Sorry for disappearing! Things happen...

So I have been a bad blogger. I am ever so sorry, things have been slightly hectic. First of all, I am officially back in Australia as of the 3rd of February. It feels so good to be home, I missed everything and everyone like crazy. It is just something about the smell and feel of home and not constantly being on edge about when someone will ask you a question or when you will have to go out. I definitely think I am a home body. When I create a space I feel comfortable in, I like to stay there.

I think I have definitely matured a lot since going to France, some 3 months ago. Everything and everyone I used to worry about seems so small, and so silly! But unfortunately things weren't exactly how I left them when I came back. I dont know if I am allowed to say but lets just say that you should cherish the time you have with your family, because you could go away to France for 2 months being reassured everything will be the same when you come back, and when you eventually do... everything is completely different, and things you had thought about happening but never thought would happen to you, do.

But enough of my wingeing and moaning! I just wanted to make a blog post to let you all (if there even is even anybody in this 'all') that I am okay and not dead! I did make it back from France and let me tell you, it is good to not have to worry about stupid french conversations anymore!

Love you,
Kit. Xx

2012 Favourites

Hey all!

So today I watched quite a few youtube videos with people showing their favourite things from 2012, and I decided I would give it a go... but in blog form. So, here they are, my favourites of 2012:

Beauty
1. Face product: Studio moisture tint SPF 15 (Shade: Medium Dark) by Mac
2. Cheek product: 'Springsheen' sheertone shimmer blush by Mac
3. Eye product: 'All that glitters' eye shadow by Mac
4. Lip product: 'Coral bliss' cremesheen lipstick by Mac
5. Skincare product: Tinted pimple clearing cream by Clearasil
6. Nail polish: Neon by American Apparel
7. Hair product: Defrizz serum by Fudge
8. Body product/ Perfume: Naughty Alice by Vivienne Westwood or Kate by Kate Moss

Fashion
9. Clothing piece: Ralph Lauren navy blue cable knit sweater
10. Accessory: Smile necklace by Kate Spade
11. Pair of shoes: Pale pink Tods lofas

Random
12. Tv Show/ Movie: Gossip Girl
13. Book: Devine Clementine by Hayley S-Kirk
14. Food: Ben & Jerry's Cookies and Cream ice cream
15. Beverage: Diet Coke or San Pallegrino mineral water
16. Favourite Song: Little things by One direction

So thats it, everything I love from 2012! It was an average year, certainly not boring thats for sure. Comment your favourites from 2012, or tweet me: @aliceeneal6

Can't wait to see what this year brings,
Kit. Xx

Ps. If you want to know where to purchase any of the products/items please comment, or just comment and let me know if you've used any the items listed above.

An unexpected visit to the sand dune

Ever thought about the tallest sand dune in Europe and where it is located? No? Me either. Until last thursday when after lunch my host mum told me that her husband, her and I would be climbing to the top of the highest sand dune in Europe, La dune du pilat. "Great", I thought "Just my cup of tea. Especially after feeling ill that morning, this will be fantastic!", note the sarcasm. Myself and hiking, or really any outdoor activity, do not tend to get a long too well, so this was set to be a challenge. I contemplated going and telling my host mother I still felt poorly and would rather not go, but I gave myself a mental slap in the face for being such a worry wart and scardey cat. So, after psyching myself out constantly googling the sand dunes, I decided to shut my computer lid and just go with the flow... and surprisingly, I did just that. I got dressed into my very attractive, note the sarcasm again, leggings, runners and beloved 'Jack Wills' hoodie, and climbed into the car automatically putting my headphones on and soothing myself with some music.

After around a 1 and a half hour drive we finally arrived at La dune du pilat (The Great dune of Pyla). Measuring from around 500m wide, 2.7km in length and 100-115m in height, the dune is absolutely extraordinary to look at, but not so spectacular to climb. In summer the dune is most popular so there are stairs that make it easier to climb the dune. But, seeing as we were climbing it smack bang in the middle of winter, the stairs were not an option to us. After climbing the dune the view was absolutely spectacular, showing the forest on one side and the ocean on the other.

Overall, I am happy I did it. Climbing the tallest sand dune in France is something few people can say they did!

