06 February, 2011

A city built to be beautiful


I went to Bath last Sunday and it was absolutely beautiful. The weather was amazing, chilly but sunny and I really had a lovely time with a friend.
The whole city looks so similar but yet so different and old but beautiful! After all, it is a city that was – mainly – built to be beautiful. And it is, it really is.
You just can’t visit Bath without seeing the Roman Baths. These are seriously fascinating and very interesting, once you’re in there are free guided tours which help you getting even more information about this place.
To see the most parts of the city in a rather short time, you might try a free guided tour. This is pretty cool, all you have to is go to the right place at the right time and join. I did it and it was lovely.
Will go there again next weekend with a friend and maybe this time I’ll find a spare minute to go to the Jane Austen House :)


23 January, 2011

It's time to try defying gravity!

Yesterday, I spent a wonderful day in London which also included a musical and made me a very happy person. I love ‘Wicked’ so much and I finally had the chance to see it and it was absolutely amazing. The whole theatre was just stunning and pretty cool!

Rachel Tucker was pretty good and it was different from the Broadway version that I knew but it was great, I loved her voice a lot! My favourite performances were ‘Defying Gravity’ – what else?! – it’s just amazing and really catchy and the whole scene on stage seriously blows you away.

I adored ‘No good deed’ since it’s really powerful, even sad and simply wonderful! I always feel sorry for Elphie when listening to that song. She’s such a great character but hardly anyone seems to realize that… I don’t like that weird child Dorothy, she killed her and she only tried to be nice. Period.


13 January, 2011

I carried a watermelon.

I always loved Dirty Dancing. I hardly know any women who doesn't. I lost track of how many times I've already seen the movie that was published before I was even born. I remember being 6 or 7 years old and I found a video tape in my mum's drawer, saying 'Dirty Dancing' and I didn't have the slightest idea what that was about.

Took some time until I finally got around to see the movie and it was love at first sight. Don't ask me why, it just happened. I couldn't help it. I know every single line of that movie by heart and I still can't help but be happy every time I watch it. Bought the black DVD – I think that was the Collector's Edition – a few years ago and my sister hated me since we still shared a room back then...

I know got the 'Keepsake Edition'. It's the white one with the pink, glittery font on the front and I've never seen anything more beautiful. I mean, not just the font but the whole DVD. There's the movie of course, outtakes – which are far too short!!! - music videos, interviews, tributes and so on.

What I really enjoyed was the section with Deleted, Alternate and Extended Scenes. I was surprised there are quite a lot and some of them are really lovely and I don't think they should've been deleted at all, but well... I loved seeing all this stuff about Mountain Lake Resort where the main part of the movie was filmed and I can't believe that most of the things still look the same way they did in 1987! I really feel like going there, that would be fab. And for those of you who actually saw the movie, you know how nice it it! (Well, I think it is...)

I tried to think of a reason why this movie fascinates me – and many other people around the world – so much. I can't think of any movie that's still so popular even 23 years after the premiere!
Though I don't know how to dance, I always loved dancing and as soon as I'll be back in Germany, I decided that I'll finally start taking dance lessons. It's been far too long now and I wanted to get a new hobby anyways... Sometimes I kinda envied Baby. I confess I'm one of the people who would've loved going to the 'Catskills' and have such a great summer... And to say it with the words of one of the producers, many people probably love the movie so much because they never had such a summer and probably never will. There may be something true about it.

I love Jennifer Grey. She's so gorgeous, even at the age of 50. She's lovely and she looks great and seeing her on 'Dancing with the Stars' made me love her even more. I'm so happy she won, she was perfect and so was Derek Hough (Of course!!!!) They were so cute together – let's just ignore that fact that he could be her son, age-wise – and I loved every moment of watching her dancing so beautifully. Their waltz was absolutely stunning, though I loved all her dances.

That needed to be said and I'm still in awe of the whole thing. The dvd is great and I love all those background information. That's why I'm now going to watch the dvd. Surprise, Surprise!

