My trip to Sweden :)

After finishing university and finding myself so deep in an overdraft I was unable to sleep properly I threw myself into 2 jobs and literally worked myself to the ground, so after Christmas with my bank balance at a steady £0 I decided to treat myself to a little holiday.

However I didn’t want to propel myself into further debt (I have done a very good job at forgetting about the thousands of pounds I actually owe the university) so I decided to visit my very good friend, jenny, who lives in Sweden and was amazed when I managed to get flights for £12!

Now I have always had a desire to travel and considering I managed to fit in a three year degree I have done pretty well for myself in finding cheap ways to see the world. However part of the reason that these flights were ridiculously cheap was that it departed from London Stanstead, but for £12 I didn’t care! I managed to book my trains for £33 which would take me down to London Euston and then pay for a return ticket on an airport transfer bus for £11.50. So in total the cost of travelling to Gothenburg, Sweden for a week was £56.50. I was a very happy girl!

I had never been to Sweden before but whilst landing the only words that could come to my head were “winter wonderland.” Considering Sweden is only an hours flight away, the weather difference amazed me, I mean don’t get me wrong we have received our fair share of snow this year but what I was seeing was something that I had only seen in pictures, and it was very beautiful.

So equipped with my woolly hat and leather boots I began my Swedish adventure for the week and dragged my friend around to every tourist site that was possible, despite the fact that she had grown up and lived here all her life she had seen surprisingly little. Gothenburg City is just like every other city, tall high rise buildings, shops of every nature, the hustle and bustle of hundreds of people and trams flying around in every direction ready to take you to your next destination. I immediately loved it!

Now the beauty of my trip was that my friend didn’t live in the main part of Gothenburg, she lived in the forest, so I got to see 2 very different parts of Sweden. The Swedish are also a lot more adventurous than the English when designing their homes, which were painted of every colour you could imagine, they were all quaint pretty houses, built of wood and had massive porches, very fairytale like.

During my trip we did everything we could think of which included visiting The Universeum, the national science discovery centre, where you could experience rainforest and aquatic environments with live animals. We also visited The Gothenburg Art Museum, The Natural History Museum (not quite a match on our one in London, but still worth a visit), The City Museum and of course the shopping centre, Arkaden, not to forget the many wondrous restaurants you pass on your travels.

There is also a boat trip you can take to see Norway, which was something I would have loved to do, but unfortunately I ran out of days, well there is always next time.

So it was fair to say that after my 5 day holiday I was pretty exhausted but enjoyed every minute, Sweden is definitely worth a visit, especially with it being only an hour away and with flights going for as little as £12 there’s just no excuse not to visit our neighbours.

Thailand Part 1 :)

As i briefly explained in my profile i do have a love of travelling, however i was (unfortunately) not born into a family with (any) money, so i have had to do wot i have dun as cheaply as possible. After graduating uni in May last year and it taking me about three months to actually find a full time job, i have successfully paid bak my £1600 over draft :) Now after that was accomplished i felt as though i was ready to start planning this years adventure!!
It all started when I went to Sweeden earlier this year to visit a dear friend of mine (Jenny Jonemark) and whilst I was there we were discissing her plans to go to Thailand this year for a short holiday. Which got me thinking about how many years I have been on about wantin to see Thailand and I thought why don't I do it this year!
However there was one slight drawback with this spontaneous thought and that was "no way am i travelling round Thailand on my own", even though i do consider myself quite an independent and courageous person, im also not stupid enough to get mysel killed (Touch Wood). Soooooooooooooooooooo this resulted in me searching for volunteer placements in Thailand and PPPPOOOOOOOOOFFFFFF i suddenly realised that I have always wanted to ride an elephant :) Now some of u may laugh but I assure you that when I went to work in Cape Town for The Big Issue I was absolutely devastated that I never came across a wandering elephant for me to take a runnin leap on.
So this mixed quite well because Thailand offers many different elephant parks for volunteers to go and work on, so my search began :D
My adventure plan then developed when i was telling my good friend Jen (Fox) what I was doing, she then expressed her wish to travel round Thailand aswell, (not for riding elephants as she has already dun tht.................she DID come across them in South Africa) and thus the plan developed into something that will actually happen.
So people of blogspot (my 4 followers) as of November I will be travelling out to Thailand for a weeks placement on an elephant park and will be met by jen (spreadsheet in hand) for a further 2 weeks of fun, travelling and hopefully no bickering :)
As of yet nothing has been booked but (fingers crossed) the placement will be secured by the end of the week and thanks to Jen I am saving a mass amount of money because she manged to find me this www.elephantnaturefoundation.org
They only charge around £250 a week while other Bigger named companies charge around £500 a week and £700 for 2. Also the money you give goes towards the care of the elephants, which is exactly what I was looking for :)
I will be updating me and Jen's Thailand Adventure when ever progress is made, but there is 1 thing im certain of..................... i cant friggin w8 :D

BORN THIS WAAAAAAAAAAY

Wit Wooooo Gaga is back and Born this way is far from disappointing, check it out on Youtube,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4a8QtvOkBQ
Unfortunately there is no video as of yet but her preformance at the Grammy's is enough to entertain you, done in complete gagalesque style :D

white lies :)

