family – Page 7 – that lemon life

My favourite moments of 2018

Hola everyone.

Can you believe that it’s already December? I can’t. Although I’m practically surrounded by christmas decorations and fairy lights and christmas trees here in Brighton, I can’t seem to fully get this christmassy feeling. Probably because the weather is still a bit too nice outside for my brain to think that it’s winter. And maybe it’s because I’m not at home, which, speaking of that, will thankfully change this Saturday, as I’ll be flying home then, for a whole month. I. Can’t. Wait. Honestly.

But although I might not have the christmassy feeling yet, and whether I want it or not, the year is really coming to an end. And holy moly, what a year that was. Not to be dramatic or anything, but I really feel like so far this has been the most eventful year of my life. Not just because I moved to the UK and began to study music journalism at BIMM, which is like the biggest step in my life so far. Also because during the whole year I got so many things done and could tick so many boxes on my “things I want to do in my life”-list. And I’m so damn grateful for that.

And as I’m a huge fan of photography, as you all know, I thought I’d make a little compilation of my most favourite moments of this year. I could actually capture most of them, which is a pretty cool thing, and I’m so happy I get to share them all with you. You’ll probably already know most of the pictures, but please know that these photographs right here hold a really special meaning for me, even if they’re just my favorite picture I took in a month. Some are from the beginning of the year, from a concert, from a vacation with my family, from my home, from my time here in Brighton. Some were taken with my camera, some with the phone, some were meant to be this way, some are what we call candids nowadays. Heck, one was even made with an analog camera. Together they make a big mix of moments and memories of 2018, but as a big picture they are my 2018. And I dearly hope you enjoy them. I won’t specifically tell which story belongs to which picture, as I’ve always loved how a piece of art and photography can have a different meaning for every single person that looks at it. So, I invite you all to make up your own stories. But if you want to know the “real” ones, just hit me up and I’ll let you know.

As always, please don’t hesitate to leave your comments down below and let me know what you think. And, of course, I hope you’re all doing good and wish you a nice week. And 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

A walk in the wild

Hola everyone.

And welcome to another week. It’s Monday and this time I’m back again with some nice black and white photography. But this time with a bit of a more positive meaning behind them. Actually, the pictures I’m about to show you are a bit “old”, I’d say. I took them on a hike I went on together with my mum and Molly, my dog, just before moving to Brighton. But today I can finally show them to you.

Honestly, when it comes to nature, I can be quite a complex individual. Because I absolutely love living in the city, where everything you need is just around the corner and everyone’s busy and buzzing. I really do love it. But on the other hand I completely adore the nature and being in the wild, especially the woods. This also why I need to go for a walk at least once a day. It’s my way of calming myself down and logging off for some time. It’s bit therapeutic, you could say. So when my mum came up to me and told me about her idea of going on a hike together, I was head over heels in love with it.

And the pictures are kind of the result of that very day. As it sometimes happens, I wasn’t quite in the mood for colored pictures, so I stuck to black and white and personally, I think they came out just perfect. I love how they have both cheerful and creepy vibes to them. And oh my god, those pictures of Molly. Can you believe that there’s actually a dog out there in the world that is that cute? Because I can’t. I think the one picture of her with the flower next to her is one of the cutest pictures I have ever taken. Look at her smile. I now have it framed on the beside table next to me and I get heart-eyes every time I look at it. What a cutie.

The only thing you can’t see through the pictures is the actual exhaustion. Because when we got there, we planned on walking for about 17 kilometers I think. Well. Those turned out to be 22 in the end, which, yeah, was a bit much. But hey, we survived and in the end it was one of the best days in my life. It was so nice to spend some time alone with my mum and Molly. So yeah, I loved every single second of it and I couldn’t be happier that I now finally get to share some of those special moments with you. I hope you enjoy them.

As always, please don’t hesitate to leave your comments down below. And yeah, I wish you all an amazing week and hope you’re doing well. And, of course, 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

Hungarian nights

Hola everyone.

How are you guys? I hope you’re all doing good. On my behalf, I’m getting quite nervous with every day that’s passing, as it means that the move to Brighton is getting closer, day by day. But like I said, I’m mostly really excited for everything that’s coming up. I sometimes just wish I could cut my house out of the ground, shrink it like they do in Ant-Man and the Wasp, stuff it in my bag and take it with me to the UK, including my family of course. But sadly, I don’t live in the MCU. I can only keep reminding myself that thanks to all the new technologies, the world has become a lot smaller and that I can talk and see my family and friends whenever I need to. And I can always fly back home too, so yeah. I’ll stop being dramatic now and stick to my more optimistic thoughts, like, hell, I’m seriously moving to the UK to study music journalism. How crazy is that?

