The Sunshine Award

To mark my 50th post, I must say a huge thank you to F @ The Fence of Stars for a Sunshine Award nomination!

As far as I can tell, the rules are as followed:

1. State 5 facts about yourself
2. Answer the 5 questions received
3. Create 5 new questions and nominate more bloggers for the award

Ok, here we go!

The Facts:

(1).  I know all the words to Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody
(2).  I'm mildly claustrophobic after going caving when I was 12
(3).  I've only grown half an inch since I was 11
(4).  I used to have a slightly strange celeb-crush on Richard Gere
(5).  My favourite TV show of all time is a French version of 'Traffic Cops'

The Questions:

(1). What is your favourite mythical creature?
Definitely the Cyclops.  I have a thing for Greek mythology, and ever since I heard about this creature as a child, I was awed.

(2). If you had to change accents, which would you choose?
My mum and I both have a thing for certain regional Scottish accents. It got the point that, one day, when my mum was speaking to the insurance company on the phone she called me over, handed me the phone, and made me listen to the man that was speaking because he had a "nice" Scottish accent.

But I went to Amsterdam last weekend and realised how much I actually like Dutch accents.
And I also quite like Australian accents. Practically everyone likes Australian accents. It must be a default thing.

So, to answer the question, my ideal accent to adopt would be that of a Dutch-born Scot (preferably from Renfrewshire) who's emigrated to Australia...

(3). What was the last good book you read?
To be honest, I haven't really read much in a while. I have a bit of Reader's Block, although I'm really trying to get back into the habit of proper reading, and the book that started to propel me on that course was "The Lovely Bones" by Alice Sebold.  I was lent the book by my English teacher just before the summer, and I read it all in 2 days - the quickest I think I've ever read a whole novel! It was just so gripping and spine-tingling and kept me on the edge of my seat the whole way through!

(4). What's your favourite modern slang word/phrase? 
 I tend to use the word "epic" a lot. It's not really a modern slang word, though...

(5). What's a little-known fact you just found out?
I found this little gory fact out this morning (so I'm cheating a little bit here) in a book called 'Elephants on Acid' : A man in Soviet-era Russia tried to artificially-inseminate female chimps in Western Africa with human sperm, in order to create human-ape hybrids.  (It didn't work, btw. Although, had he had more time, they say he may have been successful!)

So yes, my nominations are:
Sarah @ A Glimpse of Blue
Andrea @ Sempiternal Reader
Freya @ A Teenager's Guide to the Galaxy

Guys, my questions for you are:

(1). What's the last book you read, and your thoughts on it?
(2). What's your favourite quote/saying?
(3).  When are you at your happiest?
(4).  What is your party trick/ unusual talent?
(5).  Where do you see yourself in 10 years time?

Teenage Blogger Central

I've been blogging for over a year now, and for 6 months of that year, I've been registered to the incredibly awesome teen forum 'Teenage Blogger Central'. 

For those of you that don't know, Teenage Blogger Central is a teen-run and teen-orientated blog forum, dedicated to (you guessed it) teen bloggers!  The site is run by the lovely F, an Irish teen blogger who decided to bypass the status quo and set up a site dedicated to inexperienced teen bloggers who just want a place to express themselves!

TBC is like a little family, and ever since I joined (a naïve 17 year old blogger with about 200 page views and a whole load of posts about nothing) I feel like such a part of it.  You don't even need to have any experience of blogging. TBC has given me so much inspiration over the past months, and the talent on the site is endless - you're guaranteed to find a blog that suits your interests!

If you're not already sold, here's a list of even more positives:

1. Your page views increase LIKE CRAZY
2. You can meet all sorts of fellow teen bloggers who share similar (or completely different) views and blogs to you
3. It's in no way intimidating, and you're not required to do anything more than YOU want to do

Win-Win? I think so!
So, if you haven't already, sign up!
You won't regret it, I promise you...

Sign up to TBC HERE! (it's free and easy!)

Tinos, Tanning and Tzatziki

Hello!

So, I arrived home from Greece Saturday afternoon, and it was incredible! We spent 9 days in a little village called Kardiani on Tinos island, where we renovated 2 paths - one leading down from the village to a beach, and another one next to an old marble fountain. The work was hard, particularly because of the heat and humidity - which we're not really used to here in the UK - but was definitely worth it, and the locals were all so lovely, and thankful for what we'd done for their village!

This was my 1st proper volunteering project, but it's really made me incredibly determined to volunteer more - by making me realise that I get joy out of helping others!

We then spent 2 days in Athens, where we visited the Acropolis, the Acropolis Museum, the National Archaeological Museum, Syntagma Square, and the beach...  It was really nice to experience both sides of the spectrum - first a small village (with less than 60 people), then a bustling city!

Here are some pictures I took during the project:



The first section of the path to the beach, after being cleared





This is a small section of the path by the fountain which we were clearing

 



Sunset from the roof of our hostel in Athens



The view from the hostel



The Parthenon

At the Acropolis

At the Acropolis





Our pots, made in a little village called Aetofolia

Remains of a temple dedicated to Zeus


Even though I was in Greece for 2 weeks, I have barely tanned. I'm still almost as pale as I was just before I went out there... My mum's determined that they left me behind in London!!!