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

Hit me with your best shot

Hit me with your best shot dundundundun why don't you hit me with your best shot?!

Haha, I've had this song stuck in my head the entire day! Kinda catchy.
So, within 2 weeks is my CAE exam... AAAHH stressing out (again. still. uhm.), I have so much left to do! I decided to read/talk/speak english as much as I can in order to prepare. So far it's going pretty okay.
And I STILL haven't finished Looking for Alaska. Oops. Haven't read anything in the last 4 days. There are only 40 pages left to read. Think I might finish it tomorrow. And then immediately start in The Lighthouse by P.D. James (Have to read that one for the exam).

Tommorow it's time for some sailing! Ah, love it! I teach kids between the ages of 8 and 15 how to sail in a small boat. I absolutely love doing that, it's so much fun. Myself, I took my first sailing class when I was 9 years old. I did it for 3 years, and now this is my 3rd year of teaching kids. (:

And for the rest, my weekend pretty much consists of homework. Dull. But it has to be done, hm? I'll just finish watching Dear John (oh Channing Tatum, how much I love you. Seriously, have you seen those abs...?) and going to bed. Bye!

Picture source: tumblr.

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!

Good day.

Good day everyone! How are you doing? I am doing quite excellent actually. School this week has been okay so far, after a lovely week of vacation. But now the hard work starts again. In 6 weeks is already the next test week, ridiculous! And I already have to start studying.. Great.
But today is a good day. I had a short day of school and was home super early, which meant I had time to watch the brand new Pretty Littly Liars episode that came out yesterday. Amazing show! Absolutely love it, the mysteries, the story line, everything!

Also, today I have piano lessons again. I have lessons once every two weeks. Not very often, but it's enough. Right now I am learning how to play Don't You (Forget About Me) by Simple Minds.
And before you ask, I already knew the song before it was in Pitch Perfect --'
Really love the song! Go and listen to it! I am sure you'll like it. Or maybe not. What do I know? (:

But before piano lessons, me and my family are going to the church, where there is a HUGE dinner for everyone from our church who wants to come. So excited! It's gonna be amazing! They organize this huge dinner normally once or twice a year. It's always really nice just talking to people who you normally don't talk to that often, and the food is great (:

But I really have to practice piano before I go to work, so I'm off! I'll leave you with a very chill song I personally really like.

THE SCRIPT CONCERT

AAAAAHHHH. Last friday, January 25th 2013, I went with 3 of my friends to the The Script concert in the Ziggo Dome in Amsterdam!! We bought our tickets last September, and now the time was finally there! To be honest I am not SUCH a fan of The Script, but 2 of my friends really like them, and me and my other friend were like 'why not join them', so we also bought tickets. Since the weather was terrible and for the last couple of weeks it has snowed constantly, we went with the car. Not only because of the weather, but it's also way more comfortable (:

Wrapping gifts

Since it's holiday season practically all I'm doing right now is wrapping gifts. Well maybe I'm exaggerating just a bit haha. But tomorrow it's Sinterklaas! I didn't think too much about it since I have to much (school)work to do. So of course I am wrapping all of my presents at the very last moment. Typical me. I should really start doing stuff on time. But my surprise is already done, so that's at least one thing.

Tomorrow I'll be celebrate Sinterklaas twice. I'll be celebrating with my grandparents and all of my nieces and nephews and my brothers and sisters. No parents allowed haha. We'll eat dinner together, and open the presents together and it's always so much fun. Normally on December 5th there is school until 1PM and after that we're free to go. But this year I'll be stuck at school until 4PM. Great. Thanks, school. But I won't let that ruin my day. I bought some presents for my grandparents also. For grandma I bought choclates, since she loves those but never buys them for herself, and for my grandpa I bought nougat. He loves that so much, but same story as with grandma, he never buys it for himself. So I did it for them (:

In the evening, we'll celebrate with my family. Just me, my parents and my brothers and sisters. Since we don't have too much time and my youngest brother and sister have to go to bed early, we won't celebrate very extensive. My parents told me they didn't want to get any presents this year, but I think it's kinda lame to actually not give them anything. So for my father I bought aftershave and for my mom I got a cooking book with all kinds of Italian recipes. I think she an my dad will really like that cooking book, since we went to Rome, Italy last summer they like Italian food even more than they did before!
Also I have piano lessens, tomorrow evening. Great timing isn't it? But I really love my piano lessons so I don't mind. I have been taking lessons for probably about 3 monts now and I really really love it. Playing the piano (or in my case keyboard) is something I've wanted to do since I was 10 years old, but for some reason it never came to it. (Is that proper English? Please correct me if I'm wrong!) And last year, for my 15th birthday my parents paid a part of my keyboard, as a birthday present. I was so happy with it and I was determined to teach myself a lot before I would take lessons. But chaotic as I am, it didn't work out very well. I tought myself some of the basics but not enough to play actual songs. So since the start of this school year I am taking lessons. I have the most amazing teacher. He's very funny and a real good teacher, perfect!

So tomorrow I'm wearing my new red sweater! I posted a picture of it last week. I decided that that would be my cozy holiday sweater (: I'm paring it with some dark washed jeans and my beloved Timberlands.

Alright, gotta go now. Wrapping up the last gifts for tomorrow.

Days left til Sinterklaas: 1 (YEAAAAAAAH)
Days left til Christmas: 21

Music of the Moment

Today I wanna share with you some of my favorite songs. Songs I've been listening to lately and songs I can always listen to and never get bored of. I love old school music, and a little alternative music. But mostly old school. Especially the 80's music, so I hope you can appreciate my taste in music and maybe you like some of the songs too.

John Parr - St. Elmo's Fire (Man in Motion)

Not a very well known song, but it's actually really good. John Parr didn't write this song but just sung it for the film's soundtrack. But still very catchy and I think it's awesome.

 

Phil Collins - You Can't Hurry Love

One of my favorite songs ever. It's just so catchy and cute, and of course it is sung by one of my favorite musicians ever!

Fun - Some Nights

This music video is SO awesome! Just the whole civil war feeling and the soldiers and the music, amazing!

Imagine Dragons - It's Time

This song is actually one of the soundtracks of the movie The Perks of Being a Wallflower. I haven't seen the movie yet but I'm very excited to go and see it!

 

Ed Sheeran - Give Me Love

I am a HUGE fan of Ed, and I could probably dedicate an entire blogpost talking about him, but I won't. So this is one of my favorite songs by him. It's also a very cute music video. You should definetely check Ed out! He is amazing. When you go on youtube search for 'You Need Me, I Don't Need You', 'Lego House' and 'A Team' (you probably know them already) but then search for 'captured in the live room'. It sounds incredibe!

 

Band Aid - Do They Know It's Christmas

And last but not least, my favorite christmas song ever! This is the original Band Aid (1984), which I really love. In this clip you see a lot of artists I listen to and who I think are amazing. Fun fact: Paul McCartney also sung in this song, but he sent in a voice clip which was edited in the song, so that's why he's not in the video. Same goes for some other artists.

Last Saturday, November 24th it was exactly 28 years ago since they recorded this song. I was planning on giving a shout out to the video last Saturday but I completely forgot haha.


Alright. This blogpost wasn't long at all, but I was gone all day, because of school and work, but hopefully you liked it. Tomorrow I'm gonna buy presents and make my 'surprise' for Jessica, whose name I drew for Sinterklaas.

Days left till Sinterklaas: 5
Days left till Christmas: 25