Do the Harlem Shake

A week ago I did not even know what a Harlem shake was. Then I ended up doing one spontaneously during a pub quiz and a couple of days later I joined a friend last minute in one for Amnesty International. What is the use of a Harlem shake. absolutely no clue! But I think it is a lot of fun. But admittedly I love anything that includes dancing or craziness. 
Our Amnesty video has more than 700 views right now and I think we will be famous one day. Let the fame come!


XOXO

Eataly

Last week was the last free week before I start my internship (during which I will probably not get any free weeks) and will be stuck in work all the time. Of course I had to make use of this. and what better way to do this than to visit my friend Sara in Italy. Two other friends from England appeared to have the same week off as well so it became one big reunion. Most of which we spend eating, watching movies, drinking coffee and just hanging out. It was great. On one of the days we actually decided to be active and we did a road trip to Rome. Yes, the Trevi Fountain has done its work last summer! We were really lucky with the weather and it was very sunny for most of the day. Of course I tossed another coin in the Trevi fountain to secure my next return to this lovely city. We saw most of the landmarks in top speed again and of course there had to be some gelato. 

What a good good week it was.

Except for that moment my phone broke down on the last day and could not be fixed. And when I was stuck at the airport for hours but my Luxembourgish card was not working there and I could not even buy a coffee. Jep, back to reality. 

XOXO

Paris, je t'aime!

Last week I finally went for a real trip to Paris. before I had only been a day and I barely seen anything because I was too busy being a teenager and wanting to shop and walk around without my parents (I was 15, what do you want?).
But this time I had a first-class local as my tour guide and  three full days to wander around. I cannot think of a better way for sight seeing than this. I saw all the nice landmarks and walked some lovely routes. I ate many macaroons, croissants and crepes. I had a 19 euro glass of wine at the panoramic sky bar (seriously the best view EVER!) and I went for cocktails in a bar called the Latin Corner, where the male waiters wore nothing but shorts and a nice six pack.
I had such an amazing time and I cannot wait to come back in spring to see the parks in all of their glory and create more epic memories. I found out I do love Paris indeed.

XOXO

Jep, I had to do this.

We're in a pic with Bach!

Best view ever!

Such a quite tradition. Couples come here to write their names on locks hang hang them on this bridge as a promise.

unfortunately this did not taste as epic as it looks.

Made of chocolate. I desperately wanted to take a bite.

It is a lot smaller than in the movie..

Come on and let it snow

Congratulations to me! I managed to get through all of my exams and most of my presentations and hand-in deadlines. Only three more weeks of class and I will finish the taught part of my master. Freedom (not really, but I can pretend it will be)!
During all of this craziness I managed to enjoy the snow as well. My friend Jessica came over for one weekend and it was great. We visited Vianden and had snowy adventures in Grund. We couldn't find our way back up from the valley so we had to climb via some deserted stairs and then climb over a fence because there was no other way than the way back. And since the stairway we just climbed did not have any railing, it was a bit dangerous to go back. So we decided to create a new way be going over the fence. The people watching us seemed to think it was a bit strange, but well (I clearly do not feel any shame ever). During the rest of the weekend we drank a lot of hot chocolate and went out to a bar to see some live music (which we could not understand, since it was in French). It was great to actually get to enjoy the snow instead of just being hindered by it!


XOXO

The castle of Vianden

View from the castle

Grund

Lost in Grund

I wanted to write my name, but the E didn't fit anymore. Oops!

Grund by night

Home made spring roles

Wonderfully timed picture

Why I blame my house mates for my insomnia

First of all: happy new year! I personally had the best New year's Eve in years. My friend Samra came over to Luxembourg and we had dinner with a whole bunch of my house mates. After midnight we made the fire alarm go of by lighting sparkling stars inside. A marvelous start of the year. After that we watched the fireworks and danced around on Iranian music in the living room. A small group of us decided to go out after, but the music was so shitty (this seems  to be a general theme in my life) that we left after one hour. Back in the resi, we sat in the kitchen talking until 5am. Oops. But it was a good night.

