Oh October!

 

October has been so eventful already. I have had a job interview for something actual media-related! It's a (paid!) part time opportunity that would last for 6 perfect months. I was as prepared as I could have been and gave it my best shot, so fingers crossed! To kickstart my Master applications, I finally took advantage of the career services of my Uni. Now I just need to figure out funding- and the personal statement needs to be written with just the right amount of perfection and passion. Easy peasy, right? 

So while fourth year is all fun because we are now among the wisest of all and obviously own the uni now (ha we wish), there is that little nagging thing called dissertation. As the weirdo I am, I have been looking forward to writing my disertation ever since May, when I was in Texas and felt so inspired to create this beautiful little piece of research that I am going to be really proud of.

Right now everything is still a little foggy in my head because my topic keeps shifting, but hopefully that will clear up soon!

And to make this post proper random- Yesterday I worked as a waitress at the Edinburgh Oktoberfest. In a dirndl (and this is deff not a thing in the part of Germany where I am from!) 

Being German abroad makes you do weird things, let me tell you.

 

If the rest of this month is gonna be as cray cray as these past days, I better get ready-
xx

Independence is good, right?

photo credit: Ben Cooper via photopin

Today is the day.
Scotland votes if it wants to be an independent country or not.

Almost 95% of all people are registered to vote for this referendum. This is crazy and only one indicator of how big this thing is gonna be. Personally I am happy I am not voting (I could, but I feel it's not my decision and shouldn't be), by this stage there are just way too many emotions attached to all of this. Months and months of trying to convince people, advertising, non stop flyering and brochures all over the place. Discussions, fights and so much bickering. What if and trallala. And now the day is here.

The atmosphere is crazy. People wearing yes/no buttons, flat windows covered in according stickers and banners, camera men on every corner- you cannot escape from it.

Voting on independence man, that is massive. And you can taste it in the air, I am tellin you. Pubs are going to stay open longer tonight, until the results are in. Which might be around like 6am. But what is gonna happen if they vote yes- or what if it's gonna be a no? So far the race is so damn close, which makes it even more crazy to think about. Is this gonna end in a huge party or a huge riot? So many people are so passionate about this country and that makes this big deal infinitely huge and special. I love Scotland deeply and really hope for the best-- but more than anything, I AM SO SO EXCITED ABOUT THIS REFERENDUM. This is not a casual thing, this is gonna be something you tell your kids about in 30 years. And I am so nervous and so giddy about tomorrow's party.
Because whatever will happen, I am gonna celebrate with the winners.
How exciting is this democracy thing people?!

SEE YOU TOMORROW, when maybe everything will be different. Or not.

Tur-tur key-key

And again I've let way too much time pass between posts. Oh well.
A quick catch up then:
The fringe finally came to an end,  which felt very different than last year. Not sure why. 
Then it was time to pack my suitcase,  throw in every summer dress I own,  download light summer reading books on to my kindle,  buy sunscreen and get excited.
A week in the Turkish sun has flown by,  it still fascinates me how the skin changes colour in the sun,  how salty the sea can be, how amazing it is to do nothing at all...
One week of bliss to go,  then it is back to Edinburgh, back to university. 

WHAT UP, Edinburgh

It is SO SO WARM! It's crazy, let me tell you. So crazy that I had to purposely take a cold shower today. That usually never happens. We were even able to have dinner in the garden (that we just keep using, not even sure if we are "allowed"). Having the window open all day long.

Oh my, Edinburgh.

What is happening.

I really really hope that the weather will stay like this aaaall the way through August, all the way through the Fringe. Next week I will already be starting my new job and will work full time during the festival, just like last year.  Hopefully my team will be amazing, the shows will be fun and it will be all good times. I feel very lucky to be able to experience the festival for the whole time, given that a lot of the visitors are just there for like a weekend or maybe a whole week. Being there for 25 days is very cool and gives you a very different view of this madness that changes a whole city.

What I am (almost) even more so looking forward to is my summer holiday afterwards. Me and my looovely (and dearly missed) flatmates are heading out to Turkey for two weeks to get a proper tan (and swim and eat and have SO much fun). HOORAY!!!!

x

Note to myself: post more.

random photo booth picture

So the Edinburgh Film Festival 2014 is in full swing which means my days consist of commuting between the train station, the airport, our registration desk and cinemas. I am volunteering in the same position as last year, so I greet people at the airport/station or just register them/ give them their festival passes. It's good fun, especially because a few of my friends from last year came back again. And I just love this festival.

