Lilis Coachella 2016 fashion recap

Hello there lovelies,

if you are as much of a „Choachella-holic“ as me, you probably find yourself in a current state of denial and frustration. Coachella is no-chella anymore, it’s over. You have to wait a whole year to get back to those two weekends when the desert of Coachella Valley comes to life and glows in a million lights.
But you know what? Don’t worry, post-Coachella is pre-Coachella and we want to be prepared for next year. We have to know all the trends to recreate them even better next year and of course for the summer. Because summer means time to show off what you’ve learned from this years Coachella Festival.
Without further ado, get your flower crowns out and turn up that indie music, it’s time for my favorite trends of Coachella 2016!

1. Rainbow hair.

Taken from Kylies Instagram @kyliejenner

Don’t you just want to look as if a unicorn threw up on you forever? That rainbow hair cascading in the light breeze of the magical air.Sounds like a fairytale doesn’t it? That’s because it is one, I just love colorful hair, I always have and always will. It’s not a new trend but I still want to list it because you’ll look awesome and fierce with it. At least Kylie
Jenner did, she certainly pulled that rainbow hair off
If you want to be a bit more subtle why don’t you go for the good old dip dye? Personally I love the hair styles my favorite german bloggers went for, Lina and Luisa. They live in LA and if you haven’t checked them out you definitely should! For Coachella they both dyed their tips and it looks just magical.

From Luisas and Linas Instagram @luisalion @linakottutz

2. Braid away.

Thank god the braids are back! Or plaits if you’re British 🙂 I’ll use the term braids though, just to ouclear that up. Braids make every outfit better, they make you better, they make the world better. Not only can they make you look super adorable like Victorias Secret Model Taylor Hill, who rocks that halo braid it can also make you seem a bit more rockier like Shay Mitchell, who wore her braid right where her hair parts.

Taken from Shays Instagram and Taylors Instagram

It’s is a super convenient hairstyle to keep all those annoying strands  of your face while still making you look cute and your hair stays in place for hours and hours. So dance away, get sweaty and have fun!

3. All about that glitter.

Make your skin shine, so you yourself shine bright as a diamond.
Glitter and little rhinestones or sequins stuck onto your face give your Make Up Look that little extra and make you stand out in a crowd of thousands (who all got glitter on their faces as well, because lets be real, everyone wants to look like they just fell into a goblet full of Leprechaun gold) so that your favorite band member spots you and marries you. Just kidding, I can’t guarantee that that will ever happen. Just look at how beautifully model Bryana Holly and Coachella queen Vanessa Hudgens pull off their glittery look and you’ll know what I’m talking about.

Source is Vanessas and Bryana’s Instagram 🙂 @vanessahudgens (Bryana has deleted her instagram so I’ll link her twitter @bryanaholly)

4. Lace it up

In case you prefer to look like a magnificent desert angel maybe wearing some white lace is the right choice for you?
You could go full on white lace with a bit of a rockier edge like Sara Sampaio did, mix it up with some boho accessories to look like Alessandra Ambrosio or just combine one lacey item with your outfit, to give it a bit of a girly look, Hailey Baldwin for example used her cardigan.

Sources: @sarasampaio @alessandraambrosio @haileybaldwin

It’s all up to you really and to give you a few ideas on how to achieve that look without going overboard I came up with one casual and one more „out there“ look for you to recreate. All the clothes should be in an affordable price range but if you feel like I didn’t check out as many shops as I should’ve please let me know!

Dress and hat from Topshop, sunglasses, shoes, rings from Aeropostale, Bag and Hair Accessories from H&M

Shirt from Choies, Shorts from StyleMoi, Sandals and necklace from Aeropostale, Sunglasses, Flower Crown and bag from H&M

5. Don’t choke yourself

Those chokers, who doesn’t love them. Since the 90s have had their comeback chokers did as well and it’s no secret that they a) make you remember all the fashion fauxpaus you’ve committed in the 90s and early 00s, but also b) make you look fierce!
So it’s a no brainer you’d want to include them in your festival/summer outfits this year.
Sara Sampaio styled her choker quite punk…

Source: @sarasampaio

…Josephine Skriver went full on sporty and Taylor Hill stayed within the common boho theme of coachella. You see, there’s loads you can do with a choker.

 

Source: @joesephineskriver @taylor_hill

Flannel, Shorts from boohoo.com, Docs from Urban Outfitters, velvet choker from Topshop, Shirt and 2nd choker from forever 21, backpack from H&M

Sandals, Choker, Shirt from H&M, Shorts from boohoo.com, bag from forever 21, bracelet from Aeropostale

6. Let it flow.

Let it flow, can’t hold it back anymore…just like Elsa we’re just gonna let ourselves go and forever be in love with the typical boho types of outfits that make Coachella what it is. A place to play around with fabrics and flowy textiles and more importantly colorful patterns.
You’re allowed to wear color, loads of color, color is your new best friend.
If you want to, try and do it in a classy way like blogger Jessica Stein (by the way she wore the most amazing white lace dress for Coachella.) or just go all out there like blogger Luisa Lion or actress and singer Vanessa Hudgens, it’s totally up to you.
Just remember to have fun!

