On the reading list...

Now that I have finished my English lit degree, I can finally read the books I want to read! Goodbye Renaissance drama, Restoration and boring Irish lit, I have no interest in you whatsoever!

I'm in between a few books at the minute, but as I was scouring in the shelves in Waterstones (an almost weekly occurance) I found a book called Lucky by Alice Sebold. If you are familiar with her work, she wrote The Lovely Bones, a novel about a young girl in the 1970s who gets raped and murdered. heavy stuff I know, but it is a great book about a very serious issue that is worth to know about.

"Lucky" by Sebold is a memoir revealing the moment her life changed when she was raped at 18 during freshman year of college. A dark subject matter, I not only bought this book because it was written by Sebold but because of theme of the book. Rape and rape culture is a very serious issue with millions of men and women falling victim to it. It is important for everyone to become aware of it and understand what constitutes as consent.

So it's Sunday night and it's time to unwind and begin this book. A review will surface in the next few days!

Niamh x

Recent travel destinations & thoughts

For me, there is nothing better than spending a few weeks abroad away from the mundanities of life. Whether I'm off on a city break, ski or beach holiday, I love traveling and getting away from it all. 

So far this year I went skiing in Austria and stayed in a great resort just outside Innsbruck. That was in January and it was the perfect way of getting over the January blues. I was quite late on the whole skiing thing and definitely think you're better off learning to ski as a child because they pick it up so easily compared to when you're an adult learner. I had so much fun with my sister, especially in the evenings at the après-ski bars!

Breath-taking views

Kranjska Gora ski resort, perfect for beginners

  My first ski trip was to Slovenia, which was the perfect resort for first-time skiers. The runs were all relatively easy and not too high.  However, the transfer is hell! We flew from Glasgow to Salzburg where we then had to get a mini-bus transfer all the way to Slovenia which took 4 hours. We did see lovely Austrian countryside and mountainous landscape which was an added bonus to a long and boring trip. Not many people have been to Slovenia and I have to say I was very surprised by the beauty of the country and the friendly locals. I would really recommend choosing Slovenia if you are a first-time skier because the runs are very beginner friendly and not too daunting.

This June I visited Amsterdam with a few friends! It is such a beautiful and interesting city with a very different culture! I loved the city's architecture and the friendly feel I experienced. We stayed in an amazing concierge-apartment in the city centre called Yays Oostenburgergracht. We went to all the typical Amsterdam sites, Anne Frank house, Vondelpark, the Red Light District and the very, very surreal Sex Museum - which was a definite eye-opener! I thought the locals were very friendly and noticed that English was widely spoken which was a plus. However, I do think Amsterdam is an expensive city so do be sure to have plenty of spending money before you go.

In terms of beach holidays, I love nothing more than to lie by the pool in the gorgeous sunshine with a good book in hand. In the last two years, I have visited Salou in Catalonia, where I also spent a day in Barcelona, and more recently Ibiza last June. I spent two weeks in Salou and thought the holiday was very cost-effective! It is not too expensive to dine every night and everyday commodities are very cheap and reasonable. We stayed just outside of Salou in Cap Salou which has really pretty cove beaches. The only disappointment was the weather - it was in the mid-20s but did seem to have a slight chill in the air.

 In June 2015 I went to Ibiza with two uni friends, Alyson and Eden and was hands-down the best beach holiday! Everything about Ibiza I loved - we stayed in quite a chilled out hotel on San Antonio Bay and as much as Ibiza is associated with crazy nightlife, we actually had a really chill time. We sunbathed every day in the scorching heat and visited sunset bars at night. The cocktails were amazing and I just loved the whole party vibe of the island. We stayed half board and I would recommend you that board as eating out can be really expensive. 

And last but far from least, is my favourite city - Paris. To me, Paris is timeless and always exciting. I've visited three times in the last ten years and it hasn't gotten boring yet. I visited Paris for the first time in 2008 for a school trip and it was as magical as I expected. I don't know what it is about the city but there is something about it which I can't explain - be it the restaurants, coffee shops, wine, boutiques and amazing tourist attractions. I just love the chilled out attitude and culture the French have. Since the first time I visited, I always thought how amazing it would be to spend time living there.

So there you have it, those are a few of the travel destinations I have visited! I hope to go to Montenegro next summer and of course will be living in France in the next few months. Writing this blog post has really made me want to jet away somewhere nice!

Niamh x

Thoughts on Brexit and Andrea Leadsom's comments on motherhood

OK so this is a bit of  heavy post about politics. As we all know, the United Kingdom has been in an utter shambles since the 23rd June. We voted to leave the EU, our PM reigned, the pound dramatically fell and we were all left with a horrible question of: "what have we done?"

A few weeks on and our country is in need of PM. At first we thought Boris Johnson would fill his boots as PM but shortly after the Brexit vote, he stood down from the candidacy. I breathed a sigh of relief and annoyance when Nigel Farage stood down as the leader of UKIP. Thank God he wasn't going to be the PM but at the same time after arguably getting the UK into the most unstable state, he is able to retreat and have his privacy now that the dirty work is done. I'm a bit of a socialist at heart and a Left-winger and to be quite frank, UK politics is at the worst its ever been. All leaders from both sides seem to have no idea what they are doing. Labour, the party I would sometimes side with, has really let me down with Jeremy Corbyn. He was far too on the fence over the Referendum and I think he could have done much for the Remain side and Labour. At the time of writing this, he still appears to be the Labour leader but that could all change if the last month of UK politics is anything to go by.

