Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

I know Christmas was quite a few days ago, but I'm still going to wish everyone a Merry Christmas anyway (it's the holiday season, so it's fine). This Christmas was my first Christmas away from home and family and my usual traditions, so you would think that I might feel at least a little bit of homesickness... but no. Throughout this whole exchange, I haven't felt any homesickness whatsoever and I sort of feel guilty about it, but I'm just enjoying myself so much that I didn't think about all the Christmassy stuff I'm missing out on if I was with my parents. Don't get me wrong, I love my parents to bits- they are incredible people and I am so lucky to have them- but I had a great Christmas this year and didn't need them to make the day special.

I spent Christmas with my friend and their family and neighbours and we had an incredible meal. And because it has been quite warm for winter, we had lunch outside in the sun and then after the meal, we all went for a walk around the fields where they harvest oysters. And the night before, we also had a great dinner and exchanged gifts. And plus, I got to wear my Christmas jumper! My first ever Christmas jumper which I think is really exciting (it's dark blue and has gingerbread men holding candy canes on it).

Returning to the song of the day, which is Marina and the Diamond's cover of 'Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas' and because her voice is just perfect in every single way, it sounds as if the song was written just for her to sing. It is, in my opinion, the best cover of this Christmas classic:

So I hope you all had an incredible Christmas and all living a blissful food coma like I am.

UK trips #6- going to France

Technically not a UK trip, but it certainly is a trip and I was departing from England, so I'm just going to make this count. So, as you can probably guess from the title, I am in FRANCE!!!!! Being on exchange and on the other side of the world, I was going to be away for Christmas, and part of me had this horror realisation that I was going to be alone during this celebration and probably find a packet turkey to microwave and eat alone and watch Christmas movies all day. But no! Because I have one of the most amazing human beings living with me, who is also on exchange and she invited me to spend the Christmas break with her and her family at her home in France. FRANCE! which I happily accepted. So on Sunday we took our flight (which was delayed by an hour, but that's okay because that meant I got to sleep for bit longer on the plane) from Gatwick to Bordeaux and then were greeted by her lovely parents and drove two hours to their hometown.

Anyway, so far:

Day #1
I slept in until 2pm and then my friend and I drove to the sea and walked for a bit before going to a cafe, where I had a delicious goats cheese with honey crepe and salad. We also got to see the sun setting over the beach which was so stunning. Unfortunately my camera doesn't show how vivid the colours were, but believe me, it was beautiful and so tranquil.

Day #2 
Slept in again until 2pm (oops) and my friend and I drove to Royan where we went to a cafe and got nutella hot chocolates, which we took away so we could walk along the sea while drinking them. We also walked around the Christmas market that was there and around the different streets until it was dark, when all the lights came on.

Day #3
My friend and their parents took me to the docks where they catch and harvest oysters, which I thought was really interesting because the majority of the people living in that area are in this profession. I know nothing about oysters, so today was quite enlightening. I feel bad that I don't actually like oysters, but for dinner we did have other seafood which was delicious. We had fish soup, shrimps and sea snail things that I've never had before but they were really nice.

And that's my adventures so far in France, but stay tuned, because there is more to come.

Afterglow

For the past couple of weeks, I've chosen very old songs to talk about in my posts. So today I feel like I need to mention more recent music, and when I mean recent, I mean that have been released within the past couple of years. Wilkinson's 'Afterglow' (released in 2013) was featured in his appearance at my current uni's club a couple months back, which was an extremely popular night. I have to be honest, I didn't know who Wilkinson was, but I do appreciate good music to dance to and this track certainly is great for that.

I'm a massive fan of dancing all night long and whenever the lights come up in a club and we have to all leave the dance floor, I actually feel my heart break a little inside because I just want to keep dancing. But just like the song suggests, "the night is young" because my friends and I will walk back home and even though we all have to go to bed, we somehow spend the next five hours hanging out in someones flat and eating food, playing games and chatting. So I guess that is our version of the "afterglow" and we end up staying awake until after the sun comes up. Because last week was the last week of classes for the semester before our Christmas break before exams, every night there was some kind of celebration, which meant a lot of late nights (eg. going to bed after 9am the following morning). On one occasion I cooked up a massive batch of pasta and improvised making sauce which was really delicious for my flat mates and I, because obviously having a complete dinner at 6am in the morning makes perfect sense.

But I love the lyrics of 'Afterglow' so much, even though you don't really notice them when you are in a club, but when you listen to the song in a completely different setting, you appreciate how much they capture the feelings of a night out. But it's definitely the beat and pace that gets you moving and full of energy.

UK trips #5- Oxford

On Saturday, a couple of my friends and I visited Oxford for the day and luckily it wasn't raining, so we had the opportunity to spend our time walking around the town and admiring the absolutely stunning architecture. We didn't go inside any of the buildings or colleges because we are poor uni students, but we really appreciated the outside. Two of us are Australian, so we got excited over every single landmark and took an excessive amount of photos, just wanting to capture the magical beauty of Oxford (no wonder a lot of Harry Potter was filmed there). Also, being a massive Lewis Carroll fan, it was especially exciting to be there.

The confit duck with roasted sweet potato

The money we saved from entering buildings, we spent on food. We found an old traditional English pub for lunch, where we had confit duck, which was delicious and a real treat, because duck isn't a common thing to eat. Inside the pub, there was wooden floors and a Christmas tree- that's another great thing about going to different places in the UK at this time of year, is the Christmas decorations that light up the streets and fill the shop windows. It makes everything seem so festive and you don't mind the fact that it gets dark by 4pm in the afternoon.