Sources: @vanessahudgens @tuulavintage @luisalion

The Jumpsuit is from Choies, Shoes, Hat, Bag and Bracelet from H&M

Dress is from forever 21, sunglasses from Aeropostale, Necklace, Bag and Shoes from H&M

So I hope these little Style inspirations helped you to decide what you want to wear this summer or for the next festival you’re going to visit. In case everything fails just go all black, put on some ripped shorts, a nirvana shirt and some Doc Martens and you’re good to go. And something I can guarantee you, this is like a 100% safe outfit, no strings attached.
Anyways, I’ll listen to my Coachella playlist some more and mourn over the fact that I still haven’t been to Coachella in my almost 20 years of existence and hope that you have the most amazing day and that you’re happy!
What do think is essential for a festival? If you have any ideas just leave a comment or write me on our social media:

Twitter: @castaway_minds
Instagram: @castawayminds

Lots and lots of love,
Lili xx

Never Happy Ever After Album Review

Taken from the official AS IT IS Website

For my first post I thought I’d write kind of a review about an album I’m currently obsessed with. As I said in my introduction I’m neither a professional musician or a music journalist so don’t expect much knowledge, this is just my opinion.

Anyway, the album I want to talk about is Never Happy Ever After (Deluxe Edition) by AS IT IS. For those of you, who don’t know them, AS IT IS, is a five piece pop punk band from Brighton. It was formed in 2012 and consists of singer Patty Walters, guitarists Benjamin Biss and Andy Westhead, bassist Alistair Testo and Patrick Foley on the drums. The normal version of NHEA already came out a bit over a year ago (21^st April 2015) and I already listened to it back then, but I recently rediscovered it when the Deluxe Version came out 3 Weeks ago on the 8^th of April and have basically listened to it every day since. Additional to the tracks on the normal version, there’s one completely new song on the deluxe version, called „Winter’s Weather“ and really great acoustic versions to three of the other songs ( „Cheapshots & Setbacks“, „Dial Tones“ and „Concrete“). Winter’s Weather is one of my favourite tracks on the album, because I think it’s very strong lyrically and I like the variaty of „calmer“ and „louder“ parts. The album in general is a great mix between fast, loud and slower, quieter songs. It starts really pop punk with songs like „Speak Soft“, Cheapshots & Setbacks“ and „Sorry“ and towards the end there are more quiet, pensive songs like „My Oceans Were Lakes“ ( an other one of my favourites) and „You The Room And The Devil on my Shoulder“. The vocals are awesome, I especially like the parts, that are a bit screamo, but without actually shouting at you. One of the things I like the most about the album are the lyrics. They’re pretty deep and speak to a lot of people. Some of my favourites would have to be :

„I miss what never was with us, our fiction I constructed“ (Sorry)

„I’m just a reader, you’re every chapter. Never happy ever after“ (Sorry)

„I’m starting to see my oceans were lakes“ (My Oceans Were Lakes)

„We’re the kids who are dead inside, but we’re the ones who feel alive.“ (Cheapshots & Setbacks)

„ I look for love in everybody else, cause I tried, but I can’t love myself.“ (Winter’s Weather).

The lyrics may seem quite depressive , but this album always puts me in a good mood and (even though some songs are good when you want to cry about your ex or how much your life sucks), it’s definitely suitable for dancing through your room headbanging and screaming the lyrics. (Trust me I’ve tried it). I think you will like the album if you like bands like State Champs, Sleeping with Sirens, Neck Deep, Set It Off, We are in the crowd etc. It’s definitely perfect if you’re currently, heartbroken, a bit lost, have the feeling you haven’t quite found your place in the world yet or are just a fan of really great pop punk. So turn it up really loudly (because that’s the only way to listen to it) and enjoy !!

Love, Alli xx

Social Media for AS IT IS:

Website: asitisofficial.com

Twitter: @ASITISofficial

Instagram: asitisofficial

Musicvideo Winter’s Weather: AS IT IS Winter’s Weather Official Music Video

Never Happy Ever After on Spotify: Never Happy Ever After

 

 

Youtuber of the month: April ’16

Picture taken from Gabriella Lindleys Instagram Account

Hello beautiful people,

as I’ve mentioned in my introduction post I’m showing you my favourite or new discovered YouTuber of every month. So this April it’s the first one I’m going to introduce you to.

