The Euro Trip 2017

Recently I was lucky enough to go on a trip to Germany and the Netherlands to learn all about their transport systems and what makes them work. I got to visit the Schewebebahn, the insane cycling network and culture in the Netherlands and the double decker trains. We had a lecture on the future of driverless cars and got to investigate how German students prefer to travel to college. Thought I would post some pictures on here for my friends and family to see...

Outside Utrecht Main Station

The underground cycle park at Rotterdam Central Station

The first hostel that we stayed in in Rotterdam

A picture from the water taxi in Rotterdam

Cycling in Delft

Transport in Essen, Germany

The Schewebebahn

This last picture was taken on the Gudak app which replicates a disposable camera. You have a certain amount of film to use before you have to wait for the film to develop (then you can finally see the pictures you took). Don't worry you get more film to use so it's not only 28 shots and that's it. I highly recommend it (although it does sometimes jumble up my photo album order but that might just be me). 

You can find more pictures on my Instagram.

#GOMO (Going Out More Often)

Summer 2016 is, dare I say it, nearly over but it has been a fab one if I don't say so myself. As you may already know from my previous post I recently went to Boardmasters festival in Cornwall. But what you may not know is that i wasn't planning to attend this festival this year. It wasn't until a couple of weeks before it started when I decided to just bite the bullet and go for it... Make the most of my summer and spend some quality time with my friends. I also did not want to get that annoying FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out) feeling that tends to happen quite a lot throughout summer. I decided that I needed to make this summer about #GOMO (Going Out More Often) and make it memorable. 

My favourite day at Boardmasters festival was our day trip to Fistral beach. The best thing about this festival is that was not just the standard music festival in a field nor is it all about drinking so much you can't remember where you are but it is also  a surf, sea and skateboarding festival. This part of the festival took place at this beach! It was free entry and had lots of little competitions and stands for all ages. 

Outfit details 
Top - Bershka
Beach trousers - ASOS
Hat - ASOS
Bikini bottoms - ASOS
Shoes - H&M
Bag - Topshop
Sunglasses - Urban Outfitters

Photo credit
Photos taken by either myself or @hannahspanner93 on Insta. 

Like this free part of the festival, there are hundreds of events going on all around you and you probably don't even know it! Eventbrite is a quick and free service that allows you to easily search what's going on around you. It's so easy sign up and it's a super useful tool for not only summer but for all year round! You can find their page here. 

After looking on the site and specifically searching for music events I saw that it is Ministry of Sound's 25th Birthday soon and Eventbrite are selling the tickets! I know what I'll be doing on the 3rd September! Roll on winter!

Cyprus Diaries

A teeny weeny delay with this post but I made a video all about our time in Cyprus which is now live on YouTube. Enjoy.

My Past Halloween Looks

As you all know it's Halloween soon, which is one of my favourite holidays purely because I love experimenting with make up and face paint to create scary looks! My friends also love it so halloween night is always a good one. Anyway I was looking back at old Halloween pictures and thought it would be good to share some on my blog. I have pictures way back into secondary school, which are quite embarrassing. They include an action shot of a halloween play my fiends and I did in front of our school. The make up and costumes do getting better over time haha. I guess I better start planning my make up and outfit for this year. Hope you enjoy.

2009

2010

2011

2011

2012

2012

2012

2013

2014

Pictures, Posters and Prints // Room Tour

So having recently graduated university (sad times) I moved back home and redecorated my room (yay times). I thought I would do a room tour series on my blog as I'm in love with it and want to share it with everyone. I've decided to do it in sections to avoid a massive post with too many pictures! First I thought I would start with all the pictures, posters and prints I have displayed in my new room. Some I purchased in Belgrade and brought back home with me, some from Falmouth and some others I got randomly. Hope you enjoy this post.

A map of the world from Willow and Stone in Falmouth. I stuck it to a piece of cardboard and pinned all the places I have lived (yellow pins) and visited (all the other colours). I am hoping to add more pins very soon!

I found this print on google images and decided to print it off and frame it in a Wilkos frame which cost about 3 pound so overall bargain. 

If you know me well you know I love pugs so had to have this cute little canvas.

Found this in a little shop in Falmouth and thought it was pretty funny.