We also walked and saw the German Christmas stalls along one of the main streets, which looked really nice and smelt so good with the sausages cooking, roasted chestnuts and mulled wine and cider filling the air. We didn't get anything from there, but we went to another old fashioned pub and had scones with jam and cream and hot chocolate for afternoon tea, which was a really nice way to warm up after all of the walking we did.

Oxford is such a beautiful place, that it's so hard to decide which photo to use for this post, so after a lot of debating and consideration, I have decided to show this one:

Let's Misbehave

Let's Misbehave sounds like a dodgy title, but it's not a dodgy song at all. I'm sorry, but it's another old song this week. I don't know, I'm feeling nostalgic for the 1920's and 1930's- I swear, that if I had a past life, I was a party goer of that era. I honestly have no idea why, but every time I hear a song or watch something from that time, I always feel that sense of sentimentality, as if thinking back on old and treasured memories- which, being only twenty years old- makes no sense. It's like I'm reminiscing and missing a past that I wasn't actually present in... strange.

Written by Cole Porter in 1927, 'Let's Misbehave' has been recorded by various singers throughout the past century, so maybe I'm not the only one who has a weird love affair with the past. It has the great brass opening with that classic dance music that instantly makes you want to get up and have a glorious time:

There's something wild about you child

That's so contagious

Let's be outrageous

Let's misbehave

Which leads me to the great 2003 film 'Bright Young Things', which was adapted from the book 'Vile Bodies' (which I'm planning on reading soon) and directed by Stephen Fry. It also has an all star cast, with Michael Sheen, David Tennant, Emily Mortimer and James McAvoy. The main character is played by Stephen Campbell Moore who I haven't heard of before, so that's why I didn't mention him in the cast of people I do know, but basically it has an incredibly talented cast and director, so I have no idea why no one knows about this movie! It's not a serious film, it's a light and easy going film about a young group of socialites in the 1930's who just go to parties and are living a decadent life, but good times don't last forever. It's just a fun film that I've watched quite a few times, the first time I saw it was with my parents and we all really loved it... in fact, I might watch it now before going to bed. But even though it doesn't have 'Let's misbehave' in the soundtrack, I just find that the two, song and movie, just go well together.

So here is 'Let's Misbehave' and a strong recommendation to watch 'Bright Young Things' if you love that era.

Quick, easy student meals

Cooking for yourself everyday is actually a lot of fun, but sometimes you don't have time to make elaborate dishes with heaps of ingredients. Sometimes all you need is a quick and easy meal just to keep you going before rushing off to do something or go somewhere. So here a few meals that I've made for myself that fit in with this category of "quick, easy student meals":

Pizza/ focaccia: 

All you do is pretty much get a tortilla wrap, use pasta sauce as a base, cut up tomatoes, add spinach and grate cheese on half of the wrap. Put in the microwave for a couple of minutes to let the cheese melt. Fold the wrap in half and cut into thirds so it's easier to eat. 

Wrap and side:

Boil snow peas for the side greens. Then have tuna and cut up tomato then mix together with a bit of mayonnaise and put in a tortilla wrap and the left over filling put on the side and I wrapped it in a lettuce leaf.

Pasta:

My all time favourite food is pasta. There is no doubt about it. And this is just frying up an eggplant and adding it into a bolognese sauce. Cook up the pasta to be al-dente and then mix in the sauce and add grated cheese.

Scrambled eggs:

Beat up the eggs, add some soy milk and pepper then scramble them up. Cut up some tomato, spinach and add it to the eggs in a bowl, as well as adding tuna and mayonnaise.

Couscous: 

Once again, boil snow peas for the side, and to cook up couscous by boiling, you then can add various spices to add flavour, add chickpeas, sultanas, peppers etc. I like the Moroccan styled spices and combination which is what this is. 

Risotto:

Typically it would make sense to use risotto rice, but I used long grain and wild rice which you boil to cook up. Meanwhile, fry up zucchini which you then add to the rice once it's cooked and drained of water. Add in a small amount of bolognese sauce and cheese which makes everything stick together to create the risotto consistency.

___

And those are just a few quick, easy meals to make when you are busy, but are still delicious. And being a student, none of the ingredients and expensive, so it's perfect for us. Also, these meals are filling and keep you going through the night when you need to study/ socialise/ go out and not feel hungry.

Smile

Firstly, I'm sorry for not having written anything last week. It was a very hectic week with a lot of stuff going on and heaps of stuff to deal with. Sometimes things happen all at once and you just have to face it and in the meantime, you get a bit slack in other aspects of life (for example, writing a blog post). But I'm back and today's song is one that is close to my heart. So I hope you all love it, because it is one of my most treasured and beloved song choices, and every time I listen to it, I am completely consumed by so much emotion, because it is just so beautiful. So much so, that I can't even find the right word to describe it without making the song sound average. It is so far from average, it is such an exquisite piece: 'Smile' music written by Charlie Chaplin in 1936, lyrics added in 1954 and sung by Nat King Cole.

I know it's an old song, possibly the oldest song I've chosen for this blog, but age doesn't make a difference, because it is absolutely timeless. The lyrics reach out to the heartstrings of every single person who listens to this song, and with the music, it just makes them ache and break but in the most divine way. I have to put all the lyrics up here because they just need to be appreciated (even though the lyrics are on the clip as well):

Smile though your heart is aching

Smile even though it's breaking.

When there are clouds in the sky

you'll get by

If you smile through your fear and sorrow

Smile and maybe tomorrow

You'll see the sun come shining through

For you

Light up your face with gladness,

Hide every trace of sadness.

Although a tear may be ever so near

That's the time you must keep on trying

Smile, what's the use of crying.

