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ls! >>>Check out SAYIT’s great offers on European Festiva
<<<DIY Beauty secrets, that will leave you glowing!
>>>Are you a Hard Gainer? >>>Alternative Mini-Breaks...fun in the Winter Sun! vaccinations with groups of 10+! >>>Travelling with a group of friends...get discounts on
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HAVE AN UNFORGETTABLE SUMMER EXPERIENCE WITH OUR EUROPEAN FESTIVAL PACKAGES! Oktoberfest, Munich - Germany 4 days from only €425 per person Includes: 3 nights hostel accommodation with breakfast, welcome drink on arrival, orientation walk of Munich. Departure dates: 22nd, 25th & 28th September and 1st & 4th October
Pamplona - ‘Running of the Bulls’ Pamplona, Spain
La Tomatina, Spain
4 days from only €375 per person
Includes: 3 nights hostel accommodation with breakfast, festival entrance ticket and return coach transfers, party night!! Departure dates: 25th August
Includes: 3 nights hostel accommodation with breakfast, coach shuttles to and from Bull run and welcome party!! Departure dates: 9th & 12th July SAYIT Travel, 76 Grand Parade, Cork 021 4279 188 www.sayit.ie
4 days from only €385 per person
It’s never too late to vaccinate It is a common misconception amongst travellers that if you leave it too close to your departure date to get your vaccinations then they won’t work. The truth is, while it is advised to get your vaccinations 4-6 weeks before you travel, in most cases it is never too late - it is much safer to get them just before you go than not at all. The advised time is a precaution to give your body time to adjust to the vaccinations and in case any side-effects occur. The Tropical Medical Bureau now have 22 clinics throughout Ireland and offer the full range of vaccinations needed for any destination. They also offer a consultation service where you will be advised of which vaccinations you will need for wherever you plan to travel and the risks you may face.
The TMB also offer a post-holiday screening service if you are unwell upon your return home, as well as a 24-hour hotline for existing customers. Dr Graham Fry, Medical Director of the Tropical Medical Bureau, explains the importance of vaccinations, “Whether you are returning to your usual holiday destination or taking a new trip abroad, it is vital to know what vaccinations are needed for the country you are visiting. While we advise travellers to get their vaccinations 4-6 weeks prior to travelling, this is merely a guideline set in place to give the body time to react to the vaccines. Fortunately, the vaccines usually work faster than the disease itself and so will at least lessen the severity of the illness. Under these circumstances, even if you leave it until the last minute, it is much safer to get the required vaccinations than not at all.” Give yourself peace of mind – protect yourself from international diseases and make your appointment today with The Tropical Medical Bureau.
For travel safety tips or further information on your medical needs or to book an appointment, please contact the Tropical Medical Bureau
www.tmb.ie 1850 487 674
DIYBeauty
Yes, the weather is bad, but that doesn’t mean we have to look it. There’s nothing like a spot of cold winter weather to leave our skin dry, our lips chapped and our hair dull. To make matters worse, the post-holiday season also tends to dry out our finances. But, did you know that all you need to look like you just walked out of a five star salon is right in your pantry?
Put some life back into dull, limp locks with this hair-revitalising mask.
ALL YOU NEED IS:
If your finances are so bad that you are living on just rice, there’s still something you can do with two very simple ingredients that you can get from your Uni’s cafeteria. Say goodbye to chapped lips with this simple lip scrub:
pkin, Some cooked, fresh or canned pum Cubed.
1 tbsp. of olive oil
4 tbsp. of coconut oil
Just mix together and slowly scrub all over your lips for a couple of minutes. Rinse off, and unveil rosy, kissable lips.
1 tbsp. of lemon juice 1 tbsp. of olive oil 1 squirt of your regular conditioner, to make it easier to apply
DIRECTIONS
er and Just mix all the ingredients togeth sit for 10 apply it to your hair and scalp. Let it ing cap) minutes (cover with a towel or shower al, and and rinse it off. Dry your hair as usu mane! enjoy your new shiny, envy-inducing
1 tbsp. of brown sugar
Tip: If you can afford to make a larger batch, this concoction also works wonders as a body scrub.
