A Day in Berlin, more like Brrlin || A Semester Abroad

After partying it up in Amsterdam over New Years, Messy and I continued our travels to Berlin. At first, I found Berlin to be a little harsh and chilling. This was partly due to the to the bleak winter weather, but also the abruptness of the cities architecture. It was very jarring, especially in comparison to the gezelligheid of Amsterdam. (Gezelligheid is a Dutch word that encompasses the feeling of a cozy and friendly atmosphere). But now I look back and revere Berlin.

My most distinct memory of Berlin was the eclectic mixture of architecture. There were many different styles of buildings, and they were all shoved on top of each other. This meant that the city had a very different feel from what I’m used to, there was so much going on. There were these impressive modern buildings, so it felt like a business city.

When Messy and I first arrived in Berlin we were met with awe. Berlin’s Hauptbahnhof (main train station) left me speechless. I had never seen such a humongous and extensive train system. There were never ending platforms above and below us, everywhere we looked lead to more trains. You’d look over the edge of a platform and you’d see a labyrinth of more platforms set out beneath you. I ended up seeing a number of central stations through Europe, but none of them compared to the set up of Berlin’s Hauptbahnhof.

On top of this modern feeling, Berlin had the normal historical sites of any European city. You could find the old historical buildings, churches and palaces, which gave Berlin that quintessential European charm. In the picture below it’s the Oberbaumbrücke, a double decker bridge.

But then shoved among the modern and old were these old houses that were still in a state of disrepair. You could see where the buildings had been bombed and ruined. It felt like you could see the scars of the city.

At times this could be a little chilling. However, I quite liked that the buildings were kept the way they were. It showed the history of the place which gave Berlin a certain rawness. I saw buildings with bullet holes in them that still haven’t been covered up.

Then, littered through the city you could see parts of the Berlin Wall. Sometimes the Wall was left bare, others like the East Side Gallery were covered in art.

I believe it was the history that made me feel a chill towards Berlin at first. Prior to here, I hadn’t been to any places that were obviously touched by war. It surprised me by how much I was confronted by seeing the Berlin Wall. It was surprising how thin it was. We spent some time at the Berlin Wall Memorial to better understand the Cold War, so I found it to be one of the more affecting and haunting time of the overall trip.

All of these different styles through out the city made Berlin a really unique place. It felt like you could walk through Berlin for years and still find something you never noticed before. I think that’s what I most respect about Berlin, it is rich historically, but has lots of cool underground things going on.

Messy and I did not spend much time in Berlin yet we still found some amazing places.  We found a coffee shop that was serving a delicious German breakfast. They bought out platters of meats, cheeses, fruits, breads, jams and spreads for us to share. I love sharing food, and German breakfasts, so the combination made me a very happy Jacqui. It was delicious. I’m also quite a fan of outdoor markets we were lucky enough to go to the Flohmarkt am Mauerparkt. We spent a morning perusing the stores and sipping at Gluhwein to keep us warm.

The city had a very distinct feeling, one that I had never experienced before, and have yet to experience again. I’m very excited to return to Berlin and see what more this city has to offer.

 

 

 

A Semester Abroad || Amsterdam, Netherlands

Amsterdam was a city that truly impressed me. We arrived in Amsterdam by train from Frankfurt. During the train ride, we met a lady, Silke, who we spoke to the entire train ride. We bonded over yoga and she tried to teach me some Dutch. She also showed us how to get out of the train station, Centraal. My first impression of Amsterdam was one of my favourites. We walked out of the relative calm of Centraal and into an explosion of the senses. The sun was setting over the canals and the Christmas Lights were out and twinkling. Then the cold air hit us, as had the noise and commotion from the traffic. There were bikes, trams, cars and people all intertwining, lights were flashing and horns were beeping. Tourists were everywhere, all speaking rapidly in different languages. It was overwhelming to first walk into the chaos. Especially since I was still not used to right-hand traffic. I couldn’t remember which way to look, or who to give way to.

Once we had navigated our way to our hotel we unpacked and got ourselves comfortable. We went back right into the mayhem to find some dinner, we chose pancakes. We spent five nights in Amsterdam and quickly fell into a pattern. I would eat croissants for breakfast, we would walk to the city and wander all day and eat pancakes.

It was a nice rhythm, we would walk throughout Amsterdam taking in all its uniqueness and beauty. I really enjoyed the way that Matt and I travelled together. We would pick a place or two that we wanted to visit and walk in that general direction. If and when we saw something interesting we would make a detour. It meant that we had purpose in our wanderings and would see something we wanted to, but enough flexibility that we could stumble across some cool places. I liked walking up to intersections and going whichever way looked the most interesting.

On our first full day in Amsterdam, our goal was to figure out the general layout of Amsterdam and see some of the main sights. I had wanted to see the I Amsterdam letters, apart from the canals they were quintessential Amsterdam to me. I had not done my research, but luckily we stumbled across them when we went to check out the museum’s.