Well, I probably don’t even have to tell you who she is because she has quite a lot subscriber on YouTube and also has a bit of a fanbase on social media. The person I’m talking about is: Gabriella Lindley.

In case you have never heard of her, she’s an english beauty and lifestyle YouTuber who has grown when she started to become friends with bigger YouTuber, such as Zoella. I know that for a lot of people who watch her videos this is quite a sensitive topic because she got a lot of hate because of that. To clearify, I only know her because of the vlog of Zoella she has been in, but since that day I love her videos and how she comes across in her videos.

I’ve always loved how honest she was about things and also that despite this whole crazy YouTube journey of hers, she always seemed to stayed true to herself and of course everybody loves a bit of her cupboard chats #cupboardchatzwithgabs. Now you might think why I think shes honest because obviously YouTuber can chose what they want people to see and what not. I liked how truthfully she was in her ‘Honesty‘ video, where she talked about the whole Zoella-Hate-Story and she in general talks about things in her vlogs that you probably wouldn’t find in other vlogs and for me obviously I love that she’s quite a bit sassy but still seems to be an absolute sweetheart.

Of course she’s been around for quite a while and I knew that she’s honest but when whe uploaded her video ‘My Weight Loss Surgery’ video this month I knew that I have to mention her. Again, she got quite some controversal and various opionons on her boob job she got done, also that her mum was around hers a lot and also seemed to do the whole tidying. After she posted her weight loss story everybody understood why.

Gabby suffered from being overweighted when she grew up and coming along with that also with bulling and no matter what she tried she couldn’t lose weight, so she decided to have a gastric sleeve operation. In a short period of time, due to this operation, she lost a lot of weight. Coming along with this her skin couldn’t grow back as fast therfore she ended up with saggy skin around some parts of her body. Even though she lost a lot of weight she still didn’t feel comfortable in her own body so she decided on some further operation to help her with her problems. She actually never told most of her friends/family, let alone her subscribers. Also because of that people hated on her because her mum, obviously, helped her with house duties and all the things she couldn’t do in this time. At this time non of her subscribers knew what shes going through.

To be honest with you after I watched this video I felt really moved and thought, why do people/subscribers even care so much about having ‘plastic surgery’ or other operations done when it helps the person and also is nobodys business beside of the one who has it done. I personally think that Gabriella has been very brave to talk about it that openly and showed young people that even if you try your very best to reach a goal you can’t always reach it but sometimes you need to go a different way to reach it. I don’t want to say that you should have plastic surgery or any operation done just for not wanting to get to the gym regulary or eating healthly but for some people there is no other way anymore and if it makes them happy everybody should except their decision and not hate on them. Also people judged Gabby even though they didn’t know the whole stoy and never knew what happened behind the camera but still thought they knew everything and need to bring her down because of that.

I just felt very inspired by Gabriella for showing that if you want something for yourself in order to make yourself happy, even though you probably won’t please some other people you should always do it. Also, I obviously loved how hoenst she was about everything and I think she showed some people that being honest can help in quite a few situations.

So in case you never heard of her, I only can advice you to check her out because I truthfully like her content. 🙂

Lots of love,

Jenny x.

Stereotypes against refugees

 

 

With the migration crisis happening at the moment I wanted to talk about the people affected by it. And with that I do not mean the people in the host countries, but the refugees themselves. Leaving their countries is often not their choice, as they simply try to survive. The reasons for people having to leave their homes may vary, for example there are refugees who are economic refugees, meaning they leave their country to escape extreme poverty, and some are trying to escape wars, persecution, often for religious or political beliefs, and natural disasters. Often it is hard to completely differentiate between economic refugees and those fleeing their country for other reasons, as poverty and little prospects of economic growth often come hand in hand with wars or natural disasters. These people then leave their countries in hopes of finding a home, temporarily or permanently, where they can live in safety and may lead a life in dignity. They have to leave everything behind and often have to go to terrible length in order to escape their countries of origin. At the moment you simply have to watch the news and you’ll hear more and more heartbreaking stories every day.

One of the things that start to upset me more and more about this crisis though, is the attitude with that they are greeted when they arrive in their desired places, the places they deem safe. Some of the press and propaganda that is currently voiced in Europe, makes me question humanity. I mean, how can we resent people for wanting to have enough to eat, a roof over their heads, or a job? To me these are basic human desires and should be a reachable goal for every human being. In order to talk about the hostility brought up against refugees, I am going to look at stereotypes against refugees, to show that they do not show the reality.

