Stroud, UK

As I already announced before, I went to England last week - and came home today. I had a wonderful trip and would like to tell me what it was like for me.

Welcome to England

Still needing to pack my bag, take a shower and change money, I had to get up quite early and get ready. Not that early, actually, but earlier than usual. So so damn exciting! Time to get onto the train, another train, the bus to the airport. And then, the plane. My first time at an airport alone, but everything went well and I got onto my plane without any problems (and damn, I love to fly!). After passing the borders to the UK, I saw Murray and his dad waiting for me. And his dad, he was awesome! Funny, open, talkative, and he bought me food. Couldn't be better. We enjoyed the trip to Stroud with some music in the car and as we had almost reached the town, we stopped on one of the hills, went outside and enjoyed the sun set behind the horizon of Wales. Stunning! Welcome to the UK!
Later, we went to the pub to celebrate one of Murray's friends' birthday. Such an exciting day with so many new people.

Pancakes

We took things slow this day. Getting up early? Not after that long day before! But we actually did get up at some point and went to the town to buy a toothbrush and some more things I couldn't bring (security and liquids, you know what I mean...). Tash gave us a lift home (after we had gone to Costa hmmm) and we made some pancakes. Lush!

Ice Cream Factory

 What a day to go for a walk! Okay, it was almost constantly raining, but we had an umbrella and my camera and look, England even looks great on such a rainy day! All those different shades of green, so so so much green, the hills, how great it was to see this instead of all that agriculture in Germany. We went up to the common and to the ice cream factory (and of course we got some ice cream, coco and butterscotch, hmm!). At some point, I just had to stop and stand there for a while, looking down at Stroud and all those hills around it.

  

Gloucester

The following day, we went to buy some food at Sainsbury's and ate it by the canal called Stroudwater Navigation. After that, we went for a coffee, walked back and waited until we had to get ready to leave the town. Murray's dad took us out for dinner in Gloucester and showed me some parts of the town, for example the cathedral. I have to say, Gloucester is a really weird place! So many goths and serial killers and so on, but it looked really nice at the same time. Especially the docks, where we went to an American restaurant. I had Mac and cheese and Shiehallion Pilsener, by the way. ;)

He Says She Waffles

And another rainy day, but we made the best out of it. We went to the farmer's market in Stroud quite early, where I got some souvenirs for my parents. I loved all those books, books are great, I should read more, hm, but I know I won't. However, after that, we went to Cirencester and I really didn't know what to expect from this town. We went to another hall market (and they even had dog stuff there!) and some tiny shops. It's remarkable how much love and effort is in those shops, I really got the impression that the British love making things, and even buying them. It was lovely and as we spotted a sign saying something with "waffles" on it, we decided to go for lunch. I think I got diabetes that day. This one perfect waffle with powdered sugar, ice cream and fookin' marshmallows. And a strawberry milkshake to make it even more perfect. People who visit Gloucestershire: GO TO HE SAYS SHE WAFFLES. JUST DO IT.
Anyway, after that we went back to Stroud and bought pizza and beer for the evening, collected Tom's tinder date from the train station and waited for everyone to join so we could start drinking and playing games. What an evening. Great day. Such wow.

The Prom-blem

Just as planned, we went to Bristol on Sunday to buy me a prom dress. It was quite stressful in the end, because we only had two hours until the shops would close, and when I finally had a prom dress (god damnit, everybody knows you don't find them in shopping centres!), that was about 5 minutes before the shop closed. But I got one! After that, we went to a pub with Murray's sister (and that was when it started raining again, but at least I got to try the Trooper beer - actually not that good, but I knew that) and later met up with his mum to go to Za Za Bazaar and have dinner. Nice! And it was so cool to go to Bristol, because they taught us about it in form 5-7 pretty much, I never thought I'd actually go there. But it's a really nice city.

Bye Bye Eataly

We actually did nothing that day. Nothing, isn't that awful? And the worst thing is - it was really sunny! So in the evening, we went to the town again to have dinner, but sadly the restaurant where we wanted to go was closed. We found another one, though. And the food was good. And I had crême brulée. Just perfect. We went home afterwards and watched a horror film, but I fell asleep. Oh well. But I really enjoyed that day.

