british and irish modern music institute

My first interview

Hola everyone.

I know I know, what an exciting title. And I’m not gonna lie, the story behind it is even more exciting than just the pure thought of it.

So, you might have guessed by now that I recently had my very first interview. You’re probably gonna ask yourself now how I managed to never have an interview until now, looking at my past. Of course I’ve already done interviews, they’ve pretty much become normality to me by now. But this one, this one special interview wasn’t just a plain, simple, every day interview. No. It was an interview with a musician. One that I’ve been totally in love with the past months. One that I’ve been totally obsessed with due to the amazing music. One that I can’t believe I really got to talk to.

But before you get all fuzzy and excited – please still do, seriously – a small disclaimer first: I am not going to mention any names and I’m not going to say who I interviewed or when or where or why. I choose not to because, first of all, I don’t want to make a big deal out of it. I mean, it actually is one of the biggest deals in my life so far and a step in my life where there is no turning back again – not that I would like to go back. Ha. Never. Thank you. To the actual interview? Yes please, take me back. Now. But to my life before it all? No thanks. But besides that, I also don’t want to share any names or details because I think that that wouldn’t be the right thing to do. It was such a special moment for me, but I want this post to be about what I felt and what I feel now and not about how I got to interview someone and oh my god, how crazy, blah blah blah.

Actually, I want to use this post to kind of share my happiness and gratefulness. You know, the past few years I wasn’t quite sure what to do with my life. I mean, at the end of the day I was, but according to what many professors told me at uni, my chosen path wouldn’t be an easy one and definitely not one full of money and happiness and basically survival. I think, nowadays, people like to think really badly about the job of a journalist. Because we have the internet now, so why should we even need people who write about stuff we can easily google? Well, that’s a really troubling thought right there, but not one I like to share myself. I think journalism is and will always be something very very very important for our society. In the past, journalists have brought some great changes into our world and I am hundred percent sure that it will continue to be this way. And even though I don’t want to be one of those investigative journalists who reveal those great and big stories, just the thought of one person reading my article about one of their favorite artists and smiling because of it nearly makes my heart burst with happiness.

And now that I am here in Brighton, essentially studying my dream job, it just makes me even more determined. So determined that I managed to get myself an interview with one of my favorite artists within the first two months of being here. Yes, I know. This is like uber-crazy. I still can’t get my head around it and I think I never will. Those few hours I got to spend at the interview and at the show have probably been one of the craziest in my entire life. And let me tell you something. People can tell you whatever they want, but those people who work in the music industry are literally the nicest people ever. I am just at the start of my journey and got treated like I have been part of their team, a part of their world, my whole entire life. And for that I am endlessly grateful.

I am now sitting at home in Brighton, in front of my laptop, writing this post right here, while knowing that, for that one big goal in my life that I set for myself in the past, I have literally made it. My dream has always been to go to concerts and write about them and that essentially being my job and I did exactly that just a few days ago. The feelings trapped in my body, I can’t describe them. Have you ever been at this point when you’re just so happy and thankful that you can’t even put it into words? That’s where I am right now.

I am not going to lie. In the past, I did question my decision of moving to Brighton and studying at BIMM. It was a huge step in my life, but even more so a huge risk. But now that I am here and having this deep feeling of happiness in my stomach every time I wake up and know that I get to go to uni on that very same day, I don’t question it anymore, not one bit. And this doesn’t even include the interview and everything that happened around it. Honestly, apart from getting my cat Peaches and my dog Molly, this may be the best decision of my life. And now that I know how this one crazy path I chose for myself actually feels like, I never want to do anything else ever again. This is exactly where I need to be and this is exactly what I need to do. I am now literally living inside my dream and it couldn’t be any realer.