One of the biggest stereotypes associated with refugees is probably that they will come and live off the benefits of the host states. However,  according to one of my guest lecturers, Sir George Reid, the average refugee has a higher education level than the average American, meaning that most likely they had good jobs back at home. To me this just shows that people don’t come because of benefits, but because they are desperate and have no other choice. I saw a documentary a while back about a Syrian man in his thirties, who tried, with his wife, to get to Germany. Before the war he used to be a lawyer, with a detached house, two cars and a social life that we would see as normal for a standard middle-class family. When people like him come to Europe/America/anywhere else in the world, I doubt that they’ll be happy with a life living on benefits, they will be wanting to work to get their standard of life back. Which leads to the next stereotype: Immigrants stealing jobs. This is purely my opinion, but I hope that most of you will be able to agree with this: If a refugee, who has often the disadvantage of having to use their second or third language, can get a job that they applied for because they are qualified or because there is no one else  wants to do it, it DOES NOT mean that they are stealing jobs. They are taking jobs that are available and are helping OUR economy, helping raise money for OUR welfare systems through taxes. So how is it a bad thing? Especially since we have an ageing population in Europe and in many countries we have a lack of qualified personal in many fields, so if there are people who can do the job from other countries, it is a win/win situation. Another stereotype is that immigrants, especially Muslims, are often seen as a security issue, hence as terrorists. Which I absolutely don’t get. These people coming looking for safety in Europe are often fleeing  from the people, they are accused of being.  And most of the times the terrorists that you can find here in Europe are EU nationals who have been radicalized by the organisations that cause people to leave their homes. The last stereotype that I am going to address is the belief that Western Countries are losing their cultures and national identities. This is for me probably the hardest one to understand. Why is it bad for cultures to get mixed and to learn about, appreciate and, most importantly, respect different cultures? In my opinion we can only win if we chose to respect each other for who we are. Also the exchange of culture has always happened. Just look at all the food we have. I mean, there are so many things that now seem to be typical for a country despite being originally from somewhere else, like pasta for example.  When you talk about this amazing pasta dish you’d probably think of Italy first, however pasta originally comes from China. Croissants, who seem to be French, have been invented in Austria and Chicken that  we find everywhere all over Europe is originally from South Asia. Without migration we wouldn’t be able to get Pizza, a quick Kebab on the way home, or when you’re can’t be bothered to cook a Chinese or Indian Take Away, in fact our culture as we know it today, wouldn’t be the same. Furthermore, we should also be looking at how Western Culture is often influencing the culture in other countries and we definitely have to think about who gives us the right to say that our culture is the right one to dominate the world.

Back to the treatment and the perception of  migration now. When it comes to the handling and judging of refugees, especially in Europe we should be looking back at our history to see that it is more than possible to resettle a large amount of people that are in need. After World War 2 there were 40,000,000 people who needed to be replaced and that in a Europe that had a lot of its infrastructure destroyed and with a worse economic situation, however people managed and pulled through. In 2015, according to the UNHCR there were 1,015,078 migrants that arrived in the Mediterranean by sea, according to Frontex there have been about 764038 illegal border crossings on the so called Western Balkan Route and there are currently 4,5 million Syrian refugees worldwide, of which most are in neighbouring countries such as Turkey and Jordan, that need to be placed in permanent homes. Despite these numbers seeming large they are still far off from 40,000,000, so we need to ask ourselves why it seems so hard to be welcoming to these people and make them at least feel welcome in our countries. Even though for arguments evidence and numbers are important, in my opinion, there should be more focus on individual stories of refugees rather than hiding behind the numbers, as numbers make it less personal and make it easier for us to forget that these numbers stand for hundreds of thousands of children, women and men who have already lived through terrible things and now have to face a lot of hostility in a place they deemed safe. There are so many great volunteer projects out there that help refugees, may it be through language classes or something more random such as dance classes or simply by donating books, clothes, games or other things you may need in your daily life. If you want to help and support it, look for projects near you and help out. The advice given by one of my lecturers here in Scotland was, this is especially for people living in the UK, to petition your MPs to take in more refugees, as they have to listen to you. Every email, every letter may have an impact and may save lives.

Let us know what you think on social media and in the comment. 🙂

Lots of Love,

Katie

[Picture: http://www.forbes.com/sites/jplehmann/2015/09/02/refugees-migrants-europes-past-history-and-future-challenge/#2d13ec154765%5D

social media: Twitter- @castaway_minds
Instagram – @castawayminds

Future

Have you ever laid in bed late at night and wondered how your life will be in the future? Well, I most certainly have done that a few occasions in my life of 21 years. Am I successful in my job? What will I work as? Whom am I working for? Will I have a husband? Even kids? When will I get married? When will I have kids? Am I still friends with my current friends? What are my parents and siblings doing?

An endless list of questions that float around my head and the sad thing about it is that I’ll never get the answer to them no matter for how long I’m staying awake.

Today is one of those days. I’ve just had a very, let me say, unsuccessful meeting with a professor of mine because of a project I need to do for Uni and it makes me wonder is this really what I want to do for the rest of my life and what will my future look like?