I am quite a fan of climbing, and will generally climb on most things. That was one of the reasons why I was looking forward to those letters. I love that these letters were built to be interacted with. So, of course, I had to climb them. This will be a general theme within these blog posts, me climbing to the top of things.

As I previously mentioned, we would wander to our hearts content. One of the downsides of this is that you don’t know where you’ll end up, and you can’t always find your way back. We had come across some winter markets. We stopped and had a few drinks and tried these delicious cheesy fingers. They were spring rolls filled with cheese that you dipped in sweet chilli sauce. They were delicious. One day we caught up with some Australian’s that I had met back at Splendour in the Grass. We had raved on and on about these cheesy sticks, that we had to find them again to show them.

We all explored Vondelpark together and again climbed the I Amsterdam letters. We spent all day keeping our eyes out for these markets, and as soon as we gave up we stumbled upon them. It was like finding Narnia. We all ate and swapped stories. I am really glad that we had caught up with Elise, Beau and their friend Abbey. I had not seen them for 2 years and travelling had brought us back together.

New Years was the big day. We knew the layout of Amsterdam and we were determined to get a good spot. We decided on one of the main canals. It was flooded with people, to the point that people were standing on the tops of bus stops. Fireworks were a constant, coming from every direction. Bursts of colour twisting through the air. The sizzling and crackles echoed through your body. It gave a feeling of connectedness and warmness within the crowd, despite the cold mask over everyone. I had never experienced a New Years celebration like it, the fireworks were endless. When we were leaving Amsterdam two days later, explosions would set off once or twice every hour.

Amsterdam was the city that I was the most reflective. It was one of the cities that we spent the most time in, so we took it at a slower pace. By this time of the trip, it had hit me that I had left home and that all the trip was ahead of me. Not only was I overcome with excitement at all the possibilities, I realised that parts of this trip will be difficult. This exchange trip had been a dream of mine for over a year, and it was finally coming to life. It was no longer in the future, it was finally happening. It was a bit of shock as I had expected to be distracted all the time. I associated travelling with constantly having new things to do, new things to explore. Whilst this was true to a certain extent, it was not as often as I was expecting. To fill my time I started drawing, something I had not done for a few years. I also spent quite a bit of time determining my ten songs that summarised 2015 for me.

A Semester Abroad || Frankfurt, Germany

My travels abroad began on Christmas Day. Matthew, a friend of mine, and I left Brisbane airport at 3am and proceeded to spend the next 27 hours of our Christmas in transit. We arrived weary eyed but excited in Frankfurt, Germany. We caught a cab to our hotel when I tried to speak German to the driver. I say tried, I mean failed. I had only been in the country for a few minutes and I was already destroying the language. My German teacher would be so proud. The cab driver and I had a little giggle about it, and he drove us to our hotel.

Despite sleeping for the majority of the flight, I was wrecked. The moment I stepped foot into our room I got into bed and had a nap. We had a few hours spare before my friend Kaity met us at the hotel. When she arrived, she walked into this tiny little room and could only see Matt sitting on one of the beds. She had never met Matt before so she was a little confused until Matt pointed to me stirring awake. After a catch up we realised that we were running a little late to our Christmas dinner booking. We rushed through the cold to the train station and hurried through buying a ticket. In our frantic search for the platform, we walked down one of the disused staircases. We were met with the smell of urine and a man shooting up on heroin. Welcome to Frankfurt. We dodged the puddles and got down to the platform. We arrived at our dinner reservation 15 minutes late. The waiter was quite scandalized that we considred 15 minutes late to be acceptable. I forgot how punctual the Germans are. The three of us then enjoyed a delicious Christmas dinner, waddled back to the hotel, with our tummies filled.

Day two in Frankfurt. I awoke quite early to find that Kaity was not in her bed. I found her in the bathroom, sleeping on towels. My snoring had kept her up all night and she could only escape it by sleeping in the bathroom. Whoops, I never realised I was that bad. We then went to explore Frankfurt in the day. It was Boxing Day, so I expected there to be people around. I’m used shopping centres being busy because of Boxing Day sales. However, it was also a Sunday, and apparently nothing is open on Sundays in Germany. It was surreal walking through a deserted city. We found the most beautiful and quaint part of Frankfurt, the old town square.

We quickly realised that we had explored all that Frankfurt had to offer and took a train to Heidelberg, just a casual hour train ride away. Heidelberg was fantastic. We explored the old castle that had views over the town.

 

We strolled down by the river as the sun set, it was a picturesque German village, exactly what I envisioned Germany to be like.

