Oink Oink

Why is it that every time I start eating I find it necessary to over-do it? 😦 😐

This scares me! Because I can tell that by the time first semester is over in Maastricht I’ll probably be the size of a balloon if I don’t already end up that size by the end of August! *sigh*

Thing is with me, some days I can have the willpower of Hercules and then other days I’m as weak as Cookie Monster. Things are bad.

I know what you are probably thinking, she is so shallow, right?  Okay maybe I am, but I really do have a fear of getting too big. 

Growing up around boys mostly, despite being involved in gymnastics competitively, I always got teased by them, as well as other members of my family, calling me “fat girl”. Ugh.

That takes effect on a girl! And I think maybe they overestimated how tough I was or something probably. So anyway, after I quit gymnastics I became extremely health conscious. I’m talking yoghurt all day everyday, salads, oats,jogging, gym, the works. I even went through a phase where I counted calories and stuff. It was rough on me to say the least. Although I do eat junk still, it is always followed by extreeeeme feelings of guilt!

But I guess when I go over there, especially with the drastic change from hot tropical weather to ice cold temperatures, I’ll need to watch what I eat for sure and how much I eat, …..or find a really good gym.

But before I end this post, boys, telling a girl she’s fat, it can have more effects than you think! If I were you, I’d rethink before I comment. But if you must, make it as subtle and , throw yourself in a river instead. 😀

Laydaaa∞

-Mama

I can (almost) see the light

It was September 5th, I blinked my eyes, crossed my legs and cracked my knuckles and before I knew it, it was December 8th.

If it’s one thing for sure, time surely does fly at UWC (especially weekends)!  Well, I guess today for example was my own fault, seeing that I found it more important to watch Austin Powers and socialize with the boys on the second floor until 6AM more important than getting sleep to study for my test week  Which inevitably lead to me sleeping until 4PM. 

Anyway as I pointed out, yep I have test week(s) starting tomorrow. And lo and behold, my good luck has obviously resulted in my first subject being Biology HL. I have no idea how or when we learnt so much topics, but it always sucks to find out at the end of the semester when you have to then re-learn all the topics 😦

However, the UWC experience has been goin gokay, despite the fact that I often get the feeling that I live in some secluded bubble, doomed of ever having a social life. I swear it feels like the life  I once lived in Trinidad seems so distant and unreal, I think I’ll probably forget how to party and dance by the time I return home. And my goodness the weather, I mean, I even find 12-15 degrees a GOOD day. I’m talking it’s possible for me to walk outside in nearly nothing without flinching…much. But however, sadly it is getting colder and unfortunately for me, this is only thr beginning. I am certainly in for some long, cold and (hopefully not) fattening months. 

This first semester has been an..interesting one to say the least, sometimes I feel like nothing has happened but then when I take the time to reflect I realize how much in fact has actually happened. I feel blessed and cursed sometimes, but really in fact I am just a blessed girl with grumpy tendencies which tends to cloud my judgement and thoughts at times. 

Anyway, from first campus crushes to first campus tests, there’s always another challenge around the bend for me, but a major one at the moment definitely being the latter…for which I am currently procrastinating!

TTYL

Mama ❤

Been a while!

Hey!

Sorry I haven’t been posting as often as I should be or as often as I promised…but I here now so das good enuf.

Anywho, to recap the past 3 months of my UWC experience in a blog post..maybe I should put labels and captions on things that were memorable.

Jumping in the Moat.

If you go to UWC Maastricht, you understand the slimy, sick, green, possibly-disease-carrying monster we are referring to when we say the Moat. So anyway, one random night David came upstairs and just asked…”So you want to go in the moat with me?”. I must say I was a bit intrigued, I was feeling for a procrastination as well so I tried to get my roommate M into it. Surprisingly though she agreed to it, and before I knew it, we were all outside ready to go into the Moat. It was rel good -mostly because it was spontaneous. Altho, I only went in up to my shins, that moat is gross. My roommate and others who joined swam alll the way in. Not me 😐

Project Week – Paris!

So for Project Week I had a tough time trying to figure out if I should go to Greece with Thato orrr go to project week in Paris with my other roommaate J. 

