First tattoo!

So on the 3rd of June I finally got my first tattoo! I've wanted a tattoo since I was around 9 years old and I've had the idea for this tattoo almost a year. The 3rd was definitely the best day of my year, I'm still on a happy high from it ^_^

On the 2nd I left from Southampton to go to Hook to meet up with Sarah, an awesome friend I made when I was in Africa. She already has a couple tattoos, including one of a bushbaby and she was willing to go with me to get my tattoo. So around 8:30am on the 3rd we set off from Hook towards Rainham in Kent and arrived around 10:15. We were early as the shop only opened at 11, so we strolled around the graveyard of the nearby church for a bit (there wasn't really anything else to do and luckily Sarah likes graveyards as much as I do). 

I got tattooed by David Corden, awesome guy! When we came in, he showed me the design which was beautiful. I had imagined a full body bushbaby, but it was just the head with a paw and it looked amazing, so of course my expectation had to make way for this, but that wasn't hard to do cause I really trusted him. We had to wait a little while for him to set up and around 11:30 we got started. He put on a stencil first and then did the outlines in the colours that would go there, no black ones. It didn't hurt as much as I expected, though later on it did start hurting a bit more as he went over bits he'd already been over before. 

Around 2:15-ish I had lunch and David told me it would hurt a lot more afterwards since the endorphins and adrenaline would stop working a while, he was right. Though, he was really nice and put on a numbing cream so that the bits he had worked on would be less sensitive after lunch. So when he started again it was really quite odd, because I couldn't even feel the bits he'd been over before and the new skin hurt more than before... After a while the numbness stopped though, so I could feel everything again, but overall the pain wasn't too bad. David worked till about 6:45 or 7pm with some short 5 minute breaks in between and the finished tattoo was absolutely amazing! I couldn't stop looking at it all day XD

I'd asked David whether he was proud of his tattoos and he is, but he told me that usually just after a tattoo is finished he can only really see the mistakes he's made in it, so it takes him a while to appreciate the whole picture. I can understand that quite well, but I'm still intensely proud of him! 

That day was definitely the best day of my year so far. Now the healing process begins and extra care will ensure that it doesn't scar, so I'll be on alert for quite a long time to make sure it keeps looking awesome. 

So far I've only heard good comments about it and even my parents appreciate it ^-^ They did tell me to wait a year or so before getting another, but I think that'll be my decision. I've already got some ideas for new tattoos and it is true that getting a tattoo is addictive!

I'm extremely happy with my tattoo and hopefully it will heal well. 

Cheers,

Fleur

p.s. The progress pictures will go up on the right-hand side. 

No more exam stress

Hi everyone,

So I've finally finished my third year exams, hoping I passed all of them. I was planning to put up my experiences of Botswana and South Africa, but since it's almost been a year already, I'm not sure if it is still relevant...

At the end of June I'll hear whether I passed my exams and how I finished my degree, so I'll keep you updated about that. In the mean time I'm staying in The UK till the 26th of June and moving back in with my parents after that. I'm planning to take a year out of study and decide what I want to do with my life.

Africa has really proven to me that I love to work with animals and actually would love to do nothing but working with animals, however, there doesn't seem to be much money in it as most jobs are voluntary based. I'm still going to try to get a job in an animal shelter or rehabilitation centre, but also look at masters in forensic science and animal science and hopefully find out what best suits me. Luckily my parents are willing to put up with me during that time so I don't need to worry about finding a place to stay.

Currently it's time for me to relax, be with friends and organise/ pack. I'm sad to leave behind my friends here, but not too sad to leave behind Southampton. It's a nice place and all, but not the best place for me. Give me a farm or forest over city life any day!