 Drei Oliven, bitte

Another day doing nothing, but this time it wasn't my fault because I got cramps and genuinely couldn't leave the bed. It was nice though. Great weather. And we went to Murray's mum's house in the evening. It was such a nice place with a lot of green grass, dandelion and a nice sunset atmosphere. His brother Lachlan came over as well and we had dinner together. It was really delicious and the two guys kept speaking German to each other, at least as far as their knowledge let them. So fun, haha. Also, we talked a lot about future plans which made me feel really insecure and question my plans. Maybe I should just gain some work experience and travel a bit?

So here I am, back in Germany, after Murray's mum took us to the airport this evening and my journey took about 11 hours. What do I have to say about this experience?
I want to go back.
I really really want to go back.
I wasn't even ready to come home yet, and I miss this wonderful and interesting country with all those people I met. Luckily, I'll be back in summer, but now I really feel like I should travel more. This trip really reminded me of my time in Sweden, where I didn't get homesick at all. I just had a really nice time and was part of the life there, it was great.

In Love with Coco

Wohoo, there's a new tag on my blog! And it feels weird that I'm writing this, looking at my own face underneath. But this is now about beauty!
I remember when I was like 12, 13 years old, I was quite interested in makeup etc, but it didn't really feel natural, so I just decided to be myself and move on, haha. Now, at the age of 18, I used a foundation for the first time in my life, and I caught myself watching a lot of beauty videos on youtube.
What has happened to me? I even have my favourite clothes brand, which is Tally Weijl, by the way. Apparantly, Leen also has a female side. It's interesting.

So, most of you won't know, but I've started a new treatment for my hair. Basically, I'm only washing it 2-3 times a week now. I used to do it every day. Just saying.
The reason why I'm doing this, is that I want long and especially healthy hair, and it's a whole new feeling for me, taking that much care of my hair (that rhyme though, wow). I shower more often than I wash my hair, using only conditioner so it doesn't look greasy. Today, I tried using coconut oil as well. I had no idea coconut oil could do this much! Like, literally, it's good for everything! I put it into my hair (and gave myself a head massage, so good ugh), massaged it into my face, put some onto my super dry lips and even onto my piercing wound. Getting out of the shower, I couldn't describe this feeling I had! Usually, my skin is super dry afterwards, but this time it wasn't. Not even my lips which had been awfully dry since I got my piercing. My hair still feels a bit greasy because I didn't use shampoo, but I don't blame it on the coconut oil.
I'm so excited to see where this is going! And my hair is finally at a length where I don't have to flatten it every day. Yesterday, I went outside with only a flattened fringe, that's it.
Whenever I feel like shit, just remind me to do something for my body. It makes me feel so good! Also the fact I've been eating a lot of fruits during the past few days (more than usual at least). When I'm in England, I'll start working out again and we'll be two to drink a lot of smoothies - and we should also buy some cucumbers.
This is going somewhere, guys! I'm growing up!

Exciting Time

Ohh, ohh, summer is coming! Just last weekend, we had a perfect Mother's Day and before that, a wonderful walk along the Niers with the two dogs. They enjoyed the weather and the water, it's finally time to get wet and dirty again!
Oops. That sounded wrong.

Additionally to that, I finally discovered places with wonderful green-golden light, perfect for bokehs like this. Oh, what a May! I definitely need to revisit that place the next time I come to Mönchengladbach. And all those flowers, argh! Did I ever mention how much I love spring and summer? It's the best thing in the world (yes, even better than Christmas).

After that weekend, my week started with a trip to Bad Fredenburg in the Sauerland, 1,5 hours south from Paderborn. This was my last school trip ever and probably even the best. I definitely will never forget it!

The weather was perfect, once we arrived at our hostel, had a rehearsal and lunch (so little time, ugh), we went outside to lie in the sun. We also went to Lidl to buy some food, and I ended up buying a cucumber which I later had for dinner. I love cucumbers. Does that make me a weird person?

Anyway, we spent a lot of time singing and I almost fell asleep during the rehearsals, but it was definitely worth it. The concert will be at the end of June where we will sing "Just The Way You Are" by Bruno Mars (A capella version), "Viva La Vida" by Coldplay and a Swedish sommarpsalm. And it sounds so stupidly beautiful, I'm so excited.
Also, this trip made me realise how much I love our choir. We used to be about 10 members, now we're around 20 and some of them are 3-4 years younger than me. But still, we got along so well and felt like a big happy family. I'm glad that I'll still have the opportunity to spend time with them and they're probably the thing I'll miss most about school.

