Zalando Competition!

I know I said I'd post about my Erasmus adventures this week, but I happened to come across this Zalando competition last night and I decided I'd give it a shot. I wouldn't normally do something like this, but as I'm currently embarking on a mission to give my wardrobe a complete makeover and fill it with autumn/winter clothes, it seemed like it could be useful as well obviously wanting to get my greedy little hands on £3600 worth of clothes! Thanks Zalando! Anyway, here's what I put together:







The dream shoes to end all dream shoes. 

I originally intended to include them in the outfit below, but I realised they didn't go with any of the stuff on the site that I liked or actually even anything I already own. The fact that I'd be well over 6 feet tall in these shoes, would probably look like Bambi on ice trying to walk in them and would tower over my dinky boyfriend is irrelevant! They're in no way practical or within my price range, but I have been known to sit and lust after them for hours on end. One day I will have them! I WILL!

Vero Moda Jana Jacket (£32), Dior Rouge Lipstick (£25.95), Espirit Ankle Boots La petite Francaise dress (£69.50), DAY Birger et Mikkelsen Day Day Wool Hat (£104.95), Burt's Bees Hand Care (£10.95) and Therapeutic Bath Crystals (£11.95), Nina Ricci PAUL & VIRGINIE bra (£104.95) and knickers (£54.95), Royal RepubliQ Conductor Ticket Small Laptop Bag (£140)

As you've undoubtedly noticed, I'm no fashion blogger and I'm a bit crap at putting these sorts of collages together, so apologies for how amateur this looks. I wouldn't normally wear something like this outfit, but after spending a year in Germany I've become noticeably more conservative with what I wear and I've finally begun to realise the importance of dressing to suit my figure instead of blindly following whatever the High Street tells me is fashionable. In other words I've grown up and it's only taken me twenty one years to realise that I can actually think for myself and don't look good in crop tops.

I fell in love with the dress as soon as I saw it and I'll probably order it for myself once my student loan comes in. It'll be perfect for wearing to uni with the boots I selected and a pair of wooly grey tights, but my main reason for picking it was because if an impromptu visit to the SU arose (as it often does) I could just throw on a pair of heels and black tights without fearing that I look rammy. Bit disappointed with the necklace selection on the site if I'm being honest as I think it'd look really nice with some throat candy, but never mind! I don't know if I'd wear the blazer with it because I can't really tell from the pictures if they'd go together, but it's pretty and I've been after a nice blazer anyway.

On to the accessories... I'd quite like a glamorous laptop case for uni, but I've never been able to justify paying for one when I have a fully functioning one already (albeit very black and bland). This one really appealed to me because it looks a lot like a handbag and I could probably just whack in my essentials and use it for that purpose too. The lipstick I chose because although I'd never spend that much money on make-up for myself (especially not a lipstick!), it's a gorgeous colour and I've been really loving pink lipsticks lately. This one is a little bolder than what I'm used to and so would probably be better saved for one of the aforementioned spontaneous cocktail outings! The same goes for Burt's Bees really - I love the products, but they're just too pricey for me usually. I'm already excited about the cold dark nights so I can spend hours and hours in a warm bubbly bath pampering myself without feeling guilty! And the underwear? Well, every girl needs a set of impractical, sexy underwear. If I'm wearing pretty underwear I'll feel good about myself all day! Not overlynsure about paying over £160 for a set of underwear, but a girl can dream!

I hope you enjoyed the selection and my explanations weren't too rambly; I have the tendancy to write far too much so I do apologise. You can enter for yourself using this link, the competition ends on the 30th September. Best of luck!



Sarah
xx

Food baby.

I'm back from Germany for good now. It still hasn't hit home that I live in Britain again now, and it feels very strange knowing that I have no plans to go back in the near future. At the moment I'm snuggled up on the sofa feeling very full after a big plate of sausage & mash AND a pub lunch and catching up on all of my usual reads before hitting the town with my friends tonight. Come to think of it, it was probably wise to eat so much - wouldn't want to be drinking all that gin on an empty stomach!

I'll return to posting about my Erasmus adventure this week and put up some pictures from the last week I spent there with my brother. Hope you're all having a lovely Bank Holiday weekend!

Erasmus year reflections, Teil 1.5: Dresden!