The day after we went to sleep late again because Samra and I were watching Inception and trying to understand it (I now do, but only after reading the explanation). On Wednesday evening we played cards with my flatmates until 2am. On Friday, I went for a walk with my 2 neighbors Tata and Sasan and after had a taste of some Pakistani food my flatmate Waqas brought. Again, it was 2am.

The next day I was supposed to have a meeting to work on a presentation at noon. Unfortunately my flashy new smartphone was out of battery (a win for the good old Nokia) so my classmate knocking on my door was the thing to wake me up.

I clearly need to change my lifestyle a bit. But at least it is fun.

XOXO

Group dinner

Cooking

Playing Bangla Cards

Eeek! we are really becoming grown ups.

I cant deny it anymore. While I am still hiding in student life without ever having had a "real" job or even a place for myself, everyone else seems to be becoming a real grown up. This morning, I found out that an old classmate from high school can have a baby any moment. She's just one year older than me. A couple of hours later I discovered that a girl from my bachelor degree is getting married. and she is even younger than me. Before that it was the odd person here or there that was of my age and was getting married/ having kids/ buying or renting a house/ starting a proper career. But now they seem to be everywhere!

I like to think that I am so very young, but all these people make me a bit nervous. People my age are becoming grown ups. It is scary. It is about time that I fix my own life. The problem is, I cannot even find an internship at the moment. so that means no money for getting my own place (I'm happy I can even pay the rent of my one room). I also lack the perfect man (and again the money) to make any marrying happening. And babies are simple not happening anytime soon. Playing with other peoples baby will do for now. 

So, I think the growing up will have to wait for a while..

.

NYE: overrated or not?

I'm not gonna lie. The preparation for New Years Eve have DEFINITELY been more fun than the actual party for the last couple of years. Somehow there is always something that spoils the fun. This gives me the feeling that having a fun new years party is not possible in the Netherlands. So this year I decided to celebrate it elsewhere and try my luck in Luxembourg. I will definitely avoid the mistakes I made before.

- 3 years ago (or was it 4?): We had a car available and we did have one of us who could actually drive it. That is always a good start. We paid a ridiculous amount of money to get tickets to a big party which was supposedly really great. So, what could go wrong? Well, the trend of techno/ hard style music had just reached our country and everyone seemed to love it big time. Except for us. After several hours of music without lyrics and missing out on the fireworks (we were inside before midnight), we decided we could not handle it anymore and we left. When we came outside we saw that most people where only arriving and we clearly had chosen our time wrong. FAIL.

- 2 years ago: For some reason we decided to a similar party to the one I mentioned before. But in our minds it was going to be much better now. It was indeed a bit better but I clearly had not suddenly become a fan of this music style (to be honest, I still kind of hate it). So this year was no success either.

- Last year: This year we did not have a car available, which really is a problem during New Year's Eve in the Netherlands. First of all, there were no buses back home until 10am the next day so we arranged a last minute sleep-over at the house of the sister of my friend (who was not amused by the last-minute aspect). When we were waiting for the bus to the city (and the two buses after) we discovered that all public transport had stopped at 8pm that day. Luckily my parents were nice enough to drive us so we were not stuck in our little village. Unfortunately it turned out that most places in the city would only open after midnight, so we ended up hanging out at the house of a friend of my friends sister with all of her friends(tots sups awks!) until it was time to go to the party. The party itself was okay, but after it we were forced to tag along with my friends sister before going to her home and we ended up visiting all sorts of people we did not know whatsoever. This would have been more fun if it had not been 5am...

So, this year I choose the comfort of my own residence for the midnight moment. I will celebrate with my friend Samra (who will be visiting me) and a bunch of my housemates. After that we will be able to walk to town, so no lack of public transport can stop us. Take that, NYE!