On another note, here’s what I actually wanted to talk to you guys about today. As summer is slowly coming to an end, I thought I’d continue my series about my trip to Budapest and share another collection of pictures with you. And you guys know that I’m a sucker for black and white photography, so it probably won’t surprise you that I just had to take some pictures of the city at night. I’m also proud to announce that some of these pics were actually taken by my mum – and yes, they are amazing. Go, mum.

I don’t know about you guys, but I just really really love the look of black white photos, especially when they were taken at night. It just gives them such a magical tone and I love how the lack of colors can transform a city landscape. As you can probably see on the pictures, mum and I really did enjoy strolling around the city at night and looking at all these huge, impressive, old and historical buildings. If you’re asking me, some really gave us some serious Hogwarts vibes. It was just so so cool and I enjoyed it so much. That’s exactly why I love traveling and exploring cities so much.

Anyways, I hope you enjoy these pictures just as much and please don’t hesitate to share all your opinions. Also, I’m very sorry that the past few posts have been quite short, just like this one right here, but you’ll probably sense that the move is taking up most of the space I’ve got left in my head. I promise it will get better again as soon as I’ve moved to Brighton and made myself comfortable. Besides that, I also have to tell you guys that sadly this will actually be my last post for about two weeks or so, as I really want to focus on enjoying my remaining time here at home with my family and friends. But, before you all get super mad at me, this also means that when I’m back, you’ll get to hear all about Brighton and my move and uni and everything else. So, please stay tuned. And until then I wish you all a great weekend and an amazing time. And, as always, thanks for reading. x

Hello again

Hola everybody.

And welcome back to my blog. I’m officially and finally back from my study/exam break and I seriously can’t even describe how much I’ve missed posting stuff on here and talking to you guys. I mean, I have, like, such a long list of topics for different blogposts, that I don’t even know where to start. And even just writing this right now fills me with so much joy. God, what would I do without this blog? I seriously have no idea.

I’m beyond sorry that it took me so long to get back again, but I just started my summer break, which basically means that I began working this Monday and I just had to get used to that – for example to having to wake up at 7 am every single freaking morning. I still haven’t fully found my perfect rhythm, but I’m hoping to accomplish that within the next few days, so I can actually start writing my bachelor thesis and my last few projects for uni.

But I have to say, I’m really really happy to be back home again. I’m currently sitting in bed and Peaches is lying next to me and seriously guys, whatever I’m feeling right now, I know it’s pure, unconditional love. This cat is the love of my life. No joke. And I can’t wait to spend the upcoming months with her. And the rest of my family and friends too, of course.

I actually just wanted to use this post as some kind of update and welcome. But I know that you’re all curious about what happened during my break, so here’s a little sneak peek. So, first of all, all my exams went down pretty good and if I’m not mistaken, I think I’ve passed every single one of them. Which means that I just have to finish my thesis now and then I’m officially graduating from uni, which is the craziest thing ever. It’s so weird to actually finish something you’ve been working your butt off for years. I mean, all I could think about in secondary school was uni. And now I’m already graduating. That’s so unbelievable. I mean, I’m not finished finished, you guys know about me moving to the UK to continue studying, but I’m leaving Vienna and basically my home country and that’s crazy enough, trust me. And if we’re already talking about moving to the UK – guys, I’ve finally found a place to live in. And holy moly, I actually can’t believe that I seriously managed to find myself such a great place and such an amazing family. I’ll be sharing the house with a couple and gosh, they are so cool. I mean, they’re basically me, just with a few more years of life experience. I couldn’t be happier, really. And the house is located just two minutes from the sea and the beach, which is like pretty much the most amazing aspect of the house. I mean, I’ll be basically spending the upcoming year at the beach, I can already tell you that. God, I’m so excited, this is going to be so so awesome.

And last but not least, as I already mentioned in my latest posts, I need to tell you all about my time at the festival that I got to work at. It was so freaking amazing. Oh my god. I can’t even describe it. It was one of those moments and experiences in life that basically change everything. Like when you first try Nutella. That changes you. And that’s what this week at the festival did to me. I seriously can’t wait to spend the rest of my life in that environment. I just love it so much, with all my heart. But before I’m starting to give away too much, I’ll just stop right here and keep the rest for the extra post in which I’m going to tell you all about my time there, from the beginning to the very end.

So yeah guys, there you go. Those are basically the most important things that happened during the time I’ve been away. Apart from that there are quite some new albums and songs waiting to be discussed about and I did a little photoshoot with what could be the dreamiest dress ever and I have so many new tv shows I want to tell you guys about, so please stay tuned for more. Like I said, I’m officially back again and yeah, I’d say let’s bring this blog back to life, shall we?

Anyways, I hope you guys are doing great and enjoying the summer. And, as always, I hope you enjoyed this little post and I wish you an amazing weekend. And, of course, thanks for reading. x