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The Life of Leviathan – Depression, Bullying, Fatigue and Other Obstacles

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Original post by Leviathan1741
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Another great post :smile: I'm sorry to hear about how things have been recently for your father. I can only hope that things will get a lot better from now. I hope this doesn't sound patronising in any way; your ability to write these posts clearly shows how brave and strong you are :hugs: All of the suggestions you have made would definitely interest me :yep:

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@Leviathan1741 that's very impressive You know ! Because despite all the things that happen you and your family still supported your dad :yep: what happened to him is truly sad, and I really hope he'll feel better, because sometimes you say he looks fine/better and stuff like that. Idk if you can heal from that but hopefully he'll be able to at least feel better :console:

Also I am interested on some posts about your trips, and your friends as well - sorry for what happened btw \: -

Can't wait to read about the Alps tbh :ahee: :france:
The Isle of Arran

Good evening everyone!

Now that my series of posts concerning my father’s mental illness has come to an end, I thought I’d create another one, but this one will about something a bit more uplifting! So as promised, I shall be writing about my experiences in both the Isle of Arran and the French Alps, with the Isle of Arran first (my account of the Alps isn’t quite finished yet). Here we go!

30th March 2014 The Journey There

I woke up at 5.00am, in anticipation of my trip to the Isle of Arran in Scotland. It was a cold morning but admittedly, I was somewhat excited. Not because I was looking forward to looking at all of the rocks and the scenery, but because I was going on an adventure, something that I rarely did. What an understatement that would turn out to be!

Mum dropped me off outside college at quarter past seven. I took my suitcase and joined the other geology students who were already there, and tried to mentally prepare myself for the eight hour coach journey ahead. Five seconds later, however, my preparation was interrupted when the LSA (learning support assistant) going on the trip, Annette, came over to me and started talking, and introduced me to her husband. After that awkward situation, I started looking to see if I could spot my best friend, Rachel. I saw her over by some other kids who I guessed she knew from her old school. It was too much of a hassle to take my suitcase up the steps and across the car park to get to her, so I stayed where I was and continued to wait for the coach to arrive.

Eventually, the coach did show up. It was a double decker, and there was a mad rush to get to the front of the line to get on the top deck. Despite being some of the last people to get on, Rachel and I still managed to get seats on the top deck. Unfortunately though, we’d got seats near to a group of boys who called themselves the Rugby Lads, and they got into a pretty disgusting conversation as the coach left the college. After listening to them for ten minutes or so, Rachel decided she’d rather not listen to what they were talking about and put her headphones on. After a few more minutes, I decided I’d rather not as well and took out my iPod as their conversation got ruder still. I had to turn the volume up really loud to block them out, and I began to wonder how on earth I’d endure that for another 8 hours before we got to Arran.

After 2 hours or so, we pulled into a service station. It turned out that we weren’t stopping, however, we were just swapping drivers. That was a big disappointment, because everybody thought we’d be able to get some fresh air and stretch our legs.

We carried on driving for another 2 hours before we stopped at a service station we could actually get out at. It was just a rest stop though; Dan (our geology tutor) told us we would get a longer break later on to have lunch. Rachel and I wandered around for a while looking for a Kerrang magazine, but unfortunately there weren’t any left. We then returned to the coach for the next leg of the trip.

After travelling for another couple of hours, we stopped again for our lunch break. The weather had turned from sunny and warm in Hereford to windy and freezing cold further north. Rachel and I decided to sit outside and eat our lunch, despite it being incredibly cold, in order to escape from a mysterious high-pitched whining sound inside the service station. Once our lunch break time was up, we boarded the coach yet again. Next stop: Ardrossan ferry terminal.

It felt like an eternity before we reached the ferry terminal. The weather continued to get progressively worse the further north we travelled, and the landscape seemed unchanging. Finally though, we caught sight of the sea. “Isn’t that just the most miserable sea ever? It’s like ‘Hey kids! Let’s go the beach!’ and the sea’s like ‘no, **** off’”, I heard Josh, the guy sitting behind me, remark as the Firth of Clyde appeared over the horizon. I had to admit, it did look miserable. The sky was dark grey, the water was choppy, and even the seagulls had trouble flying in the howling winds.

We found a place to park and got out of the coach. The thing that immediately struck me was how COLD it was. The wind had a biting chill and was so strong that we were being blown backwards. I heard Rachel shouting through the wind, “Anna, look at this crappy weather. Imagine, this week we’re going to be stuck on the side of a ****ing hill in it, every day!” It took a long time to unload all of our suitcases from the coach, and Rachel’s was the very last one to be retrieved. That meant that I had to stand around in the wind even longer to wait for her, but at last we were able to join the others inside and wait for our ferry to turn up.

