Good news!

Okay it's not really 'news' because it's not recent, but I didn't tell you yet: I passed my IB exams!!

Me with the flag - in The Netherlands it is a tradition to hang out the Dutch flag with your schoolbag when you've passed your exams and as a real Dutchie I stuck to this tradition!

On the 5th of July (more than 2 weeks ago already) it was International Baccalaureate Results Day, the day that   we finally (after 1 1/2 months of waiting) got our results. I was really nervous, because I needed certain grades to get into my first choice university (in the UK it is normal for universities to give you a conditional offer based on grades, and if you don't get these grades you don't get in) and I was really scared I didn't get these grades! But in the end it turned out I was nervous for nothing. These are my grades for each subject (grades are from 1 - 7, where 4 = satisfactory, 5 = good, 6 = very good, 7 = excellent, except for TOK and EE grades which are from A - E (if I remember correctly) where A is best; Higher Level (HL) subjects are slightly harder than Standard Level (SL) subjects and A1 languages are for native speakers, B languages are for when you are still learning the language, but I think the B course aims to make students near-native by the end of the course):

Dutch A1 HL - 7
Spanish B HL - 7
English A1 HL - 6 (pheeew really thought I was going to get a 5 and I needed the 6 for uni!)
Biology SL - 7
Geography SL - 7
Mathematics SL - 6

Theory of Knowledge (kind of Philosophy-style course): A
Extended Essay in English A1 - C

Total: 42 points (45 is the maximum, 42 from the 6 subjects and 3 bonus points from TOK and EE, I got 2 bonus points)

I am really really happy with my grades, the only grade I could possibly be 'disappointed' about is the C for my Extended Essay (my supervisor always said it was really good and I did spend quite a lot of time working on it...) - but that doesn't really matter.

This means that I'll be starting the BA Hispanic Studies and Linguistics at Queen Mary University of London in September - which means that I'll be blogging from London from then on (exciting right?!).

For now I am going to enjoy the 2 months of holiday I have left, after IB I really needed a loooong holiday - not having to think about any homework/tests/etc. is such a good feeling!

Did you also take final exams this year? How did they go?

Citytrip: Prague

Last week I went on my first holiday without parents. Eline and I spent 5 days (Monday 9 July - Friday 13 July) in Prague! It was an amazing week, mostly filled with sightseeing as we both wanted to see as much as possible of the city.

Our bed!

We arrived at our hotel at around 13:00 on Monday, and luckily our room was ready so we left our suitcases there. The hotel was amazing, we stayed in the Red and Blue Design Hotel, all rooms there have either a blue or a red theme. From the hotel it took about 15 minutes to walk to the Charles Bridge, so we spent Monday afternoon exploring the city.

Trdelnik.. omnomnom (:

On Tuesday the real sightseeing started, this was also the day our 4 day Prague Card started. In the morning we took a 2 hour bus tour through the city, which we got for free with our Prague Card! The bus took us through the most important parts of the city and we were given half an hour to walk around Prague Castle. As half an hour is by far not enough to see the highlights of Prague Castle we decided to just stroll around a bit and come back on Wednesday. After the city tour we went to the Old Town Square where we ate Trdelnik, a sweet bread which is baked on a rod. We then climbed the tower of the Old Town Hall, from which we had a gorgeous view over the city. This is also the tower at which the Astronomical Clock is located, so at 14:00 we went down to watch the Apostles coming by (this happens every hour). After this we walked through the Old Town to Josefov, the Jewish Quarter. We decided to not visit the Jewish museum and cemetery as this is quite expensive and we were on a budget trip after all! I do really want to see the museum sometime so I have a reason to come back to Prague. Instead we went to the St. Agnes Convent, to which we got free entry with our Prague Card. The building was impressive and there is an exhibition of Medieval art which I found quite interesting although I am not a huge fan of art.

The view from the tower of the Old Town Hall

Wednesday was another busy day. We woke up and left the hotel early as we wanted to walk up to Prague Castle before it got too hot and busy (it was a very warm week!). At 10:00 we watched the changing of the guards, and it was already quite busy. We then went into Prague Castle where we got free admission to the St. Vitus Cathedral, St. George's Basilica, the Golden Lane and the Old Royal Palace. I especially found the St. Vitus Cathedral very impressive - it is so big and elaborately decorated, especially the windows. Around noon we walked back down for lunch and a bit of a rest. Wednesday afternoon we took the funicular up Petrin Hill, which was very close to our hotel. I had heard of Petrin Hill in 'The Unbearable Lightness of Being' by Kundera but it was very different from how I imagined it to be. It is a lot larger than I thought it would be. We walked around at the top (we didn't go up the small Eiffel Tower as you had to pay for this and it was very busy), and after enjoying a gorgeous view of the city we slowly walked back down.