That's all I have to say for now,

Cheers,

Fleur

Right... so I´m going to Africa

Well... as the title says... I´m going to Africa.
Right now I´m really quite nervous as I´m leaving the day after tomorrow, but I´m also really excited ^_^

I hope I´ll be able to blog a little while I´m in Africa, but I´m not sure I´ll have access to the internet, so I´ll give you a bit of an overview of what I´ll be doing :D

The first 2 weeks I´ll be learning a lot as I´m doing a wildlife tracking course in Botswana near Selebi-Phikwe is the very South-Eastern tip of the country. I´m going to learn to track animals and be in the bush bush ;D I´m really looking forward to it, even though we´ll be sleeping in straw huts or tents, have only bucket showers and eat from military style foil packs :P It´ll be a great adventure for sure.

The following 8 weeks I´ll work at Khulula Wild Care in South-Africa where I get to take care of animals and hopefully and most likely raise some baby animals as they specialise in hand-raising orphaned animals ^.^ The nearest town will be Nelspruit where I hope to get a little internet time now and again :) The major activities in Khula include:
lectures in hand rearing and infant care
treating and caring for animals
hand rearing young animals
cleaning cages and bomas
preparing food for the animals and ourselves
rehabilitation of animals
assisting the vet
updating animal records
patrolling the reserve´s perimeter
development of pens at the new centre
game drives involved in conservation work
and other daily tasks such as laundry and cleaning

I can´t wait to leave and on the other hand I know I´m going to miss everyone terribly... 2,5 months is quite a long time. Nonetheless this certainly will be a life changing experience and I´m a little nervous, but excitement still has the upper hand at the moment XD

I hope I´ll be able to keep you all updated and take loads of pictures :)
Have a great summer! I know I will ^_^
HUG Fleur

Update of my studies

Hi Everyone! ^-^

I realise that I haven't been blogging in a long time. Sorry for that, it's just, I've been very busy with studying as the workload in year 2 is immense and I've been preoccupied with other things O.o; Anyway, in the last few weeks a lot has happened, of course, I won't go into detail about everything XD

Labs this year are 10 hours a week, instead of 8 a week last year, which might not seem like much, but it really is a lot more work and so much more tiring! Though, the labs are a lot more fun to do also, which of course is a big plus :) I just finished this weeks labs yesterday, so today is a study day, i.e. go to lectures, start to write up my labreport, do some maths assignment, look through my lectures notes and do some homework problems... Jeez that sounds like a lot of work O.o; But that's what I plan to do xD

Because of some personal issues I've been having, I've been listening more to myself and thinking about what it is that I really want out of my life and how I can make it better for 'me'. So I've been hanging out more with my friends and stopped isolating myself in my room as much. I've actually been going out and drinking more as well, which I guess is good for building up my experience and of course alcohol tolerance hehehe ^-^; The main decision I've made, though, is that I really want to go to Africa and do volunteer work with animals, and I've taken steps to ensure that I can actually go. I have a telephone call with the organisation I'm going with next week, so more on that when I know more myself xD

One of the best things that I've done recently is go to Edinburgh with the Photography Society. My first time in Scotland, It was AWESOME! and so B-E-A-Utiful :D (I'll post some pictures I took later on). We left on a Thursday night, after my last exam for Semester 1 and when we got to the hostel we of course unpacked and went to the pub :) Friday we had a guided tour of Edinburgh organised by the hostel, which was really nice. Then me, Hector, James, Virginia and Tom did the whisky experience where we rode in a whisky barrel to see the process of whisky production, tried some whisky and saw a collection of 3500 whisky bottles (unopened)! It was really cool! In the evening we (the whole group) had mexican food and then went on a pubcrawl, which was amazing! ^-^ I think over the whole night I had 2 pints of cider, 1 pint of ale, 1 rum and coke, 1 pint of heineken, 1 cherry-ish shot, 2 sambuka shots and a tequila shot.... as you may guess I was a bit drunk :) Though I can still remember what I had and where we went and what we talked about, so I guess it can't have been that bad :D Also, a big bonus is that I didn't have a hangover at all! Though when I showered the next morning I do think I was still a bit drunk 'cause the shower was spinning a little O.o; hehehe... The next day (after going to bed at like 4:30am) I got up at 8:30 to have a shower and breakfast and in the afternoon, when everybody had woken up, me and a few of the group went to see Edinburgh castle, which was really beautiful. Afterwards we roamed around Edinburgh a little, ordered indian food and in the evening we went a tiny pub where 3 men were singing folk whilst playing their guitars, which was lovely. Then we climbed up a hill to this great unfinished copy of the Parthenon , which is also called Scotland's Disgrace because it was never finished. We stayed there for a while taking night-time pictures, which (I hope) turned out great :) On Sunday we roamed around the city a bit and then flew back to Soton around 2 o'clock.

