// google work experience

Transition Year's the year to be experiencing more, trying out new things, growing up. If you've been reading our blog for awhile you'd know that I did work experience from observing how a dentist works to working at veterinary hospital to working at one of the busiest hospitals in Ireland, but this week I was given an opportunity to work at one of the biggest tech company in the world, Google. I was so lucky that I was given a chance to do work experience at the Google Headquarters in Dublin for a week. 

When I went for the first time, I was honestly shitting myself, like literally shitting myself. I was so afraid that I wouldn't be able to make friends but it turns out everyone's just so open and friendly. I was so happy that I actually made 40 new friends! 40! Ha! Everything about google was honestly amazing! The architecture, the food. Oh don't even get me started on the food! I think I probably gained the "google stone" (everyone who just recently got hired to google gains a stone because of the free food!) The food was all for free and they're all so good! 

We got a tour of the Google Campus which was absolutely outstanding! There's 3 buildings in the Google Campus and each floor had different themes so you won't really get tired of seeing the same environment everyday. You can tell that Google invests on making everything look pretty and aesthetically pleasing.

Did I also say that they have outdoor swings! I honestly just fell in love with google when I saw the swings. In Google, everybody's just so chill and casual. I just love it so much!

Here's a few pictures I took throughout the week with my fellow "nooglers" (new Googlers). I didn't want to flood you guys with my pictures so here's a few that I really liked.  So if any of you guys get the opportunity to do work experience at Google, don't give it up like I was planning to do before. I swear to god you won't regret a single bit of it! 

You're probably wondering where Isha and I have been. How come we're not posting that often. I am apologizing for not posting, I'm not going to reason with you guys because I just don't have a good reason. Isha's been busy with studying as her Leaving Cert is just around the corner. I on the other hand have no good reason. I've been feeling like I am not creative enough and I was feeling uninspired to write a blog post. But I am going to be trying to post every. (No promises! Haha). 

Hope everyone's having a wonderful week, let me know in the comments below what you've been up to. Thanks for reading. :) <3

// event recap;; jandy nelson signing + giveaway

I am so happy to have gotten to meet and take pictures with one of my favourite authors, Jandy Nelson. If you guys didn't know who Jandy Nelson is, you're definitely missing out! She's the writer of one of my all time favourite books, I'll Give You the Sun. It was on the 27th of September (I know, ages ago) and to make things ever sweeter, we got to catch up with one of our dear friends, Aisling.

The book signing started with a Q&A with Jandy. She is honestly the most jolly and happy person I've ever met. Then she told us where she got the idea for the book, her writing process and even told us she was superstitious like Jude. She even showed pictures to show us  her ideas. I loved it. She's unlike any others I met. If you've read I'll Give You the Sun (which you should have by now), that Jude is an Art student who is doing a sculpture. Jandy told us that she herself took a sculpting class for it and that she wasnt really good at it, but at least she had fun! She's currently working on a project that is due to be out next year and she's currently taking baking classes at the moment for it. She even proudly show us a picture of her souffle! I love how she get involved in the process of her writing. 

But f you haven't read I'll Give You the Sun yet, you could get it or order it from the links below. It is such a beautiful and heart-wrenching book filled with so much love and everyone should give it a read.

Goodreads // Amazon // Book Depository

But you can also join our giveaway if you haven't read I'll Give You the Sun, as we are giving away a signed copy of the book and an I'll Give You the Sun t-shirt! Thanks for reading! :) <3

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// updates with hanna: christmas holidays

First and for most, I just want to great every single one of you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! (Ha! I know I'm a bit late) Secondly, I apologise for not blogging for almost a month. Life just got to me and I have no other excuse other than that. 

December is probably one of the busiest month for me. There was just a lot of stuff that happened during this month. For example, I had work experience for a whole week at a veterinary hospital. Which I have to say was a wonderful experience and I am absolutely delighted that I got the opportunity to experience what it was like to be a veterinarian. Justin Bieber also announced his Europe leg of his Believe tour during that week. Of course, I had to get tickets for that. My friends and I have tried two times to get tickets. They even skipped school so we can get them. (Don't do what we did!) We tried the presale and the general sale but we were unlucky, Justin Bieber really is popular in Ireland (Everybody used to say he's "gay" but look who's going to his concert now).