I'm back in the UK at the minute, and I have been since the early hours of Thursday morning. It's been amazing being at home with my family and friends and definitely worth the hideous twelve hour journey and terrible flight with Easy Jet, but I feel like I've not had a minute to myself trying to squeeze in seeing everyone. I'm going back to Germany tomorrow morning (at 4am, boooo!) but only for one week (sob!) before I move back to the UK for good. I'm taking my brother with me though so that should be nice. We're hoping to visit Nuremberg, Bamberg, Munich and Legoland whilst we're there but I have so much to sort out that it might be a little difficult to squeeze everything in. One thing I'm very excited about is the prospect of flying with a swanky airline. Well, Lufthansa is certainly swanky by my standards. Very much looking forward to the free hot snack and drink! I'm not really sure where I'm going with this or what point I was trying to make, so I'll continue with a little bit about my favourite-city-ever, DRESDEN!

September 2010: Dresden

I say September, because that was the first time I visited the city but I actually went loads during my first semester at Bayreuth, because of where my boyfriend was living. I fell in love from the first time we went, and I didn't even fall out of love with it when we were wandering round the packed Christmas Markets in the -17 degree weather trying to eat chocolate covered fruit that had just frozen over. I think I'd like to live and work in the city someday but we'll see how things go. The photos were uploaded in a strange order so they're not chronological, but I can't be bothered to rearrange them at the moment!

My birthday is on St. David's Day and, being Welsh, I was delighted to find that it was being celebrated in my favourite cafe England, England. Sadly we didn't discover the cafe until quite late in the year so we only got to visit a few times, but the place was decorated like a nanna's house (this is 100% a good thing!) and had a selection of British newspapers and books which provided a very welcome relief to all the German that we'd been surrounded with. After a beautiful British cuppa and cheddar cheese on toast (almost impossible to come by in Germany) we spent almost an hour looking round the cafe's little shop full of British delights like sweeties and Marmite. I desperately regret not buying the English Rose handcream they were selling as it was gorgeous, but I didn't quite have enough pennies on me. I could write about the cafe for hours - it's my absolute favourite place to go in Dresden and I'd go back to the city just to visit again.

I'm not normally one to be too taken with architecture, but the architecture in Dresden blew me away. So stunning! It's strange to think that the city was completely flattened during the Second World War.

You can't visit Germany without trying Currywurst and Pommes. So good!

I took this on the day we left for good. Tom was moving to be with me in Bayreuth and we were about the catch our train when I snapped this from the S-Bahn. It's by no means a good picture but it's one of my favourites as it was so beautiful that that was the last thing my eyes saw of Dresden. Pretty fitting too, but now I'm just getting cheesy!

Tea and Welsh cakes at England, England! :D

I thought I had more photos of Dresden and it made me quite sad that these were the only decent(ish) few because we spent so much time there. Again the photos don't do the city's beauty, amazing shops or amazing nightlife any justice and I can only urge you to go and try it for yourself. Forget Berlin and Munich, Dresden is the place to be!

Wish me a safe flight, and I'll be back next week with a post about Berlin so keep an eye out! Bis bald :)

Erasmus year reflections, Teil 1: Meissen.

I may not meet many of the requirements for Best Language Student the World Has Ever Seen, but I can certainly put a big tick in the Wanderlust box. I'm currently swimming around in the dregs of my Erasmus year in Germany and my biggest regret is that I didn't travel anywhere near as much as I'd have liked to (and that my German is still pretty shocking, but I can deal with that). I don't quite know how I managed to pilfer away almost £4000 of free money on top of my full student loan, but I did! Tom had a bit of a rough year on his placement and it ended up costing him almost a grand just to escape from that so that didn't help too much, but the main reason was probably that I just can't keep my hands to myself every time I visit H&M. Anyway, I digress. To help me get back into the swing of blogging (and not feel too depressed that the amazing experience is over) I've decided to compile a little account of all the places I have managed to visit during my Erasmus year. I'll post a little bit about each city in every post and try and include as many photos as I can! Sorry they're so tragic, my little point and shoot does get a 10/10 for effort...

September 2010: Meißen

This was always going to be the one with the most pictures seeing as it was the first place in Germany I saw in the light of day after I landed in Berlin. Tom had already been living there for a week when I joined him and he did a placement out there until March. To say it was turbulent would probably be something of an understatement. You see, Meissen is in Saxony and is a part of the former DDR and you can really tell. The city is gorgeous, but there isn't a great deal to do unless you want to take an hour train journey to Dresden (costing 11€ return) and very few young people because the economy has struggled to keep up with the former West Germany since the reunification. So he was stuck there internet-and-friend-less after I left in October. It was a damn struggle to keep our relationship going during that time, but Meissen is still the place I'm fondest of.