Until Next time,
Kit. Xx

A sudden realization and congratulations

Hello chummies,

At this time in exactly 4 weeks I will be on my way to Bordeaux airport with my host family after completing my 10-week exchange in France. It has just suddenly hit me that I am officially on the home stretch and I don't know whether I like that idea as much as I would of 1 or 2 weeks ago. I have learnt so much from my exchange about the world and myself, and I am not sure whether I am ready to go back to reality and my normal life in Australia. 

I never thought I would actually be able to complete something this hard or even get this far! 5 weeks/ 1 month and 1 week away from my family, in another house, with a foreign language, and in a boarding school would never have been imaginable to me at the start of this year. This part of the post is just a little pat on the back to myself. Well done Alice, you have almost done it. 

But, not only is this a little ‘Go Alice’ post, but also a huge thank you to my mum.

(New York)

 This beautiful woman has been 90% of my strength and willingness to continue on my exchange. Her constant support and love towards me from Australia has been amazing, and I don’t think that I would be able to ever get this far without her. My mum herself is the strongest and most inspirational woman I know. She has struggled through many tragedies in her life, including the sudden and tragic death of her mother and older sister in a car accident at the young age of 14 years old, and still lives life to the fullest and without regrets. She is truly the biggest inspiration to me, and her constant optimism and wise words are something I unknowingly take for granted most of the time. I guess I just wanted to say thank you mum. I know you are reading this and I love you so much. You are an inspiration to us all, I am so proud to be your daughter.

So that’s all for now. One more week of holidays until my last 3 weeks of boarding school and then I am jetting off to Dubai for much needed quality time with my family.

Kit. Xx

Christmas in France

Joyeux Noel!

So Christmas has come and gone for another year, and the 365 day wait until next years festive season has begun! Usually, for me, Christmas consists of a party/gathering with my family and friends home on Christmas eve where we watch Carols by Candle light and get into the festive mood! On Christmas morning my little sister, Milly, and I naturally wake up at the crack of dawn to run downstairs and see what Santa has given us this year. After opening presents in the dining room with my Mum, Dad and Milly, my mum puts some croissants in the oven and we have croissants and jam for breakfast outside. Milly and I then go upstairs to our rooms and get ready for Christmas lunch with Friends and Family at our house, whilst my mum starts to prepare Christmas lunch, and my dad... Who knows what he does!? After a couple of hours, Milly and I are ready for lunch and usually help mum with a few last minute details before her mad rush up the stairs to get dressed for the day! At 1 o'clock everyone arrives and we spend the day sharing gifts, eating LOTS of food and having fun. Overall, it is my favourite day of the year.

But this year, as I am on exchange, I spent christmas in France with my host family and got to experience a different way of celebrating the festive season. The french celebrate christmas quite similar to how we do in Australia, but there are some key differences in their festivities that I did not know before I came. The first is that rather than having a big family lunch on Christmas day, the french have a big dinner on Christmas eve, usually consisting of the whole family. But, as my host family's extended family were in Sweden (Bizarre!) it was only them and me this year. As well as the celebration on Christmas eve, they also have a slightly smaller, but still huge lunch on Christmas day, but it isn't as common. It is also a tradition in France to stay up very late on Christmas eve, and wake up very late on Christmas day. This was extremely bizarre for me as I am used to trying to sleep as early as possible and waking up as early as I am allowed to by my parents to open presents! But I think the cutest and better tradition that the french have is this, on Christmas eve they leave one of their shoes at the bottom of the christmas tree so Papa Noel (That's Santa if you cant work out the obvious) knows where to put your presents, aww. Also, if French children could get any cuter, the babies are dressed up in little outfits to celebrate christmas!

Overall though, Christmas was actually pretty average for me! I feel like maybe it is because my family and I celebrate on such a big scale that I was slightly disappointed  or that it was just a day where I was bound to feel a little poorly and missing my family. Oh well, life goes on and christmas is over. Can't believe I only have 31 days left in France!

Until next time blossoms,

Kit. Xx

6 weeks to go

Good Morning, night or afternoon to you all!

Prepare yourselves for an extremely long and detailed post today, as I have to inform you of the past 3 weeks, which have been nothing but eventful!

