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DID SOMEONE SAY CAKE?!?

Ok here it is the ever-requested:

Hollister Story

To understand this story, you have to know why I hate going to Irish college in the Gaeltacht (an area where the majority of people, speak Irish)

1. I always go alone, I might know people/I might not know people when I first get there. 

2. This is my 7th time going there, going to a place for 3 weeks every year for 7 years gets quite tedious.

3. English is the devil’s tongue there-literally. You say one word of English, you are kicked out. Goodbye, adios! That is €850 down the drain. This isn’t that bad but you are not allowed to: Read English books, watch English television (actually television full-stop), listen to music. 

4. In those 21 days, you get to see your family twice- which isn’t exactly beneficial for people who get homesick.

5. You are forced to do everything, even if you have no talent/interest in it whatsoever that includes sports, singing.

6. Catholic mass is compulsory, unless your parents state “no” specifically. You could be the greatest atheist in the world but yet you will be sent to sing praises to God every Sunday.

7. You have no private time to yourself- I like to read by myself everyday but if you even try and sit by yourself/lie down in your bed. You’ll be asked “Oh what’s wrong with you? Come talk with us!”. I don’t want to talk to you, I WANT TO READ!

8. You are in a room with at least 2 other girls/boys (depending on your gender), once again no personal space.

9. Number 9, number 9, number 9…

10. A lot of teens who go there are rich Dublin private school kids and some of them (not all but some) boast about their wealth which leads me to:

The Actual Hollister Story

I was 14 years old, it was my 5th time going to Irish college and I was more-or-less fluent so could communicate no problem. As I said above I always go by myself, which is quite strange as the majority of people bring at least 1 friend with them. I was put in a house with about 10 other girls on the first day “Fine” I thought to myself, “this should be grand, they all seem sound”.

How little did I know.

All  of these girls lived in Dublin and all of these girls knew each other. I tried to talk to them but they always used to huddle into their groups and leave me out. It got so bad that I used to spend my afternoons and evenings just silent, not saying anything just staring into space, wishing for the bloody thing to be over. I had never been so lonely. Then it got worse.

I come from a small town in the west of Ireland, my father is a serviceman my mother is a housewife i.e. we ain’t reeling in money. These girls were all attending €10,000 a year private schools in Dublin and they all turned up their nose at me for going to a public school. By this point I was getting pissed off, I wasn’t going to be a 2nd class citizen to them but I always want to be friends with people so I never reported them for being pricks to me. 

As I said before, I live in a small town therefore I wear generic, non-designed/branded clothes. These girls actually had the indecency to ask me “Why didn’t I wear Hollister/Abercrombie and Fitch clothes?”*. I was raging! They tried to belittle me for not looking like the orange fake-tan tarts that they were! Alas they won I just shrugged, feeling indignant to them. 

This didn’t only happen with the girls in my house, the leaders (ceannairí) were being pricks to me as well. My paranoia probably aided this but I all felt they were laughing about me behind my back, the way I looked, my hair**, everything. They never reduced me to tears but God I hated every second there!

In the college-where I attended class, sport, dances etc. I had no friends. Everyone seemed to know each other on that course leading me to be left alone because no wanted to talk to me. I used to sit by myself in the hall when everyone else would be in groups chatting happily and no one would care! It just felt horrible and depressing, the only people who I got on with were the teachers :/ 

All though this is possibly one of the worst periods of my life, purely because of how alone I felt- it has taught me a lesson. I never leave anyone out of anything! If I see a girl/lad by themselves I’ll go up to them and say “how are ya? Where are you from?” blah blah blah. As a leader now, I know what it feels like to be alone and not know how to speak Irish (as I was when I was 10). I’m a very compassionate person and I know when people just want to be alone and when they are lonely. Sometimes people want to be alone but no one ever wants to be lonely. There is a phrase in Irish “It’s better to be in a argument than to be alone”

But good news has arisen- I have never seen any of them bitches ever again and I hope that it remains that way

*For some reason Hollister/A&R clothes are worn by a lot of teenagers, even though the prices are outrageous. A normal t-shirt €10, a t-shirt with a Hollister logo €60. The majority of people wear Hollister/A&R clothing (particularly tracksuits for reasons unknown), now mostly everyone is lovely but you always get the couple of pricks who think just because they can afford “designer” gear that they are a bit better than everyone else! 

** My hair (as the majority of ye know) is quite curly, very Shirley Temple-like. Now this is completely out-of-fashion for modern-day Irish teenagers as completely burnt sorry flattened hair by hair straighteners (it is always GHDs, I do not know why it just is) is the way all the cool-kids are rocking their hair these days. For any of my curly haired brethren out there, you know that if you brush your hair that it goes into a massive Afro (which I do not want) hence I always brush my hair when it’s wet i.e. it won’t turn into Billy Preston style. In the college you get a shower every 2-3 days (I know, I know) so my hair often doesn’t get brushed on the days I’m forced to not have a shower. I have been made fun of a lot because of my hair purely because of how different it is to every.other.girls (I don’t want to be the same as everyone else, why would I???) A lot of people who I meet say I have lovely hair but you always have the gobshites who make fun of me because of my hair. It pisses me off 

I think this is the longest post I have ever done on this site and I don’t even have a 1/4 of what I happened to me during that 3 week course mentioned. Anyway, everyone cross your fingers that I get a nice house this year.

Also the last 2 courses, I’ve been on have been great so it’s not always doom and gloom

Thanks lads

Ahhh Girl said
Zig, tell Ringo not to worry. His cake is still a go.

ASJ, I wish this for you. Of course, George posters decorate every room.

Cheers!