Surely I could write a list of motivational quotes that I assume most of you already know like, ‘If you can dream it, you can do it’ or ‘Live your dreams’. We all know them too well, but to be honest with you, I’m not gonna say that. I’m a believer in that if you want something you have to work for it. Of course there are some times were it is extremely hard and you think you’re not going to make it but once you achieved the things you worked for it’s the best feeling in the world. Sadly I’m not a witch, visionary or anything alongside that, but I think one of the magical things in life is that you never know what’s coming next. Am I going to be successful in my job later? Who knows but do I really want to know? Am I going to meet my future husband next weekend on the party I’m intending to go to? I don’t know, but honestly I don’t want to know. Because then I had to freak out what I should wear, what I should do with my hair and make-up and constantly checking if I look good and that I say something very clever or make him laugh. You see, way too much pressure.

I don’t know what my future holds and I can’t answer the questions I would like to know, however I’m glad I can not. Cause this way I can live my life, enjoy the moments and the little things and also make mistakes that I might regret but I also can learn from.

Don’t stress yourself about what the future will look like, because no matter how hard you try, you’ll never know. Why stressing about it so much then? I work for it, so that it might look like how I picture it, however I’m glad I don’t know how it will look like.

Jenny x.

Lilis #GirlBoss of the month: Caitlin Stasey

Taken from Caitlins website herself(.)com

„People think that beauty opens doors; but it opens doors to cliff edges.“

A very happy Sunday Funday to all of you 🙂

Let me introduce you to a brand new „Sunday Funday“ category on this blog: Each month one of us chooses a woman or a girl that inspired us, changed something in society or spoke up about an important issue, to be our #GirlBoss of the month. We hope in return that you feel empowered to be the best selves you can be, after reading about the amazing women we chose.

This April it was my turn to choose a #GirlBoss and I decided on the Australian actress Caitlin Stasey.
To me it’s always a big question what my childhood heroes grow up to be, whether they’re still as inspirational as I thought they were when I was a kid and of course if they’re still acting.
Some of you may know Caitlin Stasey as this childhood hero from her part as Frankie in the Australian kids series „The Sleepover Club“, maybe you’ve also seen her on „Neighbours“ or „Reign“. But for me she’s always been the self confident Frankie from „The Sleepover Club“, I always wanted to be like. So naturally I wanted to see what she’s doing now and I was honestly pretty overwhelmed.
There was one YouTube Video in particular that stood out to me and that actually made me think about creating a post like this. The video was on a channel called StyleLikeUs, which was created by a mother daughter duo, who in their own words are „leading a movement that empowers people to accept and express their true selves“. The channel on its own is worth checking out!
Caitlin Staseys video deals with the challenges young actresses that arrive in Hollywood have to deal with.

As for me, I never felt the trouble of not feeling represented in the media, as an average white girl and therefore probably had it easier coming to terms with who I am. Still, Caitlin talks about the problem of type casting young girls to play the sexy, pretty girl next door, all the boys want.
We are represented as white women, there is no doubt in that and it is also not arguable that there needs to be a bigger variety of ethnicities and all kinds of shapes people come in in movies.
But we also have to consider that these changes that need to be made start with women not being sexualized in the media anymore, as this sexualization just sends the wrong image to young girls. And to me that is a huge problem and I love that Caitlin is talking this openly about it.
She even mentions that when Jessica Biel addressed the problem she had of only being cast as the beautiful woman, no one in the public eye took her seriously and shrugged it off as some luxurious problem. Cases like these led to women and girls in the same position being afraid of asking for more or asking for a different part because they didn’t feel entitled to do so, because they were afraid of coming across as arrogant.
After all, there are more important problems in the world than actresses being type cast.
And yes, maybe there are bigger problems, but as Caitlin mentions and also in my opinion it is part of a bigger problem. The problem being, putting labels on people, which is still a huge issue in our society.

But back to Caitlin Stasey; she points out that she often feels like a variation of a theme of the same girl every casting she goes to. She even has to go onto shopping trips with her manager or send her manager pictures of her outfit she plans on wearing in public so that casting directors don’t get the idea she’s not sexy enough or not chill or cool enough.
One casting director actually thought she was incredibly boring just because she was wearing High Waisted jeans, he judged her based on her clothes.
To me this really proves the cliche of these old white men writing movies and TV shows for young girls although they really don’t have a clue what young girls need to see or hear. Of course it’s easier to just objectify women, it has worked for years in the movie industry but just because this is the case doesn’t mean that it should go on like this. There needs to be brave new directors, producers and screenwriters and more strong and beautiful young actresses like Caitlin Stasey who speak up about the topic without being afraid of the reactions they might get from casting directors. Maybe in a few years every girl can feel like they’re good enough and their type of person can be found in popular movies. In the end, only then we can tackle the problem of labeling people and objectifying women.
In case you want to see the whole interview of Caitlin, just click the link 🙂 Caitlin also launched a website called „herself“ so if you’re over 18 feel free to check that one out as well 🙂

I really hope you enjoyed learning about my #GirlBoss of the month Caitlin Stasey and you feel inspired or maybe just happy that people like her exist in our (sometimes brainwashed) society.
I’ll also link Caitlins social media down below!