Once everyone was inside the ferry terminal, Dan began asking us who we wanted to share rooms with. Luckily, Rachel and I had already got a room together so we didn’t have to worry about sharing with strangers. We waited there for about an hour and a half. Charlie, one of Rachel’s friends, bought a cup of tea, but found that it was completely undrinkable. She tried putting lots of sugar in it, but it made little difference.

At last, the ferry arrived. We shuffled out of the terminal doors and dragged our suitcases up the ramp to the ferry entrance. The ramp seemed to be never-ending and the wind was so fierce that we could hardly move. After we made it onto the ferry, we left our suitcases in a pile near the door and went to find somewhere to sit. Rachel and I went and sat in the nice leather seats, while Charlie and some of the other kids went outside. Annoyingly, the seats were too low for the windows (or the windows were too high for the seats), so we couldn’t actually see out of them without craning upwards. A message came out over the speakers about safety and comfort, and we set off.

The journey took about an hour, and finally the Isle of Arran came into view. The sky was dark and cloudy, and the black form of Arran’s mountainous landscape against the night sky was a little intimidating. As the ferry pulled into Brodick ferry port; we collected our suitcases and disembarked.

I will be posting about the Isle of Arran and the Alps twice a week, on Monday and Friday. I really hope you will all enjoy reading about my experiences just as much as I have enjoyed writing about them! :h:

Spoiler

(edited 7 years ago)
Original post by Leviathan1741
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Wow, that's quite the journey! This is a great start to your new post topic and it's written really well, even better than previous posts. It was captivating the whole way through:top:

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Original post by Matrix123
Wow, that's quite the journey! This is a great start to your new post topic and it's written really well, even better than previous posts. It was captivating the whole way through:top:

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Haha, wait until you read about the 24 hour journey to the Alps! :tongue:

Aww thank you Matrix!! :biggrin:
Original post by Leviathan1741
Haha, wait until you read about the 24 hour journey to the Alps! :tongue:

Aww thank you Matrix!! :biggrin:


24 hours!? Wow...my brain can't process that properly :tongue:

No worries! :hugs:

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Original post by Matrix123
24 hours!? Wow...my brain can't process that properly :tongue:

No worries! :hugs:

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Yep, 24 hours! AKA the trip from Hell!

:hugs:
Original post by Leviathan1741
Yep, 24 hours! AKA the trip from Hell!

:hugs:


Woahh...haha sure does sound like it! :tongue:

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@Leviathan1741 everything related to travels is AWESOME ! So you can guess that I really enjoyed your post :ahee:
Can't wait for more :woo: :woo:
Original post by FrenchUnicorn
@Leviathan1741 everything related to travels is AWESOME ! So you can guess that I really enjoyed your post :ahee:
Can't wait for more :woo: :woo:


Aw I'm really glad you enjoyed it!! :biggrin:
Excellent read as always!
Gotta love Kerrang magazine though :wink:
But this could easily be published and everyone would think you've been writing for years!
It's so well written!
Sounds like the journey there wasn't so enjoyable!
But hopefully the trip was in the end, except the drunk night haha!
Looking forward to the next one!
Original post by FireFreezer77
Excellent read as always!
Gotta love Kerrang magazine though :wink:
But this could easily be published and everyone would think you've been writing for years!
It's so well written!
Sounds like the journey there wasn't so enjoyable!
But hopefully the trip was in the end, except the drunk night haha!
Looking forward to the next one!


Thank you!!
Well technically I have haha! But thank you still!
Yeah the journey wasn't great, but the journey to the Alps was worse, as you will find out! :tongue:
Hey guys! I hope you're all well!

I am uploading this chapter of my Arran account a little early. Lately Google Chrome has been playing up for me and not launching, forcing me to use Microsoft Edge instead, which doesn't let me format TSR posts! Just now though, Chrome finally decided to work for me, so I thought I'd take advantage and post while I can!

I also decided to add a few of the photos I took to these trip posts, so you can get a better idea of what things were like! :h:

The First Night

It was raining lightly, and the wind hadn’t eased at all as we walked out onto the Isle of Arran. Our tutors directed us to a van, where a Scottish man, who I assumed to be from the field centre, was waiting to collect our suitcases. We then boarded a public bus, which was freezing cold and had so much condensation on the windows that it was impossible to see out. We travelled for about 45 minutes before we reached Lochranza Field Centre, the place where we would be staying for the week. When we got out, we were sent to our rooms, and told to leave our suitcases and come back outside. We were then split into groups of boys and girls, and given a quick tour of the centre, before being directed to the dining hall.