Man, Paris was nice. It was so breath-taking, seeing the Eiffel Tower for the first time in person! (Although I must say, the crepes near the Eiffel Tower was equally-if not more breathtaking yum!)

I really had my fair share of food -mainly cereal and nutella and chocolate bread and cheese and cereal and yoghurt and oh..did i say cereal?- so much so in fact that I actually gained 2 kilos! (like if I even needed to). But it was altogether such a nice experience, I never thought I would find myself in such a place tbh.

My BIrthday

It wasn’t that amazing, especially seeing that Maastricht is just so eventful that I had loads of things to choose from 😐  But T, L, R and D made it great for me! 🙂 They made me brownies, bought me cereal and just tried to keep my spirits high. It was so nice of them to try and make my bday special despite bein so far away from home. 

Other than this, school work is more or less okay I guess…I findin it rel hard to jus sit down and study though, there’s always something to do and I mean- when there’s something to do besides work…who wouldn’t jump at the opportunity to do it?!

However this is also a procrastination that I am choosing to do instead of doing work….so I shall speak to ya laydaa 🙂 Hopefully sooner than later haha.

xx

T’Kia 

 

 

THE STRUGGLE

So here I am again, sitting in my bed at UWC Maastricht, probably about 5 pounds heavier than I was a week ago for sure 😥

Funny enough, despite all the second years complaining that the food is terrible, I find it quite enjoyable…and unfortunately  I am unable to stop. DUTCHIES LOVE CARBS. HOWEVER, CARBS NO LOVEY T’KIA. End of story.

In other news, it hurts to spend your own money and manage your money, as well as learning to manage it on your own. Do you know how hard it is to walk through the snack aisle and having to act like your own mother, stopping yourself from buying all those unnecessary snacks you want and love (and need) 😥

It was shocking. Besides me being cheap however the experience is okay. The dutch weather though is more bipolar than a teenage girl on her period, and therefore can be QUITE annoying. One minute it rainin an the next sun out… come on 😐

I did have a brief period of sadness where I felt a bit left out, as my self esteem issues don’t allow me to be as friendly or open as I want as I am afraid of being judged and scorned or made fun of :$. Cause there are some people here who are quite social, I mean like it looks like they were born to have friends, quite scary and …admirable though I might say.

But, hopefully I’ll get over it, I need to and soon.

But school officially starts next week Monday, the joy. I better stay in my bed because I have a feeling I’ll jump out a window or something soon, cause from what I’ve heard…breaking a couple bones may be better than experiencing the IB.

Talk to ya soon

-T’Kia

Arrival

Surprisingly it’s already the 3rd day. I’m now sitting in the study room where there is limited wifi, but it should be better by next week. Since it’s a new campus they haven’t figured out the wifi thing yet and of course you know it leaves us internet junkies like fish out of water because we have not one shit to do without our wifi! 😥  Also I am probably gonna get so fat at this school. There is a coffee machine in the cafe and I can’t seem to get enough of the hot chocolate! 😥 & There is cake. There is always cake at dinner. Let the thunder thighs begin.     But anyway!

First day 

I came here with my mom and at first i felt a bit baby-ish because I saw no one else with their mom :$ but it really did have other parents here..I just didn’t see them. Anywho so we got here and unpacked, got some help from some nice 1st and 2nd years dragging my heavy ass bags to the 3rd floor….no elevators 😐

After that I sadly said goodbye to my mom and went to “mix”. Being the awkward person that I am I just went to sit. Bt eventually we got to talking, everyone is so friendly here it’s like there is no way to be isolated, unless you’re shy like me :’)

But first day we just mostly spent some time together all day, waited on other firsties to arrive and had dinner. They said the food is usually terrible but it didn’t seem so bad…for now.

 

2nd day

The second day I had an academic fair and then 2 placement tests to take (math&english). The fair helped alot because I figured out that I really can’t take French at higher level, especialy seeing that my french teacher does not speak one word of english in her classes AT ALL. 

After that, we played some games in the courtyard and then had speed dating. For some people it was weird but others the conversations were flowing pretty well. Ended early tho because a girl was tapping a glass to signal to change, but then she broke the glass eventually. (Thank God)

We then tried to go for a walk into town seeing that curfew is 12 on weekends, but figured by walking we didn’t have enough time. So we took a walk altogether in the woods an then we ended up jus playing some games outside a field. 