Luckily it was still summer whilst I was there and we were new to the city and also the country so it was nice to be able to spend the days exploring and practising the language. The cultural difference did shock me a little. I'm fully aware that British girls tend to leave little to the imagination when dressing, but vest tops or skirts without tights were a total no-go if you didn't want disapproving stares and overt gossiping. I'm very used to blending in in Britain, but everything about me seemed to scream 'foreigner' and the attention made me feel a little uncomfortable. Still, it was nice to be able to throw on my scruffiest clothes for an amble to the Eiscafe without being judged too severely.

We ate far too much ice cream whilst we were there. Eiscafes are such a big part of German culture and even now, eleven months later the novelty still hasn't worn off. We did take it a little too far though, nomming our way through a beaker of icecream every single day when we really should have just been eating a scoop. Not good for my bank balance or my waistline! But in a city famous for its porcelain, vineyards and notorious flooding, there wasn't a great deal else to do. Many evenings strolling up Albrechtsburg (shown in the photos) ensured that all the icecream didn't make me too much of a podge!

I had a brilliant time during my stay, but sadly this doesn't seem to have translated too well in my writing. But I honestly didn't do a great deal, it was just a nice little break spent with my boyfriend after a summer apart. It was also the perfect end to the summer before having to get used to the university routine again and I think I saw the most drastic improvement in my German in those four short weeks than in the ten months I lived in Bayreuth as a student. My writing skills still leave a lot to be desired and I'm actually a little bit sad that I can't do such a beautiful city the justice it deserves. If you ever find yourself anywhere near Dresden, Meissen is well worth a day trip!

I do hope my account of my time in Meissen wasn't too dull. I'll make a post about Dresden next time and my tales will hopefully be a little more animating!

Bis bald!

Oliva.

I can't quite believe I've found time to blog tonight as I have so much to do. I've yet to finish my Italian homework, my German homework and finish drying my washing. I had an English assignment due in today which I didn't realise until I got into class. I'm an awful student and I really ought to utilise my homework planner. Instead I'm sitting at my desk, enjoying the drizzly weather (a welcome break from the stifling thirty degree heat we've been experiencing all week), drinking a latte macchiato and marvelling over how smooth my skin is.

Admittedly the heat has probably contributed to it too, but I've been using Oliva pure olive oil soap and even after two days of using it I can already tell that it is a welcome addition to my bathroom cabinet. My nan always had beautiful clear skin and swore by a skincare routine of just soap and water but I worried this might dry out my skin. The only time my skin has felt this smooth is after using a good facial scrub, but that obviously isn't an every day solution. I'll probably use it instead of my usual shower gel next time I'm in the shower too. I'll forever swear by Nivea moisturiser too, bringing my total skincare costs to around the £3 mark. Just goes to show that you don't have to spend lots of money to have lovely skin, but I'll continue to eye up various Burt's Bees gift sets...

Day Zero

It dawned on me yesterday that after almost nine months of living in Germany, I'll be home in the UK for good (or at least for another year) in just under eight weeks. The fact that I could have carried a baby to full-term during this time (I'm not sure why my mind works this way) and I've done nothing spectacular during this time and I'm not the fluent German speaker with lots of friends and a basic knowledge of Russian that I'd hoped to be (though I'm having lots of fun learning Italian with the few wonderful friends I have) and I want to be a better person as I enter my final year of university. So what better way to do this than to boast to the world about the inspired person I am and create a list on Day Zero?

You can find my (as yet unfinished) list here but I'll probably update on here with pictures, information and whatnot as soon as I'm up, running and completing goals. Here's to the future!

On a completely unrelated note, here are a few things things I've been lusting after this week:

1. Striped Fleece Backpack in Light Grey Stripes I'm hoping to make the most of being in the centre of Europe and travel a bit in the last two months of being here so this would be the perfect companion. The only problem is; which colour to choose?
2. Clarins Skin Illusion Foundation SPF10 I've actually been lusting after this in 'Wheat' for months - i got a free sample in Cosmopolitan and it was perfect. just can't justify parting with £24 at the moment...
3. F&F Spot print 50s prom dress I've been searching high and low for a pretty polka dot dress but so far I haven't found the perfect one. Ideally I'd like one in red but for £9 I can't argue with this one. Sadly there aren't any sizes left below a 14 and the reviews claim it's very short (I'm 5'8). Hopefully my mum will be able to search for one in store for me.
4. Wizard Of Oz Mug I've been meaning to buy a new mug for when I sleep over at my boyfriend's but I'm not going to pretend that I need an excuse for this. It's the Wizard of Oz! now just to persuade him that he loves me enough...