Again, I apologize if you read this post hoping to see some names and maybe getting to hear some tea, but this seriously wouldn’t be the right thing and surely nothing I would want. I want this post to live on forever and to always remind me and you guys that dreams do really come true, no matter how crazy they sound. I would’ve never thought that I would once actually reach this point, let alone in that short period of time. But I made it and if I can do that, you can too. I honestly believe in all of you. You can make your dreams reality, please never let anyone tell you something else. Please never stop believing in yourself and your dreams.

And now I’ll end this super positive and motivating post. But please know that I really mean all the things I said. If you guys have got any questions, please don’t hesitate to get in touch and also please don’t hesitate to leave your thoughts and comments down below. As always, I hope you’re all doing good and I wish you an awesome weekend. And, of course, thanks for reading. x

What’s Up

Hola everyone.

I can’t believe the weekend is already over and a new week has started again. Can you believe that? Feels like time is just flying past, right? Which I guess is kind of a bad and a good thing, as it means that I’ll be home for the christmas break in the blink of an eye. But it also means that my time here is passing by real fast and I can tell you, it’s such an amazing time that I don’t even want that to happen.

Which is also what I want to tell you all about today. Actually, I was just working my way through possible ideas for my this post right here and kind of remembered that it’s been quite some time since I just talked a bit to you guys and told you about all the stuff that’s happening in my life here in Brighton. Which I why I decided that it’s time to change that. So, get ready and buckle up for some babbling.

As always, let’s start with the most exciting part – my life here in Brighton. It won’t surprise you that, honestly, uni has just been amazing so far. Guys, I just love it so so so much. Maybe it’s because I already have a degree in journalism, as it means that I get to actually chill and listen in class, as I’ve already heard about most of the stuff we’re talking about. But it’s just so nice to simply sit there and soak it all up. All the music related stuff I’ve never heard about. It feels like I’m refining my own knowledge and also possible career path right now. And it’s so cool that my course is as practical as it is, because I get to actually do and write stuff and not just sit around and write down facts I’ll probably never need again in my entire life. Which, speaking of that practical, is also a quite big deal for me right now, as I may or may not have an interview scheduled for this week. Saying that I’m overly nervous and excited at the same time would be such an understatement. I’ve basically been at the edge of my seat the past few days.

Also, music-wise, I can’t wait for 2019 to come flashing around the corner. Honestly. I’ve already got so many concerts planned. Hippo Campus in February, Saint Raymond, Tom Rosenthal (which I still can’t get my head around) and Twenty One Pilots in March, Ed in June and again in August. I may have actually forgotten a few right there. It’s just so so crazy. And I can’t wait, seriously. Just one of those perks when you live in the UK – every single band comes here. Every. Single. One. This is like heaven, no joke. My personal heaven.

And last but not least, there’s one other thing that’s quite new in my life. Believe it or not, but I actually started doing yoga. Can you believe it? Me? Doing yoga? Sounds like something out of this world, doesn’t it? But I guess I just felt like I had to incorporate a bit more exercise into my daily routine, as the typical English weather has just full on hit us now and it’s basically either windy or rainy or plain both. At home I usually stick to the indoor-cycle as soon as it’s getting cold out, but as I don’t have one here in Brighton I had to find something else. Something cheap and easy, preferably. So I just thought about trying yoga and so far I’ve really enjoyed it. I love how it really calms my mind down and makes me focus on myself and my body. Which is just what I need right now. I’ve actually just started this 30 day yoga challenge on YouTube, which is amazing, so if you want to check that out too, here’s the link.

And yeah, I think that’s it. So far, my time here in Brighton has been the best it could’ve possibly been and I’m so excited for everything that’s still to come. If you guys want to know anything or have any questions, please don’t hesitate to drop me a message. And that’s all I’ve got. But how about you guys? What’s going on in your life? Please don’t hesitate to share your stories. And yeah, I hope you’re all feeling well and wish you a nice week. And, as always, thanks for reading. x

So it begins

Hola everyone.

