So that little issue about the rest of my life....

4 years have gone by too fast. Some great times, some strange times and some miserably broke times (Thank you final year for that last one!). All together making up a unique experience that we'll never be able to really truly recreate again. Which is sad in more ways that I can say. However, there's still some brilliant things to come and I have decided instead of wallowing and fretting over things not done in the past  I'm going to highlight the good things (and turning the any bad things into good things, mind over matter people!) of  being tossed out into this distorted reality that people have dubbed the "real world."

Laters UCC !

My Student Card expires on the 30th of September. This thought terrifies me nearly more than my future job prospects. No more discounts or special treatment. Full price trains (seriously one needs to take out a mini mortgage to afford them regularly!) However, lets turn this into a positive and see it as an extra incentive to completely exploit it until then! It also gives us "the fear", to quote Chandler from friends "You need the fear", to find a job so we will earn enough money to not miss that wonderful card's perks that much.

Please mister don't take my card from me!

No job lined up? Brilliant! Unless you are becoming a teacher, this is your LAST proper long summer  off. It's the perfect time to do nothing serious or proactive for your future! Say yes to pyjama days, day time drinking, every sort of festival/gig, trips away, cooking everything in your (friends) house and watching hours/days of trashy day time TV!All in all a pretty sweet lazy summer. If you are stuck for things to do please click here for my post about procrastination!

*Disclaimer:Some sort of part time job/funding may be required to attend fun things like festivals or go anywhere but your house.

Sunshine, skateboards & balance may not be included.

Casual drinking will become standard and not frowned upon. While we are students and do this people just grumble about how we are wasters and disgraceful drunks. However, once we enter the working world, add some sort of power suit and a work phone glued to our ear people will know that this, albeit very large, drink has been earned and they will clearly be awstruck by how hard we must work.

Two approaches can be taken for this:

The first is the large bottle and  equally large glass combination more fitting to the "Tough day, don't talk to me" scenario.

No nonsense approach.

The second is slightly more delicate and more organised in appearance, whereby like the underwear of the day you may have had as a child, your china cups are mark by the beverage they should be used. This can show "classiness" and "superiority" etc.

Bringing some manners into the affair.

Moving out and into our own home. As much as  I like living at home I'm really looking forward to having my very own place and space with friends...Now this doesn't necessarily only apply to those of us who live at home as I am sure there will be serious upscaling with regards quality for those of you who are already "independent".

All the travel opportunities once we're employed or have finally found some miraculous funding will be brilliant. For me nothing is better than the feeling of packing a bag and flying off to somewhere full of new exciting experiences! Some might say growing up means becoming more restricted or tied down but just think about it positively, that limited amount of time off available can make anyone become more proactive in organizing weekend breaks and carefully booking those elusive few holiday weeks. On top of this the chance to travel on business trips will be amazing- On top of this how fantastically important does that sound? Also if you are anything like myself, it will be a chance to let your well worn back packs and rucksacks from eons ago retire and replace it with something that is not from the Supervalu special stamp offer of the 90's.

Hat boxes, yay or nay?

Becoming more mobile. This will mean many different things for each of us. For some it might be buying our first car, for others it will be upgrading, maybe even getting a company car. At the end of it all in all it will be  more chance of adventure and more freedom...Speaking of I should really get my full licence..

Nothing quite like throwing on a pair of doggles and jumping into the side car!

I realise I may sound very naiive and roughly about 8 years old at how impressed I am by all of this but sure that's what rose tinted glasses are for. I don't care really, because after 18 years of continuous education I have almost completed my third and final level (for now) and am on the brink of entering into the "real" working world which is what we are have been working towards all along, am I right?

Things to perk up a dull week...

Last week I went to two fantastic events that really livened up what would otherwise be a very dull, overworked typical week in final year. (Sidenote: There are less than two weeks left of classes what sort of mind f*ck is that?!)

The first event was a talk given by the two front women, Emilie Sobels & Maddie Raedts, of Fashiolista. Fashiolista for those of you who may not know is the biggest online fashion community in the world. It's like a combination of Tumblr and Facebook whereby members can compile a sort of scrapbook and  share with others their personal fashion lusts that they come across on the net. A massive bonus of course,but not to any form of bank savings/credit card you may have, is that the site gives you links to where you can purchase these amazing items!  These ladies graciously gave us time out of their busy schedule (They have just finished a hectic few weeks working some of the biggest Fashion Weeks, green is not even the word!) to fill us in on the inner-workings of the online Fashion Community from both a Blogger and Business perspective. They are two truly inspirational business women managing to balance full time college and running their international company, feel free to join me in feeling like an underachiever!