Have a wonderful day you magnificent human bean reading this.
Loads of love,
Lili xx

Where to find Caitlin:
Caitlins Twitter: @caitlinstasey
Caitlins Instagram: @caitlinjstasey

Where to find Castaway Minds online:
Twitter: @castaway_minds
Instagram: @CastawayMinds

Quote of the week

“let a girl be difficult and complicated. let her think and let her mind wrap around things qickly and too slowly at the same time. let her favourite colours be lilac and Magenta instead of purple and pink. let her shave one side of her head because she just couldn’t decide on one length. let a girl only wear silk to bed or nothing at all, let her drink coffee with two teaspoons of sugar- unless it’s Saturday on which she should have her tea. let girls play football after school and take ballet on the weekends. let a girl save herself until marriage but make you weak in the knees with the things she says. let a girl be a boy.  let a girl shave off her eyebrows and cut off all her hair so her little brother with cancer doesn’t feel so alone. let girls eat salad all day and then nothing but take out for a week. let girls never listen to the radio again if that’s what they want. let them sleep with night lights but write stories in the dark. let Girls be complicated. different. Abstract. bold. let them be soft. rigid. let them be black. white. blue. let them be taylor-swift-jammers-motorcycle-riders. let them be human. let them be aliens. let them be made of stars. let Girls be everything and nothing compacted into large and small bodies. let them be.”

-Addy Lamme

 

Lili

Hello everyone, I am Lili and I am obsessed with my striped shirt.

Hey there readers of our blog,

you have to save the best for last right? No sorry I’m kidding. So as the other 3 already introduced themselves to you I now have the honor of doing the same.
My name is Lili and I am 19 and studying Sociology and North American Studies in this town in the north of Germany no one knows but apparently our uni is like all fancy and people like Goethe visited it. I was born while the old people’s home next to the hospital had a summer party so that my screams blended into a beautiful mix with your grandmas favourite songs and to this day I am convinced this seriously messed with my head.
People would probably describe me as out going and a bit crazy but you know, I just like talking to people and getting to know them.
In school that was different though, I was quite shy and would blush all the time, and that’s not a joke. Everything was embarrassing to me. Maybe that was also because I openly was a fangirl of different human beings from when I was 13 on and even back then Justin Bieber wasn’t really a good conversation starter.
But I always knew I wanted to get out of my small town in the north of Germany (back in another town in the north of Germany though didn’t quite work I guess :D) so after graduating from High School I moved to London for a year to work as an Au Pair. This is also how I met Katie as she was an Au Pair at the host family I applied to. We were supposed to have a serious Skype interview, I even prepared notes (I was incredibly nervous. Really! It was horrible) and then we actually spend the whole time talking about movies, Ed Sheeran and books and yeah, I got to be an Au Pair in that family in the end by the way…but Katie and me also ended up becoming friends. We then went to a 5sos concert together and met Alina and Jenny (woohoo) and by asking them which part of Germany they are from and confusing them because we were standing next to them, talking English the whole time, we made new friends. That’s how you do it!
In September I’ll kinda go back into the direction of London but way up north and then a sharp turn to the left (Second star to the right and straight on till morning 😉 ) and bam! You’re in Galway, Ireland. At least if my coordinates are correct. Yup, I’ll be spending my Winter and Summer Semesters of 2016 and 2017 in the lovely Ireland and I cannot wait.
But that’s not really about me is it? Well I do love London, new places in general are pretty awesome. To me travelling and broadening your mind is just the best thing you can do. I love exploring, I just love everything unknown as I’m incredibly curious. Maybe even too curious at times. Expect me wanting to know every single thing you experienced on your latest holiday, or all the details from the last date you went on. But also be prepared for me not sparing any detail when I tell you something, because you know, you might not get the connections if I don’t make digressions here and there. Looong digressions. Including getting distracted by everything around me.
But then there’s this part of me that’s weirdly ambitious and I don’t even understand it most of the times. Working on things gives me life (kinda…sometimes! Depends on the point in my life). I just need to be doing something, have the feeling I’m going somewhere with what I’m doing.
Reading this makes me think what kind of annoying person I probably am.
What else…I love music, then again who doesn’t? I used to have singing lessons but as awkward as I am I can’t bring myself to email or call the singing teacher in my university town so I technically can’t really sing anymore. Although I used to sing in a band, that’s kinda cool right?
Artist wise I like everything from Lana Del Rey to Taylor Swift to Green Day…I am a sucker for Brit Pop/Rock like The Kooks, Babyshambles or Arctic Monkeys. Sometimes I do like some Hoodie Allen or the occasional Singer Songwriter like Ed Sheeran (obvious choice), Iron & Wine, Bright Eyes and Bon Iver. I’m going to stop myself right there because otherwise I’d go on and on forever.
Basically I am a person that likes to find beauty in things, people and the stuff I do. I appreciate art galleries, old bookstores and cute restaurants and I love looking for them and finding the prettiest one that no one else of my friends has found yet (Gotta admit I spent lots of weekend at the Tate, which is not really a hidden gem), it just makes me feel content to feel detached from reality for a bit and disappear into my own little world.
And maybe you guys reading this would like to disappear in a tiny part of this own little world of mine by reading my blogposts. You’re always invited to accompany me and the girls on this journey and I hope you have as much fun as we do.
If you really read this far,I am truly impressed, you’re beautiful and amazing and I hope you are happy with yourself because you deserve to be!