So that's my story about Edinburgh. I'd love to go again and see a bit more of the nature of Scotland, maybe go camping with my parents there sometime, who knows. Anyway, my first experience of Scotland was amazing :D

I think this blog is long enough for now, so when I know more about my trip to Africa I'll let you know ^-^

Love you guys! and I'll try to blog more often from now on :)
~xxx~ Fleur

Edit: photo's are up on the right ^-^

Back in the UK

Hi Everyone,

I left the Neths yesterday and entered life in the UK again.... Mom and Opa waved me goodbye at the airport and I arrived in Soton at 17:15. It was actually quite weird, because 3 days ago I was sort of pre-homesick, while I was still in Groningen, which was very depressing. However, when I arrived in Soton I was really joyful. I was looking forward to seeing my friends again and to get my room sorted out, which is pretty much done now.... after a whole evening and morning cleaning up O.o;

When I was back in University grounds, the first thing I did was call Iman to say I was back. Apparently, just the day before, she'd been wondering when I was coming back because she missed me, awww ^-^ So, we had dinner together in the Pub and afterwards she had to go back to work again 'cause she has to finish her dissertation in 2 weeks. During dinner we were so happy to see each other again that we already discussed moving in together next year XD together with her brother AND... wait for it..... a kitten!!!!! :D OMG! I got so excited :) It might of course go very differently in the end....but it's fun to discuss that sort of thing anyway ^-^

Today I'm going food shopping and I have to go to the landlord as well.... cause there are mould spots in my room..... of course...... but it'll be fine, I hope.

So that's the first update from me, back in the UK ^-^
Love you all!

~xxx~ Fleur

Update from Groningen

Hi everybody ^-^

It's been ages since I last posted something I know, but it was kind of because I'm at home currently (aka The Netherlands) and this blog was actually made for when I'm in the UK and the homefront wants to know how I am doing, so I thought it was kinda pointless blogging whilst in The Netherlands...... but then my dad said that I should blog again..... so here I am.... blogging for all of you :D yeey!

So here's what's been going on:
I've been to Italy!!! for just one week, but it was AWESOME XD It was bloody hot, which I don't like too much (I'm more a spring and autumn person), but the country was amazing. We were in a villa with my family (my sis, Amber, and my parents) and with really good friends of ours (Gijs, his parents, his Grandpa and his Uncle). The villa was in Umbria on top of a hill, which had a great view! :)
We saw loads of cool towns, cities and of course churches :D The thing was, though.... we drove there from Groningen.... Which is like 2 days drive TO Umbria and 2 days back.... Luckily Gijs' family owns an appartment in Switzerland where we could sleep in between traveling. Actually, though Italy is amazing, I think I was most in awe of the mountains in Switzerland. They were so cold, whilst when we were down again it was above 30 degrees..... it was just a weird and very beautiful experience ^-^

So Italy was great and Switzerland too :P After that 1 week in Italy we went by Leiden, which is where my uncle lives and we visited him in the hospital, because his big intestine was almost completely removed.... He seemed okay, but he was already recovering for like a week when we got there. I stayed with him in Leiden, taking care of him for 2 weeks, which was really nice, but also quite tiring. Though if I were to go back in time I'd do it again no questions asked :) It was really a lot of fun meeting all his friends there and helping with the popquiz he helped organize for his runningclub.

