TAIWAN VLOG #1 | On my way to Taipei

I'm having some trouble with jet lag, which is a bad thing cause I have to be up early but a good thing since I can finish my first Taiwan vlog... Which isn't really about being in Taiwan but more about travelling to.

Couple of thoughts that went through my mind since I've arrived;

1. It's hot (I've been told that it's going to be cold, despite the weather forecasts)

2. Don't get run over by cars/bikes

3. Foodies!

4. I wish everyone just assume I can't speak Mandarin, so I won't have to embarrass myself first

5. How much is it in euros?

6. So cheap!

7. I wish I had a film crew

I'm now at my second night in Taipei and it still feels like I'm just on a holiday.

See you in the next vlog!

x J.

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PERSONAL | Final Countdown to Taiwan

Here's an update on my plans to go to Taiwan for 6 months. You can read more about why I'm leaving the Netherlands here. Now first thing's first. My plan to study abroad was really last minute. Usually people plan these things at least a year ahead. But as always I like to do things last minute.. And I arranged everything within approximately 2 months? And it's not like I've been on it full time, But it's definitely possible if you want to study abroad last minute. If you have enough saved up or have your parents (partly) support you financially.

I'll be taking classes at the Mandarin Training Center, which is like a special school for learning Mandarin provided by the National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU). I chose this school because it's one of the most well known ones and I've read some reviews about the courses. Not all reviews were positive but it's a risk you'll always be taking when you're studying abroad.  So after I applied for this school I needed to wait a month to receive the admission letter from the school through the post mail. A month, that means that I only had a month left to arrange all the other stuff because without this original letter I can not apply for my visa. And if I cannot apply for my visa, it's pretty much useless if I buy a planeticket and accommodation already and cannot enter the country. 

HAUL | BARCELONA haul in less than a minute

Better late than never right? So here's my Barcelona haul. At first I didn't know how I should show my haul without it being too boring, so I made a quick video (with quick, I mean real quick). It takes less than a minute! I hope you enjoy! It's a bit different but I like the outcome. Don't feel like watching the vid? Click below to see pictures!

Before I went to Barcelona I did some researching (actually a friend did) and I found out that all the inditex stores (Zara, Bershka, Pull&Bear and other smaller Spanish stores) weren't having any sale at that moment of time, like in The Netherlands. So after some digging, the sale or 'Rabaixes' as they call it, started on 7th of January, the day before we were leaving Barcelona. So to avoid any danger we avoided stores and refrain from any shopping till that faithful day. The 7th of January was every man's nightmare. Every store was crowded with people and shopping bags, apparently rabaixes is a big deal for Spanish people, which I totally get, I mean helloo Zara sale. It was probably even a bigger deal for us since all inditex stores are cheaper in Spain and with the added discount even more cheap. So I didn't hold back and spend a lot of money in one day, from 12am to 10pm.

The biggest problem here is that I wish I spend some more!

Click below to see pictures and a bit of a backstory of some items!
Let me know in the comments below what you thought of the video and the haul

x J.

TBT | Night out in Barcelona

Since it's thursday, I thought I'd do a ThrowBackThursday post. Exactly a week ago, I was in Barcelona and what a difference in weather compared to where I'm at now. I wouldn't dare wearing a skirt without stockings without risking some serious bladder infection now, but it was perfectly fine there. This was the outfit I wore when we went out for some clubbing near the harbour of Barcelona.
I'm loving this skirt from Forever21. It's so easy to dress it up or down. I think the skirt itself is kind of fancy and I didn't want to go there too dressed up. So I combined the skirt with a simple grey v-neck. You can never go wrong with a simple grey tee.

Shirt | Tally Wejl

Skirt | Forever21

Jacket | H&M
Boots | H&M

What do you think of this outfit?

x J.

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TRAVEL | Barcelona Food Guide

It has been two days since I've been back from Barcelona and I've yet to recover from the trip. It has been a blast and a mini-holiday I won't easily forget. As I'm looking through the photos I've taken, I came to realise that most of the pictures are either of food or random shots of locals minding their own business. I don't know if it's because I'm obsessed with food and the people I was with are as well, but food played a big (important) part of the trip. There even wasn't enough time to eat at all the places I've wanted, but I managed to compile a little 'Barcelona Food Guide'. It consists places I thought are worth a visit if you ever decide to visit Barcelona in the near future. 

Before you go any further, I'm planning to do a 'Barcelona haul' since I've been doing some sale shopping there.. So stay tuned for that as well!

x J.

TRAVEL | Heading to Barcelona!

Hi guys! How's 2015 going for you so far? Mine has been quite something because

I will be spending my first week of 2015 in Barcelona with a few of my friends!

I can't wait to escape a bit of cold, since the weather in Barcelona is more like spring/fall weather around 15 degrees Celsius. Anyway, I'll be there till 8th of January and am not sure If I'm able to post something on the blog while I'm there..

But if you still want to follow me, you can follow me on instagram! 

See you soon!

x J.

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Disney fun

A few days ago I went to Paris, France with a couple of friends to go see EuroDisney! I haven't been there in a while so it was nice to visit it with my friends. I had a blast and the weather behaved itself. Here are some pictures of my trip, mainly of my outfit in Disney. It is the one and almost only time where you can go all childish without being inappropriate. So I opted for a cropped shirt with dungarees and to top it off wore some minnie mouse ears. How much more Disney can you get?

x J.
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Travel | Three days in Swiss

As some of you may know, I was in Swiss last week, which was one of the reasons of me being MIA here. Another reason is that I'm in this blogging funk, where I don't have any inspiration to post something. I think it's better to don't post something forced or just because you have to. So I'm keeping this blog on a lower activity! Hope you guys can understand.

