Trapped In A Box

Hey everyone!

I'm 17 years old and have lived on Mainland Shetland for about 8 years, in a small village in the South of the island with my 40-something parents and my two younger brothers. I love spending time with my friends, even though we do get asked if we're exchange students from America more often than not... something to do with our generic accents, apparently.

Today I was in a great mood (well, a mood that made my parents happy anyway) and SORTED OUT THINGS. My phone's been broken for ages, and contrary to my usual excellent personality trait (procrastination) I phoned a scary call centre. Have to send it away, but it'll hopefully be fixed soon - not that I get phone signal at my house anyway...

I also booked the ferry to Aberdeen, as I'm going to T in the Park! YAY! It's going to be amazing! Booking was fun - I had to hold for ages, and the "easy listening music" was traditional Shetland fiddling, which was annoying. I play the flute, and in Shetland unless you play the fiddle (Scots for violin, though you probably all know that) the traditional music scene is pretty much non-existant, unless it's school bands/orchestras. The contemporary music scene is alive and well however, but more about that later!

Also applied for accommodation in Edinburgh - I'm leaving Shetland in September to study Psychology and Linguistics at Edinburgh Uni, it's going to be amazing!

The last few months have been amazingly hectic, what with exams etc. My last exam (Geography Higher) was on the 28th of May, and then the day after my Czech exchange student arrived to stay with us for 6 days. So stressful! For the last year I've been involved with a Learning School/Global Classroom/School of Ambition project to encourage more young people to use the local leisure centres. I travelled to the Czech Republic in early April, and it was so so hot and sunny! My exchange student arrived on the Tuesday night, and soon I felt like a tourist again - I seem take for granted the scenery and nature etc. but pointing it out to our visitor completely changed my perspective.

On the Wednesday we went on tour with the Shetland Youth Wind Band around the capital Lerwick's primary schools, Bells Brae and Sound. It was my last concert with the band, and was quite emotional (though surprisingly for me I didn't cry!).

On Friday we took part in the annual Youth Voice Conference, which as a member of the Youth Voice Executive I helped to organise. As the adults had just elected the new Shetland Islands Council, we had hoped the councillors would attend and discuss issues with the young people. Over 70 young people turned up, but only 6 of the invited 22 councillors deined to appear. We obviously just aren't important enough for them to bother with... it's ridiculous how little they care. The day was brilliant anyway, with discussion groups focussing on important issues such as the new Cinema and Music venue (all in favour) and the closure of smaller rural schools. We then had a Media Club workshop (I am the Vice-Chairperson for the Young Person's Film and Media Club in Shetland) where we made a Jerry Springer style show (the Chad Miller show) about youth issues - teenage pregnancy, which is obviously a big issue in Shetland *sarcasm* Then the gig at night was brilliant, my band A Minor Detail played along with several other young Shetland bands. Much headbanging ensued, especially as "Ripped Of Our Wings" were amazing! See pictures...

So our visitor left on the Monday, and things finally returned to normal, though no less hectic. Me and my friend Aidan were supposed to be filming the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, but due to failed communications it didn't go ahead. Media Club on Thursday night was spectacular as usual, as our "Fruit is Cool" video took an unexpected twist when the Neighbourhood Watch turned up - luckily we don't seem to be in too much trouble. Staging a war with fruit grenades and recreating the Lynx "boom chka wow wow" adverts with cartons of orange juice probably scared the locals...

There was another gig on last Friday, at which most of our band dressed as pirates, yaaaaaaaar! Then (after a sleepless night for no real reason) I went to the Bigton Rowing Regatta, which is always a great event! Yoal racing is quite a popular sport in Shetland, and although Bigton lose often, we are the loudest supporters! Went camping afterwards in the Levenwick campsite, and got no sleep whatsoever. It's so light at night now, so we sat on the beach until after 1am (I listened to the boys discuss many topics, which strangely always came back to the Simpsons). I then had to go to film "We're Ready" the next day, which is a film about how much we need the new Cinema and Music Venue. Tim "Timbo" Bentley was directing it, and he is very very good - he had a schedule and everything! I had to work the clapperboard, and due to the lack of sleep was very confused:

Cara: "Scene 44a, Take 1, Camera... 2? 3? 2? Ahhhhhhhh!"

My excuse is there were lots of cameras...

So that was fun, we got free food and visited the new museum again, and Aidan got very very sunburnt. Went to school again today, and actually put all of my books back, so I have now officially finished! Sadly though I have to continue with this project, so I will be visiting the Anderson HIgh for the next month or two... It's not too bad, however, as seeing all of my Secondary 4 friends in the High School is quite amusing and scary - I feel old!

OK, I'm off to watch Big Brother (guilty!)

Speak soon,

Cara xxx