holiday – that lemon life

The Italian Flair

Hola everyone.

How are you all doing today? I hope so far you’ve had a great week and a nice Friday, considering the current situation. This just seems to never end, does it? To be honest, I’ve had quite enough of it now, Covid can really go eff off now. I’ve had to move my flight twice already and will hopefully be able to finally go back to London next Sunday (fingers crossed). I truly can’t wait to be back in my favourite city and to see my friends again, I’ve really been missing them like hell.

As probably just about everyone, I’ve been trying to stay as positive as possible. And one way I’ve been doing this is looking back on some happy moments of 2020 – because there were actually quite a lot of them, surprisingly – and I recently got the chance to go through pictures on my camera. And that’s when I saw that I still had some pictures of my holiday in Venice left on there that I had not seen before. As some of you might have read and seen in my first post about the trip that I published a few months ago, the time my mum and I got to spend in the beautiful city of Venice was one of the most amazing weeks of the whole year and I’m still so incredibly glad that we went. Definitely one of the best ideas ever.

As the pictures are so nice to look at and kinda brought me back to the trailing streets of the fantastic city, I thought it would be nice to share them with all of you, to maybe add some sunshine and Italian flair to our Friday. As always, I hope you enjoy the pictures and would love to hear your thoughts and comments. And, naturally, I wish you all a lovely weekend and thanks for reading. x

Meet GEM

Hola everyone.

God, it’s been so long since I last wrote down those two words. Way too long, to be completely honest with you. But I guess that happens when you are in the middle of your last year at university and also doing something very important and exciting on the side – the special something that I want to tell you all about today. First of all, I want to take the time to say that I hope that you all had a lovely Christmas and that, despite all the chaos that’s happening right now, you’re having a nice time with your loved ones. I’ve been back at home in Austria for two weeks now, spending some quality time with my family, but now we’re also back to a full lockdown, so I guess we’re all in the same boat (except for a few special ones… looking at you, Australia and New Zealand). Anyway, it’s been quite nice so far, but I’m also praying that I’ll be able to go back to London once the time has come, I really miss it. It’s actually pretty cool to have not one, but two places that you can call your home. I feel very lucky. Which also brings me back to what I wanted to show you all today.

I’m incredibly proud to present to you my very own magazine – GEM. Yes, I really did it. I went and launched my own magazine, with the help of my incredible friend Lauren, who is also my co-founder and co-editor, and our fantastic bunch of super talented writers, creatives and journalists. To be honest, even while I am typing this out, I cannot believe it is really true. I can’t even begin to explain how insanely excited and thrilled I am to share this with all of you. I have been dreaming about having my own magazine for so many years now and now it’s really become true.

So far, the whole experience has been nothing short of an insane dream. All of a sudden, I have this thing that belongs solely to me and that gives me the opportunities and freedom to interview my favourite bands and to review gigs and albums and so much more. It’s become my ultimate creative outlet and basically one of the most important parts of my life – even in such a short amount of time. And I mean, I’m not going to talk around the bush for long… having freaking Wallows on our first cover and then Nothing But Thieves, my ultimate loves, on our second one is just… I mean, that’s the material my brain usually comes up with during a dream at night or when I create a nice scenario in my head during a mellow ride on the top. Basically, it’s the stuff you usually make up, not the stuff that just becomes reality all of a sudden. But now it has become reality for me and I still can’t believe I’m now living a life where I can say I’ve already interviewed most of my favourite bands, and all of that for my very own magazine. Peak craziness, I’m telling you.

Naturally, I could spend all day and night telling you about the interviews and the overall insanity of this all, but I guess that would take a bit too long for all of us. What I can say though is that I loved every single one of them and that Conor, the lead singer from Nothing But Thieves is probably the most incredible person I’ve had the honour of talking to. Best interview of my life so far, without a doubt. Which makes me even prouder to have the guys on our cover – a band that has meant so much for me for so many years already. Not to mention that their album ‘Moral Panic’ is easily the best album of the year for me. What a gem (pun not intended… or maybe, yes).

