I used to write these posts quite a lot, for a while I even did them weekly. I always wanted this blog to be a place that you like to come to after a long day at work or like I imagine for this column with your Sunday morning coffee (or tea if that is what you are into). This has always been a place for me to share my travels, ideas and personal stories, but I feel like the personal part has been lacking a little bit. So I am bringing my little updates back, something which I not only thoroughly enjoy on other blogs, but which I also love writing. Hopefully we can talk about not only my, but also your week a little bit in the comments and it will kind of be like we are having coffee together.
Long distance friendships
August started out absolutely perfect with a wonderful little getaway to Budapest. It was an amazing weekend not only because I really was amazed by the city, but especially because of my travel company. Leah and India are two of my Brighton Babes from my semester abroad in England in 2015. They are both from Straya (Melbourne to be exact) and as my budget is not sufficient to jet between continents all the time I have not seen them in over two years. It is wonderful to have friends all over the world, but it also means you go months or even years without seeing them and that for the time in between communication will be relatively sparse, because except for regular life updates there is not too much you have in common, often not even time zones.
After having lived on two continents and in five different countries over the last five years I have met so many beautiful people, which I truly love dearly - but see once or twice a year and that is if I am lucky. Sometimes you forget how much you miss them, but once you are reunited and conversations are just flowing (much like wine) and everything is back to how it used to be, not seeing them (and not knowing when you will see them again) is really fucking tough.
Amanda my former roomie and best friend from Malmö visited me a few days after I got back from Budapest and it was absolutely lovely to see her again as well (aren´t the friendships where you can just relax and watch Friends while eating junkfood the best?) and it was hard to let her go without having a flight or train booked to see her. Another of my Malmö girls, who wanted to come visit had to cancel because life happens, but in long distance friendships where even finding a date and time to skype, skipping a meeting is not just skipping a meeting, but usually means many more months without a date. With a bunch of my friends here in Göttingen leaving for exchange, my bestie moving to Paris like the boss she is and so many of my friends scattered across the world it does sometimes get a little lonely. I love exploring new places, meeting new people and I also love knowing whether I head to Australia or the Finnish countryside I will have a loved one there, I sometimes wish I could pack them all in a suitcase and force them to live closer to me.
Summer Rain
I have been complaining about this summer a lot. Especially seeing this is my first summer I do not have to spend in a factory hall (which I will return to in September, because how can Mercedes cope without me during this crisis of the auto industry?) I was looking forward to partying until the morning and festivals and loads of tanning... and now that I look back on August I actually had quite a bit of it, which just shows that it is good to have a reality check once in a while. I not only soaked up loads of sun in Budapest, I also had an amazing day at the Dockville festival, which is really one of my favourites and I enjoyed the sparse days, where it was warm to the fullest. Plus I actually had a summer break for the first time in five years, which was so so lovely.
I enjoyed just laying in bed for hours, watching almost all seasons of Game of Thrones (currently starting season 7 and it is just all a lot), reading and not feeling guilty about being lazy at all. I did loads of things just for fun, I meditated almost everyday, I am currently learning Italian just for the fun of it... and so actually this was truly a very nice summer. I am looking forward to autumn, my absolute favourite season, I prepared for my new semester and sent a bunch of applications for internships out yesterday and feel like I am truly rested for the last year of being a student (cue the light panic).
Listened to: Literally five thousand true crime podcasts. Wherever this came from, it is now my new obsession (would you like a post about my favourite ones?).
Read: My reading challenge is going so well at the moment and I not only travelled to Narnia (the first four books), but also back to Hogwarts (The cursed Child), Japan (Japan für die Hosentasche) and Barcelona (The Prisoner of Heaven). I was also really moved by The Girl with the Nine Wigs an absolutely beautiful book. If you want to keep up with what I am reading or you are looking for recommendations you can find me on Goodreads.
Watched: Almost all of Game of Thrones. After giving up after one episode in 2013, because I felt with reading nine of the books I already knew where this was going and haven´t started again until my little brother (Jonas the first of his name, provider of Netflix, the generous sharer of the Sky Account) gave me access to the series again.
Bought: Concert tickets to the XX, tickets to the Dockville, lots of pasta because after three vacations this year I am very poor.
Learnt: Five weeks worth of Italian in five days - yay for intensive courses!
Loved: laying in bed all day, lazy breakfast dates, having entire days off, my kebab shop friends from downstairs, glitter!