You'll see that life is still worthwhile

If you just smile

Vertigo

Over the past two months, I've been having quite a lot of vertigo attacks, which is extremely annoying and very inconvenient, as they can happen at any time, last however long and the extremity is unpredictable. Vertigo, unlike what Hitchcock made it sound, is not being afraid of heights, but is the feeling as if you and the world are spinning, tilting, going upside down, swaying... it's like your in the most violent and sickening and worst amusement park ride ever and you don't know when you will be able to get off it. It's different for a lot of people who experience vertigo, but for me when it initially hits you, I feel like I'm on those Tower of Terror rides where there is the sudden and aggressive drop and then it's as if you're getting thrown about, like the world is ripping apart. In summary, it's a living hell.


The first time I had vertigo, I had no idea what it was and the doctor told me that there are different causes of it, one of the most common being an inner ear problem which sends signals to the brain and pretty much stuffs you up with your sense of gravity and balance. I was sixteen/seventeen at the time and it lasted for an entire month. I had to take days off school and when I did go, I frequently visited student services to lie on the bed there, but no matter how much I tried to stay still, it would still feel as if I was spinning on a CD, as it was constantly occurring. There is no hesitation when I say that it was the worst month of my life.

I hadn't had any problems with vertigo until I moved to England. Since then, I've had five attacks:

1) at a laundrette and it was severely violent. All the colour left my face and I was extremely nauseous and couldn't see properly and was like a rag doll. It lasted nine hours

2) cooking with my flat mate in the kitchen and all of a sudden it hit me. I was by the bench, so was able to grab onto that before I collapsed, but I freaked my flat mate out because they didn't know what was happening and why I had to curl up on the ground clutching my head because the pressure was intense. But that lasted over an hour

3) while I was writing an essay, but luckily I was sitting on the floor at the time, so I didn't have far to fall, but it lasted about 40 minutes and set me back on my homework plan.

4) I was in the kitchen and putting my flatmate's bowl away when I felt like I was in an earthquake and I fell to the ground, dropping his bowl which smashed all over the place. I had to stumble to his room for help and later realised that I sliced my hand. This one was probably the tamest one I've had though, having only lasted half and hour, but still had a terrible headache after recovering balance.

5) what happened this Monday, I was doing some work on my laptop and it began again. It was still there the next day, but a lot better than what it was when it started, but I had to lie down in a class, felt very woozy and lightheaded and exhausted, with another constant bad headache, as if my skull was being crushed on either side.

Unfortunately, all I can do is ride them out, and just hope that they pass sooner rather than later. But I'm lucky to have such lovely and caring friends to help me when I do have these unexpected episodes, so a massive thank you to them and also to the ones who were there three years ago when I had vertigo for that month, because really it's one of the worst feelings ever and I feel so bad to ask for help at doing some of the simplest of tasks (eg. walking a few steps without falling or crashing into walls).

Far Away

Just a really quick post today, sorry. I'm a bit all over the place at the moment and am running on very little sleep with so many bits and pieces to do. I promise I'll be a lot more organised (and hopefully have a lot more energy) next time I write.

Today's song is 'Far Away' is one of my favourite songs to listen to when I'm reflecting or just wanting to make either myself or someone else feel better. The lyrics are reassuring and is the type of song that, every time you listen to it, affects you emotionally- one of the lines is even"pulling on my heartstrings." This soft and melodic song is about connection with people you care about and that distance doesn't matter because no matter what, you'll always be there for each other. This song really is the 'comfort blanket' of songs.

UK trips #4- Cardiff

Last weekend I visited Cardiff, and being a Doctor Who and Torchwood fan, I was extremely excited about having the chance to go to the place where they filmed it. Unfortunately it was pouring down with rain and my friends and I walked from the town centre to the bay and we were absolutely drenched. I looked and felt like a wet dog, plus the wind was so strong, so hair was flying all over the place and umbrellas were blowing inside out and rendered completely useless (hence why we were completely soaked).

But despite that downside, we made the most of the day, walking down the main street where there was a German themed Christmas stall market, which was adorable and made the terrible weather look less terrible. Christmas just makes everything seem better.

For lunch, we had burritos which were delicious, especially since I've been craving burritos for weeks and hadn't done anything about it until then. I love Mexican food so much! And that gave us enough energy to brave the elements, which led us to...

Where Torchwood is filmed!!!!!

The most bizarre part of the day was walking along the water and coming across the Ianto Shrine. For those who don't know who Ianto is, he is a character from Torchwood who (spoilers) dies in 'The Children of Earth' mini series. It was strange coming across it because I had no idea that they had created it, which I thought was so sweet, even though I thought Owen and Tosh's deaths were sadder to be honest. But that is an example of how much Doctor Who and it's spin-off's mean to people.

Afterwards, we went into a shop that sold freshly backed Welsh Cakes which were really nice. It was sort of like a shortbread biscuit and mini pancake, with sultanas in it and others with chocolate chips. It was a good day and even though we had to travel six hours in total to get there, as a Doctor Who fan, it was totally worth it. 

Whatsername

It's been almost a month since I saw 'American Idiot' but I still replay it in my mind because it was so incredible. And because I'm still so utterly in love with everything about the musical and want to revive my memory of it constantly, today's song is 'Whatsername'.

This was the song that stood out to me so much in the performance, and the week afterwards, I listened to it over and over and had it stuck in my head, until I had that obsession with 'Alone Again (Naturally)'. I'm happy to report that I now have been able to listen to different songs once again, which is great, because listening to the same song 166 times in three days is a bit excessive.

'Whatsername' has wonderful lyrics and music to accompany the story, and it worked so well in the storyline:

"I made a point to burn all of the photographs

She went away and then I took a different path

I remember the face but I can't recall the name

Now I wonder how whatsername has been" 

I couldn't decide which version of the song to share, because the original Green Day version is so different to the musical's. The Broadway version begins with acoustic and with strings (which I briefly mentioned in my post about the musical), and considering I am talking so much about the musical, I decided that I'll post that version, but I strongly encourage listening to the original as well, because it's so amazing and definitely one of my favourite Green Day songs.