Now back to my little trip to Swiss, Geneva specifically. I must say I have enjoyed the city and the water is really beautiful (eventhough it looks very grey, because of the filter I used on the photos), but I wouldn't go longer than that to visit. It was soooo expensive. Like unbelievably expensive. I thought that Stockholm was bad, but Swiss was worse. To give an example. A burgerking meal costs about 15 euros! Here, in the Netherlands it would be about 6 euros? But some things were still affordable. While I was there I was really mesmerised by the mountains and the view! I've never really been into wintersports, so I didn't have any desire to go to the mountains and catch some snow. But seeing the beautiful mountains, which I could look at for hours, I definitely want to go see.

Overall, it was a nice experience to visit Swiss for a little while and to take some great shots!

Talk to you soon! You can see some more pictures below

J.

PERSONAL | Five days in Stockholm

I tried to replicate the pictures I've seen in Stockholm - post here

I love alleys like this

stylish man on bike

Hej hej! I'm back from Stockholm and it was such a nice and wonderful experience. I loved everything about Stockholm! The people, the public transportation, the shops and the beautiful buildings. I loved how the people were so helpful and friendly in general. They say that Stockholm is the "Venice of the north" and I completely agree. Nara and I took about 8gb worth of shots in the past four days, so be warned for a lot of pictures coming! You can read below for a quick overview of the past days.

PERSONAL | #STOCKHOLM

photos found on Pinterest & Tumblr

It is settled! My friend and I booked our flights and will be booking our stay tomorrow. We're super excited to see Stockholm! I've never been there before so it's going to be a whole new experience. I hope I can take a lot of pretty photo's like these ones I found on Pinterest and Tumblr. I've heard a lot of good things of Stockholm, the land of Acne, H&M, IKEA and many more. Maybe not the best place to go to if you seek the sun, because there it's already snowing.. So must pack a lot of warm clothes.

Although I'm really tempted to shop there, I don't have the budget to do so at the moment (student life sucks). But I think there's a lot more to it than shopping! I can't wait to go there and see beautiful places. Tomorrow I'll be planning out our trip more precisely.. I can't wait to see the art at the metro stations, I've heard a lot of good stuff about it, and can't wait to breath in the beautiful landscapes of Stockholm's archipelago.

Have you ever been in Stockholm? Any tips and advice for my trip?

J.

Don't leave just yet! You still have a shot at winning this necklace for my giveaway! 

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Personal | Educational shopping in Antwerp

I'm finally posting some photos I took of Antwerp. The excursion to Antwerp was a lot of fun yet a torture at the same time. We got to see some really cool stores u and I definitely will keep the walking route.. But we didn't got the opportunity to shop. I actually didn't really had the time to 'look' at the products, I was looking at the interior too much. Our assignment was to take pictures of things you want to focus on in the interior/retail design. I was focusing on 'lights', so I had a lot of boring pictures but there are some really cool stores in Antwerp that I have to take pictures of.

By the way, you wouldn't guess how many times people were asking us NOT to take pictures, because they were scared that you'd steal the design even if you explained them you're just a student. So when my friend and I left the main group and went on our own, we just pretended to be a stereotypical tourists from Asia with cameras and acted confused when they asked us not to take pictures.. I guess being Asian and all can come handy sometimes.

J.

for more pictures click below!

Personal | Lomo what?

Diana pictures are made by Roz

Here are the Diana pictures as I promised! If you never heard of lomography, you'd probably think why are these pictures so messed up. But don't worry, these are done this way on purpose. It's supposed to be artsy and it gives a romantic old feel to it which I like.. So what do you think of lomography? yay or nay?

 J.

Personal | Paris trip: day 2

Fjallraven Kanken bag, River Island jacket, H&M striped sweater, H&M wax pants, Pull&Bear studded loafers

The last day, we went to Sacre Coeur and the Montmatre. This was probably one of my favorite places in Paris. The atmosphere was so French, the buildings and the streets are lovely. Even the street art makes this place more charming. More pictures of the Sacre Coeur and Montmatre are shown below.

Personal | Paris trip: day 1

Fjallraven Kanken bag, Mango suede jacket, F21 dress

Parisian girl looking fabulous

Shopping at the rue de rivoli

Paris, je'taime!

Hey guys, I'm back from Paris! It was one of the most memorable trips I've ever made. We did a lot of sightseeing and shopping.. mostly in supermarkets though. You can read a full report of day one in Paris down below.

Personal | Going to Paris

As you may have read in my previous post, I am finally going to Paris, in a few hours. I'm so excited to leave and just enjoy my weekend there. I'm going with a friend of mine, Roz, with a bustour straight from the Hague to Paris. We made use of a Groupon deal, which is 80 euros per person for 2 nights in a hotel with breakfast. Definitely a bargain! And we even get to tour with the bus through Paris. So I've been there a couple times with my parents, but I can't wait to enjoy Paris on my own.

J.

1. Fjallraven Kanken bag  2.iPad  3.Reading glasses 4.Study materials 5.Superdry Pencil case

1.Sluis Leder bag 2.Wetties 3.Sunglasses 4. Wallet 5.Reading glasses 6. Rituals' body lotion 7.Revlon's lipgloss 8. Fisherman's fresh pepermints 9. Bag 10. Pen and weekplanner.