Random Ramble: Exhaustion Strikes

at the pub quiz

Hey everyone,
Just a quick post letting you know what I've been up to. It's been a bit hectic yet again this week (so far). I've been at work experience, and writing a lot for the paper - only little pieces, but something might make it into the paper! We shall see. I have my second meeting with the magazine team tomorrow, which I'm excited about, I really can't wait to get started with the whole thing.

I also popped into Leeds on Monday and got pierced all by myself. I felt so proud ha! My friend was supposed to come with me, but he watched Wrestlemania(?!) the night before and didn't wake until 3pm. Lazy.
Some friends and I went to the pub quiz last night. We didn't win but it was a lot of fun! Even though about half of my old high school were there, it was odd seeing so many old faces again.

I'm back working my day job at Ikea tomorrow. It is honestly so draining I can't explain how pleased I'll be when I can leave, but as my dad says 'it's a means to an end' and I'm in no position to be quitting a job right now. I'm just exhausted with the magazine, work experience and working at Ikea.

I've also been looking at work experience placements in publishing houses. The only issue is all of the big publishing houses are in London, and I live just outside of Leeds. I'm going to try and get as much experience as I can this summer so I can concentrate fully on my studies from September so I'm going to see if I can work something out.

I'm a bit uninspired when it comes to post content really, I was thinking about maybe doing a few reviews or something? Just to mix it up a bit and add something new. I'm definitely going to be doing a few book reviews once I finish something (Wicked is amazing so far!). I should really be researching for an essay I have due in on the 17th though.

I'll shut up now,
I'm thinking about getting my shoulder tattoo extended down my shoulder blade, but can't decide. My sister thinks I should just leave it alone. What do you think?

Thanks for reading x

P.S. How amazing is it that Androids can now download Instagram?! (my username is piuma_)

Weekend in Berlin!

Hello! (WARNING: mega-long post, sorry)
I finally arrived home in Manchester from Berlin at 8.30pm (we were supposed to arrive at 11am, but I'll explain all that). The weekend was amazing, Berlin is truly a beautiful city, covered in art and culture. It is (apparently) a similar size to Paris but with about a third of the population, so it seems almost empty of people, there isn't the sense of stress you can get with other big cities because there aren't really many crowds. At this time of year it is freezing, literally -7 degrees during the day, so any 'fashion' went straight out of the window.

The journey down was awful, due to horrible weather down South, but the ferry crossing was calm and I bought a few goodies on the ferry (another post coming). The company organising our trip severely underestimated the time it takes to get from Manchester to Berlin; their estimate was 17 hours, when it really took about 23, so we missed out on an entire day in the city. However, on Friday evening we went out as a group for a meal.

The snow; Courgette stuff with cheese, and a tomato sauce. Pretty sure there was a bit of risotto in there too

On the Saturday we had a walking tour of the city, and saw some of the city's favourite landmarksthe Brandenberg Gate, the Reichstag Building, some Second World War Memorials for the murdered homosexuals and the murdered Jews of Europe and some remains of the Berlin Wall. The Memorial for the murdered Jews of Europe was designed by Peter Eisenman and is made of 2,711 concrete blocks. The number of blocks has no significance, allowing each person to draw their own conclusions. It was haunting to say the least.

The Memorial for the murdered Homosexuals which plays a video of gay couples in Berlin; the Memorial for the murdered Jews of Europe, which also has a museum.

Remains of the Berlin Wall; Checkpoint Charlie

There was so much to see; one of the highlights of the weekend for me was Tacheles. Tacheles is a squat that was taken over by artists and is covered in graffiti. Some artists were exhibitioning their art work, which was amazing.

In the evening, Lydia and I went to see a film at the festival. It was a documentary called Soldier/Citizen, which was about a programme that exists in Israel where soldiers who have completed their National Service can complete their High School Diploma. There was a Q&A session with the director, which was a bit lame as she didn't really answer any questions.

On the second day, we had the entire day to ourselves. We went to see the East Side Gallery, which is parts of the Berlin Wall which have been painted, and to a flea market.

    

                     One section of the East Side Gallery; A stall dedicated to clocks at the flea market 

I took a million photos, whilst we were there, and would love to go back again. Soon.

Outside of the Hostel; A mural of Amy Winehouse (RIP)

       

Outside the shopping centre at Potsdamer Platz; On the ferry home

The journey home was the worst part of the trip; the water pipe burst on the coach home, meaning no lighting or heating so it was -6 degrees all the way through Germany, Holland and Belgium. We had to change coaches after the ferry, which was warm and had working lights!

It took about 28 hours in total to get back to Manchester, but even that couldn't ruin the trip. Berlin is like no other city, it really was a perfect weekend.

Hope you enjoyed reading, congrats if you made it to the end!