>>>Chasing away the winter blue There’s nothing like a good facial to make the winter blues go away and give your face a lovely glow. And they say there’s no better way to start the day than with a healthy breakfast. Well, next time you’re preparing your morning oatmeal, why not slather some on your face for a detoxing facial?
By Carla Avenia Koency
s
ALL YOU NEED IS: 5 tbsp. of honey
egar 2 tsp. of apple cider vin Half a cup of oatmeal
DIRECTIONS
til ts together in a bowl un ien red ing e th all x mi st Ju ur . Apply the mixture to yo ste pa rm ifo un a t ge u yo off til it dries, then rinse it face, and leave there un l skin that will survive the tifu au be , hy alt He ! ila vo d an toughest cold front.
Pimples never go on holiday. What’s worse: they seem to pop out whenever you least want them. But did you know there are easy-to-make home remedies that are as efficient as any store-bought pimple zappers?
Try this for starters: 1 tbsp. of powdered oatmeal ¼ cup of egg whites a squirt of lemon juice 3 drops of honey
Mix everything together in a bowl, but before doing anything else make sure you clean the affected areas thoroughly (you can do this with a cotton swab and some peroxide). Then just dab the pimple(s) with the concoction, and leave it on for 20 minutes. Rinse with warm water.
Tip: You can put any leftovers of this mix in the fridge, and store them for up to a week. Just keep on applying it twice per day until the zit is zapped!
WINTERTRIPS
Give in to a weekend abroad! There’s not time like mid-semester to disconnect completely and reboot our brains. Particularly so when we can soak up the sun – and a few beers while we’re at it. There are plenty of places around Europe in which you can get a good dose of vitamin D during the winter months. Do you crave the feeling of sun rays kissing your skin – even if it’s not quite beach weather just yet? If you long for the sun – but want to steer clear from the usual European holiday spots – here are five fantastic destinations to make you feel as if summer were already here:
Marseille, France Forget Paris! Marseille is where it’s at: the 2013 European Capital of Culture offers beaches as beautiful as any
on the Cote d’Azur, savoury local fare and a certain Marseilleise savoir faire when the Mediterranean sun sets and the party starts. You won’t find large techno clubs – that’s left to Paris – but something much better: neighborhoods like La Plaine/Cours Julien, bustling with young activity: bars, restaurants, music on the streets and a lively local crowd always ready to make new friends. Don’t leave without trying some local seafood – if you have cash, a bouillabaise –, a glass of pastis, and why not, a game of petanque.
Porto, Portugal This less-often visited city is the perfect cross between Portugal’s busy capital, Lisbon, and its popular vacation spot, Faro. It has the quaint look of a Portuguese city, with beautiful architecture, exquisite restaurants and plenty of daytime as well as night time activity to keep those young and young-at-heart busy, yet it conveniently sits right on the Atlantic coast: where beautiful but not-so-crowded beaches welcome visitors from all over Europe.
>>>Fun in the Winter Sun
Palermo, Sicily Nowhere else in Italy can you still experience the dolce vita as truly as you can here. Escape the crowds of large Italian cities and feel like a local in Palermo. If the promise of the Mediterranean sea is not enough for you, let the wonderful architecture and delicious food entice you. Want a night out? Start the evening at Piazza Verdi or Piazza Castelnuovo, and see where the night takes you. Sports fan? Try to catch a match at the Renzo Barbera stadium: you’ve never experienced a true passion for football until you’ve stepped into a southern Italian football stadium.
Zadar, Croatia Zadar is quite a large town on the Adriatic coast, but this city’s centric peninsula is where it all happens. The city’s best restaurants, bars and hotels, are located within this tiny area that can be covered on foot in just one day. But don’t worry, there’s no getting bored: Zadar’s
By Carla Avenia Koency
old town is also its harbour, which will connect you to hundreds of its surrounding islands, and there’s one to fit your every mood. Feel like a spot of diving? Then head out to the paradisical Kornati Islands. Want to visit a Benedictine monastery? Then Cokovac island is for you. Just craving a nice beach? Then head to Pasman. Want to party all night long? Your port of call is Pag.