Just a quick update from my side. Sooo, today was actually the first day of uni or actually, it was the day of the enrollment. That means, from now on I am officially a BIMM Student (yes, that excited shriek you just heard in the background was me).

No, but seriously, I am really hugely excited. I kind of felt a bit down after the enrollment as especially the timetable wasn’t as packed with classes as I thought it would be, but then I kind of realized that this course specializes in self-directed work, so more than a half of all the hours I’ll spend with uni stuff will be done outside of class, which is crazy, actually. But also a good sign.

Besides that today was basically used as some sort of introduction to uni and the course and everyone and everything else. And it was quite impressive, if I may say so. I mean, you all know me now – I hope so at least. Now imagine me walking into this room with a huge stage setup in the back and white walls with hundreds of different signatures from different artists and bands on it. And if that wasn’t cool enough, now imagine me looking around and the suddenly finding Conor’s signature right next to me. How unbelievably cool is that? I’m seriously attending a school that casually has Conor freaking Mason’s signature on its walls like it’s nothing. So damn cool, oh my god.

Oh and let’s not forget all the different work opportunities and masterclasses and talks BIMM can offer. Did I tell you that past journalism students actually got to interview Twenty One Pilots? Fantastic, isn’t it? I actually can’t believe that I’m going to spend the upcoming three years just thinking about and listening to music and then writing about it. What a dream. I kind of had a full on reality check when I got home and suddenly realized that this was all seriously happening. I am really in Brighton. I am really a student at BIMM. It’s all real. Holy moly.

So yeah, that’s what happened today. The enrollment and also the start of freshers week, which means that I’m gonna spend the rest of the week going to different student fairs, talks and gigs (of course). And then, next Tuesday, the true work will finally start. I can’t even begin to tell you how freaking excited I am. And how happy that I get to share it all with you. As always, please don’t hesitate to leave any comments or questions down below. If you want to know anything, just hit me. And until then I hope you enjoyed this little update. And yeah, I wish you all a great week and, as always, thanks for reading. x

A new chapter

Hola everyone.

It’s me, Laura. And no, I’ve not fallen into a big black hole I couldn’t get out of. Yes, I do still exist. What a miracle. Ha. Ha. Okay, but seriously, I’m back, for real. I’m sorry it took me so long, but if you’ve been following me for the past months or even just weeks, you’ll know that I’ve had this big move to Brighton and I just had to fully concentrate on that. But yeah, this is over now. I mean, it’s still happening, at least in my head, which I still can’t get around the idea that I’m now living in the UK, where people live, think and speak differently. It’s so so crazy and I’m really glad that I get to share this journey with you guys.

As you can probably guess, my life here in Brighton and my new uni will be a big topic throughout, well, the next months and maybe even years. But for now I’d just like to share everything that happened in the past seven days with you guys. I know that nowadays it’s a bit more common to move to a different country or city to study or work there and everyone always tells you that it’s a great thing that will shape you, blah blah blah. But what noone really tells you is how hard it is to leave everyone and everything you know and love behind. I don’t regret any part of this move and I don’t want any of you to think that. It’s just that this really great thing also comes with a lot of heartbreaks and anyone who’s in the same situation as me should never feel like you always have to be happy from the first second on because you’re doing this really cool thing and basically fulfilling your dreams. Because it’s okay to not feel okay. Okay?

So, you can probably guess by now that the move wasn’t easy for me. The last week at home was a total dream for me and probably one of the best weeks ever. I saw all of my friends and I got to spend a lot of time with my family. And yeah, it was just really nice. And I was truly doing fine, even on the day of the move. But then I went into the garden to say goodbye to my cat and said “Peaches, I need to say goodbye” and it was the first time I had to explicitly say it and yeah, it was kind of my trigger word. From that moment on the tears just kept spilling. And you know what, I even let them, because I knew that this was the most normal reaction on earth. And I also knew that saying goodbye to my pets would be the hardest step. I mean, I kind of had an internal panic attack during the flight, but oh well. And you know what, the human mind is something truly crazy sometimes, let me tell you. Because suddenly I had all of these worries popping up in my head. “What if I don’t understand them?” “What if I can’t properly talk to people?” “What if I don’t like my new home?” “What if…?” It was driving me mad.

