Gap Year Week 3: Fair & Food

Hey guys!

This post is about last week, the third week of my gap year. Again, I can't believe it is only three weeks ago since I quit university. On one hand, time has gone really fast, but on the other, really slow since I feel like I've been at home for months (actually, that's almost true if you would forget about the three weeks I spent at school between my actual summer holidays and the gap year ;). 

Last week wasn't a very special week. I honestly don't even remember most of the things I did because they probably weren't that special. I do want to share with you that I'm still reading Les Misérables and that I'm also still enjoying it. I'm trying hard to finish it as soon as possible so that I can write a review for you guys. 

Another thing that I want to do a review about soon is films. I watched the 80's film Pretty In Pink last week. I absolutely love all kinds of old films and this one had been on my list for quite some time. It was fun to watch and my love for films makes me want to write reviews about them on here, so hopefully that will be happening soon.

One slightly bigger thing I did last week for which I actually had to get out of the house, was going to a funfair just across the German border, which I live very close to. They have this yearly fair over there which is the biggest one I've ever been to. They have loads of amusement attractions and even a rollercoaster. One thing that is even a bigger part of the fair than the attractions, is the food. I swear there was more food over there than other attractions, which I honestly loved. All the food-stands looked so pretty and the whole atmosphere was just lovely, it reminded me of a Christmas fair, a thing that is also quite big in Germany. Me and my friend had way too much food over there, but I think I could afford eating so much since I had just been riding my bike to his house, which took me more than an hour.

Just to give you an impression of how delicious all the food was, here are some pictures. The first one is a fried 'potato spiral' dipped in herbs, this was sooo good! But I especially loved the churros on the right picture. I had been looking forward to eating them on Saturday during the entire week because they were so good the last time I had them at the same funfair.

On Sunday, I went to see two of my other friends, and again, there was food. We made pizza together and it was absolutely delicious. I hadn't had pizza in months and so this was so good. I avoid consuming lactose since I have a hard time digesting it but I found cheese without lactose and so I was able to eat a pizza again. Since I hadn't eaten it in such a long time it was the most delicious pizza ever. We got the dough at the supermarket, then put whatever we liked on it and put in in the oven. It was super easy to make and like I already wrote; so.good. Afterwards, we watched a movie and we had some soy ice cream, which was actually pretty tasty.

I don't have a lot more interesting things to tell you about last week, so I won't make this post any longer than this. Hopefully you like my blogs so far. I feel like my posts aren't that exciting yet but I'll hopefully write some reviews and maybe some fashion stuff soon!

Hoping everyone has a good week so far!

Xx Leyla

Gap Year Week 2: Letters & The Cold

Hi there!

I can't believe it's only the third week of my gap year as I'm writing this. I feel like I quit college months ago and that I have been home much longer than two weeks. Although I don't feel bored yet because there are many things I still want to do, I find myself getting sad over the cold weather and the fact that I live in a boring, small village with nothing to do. The idea to just step on a plane and leave for a sunny destination comes up in my mind every once in a while. However, I haven't planned any kind of trip yet. There are still a lot of things I can do from home and I also don't feel like I can afford to travel right now. So, I just try to keep myself busy and entertained.

Last week, it was really cold and cloudy outside, and the weather hasn't changed much over the days. I guess fall is really getting here right now. The leaves are still green but the weather itself is kind of depressing. I do love the colours of autumn and all the coziness that comes with it, but since I'm forced to be home all the time, there isn't really a feeling of being happy to come home in a warm house after a long day, because I don't have anywhere to be. On one hand, that is a great thing because I have all the time to do whatever I want, but over the past days I've realised being home all day, every day, is not a great thing. I think it's important to have places to go, things to do and to keep moving forward somehow. I still do try to keep going forward however, through doing a lot of reading, writing, playing my guitar etc. and I think that if I keep doing that, I might be really happy after this year because I'll learn so much of that. Yet, I need something to look forward to, I want to do something big this year because this is my chance; nothing really keeps me here. I think the coming days or weeks I will work on that, and think about what I really want to do this year. Also, I'll have to make a plan concerning my studies next year, because I definitely want to go back to college.