Homework vs Food

Is there really a choice? I've got a lot of uni work going on at the moment, with heaps of readings and essays once again piling up and yet, I still feel like I haven't really achieved anything. I've written many posts about procrastination, because it's such a big part of my life, but today I'm going to write about the other big (if not bigger) part of my life, which is food and the two go hand in hand really. For example:

-when I should have started researching for an essay, I was making chocolate chip biscuits. You would think that when the biscuits were in the oven baking, I could have done some work, but no. I decided to sit in front of the oven and watch the biscuits coming to life.

-when I should have started writing my essay, instead my flat mate and I had a chocolate pizza (which I ran down to the corner shop to buy nutella to add to the topping- the results were like heaven!) and watched Bridget Jones' Diaries. With the leftover nutella, I then got a spoon and continued eating it from the jar (I have a really bad sugar addiction).

And I've been making a lot of cups of tea, hot chocolates and chai lattes, just because I have priorities. Plus the other day I bought ground ginger which I have added to the hot chocolate and chaos, which just make them even more delicious. Yesterday I did start on my essay and was actually quite proud with the amount of work I eventually put into it, until today I met up with my tutor, and realised that I was already going way over the word limit, so instead of cutting down in words, I've decided that I'm just going to start all over again on a new topic (it's not as if I have a deadline in a couple of days or anything... um). I'm a really spontaneous and erratic person I feel. 

Alone Again (Naturally)

A couple months ago, I discovered Lily Allen's song 'Littlest Things' which I was completely obsessed with. Well, I'm sort of proud and horrified at the same time, to say that I have beaten that record of obsession with a song; a few days ago I bought 'Alone Again (Naturally)' which is the Gilbert O'Sullivan song from the 1970's (which coincidentally also features in the movie 'Love, Rosie' along with 'Littlest Things') and while doing numerous readings and research for an essay, I've been playing it on repeat. Today was the first day in three whole days where I've started to listen to other songs, which I felt really guilty about at first, but I thought it was the best thing to do (I sound like I broke up with the song, which is bitterly-funny considering what the title is).

I was first introduced to this song when I was roughly twelve, when I watched 'Love Actually' for the first time, and Colin Firth's character has a line where he quotes it when he arrives in France. My parents pointed it out to me and when I didn't get the reference, my parents immediately educated me with the song. I would forget about the song, but whenever it came on, I'd say "I like this," until a few days ago when I played it and just couldn't stop: I'm addicted to sad songs.

On the first day: I played it 59 times
Day two: 104
Day three: 166

It's a tragic song about a guy committing suicide, so it's not the cheeriest of topics. It talks about being completely and utterly broken inside, of being on your own and isolated because anyone you have ever loved has been taken away from you. Despite this, I was listening to it and found it trancelike when you have played it enough times, which makes it easier to focus and be absorbed with essay research. Either way, I absolutely love this song. 

Bonfire Night

Last night was Bonfire Night, which apparently used to be celebrated in Australia but isn't anymore, but it's a big night in the UK. Guy Fawkes Day is 5th November each year, beginning in 1605 when Guy Fawkes tried to blow up the House of Lords but was arrested before he had the opportunity to set up the explosives. Since then it has become a thanksgiving day for the failure of this attempt on that kings life, and now has become a night full of fireworks!

I love fireworks so much, and last night was spectacular because there was so much variety, with ones that spin around while going up in the air, the ones that look like stars exploding and raining down gold (those are my favourite), ones that shoot up then explode and are huge. Also there were squealing ones and ones that make so much noise that you feel it in your chest. All the colours and lights, it was beautiful and you become completely transfixed, unable to look away from the sky. You want them to last forever. Unfortunately my phone camera is really bad, and also I was paying more attention to fireworks than my photography, but these are a couple of photos I took:

   

The entire community went to the massive park to witness the show, trekking through the mud which was so slippery and so sticky. My friends and I held hands partially so we didn't lose each other in the crowd, but also just for support to not fall over. Luckily I was wearing gumboots because I saw people wearing just converse shoes and there feet would have been soaked!

My muddy gumboots

But fireworks weren't the only thing that was in the park. There was also a fair, with rides and hot food. I bought a bag of roasted chestnuts because it looked like something from a movie and made the whole nighttime carnival seem even more magical. It was a fantastic evening with once again, such amazing people who are making my time in the UK the best time ever. 

The Monster Mash

Last year's Halloween was so uneventful, but that changed this year (thank goodness). What I never realised about the UK is that Halloween is actually really big here. It's getting bigger in Australia, but it's still not that huge, so it was so exciting to discover that it's actually a big deal, with most shops decorating their windows, Halloween things sold at Tescos and other supermarkets and most importantly, that everyone dresses up. One of the benefits about living on student accommodation is that everyone goes all out with the face paint, costumes and fake blood.
I got to live out my vampiric dream and dress up in an adorable black and red tutu dress thing with black lace arm gloves and vampire collar and covered my mouth with fake blood and made my eyes cry fake blood... this is actually a childhood dream come true (I was a weird kid). It was such a fun night with a whole group of us joining the pandemonium of a nightclub and dancing all night and morning. Which leads to the song of the day, the old but incredibly timeless classic "The Monster Mash"

I was introduced to this song by my dad as a little kid and we always sing along and do the voices whenever we hear it. It's just a fun, lighthearted and corny song by Bobby Pickett about how he (Boris) was "working in the lab late one night, when [his] eyes beheld an eerie sight. For [his] monster from his slab began to rise and [how] suddenly to [his] surprise... He did the mash. He did the monster mash..."
And it's pretty much a prerequisite when listening to this song, to dance in the most ridiculous way possible. It doesn't matter what you look like, the crazier the better, especially on Halloween.