Once everyone was inside, the staff ‘welcomed’ us to the centre. “Alright, listen up Hereford! Welcome to Lochranza Field Centre! This is the dining room, where you will have all of your meals. Breakfast is at eight thirty, and it is NOT optional! Lunch will be provided for you. Tomorrow for your lunch you WILL HAVE CHEESE, as of tomorrow you will have an option as to what you have in your sandwich. Dinner is at six thirty, DO NOT BE LATE! And remember, wherever you are sitting now will be your place for the rest of the week! Table one, off you go.” On our table, there was me, Rachel, Harriet, Charlotte, Harrison, Tom, Jared and Ollie.

After we’d collected our meals, which happened to be jacket potatoes with particularly runny baked beans, we got into a hilarious conversation about what had happened so far. “I think even Bear Grylls would struggle to survive here!” Ollie commented, pushing his baked beans around his plate. “And Bear Grylls is rescued from his most difficult environment yet Lochranza Field Centre!” Tom replied, adding, “This potato isn’t real! Look at it! How can they screw up a baked potato?!” Suddenly, the shouty lady from before (who I later found out to be named Kate), shouted again, causing Charlotte, who was sitting opposite me, to jump out of her skin and subsequently burst out laughing, saying “this is like being in the military!”. “Listen up, Hereford!” Kate boomed, “tomorrow at breakfast you will find out which classroom you will be based in. You will have evening classes at seven o’clock every evening this week, which will finish at eight thirty. Remember, breakfast is not optional! Now, go and get some rest, you’ll have a long day tomorrow!”

The first thing Rachel and I noticed upon returning to our room and having a proper look around was that instead of a door, we had a curtain. That sucked, because it gave us very little privacy and also let in a lot of the light and noise coming from the corridor and surrounding rooms. We then faced the challenge of making our beds. Because we were staying in a youth hostel, our beds weren’t made for us the way they are in a hotel. My duvet cover seemed to be made wrong and Rachel couldn’t work it out either, so we gave up and left it.

We also discovered that the girl’s bathroom was on the floor BELOW us. That meant that we had to go downstairs and along the corridor to brush our teeth, go to the toilet etc. That also sucked; it was going to be a pain having to go up and down the stairs every time, especially if you needed the loo in the middle of the night. We got ready for bed, and went to sleep at around 11.00pm.

The photos:
The room Rachel and I were sharing
The door curtain
The corridor outside

Spoiler

@Leviathan1741 I LOOOVE reading about your trip, it reminds me of my trips with school when I was younger :love:
Original post by Leviathan1741
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Very exciting stuff! Another really well written account:yep: It must have been really frightening the first moment you met that woman, Kate. Or maybe because of her loud nature, you heard her first? :tongue:
I love the way you added a few pictures too :top: I'd feel really uncomfortable sleeping in a room with a curtain door...well done for surviving that! And I hope none of the girls on your floor were scared of the dark because that could have been quite something if they needed the bathroom in the middle of the night!

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Original post by FrenchUnicorn
@Leviathan1741 I LOOOVE reading about your trip, it reminds me of my trips with school when I was younger :love:


Thank you @FrenchUnicorn! I love writing about them too! :h:
Original post by Matrix123
Very exciting stuff! Another really well written account:yep: It must have been really frightening the first moment you met that woman, Kate. Or maybe because of her loud nature, you heard her first? :tongue:
I love the way you added a few pictures too :top: I'd feel really uncomfortable sleeping in a room with a curtain door...well done for surviving that! And I hope none of the girls on your floor were scared of the dark because that could have been quite something if they needed the bathroom in the middle of the night!

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Thank you @Matrix123! Yeah, she was rather intimidating! She turned out to be quite nice and relaxed though, once I spoke to her about something with nobody else around. I'm glad you like my photos too! I thought they would help add some realism to my accounts, and to prove that I wasn't making up the door curtain haha! I texted my mum to tell her about it and she rang my geology tutor demanding to know whether it was true or not! :redface:
Original post by Leviathan1741
Thank you @Matrix123! Yeah, she was rather intimidating! She turned out to be quite nice and relaxed though, once I spoke to her about something with nobody else around. I'm glad you like my photos too! I thought they would help add some realism to my accounts, and to prove that I wasn't making up the door curtain haha! I texted my mum to tell her about it and she rang my geology tutor demanding to know whether it was true or not! :redface:


No worries! Aww, that's nice of her. At least she knows when to be quite stern or more warm hearted. Haha, yeah! Wow, I bet you were quite embarrassed at that!

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Original post by Matrix123
No worries! Aww, that's nice of her. At least she knows when to be quite stern or more warm hearted. Haha, yeah! Wow, I bet you were quite embarrassed at that!

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Well luckily I didn't actually find out she had done that until I got home again :tongue:
Original post by Leviathan1741
Well luckily I didn't actually find out she had done that until I got home again :tongue:


Ohh, thank goodness for that! :tongue:

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