As with all things that take up such a big part of your life, the magazine has kept me and Lauren busy all throughout the past months and also through the Christmas holidays, but it’s always been good busy. Of course it can sometimes get a bit much, especially if the world around you has been in flames for way too long, but I would never complain about the magazine. It means way too much for me to do that. And now that our second issue has been out for a month, we’re already busy working on the upcoming one, which will be out at the end of January. I already can’t wait to share it with the world and every single one of you, it will be a great one.

And now the moment has finally come for me to share the magazine with you all. The excitement is real, honestly. First of all, here are the links to our website, our Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. And here is the link to where you can read our latest issue online and here is a link to our shop where you can buy a print copy of the magazine if you would like to support us or if you are just a paper person, like me.

I truly hope that you like the magazine and enjoy reading it just as much as I do. Naturally, I would absolutely love to hear what you think, so please don’t hesitate to leave your feedback and comments down below or to get in touch with me to discuss it further. I’m excited to hear from you. And until then, I wish you all the best time and already a very exciting happy new year. Let’s hope 2021 will be a lot better than 2020 in a whole bunch of aspects. And yeah, sending you all the tightest hugs and, as always, thanks so much for reading. x

Bella Venezia

Hola everyone.

And welcome back to my blog and also a new week. I hope so far your Monday has been nice and that you enjoyed the past weekend. I personally spent most of the weekend exploring London and working on our uni magazine LDN. So far, I’m honestly super proud of what my team and I have achieved with the mag so far and I truly can’t wait to finally hold the first print issue in my hands. Although this is technically not even my own magazine, the past few weeks have felt like I’ve been building up something that is mine. Something I can pour all my heart and creativity into. And although I spend almost every free hour either working on or thinking about the magazine without really getting anything back in return, by which I mean money and such, it has made me happier than I could have ever imagined. It almost feels like I was meant to be the editor of the paper. At least that’s what I’m telling myself.

On the other side, it could also be that I’m spending so much time working on the mag to get my mind off of missing my family and my home, especially my cat and my dog. Unfortunately, both haven’t been doing super well, which has left me feeling completely useless and helpless. Thankfully my parents are doing the most amazing job at looking after both my babies and I can’t wait to be with them again in two months. I think it’s just also been very tough for me to live without a pet for the first time in what feels like an eternity. It’s like a piece of myself, of my soul was left behind when I moved away from home. Actually, my flatmate Elena was meant to come with her feline friend Gatto, but getting him to London from Italy has proven more complicated than we thought. So getting our new furry child has been our number one mission ever since. So that might be another reason why I’m busying myself with the magazine and also basically burying myself in plants. It’s as if my brain and soul are looking for anything that is alive besides my flatmates for me to look after and give my love to. To be honest, you could probably do some psychological study on this, because, I’m not gonna lie, this is a bit weird. But hey, it’s what’s keeping me sane and happy these days, so there we go.

Additionally, looking back on my amazing summer – despite Corona and all that crap – has helped me a lot with staying positive. And part of that utterly beautiful summer was the trip to Venice with my mum, which is what I want to share with you guys today. Finally. I know, I’ve been talking about this for so long and never got around to showing you the pictures of our phenomenal trip, but I guess better late than never, right? So here they are, finally. My favorite shots from Venice.

To be honest, my mum and I both came to the conclusion pretty quickly that a trip to Venice could never possibly have been any better than ours. Although it was a risk to go to Italy in the middle of Corona, we knew that it would be worth it all and it truly was. I don’t think Venice will ever be this beautiful again. We all know what Venice looks like in the summer – now imagine that same city but just without the people. Because that’s what it was like. Empty. Not like Zombie Apocalypse empty, but empty for Venice standards. And gosh, the weather was just so amazing. And the food was even better. I remember not really loving the city the first time I went there, but that trip definitely made me fall head over heels in love with it. It is definitely a trip I will never ever forget. And one that rewarded me with memories and pictures filled with some much beauty that they will prolong into eternity. But, just see for yourself.

And yeah, now we’ve already reached the end of today’s post. As always, I hope you enjoyed the pictures and me babbling a bit about my life and my time in Venice. I truly hope you’re doing good in these rather stressful times and that maybe this post helped you get your mind off stuff for a short while. I’d really love to hear all your thoughts and opinions, so please don’t hesitate to leave any comments down below. And until then, I wish you all the best week and, of course, thanks for reading. x

Hallo from Berlin

Hola everyone.