UK trips #3- London's 'American Idiot'

And finally I was able to see 'American Idiot'- second time lucky. This last weekend I went up to London for the day with a couple of friends to see Green Day's musical and we were so excited and definitely not disappointed at all. It was incredible hearing all these amazing songs live and I really loved their version to many of the songs, like 'Whatsername' really stood out to me as it worked out so well with the harmonies and beginning and ending with the piano and string instruments.


My favourite Green Day song, '21 Guns' was also extremely well performed, with absolutely stunning harmonies as well. 'Wake me up when September ends' was really beautiful with the three main characters playing their own acoustic guitars and singing together on the stage, it was so emotional and then joined with the drums that sounded like a heartbeat. It was just all perfect with the storyline itself being so emotional, and at times you wanted to cry from the pain and hardships the characters have to go through.
Set in a post-9-11 America, the story is about three young guys who are best friends who plan to leave their small hometown, but find themselves taking separate paths: one staying behind to be with his pregnant girlfriend, another going to join the army, while the other falls into a world of drugs and addiction. It was really intense.

I was so impressed with the musical and it made me so proud to be a Green Day fan (I also bought the tee-shirt for the musical), and I completely understand how 'American Idiot' was the winner of two Tony Awards as well as the winner for the 2010 Grammy Award for Best Musical Show Album. I would definitely see this again if I had the chance (unfortunately I don't because it's closing on the 22nd November and I have heaps of uni stuff happening in the meantime), but I'm so thankful that I did get the opportunity to see it. 'Mary Poppins' used to be my all-time favourite musical, as well as 'Sunshine on Leith' but I think 'American Idiot' has now taken over and found it's place as number one. One day, in a dream world, I would love to act in it (all three musicals, actually).

Of course, the day was also brilliant because of the food: before the show, we found a relatively cheap (well, cheap for London) place for lunch, where I had a steak that came on a hot plate so you cook it yourself, with salad and fries with a mustard seed mayonnaise dipping sauce, which was so good! And then after the performance, we went to a kebab place which was delicious, before we made our way to Abbey Road to see the famous studio and crossing. Unfortunately it was getting dark and also pouring down with rain at the time, but still, it was inspiring to go to a place so iconic. In a way, the day was a music pilgrimage. 

Hello

I'm so sorry for posting this really late, but I was really busy eating heaps of food. I know that sounds like a really lame excuse, but you don't understand how much food my flat mates and I had to get through. One of our friends from the US brought us a goody bag full of American treats, including cookie butter (which tastes like gingerbread!). It is so delicious and you can eat it straight from the jar, but we also spread it on top of nutter butter (which are these mini peanut butter biscuits) and also chocolate chip cookies, as well as rice crispy bars with melted marshmallow holding them together... for those who are reading this and from America: you are so lucky to have these things in your life because I certainly entered food heaven! I'm not going to lie, but there were seven of us sharing all this food and I ate probably (no joke) 60% of it, if not more.

Okay, back to the song of the day, which is Adele's new release 'Hello' which came out a few days ago. The first thing I did that day was go onto iTunes and buy it, because I LOVE Adele so much and have been waiting years for this moment. And I certainly wasn't disappointed, because she has created such an incredibly heartfelt song that (as always) and is sung with so much passion and it hits you right to the soul. Adele is always worth the wait because her work is mind-blowing and her voice is just WOW. I'm not going to say anything more, other than to close your eyes, get rid of all distractions and listen to the music...

The awkward moment when... #3

I actually wrote this a few months back but forgot to actually publish it, so some of these moments are out of date now (eg. you're now over the guy you used to like). But here are a few more true awkward moments when…

-you wake yourself up in the middle of the night because you were laughing loudly in your sleep… the next morning you remember what made you laugh in your dream and realise it wasn’t actually funny

-you send an assignment to your tutor, and accidentally call them the wrong name in the email, so you look really stupid before they even read the essay

-it’s 2am in the morning and you’re still writing your essay and you start quoting Queen and think it’s acceptable

-you're in class and you feel someone breathing really close to your ear and turn to find you teacher leaning in to whisper something to you. Now your faces are only a couple of millimetres apart

-the guy you like asks you to be his wingman... ouch

I think 'New Girl' is always going to show up in the awkward moments 

-someone asks you out and you say no because you were wanting to do housework instead

-you are sharing an umbrella with your dad and talking and laughing. Then you overhear the two guys behind you saying "how did that old guy manage to get a woman like her?"
NOOOOO!!!! Just NO! Ewwww!

-you accidentally make a winky face instead of a smiley face in a message and it changes the meaning completely. What makes it even more horrific (because believe me, it's nightmarishly horrific already), it's sent to the guy you like and you've really made the wrong impression

-you realise part of your life is starting to resemble one of your favourite tv shows... but that's not a good thing (and it's not 'New Girl')

-while waiting for your friend to try on clothing at a store, in your boredom you walk around the clothes and not pay attention to what you're looking at. Someone walks past you and gives you a strange look, and you realise you are in the maternity clothes section.

This was actually what their faces looked like 

MrSuicideSheep

Okay, it's not the cheeriest title in the world, sorry, but it is the name of a youtube channel that has incredible remixes of songs. I've discovered a lot of music from there and it's so good how they have remixes of different styles:
-experimental
-chill out/downtempo
-dub step and garage
-indie electronica
-house
-mixes
which means it will suit a wide range of moods. It's the sort of music that is good when you are just pottering around the kitchen, making lunch or dinner and you just want to listen to something. Or when you need some background music when doing your homework, but it could also be the type of music to dance around your room too- it really depends what type of remix you are listening to at the time. It's good when you're exhausted as well, which is definitely the type of mood I'm in now. I've been doing a lot of things recently, going to bed late, going out, doing heaps of readings, etc. On the Friday night, I didn't get home until 5am in the morning and had to get up at 9:30am and this morning I had to wake up at 7:30 so I could walk to uni... and that's why I'm listening to MrSuicideSheep before going to bed and hopefully falling asleep straight away.