09 January, 2011

New Year's Resolutions

I was surprised that no one asked me that question yet although people seem to love asking that. Well, it was this way when I think of the past years, maybe that has changed too! But I don't care.
I just thought about that and will let you know, if you want that or not!!!

I decided not to go with the usual ones that no one will keep through the year. Maybe it's more of a wishlist at some point but that's fine, I guess!

My New Years Resolutions for 2011

  1. Finishing my teacher training:
    - Let's start with the serious things. Finishing my training successfully is a reasonable and much appreciated thing. I didn't spent the last 3 years doing all these things to fail in the end. I don't expect that to happen, but you can never know.
  2. Enroll University or go to the USA as Au Pair:
    - Will apply at the University again and hope I'll be able to get in and start studying Medicine at the end of the year. If that won't happen, I'll try to be able to go to the USA in Autumn. I might even do that no matter what the Universities say since I might never get the chance to do that again.
  3. Start taking dance lessons:
    - I always wanted to do that but I never had the money to pay for that and I always thought it sucked to go there on my own. But this time, I decided not to care. As soon as I'm back home, I'll sign up for dance lessons. Ballroom dance is perfect for the beginning.
  4. Refresh my french knowledge:
    - I can't even remember the last time I spoke french properly and I hate not keeping up with that. I really wanna start catching up and improve my french a lot this year.
  5. Take Italian classes:
    - Speaking of languages, I love Italian and I think it'd be nice to get at least some basic knowledge this year and that does not include insults or swearwords :)

I think that's enough for now and could keep me busy for a while!!!

08 January, 2011

10 places I'd love to travel to

I love travelling and if it wasn't for the money or the time I'd certainly travel a lot more. Some of the places I want to visit are places where I've already been and can't wait to go back to. Some places are full of childhood memories and some make me want to go there for a couple of different reasons and although these are quite far away, I plan to go there one day!

  1. Disneyland Paris:
    - Let's start with the closer places. I've been there a couple of times when I was a little girl and the last time I've been there is about 13 years ago I guess. I always loved Disney and this place is really special to me. It has so many lovely childhood memories and there are some things you never get too old for. Disneyland is one of them. The atmosphere there is indescribable. All these colourful things and the music. I think I'll start crying the first time I'll walk along Main Street and hear the typical Magic Kingdom music. Hopefully I'll be able to go there this year!
  2. Rome:
    - I know, I've been there a few times already but it's so lovely and there's so much left to see that I will have to go back there. No matter what. There are many reasons to go back. It's totally lovely for a few days and to meet wonderful people just like I did the first time I went to Rome in 2009. And there will always be something special about this city. When I first went there, it was Fiction Fest and I saw the one and only Lisa Edelstein <3
  3. New York:
    - Just like almost every person I know, I really wanna go to New York one day. It's just one of those places you really have to see. This city appears in countless movies which makes you think you probably know the whole city by now but I guess walking through the streets of NYC gives it total different meaning. With a bit of luck I'll be in NYC for at least 3 days at some point later this year!
  4. Mountain Lake Hotel in Virginia:
    - Yes, it's THAT hotel. The place where my favourite movie Dirty Dancing was shot and for those of you who saw the movie know what it looks like over there. Seems like a lovely place to spend a while and the best thing ever is: They offer Dirty Dancing Weekends. How cool is that?! I so have to go there, sounds totally epic!!!
  5. Las Vegas:
    - Another place that you have to see!!! The first thing that comes to my mind when thinking of Vegas is of course Celine Dion. After seeing her live in Paris in 2008, I can't wait to see her performing live again. To make that happen, I think I really have to go to Vegas at some point. The 'A New Day' show was absolutely adorable – I didn't expect anything else!!!! - and actually that's enough of a reason to go there xD I totally loved the Ocean series taking place in Vegas... really cool! And being in one of these Casinos and giving it a try would be awesome. I think every one secretly hopes to win a fortune out of nothing...
  6. Los Angeles:
    - Another city I seriously want to visit! I mean, it's Hollywood!!!! Come one, every one going there hopes to see a Star while walking across the street... I'd be one of them. I mean, why not? And there seem to be a few lovely places to have a look at!
  7. San Francisco:
    - Quite a few years back, I used to love the tv show Charmed a lot. I always thought that I wanna go there. See the Golden Gate Bridge and just enjoy the city's atmosphere and simply see such a well-known place. I mean, don't you enjoy seeing movies or reading books, thinking that you've actually been there? Same thing works vice versa. I love Marc Levy and most of his books and quite a few take place in San Francisco. Just like to other books of one of my favourite authors David Hewson. Could be fun to finally see all the places being mentioned and realize how they actually look like :)
  8. Grand Canyon:
    - I hate being a typical tourist and I'm trying to avoid looking like a typical tourist whenever I go somewhere and I will try to do the same, should I ever be able to have a look at the fascinating Grand Canyon.
  9. Galapagos Islands:
    - I seen so many documentations on tv about the islands and they look absolutely adorable. Come on, who wouldn't love those pretty beaches and the perfect ocean!!! But one of the reasons I'd love to go are the Galapagos Tortoise. I love tortoises with all my heart. In contrast to many other things, I don't think these animals are boring! I love them and think they're totally fascinating!!!
  10. Hawaii:
    - Sounds like another amazing place to be. Not much to say about that! There are Sea Turtles!!! Sooooooooo wonderful, I'd love to see these as well. If I didn't want to study Medicine... I'd go somewhere and save these wonderful animals from being killed for stupid reasons!!!!