Marrakesh, Morocco Some crave something a little more exotic and far from ordinary: and you can find this – and more – in Marrakesh. If you’re after a new sensory experience that will awaken all six senses, then Morocco awaits. Shop til you drop along its bustling Medina dotted with shops packed to the brim with exotic, local products. Savour the flavours of Morocco across its food stalls which line the main square. Take a break to sip mint tea, try some delicious local pastries and smoke a shisha. One thing is for sure: Marrakesh will change you. Besides going on your typical camel ride, don’t leave without trying something much more local: a true hammam (SPA) experience.
StudentTravel
Make sure you’ve got everything covered Planning on travelling abroad with a group of students this year? Make sure you’ve got everything covered with the Tropical Medical Bureau. Whether you are a teacher travelling with students, organizing a group of volunteers, or organising a trip with your classmates, planning a group trip involves a lot of preparation as well as time. Ensure that you have everything covered before you set off and greatly reduce the risk of a potential crisis.
Tropical Medical Bureau is offering a range of discounted services for groups of 10 or more, which will be of help to you when organising your group’s travel plans.
These services include: • Group health advice and safety guidelines, specific to your trip. • Education seminars on health issues related to travelling and working overseas. • Healthcare programs tailored to your needs. • Individual Post-Exposure consultations where necessary.
TMB has a dedicated online service, available for larger groups which contains further vital information specific to groups. There is on-site consultation on offer for groups of 20 or more, which includes a pre-health check, malaria protection and a 24/7 TMB emergency line. This is ideal for volunteering groups, as these trips come with a lot of added health risks.
vaccinations are recommended or required for the country you are visiting. You should also give yourself plenty of time prior to travelling. We advise travellers get their vaccines 4-6 weeks prior to leaving. The 24/7 cover service means that teachers or leaders can contact TMB staff from abroad if one of their party becomes ill or is admitted to hospital.”
Another important factor to be considered is vaccinations. It is vital that the group as a whole gets vaccinated, as a single person falling ill will ultimately impact the entire trip.
Andrew Lewis, CEO of Tropical Medical Bureau added, “We have a range of services on offer to help your group trip run as smoothly as possible. We understand that planning a large trip can be stressful and so do our upmost to help wherever we can. We offer great discounts on groups of 10 or more and can put together healthcare programs tailored to the needs of the group.”
Dr Graham Fry, Medical Director of the Tropical Medical Bureau, explains “It’s important to be aware of what
For further information or to book an appointment, please contact the Tropical Medical Bureau on 1850 487674 or visit www.tmb.ie
GainWeight Somatotyping is the classification system of human physical types and body shape developed by American psychologist William Sheldon. There are three body types that were classified namely Endomorphs, Mesomorphs and Ectomorphs.
Endomorphs are typically round, corpulent and pear shaped. These Endomorphs have shorter arms and larger bones in their legs. The Mesomorphs on the other hand are broad shouldered, thick chested, narrow wasted, lean and muscular. Finally our Ectomorphs ‘Hard Gainers’ are slim and linear and small boned with long arms and thin necks. These people have typically been skinny their whole lives and find it very difficult to gain weight especially muscle. This month’s article is aimed to educate those guys and girls who find it hard to gain weight. Those people who always say ‘I eat loads and can’t gain weight’ and typically have a metabolism like a furnace are in this category. For many of you who may be on the other end of the spectrum and want to lose weight this article may seem crazy to you as you’re probably saying ‘They are so lucky why would they want to gain weight’. In
many ways Ectomorphs are lucky in that they will not suffer with obesity and are less likely to develop type 2 diabetes and heart disease as young as Endomorphs. However Ectomorphs will experience similar emotional stress over their body weight and often suffer more injuries in contact sports. There are 2 important limiting factors that prevent these hard gainers from gaining normal weight gain and muscular development which are metabolism and appetite.