So far it's been really good being back in Edinburgh. I love the streets at night, being able to walk almost anywhere or just hop on a bus. Having my own kitchen, making my own food (all of this was not happening in Texas) and just being more independent again.
Not just independent, but actually having a room to myself again. It's weird, to be honest.

But that's another story, another post.
I WILL POST MORE, I promise.

I'll be alright.

an updates version of all the states I visited in the US

I really really don't know why I find it so hard at the moment to keep this blog going. I have sooo many pictures to show, so much to tell you. It's just all in my head and doesn't want to get on to this blog for some reason. 

I am back home now, in Germany. My summer plans are similar (if not almost the same) to last summer: Move back to Edinburgh, volunteer at the Edinburgh International Film Festival, then work again at my Fringe job. I am so so so ÜBER excited for the festivals, especially for the film one. The program is out now (click here) and there are great films coming to the festival as well as great people. Elijah Wood, for once- and then Simon Helberg, who plays Howard in the Big Bang Theory. How cool is that?

Other than that, I feel like getting rid of all my stuff. I had so much trouble coming back from the States- excess luggage wherever I went, seriously nice airport staff that didn't charge me for it, but also me leaving SO much stuff in hotel rooms because it just wouldn't fit. Denise called me a hoarder, but I just really don't like wasting stuff. Ugh.

So in a way I am looking forward to Edinburgh and re-moving back in to my room, but this time without unnecessary clutter and all of that. We will see how that goes.

 Okay summer 2014- here is to warm nights, beers in pubs, picnics in parks, making new friends, seeing old ones again, cooking in my own kitchen, gettin rid of stuff, not wearing socks, taking more pictures, watching more movies, discovering more of Edinburgh, mentally preparing for the last year in Scotland, planning da future.

Feeling numb.

The days are just flying by, everyone is counting the days. Some of us because they really want to go home, but most of us shush each other when we talk about how little time is left.
I know I feel so sad about leaving this place, but not really. I feel numb above all.
Right now all I do is live day by day, trying not to stress about the massive presentations and papers I have due pretty much tomorrow. Every day I check off another presentation, another assignment, another last class. This is all great, but at the same time I am just rushing through these last precious days, just trying to make it.

Also my body just sort of decided to give up which means I am on antibiotics and steroids right now (haha I love saying that) because of a strep throat. arghh!!!!!! There could not have been a worse time for this. Anyways.
See you on the other side, when life is full of good stuff again.
That will be on Monday by 7.15pm.
fingers crossed.

Annoyed.

Urgh I am so annoyed that I can't keep this blogging thing going. In a way there are so many things I want to share here, but then when I sit in front of my laptop it just all seems to trivial.
This is not my first time in America and a lot of my observations are not really that "new" to me, so they don't end up here. I love it here, but at the same time I don't want to give the impression that everything here is always happy. Blogging life is hard, people!
Anyways.

A couple things I love so very much right now:

American Authors, who we saw at a concert at SXSW. They are SO good! Especially this song, which is my gym jam.

Another amazing song, by Ingrid Michaelson. We saw her as well and she was kicking ass!

This website. Roadtrippers. Amazing. You can plan your whole trip there, it will tell you how long it will take and other fancy trallala- so useful! So here is the trip we are going to take this weekend. My friend is coming to visit and I am so so so excited to show her Austin and Texas and my life here!

this is my life now.

There are moments I think when it just hits you- "this is my life now".
These last two weeks were super intense, always out and about, catching every event, trying not to miss anything, making friends, going out... which is stressful, as y'all (haha) probably know.

Today, we were sitting in one of the boys room and they were playing guitar, singing songs.
And it just hit me.
Instead of a city centre located flat in the UK with my own room and bathroom, I now share a room with someone in Texas. We share a bathroom with four people. These people are my new friends now, this is becoming my everyday life! Crazy.

Something that just adds to this craziness is the fact that I am sharing a room- You are never really by yourself. No "me time". The times where I wouldn't leave my flat for days are gone. I enjoy time by myself, not being around anyone. But here you are always sociable, always talking, always around other people.
So far I do love it, but I already feel that I am not getting anything done here. Whenever we plan to do homework, we end up hanging out with everyone else until 2 in the morning.
 And now it is almost 3am, I NEED TO SLEEP! Something I really don't do that much here (and that says something, cause I LOVE SLEEPING!)

Processing college life.

The last week has been kind of cazy with so many new things going on, I just wanted to wait until I was properly settled in and things have calmed down before I wrote new posts.
That still hasn't really happened but oh well.

