DUN DUN DUUUUUNNNNN

Oh no, it's here. It's already going on actually haha, just forgot to mention. But what I am talking about is the oh so terrible exam week. BUT! When this week is over, there are only 2 more exam weeks to go, so that's uhh kind of a good thing. I guess.

Nothing you can do about it, huh? So here's a few tips on how you survive your exam week:

1. Drink lots of tea.
2. Try to got to bed early (it's so hard, i know)
3. Relax.
4. It is okay to make mistakes.
5. JUST SURVIVE, it'll be over soon enough.

Okay, back to learning. BYE!

Loooooong time no see.

Well hello there everyone reading this! But I doubt there will be many people reading this since it's been FOREVER since I blogged. I went on vacation to Rome, and there I blogged for a bit, but the internet wasn't too well so not as much as I'd wanted.

What has happend since my last blogpost? First, we went home. Sadly. Summer vacation to me is sort of an escape from the daily life. On vacation it doens't matter what you do, because there is no one that will judge you. You can run around in your pajamas and no one will care. Wake up early, stroll around the camp site, watch the sun rise, go get bread for breakfast, dive in the swimming pool, reading a LOT, doing nothing... Just love the camping life <3

So sadly we went home. There is an end to everything, sadly. When we came home the weather was okay. Could've been worse. We drove home via Germany, where we stayed the night at a cute country site family hotel, and the next day we arrived home, after a long day in the car. We came home on a thursday, and the day after I had to start work at 8 (!!). But oh well, I managed haha. And the day after that I also had to work, this time at the market. Which meant getting up around 6am. But I sure do love my job!

And that Monday, I started the introduction week at my new school. It was tough, but also a lot of fun, maybe I'll write a blogpost about it soon. And after that week school really started. Lessons and such. Meh.

And here we are. The regular day to day life. School is hard, it's really tough and the new school system requires some getting used to, but so far I'm doing fine.

This was sort of an 'hey i'm back'-post, and I'm planning on blogging a lot more again (:

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.

Church windows

When you're in Rome, it's very likely you'll see a church at almost every street corner. They're everyhere. In all shapes and sizes. One of my favorite things about those churches/cathedrals/basilicas/whateveryouprefer are the windows.

In these churches (a lot of them were built during the Renaissance) everyhing is BIG. Everything. The sculptures, the statues, the paintings and so on. The windows are different. They aren't supposed to be the big eye catcher so often they are subtle and modest. Exacly what I like. With pretty colors and often a story is told in the glass.

The picture above is one of my favorites. It isn't very special or big, but I like it.

You can spot it in the Santa Maria Maggiore, about a 20 minute walk from the colosseum. 

Cambridge Exams Results!

AAAAAHHHH OHMYGARDEN YOU GUYS I CAN'T BELIEVE I DIDN'T BLOG ABOUT THIS BEFORE. But guess what..... *drum roll*

I PASSED MY CAMBRIDGE ADVANCED ENGLISH EXAMS!

I am so happy!

On July 25th, about 8 weeks after the exam, we could see if we passed our exams. I was SO nervous, especially because I already failed this year at school. I was shaking and didn't want to know whether I passed or not.

But eventually I found the courage to look aaaaand I passed! At grade B! I was super close to grade A! So that's a bit of a bummer (because then I would get an even higher certificate) but you won't hear me complain! I am so happy. 

Just wanted to share that with you ^^

Yes deer.

Look at this super cute mug I spotted in the Waterstones bookstore in Amsterdam a few weeks ago! Haha isn't it amazing? I fell for it immediately but didn't buy it since I already have enough shizzle lying around in my room.

If you live in The Netherlands, be sure to visit Waterstones! It is a beautiful store and has some pretty cool shelves with typical British and Dutch foods and other sorts of things. (:

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

Daisies

 

Sorry for the bad quality. I filmed it with my phone, so yeah..

Happee Birthday Dad.

 

Today, Sunday June 2nd, is NOT my dad's birthday. It is tomorrow actually. But we're celebrating today for friends and family, and the weather just happens to be perfect. (:
The sun is shining, there are birds in the garden, waiting for us to leave our food and then steal is from us, and everyone is happy. I love these days. And about time too! It is officially summer in only 19 days, and we haven't had such a cold spring in about 40 years I believe, here in our little county.

And I finished Looking for Alaska, by John Green. Finally. Didn't read much last week, but since the weather was so nice, I decided to take my book outside and finish it in the sun.
I REALLY liked it. Didn't know what to expect, and since the book is from a boy's POV, there's a lot of 'girl reviewing' in the book. But it was very nicely written, and a lot of great philosophy is in it. I would definetely recommend it!

Now it is time for me to start studying for my Cambridge exam, which means even MORE reading haha. Gonna start reading 'The Lighthouse' by P.D. James tonight! I promise. I think..

PS; noticed my Harry Potter reference in the post? If you do, I love you! Oh well, I already gave it away with the pic. Nah. (:

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!

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. (:

Spring, where did you go?

Ugh. And the rain is back again here in Holland. How great. It's been raining almost non stop the past couple of days. And it's been cold too! Just rain; fine with me, but it is the cold that's killing me. Last week we were tricked into believing spring was finally coming up. Too bad...