In the St. Vitus Cathedral, look at the windows, they are so elaborately decorated!

On Thursday we walked to Vysehrad (we only used public transport to get from the airport to the hotel and back!) where we saw the oldest round building of Prague, the rotunda of St. Martin. We also went into the casemates, in which there is a big vault in which some of the original statues from the Charles Bridge are kept. These statues date from around 1700 so they had to be then of the bridge to prevent them from breaking/wearing. As we walked back down to the city I felt sick - which really disappointed me! For this reason I enjoyed this day a lot less than the previous ones. We then went to a metro station (of which I forgot the name) which, according to Eline's guide book, has one of the longest escalators in Europe - of course we had to go see this with our own eyes! We looked down the escalator and it definitely was very, very deep. After this we went to the Dvorak Museum, about Czech composer Antonin Dvorak, which unfortunately I couldn't enjoy very much because I was still feeling sick. But the museum building was really, really nice! We then slowly strolled back to the hotel.

St. Martin's Rotunda in Vysehrad

On our last day (Friday the 13th.... I tripped on the street and cut open my knees - ouch, nice souvenir!) we went to the Wallenstein Palace, which houses the Czech Senate and art exhibitions. We had a look at the exhibition of works by Schikaneder (who I had never heard of before but that doesn't matter) and then walked around the gardens. We spent the afternoon doing the most cliche thing you can do while on holidays: souvenir shopping! I love shopping for souvenirs haha. I always get my parents a bottle opener so of course I got them one from Prague as well, this time with a corkscrew and a small knife. For my dad I got a small bottle of Absinth, a typical Czech alcoholic drink with 70(!!!)% alcohol. I got my brother a beer glass (this was originally Eline's idea actually), as he has just turned 16 and really likes beer - it says 'Czech me out'. For my my mom I got a box of chocolates with pictures of Prague on the wrappers. And of course I couldn't forget myself - I bought myself a little notebook with a picture of the Old Town Square.

At the Wallenstein Palace

All in all we had a great trip, I really enjoyed it and I really want to go on a city trip with Eline again - she's a great companion if you want to see a lot (and of course she's generally a great companion)! (: And actually we didn't spend that much money, during the trip I spent less than 100 euros and that includes dinner, lunch, souvenirs, transport to and from the hotel and the odd entrance fee we had to pay. This was also thanks to Eline's discovery of a mall very close to our hotel, which has both a Tesco hypermarket (yes there is Tesco in Czech Republic! Why not in The Netherlands?) and a food court! We ate at the food court 3 times, where you could get a main course, drink and dessert for less than 10 euros (and it was generally good food!). For the trip itself (4 nights, including breakfast, return flight and a 4 day Prague card) we payed around 250 euro per person so I think we were very lucky!

Have you ever been to Prague?

P.S. All photographs were taken by me, please do not use them without my permission!

Tag: Been There, Done That!

I found this tag about travel on Beauty Before Breakfast, a Dutch beauty blog. I decided to copy the tag and translate it to English, because like Maud from Beauty Before Breakfast I really enjoy traveling! Here it goes:

Which countries of the world have you visited?
To be honest I haven't visited that many 'special'/extraordinary countries yet, with one or two exceptions. And I've only been on two continents: Europe and Africa (seeing as Moscow is in the European part of Russia). I've visited The Netherlands (duh), Germany, Belgium, England, Denmark, France, Spain, Italy, Austria, Switzerland (if driving through the country and only getting out of the car for breakfast at a gas station counts?), Morocco, Russia. I think that was about it, so quite a short list. But after this summer I'll be able to add two countries: Czech Republic and Greece!

Which destination is at the top of your list of places you would like to visit sometime?
Definitely the Scandinavian countries, I would especially love to make a trip through Sweden and Norway. I generally want to see more of Europe, because I believe there's so much to see beside it being a relatively small continent. And farther abroad I would love to visit New York (seems like an amazing city, so definitely one of my must-see cities) and Canada (the nature there seems gorgeous).

