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. 

PERSONAL | Real Talk

I thought I share with you a piece of my mind right now, what I've been going through and 'partly' the reason why I'm not so often blogging anymore. And maybe something people can relate to.

There's one point in your life that you either have already dealt with or probably going to in the (near) future (or maybe not for the lucky ones). I call it the quarter-life-crisis. I'm dealing with it right now. After I graduated from my bachelor's degree, I started thinking about what I wanted to do next. Usually you continue with the master's right after you graduate from you bachelors. At that point I started to question everything. I felt like I'm doing these things because it's what the rules are and what people expect me to do, but not something I know I want.

Something I can use to reach my goals.

But what are my goals? What do I want to achieve in my life? What's my passion?

I've been struggling with this my whole life maybe not as 'deep' as that but it's in the little things when I need to make decisions in my life, not life decisions but small stuff like what to choose from the menu or what shoes to wear. I've always been the hesitater. And it's become so far that I start doubting myself in everything I do. Another thing is that I like to do pretty much everything from sewing and designing clothes to setting up my own foodtruck. Combine both things and you get a hot mess alright. What you get is me telling 'I want to be an illustrator' one day and 'I want to design furniture' the other, without doing something really about it. Not going after it is probably the worst thing I can do, cause you definitely fail if you don't even try. But I still want to find something that I truly feel passionate about.

So how do I extinguish 'liking to do something' to 'following my passion' ? I've been reading this book by Po Bronson called "What should I do with my life?" (yeah how more accurate can it be?), it's a book full of stories about people who have faced the same question. One story stuck with me. Noah has been struggling with finding what he's passionate about. He had ten jobs in 8 years spread over six cities in four different states. He believes that everyone has a unique gift to give the world, so what's his? Where is his passion at? He asked this question to the author and the next thing the author said is something I find inspirational and something I can hold on to.

"Some people are born into their passions. Some never get them and don't care. But I think if you're really struggling to find it, it's almost certainly for a reason. I think the depth of your struggling, is the sign there's something there. Something in you that's trying to get out."

It's okay to not have everything figured out yet, but it's something I need to keep looking for. Try something else, do something new, meet new and interesting people.

So what now? I almost don't dare to say it, because then it's official and something I really have to go after. Okay, here it goes. I'm leaving for Taipei. As in Taiwan, as in a different continent, as in a different culture, as in a different language for at least three months (probably six months). For some it may be nothing really, but for me it's scary as hell. I've never really lived alone and never been far from my family and friends, so doing this is a big step for me and I believe that it will do me good. I'm planning to study Mandarin there beginning from December, but I'll have to be there mid November already. So a lot of stuff to arrange beforehand and I hope everything will go as planned. I'll still be posting here about fashion but I'll include my journey to Taiwan as well.

Have anyone of you struggled with this as well? And how did you deal with it?

x J.

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Personal | Pretbord! for HEMA

As I've already said in a previous post. I got nominated for the HEMA design competition, I can win a sum of money and on top of that it can be produced! In order to win, I need votes! So what's my design about?

PRETBORD (in Dutch it means funplate)
A plate for kids to eat their meal with veggies in a fun and creative way.
The mother can slice up the ingredients and the child can create their own artwork. Because the child engages with the food, they will become familiar with it and will most likely eat the food sooner.

You can vote for me here:
http://hemaontwerpwedstrijd.nl

The voting ends 13 July

Don't forget to confirm the vote on your mail!
Thank you so much and wish my luck!

J.

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Personal | competing in HEMAontwerpwedstrijd 2014

Hey guys, I thought I'd give you a quick look in what I've been up to lately. And I think it's pretty awesome! A few months back, I was pretty busy with a project for uni and I'm glad to say that it pretty much paid off because I did get a decent grade. But the project was also a competition held by a Dutch company HEMA. Their annual "HEMAontwerpwedtrijd" which in English would be HEMA design competition specially for Design-related schools. This year the theme was 'Cooking and dining'. So as I went to the event for the winner announcement, I didn't get to win the competition but I was shocked and happy that I got nominated for the 'publieksprijs', the price for the public, which I'm one of the 20 contestants out of 370 designed products. The winner for this part gets an award and a great sum of money! The winner must get the most votes for their design. The voting opens 16th of June. So mark that day in your agenda to vote! :) You can vote for someone else if you find his/her product more appealing.. But I doubt that, mines the best! haha joke, getting cocky there. 

I will give you a sneak peek of my design in this post and will be explaining it more and where you can vote in a future post.

sitting between the winners and other contestants who made it so far

 J.

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ootd | Some library essentials

H&M cropped sweater, Primark blouse, Bershka jeans, Chuck taylors.

As I've mentioned in the previous post already, it's still exam week! So I'm basically living in the library at the moment. What am I wearing? A simple but comfortable outfit. Here's a list of essentials when going to the library, not to mention to not forget to bring your books with you.


My library fashion essentials:

1. wear a vest or bring an extra sweater which you can easily take on and off. It tends to get colder after sitting a while. 

2. wear pants that are stretchy or loose fitting.

3. wear flat shoes or sneakers, the sound of heels can be annoying when it's über quiet.

4. bring a hair elastic with you, so your hair won't get in your face while you try to concentrate on your books.

5. wear natural makeup so it won't smear on your face when you wipe the sweat off your forehead from studying hard.

6. don't wear rings or bracelets, it will get in the way when you're trying to take some notes.
A watch is okay though.


Do you have some other essentials that you like to share?


And if you're on the same boat as me, good luck and let's kick some asses!

J.

