel and spent an hour chatting to Alex and Mikey outside my hostel room before going to bed.

If you zoom in, you can see Emily, Ellie and Anna on one of the letters. 

DAY THREE.

What we did.

• Day three was the most disappointing days of the trip if im quite honest. Simply because the only thing we actually did was go to the Heineken Museum. 
• We left the hostel at 1pm because everyone was hungover as shit and feeling awful. Anna stayed in bed while Ellie, Emily and I went to find a Mcdonalds but this didnt really help. Trying to find the experience was a complete pain in the arse simply because none of us had wifi/data and all of our heads hurt. Luckily enough we managed to find some second years and followed them.
• Ive never been so sure that Emily and Ellie are insane than walking around this thing. At one point, whilst we were listening to why the hell there were horses in the place, Emily said that the missing ones had gone to the glue factory?!? We then went to claim our two free beers. I then remembered that I dont actually like Heineken, so gave my two to Ellie, as did Emily. So Ellie got day drunk. 
• They then came up with "Taccy nap then sink and skank" which swiftly became the trip motto. 
• I wish I had more stories from this day but unfortunately, after the experience I decided that drinking another night wasnt wise so we went to this strange steakhouse who charged €5 for a sprite and went home to sleep. 

DAY FOUR.

What we did.

• This was definitely our most touristy day of the trip. We actually planned to get up early so we could get the breakfast that the hostel provided, of course this didnt happen so once we had gotten out of bed and gotten ready the original 7 (Emily, Ellie, Anna, Alex, Mikey and Liam) went to find this huge library called Openbare Bibliotheek Amsterdam to get food and walk around. I literally could not understand anything that was there so ended up getting this seafood cob and pepsi. 
• We then went to the sex museum which was the oddest experience of my life. I can quite honestly say I have never seen so much bondage and penises and sex in my entire 22 years of being a human and im not sure my eyes have healed. Whilst I was waiting for the girls to stop taking pictures on this gigantic model of a penis, I was sat down and could not take my eyes of this video showing a couple doing the 69. Fully scarring and definitely worth the €4 we paid.
• Next up we went to find Spoils and Matt to see what they were doing for the evening, and on our way there we stopped in a condommery just to see what it was about. Emily and I ended up buying condom lollies which had a slogan on. Mine said "Je Suis Horny" on it. We ended up finding the boys and they told us they were going ice skating. I decided to skip out on ice skating as im like Bambi on ice whilst walking so doing it on ice would not have ended up well, so I grabbed a hot chocolate and sat on the side only to figure out that the only one that could skate relatively well was Ellie. 
• Taccy naps happened AGAIN, after this. However I managed to convince Emily and Ellie that eating before a heavy drinking session was a good thing, so dragged them to Wagamamas. 
• Next stop was a bar called Coco's Outback which served the strongest cocktails ever. I ended up not just being double parked but quadrouple parked. By the end I gave Lewis my last one because I wouldnt have been standing by the end of the night. After leaving, we lost half of our group and ended up getting lost because Joe gave us the wrong directions. We ended up walking down the strip of the red loght district and my god, I have never been more shocked. We walked past two windows with girls in their underwear trying the get guys attention and the only thing I could think was "What the must your parents think of your profession?" 
• By the end of the night, Ellie and I were the only ones left. We ended up walking to get chips from two guys who were so strange it hurts. They were being so stereotypical and the one guy tried to put the cone of chips we bought done my boobs. 

SPOILS 2.0

DAY FIVE.

Day five isnt even worth talking about because we were all irritable, hungry, tired and had another 12 hour coach trip so im going to finish this blog here. Overall I had a great time with the best people and couldnt have been happier to go. I am definitely planning to go again so there will probably be another post on Amsterdam at some point during this year. 

Thanks for reading,

TTYL

Kirst x

JACK COOPER

MELISSA GRACE

BEN CIPOLLA

DEMI MARRINER

TEN TOMBS - Tombs' song - Demons was pretty much the only song that was sang throughout the whole trip so i dare you not to get this stuck in your head.