Love love love and even more love,
Lili xxx

P.S.: If you scroll all the way down you can find my social media stuff but first you have to read what my girls have written about me.
Jenny On Lili:
To describe Lili I probably could do this with very little words: the most magnificent unicorn ever walked this earth. Sometimes you may wonder in which dreamland she is but that’s mostly her charm. Lili is a caring person who may be different to others, but I admire especially that on her. She’s not your typical girl next door and she knows what she wants and works for it. Lili is also very good with socializing with other people and makes friends very easily. That’s mostly because of her open mind and also because from previous singing experience she has no problem of talking to others.

Katie On Lili:
The lovely Lili, is one of the bubbliest and sweetest people I know. When you’re around her, life is never boring as she’ll always have some crazy/funny/incredible idea of what to do. There have been an infinite amount of times where she, out of the blue, would make me smile or laugh, simply by being her magical self. Some of my favourite moments with her are simply dancing around the house while making dinner or going for a walk and coming back with a billion pictures.  It’s funny how an interview one skype can lead to an amazing friendship that I would not want to exchange for anything in the world.

Alli On Lili:
I have Lili saved in my phone as Lili (The Unicorn) and I think that says a lot. She is special, fabulous and sparkling just like a unicorn. I have never met anyone who has such an impressing, creative mind, takes better selfies or does a better Makeup and at the same time is so sweet, helpful and kind. Lili will be the next Superstar or tumblr queen or evil mastermind. Whatever she’ll end up doing she will shine, because she’s so passionate and makes people fall in love with life with her positivity. Lili is just like a unicorn , rare and loved by everyone.

My Social Media:

Instagram: @lirial_
Twitter: @LiliAlexa_
Tumblr: FocusOnHaappiness
YouTube: Lili Alexa
Snapchat: LiliAlexis

 

Alina

Hey guys it’s Alli 🙂

you know the girl in the middle of the classroom, who isn’t really noticable, whose outfits are never quite on point and who barely talks to anyone except for like 5 People ? Yeah that would be me. But maybe you fancy getting to know me a bit more ?

My name’s Alina, short Alli, I’m 19 years old and a student in the south of Germany, where I was Born and raised. I study media and culture at University, but don’t expect any Special knowledge in this direction 😉 What else is there to know about me ? I’m feminist af, so I will always call you out for Sexist/racist/homophob comments but I still have a very silly humor, I make lots of puns and laugh about random stuff nobody else finds funny. I have a dog and my love for animals (especially sheep and donkeys) is one of the reasons I’m a vegetarian. I’m a hopeless internet addict and one of my favourite hobbies is stalking bands on the Internet.

On this blog I mainly write about music, films and books, as I’m a passionate reader and love music more than anything else. As I’m not a professional and don’t know much about musical skills etc. I only can give my personal opinion about the music I write about. I’m huge pop punk trash and love bands like Blink 182, Green Day, All time low, Good Charlotte, Fall out Boy, AS IT IS, 5SOS, Sleeping with Sirens, State Champs, With Confidence etc., but I also really like Taylor Swift, Ed Sheeran and One Direction. I’m always open for new stuff, so feel free to suggest me new artists you think I might like.

As you can see I’m not extraordinary just a normal girl in the middle of life. But enough of the randomness, I hope you enjoy the weirdness of my Posts

Alli xx

Oh yeah in case you can’t get enough of me here’s my social media 😉

Twitter: @alinaisaweirdo  

Instagram: @hei.alina

Jenny on Alina:                                                                                                                                              Even though she’s a badass for having a tattoo and a very rock-chick like style Alli can be very shy. Although if you get to know her she’s very funny who perfectly speaks sarcasm (so be warned if you read her posts!), is a very good friend, a feminist, a huge dog lover who preferably would have 100 dogs to cuddle with, a coffee/ Costa addict, has a certain love for bands and all in all is a pleasure to hang out with. From having a morning cuddle-lay-in, to partying, Alli is open minded for everything and it’s always a right laugh to hang out with.