Well, the weather may be terrible when you have to bike to school every day, but when it's late at night and you have a warm cup of tea and a good book, it's lovely. So that's what I'm about to do now! Just grabbing a new book (probably gonna read The Fault in Our Stars or Looking for Alaska) and making a hot cup of cherry tea. Have a lovely evening!

Something came up

Remember when I said yesterday that I was gonna watch Intouchables with two of my friends? Well.. we ended up not watching it. Something came up, as usual. So that's too bad. Maybe another time haha, whenever that will be.

The weather has been so lovely! Last week when I was in London the weather was amazing, with lots of sun but in the Netherlands it had been a bit cold. And you need to keep in mind that in about 1 or 2 months of time we've had sun, snow, rain, heavy wind, clouds and much more! It seems like the weather doesnt know what she wants (: But the time is finally there! SUN! The weather man said on the tv yesterday that the temperatures will come above 20 degrees Celsius! Yay! Time to pull my short sleeve shirts out of the back of my closet!

I'm off! Going outside and taking a book with me! I am currently reading Percy Jackson & the Olympians.

Remembrance Day

Today, May 4th It is Remembrance Day in the Netherlands. Today we remember the ones who fell for our country during the second World War. (1940-1945 for the Netherlands). Tonight at 8PM the entire country will be silent for 2 minutes and think about all those people who gave their lives for our country. On television you normally see Queen (now princess) Beatrix and (now king) Willem Alexander on De Dam in Amsterdam where they lay a bouquet of flowers. It is now 7:35PM, and I don't know exactly how it will go this year, but soon we'll see how it goes (:

I am making this little extra blogpost in honor of Remembrance Day, and all of those who fell during the Second World War.

Thank you, Beatrix!

                                                                         Beatrix


Okay, I know I said that I would maaaaybe write one post in advance? Well, I was really feeling it today haha. It is still Friday, and this is about my 4th post I am writing today, I believe. But I really wanted to have a 'special' post up on my blog on April 30th, since "today" is Queen's Day in the Netherlands. This is a national holiday we celebrate annually. But today is the last Queen's Day. From this day on, it will be called 'King's Day'. Because Beatrix is abdicating today and now Willem Alexander is our new king.

So, what I just wanted to say is: Beatrix, thank you! You've done a lot for this country and we really appreciate it. And Willem, we're sure you'll do great haha!

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 (:

University

Oh man, I just can't wait to finish school. I want to go to university SO badly! In the month of January almost all of the Dutch universities have a so called 'open day', where you can come and visit the city, the university and the different locations. You can go to information and question panels where students and teachers explain about the different breedings, where they give you a sample lecture (very interesting) and where you can ask questions.

Last saturday, the 26th of January I went to Leiden University. This is a university that appealed to me ever since I heard some things about it. Because my dad had to work that day, he dropped me off at Schiphol Airport quite early, and from there I would take the train at 10AM to Leiden, and that way I would be perfectly on time, since it started at 10.30.

And oh my, I LOVE Schiphol. I've been there recently, when I went to Rome. The first time I went to an airport, I was, I think, about 7/8 years old. I'm not sure. But when I was walking around with my dad, I loved what I saw. Just the atmosphere there. Schiphol is so big, it's a city on its own. There are so many shops, cafés, restaurants and so forth. There also is a Panorama terrass, where you can sit, chill, drink a cup of coffee and enjoy the sight. You see the planes arriving at the terminal and you see them leaving. It's very fascinating. Or at least, to me it is. I really enjoyed being there when I was 7, and all the other times I went to schiphol, i went to the panorama terrass. So I figured I would go again this time, on my own. So I got a sandwich as breakfast and walked to the terrass. It was very windy and cold outside, and there was still snow, but it was such a beautiful day. Amazing view, the sun was shining. I had an absolute great time.

Well, time flies, you know, and it was already 9.30, so I ran to the train station, but I HAD to get a White Café Mocha at Starbucks. I only have been to Starbucks 3 times in my entire life, and I never drink coffee. But THIS, you should try it, it's amazing! And the line was so long.. I was there, stressing out, constantly watching the time and finally it was my turn. So I grabbed my coffee, ran to the trains, and then I found out that there was a delay. --'

Anyways, when I arrived in Leiden, I teamed up with another girl who was there on her own (almost everybody took one of his/her parents with them) and we went on an adventure! Just kidding, it wasn't that much of an adventure, but we had to walk to our locations, which were spread over the entire city. But eventually I found it, all on my own, since the girl had to go somewhere else.
The open day was amazing! There were so many nice people, and I really enjoyed it. I went to three information rounds:
1. History
2. International Studies
3. Middle-East Studies

As you can see, I love history and cultures and anything international. The panels were very informative and interesting.
There was also taken care of the lunch. They had amazing cupcakes! (: And even though I was alone, I wasn't bored. There was another boy who went to the same panels as I did and we talked for a while. I love meeting new people and just talking to them.

Sadly, you could only visit 3 panels at a maximum, so around 2 o'clock I was done. Decided to look around in the city for a bit and after that I found my way to the station, even though is was freezing cold and slippery.

Once I was at Schiphol again, my dad picked me up and we went home. I had an amazing day!