Last week wasn't a really special week. Like I wrote before, it was quite cold outside and I felt cold all the time because of that. I spent some time answering a letter from one of my penpals. It is just a really relaxing thing to write a long letter, then decorate it and I also love attaching cute things to my letter, because I know it is just great to get an envelope with loads of nice stuff in it. On Thursday, I went to a friend who is taking a gap year too. This was a great excuse to ride my bike since she lives about 10 kilometers away from me. I used to ride my bike to school every day when I was still in high school, and I really enjoyed the view around me and listening to music on my way back then. Although it was a long ride, I kind of miss it now. Me and my friend had a sleepover and watched a movie. Plus, we had a lot of food. This is another thing I'm kind of concerned about. Now I'm home so much and I don't really go to the gym or anything like that, I need to make sure I don't eat too much. This can be challenging, though, because I just LOVE food.

On Saturday evening, two of my cousins came over. It was so nice to catch up with them because I hadn't seen them in a long time and we had a great evening. Then Sunday came and I was afraid that I would really have a bad day like the Sunday before. Although every day can be seen like some sort of Sunday for me, I still don't really like the Sunday vibe because most of the time everyone is bored at home, especially now it's getting colder. However, I was happy because me and my mum went to Ikea. I needed a desk for my room and fortunately we found and good one. I also took some shelves to put on the wall because the walls in my room are kind of bleak and empty. We had dinner at Ikea as well and then we went home. It was a good way to finish the week.

This new week for me will be about editing some old holiday videos and reading. I got Les Misérables in a second hand shop and I just started reading it. I must say that although it is an old story, I really like it so far. I'm intending on reading a lot of classics this year and I think I might write a review on this one when I finish it.

Are you taking a gap year as well, or do you want to share your thoughts on this post? Feel free to leave a comment!

Love,

Leyla

Gap Year Week 1: Thrift Shopping & Sore Fingers

Hi! So I'm having this idea to do a 'gap year post' every week to tell you how I'm spending all the free time I have, because although there is a lot I want to do, you can probably imagine there are moments when I feel a little lost in all that free time. So in these posts I will write about the highlights of every week, which sort of bring structure into my life.

I'm trying to go out of the house everyday, sometimes to take a walk, to visit a friend or to join my family when they're going somewhere. Last week, I had some stuff to pick up at an acquaintance's house in a city halfway where I used to go to university. Also, my bike was still at the train station there so I had to take it back home too. This was an ideal excuse to get out of the house and get active for a bit. I took the train to the city and before taking my stuff and going back home I took a little walk along the riverside and enjoyed the view. After that, I went back to the train station and then had to struggle to take my bike in and out of the train, which was kind of awkward. I was pretty tired when I came home, but also happy I had my daily dose of exercise without having to go to the gym, which I honestly dislike.

On Tuesday, me and my mom went to a thrift shop nearby to take a look around and see if we couldfind some nice things to take home. I just love to go thrift shopping, whether it's for clothes or other stuff. It's just a really good feeling to walk around a thrift shop and then find something really nice and cheap. I walked around the store a little and suddenly I stumbled upon a really cute analog photo camera. I immediately fell in love with it, especially because it came in a beautiful leather 'case.' I'm still thinking about buying a DSLR camera, but this little one I couldn't resist taking home. Also, it was only about 7 euro's. Maybe that was because it might be broken, but they didn't test it at the store and I just couldn't resist. If it doesn't work, I'll use it as a decoration for my bedroom. 

This week, I also finally found the time and motivation to start playing on my guitar again. I have been playing for about a year right now and I genuinely am in love with it. Every time I'm playing I just feel so relaxed. However, because of all the college-stress I hadn't played in a month and starting again was a little hard because of that. The skin of my fingers wasn't really tough anymore and so pressing down the strings was a little painful. I also just had to get used to playing again and pick up where I left off a month ago. Anyways, after some days of playing I felt my fingers toughen up again and things got better.

To finish off the week, I went to visit my friend after he came back from school. I went to the city of his college and we walked around the centre for a while, getting in and out of stores. Unfortunately I had to keep myself from buying anything because I don't have a job at the moment and therefore can't really afford to do a lot of shopping.

In the evening we went to a really nice restaurant to have dinner, which was great. It was really nice to see a friend since I'm alone most of the time because everyone is at school or work, and we had a lovely time. We took the bus home and during the traveling we talked a lot about music and art, which was really good to talk about since it interests us both. Then, on Friday evening I went to visit another friend, who just started college. She was back home and we cooked some dinner together and then watched a movie. We watched 'The Call' which is kind of a thriller with creepy 'horror-elements' in it and we sort of incited ourselves during watching, which made it even scarier but also really funny. Then, Sunday came and this was a really boring day, where I didn't do much at all so I won't bother you with that ;)

So, that was last week for me. I hope you had a great week too! 

Lots of love,

Leyla

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