So after Cameron resigned and Boris ruled himself out of leadership, who the hell was going to be our next Prime Minister? We were threatened with Michael Gove but two figures came to prominence: Theresa May and Andrea Leadsom. Which to be honest, it is like picking the lesser of two evils, figuring out who isn't going to mess our country up the most. Prior to Brexit, I had never heard of Leadsom and had no idea what her politics were. I think a lot of people were apprehensive of her, apart from Daily Mail readers. The idea of a second female PM is great to come to terms with but there is always a difference made to female politicians. Speaking to The Times, Leadsom allegedly said that being a mother would give her an advantage as a potential prime minister. Now this kind of comment angers me. I think it is shocking that a woman would use motherhood as ammunition against another woman who is childless to gain an upperhand. First of all, not every woman is meant to have children. Women either choose not to have children or unfortunately cannot have children. I think for a woman to go after another woman over the basis of being a mother is a low blow. Leadsom answered whether or not she felt like a "mum in politics":

“Yes. I am sure Theresa will be really sad she doesn't have children so I don't want this to be 'Andrea has children, Theresa hasn't' because I think that would be really horrible, but genuinely I feel that being a mum means you have a very real stake in the future of our country, a tangible stake" 

Let me be the first to say that being a mother obviously gives you important, transferable skills that can benefit you in many aspects of your life. However, that is not to say that being childless will make you any less of a person. Why is this question less likely to come up to a male candidate? Does it matter if a future PM has kids or not? Or does procreating make you a better woman in comparison to those who don't? Not every single woman is meant to be a mother! I think it is discriminative what Leadsome said and, despite not being a fan AT ALL of any of their politics, I do sympathesise slightly with May from a woman's point of view. As women, we are constantly told by society that our main role is to marry and have babies. Yes, we have become much more liberated with our choices and careers but there is still a double standard out there. Personally, I'm not sure whether I want to have children. Does this make me incapable in the work-place? Will I not make the same decisions as working mothers? Does that make me less of a woman? Having a family is a massively personal thing to decide on and at the end of the day, it should be about what YOU want, not what those around you want you to do. Leadsome bowed out of the PM candidacy due to a "media circus" over her controversial comments which paves the way for May to be our next Prime Minister, the second female PM after Thatcher.  I am not a fan whatsoever with the state of the UK now. I am tired of living in a Tory governement. I voted to Remain in the EU, as did the majority of my country, Northern Ireland, and to me, Brexit only generates more hate and discrimiantion against other cultures and countries, thus creating a crazy, racist "Little England" mentality. Time will only tell how the UK will carry on with Brexit. I feel very uncertain of my future. We have no idea what will happen when we eventually leave the EU and I have a sneaking suspicion it will be far from good... Let's just say I've never been more in favour of a United Ireland. Could the six counties of the North be reunited with the South? Is Northern Ireland a more financially secure country if it reunites with Ireland, keeping its membership within the EU? Should we cut ties with the Union? That is an important question that will no doubt be debated in the coming years of Brexit.

Thanks for reading,

Niamh x

Welcome to my blog!

Well, hello there!

Que the most generic first time blog entry...

So as you can see I have began my own blog! This is basically a personal project of mine which will keep me writing now that I have finished uni with a degree in English literature. It is also quite scary, putting yourself out there, releasing your inner thoughts for everyone to read. But alas, this is a lifestyle blog which will be full of my own personal musings, thoughts and opinions on various aspects of life.

So here is a little bit about me, an introduction if you will....

ABOUT ME!

THE BASICS

My name is Niamh Burns and I come from Northern Ireland. I am 21, turning 22 in September which I am not happy about (how did I get so old??) I currently live in a town called Coleraine which is located on the North Coast of Ireland. Not many people know it but the North Coast is actually really, pretty and as much as Northern Ireland has its bad parts, one thing I can say is that it is a beautiful country especially where I live. In my spare time I like to walk around seaside towns such as Portstewart and Portrush and scour the beaches nearby. Where I live is OK at the minute but I do dream of moving away and living in a city.

LIKES 

I'm a pretty simple gal, as long as I have three things in life I am happy enough. Those three things happen to be travel, wine and good coffee. I am a big travel nerd, I love visiting different countries and experiencing different cultures. My favourite country is France so I suppose you could consider me as something of a Francophile. My favourite city in the entire world is obviously Paris but I do think some UK cities are great and under-appreciated. I am partial to a good bottle of rose wine and am most content sitting in a nice coffee shop, with a cappuccino in hand amongst interesting people.

DISLIKES 

Pretentious people, mathematics and working in retail. The latter is somewhat of a necessary evil because in this day and age, for young people it seems the only job sector available is retail, which is something that I will write about in future. I also think manners are so important and that kindness costs nothing.

UNIVERSITY, EDUCATION 

I have just graduated from university which is such a scary realisation! My degree was in English and I studied at Ulster University in Coleraine. Although I enjoyed it and met great people at uni, I am well and truly ready to move on to the next stage of my life! I have been in education all of my life and at 21, I am ready to take a break from coursework and exam stress! I did toy with the idea of a masters but I think it is best for me to remove myself from university and work for a bit. However I am still very interested in journalism as writing and current affairs is a massive passion of mine. I would like to one day enrol on a NCTJ/masters course in the future, so we'll see whats in store for me.

So that's all for now I think. I'm looking forward to publishing future lifestyle and opinion posts and I hope those who do come across this blog, will enjoy what I post in the future!

Niamh x