The second event that really made my week finish with a bang was none other than the Scroobius Pip gig held in Cyprus Avenue on Sunday. Scroobius was his ever boss self with his infamous beard and truckerhat ( he also had a shark backpack thats now on my want list). Special guest  funny man American rapper  B Dolan  (has been quoted to say “I’m famous in the US. It goes 50 Cent, Lil Wayne, me, then everyone else…but don’t Wikipedia it”.) and up and coming singer Natasha Fox  added to the mix to make the entire show completely electric. I honestly can say that it was the best gig I have been to in a while. Each of these performers are ridiculously talented with natural born charisma: Combined, they create a chemistry that cannot be faked and an unforgetable show that left the audience in a state of complete euphoria (The steins at The Abbott's Ale House beforehand might have had a little to do with that but who knows really!).

Scroobius & Dolan

 What really made it for me was being able to finally see Scroobius perform my favourite song "The Struggle".The entire crowd errupted, like completly lost it, when everyone heard the first few beats!   On top of many spectacular performances of their own material the group treated us to some great interaction throughout. A specially mention needs to made  about a hilarious dance off between Dolan and a randomer from the audience in which he performed a spoken word piece trash talking her, this got the crowd more than warmed up. Last but not least a fantastic Prince cover was performed by the trio to wind the whole thing down. Massive thumbs up in my books on all accounts. I do realise that I've far from set out the set list, discussed what songs were played or not played or even put any of what happened at the gig in order of occurance but then I guess if you really wanted to know what it was like you should have gone to see them!Or hopefully this ramble will encourage you to in the near future!

Prince cover from Sunday night! :)

Aside from warming up for Paddy's day at the fantastic Cheltenham Races Day at The Bowery I have a quiet week ahead of me which means I can finally catch up on the second half of The Walking Dead season two. So help me if one more person ruins anymore plot twists or character deaths I will brain them! (ha nice mistaken pun if I do say so myself!)

To Blue Steel or not to Blue Steel, that is the question.

So many of you may already know that I took part in this years UCC's Next Top Model. Sadly I did not win but I did learn a lot and more importantly I laughed a lot during my time as a contestant.

All of us at the final!

First off before anyone asks no it was nothing like the reality show America's Next Top Model. We did not get cooped up under one roof or have extreme "edgy" hair cuts inflicted upon us, there was no intense weekly rounds where one of us was sent packing for smiling with our eyes like this and not like this. (After watching 12 variations of seasons I still do not know what our girl Tyra means!) My experience in the competition, organised by Lockdown Models and the UCC Fashion Society , was to sum up in a word: fun.

I mean what's not to like?! Not only was everyone involved extremely nice, some down right hilarious, but also within every photo-shoot I was transformed into a completely different character.  Upstyle Junkie beautifully transformed my face and the crew at Origin Hair Design  gave me some of the most amazing and creative hairstyles I never would have imagined having. As a girl with hair straighter and flatter than a...well lets say ruler, the Afro they created for the punk rock shoot was by far my favourite! I have never had so much volume in my life!

Punk Rock shoot in the Pavillion

The photographer Miki Barlok created some truly amazing themes for our photo shoots and the settings were fantastic. He was a great teacher and really set the scene for the moments we were to portray during the shoots. The only problem was getting out of the mindset and returning back to college and the dreary library after each time! Adding in the acting and catwalk workshops the whole experience was a very bright and cheery break from the never ending mountain of final year projects!

Vintage shoot with Miss Daisy Blue

Now onto the amazing clothes. Throughout the photo-shoots we had some great exposure to many beautiful clothing labels, such as Miss Daisy Blue, and some truly brilliant stylists. However, nothing could have prepared me for the mind blowingly exquisite outfits that were provided for us at the final on Thursday night. They were really out of this world and what was such a lovely surprise was that they were all from local clothes shops here in Cork. I have always been a massive fan of many of those involved, having spent many hours wandering around Amity, Turquoise Flamingo and Miss Daisy Blue. I now look forward to adding Vanilla Boutique and Elsa& Gogo Boutique to my list of shopping haunts!

One of the many amazing dresses from Turquoise Flamingo

The final for the competition flew by in a haze of excitement and nerves. The nerves mainly caused by a certain lovely person asking "But Sandra are you not afraid you'll be the girl that trips and falls on the catwalk that everyone pities?!"  Images of me becoming  like Carrie Bradshaw a.k.a. catwalk roadkill (but without the witty or intelligent hindsight) and my bigger fear not being able to get back up in one go upon falling, kept flashing across my mind. Thankfully my visions did not come true!

I still cannot believe it's all over and I run the risk of people running away from me should I keep repeating my stories over and over again. So I guess this is what this post is: A goodbye to a fantastic experience with many brilliant and amazing people who made the whole competition better than I could have ever imagined. The competition may be over, but hopefully I will have the opportunity  to work (and of course socialize) with the amazing winner Aishling Kearney; the gang that entered with me; and the organizers in the future.

P.S.: I didn't pull the blue steel.