Having bottled 50% of my exams because of a competition, I'm determined to give it socks for the remaining 50%.  However this get-up-and-go spirit is somewhat dampened by a recent incident.  Friday last (May 7th) saw me in a bit of a pickle.  

We're allowed dictionaries in our French exam.  Standard operating procedure is for the inspectors to spot check them, making sure there is no undictionaryesque material in them.  Much to my surprise, I had two sheets stuffed into my dictionary - these bad boys are over 2000 pages long so one would easily miss two flimsy sheets.  This set the aul' biddy superintendent off like a rocket.  Fair enough, this is a serious 'breach of examination regulations', but their behavior that followed was a breach in a little thing called etiquette.  They caused a rousing fuss, which not only disturbed me for a good 35 minutes, it stirred up a wave of distraction in the exam.  

All eyes were on yours truly, The Cheater.  I'm not blaming my fellow students for this, hard for them to help it since one of the supervisors had practically taken up residence beside me.  At one point, she snatched the EXAM PAPER out of my hand, accusing my of bringing other 'ex-rated material' into the exam.  Really love, the exam paper?  On a final note, I'd like to point out that the two sheets found in my dictionary were rough work, and I didn't even answer the question that they referred to.

So, why the huffing and puffing now?  Yesterday I got an email from the President's (of the university, not Ireland) secretary requesting me to meet with the 'University Advocate' next Wednesday to address my 'breach of examination regulations'.  Given the 30 plus minutes lost in the exam, this has already screwed me over enough.  What more?  Will they ask me to repeat?  Get real!  Any professional supervisor, would have given me no more than a finger wagging at the time, and held me back after the exam to give me the lo down on how this would be dealt by student services.

Would love to hear your advice, thoughts and opinions...

New Paw Prints

Lovers of life!

What a few months it has been - racing for Runaway Bride and Groom.  Dear Matt and I would've loved the six month travelling gig, however, we are over the moon with the result.  The nature of the competition changed in recent weeks (and days) and it turns out what the company were really looking for was someone for e-marketing.  Thus we are somewhat relieved!  We don't feel an ounce of regret for all we put into the competition as we have got so much out of it, individually, and more importantly, as a pair of lovebirds.

We are each inspired by the other's energy and ideas.  Making videos, taking photos, writing articles, and creating blogs around the clock has taught us a wealth of life lessons.  Sometimes everyone needs a little push forward; something they wouldn't choose to do themselves.  This competition made us take that leap, put our names out there, and go for it.  It has been a phenomenal learning curve, and we have so many bright and positive ideas and goals up our sleeves.  Not winning is actually a positive thing, we are the dream team, and continue to walk onward with our heads held high.

We would like to extend our sincere gratitude to all of you who supported us every step of the way.  You all played such a pivotal role in getting us this far, and carving the path that we will now take.  Your texts, calls, emails, and comments peeled us off the floor when we had melted with tiredness, you really pushed us onward.  So, massive hugs and lotsa' love

There are big and great things to come, so watch this space...

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