My brother, Max, recently went down to Birmingham to watch a White Lies concert, of whom I had never heard of, and came back absolutely buzzing from it, he even forced me to sit down and watch a couple of their songs on trusty old Youtube afterwards! And I'm glad he did because I was actually quite impressed :)
Now, with having recently completed a work placement with the infamous NME, I wouldn't blame you for having the impression that I am an avid music follower and listen to all the underground, grungy indie bands, this is wrong, I don't. I am much more of a mainstream follower, I don't have a particluar genre of music that I favour, but i garantee that if it isn't played on the music channels then i probably won't have heard of it.
So you can imagine my surprise when i listened to White Lies, expecting to hate them, that I actually found myself wanting more. So after doing a bit of research on them i found that they are from North Ealing, down South (wont hold it against them JOKE) and have already released 2 albums, called To loose my life...... and Ritual.
Check out Bigger than us on Youtube, without a doubt the darkness of their music is indeed uplifting :)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JW0yynlDmqQ
Also check out Fairwell to the Fareground
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KlmSqyMT0FQ

Review of Amir Sharma by Mike Martin

Since reading the fact the Amir Sharma has toured the UK playing tributes to the late King of Pop I thought it be best to see if I could find some reviews of his work, this is all I could find!

"Somewhat better as a tribute is Man in the Mirror, which pays homage to the late and genuinely great Michael Jackson. Supported by three fine musicians, Amir Sharma plays Jackson with obvious affection. The vocal style and moves are pretty good - no doubt the product of close study of the subject. Although not a patch on MJ himself, Sharma is a fine mover, but is too stocky in build to be totally convincing. However, he works the room well and gives his all to favourites like Thriller and Billie Jean."
http://www.thestage.co.uk/reviews/review.php/26331/international-management-and-agency-showcase

A tribute to Jacko :)

Thanks to my lil gossip amigo, Debbie Lou, I got a very exciting text today about a Michael Jackson Tribute act showing at the Grand Theatre in lancaster!! NOW i ave been an avid fan of Jacko's since I was about eight and i used to rock about in my uber cool P.J's with my cassette player and earphones :) gooooooood memories :) But as you can imagine I was devastated when he died on the 26/08/09 (barely remember my mate's birthdays but tht date stays wid me lol). So I was extremely happy to hear about this concert, which is being preformed by Amir Sharma on the 17th of July, along with an extraordinary cast of dancers, singers and muscians.
According to the Grand Theatres website "(Amir Sharma's) portrayal of Michael Jackson in his prime has to be the most vocally and visually accurate to the King of Pop to have toured the UK theatres." http://www.lancastergrand.co.uk/shows/?Year=2011&Month=7
Tickets are £16 for adults and £10 for children. I really hope this lives up to expectations :D See u ther :)

Quicksand

This is a play that caters for all types of audience; it isn’t just a simple love story that finishes with a happy ending or one that you can easily drift off in. Quicksand is a deeply emotional story that hooks you in within the first few minutes, as soon as the lights go down and the stage lights up, the powerful presence of the actors is enough to send the entire room into an eerie silence.

Set in Ulverston and focusing on the large Polish community in Cumbria, this play deals with the exploitation of migrant workers in Morecambe Bay. It shows how people take advantage of the hard working people that have genuinely come over to make a better life for themselves. They are forced to work longer hours with less pay than any English person would accept, they are stacked into houses and made to share rooms with people they have never met, sometimes resulting in terrible accidents. For people local to Morecambe Bay, watching this play, is a terrible reminder of the 23 Chinese people that lost their lives on the Bay, whilst cockle picking in 2004.

As soon as the play starts Renata (Sarah Parks) bursts on to stage, loud and arrogant, equipped with a strong Polish accent and you can immediately tell that this is a woman who has struggled to get the life she has now. Coming over to England in the 1970’s to escape the Soviet Bloc, Renata fought to provide the best possible life for herself and her son, Leo (Curtis Cole). Lured by good wages and a far better life than she would ever have got in Poland she decided to stay and build her own businesses.

However being Polish did not soften her approach to the other Polish people seeking a better life and she was soon one of the people ready to exploit them. Providing them with a house on Ramsden Road she didn’t care how many where in a room, or whether or not it was safe, as long as they paid their way.

However Leo, unlike his mother, has a more caring side and repeatedly tries to tell her that what she is doing is illegal. This unfortunately falls on death ears and it isn’t long until one of her residents by the name of Elka (Cristina Catalina) is stirring up a fuss. However Elka is not all she seems and despite being in the centre of our love story, is quick to avoid the question of why she has chosen to migrate to England when she comes from such a nice life in Poland.

The fourth character, and without a doubt, the most likeable is Ula (Eithne Browne) who is Renata’s housekeeper. She is a sweet and caring lady who constantly keeps the peace throughout the play, she expects nothing in return for her kindness and without her nurturing and motherly side this story would surely end in disaster.

To say any more would ruin Zosia Wand’s beautiful story and that is the last thing I would want to do. It is a play that manages to capture your imagination from beginning to end and is definitely a play you want to watch. Showing at the Dukes Theatre in Lancaster until the 12^thof February, there is just no excuse to miss it.