Tuesday 28 October 2014

Pumpkin carving with Ben!

As its nearly Halloween its only right to carve a pumpkin! Today me and my boyfriend Ben carved our own pumpkin just in time for Halloween. We tried to think of something creative to carve into our pumpkin and we even googled 'pumpkin carving ideas' but they all looked far too hard so we ended up going for a classic halloween style pumpkin! It was fun to do and reminded me of when i was younger, however i didn't miss the smell of the inside 'guts' (as i call them) of the pumpkin!!
Here are some pictures of our pumpkin carving process! 




Monday 27 October 2014

Virgin Atlantic Base in Crawley

A couple of days a go i was lucky enough to go to the Virgin Atlantic Base in Crawley. This is where Virgin Atlantic trains new their cabin crew members. As I'm currently studying travel and tourism at college this was a good opportunity that college offered to my class.

During my day there we did a little bit of theory and then mainly took part in practical activities. These practical activities were part of cabin crew training and we got to experience what they were like. This was such a rare experience as not many people are lucky enough to go to the Virgin Atlantic Base.

We first met our trainers for the day which were Louise and Pippa, we did a bit of theory and then moved on to the training activities.
The first activity we did was fire fighting. We had to walk through a smoke filled room with all the correct equipment on, we then put out a controlled fire with fire extinguishers that were filled with water just for the training exercise.
A while later we then got the chance to go down the emergency slide that would be used if the passengers needed to evacuate the plane. This slide was just inflated and on a frame for the purpose of training, but it was set at the height of a real 787 dream liner aircraft so that the cabin crew training would know what to expect if they ever had to use the emergency plane whilst on a flight in the future.
After that we went on the same inflated slide that was on its side and being used as a raft. The raft and slide double up to have two uses so can be used on a land or water emergency landing. Whilst on the raft we experienced how hard it was to fit all 23 of us on, then we found out that it actually held up to 75 people! We placed the cover over the top of the raft and managed to do it in 1 minute and 14 seconds which was fairly quick.
We then got to act out some of the things cabin crew did in emergencies on the make shift plane that was made to be just like the inside of a Virgin Atlantic plane. We were shouting comments at our classmates such as;
"heads down, feet back"
"undo your seatbelt, get out, leave everything behind" etc.
This was fairly realistic and seemed quite scary for the classmates acting as passengers, but it meant that we listened to the commands that the cabin crew were shouting and in a real lift emergency situation all the passengers would need to do exactly what the cabin crew were shouting.
Finally to end our day we got the chance to look around the different interior areas of the Virgin Atlantic planes including; economy, premium and first class.

It was a really good experience and opened my eyes so much more to the roles cabin crew have to undertake as many people underestimate this.

Wednesday 15 October 2014

Learning to drive with the AA Driving School

I have recently passed my driving test!!

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A week ago today i was lucky enough to pass my driving test first time! I learnt to drive with the AA Driving School and i chose to learn with the AA because i knew of their good reputation. AA is a well know company for other services that it has as well - such as breakdown assistance. 
During driving I had two different instructors. I had my first instructor for nearly 4 months and i had my second instructor for nearly a month. I had to change instructors for a reason which wasn't my choice, but towards the end i started to enjoy my lessons more with my new instructor. I had a few lessons at the start of my driving experience in Lowestoft as i didn't get offered where i wanted to go. But a few weeks later when i got the choice i chose to further learn in Norwich as i previously wanted to learn in Norwich. And i knew once i passed i was 100% more likely to be driving around Norwich than Lowestoft so the experience driving in Norwich was a massive help. I passed within 5 months of learning to drive which some people think is a short amount of time, i think it depends on how committed you are and what the instructor is like.
I've had many different people say to me that certain places are easier or harder to learn but overall i personally think they are all similar.
I was lucky enough to pass my theory test first time as well which meant soon after i booked my practical test. I knew i wasn't quite ready to take my practical test, but as the waiting list was 9 weeks i had plenty of time to improve!
On my test my one manoeuvre i was asked to do was the 'turn in the road'. I also had to complete an emergency stop on my test and they ask around 1 in 3 people to do an emergency stop. 
I learnt to drive in a new Ford Fiesta which i quite enjoyed driving. One thing i didn't enjoy about driving it was that the gears were high. Now I've passed I'm driving a Vauxhall Corsa which is very different and is taking a lot of getting used to.
Overall i would recommend the AA Driving School (BSM - British School of Motoring is also owned by the AA). Booking 10 hours of their lessons in one go means they are slightly discounted as apposed to booking and hour or a two at a time. Hourly rate is currently £24.50 (October 2014).

Click here for a link to their website. 

x

Friday 3 October 2014

Acrylic nails

I had my nails done around a week ago now at Timberhill Nail's in Norwich. I didn't plan on getting them done until a few hours before so it was a spontaneous decision! This was the second time i go my nails done with acrylic nails and i wasn't sure whether to actually have them done as i previously really didn't like them. I didn't like them the first time as they were far too long and they really damaged my nails after i removed them after just 2 days (which was really difficult and took a long time!) and i got those ones done at USA nails also in Norwich. 
I showed pictures of the type of nails i wanted done both times - and both times they didn't really do as i asked, but i didn't mind so much the second time as i actually really liked them! 
When having my nails done the second time i only realised once i was half way through that i didn't have long before i had to leave to get the last bus home, so i left without having them painted! This meant i painted them myself once i was home but it wasn't as well done as they would have done it! 
I still have the acrylic nails on now and i hope when i eventually take them off that they haven't left my real nails in a bad condition. This worries me as the people doing the nails do like to 'sand' down your nails quite a lot!
I kind of got the same or similar style of acrylic nails done both times because its just preference as to what i like, but in the future i may try a simple square tip finish. 
I would like to add that it did hurt quite a lot when i had my nails done the second time and the man doing them wasn't very gentle at all!
I have changed my nail colour twice since having them done this time and i plan on changing it more as i like to switch it up quite frequently!



Here are 2 pictures of my current nails from the top, and the last picture is of my acrylic nails the first time i had them done. X





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