Me as hell every time we got new cats or dogs in for surgery hehe.

I actually have a little but sort of funny story to tell you. I was so disappointed and depressed because we didn't get tickets that we all forgot to eat breakfast. Unfortunate for me because someone's dog (someone who is really famous) came in to the vet hospital because the dog had a really bad cut on his tongue. It was really really bad and gruesome.  I mean, really really bad. The main vet asked me to help with the surgery (Cool, right?), I had to hold the tongue so it was easier for the vet to stitch up. After a few minutes, I started to feel light headed and numb, I knew what was going to happen next. I almost fainted and it was really embarrassing. 

At the end of that week, I spontaneously decided to go to town to get my mom a Christmas present. Everything was going well until I lost my phone in Lush. I was holding it then the next thing I know I don't have it anymore. My friend, Jodie, found a police officer to help us find the phone. Thank God for Find my iPhone tbh. Isha was able to track my phone from her phone and they were off to try and locate it. I was crying outside Lush for a good 10 minutes and everybody that passed by kept on looking at me. 

Then Christmas came. I'm going to be honest with you, I honestly didn't feel the Christmasy vibes at all. I don't know if it's because I'm old? (Well not that old) Was it just me? Our family (or every Filipino family) always open all of our presents at exactly 12 am and we have "Noche Buena", where we eat Filipino food. Isha and I were planning to stay up and watch Christmas movies, but this didn't happen this time because I fell asleep at 9 pm and woke up at 11:30 pm hahaha lol. When I woke up, I was getting really really excited. I was basically jumping in my seat whilst waiting. 

I want to thank everyone who gave me a Christmas present! I honestly love all of you with all my heart. I wish I could give all of you a big hug! I am really grateful for everyone, even the ones that didn't give me a gift tbh. Agh,I just love every single one of you! I want to give a shoutout to my mom, who tried to get everything I wanted. I love you so much even if I don't say it often. 

Isha and I also went to Funderland two days after Christmas. In Ireland, we don't really have an outdoor theme park because of Ireland's shitty as hell weather. So around the Christmas time, somebody sets up a roller coasters and rides inside and outside RDS. It's like our tradition, my group of friends, to go there after Christmas. I loved it nonetheless even though it was raining (typical Ireland) haha. Plus, I got a big minion plush. A friend of ours was super determined to win one that he spent more than 20 euro. It took him a heck load of times to get it. At first I was so confused when he gave it to me. I was like "Wth, why would he give this to me? He just wasted his money" but then I realised that he wanted to win the minion plush for the feeling. Well, I'm not complaining. I love the minion plush so much that it has never left my side haha. 

We also watched the new Starwars: The Force Awakens with our friends. Did I tell you that I haven't watched any of the Starwars films? But I have to say it's one of the best films I've ever seen, hands down. I wish I saw the rest of the other Starwars films before I saw the new one. Oh, and am I the only one who now has a girl crush on Rey? She's so independent and strong. OMG, she is goals tbh. *heart eyes emoji* 

I was also lucky that I got to spend my NYE with the people I love the most. Of course, my mom cooked Filipino food. What about you? How did you spend your Christmas Holidays? I hope everyone reading this had a wonderful Christmas break filled with love, happiness, family and friends! :) Thank you for reading! :) <3

// see wicklow through my camera lens

Last Monday, my year and I went to Wicklow for another class trip. I bet you're probably wondering where on earth it is, hahah. Let's do a quick geography lesson. Basically, it's a county just at the South of Dublin (As you can see on the picture below) I don't really know any other information about it besides the fact it's in the countryside and it has mountains. 

Our first stop in our trip was the Chocolate Garden of Ireland. The drive to the place was really long but nonetheless it was worth it and had so much fun. I usually don't mind long drives though because I'm a road trip kind of gal but its just that the roads were bumpy (we are in the countryside after all!) and there were a lot of turns  so you could imagine the complaints coming off everyone in my year.