What is your ideal vacation?
I must say I love relaxing on the beach, doing nothing at all. But I always want to see something of the area I am in (unfortunately my parents seem to enjoy the relaxing more than exploring the area, but hey I can go on holidays alone now and do what I want). So my ideal vacation would be a combination of relaxation and traveling around, seeing different towns and visiting famous (and less famous!) sights.

Which place made such an impression on you that you want to visit it again?
London, obviously (my all time favourite city!). But that doesn't really count since, if all goes right, I will be living there in about 3 months time. But I definitely want to visit Morocco again and make a tour around the country, since now I only saw Marrakech and part of the Atlas mountains. I would love to go back to this area but I also want to see the rest of the country. Furthermore, I will definitely visit Spain again - again an obvious one because I am going to study Spanish at university.

Show your favourite vacation photograph. 
The one above this is one of my favourites, I took it in Marrakech. But I don't know what my all time favourite vacation photograph is, and I can't look for one now because I recently got a new computer so there are no photos on here (I got this one from my photobucket). But I promise I will post many photographs after coming back from Prague and Crete - so now you have something to look forward to!

Have you ever been sent to a nice destination for your work? If so, where?
Well I just got my first job, so, no I haven't. But after university I would love to become a journalist - or something related, and travel a lot for my work. So hopefully my answer to this question will be a lot more interesting in about 10 years time!

With who do you travel most?
My parents and brother, all holidays I've been on till now have been with them. I've also made a few trips with school (Spain, Moscow and Morocco). But this summer I will travel with Eline (to Prague) and Kim (to Crete), so I think it will change in the following years and I will start spending more holidays with friends instead of my parents.

With who would you like to go on holiday sometime? (this can be anyone: family member, friend, famous person...)
Well I hope I will end up with a boyfriend/husband who likes travelling ;) haha
But at the moment mostly with my best friends! Oh and I would like to go on a shopping holiday with Abena sometime because she's so fashionable.

Who or what would you take to an uninhabited island?
I wouldn't like to go to an uninhabited island, because I enjoy having people around me. So I would take a bunch of friends and food and drinks so we can survive!

Have you ever been on holidays in The Netherlands? If so, where?
Yes, especially when we lived in Germany we spent quite a few holidays in the Netherlands. I've been to places like Texel (one of our islands) and Drenthe, and more.

Would you rather go to a fun park or a zoo?
It really depends on my mood! I don't really like thrill rides (unless they don't have scary loopings haha) so I only like fun parks when they have a lot of rides I do enjoy (such as the Efteling here in The Netherlands). I really like the zoo, I love taking photographs of all the animals! Although I understand that it is of course a lot more special to see these animals in their natural habitats.

Would you rather go on a skiing or sun holiday? 
Sun, definitely! I can't ski (have never tried) and I don't like the cold weather. I don't come from a family that goes on winter skiing holidays so it's just not my thing. Give me sun, the beach, a  swimming pool and some magazines and books and I'll enjoy myself!

What is your best holiday memory?
I really enjoyed the two weeks we spent relaxing on Sicily in 2009. It was my first all-inclusive holiday and I especially enjoyed all the food haha. Both the pools and the beach were great so we spent all of our days just relaxing. I also really enjoyed the trip we took to the Etna and Taormina. But I would have liked to see more of the island, so I do want to go back some time! My best 'holiday' memory from a school trip was the trip to Morocco - so different from everywhere I had gone before. That whole trip was just a new and great experience for me.

What is your least favourite holiday memory?
When we went to the Po delta in Italy (close to Venice) in 2010 we had to leave 3 days early because there was a severe storm with lots of rain. Our house was at a low point and the water ended up coming inside and at that point my parents decided it was time to go. Of course it was a good decision, the whole ground flour was wet (I think it was 5 - 10 cm of water) and everything smelled, but at that point I was really sad and I cried on the way back home (I still had plans for the last few days of the holiday and I can't stand changes to my plans!).

Which countries are you visiting during your holidays this year?
In July I will be going to Prague, Czech Republic, and in August I will be going to Agios Nikolaos (Crete), Greece. So two new countries for me! My parents might also squeeze in a weekend in Germany, but I'm not sure if that will work out.

Where would you never go on holidays?
There are not really places I would never like to go to... Although I am really scared of some animals (spiders aaah) which are currently holding me back of visiting some places, but I hope I can overcome this fear because there are some places I would love to visit (South America, Australia!).

So now you know a little bit more about my travelling (hasn't been much yet, but I'm still young!). I have quite a few plans for the future, the main one being that I really want to go on an Interrail trip around Europe somewhere in the near future (maybe next year or the year after).

