Practically Alice

Growing up I've been both lucky and unlucky with my opportunities to explore the world outside of my house. Family holidays to France every year grounded my ability to travel long distances (we drove), my grandmother being German and auntie living in Germany solidified my love for the country and desire to learn the language, and my love of reading allowed me to travel from the safety of my bedroom. I honestly believe one of the main reasons that my wanderlust hasn't really kicked in until now is because my imagination was enough. And to this very day it still is - just about. Earlier this year I interned in London and that was a bit of an adventure for me (Yorkshire born and bred!). Even going 82 miles down south to University was a big deal. I can still recall the butterflies in my stomach as I walked up the stairs to my new flat on move-in day. Reading has given me a sense of adventure, and also allowed me to get an appetite to explore. Because I was ill for most of sixt...

First of all, if you haven't seen Once Upon a Time and want to go into the show blind, then please minimise this, go watch it all and come back. While there are no ground-breaking spoilers here, I do touch on parts of the plot, and characters that may be considered of a spoiler-y nature. Back in 2010, I was babysitting for an old neighbour when what to my wandering eyes could appear but an advert. The advert was to become the beginning of an adventure in my life, spanning right up until this very day. It has indeed taken me since that dreary, dark night in 2010 until this very day to get up to date with Once Upon a Time ( IMDB here ), and my what a journey it has been. What drew me to the show initially was the basic theme of fairytales (I’m a sucker for a good story), and the added twist of modern day America meets the fairytales was just my cup of tea. Over the years we have seen a group of characters, once (upon a time *sniggers*) defined by their stock stereotypes of ‘her...

Tomorrow I am going into hospital so they can put a trial spinal chord stimulator (scs) into my back, which will hopefully reduce my chronic pain. If you've known me at all in the past four or five years, you'll probably be aware that in 2012 I was diagnosed with congenital syringomyelia. This basically means that residing in my spinal chord is a syrinx (or cyst); mine is pretty small, and I've had it since I was born so various doctors argued over whether I could technically get pain from this. I have so many emotions about tomorrow. First of all, I am so very grateful to have this opportunity to have this treatment. I am so lucky. The treatment is new and not widely used because it's administered by pain clinics as opposed to neurologists or neurosurgeons. I also know that if I have these two surgeries and they help me, maybe I can help encourage the wider use of this treatment. Over the past couple of years I've fogged my brain up with medicine, and to be offer...

It seems that our lives are compromised of endings; lots of little chapters with some loose ends, some rather neatly tied up. Four years ago I left compulsory education to do my GCSEs, now I'm about to sit an exam that will mark the end of my second year at university. We seem to have this incessant need to categorise times in our lives. It allows us to look back at certain times and recall memories, whether fond or bad with a sense of reflection. Fifteen year old Claire was very different from now. I was about to embark on my first relationship, I was young and naive and also very, very ignorant. Luckily, I was ignorant in the nicest way possible; I was handled with care by all those around me. I drank for the first time with the best possible people I could have, my first kiss was much the same. I am so, so  lucky to have grown up the way I have. This year has also thrown some trials at me. I started second year thinking it would follow a very  different thread that it h...

When I came home this week, my sister surprised me with the chance to see Macbeth  at Harrogate Theatre. This particular production had been touring since February by Tara Arts and Black Theatre Live. The production has to be one of the best Shakespeare productions I have ever seen. Rating: 5/5 * Three outrageous drag-queens* cook up an explosive brew of treachery, ambition and passion, setting an Asian family off on a path of bloody self-destruction. Tara Arts brings Indian movement and music to Shakespeare's text, offering a powerful contemporary take on his darkest play. [ source ]  Never before have I seen a Shakespeare play that has evoked such emotion. I was very familiar with Macbeth , as most people are. However, I did not experience the strength of emotion in any previous production or reading of Macbeth  that I did in this performance.  Mountford portrays a deeply intense and crazed Macbeth who slowly and scarily descends into madness. Along with...

When life gets a little wobbly for me, when I look around me and there's this rather large mote of emotion or troubles or stress I begin to build myself a bridge. It takes time, care and patience; each book a brick that has to be selected carefully. Sometimes rain will lash down and threaten to flood my little island, but as yet the banks have held. With each book, I get closer to the mainland, and I get more determined to get there, a smile growing on my face. The books slot together perfectly, each adding a stitch to my patches until I become reasonably fully formed again. (No one ever is fully formed though, don't be silly!) Recently books that I wouldn't have dreamed of approaching have helped me more than I could've imagined. As cathartic as book shopping is, the real joy comes when you sit and fall into another world and then hit a passage or a feeling or a thought that reveals the sun to you. Out from a cloud, comes this clarity. And it's wonderful. Readi...

I am currently a second year English undergrad student and halfway through my second term. One thing people always warned me about was the level of reading that would be thrown at me and my fellow students - they were correct. In 2011 I made a commitment to read 100 books in one year and being a slow reader I didn't achieve that, making it to 65 instead. This past week alone I have read 9 books... nine . That's crazy for me because sixteen year old me felt like nine books in one month was an impossible feet! This is yet another thing that makes me chuckle at my past self and pat her on the back, willing her to believe that it'll all work out in the end. Reading weeks are a common thing in lots of universities and students often get slated for simply dossing about and doing nothing for a whole week. I am here to argue otherwise; I was glued to my reading for the whole week, as were a lot of my friends. I love my degree and without reading the texts, I can't learn and...