As the Chocolate Garden of Ireland was a bit secluded, we actually had to walk to get there. And that was just fantastic because I was injured and had to walk with crutches. So you could probably imagine how much it sucked. I loved the interior of the place, they made it look like a magical land of chocolates. 

They were still setting the place up so my teachers decided to get a nice comforting cup of chocolate (Cheek of them though, they didn't get us any, lol). Heather, the girl in charge of us for the day told us that their hot chocolate is actually one of their popular products. The delicious heaven in a cup which is purchased in the store and was basically a block of chocolate melted in warm milk. Honestly, I regret not buying myself one since I am a massive fan of hot chocolate.

 

Before we entered the venue, we all got handed a "golden ticket" in attempt to make us feel like we were in Charlie & the Chocolate Factory. I was confused at first, since I haven't seen the film but thankfully my teacher explained the reference to me. I can't believe I haven't seen it yet, everyone has seen it!

 

Heather then started to explain the process of making the chocolate. From the harvesting to the actual making of the product. It was intriguing and fascinating to find out how actual chocolate was made since as consumers, we just see the finished product in shops. Whilst we were taking in all these information, she was also giving out free samples of chocolates. We were able to try their milk chocolate, dark chocolate and white chocolate. Coming from a picky chocolate eater, I actually liked them and did not make me feel as bad when I ate it because I knew, according to Heather's talk, that they used natural and unprocessed ingredients to make their chocolate. 

The highlight of the trip was when we had the chance to craft and design our very own chocolate. We had a choice of picking a bear or a dinosaur mould and basically long story short I picked the bear one. We were also given paintbrushes and white chocolate to contrast with the brown colour of the milk chocolate as design. After that, Heather and her co-worker went around with a huge container of oozing melted chocolate which they poured into our moulds. We had to consequently turn our containers so that it wouldn't drip and that it would coat the container evenly. The picture below is our finished "artworks".

I actually fell asleep on our way to our next stop. That mould turning was actually quite tiring (lol, kidding). I rarely sleep during the drive but yeah it was weird how I was tired. Shoutout to one of my main bitches, Lalaine, for capturing the moment. But I low key hate you for this, haha. Please pardon my ugly face whilst sleeping! 

Our next stop was the Wicklow Gaol. There wasn't really much to see there apart from jail cells. I couldn't really fully enjoy it since there was a lot of climbing the stairs and I was on crutches, so fun times! So the whole time they were 'exploring', I was just watching them from the first floor. Thankfully my friends didn't mind doing the picture taking for me.

Could you believe this was actually a jail? At first glance, I wouldn't think at all that this was a jail. It just looks a normal mundane building, but sure dont judge a book by its cover right? Apparently this building has been standing for approximately 200 years. Thinking about it, there has probably been a lot of things that happened here. Including deaths. How chilling! 

I thought the canon was pretty cool so I had to take a photo of it. The second picture is the actual structure of the Wicklow Gaol and it just shows how massive it is.  

To sum it all up, I completely fell in love Wicklow Town. It's a nice quick break from the city and I loved how the infrastructures had these vibe that it's from a different time. I love our school trips because it enables us to see amazing places in Ireland that we dont really get to visit since we just take advantage of the fact that its just there.

Let me know in the comments below if you've been to something similar in your city/country. Thank you for reading! :) <3

// hasta la vista, setiembre

Oh my gosh, it's already October? I swear it was the first of September yesterday. September flew by really quick for me. Unlike Isha, I am in Transition Year which means I'm enjoying school (not the part when I have to wake up really early though), doing blog work and doing whatever my heart desires because I have all the spare time I need. This month has been really eventful for me. This month, I got to try out new stuff, going on school trips every Friday, saying "Yes" to opportunities that I would normally say no or hesitate on saying yes to. Well enough of the boring stuff and actually get on the actual favourites. 