I am a typical hard gainer with memories of being the ‘skinny kid’ when I was younger. Being an Ectomorph with a concave chest and skinny arms is just as hard on your self esteem as being overweight. I suppose the reason why I think these hard gainers need some tips is because I have experienced first hand the difficulties in changing my body shape. It has taken years but that’s only because I was doing things wrong for years.
So how can you hard gainers increase your lean body mass…. 1) Increase calorie consumption – Eat more! If you are underweight (BMI < 18.5) you need to prioritise eating to gain weight and take yourself out of that high risk underweight category. Eat a minimum of 500 calories extra per day above your normal recommended calories (Women 2000, Men 2500) 2) Take up strength training to build muscle – Concentrate on compound exercises which engage more than one joint (Squats, Deadlifts, Shoulder Press, Bench Press). FORGET Bicep Curls!
>>>Are you a hard gainer?
By Dan Fagan B. Sc., CSCS, CPT, NCE F
ECTOMORPH BEFORE Gaining weight can be significantly harder than losing it. Ectomorph’s or hard gainers have to work very hard to get results and put on weight. Don’t spend hours in the gym instead spend your time resting and eating. Don’t train more than 3 times a week and when your training lift weights SLOW in fact do everything slow. It is just as important to eat regularly, at least six times a day.
ECTOMORPH AFTER training and eating. Talk to a fitness professional to help you lift weights correctly and go shopping for food glorious food. Make sure you weigh yourself regularly. If you require any further info don’t hesitate to contact me. My email is dan@fitnessbay.ie or drop in to our gym in Baldoyle, Dublin 13 for a FREE body assessment. www.fitnessbay.ie
Now let’s see can some of you gain weight? Take a before picture (Selfie) of yourself and then plan your 3) Lift heavy weights to failure. Always lift your sets until you can’t lift anymore and you have to make that groaning noise as you finish. That is how hard you have to work. 4) Cut down on your cardio or else stop all together. 10 minutes of maximum intensity cardio will be enough to maintain your fitness levels. Too much cardio will increase unnecessary fuel expenditure. 5) Never let yourself go hungry. Ectomorphs use their muscle stores for fuel when macronutrients are not readily available. Don’t go hungry if you have to grab a Snickers grab a Snickers. You should never feel guilty about eating. Eating is good! 6) Consume a minimum of 1.5g of protein per kilogram of bodyweight (For someone weighing 60kg this would be 90g or protein a day
MINIMUM). If you can’t consume this level of protein per day you must supplement. 7) Decrease catabolism (muscle breakdown) by consuming supplements such as calcium, magnesium, niacin, B-Complex, HMB and vitamin C. 8) Stimulate the appetite by consuming foods rich in B12 & Zinc 9) Improve rest time. Power naps will help muscles grow and consuming calcium in the evening will help rest the body. 10) Avoid stimulants such as Caffeine and Tobacco. 11) Eat fat – Good fats such as olive oil and fish oils will promote an anabolic (Muscle building) state in the body.
Y R G N U H G N I L E FE ry g n u h g n li e fe e b ay m u yo s n o >>>7 Reas
Hunger can sometimes creep up on us at unexpected times. If you’ve eaten a big meal less than an hour ago, you couldn’t possibly be hungry again, could you? Yet there are times throughout the day when we start to feel the munchies creep in. A chocolate bar or piece of cake or seven would go down lovely... or a second lunch… But believe it or not, feeling hungry doesn’t always mean you’re hungry. There are several other reasons you may feel hungry, so next time you feel like nibbling, consider these seven things before you reach for the snacks. Emotion: How we feel can often trigger the urge to eat. When we’re happy, we like to celebrate with food. When we’re sad, we may think the sweet taste of chocolate, or the greasy deliciousness of a bag of chips will cheer us up. When we’re angry, we might find the action of chewing soothing and calming. If we feel stressed, we might want to make ourselves feel better by packing in the calories. Whatever the emotion, we start to associate it with eating. But we all know that doesn’t change the emotion that initially triggered the hunger. We gobble down the carbs and take in an unnecessary amount of calories and gain nothing from the experience at all, except maybe a few unwanted pounds. So what can we do? Try chewing a piece of sugar-free gum. The action of chewing is often all you need to curb your cravings. And if that’s not a good enough reason, there are no calories in gum, so you’re curbing the craving and avoiding the aforementioned ‘unnecessary calories’ and ‘unwanted pounds’.
