24 before 25

A little late!

1. Get into a Master's I actually want to do!
2. Live in another country
3. Visit three places in Ireland
4. Visit Three new countries
5. Move Out
6. Go to the Verzetsmusuem in Amsterdam 
7. Update the blog more regularly 
8. Read 10 Books
9. Learn Dutch
10. Go InterRailing again
11. Go on the Chunnel
12. Visit Bath, Highclere & The Jacobite Train (Hogwarts Express)
13. Take a class
14. Teach myself Art History
15. Visit Amsterdam properly
16. Do 5 things on my Bucket List
17. Go to 3 Concerts (1. The Gathering Festival, Oxford,)
18. Volunteer at another Gallery
19. Successfully save enough for my Master's
20. Start a Streetstyle section of my blog
21. Write 500 words a week
22. Get healthy
23. Write an Art History essay
24. Become more spiritual*/ Pray More/ Improve my Karma (lol)

The Boy in the Leopard Print Coat

While waititng outside the Sheldonian I noticed this guy walking toward me, it took me a few minutes to approach him to get his photo but I am glad I did. I think he deserved his own post on here, due to the fact he is wearing such a great outfit. He was kind enough to let me take these two photo's but in the moment I forgot to ask his name! So leopard print boy, I applaud you on such a great Oxford outfit!

Matriculation Day - Oxford Style

I have been spending a considerable amount of time in Oxford since the end of September. Niall, my boyfriend is currently doing a Medieval History masters at Oxford, so I've been spending every second weekend roaming the streets of this amazing city! I was lucky enough to be present the weekend of Matriculation, which is where the students get officially accepted into the university. It's great to see everybody in their gowns and the ceremony and extravagance of the whole thing. Crowds of students arriving with their college and entering the Sheldonian and then the celebrations that night. It was an odd sight seeing those still in their gowns mingling with the crowd that had arrived for The Gathering festival, who were decked out in their finest festival attire!

I will be posting quite a bit throughout the year about Oxford, I have a where to eat post coming up soon! I had visited Oxford twice before Niall started college,but I am getting to know it way better now that I am not just a tourist! It's one of the most beautiful places in the world, in my opinion, everywhere you turn you are floored by the magnificent buildings and architecture, the bubbling culture and the exciting atmosphere! Watch this space!

Bewitching Kilkenny

An a whim we decided to book a last minute trip to Kilkenny on Friday 13th! Although I have lived in Ireland all my life I haven't visited much of my homeland at all. One of my 23 before 24 was to visit three new places in Ireland, which I have only managed one sadly! Kilkenny is a small enough city only an hour and an half from Dublin by train and has lots to offer! If you love history head to Kilkenny Castle for a great insight into Irish gentry life or take a walk in the gardens where we stumbled upon a playground...

We took an archaeological tour of the city on Saturday which was organised as part of a festival. Some of the sights worth seeing are the beautiful St Canice's Cathedral which is well worth a visit, and the Round Tower offers excellent views over Kilkenny and a peak at the Bishop's Palace beside it which is now owned by the Heritage Council. 

As we hadn't really planned our trip, I hadn't much time to come up with an itinerary or looked at places to eat. We tried a few places Friday night but most of them had no tables free! We ended up at The 67 Bar at Langtons. We were pleasantly surprised by the yummy food and the great atmosphere in this bar and the were glad we had ended up there! Langtons also own the kitschy little Bridie's Bar & General Store next door, which offers cute little presents and nostalgic items from yester-year! 

The place that really stood our for us was TBA Cafe @The Hole in the Wall! We found this place by accident and couldn't resist going down the narrow entrance and were delighted at what lay in store for us! With two sandwiches, a soup and a selection of cakes on the menu the choice was limited but I liked that! We both ended up getting The Archer which involved Parma ham, red onion marmalade, Sun dried tomatoes, grated cheddar and toasted to perfection. The sandwiches were delicious and the gigantic Hot Chocolate I got was impressive with it's blow-torched marshmallows! Their plum lemonade was so different but delicious! All in all a great experience, with nice staff, great surroundings (a Tudor Mansion built by Martin Archer in 1582) and simple, nourishing food!

We stayed at the lovely Pembroke Hotel with our room looking over Kilkenny Castle and a massive breakfast the next day! If you are looking for an AMAZING shopping experience head straight across the road to Shutterbug. Beautiful clothing with really unique pieces like my (really loud) silk shirt! Finally it was the Mick Minogue depiction of Dame Alice Kyteler  that really put the cherry on top of my trip. Minogue is an artist I have been following for a while now and his pieces are really unusual, so stumbling onto one of his works was a great surprise!

Kilkenny I'll be back! 

Here's to the Past

Just stumbled upon these photographs I took at the Trinity Fashion Show 2012. Thought I would pop them up on here because I love the way these people wear their clothes! Hopefully streetstyle will become a bigger part of my blog this year (and that the blog features a lot more content in general)! Especially love the last two girls outfits!