Day Three started with the three of us getting up early and training out to Lorsbach. By now we were quite confident with the Frankfurt S-bahn (train system). Perhaps a little too confident. We got ticketed on the train out to Lorsbach. When we presented out day pass the ticket man responds with ‘Das ist Falsche’. The last words you want to hear in a foreign country, ‘that is false’. Kaity’s German was quite good, I could get by on mine, and Matthew’s was nonexistant. Turns out we had bought the wrong day pass for Lorsbach, that wiped the confident smiles off our faces. They were going to fine us all 60 euro each (equivalent to 90AUD) but they let us off lightly and only fined us 60 euro all up. After that excitement we were happy to arrive in Lorsbach. We were heading to der Baha’i Haus der Andact. To get there on our now considerably smaller budget we had to walk up through the Taunus Mountains. So, we started walking up this path that lead us into a forest.

As we were walking we realised that we could no longer see the path. All I was thinking was ‘if we were tourists in Australia we would die, there would be snakes everywhere and the locals would laugh at us for being so naive’. We had some reception to show us the way, so we hoped it was correct. We came across these wooden structures, which of course I had to climb (you’ll soon notice a climbing theme in these stories). I think they are used for hunting.

We made our way up to der Baha’i Haus der Andact, which is a place of worship for the Baha’i faith.

 

I was quite impressed with the architecture. At first Matt, Kaity and I had all joked that it looked like a giant nipple. However, when we got there was an air of tranquility and peacfulness that I was not expecting. The ceiling was astounding from the inside, and it was surrounded by lush gardens. Another aspect that I really liked was that it had 9 points of entrance. This was to signify the other 9 big religions, and it meanss that anyone can enter in worship and prayer. I liked the significance of bringing everyone together, no matter the religion, race etc.

That afternoon, we caught a train back in the direction of Frankfurt, and said that if we liked the look of a station/town we would get off for lunch. This lead us to the town of Hofheim. We explored the Altstadt (Old Town) where Kaity found a London Telephone Box. It was restored as a bookcase, where you take a book if you leave a book. The hipster side of me really likes that sort of thing.

 

‘If only I could actually read a German book’

 

We lunched in a resteraunt in a tower. The special that day was goulash with dumplings, it was almost as good as my Grandfathers. Sitting next to us was this German family, and their daughter would have been 5 years old speaking rapid German. I turned to Kaity and joked ‘a five year old is better than me’, she wisely responded with ‘yes, but she’s been speaking it for years longer than you have’. I really hadn’t considered that. That night we trained up to Geissen. Somehow, Geissen was just as boring as Frankfirt. We had gone up to visit Kaity’s old school friend, Johannes. He took us out to dinner and highly recommended a certain burger. I love listening to people’s recommendations, but also was feeling a schnitzel. So in the wise words of the tacos advertisement

And I had myself a burger with a schnitzel added on it. Johannes’ face was priceless. I have never seen food envy so strong, it was beautiful.

Day four was our first travel day. Kaity was heading back to Australia, and we were continuing onto Amsterdam. Matt and I were lost little puppies, we had no idea how the Eurail system worked. Luckily, Kaity helped us out and told us how to authorise our tickets and reserve seats. We then had a few hours spare before our train, so we went ultimate Australian tourist and went and bought a beer. It was such a novelty, walking around the city with a beer. Matt and I then explored Frankfurt with a beer in one hand and our suitcases in another.

We had made our way back to the station with plenty of time. I was determined that it would be the one train I wouldn’t have to rush to. Eager us had our tickets out and ready to be checked, determined to do it right. It all went smoothly and we left to Amsterdam.

To read or not to read? Girl Online by Zoe Sugg

They say don’t judge a book by its cover, but what else are you meant to judge it by when there are so many to choose from? I’m here to help you with that (hopefully). I have read a book or two in my time and I really like to talk on and on about things I enjoy. So I’m going to tell you about some books I have read, with minimal spoilers, to help you out if you are looking for something to read, or not read.

Girl Online by Zoe Sugg
Novel aimed at a young adult audience
Pages: 344
Genre: Romance and Drama

Here I am, a female, writing about a book on the internet. Said book is about a female who writes on the internet. Said book is written by a girl who writes on the internet for a living. Does that make any sense? Basically, huge internet celebrity Zoe Sugg released a book, and I have read it and want to talk about it. I presume some of you internet dwellers (? can I call you that?) would have at least heard about it. If not, are you serious? The book broke the record for the highest sales for a debut author in a week of release. There are rumours of a ghostwriter being involved and some people are a little too pissed off.

To start I am going to address the elephant in the room, the conjecture of the book being written by a ghostwriter. Some people are pissed off that a book was written by a ghostwriter to be sold to the masses using Zoe’s fame, or that the ghostwriter has not been given due credit. Some believe that Zoe only had help from an editorial team to help bring it to life. And I think everyone else does not give an actual shit.  I don’t know how I feel about this because it is all speculation. I differ between feelings, if she just had a little help, all good. If someone wrote this for her, I’m pissed. But since I don’t know, I’m just going to focus on the book as a book and if I enjoyed it or not.

Brief teaser: Girl Online revolves around Penny, a 15 year old girl with a blog (who has more followers than I could ever dream of at 5432, just another 5400 to go!). She blogs about school, boys, friends and her feelings of anxiety. After an embarrassing incident at school goes viral her anxiety develops into panic attacks. She escapes to America with her parents over Christmas and meets a boy, Noah. After a perfect Christmas she returns home where her secret blog and Noah’s secret threatens to ruin everything.

I’d recommend it to a younger age group than myself, for preteens. Fans of Zoella (Zoe Sugg) should enjoy it as it is just as sweet and sugary and all things nice as Zoella. It is a short and easy read, and fun if you enjoy that kind of stuff.

SPOILERS ONWARDS || SPOILERS ONWARDS || SPOILERS ONWARDS

I’m going to say this now, I found it very difficult to enjoy this book. I think that I wanted to like it more than I actually did. Here are my reasons why.

Firstly, the characters were way too predictable for my liking. They were the stock standard Young Adult fiction book characters.You have the perfect main character, Penny, with no personality flaws and zero negative character traits. The only thing wrong in her life is her panic attacks and anxiety which is out of her control. Then you the hilarious side kick starring as Elliot, the stereotypical gay best friend. Then you have her awesome parents, who are immensely clueless but their hearts are in the right place. And lastly there are the idiots she goes to school with. Her really shallow crush who is cute but quite the arsehole, and her bitchy ex best friend. The characters were either really nice and therefore on her side, or they were really bitchy to her for no good reason. It felt like a children’s book where all good guys wear white, and all baddies in black.

Secondly, the romance portrayed in the book was completely unrealistic. I realise that this is a big call to make from someone that who reads Dramione fanfiction (if you don’t know what it is, keep it that way), but this was one of the most unfeasible love stories I’ve ever read. Penny and Noah, at ages 15 and 19 respectively, fell in love within a few hours of meeting each other. I’m going to ignore just how creepy that is, instead focusing on how that just doesn’t happen. They were telling each other secrets and personal family traditions really really quickly. And somehow her parents were completely ok with their 15 daughter running around a foreign country with a 19 year old. Despite much of the creepiness it was still quite cute to read.

And the last element that really annoyed me was that everything was so convenient and perfectly timed. Elliot was just able to come along to America, with everything paid for? Too easy. Anytime Noah and Penny needed alone time for the story the best friend Elliot just happened to be doing something else. I don’t enjoy books where the story changes everything. Penny didn’t have some fault that ruined something, everyone else’s faults affected her life.

However, one aspect I really appreciated was the inclusion of panic attacks and anxiety. I have read few books with this even alluded to so it was very refreshing to have it included as an integral part of the book. It is a cause that is very important to the author and that was made apparent whilst reading.

As much as I nitpicked at this book, that’s not to say it was a bad read. The story line and characters were very predictable, but I’m sure there are many readers out there where this is new.  It was a very sugary read, a little too sweet and sickening for my taste, but hey I might of really enjoyed it when I was younger. If you go in expecting something fun, light and short, you’ll be happy.

Photography: Winter

I have just started a photography challenge where every month we are given a prompt to photograph, this months was winter. My first thoughts were ‘Winter?.. you’ve got to be kidding me’. Don’t get me wrong I adore winter. Snuggling up under the covers and watching tv with a hot tea in your hand, hot chocolate, beanies. It is ultimate tv weather. There’s just one small problem about this prompt, I live in Australia. Why is that a problem you may ask? Well, unlike you northerners in the other hemisphere we are smack bang in the heat of summer. We have actually just finished our third or fourth big summer storm, in fact we just had two cyclones tearing up the country at the same time. Just before that we had a month of disgusting humid heat. So my problem all month was… how do I take photos of winter in summer Australia?

My first thought was to show you guys of winter in Canada. I spent the Christmas of 2013 up there with my family (which I totally wrote a blog post or two about). This is a true winter. Layers upon layers of clothing, surrounded by snow. The bloody trees are frozen. It is cold, and wintery. 

However, I don’t want to be using all of my Canada photos. I really want to show what winter is like where I live (Brisbane, Australia). So I’ve had a rifle through all my photos (as I really can’t take any now) and realised just how hard this is, we don’t have snow, we don’t even get under 0 degrees (celcius, Americans, celcius). We sure don’t have ski mountains anywhere in my State. It just gets a little chilly. I mean seriously, we aren’t the stereotypical winter. Below is a photo of me on top of a mountain in the middle of winter.

The only way you can tell that this is the middle of winter is by looking at my legs.

My, my, what marvellous goosebumps

And again, when I went to the Splendour in the Grass festival it was actually in the middle of winter. The only way that you can really tell this is because I’m wearing jeans, a jumper and holding onto a jacket.

Really apart from that there’s very little way to show what winter looks like. I could totally throw in a photo taken in the middle of summer and you’d have no idea.

Hint: It’s this one

We really don’t have a stereotypical winter. Generally the biggest difference is the temperature and therefore what you’re wearing (however we still do get those silly people who wear incredibly short shorts in the middle of winter and I don’t understand how… or why). It’s generally much nicer to be outside in winter (actually any time of the year bar summer). You get to rug up in warm oversized jumpers and wear beanies. However, the only downside is that because our summers are so hot most of our houses are built to accommodate the heat and not the cold. I’ve heard that people from places that have a real winter can sometimes feel cold much more than they expect. This is because many houses don’t have a heating system. In my family we heat up a room when we need it (on portable little heaters) so whatever the temperature is outside, it’s like that inside. And whilst 7C isn’t that cold compared to some, it sucks to sleep in that.

Such cold

The biggest difference in terms of photos in winter and summer is the summer storms. Generally our biggest and most devastating floods or storms are in the middle of summer. Which means everything looks like this for a few days

Jacqui attempts: Hollandaise sauce

I woke up with a bit of a groan today; I left myself utterly unprepared for todays post. I rolled around in bed all morning trying to think of a good challenge post. I had so many ideas but as I left this til the last minute I couldn’t get them done in time. Mid roll I made myself a pact; that I will not eat until I decide on an idea. I wanted the challenge to revolve around food and I didn’t want to cook breakfast than another challenge meal. I was mucking around on YouTube trying to find inspiration and came across Eggs Benedict. Then I knew that my challenge was hollandaise sauce.

I don’t think of myself as a particularly skilled chef, actually I find it offensive to chefs to imply I have any cooking skills. I can cook to feed myself, but nothing too flashy. I have tried making hollandaise sauce twice before, and failed miserably both times. I found that whilst it is quite a simple recipe, it is so touchy. Make one mistake and you’re doomed, there is no going back. There is no appeasing the hollandaise God. So I stopped attempting it and only ate it out. Then I realised this morning that I had to face it, I love it but it is so expensive when you eat out (like an extra $4 to add hollandaise, it’s ridiculous.. It’s literally butter and egg, it should not be so expensive). My issue with hollandaise (apart from the price) is that I get distracted easily, so todays challenge was to make it whilst cooking all my other ingredients.

So here’s what I did:

Firstly, I somehow managed to talk my brother into taking photos for me (offering to make him breakfast will usually do that). I then ran down to the store to grab all the ingredients we were missing.

Ingredients (for two servings)

Hollandaise:
60g of melted butter
3 egg yolks
a pinch of lemon juice

Rest of the breakfast:
handful of spinach
2 eggs
2 pieces of bacon
2 slices of bread
2 hashbrowns
and some orange juice

What I did:

I prepared all my ingredients, yolking the eggs and melting butter. I also set up all equipment I foresaw myself needing. The main issue with my cooking is that I don’t prepare myself, I am always trying to find whisks or wooden spoons at the last second.

The ‘I hate preparation even though I know it’s good for me’ face

I started off my breakfast with cooking the bacon. Whilst the bacon was cooking away I started heating up some water for hollaindaise preparation. I like my bacon crispy so I had plenty of time to let the water heat up. I put my bacon to the side, I later realised I should have put it in the oven to keep warm, but it still tasted yum.

I then put my bread in the toaster and popped some hashbrowns in the pan. I then put a small bowl on top of my saucepan of hot water. Whilst the bowl was still cold I put in my egg yolks and squeeze of lemon juice and started whisking away.

Whilst my lemon and egg yolks mix was still warm I flipped my hashbrowns and started frying my eggs. I then poured melted butter in the lemon and egg yolk mix and started whisking again. Once the mix had to thickened and the sides got a little clumpy (and started tasting like hollandaise) I took it off the heat straight away.

I then got my hashbrowns and eggs off the stove and put together my meal.

What I have learnt:

• Every other time I started my hollandaise sauce the bowl had already been very hot. This meant I had less time to add in my butter before the eggs started to scramble and separate. I have heard that if this happens a splash of boiling water is meant to bring the sauce back in form (I did have some boiling water ready just in case, but all was well). Since I started my hollandaise in a cool bowl I think it gave me a little more time and was much more forgiving.
• I had heard that an important part of hollandaise is to never stop whisking, once the mixture settles the eggs start to cook and separate. This leaves you buttery eggs (trust me I know from previous attempts). This time I only stopped whisking for a very quick moment so I was able to get away with it (luckily).
• I made some delicious hollandaise. My brother who doesn’t think I can cook for shit Sam started licking my hollandaise bowl after finishing breakfast like it was leftover cake batter.

‘Holy shit you can cook?!’

• Even though I don’t really want to admit it… preparation was probably the factor that made this hollandaise work.
• And don’t drop melted butter on yourself, it is not pleasant.
• Also, if you want poached eggs, guess what? You have a perfectly good saucepan of boiling water at the ready! I thought I was pushing my luck already with hollandaise so I didn’t tempt the Gods and attempt poaching eggs.

I hope that was entertaining for you. If you are a chef and I got that all wrong, I’m so very very sorry! I actually had a lot of fun making this, although I don’t think my brother agreed. I doubt he will ever be my photographer again.

“SAM, SAM TAKE PHOTO OF THIS NOW”
“I’M TRYING JACQUI STOP YELLING AT ME JEEZ”. 

What challenge should I set myself next month? Please tell me down in the comments so I don’t have to think up one myself

To read or not to read? Gone Girl

They say don’t judge a book by it’s cover, but what else are you meant to judge it by when there are so many to choose from? I’m here to help you with that, hopefully. I have read a book or two in my time and I really like to talk on and on about things I enjoy. So I’m going to tell you about some books I have read, with minimal spoilers, to help you out if you are looking for something to read, or not read.

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

Pages: 466

Unless you’ve been living under a rock you have probably heard about Gone Girl. The book was released in 2012 and quickly made the New Yorks Best Seller list, and then a film adaptation was released late 2014. I was intrigued by the shorts of the film but I always try to read the book first. I put it off for a while until a good friend of mine, and my dads partner read it and recommended it to me. It took me a little while to start, as it’s not my preferred genre, but once I started it, like all books, I couldn’t stop.

Brief teaser: Gone Girl follows the marriage of Nick and Amy Dunne. Amy disappears on the morning of their fifth anniversary in very suspicious circumstances. The police are quick to suspect Nick for many reasons: Amy’s friends swear that she was scared of Nick, he used her money to start a business, her life insurance was increased shortly before she went missing, he seems unemotional and distant on the camera. Despite all this he swears he is innocent. The books follows these events (and more) from both Nick and Amy’s perspective in the form of diary entries.

One of the biggest parts of this book that I liked was the uncertainty to what actually happened. You see what happens from the perspective of both Nick and Amy in diary entries. Yet they both give very different accounts of their marriage which leaves you unsure of who to trust. It had a bit of a slow start, as a lot of information is relevant, but once it got moving all it all comes together to make sense. There are a lot of intricate plot points that all have an affect on one another. It’s very well thought out and well written.

If you haven’t read it and you like crime or mystery novels I would recommend it. There are a lot of themes that fit this book, like secrets slowly unfolding, red herrings, motives. It’s also quite any easy read, there aren’t hidden meanings or vague suppositions you are meant to read into (or if you were they are all explained later).

|| SPOILERS FROM HERE ONWARDS || SPOILERS FROM HERE ONWARDS ||

What I really enjoyed about this book was that I really didn’t like either Nick or Amy as people. Nick was a bit of an dickhead, often not owning up to his mistakes. He was stubborn and his own worst enemy in the investigation. Amy (in the first part) was Cool Girl and was lying to herself. She wanted to seem cool with everything when she wasn’t, but didn’t want to be annoying so she seemed quite passive aggressive. So, whilst I was reading Gone Girl I didn’t mind which character was the bad guy, I was just along for the ride. And whilst I may not of liked them as people, I loved them as characters. They had quite a number of faults, and some really good attributes. They all had their own motives, to sum it up they were complex. Since I didn’t have a particular leaning towards one.

Then you found out one of their other flaws, they are both liars. They haven’t given an accurate representation of the story. Nick has been cheating on Amy, and Amy is alive and in hiding trying to frame Nick. It wasn’t as though they told a fib on a thing or two, Amy fabricated her account completely. In most books you take for granted that the characters account is truthful (at least the books I usually read) and I found it really refreshing. And whilst you know that they aren’t completely truthful, to have an entire account be completely false was a bit of a shock.

Before you learn Amy is alive I had my suspicions that Amy had disappeared on her own accord. I never thought Desi, Tommy Ohara, or Hilary Handy (the ‘psycho’ ex, Amy’s ‘rapist’, and Amy’s ‘stalker’) had attacked her. And I didn’t really think it was Nick, so that really only left Amy. What took me by surprise was just how psychotic she really was. She had been planning this for months, all methodically planned, it was creepy but impressive.

The only thing I didn’t really like was that I never quite doubted Nick. I believed that he did not kill Amy, and I wished that I doubted him more. I wrote him off as a suspect from the start, I think mainly due to his reaction to her missing. I thought there was a possibility it was him, but I doubted the book would go that way.

And to finish off on a positive note I wanted to mention just how intricate Flynn’s story was. There were so many scenes that seemed a little useless or where only there to give an insight on there relationship, but all the little pieces came together. Certain hints would be dropped and whilst it was a complex storyline, it was written in an easy to follow way. I would sit there and be like “I remember that! I REMEMBER THAT! I SEE HOW THAT FITS!”. I also appreciated that the ending wasn’t cliched, there was still a lot of power play and he wasn’t able to put her away for good, like you’d expect.

It wasn’t the book I expected it to be, it exceeded my expectations and I really enjoyed it.

The Liebster Award

I was nominated for the Liebster award about 6 days ago now. I misunderstood what I had to do, I thought that you were nominated, then had to win to continue it, I don’t know. I then realised my mistake today, so I wanted to thank Iridescent Spirits for the nomination. I did not expect to be thought of and I really appreciate it!

The Liebster award is given to up and coming bloggers (those with less than 200 followers). The idea behind it is to motivate and encourage them. Liebster is a German word that means beloved or darling, so you basically nominate bloggers with a small audience that you treasure and think happy thoughts about.

If you want to carry this on there are some rules to accept to nominate further:

1. Display the Liebster award on your blog.
2. Thank and link back to your nominator.
3. Answer the nominator’s 11 questions.
4. Nominate 11 other bloggers with about 200 or fewer followers and link to them.
5. Draft 11 new questions for your nominees.
6. Notify your nominees via their blogs or social media.

And here are my questions and answers

1. Why did you start blogging?
There are quite a few different reasons, one of those is to improve my writing skills. I have always had a difficult time conveying my thoughts into any medium. I think I am improving. I also blog to discuss the things I love, my blog focuses around the tv shows I watch, music I listen to, all just me. It’s a place where I can be just me and can potentially meet some cool people.

2. What would be your dream job?
My dreams change constantly, but my current dream job is to work on a travel/lifestyle program as a tv presenter. I like places, I experiencing new things, and I like talking about those things. I’m pretty much doing that now without the paycheck…

3. What inspires you the most?
Ordinary people doing spectacular things. Probably because it means there’s a small chance I can do it too.

4. Do you have a special ritual or place for writing?
No healthy ones. If the words are flowing then I can write anywhere at anytime. However, if I’m stuck I’ll procrastinate like crazy and freak out later.. or I’ll just pour myself a glass of wine and keep trying.

5. What are you most proud about your blog?
I think I’m most proud that I kept to it. I’m always thinking about improving it, or what to write about. I’m proud that the blog is apologetically me, if I want to talk about Marilyn Manson a week after my favourite bubble baths, I will do it.

6. If you could achieve anything only by blogging what would it be?
Probably that dream job at Question 2. If I could support myself running around the world seeing everything only by blogging, that would be extraordinary.

7. Do you have any unusual habits? If so, what are they?
I will always drink tea or coffee with a spoon in the cup, even if I don’t use sugar.

8. Do you like reading? If yes, what genres do you prefer?
I love reading, my favourite genre is fantasy. I do dabble in some teenage, coming of age books as well.

9. Have you ever surprised yourself by doing something you thought you’re incapable of, yet in the end it turned out it is one of your hidden talents?
If you would call blogging a talent of mine, then yes. I did not think I could or would stick to this, or have so much to talk about. I’m also not later embarrassed by what I write about, so that’s a plus.

10. Would you like to be famous? If yes, what for?
I’m unsure. I like the idea of being internet famous, where people know about you, but not everyone on the street knows who you are… I’d like to be a danisnotonfire, not a Brad Pitt.

11. Are you a cat or a dog person?
Uggghh. I hate this question, I’m equal. However, if you put a gun to my head I will go with cat because they don’t lick me, and I don’t need to clean their poo.

My nominees:
1. musings of a frequent flying scientist
2. The Year of Something New
3. Cinq minutes de Paris
4. Eat, Play, Clove.
5. Flavoured Lemons
6. Jess Writes With Crayons
7. C.J. Photography
8. Fffrail
9. TheAdiSolanki
10. Unironically Excited
11. Come Fly With Me

My 11 questions (if you wish to carry it on)
1. What is your favourite post that you’ve written?
2. Who is your favourite fictional character?
3. How did you pick your blogs name?
4. What is your favourite procrastination tool?
5. If you could have any superhero power, what would it be?
6. If you could see any band live, dead or alive, who would it be?
7. If you could move to any part of the world, where would it be?
8. Are you a morning person? If not, when is your preferred time of the day?
9. How many languages do you speak? And what languages would you like to learn?
10. Do you have any unusual habits?
11. Are you a cat or dog person?

To watch or not? Misfits Review

I have spent too many hours in front of the television, this has resulted in me knowing a thing or two about television series. I understand the difficulty of finding a new television show, there are so many out there and you really don’t want to waste time with shit ones. I have started this ‘to watch or not’ series (with minimal spoilers) to give you an idea of shows I have watched and enjoyed in hopes to help you find a tv show you will enjoy. I am wading through all the crap so you don’t have to, well that’s the excuse I’ll use when I binge watch everything. Without further ado, one of my favourite shows…

Misfits:

Number of seasons: 5

Status:  TV show completed as of 2013

Average episode length: 45 minutes without ads

Misfits follows a group of young offenders starting their community service, where they are caught in a freak electrical storm and consequently gain superhero powers. These powers can range from the stock standard, invisibility or time travel, to the ridiculous, hypnotic breasts or lactokinesis (the ability to physically move lactose). This results in a wide range of circumstances the characters find themselves in, (fighting off Adolf Hitler in modern day, living in a video game) which is very entertaining to watch. Each episode of a season has it’s own little subplots and generally will affect the main plot of the season in some way. 

Main characters: Initially there are 5 main characters: Simon, Kelly, Nathan, Curtis and Alisha (in order as pictured above). Later new characters are introduced, which I won’t tell you about because I don’t want to spoil anything.

Simon – is a very shy outcast who can come across as being a little bit disturbing and odd. He has the power of invisibility, stemming from his unpopularity where no one notices him. He is sometimes referred to as Barry by Nathan who does not know his name. However, Simon is one of the most intelligent of the group, coming up with many of the plans. He is also a very interesting character to watch grow.

Kelly – is a chav and stereotypically comes across as being very tough and aggressive. She’s the character that fits the idiom ‘don’t judge a book by it’s cover’ as she has quite the sensitive side and can be really self conscious.

Nathan – is a rude, sarcastic and immature guy. He is obnoxious and has a very flippant attitude towards everything, all this make him an extremely fun character to watch. He says he was sent to community service for eating some pic’n’mix.

Curtis – is a rising sports star who was sent to community service after a drug scandal. This leaves him feeling quite bitter and moody. He can sometimes be a bit of a downer and be a bit self obsessed, but he genuinely likes the Misfit gang even if he rarely shows it.

Alisha – is the party girl of the group. She was sent to community service after repeat drink driving offences and comes across a little self obsessed. Later on she “slowly looses the front and we can see the vulnerable side” according to Anotonia Thomas (actor of Alisha).

What I liked: First and foremost in a tv show I like to see real characters, that look like real people with real problems. I like having characters that aren’t Mary Janes. All these characters have some detracting personality trait (which makes sense if the show is based around community service). Another aspect I like is the dark, witty and vulgar humour. I like humour that is a bit left of center and that can found here. There are jokes that are definitely not politically correct and I like that.

What I didn’t like: Without giving too much away there were some time travelling plots that annoyed me a little bit. I don’t mind time travelling, I just sometimes bore of the same sequences being repeated too often. There is one episode in particular that annoyed me and it took me a while to get through it. I also got a little too emotionally invested and there are some things that happen that made me curl into the fetal position and cry (but if you’ve seen Supernatural or Game of Thrones you wont bat an eyelid).

I’d recommend: if you appreciate British humour, if hearing phrases like ‘panty sniffer’, ‘pussy’, ‘fuck’ and ‘cunt’ wont bother you, if you like character development, if you enjoy storylines that are added to every episode but aren’t necessarily focused on all the time, and if you are looking for something that will not take too much of your brain capacity but is a humorous watch.

And now to my favourite part, some quotes from the show:

Simon: We could rob a bank
Nathan: Yeah, OK. Let’s rob a bank.
Probation worker: What’s that?
Nathan: Nothing.
Probation worker: Really? That’s funny, innit? Because to me it sounded like you were planning on robbing a bank.
Nathan: No, no, no. I said “Let’s have a big wank”. Communal masturbation. The old circle jerk.

Curtis: Go on then. Turn invisible.
Simon: I can’t do it when everyone’s watching me.
Nathan: So I guess it’s like pissing at a urinal if you’ve got a tiny cock.

Jacqui attempts goals

Let me paint a picture for you here. It’s 2am, I am lying in bed nibbling on dim sums and spring rolls, and binge watching the 20th episode of Gossip Girl today. My arm is aching and my neck is all crinky from being in bed all day. This can only mean one thing (apart from the fact that I am a really dedicated television viewer) I am procrastinating something hard.

Last month I took a Blogging 101 course where we got daily assignments. I did not complete most of the assignments, I sort of flunked that. I also promised myself that I would write a post every day for the month. I made 17 out of 31. This month I have started the Blogging 201 course. Our first assignment is what I’ve been procrastinating, about goals. As you can see, I sort of failed my last goal. The reasoning behind it was to get in the groove of writing, which I have done. I just have troubles with concrete ones, and now it is time to make some more. Eek.

In between watching Chuck and Blair’s weird relationship I have been trying to think of some goals. The aim is three. The most obvious goal rips off my schedule for writing, I have just written a post about when and what I’m going to write about here. I basically want to keep up with this. My previous goal to do a post a day for a month was probably a little drastic considering I had only written two posts before that, but this time it is less pressure and I think I can keep up with this.

That was all I had come up with until I started writing. I have now paused Gossip Girl for a moment as I’m getting into my little writing groove, humming all the words I’m typing out. I have been reflecting on my time on this site in the last month and I feel as though it is a bit of a home. I have my own corner of the internet where I can write about whatever I want and I feel comfortable doing it. I really like having my own little area to be completely me where I’m not scared of what people are going to think. I want to explore this place more. My goal is to spend at least one continuous hour a week minimum reading other peoples posts. I have so many more cool people I could potentially come accross and I have a lot to learn.

My final goal is to get more followers, and unlike my previous goals I don’t want to put a number on it. I want to continue expanding and connecting with new people. I just don’t need a definitive amount to feel as though I have achieved something. Anytime I get a new like, view or follower I get really happy. I don’t want to become obsessed with numbers.