Katie on Alina:                                                                                                                                              One of the things that Alli and I share is our undying, deep, deep love for dogs. It is not a normal day if we have not tagged each other in at least a million dog pictures or videos. I love that chatting about dogs, books, actors, singers, bands and billions of other things is just a normal occurrence and sharing music and books with her is a regular thing. I feel like she often underestimates herself, by not seeing how funny, sarcastic, charming and badass she is, but I know that whatever happens I can rely on her 100% as she is one of the most loyal and loving people I know

Lili on Alina:                                                                                                                                               Alina is just the cutest! You probably wouldn’t believe me if you first met her cause she comes off as pretty badass, she could probably beat you up in a second and she knows more about feminism than some people ever will. But to me, she’s a dorky sweetheart. She thinks her jokes are super lame, but she always makes me laugh. And I love her for that, for being easy going, never judging her friends and most importantly standing up for her believes. I wouldn’t know what I’d do without her as my friend, I just really love her

Katie

Hello everyone, my name is Katie and I am another fourth of this blog. Following Jenny’s example, I am going to tell you a couple of things about myself.

I am currently 21 years old and I almost finished my second year at university in Scotland studying International Politics. I decided that I wanted to study in English when I went on an exchange to Canada when I was 16 years old and simply fell in love with English and everything that came along with it. Because of that, after school I worked for a year as an AuPair to improve my English even more, take a language test and to apply to universities. Luckily it all worked out and I am loving life in one of the most beautiful places I have ever been.

I met Lili in a skype interview about two years ago, when I was supposed to interview her to be the new AuPair of my host family. Somehow we hit it off and started talking and after she got the job and we met in person we decided, more than half a year in advance that we’d go and see 5sos together in London. At the concert we heard other people speak German and were intrigued by it, so we went up to them (after about half an hour of discussing whether we were brave enough). Meeting Alli and Jenny is most certainly one of the best things that have happened to me and I mean a group chat with about 50,000 messages speaks for itself.

Besides uni I am very involved in the Badminton Club we have at my university. I have played badminton for 11 years and I wouldn’t know what to do with myself if I had to stop. I love that it is a team sport and an individual sport all together. Plus I love the social side of things, the pub crawling, game nights, bowling and the friends that come along with it. Although I like being around people, I don’t mind being locked away in my room simply listening to music, reading a good book or bingewatching netflix either. Fun facts, it took me 7 hours to read the 7th Harry Potter book and 2 days to watch season 4&5 of Game of Thrones.

As for my participation to the blog, I will be writing mostly about more, what can be seen as, serious things. I love discussing political issues, however not necessarily policy issues of certain governments, but more things like immigration, human rights and things like that. I know that these things seem to be on the news all the time, but as I, over the past years, had to write many essays on certain things it showed me how little and how biased the news often display certain issues. On top of that I will be posting/ talking about food with the lovely Jenny, as we both love to cook and bake and already share an instagram account where we post food pictures , about books with the amazing Alina, and take my turns in the Sunday Funday posts.

Lots of love,

Katie xx

 

 

Jenny: If you’d describe Katie probably one word is coming to your head immediately: her amazing hair. But beside of that she’s an absolute nutter if it comes to the Scots, she just loves them. Besides of that she absolutely loves Badminton, dogs, politics/social critical topics, she’s very caring of her friends and family and also somebody you can have some pretty fun time with. We all know that one day she’s going to take over the world but in a good and beneficial way for everybody. Katie’s posts are for everybody who would like to think deeper about things 🙂

Lili: „So I met Katie through a Skype Interview when I wanted to become an AuPair at her host family. I was super nervous at first but as soon as you talk to Katie you can’t help but feel at ease. She’s one of those people who can make you feel comfortable enough to talk about anything and everything. Sometimes I feel like she helps me getting my chaotic mind into order. She’s just one of those people I know I can always count on. I’m honestly happy to have her as one of my bestest friends. I love you Katie :)“

 Alina: Katie will rule the world one day and in my opinion this will be the best thing that has ever happened to this earth. She cares so much about everyone, is always friendly and considering she gives the best advice you could ever wish for, could solve any problem. Besides being passionate about the three B’s ( books, badminton and bands) she’s the biggest dog Lover and will end up living in a huge mansion with an army of them. Her Kids will be lucky to have a mum like her.

Social Media:

instagram: @katfeyer

twitter: @katfeyer

snapchat: katiefey15

food instagram: @foodwithkandj