photos – Page 7 – that lemon life

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

Thoughts

Hola everyone.

Looks like it’s Monday again, huh? I can’t believe it’s already a new week and that I’ll be officially starting uni tomorrow. But on the other hand I’m also so happy that it’s finally beginning, I actually can’t wait any longer.

As you guys know from my previous posts, moving to Brighton and living here, without my family and my friends, wasn’t and isn’t the easiest thing. I mean, I know that I’m not alone and I’ve already met some amazing people and I’m head over heels in love with Brighton, I really am, but I still can’t help but miss home sometimes. All the people I love and my pets and just my home all over, the place I know and care about. I do always try to look at the bright side, of course, but this weekend I kind of got swallowed up by a dark hole. Honestly, I just wanted to go home. And it wasn’t because I wasn’t happy or anything, I just literally wanted to go home. You know, I’m used to coming home on the weekends, it has always been like that. But now that I’m here I can’t do that anymore and it just hit me.

I of course talked to my mum and other people and went for a walk to calm my mind. But I also remembered that what I’m doing is actually a pretty huge thing and certainly not an easy one. For nobody. So, it’s okay to not be okay, especially now. And I want you guys to know that. The important aspect of it is though, that you get out of this dark hole again too, because noone should stay in there for too long. I did get out again and I’m now feeling a lot better. Life is a rollercoaster, right?

But I didn’t write this post just to tell you guys my thoughts. I actually wanted to show you guys some pictures I took this weekend. Like I said, while feeling not so well, I went for a walk and took my camera with me. At first I tried to take my usual, colorful pictures, but that just didn’t feel right. So I went down to the beach and started taking photographs in black and white. And somehow I managed to transport my inner thoughts and emotions into these pictures and turn them into something beautiful. When I look at them I can actually sense how I felt while taking them. My mum said that they have some kind of gloomy vibes, which I think fits perfectly. To be honest, I really like the pictures and for me they don’t just represent my ability to translate my emotions into art but also a new step into a new creative, photographic area, which I’m very happy about.

So yeah, that’s basically what I wanted to talk to and show you guys. As always, I hope you enjoyed reading about my thoughts and looking at the pictures. Please don’t hesitate to tell me your opinions, I’d love to hear them. And if you have any questions, please leave them down below. Oh and if any of you are stuck in that hole and need some help getting out, please know that you can always talk to me or somebody else you trust and love. Talking always helps, guys, it really does. And yeah, I hope you’re all doing good and I wish you a nice week. 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

Budapest

Hola everyone.

Can you believe that it’s already a new week again? I can’t. The move to Brighton is getting closer and closer and next Saturday seems to be approaching much faster than I had anticipated. More and more people keep asking me how I’m feeling, whether I’m a bit scared or nervous. But honestly, I can’t really describe the state I’m in right now. I’m nervous and a bit anxious sometimes and of course sad, especially when I’m lying on the couch with my whole family and feeling their presence, fully knowing that I’ll be missing this exact feeling. But I’m also really happy and excited for this new chapter in my life. Seriously. I already have so many things planned and just the thought of seriously living the one part of my life I’ve always dreamed about makes my stomach fill up with butterflies. I think if you can feel ready for such a huge thing, then that’s what I’m feeling.

It’s currently a bit after one o’clock am on a Monday night and I’m sitting on our couch at home, Thor Ragnarok glimmering in front of me. You know, you can’t really go wrong with this movie and it makes me laugh, so. But that’s not what I want to talk to you guys about. I don’t want to talk about my love for Marvel or my move to Brighton. Today I’d like to talk to you guys about my trip to Budapest or even rather share my favorite pictures with you. To be honest, the cities beauty and coolness really did surprise me. I loved the whole look of the city and especially the crazy amount of historical buildings. I mean, have you seen the parliament? It’s freaking beautiful. And besides that I also loved the modernity when it comes to food and fashion. The whole city is packed with vintage stores and vegan restaurants and shops. It was just so so cool. And I think that also shows in the pictures. I hope you enjoy them just as much as I enjoyed taking them. As always, please don’t hesitate to leave your comments and questions down below and I wish you all a great week. And, of course, thanks for reading. x

My Week at Nova Rock

Hola everyone.

