Starting A New Life

It's official, i'm leaving Sweden and will make Germany my homebase permanently! (with frequent visits to Sweden). It's been official since Saturday but I needed time to process it, understand it's actually happening and start with the planning first until I wanted to write it here. On Februari 11th i'll take the train down to Germany, a travel that will take me about twelve hours (with two hours to kill in Denmark). The reason I will travel the slow way and not just grab a flight is cause my pet rabbit is coming with me and it was a hussle to find a flight company that takes rabbits, and the ones that does only allow them under the plane with all the suitcases. Obviously there's no chance i'm transporting a living, breathing animal there. Especially nothing as fragile as a rabbit. So me and the little guy will travel together through half of Sweden, Denmark and then down to Hamburg. Final destination and home!

At the moment there's a lot of stuff that needs to be sorted out though and only bringing Milton (the rabbit) has been a pain to figure out and all is still not clear. I'm still in the proccess of finding out whether he needs to get vaccinated against anything or if he is fine as he is but no one seems to know! I've contacted about six vetenarian clinics in the country and i've been forwarded so many times to the department of agriculture in Sweden, who, surprise, surprise, doesn't know anything either! At this point i'm waiting for an answer from the German embassy, but if they don't know anything i'm not sure what I will do. I really don't understand how hard it can be?

I've just started this process which will take quite some time. I figure the next step will be to sort out some arrangements with my bank and announce my leave to the civil registry. I also need to get all my stuff sent off to Germany so I would need to arrange something for that as well. Pack, unback when I get there. Apply to a German language course, since my German is still extremely bad, and get a German phone provider. I can't wait for the actually fun stuff, like getting to decorate the flat more properly, buying stuff that we need and turning this into my home, my home with my stuff in it. Oh, and get to see my boyfriend every day! :) I also obviously will need to notify the German civil registry about my precense in the country and hopefully find a part time job pretty soon. There's probably plenty more stuff, even stuff I have no idea I need to do at this point but will realise along the way. On top of this planning i'm still doing the math course I mentioned in an earlier post, plus Christmas is approaching. Needless to say, I feel kind of stressed! Happy, but stressed.

I will leave it at this for now. I just wanted to announce my move to the "world".

Hamburg City Hall at night
Source: math.uni-hamburg.de

Kristina xoxo

A Perfect Shade Of Purple

I wanted to upload some photos from my room here in Sweden. I really like the way it turned out, and when I move i'll probably miss it. A bit anyway. But most of the stuff I will bring with me in the move anyway (yes my boyfriend will have to move his stuff aside haha). I was too lazy to edit these but hopefully you'll like them!

   

I will end this picture bomb post with a christmas picture from Hamburg. Yes we already started slightly with the christmas decorations. A lovely star my boyfriend got... somewhere. Might have been IKEA. How I love christmas :)

Kristina xoxo

Museum of Hamburg History

It's about time for another blog post, don't you think? I've been quite busy with a job searching course and since one week back I've been studying math. It's a course I failed three years ago but now i'm making a new attempt hoping it will be easier now when I only have math to think about, not eight more subjects to juggle like last time. I've had great help and support from my boyfriend who's more or less a genius when it comes to math so i'm in good hands. Even though I still struggle, it's so much easier with his help and in only one week I've learnt a lot. Cross your fingers for me.

Source: hamburgmuseum.de

I won't make this whole post about maths though. I actually came home from Hamburg last night where I spent the weekend together with my mother. She saw mine and my boyfriend's flat for the first time, as well as Hamburg in general. We visited the museum of Hamburg history Saturday which was very interesting. You could follow the history of Hamburg from the very first settlements there to the circa 19th century or so. They had some old impaled skulls exhibited, one of them claimed to belong to a "famous" pirate named Klaus Störtebeker who was executed early 15th century I believe. They even had his face reconstructed after the skull features which was really impressive to see. The Wasa museum in Stockholm have a similar exhibition where they have reconstructed the faces of skeletons they found onboard on the sunken ship and I love stuff like that. Seeing how these people that lived for so many years ago looked. Anyhow, back on topic. The museum of Hamburg history also had the usual museum stuff, such as old coins they've found and a whole lot of armor and canons. A whole exhibition of immigration during the 19th century as well as boats and ships (since Hamburg is a harbour city). The big fire of Hamburg that ruined big parts of the city in the 19th century was also mentioned. On the lower floor they had a whole lot of historical clothes. Fancy 18th- and 19th century gowns, gloves, hats and even children's wear. Gorgeous to see. A few 20s, 50s and 60s dresses was also exhibited to see. I can really recommend the Museum of Hamburg history if you're visiting Hamburg. It's really large and you will spend many hours in there, well worth the money.