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ootd | Examination week

H&M long vest, Unknown shirt, H&M waxed jeans

Some of you might be in the same place as me at the moment, in examination week, test week, whatever you want to call it. It certainly has one thing in common, stress. I'm writing this post now while on my mini study break at my uni's library. Thank god for opening till 2am, so I won't feel that guilty writing this.

So this is my outfit of the day.. before I went to the library though! I had to run some errands in the city and changed my shoes at home first, before heading to the library. So it's fully library-proof.

J.

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Personal | Are there 'Dancers among us'?

Photography by Jordan Matter 

Since I'm doing my minor in Retail Design, I get to research a lot for inspiration for my shoe store which will be specialised in dancing shoes. I found this awesome shots by Jordan Matter which is from a book 'Dancers among us'. I've always liked photos with people dancing and Jordan really took it to the next level. I love the high jumps in random situations, which really makes me think why do dancers not do it? As for my project, I'm currently a little stuck on my designs which means long nights, a lot of headaches and caffeine.

Anyway, I have a huge favor to ask to people who likes to dance regularly.. I need to ask dancers a few questions for the research.This will take about 5 minutes of your time and I will very much appreciate it if you do! The questions are multiple choice and some are rating-questions. If you know more people who would like to fill it in, feel free to pass them the survey! Thanks in advance! 

Here's the link to the survey!

J.

Personal & ootd | Serious talk

H&M polka/triangle dress,  H&M ankle boots

I have been busy with school these days, but I keep procrastinating my homework and keep avoiding  my laptop where I'll be confronted with the amount of work.. sigh so now I'm staying up late to work o my deadline.. woohoo story of my life. Anyways, a few posts ago I asked some advice on my minor and applied for first choice Retail Design where you needed to deliver a motivation letter and a second choice Economics,Law&Justice as a plan B. Well today I got notified that I got selected for my first choice! I don't really know how I feel about it, a part of me is so excited that my motivation letter actually was good and got selected, and another part of me is kinda scared of making the wrong decision.. I hope I won't regret it. At least I'm definitely excited to have the faculty of architecture as my 'homebase' for the minor. I love the building and look forward to study there and meet lots of new people. 

One last thing, for those who have had their final exams and are now graduated.. Congratulations! You have made it! Now you are at the stage where you have always dreamed of when you were little, but will be surprised at how much you will miss the earlier days.. Just kidding. I'm getting too old.

J.

Haul / Life: Symptoms of procrastination

Today I'm going to tell you a story of how you know when you are having serious symptoms of procrastination. So this is how my morning went.. I'll explain it a la '500 days of summer'.

You have your expectations of how your day will progress and then you have the reality, how it really goes.. My day started of really well.. My expectations were in line with reality. I woke up at 8am to get ready for my driving lesson. It was hard to get my butt out of my bed but I managed. The driving lessons went quite well just as I imagined. My plan was to drop myself off in the city to study for my exam in the library. So I did and I decided to go to the supermarket to stock some food.
This is were it went wrong, where my expectations and reality collided and went seperate ways.
I didn't know what I wanted to snack on, so I decided to go to the V&D a department store, where they sell clothes, jewelry, makeup, home stuff and food. Instead of walking to the food corner, my feet took me downstairs where New Look has its corner. And this is where it went horribly wrong. I went to the sale rack. And you know when there are days where everything you put on suits you well? Well this is that day. Eventhough everything was on sale, I could not really afford it. You know you're in trouble when you don't have a lot money to spend on but still manage to buy clothes. Sometimes I'm just embarrassed by myself. Eventually I bought the items and went to the supermarket to buy a lousy croissant just to compensate my expenses. After all this, you'd think that I went straight to the library. No no no, this chick would not listen. While getting my croissant, the bag with my clothes broke, and beside this I was carrying my laptop with my other hand, because it wouldn't fit in my backpack. So yeah I was a mess and it wasn't even noon yet. I called my brother up to see if he was home, he lives 10 minutes walk away from the city, and begged him to study at his place since his place is usually quiet. And that's it. This is where I am right now, supposedly studying.. Still procrastinating.

You can see a few more items if you click on 'read more'.

J.

Study essentials

1.Studybook: Mechanics of materials  2.HEMA agenda  3.notebook  4.Texas Instruments GRcalculator  5. iPod nano + Zumreed headphones  6. stationary  7.Primark water bottle  8.Chanel glasses

It's that time again.. exam week. I think most of you guys are locked up inside and sulking/procrastinating as well. It just isn't fair.. just when the weather actually feels like spring and is warm enough to only wear a thin jacket, studybooks are haunting you. Oh well, we can only hope that the weather stays like this.. For all of you who have exams coming up as well, GOOD LUCK!

Here are some of my study essentials. Obviously, text/studybooks are essential. I like to study/practice for my upcoming exam in a new notebook, to have everything in order. Another essential is my calculator! I can't do anything without it. It contains my formulas and just little notes on how to handle certain exercises. Few pens/pencils and erasers are quite handy as well. A kinda stupid thing I do is ALWAYS write with dark blue ballpoint pen. Otherwise I just can't.. Not just blue but dark blue. Yeah I'm picky concerning my pen choice. Black fineliner I can tolerate. Some sticky notes for important pages, my glasses, an agenda to mark up my study plan, ipod nano for music and probably most important.. water bottle! Remember you must hydrate yourself throughout studying otherwise you'll just  dry yourself out. I don't know if it's true but sipping water from time to time actually helps me to concentrate more. 

Anyways, do you have other study essentials? Comment below, I'd like to hear some :)

J.