It is FINALLY Friday, thank gooooood!
Classes have started and I properly feel the difference from my Scottish Uni to this one- so much more work! Homeworks, quizzes, presentations...aaah!!!!! At least my classes start at 11am, so that is a nice time. I have four classes and they are all sort of cool: one research class with Denise in preparation for the bachelor thesis, one media communication class about media reforms, violence, advertising... all things I have done already but still very exciting to do it here- the classes are quite different in their structure, but I think I will like it. Oh and then there is a class called French Cinema, and one about Social Media in PR. The class size is very small here, so the teachers already know my name- which is something I do like and very similar to Scotland.

In terms of social life- us internationals are still pretty close, we have lunch and dinner together, go out to town, all of that... we are 3 Germans (me and Denise included), a handful of French people, then Argentina, Chile, Italy... pretty fun group. Our dorm is also pretty social and known as the party dorm, but its mostly reaaally young freshmen.
I love going out to 6th Street, I think it's just great because they shut off the traffic and the whole street is just one long party mile, bar next to bar. It's really pretty and there are so many roof top bars as well- love love love it! Austin itself is such a great city with a cool vibe- a lot of young people, fit and sporty people, sort of cowboyish but at the same time really hip.

I have had a couple of freak outs this week because I just wanted to cook something, anything! But the kitchen here is shared by around 100 people, no real pots and pans are available, I don't have a car to go shopping... I love cooking and just being able to make something. Here they are so dependent on the cafeterias on campus. The last one closes at 10pm and that's it. I feel like a baby here that's not allowed to use a knife. Food on campus is quite nice though, always a salad bar, variety of stuff... and I have a "meal plan", so a big chunk of money on my student ID, so paying is easy and it feels like it's for free, which is dangerous as well. 

I feel pretty much settled in so far, I even have a MINI FRIDGE in my room!! Haha, good to have friends that don't need their fridges. Finding the balance between always hanging out with people and doing homework feels hard though. The campus is beautiful, and the weather is WARM!!! around 20 degrees, which just feels amazing. I have managed to escape the cold winter and I am so so happy about that. Not worrying about wearing a coat is heaven for me. Compared to QMU, the campus here is massive with so many different buildings. It's so greeen though and because it is located on a hill (that's why it's also called the hilltop), you can see the Austin skyline. DID I ALREADY MENTION HOW BEAUTIFUL IT IS HERE?
Ah Texas, I love you.

 

(this is the campus with the main building that looks like a castle, and then you see downtown in the back)

via x

My top 3 travel destinations during my semester abroad

So I seem to finally be an official student at St. Edward's University, yibbie! Now all the hassle starts with lovely bafög, visa procedures, booking flights, I even need to get a vaccination for Texas! 

The many things I am looking forward to is being super in the centre of the States and being so conveniently located! Here are my three top places I wanna go to during my semester abroad:

via x

 Meeeeexicoooo!!!! Ooooh yes, so exciting!!!!

via x

Vancouver- mostly to visit some special people, but also because it just looks amazing!

via x

And Cuba. Right now there are only a few airports that are allowed to fly in to Cuba (from the US) and Dallas is one of them, so yay!

what's going on/// September

After 20 months my best friends from home and I were all on the same continent again- something we have to celebrate! We have spent the last couple of days catching up- and now I am all by myself again :(

One Sunday in August I went to get a nose piercing. I felt like getting one for quite some time and then I just did it. I love it and in New York I finally put the nose ring in instead of the stud.

 

Uni started again and we are so excited (haha)- I am love with most of my modules, my schedule is almost perfect and I learned that my grades this semester don't count towards my degree. Phew!

 In terms of Texas and my semester abroad there are no news- I am just waiting for official confirmations so I can finally book and sort everything out... this waiting annoys me so much!!!!!

last but not least-  I forgot how much I love my flatmates!!!

I am just going through all my pictres of New York and Vegas- so next couple of posts are gonna be alllll about my trip!

OFF to NYC

So... I am OFF TO NEW YORK, bitchezzz

I will take loads of pictures and probably post some of them while I am still there.. If not it just means I am having way too much fun.

See you in 3 weeks!

Countdown.. {Fringe 2013}

The Fringe is only one week away and .. I am getting nervous/excited- and what I forgot to mention on this blog is that I got a job, which means I am gonna be part of this freakin mess in August! Not on the performers side, thank God. I am just going to be selling tickets. But at 8h a day for 27 days (pretty much) straight, I am gonna be busy enough, I think.

