Ahh finally weekend!

Which meeaaaaaanss.......

WOOHOO!

Heck yes! I DID it! I read 8 books, I repeat EIGHT BOOKS in October! Wow! That's some sort of accomplishment, isn't it? (:
*pats own shoulder*

Even though I am super duper busy with school, I wanted to read at least one book a week, but since I also read a few small books, I managed to read eight books. Heck yes!

Gotta love reading..

Oh and by the way, I also have a Goodreads profile, if you wanna check it out. If you don't know what a goodreads profile is, that's basically this website (www.goodreads.com) where you can post which books you've read, and when, and what your opinion on that particular book is, and you can fill in polls and such, aaaaaaandd also, you can do a book challenge! I am doing the 50 books challenge, which means you have to try to read 50 books in 2013. I have already read 35 books so far, which means I am currently on 70% :D

Here's the link:

https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/21544556-anne

Where I'd like to live

Divergent trailer!

AAAAAAAHHHH THE FIRST LOOK OF THE DIVERGENT MOVIE WAS RELEASED LAST NIGHT!!

I have waited forever for this! I am so excited for the movie to come out next year.

Oh and if you haven't read the books, you DEFINETELY should! When I read the first book I immediately fell in love with the series. The last book in the series is supposed to come out in November in the Netherlands I believe.

Here's the link to the trailer. Enjoy!

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=S6HHCxLZftQ

Current Pool Reads

When the weather is so hot everyday, I pretty much hang out by the pool all day. And what's better than reading a good book while you're laying at the pool.

At the moment I'm reading two books. 

1. Travels With Charlie: In Search of America - John Steinbeck

2. What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank - Nathan Englander

Travels with Charlie is like the perfect book for me. Ever since I was 10 years old I've dreamt of studying and living in America. It may be naive but that's my biggest dream. There's just something about the USA that appeals to me. I often feel like I was born in the wrong country...

This book describes how John Steinback rediscovers his country and I really love the book so far.

(And yes, the book on the picture is the Dutch version ^^)

And the second book: what we talk about when we talk about anne frank. Which, first of all, has an amazing name if you ask me. But there are way too many capitals in the title if you have to type this on a phone (;

The book contains a few short stories which are all in a way connected to Anne Frank, World War 2 and Israel. Maybe a bit odd to read this when you're hanging by the pool but it's quite easy to read and the stories are very interesting.

Roman trees

Sigh. I absolutely hate (most of the time) vertical pictures. I don't know, I just don't like them. Hea shots and such are fine vertical, but when you take a picture of a landscape it just has to be taken horizontal. In my opinion.

So please please please forgive me for using a vertical picture haha (:

How stupid, I wanted to make a post about the lovely Roman trees here on the camp site but the sun hasn't set yet so I had to use a picture from last year (we went here last year also) and couldn't find a better one. Oops.

Okay, let's get to the point. One of the things I love about this place is the trees. They're super tall and kind of majestic in my opinion. How cool are they, right?! When we're sitting outside (which is always, thanks to the lovely weather) I can just stare at them forever. So much more exciting than the regular Dutch trees (:

Soooooo at the bar there is a karaoke thing going on at the moment and some Italian 50+ woman is singing My Immoral by Evannesscence (HOW do you spell that?!) for the 10th time now! Like wut? Is she rehearsing or something? Oh well. Let's try to ignore it and take another dive in the beautiful pool.

Hi!

Hello there guys! It's been soo long and I'm soooo sorry! I haven't posted anything in over a month I believe. So here's what happened.

First, on July 10th my teacher called to tell me that I didn't pass this year at school. BAM. Bummer. 

I felt like my world had exploded and there was nothing left for me. I was absolutely devastated.

For a couple of days I could only cry and feel sad. But then I decided it was enough. The past year was a terrible year for me. I didn't feel comfortable with myself, thought I was fat and ugly and couldn't find the motivation that was necessery to get things done.

It was time for a change. I decided to join the gym near my house. Every day of the week (exept the weekends because then I have to work) at least one hour I spent in the gym for the past couple of weeks. I admit, it is tough. Very tough. But I like it. Working out makes me feel comfortable with myself. My body is healthy now and I'd like to keep it that way. I am not ashamed of my body when I go swimming and overall, I feel great!

So the first weeks of my summer holiday were terrible but now it's great.

I am currently chilling at the swimming pool in Rome, Italy! Yes! I love it here and the weather is great! Gonna be posting some pictures and blogposts this week. Look forward to it (:

One more test

 

Allright guys, I'm almost back! One more test to go! And then, finally, SUMMER BREAK! Yay! So excited! Hopefully I'll pass this year and next school year will be my senior year. That's supposed to be the best year of your life, right? Well, we'll see about that

Just wanted to let you know that there will be regular blogposts very soon!