And welcome back to my blog and another week. I hope you all had a great weekend and that you’re all doing well. I for my part had a quite busy weekend, meeting up with my family and saying goodbye to most of them. It’s insane to think that I’ll already be back in London in six days. Feels like an eternity since I left in March and like no time at all, as if I just blinked once and the past six months wooshed by. And now it’s already September and time to go back to real business. Absolutely insane.

On the one hand I’m sad to leave, as I haven’t spent this much time at home in a very long time (the last time I’ve been at home for longer than three months was in 2015), and I’ve gotten so used to being with my mum and dad and my babies everyday. But on the other hand I’m also super happy and excited to go back to London. And now that I’m moving into my first very own flat with my friends, I know the upcoming months will just be the best ever. But besides that, I’ve also just missed the city. Don’t get me wrong, I love the countryside. It’s what I know best, being born and having lived on the countryside for most of my life. But cities give me those sparks of excitement and thrill that the woods and endless fields can’t compete with. They’re both incredibly beautiful, but cities will never feel like hills and mountains and those will never make you feel the same as when you’re walking through the streets of a busy city.

That is just one of the reasons why I was super happy when my friend Lauren agreed to go on a trip to Berlin with me a few months ago, which is what I want to share with you all today. As most of you guys will know, I’ve always thought of Berlin as a third home – the first being my true home in Austria and the second one being both London and Brighton in one. Back when I got to live there for a few months in 2017, I couldn’t help but fall head over heels in love with this amazing city and I’ve been craving to go there again ever since, so even though a pandemic was sweeping over the planet, Lauren and I were quick to decide on our trip and to book everything we needed. And in the middle of August, just one week after our time in Belgium, we met up again in Berlin and spend another incredible seven days there.

To be honest, the trip couldn’t have been any better. I think we did and saw nearly everything there was to do and see in Berlin that week (apart from the stuff we had already seen and places we had already visited in the past). We went to the cinema – twice even (for the first time since March, which is still absolutely shocking to me) -, went to some amazing restaurants, visited some cool museums, the lovely botanical garden and even my old flat, spent a lovely evening chilling at the river Spree and, as some of you will maybe have seen from a past blogpost, I even went and got two new tattoos – click here for that post. And, very importantly, I also got to visit my second home in Berlin again, Dussmann, which is only the best bookstore ever. And on the last night we got to watch the sun rise and its rays shine on the beautiful city after we had spent the whole night watching a The Wrecks live gig online (worth all the sleep we missed out on). All in all the trip was an absolute dream and if I could, I would go back in an instant. I couldn’t be happier about our decision to really go, despite the whole madness our world is currently stuck in. It was so worth it.

And yeah, as you can probably guess, I had my camera with me nearly the whole time we were in Berlin, so I’m more than happy to share these beautiful shots with all of you. Please enjoy.

And yeah, there you go, guys. These are my favourite shots from our adventures in Berlin. I truly hope you enjoy this post and the pictures. As always, I’d love to hear from you, so please don’t hesitate to leave your thoughts and comments down below. I wish you all a great week and, of course, thanks for reading. x

Adventures in Amsterdam

Hola everyone.

How are you all doing today? I hope you’ve had a lovely weekend and that you’re enjoying the last bits of summer we’re being granted with. Can you believe it’s already September? Because I surely can’t. It feels like some elaborate joke, something someone made up. Even the thought that I’ve been home for half a ycear now sounds ridiculous to me when I say it out loud. Time is a strange thing, it really is.

Likewise, it’s also insane to me to think that I’ll be moving back to London in less than two weeks. Like, when did that happen? Super super strange, truly. And it’s not just that, even just thinking back to the past few weeks and months makes me wonder whether I’ve dreamed it all or whether it truly happened. Did I really visit Lauren in Belgium? Did I really go to Berlin? Did I really get new two new tattoos? Did Lauren and I really visit Amsterdam? In the middle of a global pandemic? I guess it must be true, because I’m sitting in front of a ton of pictures that were definitely taken in the incredible Amsterdam and that is also definitely me in the pictures. But see, this is how I know I had the best time ever – because it sounds too good to be true.