BOOKS I'VE READ THIS MONTH

WHAT I HAVE BEEN WATCHING 

This month I have been trying to catch up with the TV shows that I was watching before I went on holidays. I didn't really had time to binge watch during my holidays as I would have been wasting my time if I did that. I am so happy that "Awkward" is back. I've also been watching "Scream", "Scream Queens" (Our friend Mckaley is in Scream Queens, *waves* hi mckaley) and "Once Upon A Time". 

Let's all raise our hands for Awkward. (Accurate representation of myself lol) 

WHAT I HAVE BEEN LISTENING TO

If I were to list all the music that I've been listening to, I would probably take a day. I'm going to link my Soundcloud if you want to know what I've been listening to for the month of September. 

I've also repeated 'What Do You Mean' by Justin Bieber, 'Love Me Like You' by Little Mix, 'Cool For the Summer' by Demi Lovato non-stop lol. Did I tell you I have that habit? 

EVENTS

Well, I basically go with Isha to every book signing. So I've been to all the signings she has mentioned in her September Favourites blog post except for the Louise O'Neill signing. 

How was your September? What shows have you been watching lately? Which songs are in your playlist? Did you go to any signings? Which books did you read? Let us know in the comments below :) 

// a trip to have some peace

In Transition Year, we have a class where we study a local place where we make project and presentation of the place we visited afterwards. This subject is called "Local Studies" and it really enables us to get to know our local places since it often gets neglected and taken advantage since you know, it's always there.  We did weeks and weeks of research and presentation. Then we get to visit it afterwards. 

Dalkey is a small coastal town in County Dublin. The area has been inhabited since Neolithic times, but reached an incredible level of importance during the medieval period. Dalkey Island has an incredibly chequered history for a place that is so small. (Present day Dalkey is very posh lol. This is where rich people lived) Fun fact, Michelle Obama and her daughters also went here during their diplomatic trip to Ireland.

For me, one of the highlights of our trip was the ferry trip to the island. The boat was really tiny, it could only take in 5 people and the ferryman. In our ferry trip to Dalkey Island, there was Lalaine, Jericho, Naomi and I in the boat. The boat ride was really wobbly which resulted to many girls in my year screaming (lol). I admit, I was one of them since I'm not really looking forward to plummeting to the water because it's Ireland, and the water would be freezing. Despite the fear that we felt, we couldnt help but ourselves with the selfies and the videos. We also saw some seals along the way so of course I had to take a picture of it. One of my classmates called them "mini hippos" which made me crack up. 

The view from the island was absolutely breathtaking and majestic. I was feeling very grateful that I got the chance to go there to see the view myself. We brought packed lunch with us in the island and ate there. 

After having lunch, we were given permission to "explore" the island. I was wondering what we were going to do there for 3 hours. Majority of us ran to the top of the hill where the Martello Tower was situated. One of my classmates thought it was like The Hunger Games. 

Just in case you're wondering why is there a tower in the island, back in the days, its purpose was to protect Ireland against Napoleon but I don't think there was ever a record of Napoleon even go to Ireland so basically it was useless. It's not completely a waste though because tourists can visit it.

The picture above this is the Church of St. Begnet. It was built around the 9th/10th century and this was used as a base by the Vikings. There wasn't really much about the church since it was in ruins. The Vikings were supposed to have raided the Christian settlement on the island and the island was put to use as a storage point for slaves. 

We found a herd of goats when we were exploring. The first picture above was taken at the top of a huge stone. At first, I didnt want to go down to goats because first of all, goat poo and they do get crazy if you startle them and turn into demonic goats. But I went anyway because all my friends did. There also may or may not have been a time where I was making goat noises in an attempt to make conversation lol. There were bunny holes in the island but I didn't see any, sadly. 

One of my friends attempted to reenact the scene from Lion King where the monkey was holding Simba. He held up his bag instead, haha! 

Last but not least, here's a picture of me wearing my LA dodgers baseball cap which I absolutely adore. (PS I also got it the day before we went to the trip so shout out to the person who bought it for me. Thank you so much!) All in all, it was a good day out and sometimes you just need to go and have a peaceful day with mother nature. 

Let me know in the comments below if you have visited Dalkey Island or if I've convinced you to visit Ireland after reading this post. Thanks for reading! :) <3