Whilst living in Belgrade I found a artsy little shop called Remake. I saw this print and couldn't resist.

This canvas print is also from Remake in Belgrade. When I bought this I was 16 and I felt like such a little rebel. A canvas with a swear word on? Yes please.

This is actually a postcard from an Alexander McQueen show. My friend visited me from Canada and we went to see the exhibition. She brought a pack of these postcards and treated me to one. It's now framed in my room. And yes, that is also a frame from Wilkos.

Do you have any cool prints?

Creamfields Diary

As you already know from my previous posts I went to Creamfields festival last weekend! It was really really good and I loved every act I saw, however camping was an experience ha! Not sure if I'll camp at a festival again but at least it something a little different. Anyway I made another video with my dodgy iPhone 4s... take a look! 

Festival Check List

We are bang in the middle of the festival season and I am heading to Creamfields at the end of August so I thought I would post a festival check list that I came up with (with the help of my Creamfields buddy). I am considering to do a festival series on the blog over the next few weeks in preparation for Creamfields so watch this space.

What to bring:

• A tent
• I would recommend you buy a 3 person tent for two people if you plan on sleeping with your belongings as well! There wont be enough room for all your (and your friends) bags and booze in a two person tent.
• Sleeping bag
• Pillow
• Booze 
• In plastic bottles if I remember correctly so check with the festival rules!
• Money
• Food
• I'm thinking snacks like apples and dried fruit and maybe the occasional sandwich. My plan for Creamfields is to take enough food for breakfast and lunch and buy dinner at the festival to save some money.
• Toilet roll
• Phone
• Face and body wipes
• Number of outfits for the number of nights
• Make up
• Bottle to use for water
• Bumbag or small handbag for the festival itself
• PJs and a jumper to sleep in if its a little chilly!
• Socks
• Disposable camera 
• Your phone camera wont last long unfortunately.
• ID
• Sunglasses
• Earplugs
• Eye mask
• Rain mac 
• We hope this stays in our bags.
• Dry shampoo and dry shower gel (yes, this is a thing which you can buy from boots)
• Bin bag
• So you're not surrounded by rubbish.
• Suncream
• Toothpaste and toothbrush
• Appropriate footwear
• Tickets 
• Trains, buses, festival tickets, etc.
• Phone charger
• If you're getting the train there's usually sockets so charge your phone before you get there so it will last longer!
• Folding chair
• Torch
• Your phone battery wont last the whole time!

Hope this helps! Happy festival!

GRAD BALL

Uni is officially over and it went out with a bang! On Wednesday 10th June I attended my grad ball and it was amazing. It was held on Pendennis Castle, which meant the views were beautiful. Luckily the weather was good and we had clear skies and sunshine throughout the entire event (not counting the 5 minutes it rained at the end of the night). So I thought I would record some of it! Unfortunately I only had my iPhone 4s to capture the footage hence why the quality isn't that great, but take a look anyway! Enjoy!

Smoothie recipe ideas

Out of my Christmas money this year I decided to buy a smoothie maker to encourage me to eat healthier for the new year and I have become obsessed with it. I've had a blender in the past but its just so difficult to clean and it didn't crush ice particularly well, so I wanted something that was easy to clean and had powerful blades. I came across this...

Blend Active Personal Blender

It allows you to blend your smoothie straight into the bottle for quick and on the go healthy goodness! The bottles are completely spill-free and I use the extra one as a water bottle, so its great for that too!

The good thing about this smoothie blender is that it doesn't require much time to completely blend all the ingredients. It may be a little loud but due to the small amount of time it needs to blend everything this is not a problem. 

My top three current favourite smoothie recipes 

1. The breakfast smoothie

    

Ingredients 

• 1 Banana
• Oatmeal of your choice (I either use plain rolled oats or a Special K Red Berries porridge sachet)
• Skimmed milk or almond milk to cover the oatmeal 
• Mango chunks, as many as you like
• Fat free yoghurt (I tend to put half greek yoghurt and half vanilla froyo)

Blend all together and enjoy your yummy healthy smoothie. If the consistency is too thick you can add some ice cubes or water.