Tumblaahhh

 

Why do I do this to myself!? Avoiding studying for my test week and instead spending my entire day on tumblr and youtube. Thought it'd be a great idea to watch all of the vlogbrothers vids of the last 3 years. Turned out to be a bad idea, those videos are so addictive! And so fun to watch. I highly recommend it (: 

Tomorrow (or actually today, when this post will be up) is the last sailing lesson of the season, so sad. We only offer 7 lessons a year, and a camp where we do all kinds of different stuff, including sailing. So that's a lot of fun! Ah, I love sailing so much... Unfortunately we've had rain twice, so that wasn't too great, but it was just as much fun as it is when there's sun. Okay, maybe not entirely as fun, but it's still a sort of adventure. Okay nevermind. :P

My to do list for Saturday contains the following things:
- last sailing lesson
- work from 1-6PM
- STUDY OUR BUTT OFF IN ORDER TO GET SOME GOOD GRADES.

So yeah. Hope I'll stick to that last point. Not too sure about that one haha.

Oh and to explain the PotC .gif set: I am currently watching PotC so I was in the mood haha. Gotta love Jack!

Can't wait for MU to come out in The Netherlands! :D

Peter Pan!

 

In a very Disney mood today! Randomly decided to watch Peter Pan, such a good movie (:

Speechless.. (TFIOS review)

I just finished The Fault In Our Stars, and I am absolutely speechless. Yes, I know that sounds cheeky since almost everyone says that when they finish TFIOS, but it's true. A couple weeks back I finished Looking for Alaska, and yesterday I decided to start in TFIOS.

This is a short little review, containing NO SPOILERS. (;

So... where should I start? First of all, I want to say that John Green's books are unpredictable, which is very nice. Halfway through the book I thought I knew how it would end (same with LFO), but nothing was less true. A complete plot twist! Just, like BAM, in your face.

Another thing, a big part of the book refers to The Netherlands, Dutch writers/basketball players or other Dutch things. A part of the book is even set in Amsterdam! I know that’s not a huge deal or anything, but it kind of is to me, since I am Dutch and live in The Netherlands. It gave me a pleasant feeling, knowing that an awesome vlogger and author like John Green knows my small little country even exists! He describes Amsterdam so beautifully, and perfectly accurate. Most books just say something about the red light district, and that’s it. Such a plain image of Amsterdam, since it’s so much more. John Green did a perfect job describing Amsterdam and its magic.

The book contains a lot of literature and poetry references, and I really like that. I am a person who likes to analyze a text or a poem or a story. And John Green mentions these literary works very subtle, but it really adds something to the story.

I highly recommend this book, if you haven’t read it yet. I couldn’t put it away. Started it Sunday evening 10 PM, and took it with my to school the next morning (so I could read in my free periods) and when I got home continued reading. I finished it within 23 hours. I am typing this at 10 PM on a Monday. (this blog post will be published on a Tuesday, so yeah, I really finished it within a day, if you had any doubts)

Long story short: amazing book. Beautifully written and the story spoke to me. This book meant a great deal to me (ghehe, got that reference? If you read TFIOS, you do). John Green, thank you for writing this masterpiece.

 

PS; if you’re looking for beautiful/inspirational/hilarious quotes, you should DEFINETELY read it.

#Nerdfighter

Books books books

Boooooooks! I love them! And last Saturday I went to a second hand store, where they sell about EVERYTHING. And I ran straight to the book section, in the hope of finding some entertaining books. And wel.. I did :D
As you can see, in the pic, haha. I purchased a total of 5 books:

The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
The Lost Symbol - Dan Brown
The Bro Code - Barney Stinson
To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
Digital Fortress - Dan Brown

Uh yeah, a lot of Dan Brown. To be honest, I never read a book by him before, so about time I did! Three of these books aren't for me actually. Digital Fortress was a part of my dad's birthday gift, and I gave To Kill a Mockingbird to one of my friends, just as a small gift. And The Bro Code, I'm planning on giving that one to a friend of mine who is a big van of HIMYM (How I Met Your Mother, for those of you that don't know). This book is based on the series, so yeah.

And Well, the rest is for me. Only two books left (: But really looking forward to reading those. By the way, the white round stickers on the back of the books don't really mean anything. I guess the employees there use that to indicate in what section the books are supposed to be. Or something like that.

And that's about it for today! See y'all soon!

The perfect spring/summer song

The weather today was amazing in The Netherlands! Wow! Haven't seen that in a while.. But it was about 20 degrees Celsius and the sun was shining and it was just lovely and exactly what I needed at the moment. When I woke up around 7AM and opened my window I heard the birds whistling and the sun shone in my eyes and it was just perfect. And there is this song, which resembles that feeling so good, it is Plage by Crystal Fighters.

I listened to it all morning non-stop! (School did not start until 12 'o clock ^^)

Uh-uh, I know, the song is pretty old. But I love iiiit! Last summer when we went to Rome with the fam, I listened to the song on our way to Rome, and it just brings back a lot of great memories whenever I listen to the song. Summer, lovely weather, great time with family, relaxing, not worrying about a thing... kinda hard to explain.