Because there is such a big selection of remixes to choose from, this is that one that I'm currently listening to while writing this. It's also one of my favourites, called:

UK trips #1 #2 - London and Cambridge

Over the last couple of weekends, I've taken advantage of being in the UK and started my explorations of different towns and cities. My first trip was to London where I spent the time with my mum, who was there on holidays. It was really great to see her and she took my friend and I out for lunch to a pub, where I had a really nice burger and curly fries. I'd never heard of curly fries before, but apparently they are a big deal here, so I tried them and sure enough, they were delicious. For those who were like me, and had no idea what they were, they are basically a fry that is curly (shock there) with seasoning on it which makes them taste like wedges.

our lunch

Later, we walked along the Thames, passing the Globe Theatre along the way and seeing Tower Bridge, St Paul's Cathedral and The Houses of Parliament in the distance. While in London, we also walked around Trafalgar Square and down to Buckingham Palace and we were so lucky with the weather, as it was blue skies and sunny. But my absolute favourite part of London was the area known as TheatreLand- there were theatres everywhere! It was incredible and walking around the streets, it reaffirmed why I chose to go to England to study. There were more theatres in just one street than in the whole of Australia it felt like. Mum and I also bought half price tickets to see 'American Idiot' which I was so excited about because: GREEN DAY!!!! A musical with the best Green Day songs (that include my favourite '21 Guns') is the best type of musical to see. I was so excited and I even got my mum excited about it too, which is skills on my part. However, when we arrived at the theatre, there was a note on the door saying that the day's session was cancelled due to numerous cast members being unwell... and that was deflating. But we did take a photo of the outside because it is a promise to myself that I WILL see 'American Idiot' while I'm here.

I decided to show this photo, because every time someone talks about London, we always see the typical iconic pictures. 

The following weekend, a couple of my friends and I spent the day exploring Cambridge, which is such a beautiful town, with such lovely old architecture. Now, most people who go to Cambridge go punting along the river Cam, taking in the surrounding colleges from the university: not us. Instead, we went on a food safari! Being the weekend, there was a market on, where there was a stall selling incredible looking homemade slices, so we bought a slice each (they were massive). I had the granola slice, which was so sweet and syrupy; amazing! We then had a falafel wrap each, which we bought from one of the street pop-up stalls which was also delicious. And then we went to a lollie shop, as well as a fudge shop (where I tasted a lot of different flavours before deciding on which flavour to buy) and then finishing the gastronomic excursion by going to a cafe and having scones with jam and cream. And the cream in England is beyond heavenly; it's so thick, thicker than butter. In Australia, we have cream, but it's nothing like that.

The lollie shop with the reflection of a college in the window

Come Monday Night

At the beginning of this year I wrote a post about the song 'God Help the Girl' which I described as the "anti-cringe-worthy-moment song" and I mentioned how I wanted to see the movie for so long... Well, I finally watched the movie a couple of days ago and I loved it! It took me long enough to find a way to watch it (thank you to my friend who let me use their Netflix).

The movie is about a girl (played by Emma Browning) who had an eating disorder and was sent to a rehabilitation hospital, but she kept running away because of her love and passion for music. She ends up meeting this guy (who is by Ollie Alexander, the lead singer of 'Years & Years') and his music tutor pupil (Hannah Murray, who plays Cassie in 'Skins') and together they try to start a band. It's not exactly a typical musical, but it's got music incorporated into the story, which is all written by Belle and Sebastian. It's filmed with nice cinematography, which really suits this independent feature and the story is really charming, set during one Summer in Glasgow.

But back to the song of the day: "Come Monday Night" which has a really sweet tune and vocals. The lyrics themselves may seem a bit simplistic at first glance, wording observations, but they are poetic, for example:

"Come Monday night we turn the telly off,

To listen to the silence,

Light that comes in from outside,

If you could catch it all

And pin it to your wall" 

And then when you think about it, the words are actually quite profound with hidden metaphors, different for everyone who listens. 

The Roller Disco

On Sunday, I went to a Roller Disco!!!! I know! AMAZING! When I was a kid, I loved roller-blading so much and because I didn't own any rollerblades, my mum would take me to the Roller-blading Centre, where I would spend an entire day skating around on the rink and thinking that nothing could get better than that. The last time I went rollerblading was on my 12th birthday, so I was so excited to find out that this university was hosting this evening. I could once again feel that exhilaration of zooming through space and not caring about a thing in the world! However, Sunday wasn't what I expected it to be like.

Firstly: I roller-bladed when I was younger. I never roller-skated which is completely different; it is so much harder. So what I thought would be a night of reliving childhood, turned out to be a night of mixed feelings of fear, horror, but also fun, rollerskating for the first time.

Roller-blades

Roller-skates

It took me a while to figure out how to balance and actually move, but after the first ten minutes, I got the hang of it. When I was little, I was actually good at roller-blading, but roller-skating, I just became okay at. I wasn't that fast and sometimes I would wobble and wasn't completely confident with my ability, but I was able to get by without too many dramas. Well, until...