What I am not looking forward to is all the people blocking the streets... getting somewhere on time is gonna be such a nightmare... 

What's up JULY!?

 I finally got the Robbie Williams live CD and this is probably the first CD I bought in like... 8 years or so. But this is different and I love that I have this special memory of the concert.



 

Scotland has been hit by a heat wave- saay what? Something that apparently only happens every 5 years or so. So every little green spot is now covered by half naked people trying to get a tan. I love it!

 The Military Tattoo is this major event happening every night. I heard that it's always sold out so I am soo excited that we got tickets!

I love bagpipes and all these special things happening in Edinburgh- looking forward to August!

My friend and I went to the Five Sisters Zoo on Sunday-it's the kind of zoo that takes care of animals not wanted by other zoos. They have all sorts of mismatched animals, but so so cute!

Awww, my new planner! I have been looking for a new planner/diary/agenda sort of thing, but nothing was the way I imagined.

So what's better than personalising your own?

www.personal-planner.co.uk is the place to go to! I used it to create my camp diary as well, if you guys remember. 

4th of July weirdness

4th July 2012 in Minneapolis

I seriously cannot believe that it is already July- half of the year is already over, say whaaat?
And all of the sudden there is the 4th July- a day which I spent in America for the past 3 years (something I cannot quite believe either). So now I am supposed to be in rainy moody Edinburgh?
Ughshgs. I am not sure how to feel about this whole thing, it just makes me miss the States so much more.
Although today is not going to be that bad- our 3 minute documentary is going to be shown in the Filmhouse here in Edinburgh on the big screen! Like proper cinema big screen.
Our University puts on this degree show and we were selected for it, which is pretty cool.
And afterwards we are gonna celebrate at this (sort of) American bar- I am seriously just looking forward to that. Nothing beats corn on the cob and ribs!

Another big consolation for not being in America right now is the fact that I am gonna see the girls from camp again in 2 weeks- we will all meet in Cardiff and hang out there for a week- I cannot wait!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The EIFF Opening Gala

via x

Ughh I am sitting here, trying to find words for the past two days (say what?). In a way, it feels like forever already. It's so strange how you meet all these new people and after such a short amount of time you already skipped the weird awkward introductionary (is that a word?) talks and just... I don't know, start being something else than people who just met. I remember it being the same with camp last year, it's just so different than when you meet in real life and it amazes me every time.
So anyway, last night was the official opening gala. They showed 'Breathe In' and then super fancy people only (and us) were invited to the gala in the National Museum. It is such a stunning location for a party!
And yes, we did see Felicity Jones and also Natalie Dormer (from Game of Thrones which I am not watching but I totally recognized her anyway haha) I am sure there were so many other celebs but man it's hard to spot famous people when you have to walk super slow in super painful (but pretty) heels. So we switched to flats after a while and danced the night away (always wanted to write that!)
And the best part was probably the photo booth (oh and the free drinks! and free food!)

So maybe I will manage to sort out the pictures from my phone and show you pictures of my co workers taking pictures with famous people while I am in the bathroom (fail).

Oh and this little video from the opening night:

Hashtag excitement!

 

Oh it's all so exciting!
Tomorrow I am going to start working at the Film Festival, which is officially starting on Wednesday. And Wednesday is also the day of the opening gala, to which we are invited.
And the dress code is black tie. Ooooh jeeez, hopefully all is going well and I will not trip with my precious heels (they are being widened in the freezer at the moment. umm yes)-

 So for the next two weeks it's all gonna be about films and famous people here.

Oh and of course interrupted by some (or loads of) Robbie Williams fangirling ❤

A new design {summery chevron}

I wanted to have a summer kind of design for a while and here it is!

Don't know how long I will like it, but for now I am happy. I love the chevron pattern and I really wanted the plane drawing back in it (which was the template for my tattoo, btw)

The background is from The Darling Blog, thank you!

The font used is called Sudestada and KG Flavor and Frames.

My time in Germany {via Instagram}

Here we go, my instagram coverage of my time here in Germany. I would love to stay longer, just because the weather JUST GOT BETTER. urghs, I hate when that happens. I seem to be cursed with bad weather for some reason. But I won't complain, my birthday weather was perfect!

For editing of the pictures I sometimes used the fantastic new app from A Beautiful Mess, which has been released recently (for now only for the Iphone, but they are working on a Android version). 

So today I am already flying back to Edinburgh, trying to settle back in and get ready for the Film Festival and the rest of the summer!

Follow me on Instagram!