To be honest, the trip to Amsterdam is definitely something I will never forget. Not only because Lauren and I spent two amazing days there, filled with adventures and tons of fun, but also because it happened out of nowhere. See, that’s the good thing when a country is so small – you can reach nearby cities in a matter of a few hours. Pure luxury, I tell you. So when I came to Belgium and Lauren and I started planning our days we had together, we got the idea of going to Amsterdam and as it was only a few hours train journey away, we instantly booked it and started off the adventure two days later.

And, god, it was just so so so cool. We went to amazing restaurants, sat at the canals, went on night strolls, basically walked through the whole city and we even visited their botanical garden, which was so beautiful, I can’t even put it into words. Out of all of this though, I think my favourite part of the whole trip was visiting STMPD RCRDS. Those of you who’ve been following me and my blog for quite a while now will know how much that labels mean to me, but for those of you who are rather new here – STMPD is my dream workplace. I know, might be a bit strange to say it like that, but it really is. Ever since I’ve fallen in love with EDM and ever since that label was started, I’ve been dreaming about working there. Not only because their artists are so freaking amazing, like SO good, but moreover because it just looks like the best workplace and best team to work with. So, because of that, actually being at their office and seeing that very building with my own eyes, a building I’ve seen countless amounts of times just by being a Martin Garrix fan, made me freak out a bit. In short, being there meant the world to me. I’m still so grateful for Lauren actually walking through the whole city with me just to see the studios. Made my year, truly.

So, that was what we did in Amsterdam. As you can probably guess, the photographing came to no end during the trip, so right now I’ve got these amazing photos that I can’t wait to share with you. So, without further ado, please enjoy.

And yeah, there you go, guys. These are my favourite shots from our adventures in Amsterdam. I truly hope you enjoy this post and the pictures. As always, I’d love to hear from you, so please don’t hesitate to leave your thoughts and comments down below. I wish you all a great week and, of course, thanks for reading. x

My week in Belgium

Hola everyone.

How are you all doing today? I hope so far you’ve had a great start of the week and a not too harsh Monday (as we all know, they can sometimes be a bit of a pain). I once again have to apologize for being away for another week. As mentioned in my previous post, my mum and I went on our yearly mother-daughter trip last week – we went to Venice and it was so freaking beautiful, holy moly – which led to me not having much time to sit in front of my laptop and write. But as far as I know, no holiday is planned for the upcoming weeks until I’m due to move back to London (I’ve finally found a new flat, yey), so prepare for a ton of content for the next weeks and months.

Today, though, I’d like to share with you my favourite pictures of the amazing week that I got to spend in Belgium with my friend Lauren (for those of you who’ve been following my blog for a while, meaning the past few months, you’ll know who she is), which was a surprise for her in its entirety. It all started on her birthday in June when her mum messaged me about wanting me to be their big surprise for Lauren, who I hadn’t seen since March, when we had all left London because of our nice friend Corona. And after a few days of messaging back and forth, we had finally found the perfect dates for my visit and a few weeks after that I got on a plane again after what felt like forever. The best part of the whole trip was definitely Lauren not suspecting a single thing. Running towards her at the airport, her waiting for her uncle and definitely not me, and seeing the utter surprise in her eyes made getting up at 4 am on three hours of sleep and having that damn mask stuck to my face for hours and hours more than worth it.

The next days were filled with laughter, happiness and one adventure after another – at one point we even spent a night in Amsterdam, but more on that later – and I couldn’t have asked for a better trip. After the dreadful weeks and months apart from each other, seeing her again was all that I could wish for and the whole week has definitely turned the summer of 2020 in a far better experience than I thought it would be.

And with that, I’m more than happy to share my favourite pictures of the whole week with you guys (except Amsterdam, because that deserves a separate post). All in all, we went to Brussels for a day, got to visit Brugge and even the seaside and I finally got to take a stroll around Lauren’s hometown. One thing I can say for sure is that Belgium is a freaking beautiful country and that having the sea so close to you is a literal gift from heaven. But just see for yourself and please enjoy.

And yeah, there you go. These are my favourite shots from my time in Belgium. I still have to pick up my latest roll of film from the store, which I also had with me in Belgium, so do stay tuned for that as well. And yeah, until then I hope you enjoy this post and the pictures. As always, I’d love to hear from you, so please don’t hesitate to leave your thoughts and comments down below. I wish you all a great week and, of course, thanks for reading. x