Secondly: some people shouldn't be allowed to roller-skate. And those people are the ones who think they are better than what they actually are. There was one girl who was cutting in front of people and she was moving her arms around like crazy in an attempt to dance to the music. I'm going to sound like a horrible person saying this, but she was a safety hazard because she wasn't actually very good at roller-skating and had no cares about the people around her. Exhibit A: ME!!!!!
The girl cut in front of me and because of her disregard of others, she startled me and I went crashing into a wall, which also had a window built into it. Unfortunately the corner of the window that stuck out, was the same level as the bridge of my nose, right between my eyes. My forehead went "WHAM!" into the wall and my nose went "WHACK!" into the corner of wall and window... I ended up having a bump on my forehead (which has thankfully gone down) and a swollen and bruised nose (which is still swollen and bruised). Also, I think a bit of bone on my nose is sticking out a bit differently than how it used to.
And the girl just kept on skating, oblivious to what havoc she had just caused... what a [insert R rated language here].

But despite those few minor hiccups, the evening was actually pretty fun and just like when I was little, I didn't want to leave the floor and for a while after the DJ stopped playing music, I was still skating a few laps.

High by the beach

Today was my first day of classes and it was also the first day since I've moved here that it has rained. It rained non-stop, whereas a few days ago, I got sunburnt on my nose because it was so sunny (who would have thought it). But this morning while preparing my breakfast and making my lunch, I was listening to Lana Del Rey's relatively new song "High by the beach" on repeat. It's such a good early morning song when no one else is around and you can sway dance around the kitchen without anyone judging you. I also think that with the falling rain outside, I feel like it suits my mood whenever it's this kind of weather, that lethargic and out-of-it state.

I absolutely love Lana Del Rey's 'Born to die' and 'Paradise' albums so much and can listen to it over and over and still have the need to dance and sing along to, but her 'Ultraviolence' album, I feel like it was more of a background music sort of album. I still really liked it, but I think that not all the songs stood out that much for me. At the beginning of 'High by the beach', when I first heard it, I thought that this song too would be background music, with the sighing in the introduction and the soft singing at the beginning... but then the beat drops and OHMYGOD! it's incredible and you can't help but move your body along with it and that's when you get really into the song and you are spellbound. The lyrics in the chorus is repetitive, but the rhythm just flows through the body and it's like you are in a trance state (hence, why it's great for when you are getting ready in the morning and are still half asleep). It really encapsulates that mindset of drifting through different states of consciousness. And that is the genius of Lana Del Rey.

Don't Stop Moving

I know it's not Monday, but I was out late on the Monday night/ Tuesday morning, so wasn't able to write about a song. So here is a belated music post (sorry). On the Monday night a group of us went to a club, which was so much fun. It was great to dance and dance, and as the night progressed, the music got better and which made dancing even more fun (miraculously, I didn't lose my voice from singing and shouting so loud), despite my shoes beginning to fall apart because they were cheap and the dance floor was stickier than the glue holding my shoes together.

So we were dancing, and then at 2am, three members of S Club performed... complete blast from the past. They were the sound of 1999 and 2000 and "S Club Party" is definitely the classic song for having a good time. That was their opening song, and everyone who was still at the club, were grouped right by the stage and joining in. It was amazing. When I was little, I was a massive Spice Girl fan, but I did know a couple of S Club 7 songs (who doesn't?), my favourite being 'Don't Stop Moving'. It's the kind of song that, when it plays, you have to do what the music says and "just go with the magic... [because] right here on the dance floor is where you got to let it go," which is what we. Actually, it was during this song that I got told off by a bouncer because my friend had lifted me up onto his shoulders, which apparently isn't allowed. But, while it lasted, I had a great view of the stage.

S Club (my picture isn't that great) 

They finished at 3am, so my friends and I ended up walking home, so even when the music ended, we were still kept moving. It was such a clear evening, which was really lovely and refreshing after the crowded club. We also stopped at a kebab van along the way, and I didn't get to go to bed until 5:30am, and having to wake up at 7am that same morning... I'm still recovering. But tomorrow morning is the first morning since then that I can sleep in!

Moving

I have a really good excuse as to why I haven't written in ages and that is because I have moved to the other side of the world. I'm going to be on exchange for a semester, so as you probably can imagine, that has involved a LOT of organisation and time. So, this beautiful Sunday morning, while eating breakfast, it is the first day that I haven't had something on. The first day that I haven't needed to rush off, so I can take my time and relax for the first time in weeks. And it is lovely because the kitchen/dining area has a window ledge which gets the sun all day since it faces southwards, and I'm taking as much advantage of the sun as possible because I am now living in... England!

I've been wanting to study in England since I was a kid and I've always had the dream to live there. I can't even remember when this dream started, I think it's just been for my entire life and I have been saving up my money since forever to do it. No joke, even when I was seven and was given birthday money, I'd put it in the bank with the intention to save up for England. And now I'm finally here! See, dreams can come true if you work hard and never give up (that's really sappy sounding, sorry about that).

On Wednesday, I moved into my place and even though it's off campus, I'm still living on student accommodation and absolutely loving it! It's the first time I've lived away from home and without my parents, so I'll probably feel homesick now and then, but so far, I am loving the freedom. My parents did accompany me to Europe on the first week, having one final family holiday in Paris (another place I've never been to and have always dreamt about visiting- it was such a beautiful city), but now it's time for complete independence. I'm completely in love with the town I am living in and I just found out that the university I'm now going to was ranked in the top 10 in the world! It is so different from back home in Australia, and I know that I don't want to leave after these five months. Once the weather changes and it becomes freezing and rainy, I will probably complain about it a bit, but it's actually quite embarrassing how much I love living here. Like, I will be talking to someone, see something like a cute cottage and basically jump with joy. Plus, my flat mates are all lovely, which makes the whole experience even the more enjoyable. Everyone I've met is just so friendly and I love being an international student because I get the opportunity to meet so many people from different countries and hear and learn about their culture. Many conversations feature linguistics and language, which is really interesting to hear what different places say for one particular thing. For example:

this

In Australia we call this a "doona." Meanwhile in England they call it a "duvet" and in the US they call it a "comforter." Just those little things, it is really interesting. But that's enough talk about doonas for now because I think other than that, they aren't the most interesting thing to read about.