This is why I never have any money...

Sarah
xx

Because I Could Not Stop For Death - Emily Dickinson

Because I could not stop for Death,
He kindly stopped for me;
The carriage held but just ourselves
And Immortality.

We slowly drove, he knew no haste,
And I had put away
My labour, and my leisure too,
For his civility.

We passed the school where children played,
Their lessons scarcely done;
We passed the fields of gazing grain,
We passed the setting sun.

We paused before a house that seemed
A swelling of the ground;
The roof was scarcely visible,
The cornice but a mound.

Since then 'tis centuries; but each
Feels shorter than the day
I first surmised the horses' heads
Were toward eternity.

Wishlist Wednesday!

1. Renewal Red Levi's® Overdyed Denim Shorts 2. 1416 3-Eye Shoe 3. Leather Satchel 4. Gok Wan 13



After a futile search for a bottle green cardigan I settled for the Misfits jacket which I found on Tumblr. My sixteen year old self is pining for the jacket whereas my twenty one year old self is pining for the days when I'd have had the balls to wear something like this. I know I should be hating red denim with everything I have (especially red denim shorts!) but I can't help myself. The Doccers will probably have to wait until my next installment of student loan in September (boo!) and I'm not holding out much hope of coming across the bag (double boo!) as there were only a very limited number released and they're currently retailing for more $$$ than I have. It's a shame that I have to wait so long before getting my paws on all of this as I'm definitely feeling the lot as the perfect summer gig/BBQ outfit. Oh well, maybe Mr Erasmus Grant won't mind me having a mini-splurge when he finally shows his beautiful little face.

I'll definitely have to wait until I'm back in Britain before buying the glasses as I'm far too scared to get my eyes sorted out here in Germany. Plus Specsavers offer the 2 for 1 deal which will come in very useful as I live everyday in fear of breaking/losing my glasses and being too blind to leave the house... I haven't decided on a second pair yet, but the 'Try On' feature on specsavers.com has provided me with hours of entertainment. This is what the glasses will apparently look like on me. Trying to get a decent picture on my webcam without my glasses to aid my vision was an ordeal which I am in no rush to repeat.

Sarah

Una città bellisima!

Once upon a time (January) my boyfriend whisked me away to Milan for a weekend as part of my Christmas present and his birthday present. He is rather wonderful!

We stayed just outside of the city in Bergamo but sadly didn't get to experience much of it. Bergamo is famous for its Casoncelli dish and though we didn't find the time to try it, the manager of our hotel told us that it was an absolute must for those visiting the region. Instead we opted for the 'menu turistico' which was, at 20€ for three courses, coffee, water and a bottle of wine, significantly cheaper than the underwhelming food Milan had to offer peasants like us. The restaurant was called La Bruschetta the food alone was easily delicious enough to warrant a return.

Milan, I feel, needs no explanation. Two days in the city was definitely plenty of time to experience the major attractions that the city has to offer, and we learned the hard way that a cheap meal in the city is nigh on impossible to come by. We were lured in to a restaurant under the illusion that we'd be paying around 9€ for a bowl of pasta. Of course this was true, but at 6€ for a standard size glass of Coke, the cost begins to mount. The pasta wasn't awful, but I could have easily cooked up a dish of equal quality at home for a fraction of the price. Still, for a city like Milan, tourist traps are only to be expected.

Though it was very foggy during our stay, and the quality of my camera isn't the best, here are a few of the pictures we took during our stay:

This was taken at the very top of the Duomo. The views were really quite spectacular even on a day as foggy as that. I imagine that you could see for miles on a clear day.

It wouldn't be a trip to Italy without a visit to a Gelateria!

This is my boyfriend in the expensive restaurant I mentioned earlier. We felt ever so classy drinking our 8€ Prosecco.

Focaccia is delicious!