So 3 weeks I spent away from home and I couldn't wait to get back to Fudge (that's my cat for anyone who didn't know that yet ^-^). Since then Fudge has been sleeping with me in my bed for almost the entire time I've been back and I dread the time when I'm back in Soton, in my bed, without his comfort.... but that's just what it's gotto be like. To kinda make up for not having a pet I'm gonna volunteer at the Cinnamon Trust in Soton, which is a trust that helps ill and older people to look after their pets (link: http://www.cinnamon.org.uk/ctrust.html). Really... as soon as I get my own appartment and can afford to have a dog, I'm going to get myself a dog. I have been living without one for my entire life and I can't wait much longer to get one O.o;

Anyway... so here I am, at home in Groningen. I'm going to De Efteling this Saturday and I'm probably going to visit Wendy soon as well. I love being here, doing loads of fun stuff, but I'll be going back to the UK on the 10th of September already, 'cause I still need to do some studying before I start the new academic year. I'll be missing home when I go back to the UK, but at least I'll be back for Christmas and hopefully Nicolette, Alan, Alex and Ollie will also join us then all the way from the USA. hahah that rhymed ^-^

so, thanks to my dad you got a bit of an update again from me.
Leave comments! thnx ^-^
Fleur

What I did in the past month and Exam RESULTS!!!

Hi everyone! Another lengthy blog from me today ^-^
I've been meaning to blog for a while, but just haven't come round to sitting down and actually doing it O.o;

So, quite a while ago already on 12th, 13th and 14th of June I went to London to visit my ex-chemistry-teacher Antione Giusti. It was a really awesome weekend and we did loads of fun stuff! We went to the Saatchi Gallery, the Natural Histroy Museum, Camden Town and the London Zoo. I also played some games on his Playstation 3, which was amazing! I really want one...but it's too expensive *-*
It really was a lovely weekend. The first day I was there I helped him in the kitchen, cooking an indian recipe of which I forgot the name, but it was deliscious! And the next day we made brownies (according to a secret recipe, which he taught me ^-^ I feel so lucky!). They were heavenly XD
I went back on the Sunday with a bag full of pots in one hand and 8 big moving boxes in the other.... It was heavy and tiring, but well worth it, because I really needed those boxes to move all my stuff to my new house... OMG I didn't realise that I had so much stuff O.O Everytime I thought I was getting to the end, more stuff came from every corner *-* Anyway, all that is now in my new house, to which I'm moving tomorrow, so the unpacking can begin tomorrow afternoon o.O I'm looking forward to it already.... not

Another thing I did last month was celebrate Iman's FIRST!!! She got a first on her second semester, which means she got 70% or higher on her whole semester. She already had a first on her first semester, so now she only needs to get a first on her thesis and then she'll have no problem getting into a phD. SO we celebrated with a desserts dinner :P OF course ^-^ hehehe

It was awesome! We made:
Deepfried Cauliflower (very tasty)
Chips
I know these are not desserts, but we were just very hungry after shopping... So we needed some power food. And considering we were in the kitchen preparing all this for about 3 hours O.O! it was a good descision to have some power food ^-^

So after consuming that we made:
OREO Cheesecake
Brownies (according to Antione's secret recipe)
Strawberry/ Banana Smoothie
Rhubarb and Strawberry Crumble
And truffles
(you can look at all these deliscious creations in the side bar with a link to my picassa account)

I had loads of fun with Iman and either tomorrow or thursday we're gonna celebrate again, because the results of my last semester were just phoned in by the parents XD

I got 71.3% average over the year!!!! YEEY ^-^ A FIRST!!!! :D Happy dance time!
<(o.o<)...........<(o.o)>...........(>o.o)>............<(o.o)>................<(o.o<).......<(o.o)>........(>o.o)>

So, basically I passed my first year of Chemistry with a really good grade :)
Now I'm going to enjoy my last few days here and look forward to Saturday, because the parents and Psycho sister (teehee... LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE YOU AMBER! ^-^) are coming over to see my new crib XD I'll be back in the Frog Country by Monday and I can't wait! I wanna HUG Fudge!!!! :D

Anyway, that's it for now, next time I'll probably be blogging from the Neths.... If I find the time and need to blog.. O.o; so...... thanks for reading!

Love,
Fleur ^-^