Unfortunately we forgot the camera at home but I found some photos online. The picture below is of Klaus Störtebeker and the top one is of the museum building itself.

Source: spiegel.de

After the museum we had a quick look through the "Dom" which was just around the corner from the museum, it's some kind of large amusement park that is set up in Hamburg four times each year, lasting for a month. I didn't go on any rides, but it was fun just to watch! Amazed by the brave people that dared going on many of those rides. 

We have started to get it really lovely in the Hamburg flat, and started to slightly decorate for Christmas. Can't wait until the Christmas tree is up, even though there will be some time until then.  I have got a few photos from our living room but I will save them for another post. 

Kristina xoxo

The Baseballs

It's way over midnight here in Sweden and I can't sleep, soooo perfect time for a blog post. I haven't really done a lot today, I had the idea of cleaning up around the flat but it never happened but i'm hoping to get around to do it sometime this week :)

I had a very nice weekend though. Me and my sister Emma went for a shopping spree in Stockholm city centre, she had spotted two pair of shoes in H&Ms new collection she wanted to buy I wanted to find a birthday present for my boyfriend, who's turning 25 in the end of this month! Emma didn't find the shoes but bought a faux leather jacket and a "boyfriend shirt" instead and walked home happy. I also found something to give to my man, even though I can't write it here yet as I suspect he might be peaking in here once in a while :) We also met up with our mother who made other errands in the city, and together we headed to Beyond Retro on Drottninggatan for a look. Looking round the shelfs of old stuff, trying on hats to some good old 50's rock n roll. The Sunday was mainly spent at home talking to my boyfriend, even though I also sorted out a present for a good friend of mine as her birthday isn't in too long. Hopefully she will be pleased with it! :)

In another 9 days I will be back in Germany, this is due to his birthday but we're also going to see The Baseballs which are playing in Hamburg during that weekend! I got the tickets from my boyfriend as a valentine present all the way back in February and now it's finally time. A friend of mine from Lithuania will also fly to Hamburg for the concert and will stay with me and my boyfriend over the weekend. Very exciting! For anybody who wonders who The Baseballs are, here you have them;

It's a German band containing of three guys. They take modern songs and give them more of a 50's sound. Very catchy of you ask me! :) The guys are also extremely friendly. I've seen them three or four times so far and managed to catch two of them (Digger and Sam) quickly before a concert almost two years ago. I will admit I almost got a bit starstruck but the guys were really nice and were more than willing to have their picture taken with me (but sad enough I look a mess on them! lol) Ah well, they might show up here at some point anyway. I'm sure i'll also post photos after the gig!  

Unfortunately I don't have anything more interesting to blog about or any nice pictures to post, but I hope this will do for now. 

Love, Kristina

Love Never Dies

I'm not exactly a good blogger I would say, but here I am. I've been busy doing other stuff, and whenever i've had time to blog I've never had anything to blog about. Got back from Germany last week after spending a week there. Me and my boyfriend celebrated 6 months together so I got a three dishes dinner cooked for me along with a very pretty necklace. I may post a photo of it in the upcoming days :)

Anyhow, I thought this post would be about "Love Never Dies", the sequel to "The Phantom of the Opera", Andrew Lloyed Webber style. I never was that interested in seeing it to begin with to be honest, thought that Webber should have just left the Phantom alone after the end in the original. But as I came across a DVD recording of the Australian cast performing this piece I thought I would give it a try. 