On Wednesday, I was the first person in my flat, but by the end of the day there was one other girl, who is from France, who moved to my floor, and downstairs, a guy from the US. Now we have two girls and one guy from England on my floor too and still waiting for a few more people to arrive in the next couple of days, which is so exciting.
Thursday and Friday was the exchange students orientation activities and registration, which was an overload of information that I can't remember very well, but it was wonderful meeting all these new people and start making friends. As I said, every person is friendly, so it's such a nice atmosphere. On the Friday night, we had a Welcome dinner of the British cuisine of Fish and Chips and later, we all went to a club for the rest of the evening.

Saturday, we didn't have commitments to the university, so a group of us from my student estate went down to the town and saw the local market that was set up along one of the main streets. There was such a variety of breads and cheeses and fruits and vegetables, seeing stuff that I haven't heard before. We then bought Cornish pasties and went to the river to eat.

The river

The town I'm at is called Guildford, which if you haven't heard of it before, is stunning. It's so quaint, with the High Street having cobbled roads and old buildings (there is also a small castle dating back to just after William the Conquerer). I also didn't know that Lewis Carroll has strong connections here, owning a house in the town, where his sisters lived and where he would come down to in the Summer. "Alice in Wonderland" was my favourite story as a child (he's the author), so you would probably can imagine how excited I was to discover this and that he finished writing "Alice through the Looking Glass" when he was in Guildford. He also died and was buried here.
But yesterday afternoon, because the weather has been beautiful, a few of us walked up a really lovely hill and had a stunning view of the place and then walked through a miniature forest.

Because I don't live on the university campus, there are good things and bad things about it (eg. the bad thing is having to take the bus which is the most unreliable system and that means that we are a lot further out from town and the uni). But the good thing is that we have a really good community feel where I live; last night everyone hanging out at one of the flats until 4am (got the opportunity to play 'Cards against Humanity' again, which I won- it's the only card game I'm actually good at).

I love this move so much and it is the best decision, also the biggest decision I've made in my life and I'm really looking forward to the never ending experiences and opportunities over the next five months. 

(Sorry for the long post)

Life Drawing Class #8 and #9

This Wednesday was my last life drawing class. It was a really fun short course and I'm really going to miss working with charcoal. Also, I'm going tok miss the fact that you can completely forget about everything and can zone out and just draw and not think about anything-how you can get lost in the artwork. That sounds really spacey of me, but it's so true. The studio space was in a converted attic, which had large windows that let in a lot of light; it was really lovely (I've always loved attics) and then there would be classical music playing in the background. It was just a really relaxing activity.

This is going to be a short post, just to show my favourite pictures from the last two weeks. These are the five minutes of  week 8 and 9:

And the twenty minute sketches in comparison:

Bean Boozled

Need I say more?

Basically it's a game that people should avoid playing at all costs, because you would think that it would be 50% bad flavours and 50% good flavours, but no. My friend and I had a packet that was 70% of bad flavours. We have been wanting to do this for four years, but due to geography getting in the way, it was only a week ago that we got to fulfil this dream... which turned into a nightmare. Mind you, I am glad I got to experience this game of torture with her, because I wouldn't put myself through that with anyone else.

Actual stinky socks probably taste better than whatever they put into those jelly beans. Same goes with booger and moldy cheese. Rotten egg was a horror to swallow too (and I also didn't like the buttered popcorn flavour- so that risk combination was always a lose lose situation for me anyway). Barf tasted like what you'd expect it too: the most acidic vomit ever. And skunk spray: why did we put ourselves through this? Baby wipes and lawn clippings tasted delicious in comparison (and even those were a bit odd). But the canned dog food! OH MY EFFING GOD!!!!! My dad was watching us in amusement from the other side of the room. Around three metres away and he could smell our breath from that jelly bean from that distance! That is how strong it was! I was begging for the toothpaste flavour after that, but no! I had to have every single bad flavour.

My friend spat out a couple of the flavours, which was very smart. But being the idiot I am, I was like "I'm not going to let a packet of jelly beans get the better of me"- there were moments I was *this* close to retching. At times it took all my concentration and me gripping my hair in utter torment while trying to swallow these evil beans. And we got through the packet, and at the end wished we recorded it because of our reactions, but WE ARE NEVER DOING THAT AGAIN!

The post trauma was even worse than the actual experience. Thankfully we are the closest of friends, so my friend and I weren't embarrassed that we couldn't help burping, which reawakened the awful flavours. But even without that beautiful reminder, we still had all those gross tastes in our mouths which we tried to drown out with tea and chocolate... didn't exactly do the trick. My stomach was in so much pain, that I couldn't move without feeling stabbing sensations. And actually, my stomach actually bloated! Physically expanded for a couple of hours! I don't know what sh** they put into those beans, but our stomachs were growling at each other all night and it was painful to wee as well. I'm probably giving way too much information, but I feel like it needs to be said. We decided to google side affects from these not-so-sweet-confectionary, but couldn't find anything. So maybe my friend and I were the only people to ever get a bad reaction from them, or maybe no one else was as silly we were and ate and ingested the entire packet.

The next day, I just drank plain tea and didn't eat until 9pm that night. I just needed to fully detox because MAN! Those jelly beans weren't made for human consumption. Who came up with these flavours which are meant to be "naturally and artificially flavoured"- I don't know which of these sounds worse: the fact that it could be natural vomit flavour or artificial vomit flavour...