Rationally, most of my worries were pretty much total nonsense. Of course I still worry sometimes, mostly about uni right now and my new classmates. But you know, I always try to calm myself down by thinking that I can’t be perfect. I didn’t grow up in the UK and wasn’t raised bilingual, so of course I’m going to make some mistakes. But I’ve been progressing every single day and it’s actually really cool to notice how my brain slowly adjusts to the new surroundings and language. And I’m also already in contact with one of my new peers and yeah. Everything’s gonna be just fine, I’m hundred percent sure of that.

Besides that, I truly love my new home and Brighton and my new “family” and just pretty much everything. The house is freaking amazing, my room aswell, Nick and Silvia are literally the nicest people ever and the location couldn’t be any better. If I truly concentrate on it, I can even hear the waves crashing into the shore when I open the window. It couldn’t be any better, seriously. But for any of you who are planning on moving to a totally different place, I can just recommend having your parents with you for the first few days. I think that’s what really helped me to both adjust to my new home and not get a heart attack at the same time. I mean, watching my mum get onto the train and leave without me was probably one of the hardest things I have ever had to do, but moving to Brighton all on my own would have been a completely different and also harder story. I just really needed them and I’m happy that I had them with me. Also, I’ll be seeing them again in just 32 days and I already can’t wait.

You know, when I first got to Brighton I was asking myself whether I had made the right decision or not. Maybe it would have been better to just stay at home, do my Masters degree and then get a job at some magazine or whatever. Maybe that would have been easier. But then something very, very, very exciting happened. Some of you may know that Felix Kjellberg, aka PewDiePie, aka one of my favorite YouTubers, also lives in Brighton together with his fiancée Marzia Bisognin. And when my parents and I were walking to their hotel just after getting to Brighton, I actually told them all about Pewds and Marzia and was like “oh my god, imagine me walking around and then seeing Marzia with their two pugs. One is white and one is black. That would be so crazy.” I was probably annoying them, let’s be honest. And then we were passing this street and I looked to my left side and suddenly there was this guy, wearing a black jumper and black joggers. And I thought “hmm, why do I feel like I know him?” And then I looked down and saw them – Edgar and Maya, the two pugs. So, there he was. Felix. The one and only Pewds. I thought I was dreaming. I, of course, went completely crazy and whispered/shrieked at my parents “IT’S PEWDIEPIE. IT’S PEWDIEPIE.” And my mum was like “WHERE????” (she knows him – of course she does). And my dad was just staring at us like we were some crazy people. And then I looked back at him and he was looking at me and oh my god, I probably looked like a total freak. My mum then basically ordered me to turn around and walk past him, which we did. And as soon as he was out of sight, I basically went nuts. I couldn’t believe it. I had just moved to this city like five short minutes ago and as soon as I stepped outside Pewds walked by. How crazy is that? I still can’t get my head around it. And yes guys, he has got some looks to serve, I’m just going to be completely honest now. And it might be a bit crazy, but I took this as the sign that I had made the right decision. Because when mum and I visited Brighton two years ago, I was basically scanning every single face I went past and nothing happened. But this time I saw him, completely out of the blue. That just had to be the sign.

Since then I’ve used every singe day to get to know my new home better, street by street, house by house. Let me just tell you one thing – Brighton is damn beautiful and living next to the sea is one of the coolest things ever. Honestly, I feel like the luckiest person ever. Thanks to Silvia and Nick I don’t feel so alone here and they kind of prevent me from getting too sad about the fact that my family isn’t here. Which I’m very thankful for, seriously. I’ve already started to decorate my room and usually spend my days walking around in the city, doing a bit of shopping and stuff. And I’m also really looking forward to fresher’s week that’s coming up. In short, apart from missing my home, life couldn’t be any better right now. I’m basically living my dream and yeah, I’m just really happy and thankful.