You’re not going to believe it, but the day has come. Today I’m finally telling you all about my week at the Nova Rock festival. And I know, it literally took me ages to write this, but now it’s here and I’m more than excited for you to read this. Let’s go.

So, first of all, I have to say it was freaking awesome and I loved every single second of it and I want to go back. Like, right now. Please? Can we please go now? I need it in my life. It was so so so cool to work at a festival and not just attend it. Can you imagine being handed one of those “all access”-passes that casually has your name written on it. I nearly fainted. I mean, I literally took a step into the world I want to spend the rest of my life in. And even though the music wasn’t really my type all the time as it was a rock festival with quite some metal bands being part of the linup, I still had a grin on my face 24/7. I just felt so alive. Like the first time when you eat Nutella. It just changes everything. What you feel, what you think, what you want. Everything. And that’s exactly what this week did to me. I now know my path in life and I can’t wait to wander along it.

But let’s go a bit deeper, shall we? So, as I already mentioned, I got to work at the festival for a whole week, from Monday to the next Monday. The actual festival went from Thursday to Sunday, so needless to say that those were the most fun days. The first few days I basically just helped with the organizing and the set up, walked around the area and worked with some TV crews, by which I mean that I gave them a little tour of the whole area. And from the first day on everyone was just so freaking nice and welcoming to me. The TV crews joked around with me, the team and I always went to lunch together, we chatted and laughed and I felt so happy and comfortable and just overall like the luckiest girl ever.

During Wednesday night the first bands started arriving and then on Thursday I literally had the best day ever. In the morning I again did a little tour with a TV crew and could even stay with them during their interview with a band. Guys, there was a moment when I was seriously sitting in a freaking tour bus. An official tour bus, with the band, their manager and the crew in it. And me. How crazy is that? But that’s not everything. When I got out of the bus and walked around the corner 2/5 of the band Kraftklub, one of my favorite bands, walked past me. I couldn’t believe it. I was literally starstruck and couldn’t believe my luck. But little did I know that they would walk past me again just an hour later, but this time completed with a little pause and direct eye contact with them. I must have looked like such a damn freak, with my eyes wide open and that crazy, admiring look I always have when I look at one of my faves. Oh well. I guess I need to work on my coolness when it comes to meeting bands. For future references, you know. After that moment the day was officially the best one and couldn’t be topped, because I started to grin and that smile never left my face.

Later that day I met up with my friend who was attending the festival too. Guys, owning that kind of pass is like the coolest thing ever. I felt so damn cool. I even got to watch a few bands from the stage. And I really mean from the stage, because I was literally standing right around the corner on the stage, with the crew and everything. So unbelievable. And then I even had the chance to attend the Kraftklub concert which was so freaking amazing. They’re such a fantastic band and seriously never fail to amaze me.

The remaining days I basically walked around the festival, watched some bands, met up with my friends and helped my team and the other coworkers. I even got to take some pictures for the official Instagram page. And guys, the whole week was literally so much fun. Seriously. I felt so grateful for the chance to work there and still am flabbergasted that that seriously happened. Because for the first time I was truly a part of the community I’ve always dreamed about and want to spend the rest of my life in. And that just meant and still means so freaking much to me. It was like the last little nudge I needed to fully know that this is where I’m meant to be. This is where I belong. Surrounded by music and people who all share the same passion for it. And I couldn’t be happier about that.

So yeah guys, there you go. That’s my week at Nova and basically one of the coolest weeks ever. I hope you enjoy reading all about it. Oh and I hope you’re all doing great and that so far your weeks has been just as good. I’m actually in the best mood ever as I’m currently sat in my garden at home, with Martijn playing in the background and the fact in mind that I’m going to see this cutie again in just a few hours. I seriously can’t wait to jump around again to these songs. God, I’m so excited. I’ll of course tell you all about it. So yeah, that’s my upcoming weekend. As always I also wish you an amazing weekend. And, of course, thanks for reading. x