Slowly one by one people went back to campus and then I jus sat with my co-years from Bolivia, Netherlands, Libya and Belgium and we just talked. 

So now today is a new day! I wonder what’s in store, but I’ll keep you informed (if I don’t feel too lazy)

Talk to you soon!

– Mamaa

How unreal does it get until you realize it’s real?

So here I am, seated in my tiny but long bed at my hotel in Maastricht, which funny enough, is not even 20 minutes away from my new home, UWC Maastricht. Someone pinch me?

It all started with my flight to London 3 days ago, boy I hated that flight. I’m an impatient girl and let’s just say 9 hours sitting, staring, doing nothing and listening to babies cry just isn’t my cup of tea. At least they fed me well yum yum.

Anywho, when I got to London I spent a day there afterward. I spent the day travelling London and sightseeing with my mom and my cousin. I would have never imagined me taking a picture in front of Big Ben or Buckingham’s palace! But it was a great adventure, which ended with lavish shopping at Primark 😉 (judge all you want those of you who aren’t fans, but I nearly lost my shit in Primark…as well as all my money for the year)

Then today was probably one of the longest of them all. I took a train from London to Paris, which then had a connection to Liege, Belgium in under 15 minutes. Picture getting to your other terminal in under 15 minutes with 4 pieces of luggage the size of cars. yeah, not good.

But I made it and after a short train ride to Maastricht from Liege (where I unfortunately confused a lady at a sandwich shop with my horrible French trying to order some food), I made it to my final destination! 🙂 …finally.

So tomorrow  I suppose there will be sight seeing and some more finishing ups of shopping and so on. I am so excited to begin my new journey.

How I feel about leaving home? Oddly enough, it still hasn’t sunk in. I’m starting to believe that perhaps I have no sort of feelings if I still can’t manage to shed a tear ot two yet. 

But more in store, school begins in T-2 days!

Layda

MAma

Excitement

Can we just take a moment to say just how jealous I am of those who have already started their UWC experiences? …..

Okay moment taken.

I’m not sure how many or which school have already begun, but I know that UWC-USA, (where my co-year from Trinidad is going) began yesterday! 

I’m so jealous because I am dying to experience new things, new people. I am literally suffocating here at home, I know I may sound dramatic but for instance, I am currently sitting at home alone while my brother and mother are both out with friends- my dad is God knows where, probably with friends too- and my sistyer is probably granny-ing it up somewhere.

HELLO

It’s my last two weeks! Not exactly how I planned on spending it. 

Oh well.

But on the plus side, I leave Trinidad in T-11 days! 

Ouch. Got a bit sad there but anywho. There is still a down side…. I haven’t even started packing 🙂

But hey, 11 days, that’s long enough?

Right?

Right.

Anyway I should probably go wallow in my lonesome some more.

Ttyl,

Mama

Don’t Judge a Book by it’s Carnival

Recently, Rihanna went back to her home country, Barbados, for the festival of Crop Over which is celebrated every year usually in the month of August in Barbados.Crop Over, is the “Bajan” Carnival, just like we have our Carnival celebrations here in Trinidad. 

However, there have been many scorn-like comments and articles about Rihanna’s “behaviour” and “skimpy costume”. This enraged me as these foreign opinions are very narrow-minded and ignorant, for unless they actually participate in these festivities themselves, they would not understand, nor have the right to judge the Carnival celebrations. 

These comments ranged from “She looks like a prostitute!” to “Rihanna caught twerking in next-to-nothing clothing!”  to even “How dare she hold and kiss her own grandfather in that outfit???”

Now how can you say this, when you know nothing of our culture as Caribbean people? 

All I’m saying is, everyone has different cultures, and just because one does not resemble the other or do the same thing as another does not give you the right to disrespect it. 

Rihanna did not choose to be in “next-to-nothing” clothing just to make a statement, but it is simply the costumes that we wear during these festivities.

Before you judge or open your mouth and say something small-minded, do your research.

Laya,

-Mamaa

 

 

A picture of women enjoying themselves at Trinidad Carnival 2013, in the same next to nothing clothing,.