And now I’m going to stop talking. Firstly, because this post if getting far too long and secondly, because it’s already past midnight and a new episode of Bake Off is waiting for me to be watched in bed. So I’m gonna go now. If any of you have got any questions about my move or Brighton or anything else, please don’t hesitate to leave them down below. I’ll try to answer them as fast as I can, I promise. Also, down below you can find some pictures of Brighton that I took the past few days and I really hope that you enjoy them. And yeah, I wish you all an amazing weekend. It feels really good to be back. Thanks for reading, guys. x

It’s happening

Hola everyone.

Guys, I don’t even know what to say. I have no idea how to articulate what I’m feeling right now, what’s going on in my head. So I’m just going to say it: yesterday, at about five o’clock, I got the offer from BIMM. I seriously got accepted at the university I have been dreaming about the past few months. I did it. Oh my god.

I can’t believe that this is really happening. I mean, it got so real all of a sudden. Of course I’ve always talked about moving to another country, dreamed about living in London, imagined how my life would be if I could turn my biggest loves into a career – music and loves. And now it’s all happening. This is so unbelievable. Before it was all talking and stuff, dreaming about unrealistic scenarios. I mean, I’ve always been a pretty optimistic person, but if anyone would have told me that this would ever happen to me, I would have laughed in their face and maybe take them to the doctors. And now it’s all becoming reality. I can’t even tell you how happy I am. I feel like the luckiest person on earth. They seriously chose me. ME. How the hell is this real life? How did I deserve all of this? Am I still dreaming? Because if I am, please don’t wake me up.

When I got the email yesterday I immediately started to cry. I couldn’t believe my eyes. There it was, the offer. The offer from the one university I wanted to study at so so so bad. I don’t think I’ve wanted anything career related as bad as this. And I have to say, I really worked my damn ass off for this. And now all this truly paid off. At least I know now why I studied so hard at school and tried to get the best grades. I guess I did it for this, something I didn’t even know I would need it for three years later. Being such a perfectionist isn’t as bad as I thought, I guess.

And now I’m sitting here, listening to the new The Wombats album – it’s freaking amazing, prepare for the full review guys – still not quite fully aware of the fact that I’ll be moving to the UK in September. Holy moly. I can’t even tell you how long I’ve been dreaming about being able to say this. No joke. And now it’s really happening. I’ll move to the UK, either Brighton or London – I still have to decide on that one, but I think it will end up being Brighton, as it’s a little bit cheaper than London – and then I’ll study music journalism at one of the coolest universities ever, one that brought us stars like George Ezra, Marina and The Diamonds, The Kooks and Tom Odell. And now I’m tearing up again.

I’m just really happy that everyone, all of my friends and my family, is supporting me in this decision. My mum is still kind of torn and I fully understand her. Because I am too. I have to stop myself from thinking about it too hard, because I can already feel the anxious and sad feelings creep up in me. Of course it’s hard for me too. Moving to a completely different country, all on my own, leaving everything I know behind. It’s basically the biggest step I’ve ever taken. But I know I can do it. And my little town in the middle of nowhere is still my home. Home is where the heart is. And my heart is wherever my loved ones are. And if you’re asking me, yes, it’s possible to have more than one home. And I can’t wait to call Britain my home.

So yeah, this is it guys. I guess this is all really happening. I still have to digest all of this in order to be able to realize it. Isn’t it crazy how the mind truly needs its time to process news like this one? And I think the moment I fully understand all of this will be one of the best and happiest ones in my whole life. My dream is seriously coming true. And it feels so good that I’m able to share all of this with you guys. Here’s to some exciting months and even more exciting and very english years. Also, I hope you’re all doing good and I wish you an amazing weekend. And thanks for reading. x