Our Last Night - Reason To Love

Here's another morning
Where I can't decide to sleep or stay awake
And I'm tangled up in thoughts
Thoughts of how we fell apart

I tried to make it work but all you did was make it worse
And all you've done is leave me hopeless
Ever since that day you made those feelings go away and I've needed someone to show me that
That there's a reason to love
That there's a reason to love again

Even with a warning
I couldn't have fixed us to save my life
It's hard when you're alone to pick up the pieces

I tried to make it work but all you did was make it worse
And all you've done is leave me hopeless
Ever since that day you made those feelings go away and I've needed someone to show me that
That there's a reason to love
That there's a reason to love again

I need someone to prove to me that love is more than just a tragic catastrophe (catastrophe)
That sucks the life out of me and brings me down 'cause all you've done is leave me hopeless
Ever since that day you made those feelings go away and I've needed someone to show me that
That there's a reason to love
That there's a reason to love again (I've need someone to show me that)
That there's a reason to love
That there's a reason to love again

Sugar dogs

Yesterday, I went to the city to spend time with my best friend's girlfriend Dilara. We still had a lot of time so we decided to go to Borchen to walk her dogs and take lots of photos.
She has small tiny tiny dogs (and I love taking photos of tiny tiny dogs), a Dachshund named Yara and a mixed breed puppy called Sunny.

It was fun because I finally could take some nice shots with my new lens and I can feel that I'm finally getting used to it. Especially the action shots were quite nice and despite the high aperture it's also great for taking portraits!

I was really tired after our walk, but we definitely had a lot of fun and I think the dogs enjoyed it as well. I don't really know what to say about it because the photos speak for themselves. Maybe I'll have the opportunity to take more shots of these two girls someday. But at least I know that I really suck at people photography and need to learn more about it.
And tomorrow will be my little brother's communion and I'll probably take my camera with me because we're going to the zoo. So exciting! And I'm really glad to see him again. I hope you enjoy your weekend - I am, despite the fact that I have loads of studies to do (only finished half for today and it already took me 3 hours).

No school evuuurr againn

School time is finally over!
I feel so bad for not writing for such a long time, but I just didn't feel like doing it.
The last week was my last week of school ever! I feel like I'm a bit boring, because I as the only one who didn't use the time to get drunk and party. I really enjoyed it, though! In Germany, we usually spend our last week of school to dress up to different mottos, for example: First day of school, gender swapping stuff, heroes of our childhood etc. I was ill for two days, but I still enjoyed this week which was full of sunshine and laughter.

I'll probably miss my friends, the choir rehearsals (which I'll be still attending until the end of the year) and the French courses with my favourite teacher ever. Each one of us wrote her a letter and we collected them together in a note book. She told me later that she'd never been this happy about a present before.

The following weeks and months are going to be very exciting. I'll spend the next 4 weeks studying for my exams, although I'll get a visit from England tomorrow! And I'll take many many photos when I'm at my mum's for sure. Also, I hope my English is going to improve during that time, but maybe it will get worse because I'm mixing up all the languages at once. Horrible, haha! I'll keep you updated!

Writer's block

IT IS HORRIBLE
I wrote so many blog entries in January, February is nothing compared to it.
Although everything is going well, really!
No exams until April and I already got my education exam back: 14/15 points! And 15 is close to impossible! I'm so happy, and I didn't think I could do it, since my teacher stressed how unacceptable it is to only write around 10 columns in 5 hours.
As I already showed you in my last entry, I spent my weekend taking photos for my art project. But I also got up early on Saturday and used the great liked to take some photos of Sammy. I'm not satisfied, but keeping in mind I was so excited because of the sunrise that I even forgot to empty my bladder before rushing outside, it's no wonder. Some are great, though, and I would show you if I hadn't forgotten my SD card in Mönchengladbach - oh well. In two weeks, maybe.
I'm also busy making plans for my birthday party, because two friends of mine will come to my house from quite far away. I'm really happy to meet them, also because I haven't met them before.
I absolutely can't complain about my life right now. Of course, some things could be better, but I got back to simply living life as it comes and enjoying every day of it. Also, I'm a bit distracted by all that stress that's still ahead of me.
Enough for today. I've been cleaning my room and I don't know how to go on, because I'm starving. Hope you have a nice week!