Exhaustion: If we don’t sleep well, our bodies will crave energy. When this happens, it’s too easy to reach for the carbs and sugary foods to give ourselves that energy boost. But in giving in to the urge we are filling our bodies with carbs we don’t need. Also, a sugar high is usually followed by that rapid fall in energy levels, leaving you feeling even more tired than before, which makes you want to reach for the snacks again. It’s a vicious cycle. And who knows what all the greasy, sugary snacks could be doing to your skin in the meantime? Instead of eating, you should wake yourself up with some exercise, like a brisk walk or a cycle. The fresh air and oxygen supply will have you feeling more energetic. At least then you can plan to get to bed earlier next time so you can avoid the exhaustion munchies. All worked out: An intense workout can leave your body feeling drained. In these cases, you’ll often feel like you could eat a cheeseburger or a full steak dinner. But eating so many calories means all your hard work was for nothing. The reason you can crave these foods after an intense workout is because exercise depletes the body of protein, and protein is an essential nutrient when building muscle or toning up. But instead of heading to McDonalds, or the nearest steakhouse, you could drink a glass of milk. A large glass of milk contains around 80 calories and enough protein to keep you going until your next meal. Alternatively you could drink a protein shake. At a party: It’s difficult to resist the urge to graze at a party, even if you’ve had a healthy, satisfying meal an hour or so earlier. At a party, food is laid out, neatly displayed, cooked by friends or family members. It’s colourful, it’s tasty, and it smells delicious. Cakes, sweets, greasy snacks; all in small sizes that trick you into thinking you’re not eating much. But big calories can come in small snacks. It can be tough when everyone around you is eating, and watching others chew can give you the urge to fill a
By Jessica Thompson
plate and start nibbling too. The hardest part is standing there doing nothing while everyone is keeping their hands busy by eating. But all hope is not lost. Instead of grazing at the food table, move to the opposite side of the room. Have a drink so your hands are full. Chat with friends to keep your mouth busy. It’s that simple. Boredom: You have nothing to do. Maybe it’s raining outside. Perhaps you’re fed up of work or study. So the only thing you can do is explore the fridge, right? Let’s see... yogurt, fruit, salad. Boring. Ah, here we go: a leftover slice of chocolate cake. That’ll do nicely. Or not. We’ve all had moments where the exploration of the kitchen cupboards seems like more fun than whatever it was we were bored of. This goes back to the comfort eating. Boredom requires something fun and pleasurable and much of the time we find comfort in calories. But what you really need is the comfort without the food. Why not invite a friend out for a walk? Getting out of the house and into the fresh air will also get you away from the fridge. Oh and you should get rid of that chocolate cake to avoid future temptations. Procrastineating: We’ve all done this. We have an assignment due for work or college. There’s that exam coming up. The kitchen needs to be cleaned. The dog needs to be washed. We’ll get around to it... tomorrow. Right now we’ll take some time out to make ourselves a delicious sandwich. There are so many popular ways to procrastinate; scrolling through Facebook, refreshing the page, and scrolling to see if there’s anything new is one of my own procrastination habits. But there are many people who will eat as a form of procrastination. You can’t write an assignment if you’ve got a sandwich in your hands, right? But by eating that sandwich, you’re not going to get that assignment done either. Why not chew some gum to satisfy the urge to eat? Or go for a walk, get some fresh air and then get that damn work done!
Thirst: When we’re thirsty, our brain gets a message that is almost identical to that of hunger. For this reason, we often mistake thirst for hunger and are therefore more likely to reach for the snacks than the bottle of water. If you’ve had a big meal recently and start to feel peckish, drink a glass of water and then wait ten minutes; the hunger should disappear. If not, you’re probably hungry. There are several other reasons you may feel hungry, but the ones listed above are ones you’re probably most familiar with. So if you feel like nibbling between meals, consider the above reasons. If none of them apply, then you’re probably hungry and should grab a sandwich.