On the 23rd of November I set off to France for a 10 week exchange, leaving behind all of my familiar comforts, friends and family for Christmas and the New Year. The drive to the airport with my dad was when the reality of it all kicked in, I was missing my usual christmas festivities and going to an unknown place with new people and the struggle of a language barrier for 2 months and 2 weeks!

Upon arrival in Paris, myself and 13 other girls were to have a little 3 day trip in Paris to see the tourist destinations and to hit the shops! Within the 3 days I saw more of Paris than I had ever seen before and met some lovely people. We visited various sites in Paris, from the Louvre to Euro Disney, and of course, the Eiffel Tower.

     But the only downsides to the 3 days were that:

1. We didn't get the chance to do any shopping as we were always catching the metro or speed walking to our next activity.
2. It was extremely tiring!

After the 3 days of utter madness, all 14 of us ventured to the airport to catch the various flights to our host families where we would stay for the next 9 weeks. This day was filled with anxiety and anticipation as unlike some of the girls, I had never met any of my host family before and I could tell the initial greetings at the airport would be sufficiently awkward... Which they were. After the 1 hour flight from Paris to Bordeaux, I greeted my host sister Clemence, and my host father Stany with the traditional 2 pecks on the cheek, and we headed off to the car to embark on the longest car ride of my life.

The duration of the car ride was around 1 hour and a half until Stany turned off the country highway and onto a dirt road and said something in french along the lines of "C'est notre maison" meaning, "this is our home". For about 15 minutes we bumped around in the mini van as Stany sped over the numerous pot holes and puddles making me feel sufficiently sick, and finally turned into a double gated and slightly less bumpy drive way where ahead I could see the French style chateau where I would be living on weekends and the 2 weeks of holidays for the festive season. Walking through the front door it was apparent as to how overwhelming this really was and I felt scared and nervous to see what my room would be like. After taking my shoes off and Clemence showing me the bottom floor of the house, we finally arrived at the staircase where she led me up and pointed to the first room. "C'est ta chambre" she said in her sweet french accent with a shy smile on her face. I responded with a merci and took my bags into the room and started to unpack. After unpacking, meeting the mother, having dinner and showering, I collapsed into bed with the knowledge that the next afternoon I would meet my host sister, Gaelle, and go to the boarding house until the end of the week.

The next day passed like an eternity and I found that everything was unfamiliar and strange to me in so many ways, and it was then I learnt that the simplest things from home are the things you miss the most. The next couple of days at the boarding school were extremely strange but also exciting, meeting new people and seeing different ways of life! That weekend my host family and I went bowling for my host brother, Mikael's birthday. We then had dinner at this weird mexican restaurant which was actually quite nice for a change. The next week at school went by extremely slowly and when I finally came back to my host family for the weekend, I found out we would go into Bordeaux on Saturday for shopping!! So, the next day we went 'shopping' where basically the whole family went into every shop together and  it was just an uncomfortable experience! Therefore, I didn't buy ANYTHING!!! I know right, strange.

The next week was very eventful as the girl I came with from Australia and one of my good friends, decided to go home early due to home sickness. This made things very uncomfortable, especially between her and her host sister. Everyone was certainly confused and annoyed, including myself. But in the end it was for the best, and she said to me yesterday she thinks she made the right decision, which is good. That was a little bump in the road, but I am over it and this weekend has been very relaxing and filled with practically nothing, which I definitely needed as I was exhausted. Yesterday (Saturday), I went go-karting with Gaelle and her parents which was fun, and then we went to the beach and had waffles, hot chocolates and crepes!

Now it is Sunday and tomorrow I will leave at 6.30am to the boarding school for my last week before the holidays. Today I am just staying in my pyjamas and not moving from my room except for lunch and dinner where I will be kept hostage at the table for at least an hour as per usual.

Okay, so that was my update on the past 3 weeks in France, and as said in the title of the post, I have 6 weeks to go until I go to Dubai with my family for a week! The countdown begins,

Kit. Xx

First post!!

Hello lovely people of the internet,

This is my first post on this whole 'blogger' thing as I am hopelessly devoted to my dear friend tumblr. This blog will be a mixture of things that happen in my life that I feel the need to share with the world. These 'things' may include:

• recent purchases
• interesting places
• current affairs
• outfits
• favourite things

I am very excited to start the blog and get a handle on the whole thing,

Kit. Xx