2. The brunch smoothie

Ingredients

• Lots of ice
• Brew your regularly cup of coffee (maybe two depending how strong you want this smoothie to be) and allow to cool for a bit (alternatively don't allow the kettle to boil completely, but do make sure the water is hot so the coffee granules dissolve completely)
• 1/2 Bananas, your preference how many
• a tea spoon of honey to make it a bit sweeter
• Low fat frozen yoghurt
• Skimmed milk or almond milk, this will be the base of the smoothie but add as much or as little as you like depending how strong you want the coffee to be. 
• Water if needed

This smoothie is very much like marmite, you either love it or you hate it. In my opinion you need to get the measurements right for your personal taste as not with this smoothie, unlike the other two, will vary drastically in taste depending on the measurements of the ingredients you choose to include.

3. The lunch time smoothie

Ingredients

• 2 Bananas
• Some mango chunks, as many as you like
• Some chunks of pineapple, as many as you like
• A spoonful of frozen yoghurt (I use a low fat vanilla flavour)
• A spoonful of fat free greek yoghurt
• Water

Blend away! The good thing about this particular smoothie is the bottles that the smoothie is directly blended into are completely sealed and will not leak if you seal it up and pop it in your bag, but make sure you hear the click when closing the lid! You have to make sure its closed properly or your bag will become the new smoothie bottle.

When I next go shopping I am going to buy some vegetables to add to some of these smoothies like kale, broccoli and maybe some celery. I have a few ideas on a couple of smoothies that include these veggies so I'll try them out soon and if they're any good I'll do another blog post about it! 

What are your new years resolutions?

UPDATE! I just purchased a small bag of chia seeds to put in these smoothies and my porridges and I really recommend them. You can vary the taste by depending on how much you put in. The only downside is that they do get stuck in your teeth but thats a risk I'm willing to take! Lots of health benefits too apparently.

Do you have any good smoothie recipe ideas?

There IS one small thing you can do to help Climate Change!!

Myself and a few other students at the University of Exeter have started a social media campaign about one small thing everyone and anyone can do to slow down the process of climate change. We have decided to focus our campaign on refilling and reusing the plastic bottles you buy before recycling them. 

You have to get the most out of those plastic bottles before you dispose of them. Don't just throw them away once you have finished the Coke or Ice Tea or even water that it once held. Let them live a nice, happy and long life with you. Refill them with tap water or squash or more fizzy drinks. By doing this it saves you money and by buying less plastic bottles it means less will need to be manufactured. Manufacturing plastic bottles generates greenhouse gases which we all know is bad for our environment. Additionally, recycling these bottles after you have used them helps the planet! It reduces the amount of gas and oil used in creating plastic which is then shaped into bottles.

So what can you do?

Ideally buy a bottle that is designed for reuse, but if you fancy a Diet Coke, or an orange juice or anything other than water or squash then once you have finished your drink use that bottle again and again until it has reached its full "reusable" capacity! We have recommended that on average that is about 10 times, depending on the bottle! Then its all about recycling! You don't have to dispose of the bottle you can recycle it in other ways too! Such as adapting your bottle into a plant pot, or you could use it for storing rice or other food items, or even you can make it into a piggy bank. There are loads of different ideas. Just Google plastic bottle recycling ideas!

We can change the world and make it a better place for our future generations and it doesn't involve any drastic measures.

Perfect!

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What are you doing about Climate Change?

Halloween Ideas For Everyone!

Hi guys, today I thought I would give you all a few easy and cheap halloween costume ideas that I have found, done or am going to do this halloween!

Theres the just makeup and normal clothes look (which I tend to go for as for me it involves no money at all!) or you can go all out. In this post I have included some that only involve you painting your face, and some extra ideas from movies, tv shows and other random stuff e.g. music videos. So plenty to choose from! 

If you follow me on Pinterest you would see that I have created a halloween board full of crazy looks that you could easily create with your own makeup (maybe with some white face paint as last year I just used baby powder and it didn't work as well as I hoped it would). 

Here are a few ideas for you...

A similar look to what I did last year, check out this post to see how I created it.

I am recreating this look with my own twist on the 1st Nov for a halloween party at my uni. Blog post to follow.

This look can be easily recreated with your own make-up. Let me know if you would like to see a post on how it can be achieved.