I pass this tag on to all of you, so feel free to copy it!

Cake!

I am currently taking the Wilton Decorating Basics course, in which I learn the basics of cake decorating with buttercream icing. Last Monday I made my first layered sponge cake, filled with strawberry mousse and decorated with different colours of buttercream. We had to choose a simple drawing/picture to practice our decoration technique, and I chose a fish because they have a simple shape and they are just really cool, haha. I am very happy with the result,  I think it turned out very good for my first cake! Here are some photos :)

The cake didn't just look good - it also tasted great! So we finished it within a few days. But I will be baking a lot more in the next weeks: this week I need to make cupcakes for the course and next week is the final project - another layered cake.

Do you like baking and decorating cakes?

Origami inspiration

 
Last weekend I went a Japanese market in Leiden, where they sold all kinds of Japanese things ranging from food to puzzles with Super Mario. Of course there were also stalls selling books on origami and origami paper. I had never done origami before, and wasn't sure if I could do it, but I bought a book and some paper - I thought it might be nice to do something creative during my long holiday. The book I bought is on mini origami, but the paper is 15 x 15 cm, so my creations are still quite big. I think this is a better size to practice with than really small paper though. Today I made 2 sailboats (one of the simplest things you can do), a fish and a penguin. The penguin didn't quite turn out the way it looks in the book, but I think it still went well for a first time!

Here is some origami inspiration, some of these things look really difficult to make, so I don't know if I will ever make them, but they're just so pretty to look at!

 

Prague

The Charles Bridge

In July, I will be visiting Prague together with one of my best friends: Eline. We will be spending 5 days (4 nights there) which we will mostly fill by sightseeing. I already bought a city guide, which has lots of information and there are some places I really want to visit, but I also want to ask you for some advice. Have you ever been to Prague, and are there any things you think we should not miss out on? Can be sightseeing, shopping, food, whatever really - we want to do and see a lot!

A few things I definitely want to do/visit:

Go up the Petrin hill. I've heard that from this hill you can get a great view of the city. Our hotel is close to the station of the funicular railway that goes up the hill, so this is something we will definitely be doing!

Go to the Jewish Quarter (Josefov) and visit the famous Jewish cemetery, with thousand of graves crammed into a small space. I would also like to visit a synagogue if I get the opportunity.

Prague Castle and St Vitus's Cathedral. 

The Charles Bridge. Our hotel is, I believe, a 10 or 15 minute walk away from the famous Charles Bridge, and I think this is definitely one landmark every tourist visits. It has statues on it, which makes it different from ordinary bridges. 

The Astronomical Clock in the Old Town. I find things like this quite interesting, and therefore I will definitely have a look at this clock!

Eat Trdelnik. I first saw this on 24kitchen (a Dutch food channel) about half a year ago, and ever since then I've wanted to try it! It's a cylindrical shaped pastry, mostly with nuts on it. It just looks really good to me haha! Does anyone know where in Prague I am most likely to find a street vendor selling these?

I am really looking forward to this trip. We will be exploring a city which is new to both of us (let's hope we don't get lost!) and spending a lot of time together, which will be good for our friendship because Eline and I didn't see each other very much in the last year - mainly due to me being busy with school. But now that we are both finished with exams we can spend some more time together.

So if you have any tips as to what we should do in Prague, or any food we definitely need to try, please let me know :)

I will be keeping a travel journal while I am there and will show it to you afterwards. Of course I will also create a post here about the whole trip, including photographs!

x Loes

Things I Love: Pull and Bear

I recently discovered Pull and Bear, a Spanish (correct me if I'm wrong!) clothing brand. As I admired the clothes on their website I thought: they probably only have stores outside of The Netherlands. But I was wrong: they have 3 shops in The Netherlands, including one in The Hague. And I happened to be going to The Hague this week with Eline (it's only about 15 minutes by train from where I live), so of course I had to go and have a look! I bought one tanktop, which will be very useful during this hot summer weather.

This is the top I bought at Pull and Bear in The Hague on Thursday, it was only 8 euros! I'm happy with it, especially because of the colour - my closet was full of white tops so I really needed something in a different colour.

Looking at the clothes on the website, I see lots of things I would love to own, and especially the tops are totally my style - relaxed, sometimes a bit childlike and comfortable. Here is a selection of the things I like:

What do you think of Pull and Bear?

x Loes