They say some are silver and then some are gold

Hmm. 

I haven’t even moved to Holland yet and it seems like I am already losing friends. This is one thing about this entire process that I didn’t want fast-forwarded.

Thing is, this girl and I, (let’s call her L), were really good friends, I mean really good. There seemed there wasn’t a weekend or a holiday when I wouldn’t be in her house. We had our off days and on days, but we were more or less inseparable. Now, because of a lot of things our friendship has been suffering, I guess I can say it’s my fault because there were times when I just watched it suffer and did nothing, O mean she would try but I would just shrug it off because at that time I just didn’t see the friendship with L to be worth it at all. 

But now, leaving has given me a second opinion. It has really opened my eyes and shown me that friends are really what I need right now, they are who will help me through this difficult situation and who will bring me back up when I’m feeling down, fill me in on what’s going on back home, and just give me a little taste of where i’m from when I’m feeling homesick.

I can’t imagine I’d been so stupid not to value L before, but now, I believe it’s too late…(is that possible?)

I mean I’m trying but I don’t think that this is one friendship that I will be taking with me to Maastricht

Layda,

-Mama

Lez-behonest.

Hey!

Another little personal blog for ya

SO, there’s this girl (a lesbian) who everyone more or less knows, thing is, she dresses like a boy, and sadly to say (don’t judge me), she is actually so hot!

Now, I know what you’re probably thinking, oh girrrrrl you a lesbian!

While I have no problem whatsoever with homosexuality, I am not, it’s just…she’s actually a very hot boy!

I always felt weird to admit this to my friends for I was afraid of what they might think, turns out tho, if anyone else was given a chance (with her), they would be soooo DTF.

That took a load off. I am not even jokin tho that’s the thing, almost every girl I know, if not all, are completely in love with her! Last night my friends and I were at a club, and she walked in….I didn’t realize she walked in as yet, but my friends’ (girls) reactions was all I needed.

So this really makes me think, are we really in love with a lesbian to the point that we are actually lesbian for her? Or is this classified as an extreme girl crush?

Questions.

Layda

-Mama

Aw Yeah, I’m Apple-ing

Haven’t posted in a bit, and  I figured since I’m once again at my all-too-exciting job, I can blog a bit.

To be honest, I never know what the hell to blog about, so until I actually get something really meaningful to blog, you’re gonna have to put up with whatever boring shit happens in my life 😀

SO ANYWAY

I finally bought my own iPod 5! I love it so far!….although I’ve spent a little less like maybe an hour with it, I quickly fell asleep after, cause well I went to a lime (hang out) with some UWCers from Trinidad who are either currently at a UWC or attended a UWC. It was nice to get some inside on what the experience is like and some tips on what to do and avoid while we’re there, along with some okay advice.

I am technically (but not really..kinda) the first Trini to go to the UWC in Maastricht, it is kinda exciting but scary at the same time, and as the countdown is getting closer and closer, I am now experiencing I guess what you will call a slight oncoming of anxiety. Only now when I really think about it, I get a slight feeling of longing and homesickness, and a little sad. This never happened before. God I can’t deal with having a breakdown, I can’t.

But on the plus side, ….okay I can’t really think of a plus side at the moment, but, whatever.

What else was I gonna say….

OH! Went to a boat cruise party last weekend, and it was greeeeeaaaat. I had a total bawl…and to be honest…maybe too much of a bawl. But nonetheless a time was had by all! I must appreciate the wild times and parties while I’m here after all, I don’t think I’ll be able to party over there like how we party over here 😦

On a lighter note however, and actually what the post relates to..(whoa, I just realized I started the post talking about my iPod and now I’ve gotten here. I really apologize for that ADD moment oops :$)

So anyway! I’m excited to start downloading apps and getting into my apple life 🙂 (Steve Jobs would be so happy with me 🙂 ). But more of my plans for now? Hmmm..well I know I wanna go Despicable Me 2 tonight! —aaand then maybe another lime or so later in the night 😀 ( We all know how THOSE limes leave me in the morning at work) but oh well.

If there are any apps that yall feel will make my Apple experience all the more joyful, please don’t hesitate to tell me! I’m all about that life now 😉

-Till layda

Mama