This is similar to what I did last year for halloween. Click here to see.

Simple yet effective.

Characters from movies/tv shows 

• Maleficent 
• Bellatrix Lestrange (I am going to try and achieve this look for the party I am going to on actual halloween, blog post to follow)
• Cruella De Vil
• Jigsaw (from the Saw movies)
• A Vampire from The Vampire Diaries or The Originals 
• A zombie from The Walking Dead
• A death eater from Harry Potter
• Evan Peters in American Horror Story season 1
• One for the groups - Coven from American Horror Story

Other ideas

• The ghost from Deadmau5 Ghost and Stuff music video (with the tattoo)
• Lady Gaga in her born this way music video

Also if you have any other ideas that people could use this halloween that is something a bit more original then leave a comment below and I will add it into this post crediting you and your blog (if you have one).

What are you going as for this halloween? 

NEW YORK HAUL (AND PRODUCT REVIEW)!

I'm back! 

Sorry to be away for so long but I have had millions of things to do and haven't had enough time to blog (ahhhh). Just because I wasn't actually blogging doesn't mean I wasn't still reading my favourite blogs and watching my favourite YouTube bloggers. I now have a list full of posts I can't wait to post. But first I'll update you on what I have been these past few weeks. After doing my dissertation research, catching up with my friends in Serbia and going to Exit Festival (which I highly recommend you go to at least once in your life), I got a job. It was my first retail job and I really enjoyed it. Seeing as it was only a temporary job it was over before I knew it. Then came third year of uni. It started off with a bang... a trip to New York City. It was a very busy 10 days but I loved every minute of it. Anyway we had some free time and of course I went shopping. So to cut a long story short my first post back is about the things I brought in The Big Apple.

First stop... Sephora

I really needed a new concealer as I had just given up on my old one it didn't do the things a concealer should do... So I was not impressed. After browsing around all the different stands of make-up I came across this beauty. It was the bareMinerals correcting concealer in medium 2. I would highly recommend this product as it does exactly what it says on the tin. It hides all my blemishes and dark circles and stays on for the whole day. It also doesn't dry out my skin nor does it clump up around my spots, which is what my old concealer used to do. It is very natural looking and was only $20!

I also got the Clinque rinse-off eye makeup solvent. I have a terrible habit of only really using face wipes to remove my makeup (a habit that I desperately need to break). So I invested in a make-up remover. I really like this eye makeup remover as it doesn't leave that oily residue on your skin afterwards. Its perfect for people who have oily skin. On the downside I would say is that it doesn't take ALL my mascara off. For example if I get in the shower afterwards I'll still come out with little panda eyes although not as extreme as before. This was about $18.

Next stop... The New York Public Library

If you're in New York go see the New York Public Library. It is amazing. The little gift shop inside is also full of weird and wonderful books and tourist-y things. I purchased a student planner (as I love to be organised) and a magnetic book mark to help me go straight to the week I am in. This student planner is so good, it has a calendar, a diary, a timetable to fill out your lectures, a notes page and more. If you like to write everything down as your memory isn't great like mine then invest in this! The planner was $11 and the book mark was $3.

Last stop... Urban Outfitters

Going to Urban Outfitters was a must and it was just as good as I imagined it to be. The first thing I treated myself to was this candle. It is a Ms. Betty's original bad-ass soy candle in the scent Citrus & Spicy Chili Pepper. It smells so so so good, it is probably one of the nicest smelling candles I have ever smelt. I know that some people don't like strong smelling candles but I am not one of those people and this candle does not fail in that department. Also I didn't know a candle could be so sassy? I love it.

Candle number 2. I saw this candle in the UK Urban Outfitters and was always so tempted to buy it but at £6.50 (or something similar) I thought it was too steep. Anyway I found it in the US store and it was only $4. I was not disappointed when I started burning it. The downsides to this candle are that it burns super fast and doesn't smell. It is purely for decoration purposes... but look how fancy it looks!

The last item I picked up from Urban Outfitters was this ear climber (sorry for the bad quality photo). I always wanted one but never found one that I liked enough until I stumbled across this one. This was about $12-ish.

Sorry about the long post I hope you enjoyed reading it! More posts soon!