But anyways, I just want to share the song with you guys, if you haven't heard it before.
ENJOY!

Lazy Sunday

 

*insert picture of the incredibly hot Knights of Camelot. Ugh.. Gwaine and Lancelot, why so handsome? *

 

Hello there! Well, today I don't feel like doing anything (and yes, that is also a Bruno Mars lyric). But seriously, I don't feel like doing ANYTHING. So I guess I'll just read a bit, do some homework, and study for my upcoming CAE exam (aaahhhh stress) and visit some family. Sound pretty chill, right (: I woke up early (8 AM) and here I am, still (11 AM while typing this) sitting on the computer doing absolutely nothing. I am watching an episode of Merlin right now, but it is too freaking scary so I just keep pausing it the entire time haha.

Haven't progressed much in LfA (Looking for Alaska, my current read) so that's something I need to work on :P I'm at page 70 or so. My goal for today is to read til at least page 120.

Hm... not much to talk about today, as you may have noticed haha. Just gonna leave it here and get off my lazy but and start doing something useful.

Enjoy your weekend/Sunday!

ALSO! How weird is this!? Just scrolling through the 'lazy sunday' tag on Tumblr, when I see a gif. of a scene in the Merlin episode I am watching right now. *poofffff* mind blown :D

50 Book Challenge and Movies List

Maybe you noticed, but in case you didn't: I have 3 new pages on my blog! One contains some information about me, and the other two are a 50 book challenge and a movies list.

50 Books
This is a challenge I found when I was reading the booksandquills blog. There are also a lot of videos on youtube about it. It basically means that you have to read at least 50 books in a year. And even thought 2013 started a while back, I'm stille going to attempt the challenge. Wow, that's gonna be interesting, especially since I only read 9 (shame on me) books this year.
Time for a change! I've been reading so little (is that correct grammar? help me out here please) lately and I want to change that. I'll just have to make time for it (: 
Good plan? Good plan. Wish me luck.

Movies List
Aaaaand I'm also trying to write down all the movies I have watched this year. Once again, my memory isn't too great and I don't remember everything, but the list is already pretty long so far. Now the only thing left to do is keeping up (:

That is all I wanted to talk about! Hopefully you enjoy my book and movies lists, and maybe you can take some inspiration out of it.

Currently reading.

 

Since it is weekend, I thought, why not starting in a new book? So I did. I chose to read 'Looking for Alaska' by John Green. I bought it 3 weeks ago while I was in London (waaahhhh london a;lsjdfljasdf love it there). And guess where I bought it.... HARRODS! How cool is that (:
Actually nothing special, but hey, there is only one Harrods, and the only things that are not ridiculously expensive are books. Mwuahaha. So I bought my book there.

I only just started in the book. I am currently on page.. uhh let me look it up. Just a sec. On page 31. Not much has happened yet, except I read some guy's visions on the female body. Ah.. how interesting. But I am very curious how this book's gonna be. Heard some pretty good stuff about it. I'll let you know if it is worth a read. (:


Picture source: tumblr.

TV tip: New Girl

Hello everyone! Today I want to share one of the (in my opinion) funniest TV shows I've ever seen: New Girl. New girl is a TV series about a teacher, Jessica "Jess" Day, who moves in with 3 other guys who are all just as insane as she is: Nick, Winston and Schmidt. They constantly do stupid things and mess everyting up but always support each other in their stupidness.

Sometimes it's a bit weird, and there are a lot of childish sex jokes, but it is super funny. Approved!

I've watched this series since the first episode. Last week the season finale of season 2 aired, so if you're interested, you have 50 episodes to enjoy until the next season starts! (:
You should definetely check it out :D

Weeeeeeekend!

Yay! It's finally weekend! Or technically, weekend is almost over. But hey, look on the bright side. We have an extra day off of school this monday. Time for a little party! Oh wait, not really. School has been really tough this year. And I'm probably not gonna pass this year, so maybe I'll have to re-do this school year. How depressing is that.. I once said I'd rather die dan re-do the school year. Well, that's of course not the case and I didn't mean it, but it kind of shows you how much I hate school and how depressed I would be if I wouldn't pass. I would be destroyed, literally.
But I'm gonna do as much as I can to pass! I just HAVE TO. No mather what it takes.
Well, now that we've had that. time for some other stuff.

Monday me and some of my friends are having a BBQ. Even though it's gonna rain, but that doens't matter haha. We'll think of something to stay dry. Just went shopping for some groceries and I think we've got all we need. So I'm really looking forward to that!

And I am trying to blog as much as I can, even though I don't really have the time. But I think it is very important for me to keep practicing English as much as I can, since my CAE (Cambridge Advanced English) exams are coming up! On Wednesday June 12 is the written part of the exam (the entire day!) and on Saturday the 22th I have my speaking part. Very nervous.. I have to get at least a C in order to pass the exam. And blogging (and reading english fiction books) are a perfect excuse to practise. (: