Day 3: What was the last movie you saw at the cinema?

There's actually quite a funny story for this. The night before I left to move to Germany, so around March time, my boyfriend decided that we should have a nice, last night together. There's an independent cinema near us in Sheffield and at that time it had joined forces with the uni to put on several philosophy film screenings, so they would show a film and have a little talk afterwards.

To my delight, they were actually showing a German film, Wings of Desire. I'd studied German film the previous year and after watching a twenty minute excerpt of the film I'd been meaning to get around to watching it. 

Oh how wrong I was.

The film is actually just a montage of different characters, and there are some angels thrown in there for good measure. In all honesty I didn't have a clue what was going on and neither did my boyfriend.

So forty minutes and with two more hours of the film to go (it's a really, really long film), we crept out of the cinema screen, and drove back home but not before stopping at the local pizza takeaway and having a good laugh about the worst film we'd ever seen.

All in all, it was a fantastic last night before I left for Germany. 

30 Day Challenge: If you could offer a newborn child one piece of advice, what would it be?

My 30 day challenge appears to have gone out of the window but that's probably a good thing right because it's means I've been revising for my upcoming exams! However, with a free Friday night on my hands, and no wine, thanks to the German shops closing at 9pm, it's time I update my blog!

Day 2: 

I really like this question and it's taken me a good twenty minutes to come up with an answer but after a good, hard think I think my advice would be to take your time figuring out who you are and what you want in life. We only get one life so happiness should be our goal and only you know what will make you happy. 

The Beginning of the End

With only two weeks left of my year abroad it's safe to say I'm feeling a mixed bag of emotions. On the one hand I can't wait to get home to all the British things I've missed (most notably Super Noodles, Sheffield and accessible vegetarian food!... oh and my family). Yet on the other hand, the last ten months have really opened my eyes to a whole new world of culture and experiences, not to mention all the wonderful people I've met.

So instead of boring you with a lengthy blog post I'm just going to share a few snaps to sum up my time in the Netherlands and Germany.

Camping trip during orientation, NL

My lovely international housemates, NL

Trip to Amsterdam, NL

Canals in Amsterdam, NL

The Amsterdam sign, NL

Hairbo Shop, De

View from Koln Dom, De

Drachenfels, De

Drachenfels castle, De

The beautiful main building of Bonn University, De

Eiscafe, De

View from Koln Bridge, De

Brandon comes to visit!

Phantasialand, De

Our love lock, De

Seeing Miley Cyrus at Koln arena, De

Review: The Secrets in Silence - Nicole Trope

The Secrets in Silence: 8/10

Tara has lost her voice. She knows there was pain and fear but she cannot remember anything else. Now she can only answer the questions with silence.

Minnie has buried her voice for years, losing herself in silence and isolation, keeping her secrets safe and her broken heart concealed.

Liam finds refuge in silence; it is a place to go to when he cannot get the words out.

Kate cannot speak for herself just yet.

People are only separated from each other by moments, by fate and coincidence.

One teenage mistake, one shocking choice and one terrible night will lead to courage found, voices raised and the truth finally spoken.

I was lucky enough to receive this book as an ARC. It's totally the kind of book I would normally read and I certainly wasn't disappointed. The plot flowed smoothly and the characters held a lot of credibility. The plot flowed smoothly and the characters held a lot of credibility. Personally, my favourite character was the young girl Tara who finds herself physically unable to speak after a traumatic ordeal. I felt that the character was so well written as there were many points in the novel where I felt sympathy for her, despite not knowing the full extent of what had happened to her.

Sadly, I thought that the ending was rushed and that with another twenty pages or so this could be remedied. However, all in all it was a fantastic read so if you seen this on the shelves I really recommend picking it up for your summer holidays. 

30 Day Challenge - Day 1: Goals for the Month

Decided to have a go at a 30 day challenge so that I can get my creative juices flowing so off I go.

Goals for the Month:

• Pass my exams.
• Get all my admin done so that I'm not leaving it all 'til last minute re moving back to England.
• Look substantially fitter by the end of the month!
• Run every other day (This will be a hard one, my willpower for running comes in waves)
• Be a generally more positive person.

One of those days...

After one of those nights being horrifically aware that if you go to sleep now you'll get six hours sleep, and if you go to sleep now it'll be five and a half hours, I woke up this morning feeling surprisingly refreshed, only to find that it was 8:00. I needed to be up at 6:45 and none of my three alarms had gone off...

Unfortunately I missed my lecture but as I've recently been practicing positive thinking, I was intent not to let this ruin my day, so without further ado, here are some top tips for when you're just having one of those days:

1. Get Outside

If you're having a bad day, one of the best things to do to perk up your mood is get some fresh air. One of my favourite things to do is to put on some high-powered tunes, get my trainers on and go for a run. It really clears my head and I feel so much better after twenty minutes or so outside. If you're not a fan of running, a walk is just as good and it's been proven that getting out in the open has numerous health benefits. It can aid digestion and blood pressure and it'll help you think more clearly.

2. Remind Yourself Of What You Do Have

Take a sheet of paper and write down 3 things you're grateful for. It could be something vague like being thankful for having good friends or something more specific, like congratulating yourself for putting in lots of effort for that upcoming test. Then see if you can think of 3 more. It'll remind you of what's good in your life and put things into perspective, making you feel far more positive.

3. Pamper Yourself

Take a bath, find your favourite book or paint your nails. Take some YOU time. In our go, go, go generation we often forget to relax, there's always emails to reply to, calls to take or little jobs to be done but after a bad day we all need some downtime and locking yourself in the bathroom and getting lost in a book for a hour or two can really help.

4. Make Plans

If there's one thing I like to do when I'm having one of those days it's make plans with friends. Even if they're busy that day making plans will give you something to look forward to and being around other people, especially those with a positive outlook, will make you feel a million times better.

5. Write it down

Keeping a diary or a personal blog can really help to get things off your chest. Sometimes we hold on to our feelings so tight that they start to own us and keeping them to ourselves can make the problem so much worse. Writing in a diary means you can get those feelings down on paper and they're not so hidden away inside.

So, if you're having a bad day, try these foolproof tips and you'll be feeling better in no time.

June Favourites

Hello lovelies!

I thought it'd be nice to do a June favourites post as I've bought a few new bits and bobs recently which I am just loving and wanted to share with you.

First up is this little pot of eye cream from Benefit. The "It's Potent!" eye cream is simply amazing and I cannot thank it enough for making it at least seem like I've had enough sleep when I leave the house in a morning.

Mine came as part of a Benefit skincare set but to buy the big one it would set you back £25.50, making it a higher end product. The eye cream is really smooth on the skin and it absorbs really well. As my skin is relatively dry I really like the cream but as a word of warning, if you have oily skin then this may not be the best eye cream for you. This is a great little pot of cream to pop in your handbag when those sneaky little bags under your eyes are creeping up.

Next up, is something which I cannot get enough of right now, Hollister's Laguna Beach Body Mist.

 This is a pretty large bottle of body spray and I've been using it for quite some time but as you can see in the picture there's still loads to go. The spray has a really beachy, fruity smell and it currently retails at £12 which although may seem a little extortionate, is definitely worth it, especially considering how long it will last.

The next product is a Barry M lipstick, in shade 160.

This shade is quite a lot darker than what I would normally go for and I was concerned it was going to give me a bit of a Gothic look, however I was pleasantly surprised and I'm opting for it more and more for everyday wear. The colour looks a lot darker than in actuality, as the real colour is a lot redder than this and no way near as dark. This retails at just £4.99 so it's a perfect buy for your summer wardrobe to wear with white shorts or or pastel dresses. 

This next product was a little indulgence of mine as at £8.50, it was a lot for what is essentially shower rub. However the first time I used it, I was totally converted into the world of Lush. Rub Rub Rub is a bright blue sea salt shower scrub and it'll make your skin smoother than ever.

As you can see I've already used loads of it because I just love it so much. It's perfect for every day showering but if you want your skin to feel even smoother than lightly scrub your skin with it before you get wet in the shower rather than after. It'll leave you feeling like a new person!

Another Benefit product now. I picked up Hello Flawless on my way through departures on my move Germany so I was super happy to get it for a little less than the retail price as I was at duty free! 

Hello Flawless usually costs £25.50 but it's well worth it as the powder glides on wonderfully. It also comes in a variety of shades so it's perfect for pale girls like me and anyone else who wants to use it. A definite buy for your make-up bag!

The final item on my June Favourites post is a book. A few years ago I went through a phase of reading all of Jodi Picoult's books (She's famed for "My Sister's Keeper) but after I'd read a few they became a little bit samey and I got bored. However, recently she published "The Storyteller," a beautiful story involving bakeries, the Holocaust and an undertaker. It's a wonderful read, however if you're looking for something light before bedtime this probably isn't the right book for you. 

I hope you enjoyed my June Favourites post and if you have any opinions on the items I've written about then let me know in the comments!