Saturday 24 January 2015

Moments I cherish ♥

I don't know if I ever mentioned it here, but when I left Texas/America after my semester abroad, I flew home a bit early so I could make it to the wedding of my aunt and uncle. Huge parties like that don't happen that often in my family, so after some thinking I definitely wanted to go home for that. I don't regret this decision in the slightest, as this turned out to be the most fun event ever. I stepped out of the plane in Germany, got picked up by my friends and they drove me straight to the venue for the ceremony. I got changed in the car, put on make up and was ready to go. It was such a weird feeling to see my whole family right away, and a moment I will never forget. Everyone was like- where did you just come from? And the fact that I just arrived from New York was so surreal. Now this picture though was taken the next day (morning?) after the actual party. I caught the bouquet, obvvvv.


Miriam came to visit me for Halloween this year and she stayed a few days longer. On the last night, we went to a Boy & Bear concert and had the strangest night ever. We were actually kind of late for the concert, because we played Card against Humanity with my flatmates, danced around my room and took pictures for waaaaay too long. And this picture is actually a quite accurate representation of us, haha.


Talking about accurate representations, haha. Juuuust kidding, the picture where I make a weird face just didn't make the cut (wonder why)- This was taken in Turkey last summer. We had the best time, just switching daily from pool to beach to pool to beach.


Last but not least. This view will probably be new to everyone- but let me tell you. Behind Denise you can see the skyline of Austin, TX. My exchange uni St. Edward's is located on a hill from which you can always see the skyline of Austin. It was THE BEST. And everytime we walked past it at night I wanted to take my tripod and camera there. That never happened until the very end of the semester, when magical circumstances allowed us to sneak out, set up the tripod on the steps of the main building and play around with it. I remember that the sprinklers were on and drizzling on us- it was a super warm night and we only wore our little flowery dresses and no shoes. BLISS.

Friday 23 January 2015

Livin' da vida loca. On a Yacht.

via x
I remember around 2 years ago, I (repeatedly) stumbled across the blog of  'The Londoner'. It was definitely one of the winter months and I was freezing in my room in Edinburgh, while starring at her pictures of the Yacht Week. (You pretty much spend a week on a yacht, sail around either Croatia/Greece/Turkey, while you tan and party all the time) I remember being overwhelmed with this growling sense of jealousy, but at the same time I also had this tingly inspiring giggly feeling in my tummy because I knew I was gonna do this, one day. When the time is right-

Well I guess the time came!

 


I think we both freaked out when we watched the promo video for the Yacht Week, bursted into a hysterical laughing fit because we were both so excited. Long story short, we did some more research and decided to go with a different company. It's quite a posh adventure, that Yacht Week thing and we were not sure if that was quite 'us'. So we went with MedSailor, another company offering holidays on yachts with a more "down to earth" approach and chose the Croatia route. Now here we are, deposit is paid and now we are counting down the weeks. Our post graduation treat!

via x
WE ARE SO EXCITED!!!!!!!! I have been meaning to go to Croatia for years and why not explore it on a yacht? Haha!


Monday 19 January 2015

Sundays.

This post will probably mark the end of a Sunday, so most of you will be reading it on a Monday (urgh). But hey, let's focus.

This Sunday I spent COMPLETELY in the living room with ma fellow flat mates, taking turns on making tea and eating leftovers from the party (cake for breakfast, holla), writing important stuff like dissertations and googling not so important stuff. And on my part, watching everything that YouTube has to offer. Oh the Internet is a glorious place!

Anyways, first week back to Uni- and it's slightly scary. Plus this weather man, this winter in Scotland is horrible. The wind takes the fun out of wearing your hair down and outside life in general, the rain does the same, and the temperature only numbs your soul. I read the other day that the guide to surviving the winter is just doing something fun every week, and then the 9 weeks (jesus) will fly by. For a second I thought about it and was like yeh, I can do that. But then it occured to me- no no, in nine weeks I will have submitted quite a few essays, most of my dissertation will be written and I will hopefully have some clue about my masters. UMM I changed my mind, SLOW DOWN WINTER, NOW!!
Panic attack aside, we can still have some fun. In tiny doses. Right? Yes. Like Margaux's french themed birthday parteyyy this weekend. Mona and I dressed up as French maids and were obviously super helpful in our role (okay I'll be honest, some of the guests complained that we were not just serving the food but more eating it by ourselves...)- but who can say no to wine and cheese?


In other news, it's Oscar season! I am SO excited to watch all the nominated films in the next few weeks and seeing so many Brits nominated is pretty cool as well (even though I am gutted seeing the lack of women as directors etc, again). Going to the cinema is pretty much the only activity you can do these days (see complaints about weather earlier).



And on a final note, probably everyone will have totally noticed the lack of hair on my head. Yes yes, I am now sporting a super fun lob (long bob for you non believers) and it's okay. Meh, hair- whatever.


There you have it, a depressing wintery post.
au revoir people!

Sunday 11 January 2015

Let's start fresh.

Numbers wise, my 2014 consisted of: 8 books (plus all of the Harry Potter series), 86 films, uncountable hours of TV series, 13 flights, 3 concerts or so, 112 new friends according to Facebook, account balance 0£€¥,  money spent on priceless moments: a lot, but who cares.

Let's start fresh, right now.

Right now I am sitting at a Manchester airport hotel. I will spent five more hours in this lovely lobby thanks to RyanAir, who decided to delay my flight for five hours due to winds (although every other flight left on time!). So we had to go to another airport, fly from there, arrive in Manchester way too late to get a train somewhere or do anything, really. So checking into a hotel was the only thing I could do. And because I don't want to pay another 100£ for a train up to Edinburgh, I will be taking the bus like other poor students. Which will get me in to Edinburgh around 28hours later than plannes. BLURGH!!!!!

But hey, it could be worse. So to make this post a bit more cheerful, here are four things I'm slightly obsessed with at the moment.

1. The Lizzie Bennet Diaries. I've only discovered this while researching for my dissertation,  and   started watching it hesitantly but I'm already on episode 50 finished. I just can't stop.  Some episodes are slightly cringy but a lot of them are really good. And Lydia Bennett is my spirit animal.  Forever. What it is, you ask? A transmedia adaptation of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice.Totally contemporary with vlogs and shit.  



2. My new teeth.  OK this is silly but I finally went to the ever-so-feared dentist and got my stupid teeth fixed (after eating two gummy bears my teeth started hurting so much I had to stop. Oops- definitely a sign to go to the dentist ASAP!). So I'm brushing and flossing the shit out of them now so cavities will not be in my vocabulary anymore.  I swear. 

3. My dissertation.  I'm still not sure what my angle is and how exactly I am going to write what I have in mind, but I every day I am thankful that I can write about film and other fun things. (Did I mention I am writing about the Hunger Games films? )

4. Studying Abroad. When I was hanging out at the airport yesterday, I overheard a few people talking about studying abroad (did I join in? Naaah ah, I am the creeper pretending to read haha) in the UK. In a way this is why I started this blog- I wanted to share all my experiences with people who might want to do the same thing. When I was thinking about working at camp in America, it was seriously difficult to find a proper review from someone. Same with studying abroad. And I mean proper reviews that inspire you and help you with those annoying questions of funding etc, written by someone relatable. So someone that inspired me and reminded me to write more about this is my friend Ilinca, who appeared in this video recently (Sorry, it's in German).
Isn't she cute?



PS: #5 of this list will forever go to Taylor Swift. I remember giving a presentation about her brand image about two years ago. Jesus, that presentation would be totally different today, wouldn't it? I find her incredibly fascinating and she is growing in to some role model, man.