07 January, 2011

Welcome to England. Again.

I'm back in England since Wednesday and the flight and all that stuff was suprisingly easy – compared to the disaster about two weeks ago.

I actually was quite sad to be leaving again, but I don't think I really had a choice! Well, there are only 7 weeks left and the last four months passed by incredibly fast! I'm just afraid that the last bit will appear to be terribly long, you know what I mean?

Anyways, I think my last day at work is the 18th of February but my flight home is at the 28th of February so... I thought I might as well leave earlier. I have to go on working at March 1st so I'd have a bit time to calm down and get settled. I asked the guys at the airport and rebooking would cost about £80!!! I only paid 130€ when I booked the whole thing last summer!!! That's insane! But I think I may do it anyways... I'll try to see a few things in and around Oxford at the weekends so I'll get through with that now :)

It's not that I don't enjoy being here but now that I've been home... the first few days here were a bit hard and I felt like going back immediately but it's getting better. And still I wouldn't like going back at the end of February now that I considered leaving earlier. It's just that after such a long time I really wanna be home with my family and friends and everything familiar.

Oxford is absolutely lovely and nice and I enjoy my time here, but I can't help thinking that it gets a little boring after a while. Wish me luck for tomorrow with the rebooking!

Return to Terminal 5

My flight was cancelled the following morning, what a surprise and the hotel agreed to let my stay another night without any problems.

I got yet another rebooking for the upcoming night. Same time, just a day later. I was supposed to leave the hotel the next day at 12.00am and that was fine.

The next morning came and my flight was cancelled once again. I was getting really sick of all of this and much to my pleasure, the rebooking didn’t work anymore. The website of British Airways kept crashing regularly ever since Saturday and I was told to call my travel agent.

Turned out they couldn’t access my flight details either because BA blocked them! I couldn’t rebook and my hotel kicked me out because BA didn’t confirm my cancellation. I was told to call the hotline to get another voucher. Calling the hotline was useless cause they effused the call right from the start, let alone the fact that they charged you for the call!

I had no choice but to leave the hotel, I didn’t have the money to pay for the hotel myself, and spent the say with all my damn luggage in rainy London. Couldn’t take it anymore and went back to the airport in the afternoon because I was running out of options.

I was totally shattered by the time I was back in Terminal 5. Sleeping on the cold stone floor made me ill again and I was suffering from a bad cold at that time!!! Finally, I found someone to help me. I got a rebooking for Wednesday but the closest to Dusseldorf I got was Brussels… I had no chance but accepting this.

After that, I went back to the cold stone floor, trying to rest at least a little bit…