The Duomo in all its glory. It's so grand and imposing and I couldn't help but feel that its intricate architecture would look out of place and tacky in anywhere other than Milan. It suits the city perfectly though.

Prada!

Galleria Vittorio Emanuele.

Another view from the top of the Duomo. I took around a hundred from the top, but I managed to refrain from posting them all.


One thing that really surprised me was the willingness of the Italians to speak English to us. Like so many other nations without English as an official language, the gratitude shown for taking just half an hour to learn some key phrases is enough to justify doing it. I can't understand why so many people are still choosing the ignorance option. Then again I am a languages student. I can't recommend Milan enough though, and I have a feeling that this is only the beginning of a life-long love affair with Italy.

Ciao,
Sarah

Take me back to dear old Blighty.

Almost a month without posting. It's amazing what having no followers does to your confidence and motivation, isn't it?

I'm back in Germany now after a brief British stint. When I say 'brief', I mean that I intended to stay home for two weeks but ended up having no money to book a flight and my dad finally bailed me out after almost four weeks of doing nothing but watching Jeremy Kyle and eating bacon. Not that this is a bad thing, it was heaven and I wish I was still there doing the same, though my life of pleasure was a decision which I now regret.

I am a stone heavier than when I came to Germany in September. Though I blame this partly on the lack of availablity of foods with a sugar content that doesn't induce instant diabetes or so much salt that you feel your mouth and innards beginning to burn away, I probably eat enough now in one day to leave two baby elephants feeling sated for at least a week. I used to pride myself on weighing less than ten stone (I'm 5'8) and right now I don't weigh that and I feel so fat it almost makes me want to cry. Sadly it doesn't make me want to stop munching on the cheese and onion crisps I paid over the odds for at Subway. I'll most definitely have eaten my Goldbears by 11 too.

One thing I regret even more than my impending weight problem is that my German seems to have reverted back to GCSE standard, and most of the time I'd rather show my bare arse in Primark window than talk German to an actual German. It's not that my German is necessarily bad (though it's not too great either), I just lack the confidence and live in fear of messing up my dative and accusative cases and having a German get offended and stabbing me or something. Or even worse LAUGHING AT ME! Or God forbid judging me. The possibilities are indeed endless, and though the chances are they won't even notice, I'd just rather not risk it and just have everyone in Chester see me bare bum. It seems as if every German has a radar, and they can sense that I'm German just by looking at me this is probably true, sadly. I feel exactly as I did when I first moved out here, in a little town in the former East Germany, judged by harpies every time I dared to wear clothes that looked remotely British. Admittedly, when I drink a bottle of wine, wear a see-through shirt and scream along to the lyrics of 'Fuck Forever' on a night out, I expect to be judged in Germany. But most of the time I am a decent and respectable human being, and I'm sick of feeling foreign.

Don't get me wrong, I love Germany. I'm so grateful that I've had such a fantastic opportunity and I'm sure that I'll look back on this experience as one of the best things I've ever done, but right now I want nothing more than to get catastrophically drunk British style, and have my dad pick up the pieces with a massive fry-up the next day. And maybe to be thin again, but for now I'm being realistic.

Sarah
xx

Philharmonics

Just before Christmas it occurred to me that KoRn had appeared in my iTunes Top 25 Played for the first time since I was about fifteen, and, after combatting a resulting bout of despair and identity crisis, I decided that maybe it was time to shake up my music library. Luckily, a new laptop and my laziness coincided, and I deleted all of the music on my old laptop without replacing it. I realise now that this was a bad move and regret it almost as much as the time I nearly suffocated when my mum dared me to put an entire sausage roll in my mouth, but I have discovered some gems along my music-replacing quest.

One of my favourites is the fantastic Agnes Obel. For one thing, I am jealous of her fabulous name and incredible bone structure, but she reminds me a little of (a less waily) Joanna Newsom. This is a good thing, I love Joanna! Anyway, Agnes is Danish (+ interesting points) and she has a knack for creating music that seems a little surreal to me, in a way which I couldn't begin to describe. Beautiful, enchanting, and evoking an odd sense of nostalgia, it's been the perfect music for me to enjoy whilst I've been stuck indoors, feeling uninspired and friendless. I realise that this makes little sense and I won't be pursuing a career in any kind of music journalism in the near future, but hopefully you'll check her out. This is my favourite from her album, Philharmonics, it's called Riverside:

This was my first time watching the video, which is also beautiful!
Sarah