I hope you have all had an amazing summer so far. Mine has been eventful, to say the least and so I thought it was time for a good old life update post. Where should I start? (not just a rhetorical question, I'm genuinely thinking about where I should start.) If you have been following my blog for a while you know that I went abroad right after my birthday, to the lovely country of France. There I took part in a concept called 'workaway' which is basically the same as work & travel, only that you don't earn money but get to stay at your workplace for free in return of your help. I first stayed with a French family near Bordeaux and then at a hostel in Nice and both experiences turned out to be really rewarding. I got to know the French culture and language a lot better and I'm really missing the country, especially the French Rivera. I also went on a short backpacking trip to Italy from where I flew home to Germany. From this point onwards my summer was packed with meeting all my friends again, a lot of catching up and some exciting road trips including visiting one of my really close friends in Hamburg. Oh what would we do without Flixbus, am I right? Another highlight this summer was definitely my cousin's prom, I can't believe she has already graduated from High School - time is just flying! Her graduation party brought up a lot of memories of my own graduation and I still remember the moment so well when I finally had my qualification certificate in my hands. It was one of the happiest and most emotional moments of my life for sure and I almost wish I could repeat it. But speaking of my cousin's graduation, her prom was simply amazing and I spent the night dancing until I couldn't feel my feet anymore (despite changing my heels for more comfortable shoes).
Other highlights of my summer included seeing my grandparents again, meeting up with friends as much as I could and drinking countless cups of tea and hot chocolate. Is there someone else who prefers hot drinks even in summer - and I'm talking proper summer, not the 18 degrees and rain that we had for the past couple of days. Speaking of drinks & food - I also went to a food festival in town with one of my closest friends and we had a truly amazing time, although the queues in front of the booths were so long that we both ended up skipping dessert. I have to say though, the bruschetta I had was incredible. Another thing I did this summer way go on a family holiday - we didn't manage to go on holiday together last year so I was even happier we could do it this time. As you probably know we went to Croatia for 10 days and spent most of our time relaxing at the beach. This time really helped me clear my mind and let go of worries. Whilst I was doing really well with my blog in the beginning of the year I found it hard to be a very active blogger in France, especially when living at the hostel in Nice. I'm just a person who needs a lot of time for herself and even though I loved staying in Nice I was happy to be home and enjoy some peace and quiet. Whilst I was on holiday in Croatia, I took a break from blogging and it helped me refocus. Blogging is an amazing hobby but especially during busy times it can feel like a chore and I really don't want it to. I'm still working on finding a balance between blogging and social life and I'm sure I will something that works well for me. Any tips are greatly appreciated.
I'm really looking forward to the next few weeks as I don't have much planned for the remaining half of the summer and therefore I should have a lot more time to work on my blog, catch up and finally take part in blogger chats again - I've been missing these a lot. I'm also planning on changing my template (again, I know) and on going self-hosted but I'm not very technique savvy so I'm not sure if that's a good idea or not. But we shall see. Anyway, although I wanted to recap everything that has happened over the last few months of my life, the real reason for writing this post is different and as you've seen the caption you can probably guess what I'm about to say. Again, where should I start? If you know me and have been following my blog you know that all I have ever wanted was to move back to the UK and more specifically to London, and I couldn't be more excited to announce that this is finally becoming reality. When I left the UK four years ago I already knew that I wanted to come back for my studies but at this point I was far from sure it if would work out and even when I got the acceptance later from my uni (and the confirmation on UCAS of course) I still couldn't believe it and had to pinch myself really hard to believe the news. What was still missing was a place to live though and as I had heard a lot about the rental situation in London I didn't want to say anything before finding a place. So a few days ago my mother and me took off to London to find a room and I'm telling you, we basically lived off Starbucks & Costa (am I the only one who loves both?) for two days straight. But luckily, our search didn't stay without success and I can still remember how happy I felt (at Costa) when I finally knew I got the room.
So yes, I am moving to London in a month and I honestly couldn't be more excited about this finally happening. After two years of half travelling half gaining the money to afford it I'm looking forward to 'settling down' for a while and to consider London my home for the next three years. I'm equally excited about starting university and working towards a degree in Psychology and thus towards a career in that field. Of course my excitement is mixed with nervousness as it's a huge step and as moving to London doesn't only mean moving to another city but to another country as well (and then starting university is pretty nerve-wracking on its own). But still, this is literally what I've wanted to do since my English teacher in 7th grade first mentioned London and I am excited to be a student in such a vibrant and beautiful city. The blogger side of me isn't any less excited and I'm happy to bring you along on my journey.
How was your summer? Do you prefer Starbucks or Costa? x