The story is taking place 10 years after the first production. The Phantom never died, instead Madame Giry and Meg brought him to the US, to Coney Island to be exact. There he created his own circus for "freaks" and runs the place. Of course he never got over his Christine, and lures her (and her husband Raoul and son Gustave) to come over to Coney Island to sing. Secrets are being revealed, hearts broken and tragedy strikes.

My feelings about this production is a bit mixed. When it comes to the characters i'm completely lost. Raoul went from "prince charming" to an alcoholic gambler, Madame Giry from a protective mother to wanting to pair her daughter up with the Phantom, Meg went from an innocent ballet girl to a singing "oh lala girl" and prostitute and the Phantom from an manipulative murderer to a rather lovable heartbroken man. The only person who was somewhat the same was Christine! Many characters almost seemed to develop backwards and there was a lot that didn't make any sense at all. When it comes to the story plot I kind of liked it, even though it was a bit cliché in a way. What really saved this production was the music. The music was amazing and for the last couple of days i've kept several of the soundtracks on repeat. The actress who plays Christine (Anna O'Byrne) is outstanding, a beautiful voice and give the role great justice. Ben Lewis who plays the Phantom had to grow on me a bit. I think most Phantoms i've heard have had tenor voices, while i'm quite sure that Ben is a baritone. Now after a few days I must say that I really have fallen for him, he's almost in the same class as Ramin Karimloo (from the London production) who's one of my big favorites. I'm not that hard to impress, everyone who sings better than me (which is about 95% of the population of the earth haha) I find more or less amazing. One thing that bothers me about Ben's Phantom is that he gives me a lot of Dracula wibes, speaks very deep, slow and mysterious and moves a lot like I would expect Dracula do. He also uses a lot of very odd hand gestures, and he's got a rather creepy stare. Yes, Dracula wibes with other words. The boy who played the son of Christine was extremely talented. About 10 years of age, could song in tune, act and was a real cutie! The weakest vocals came from the actress who played Madame Giry, I didn't like her voice at all, it was very raw in some way. Apart from the majority of the vocals being outstanding the visuals were breathetaking! The set was very creatively made and the clothes were a real pleasure to look at. It was with other words very clear that this was a very expensive production with a lot of work put into it.

Even though the production had some flaws I would say it's a very good one! If you ignore the fact it's a sequel to "The Phantom of The Opera" and just sees it as a production of its own, without trying to make sense out of the characters from the previous theathre/film, it's actually a very good piece. I did enjoy it, and the music in particular. The songs will continue going on repeat for a while now :)

These are four of my favorite songs from the musical (the Australian cast). There are so many more great soundtracks but I leave it like this, at least for now :)

Love, Kristina

Meeting The Family

I've been away for a while, back in Germany in fact (surprise, surprise) and I didn't bring my laptop due to flying with only hand luggage. I got back on Swedish ground just a few hours ago. I will try and write a somewhat short resume of the last couple of days.

I got there Wednesday, my boyfriend got off work earlier to meet me up and we made our way home together, did some cooking and topped it off with a lovely evening walk around the area where we live. The first half of the walk my camera wouldn't work properly and I couldn't figure out why. Turned out that the zoom was no longer on automatic setting which messed the whole thing up. Thank God for guys who are great with technical stuff! My boyfriend figured out what was wrong with it right away and I got some nice shots!

On Thursday I spent the most part alone as my boyfriend needed to work (booo!). We had decided to bake an applecake (the German way I believe) in the evening and I had to experience a real adventure in the supermarket finding the groceries needed. It's not easy when everything is written in German I tell you! I managed to get everything though (barely!) and we made a really delicious cake. It wasn't the best looking of cakes but it was very professionally tasting. 

Friday I met up with my boyfriend after work and he took me to Altona, a part of Hamburg that is considered a bit nicer. We had a walk through the neighbor hood with beautiful houses, through a park or two and down to the Elbstrand, the beach in Hamburg. We sat there in an outside restaurant having a lighter dinner while watching the ships leave and arrive to the Hamburg harbor.  Unfortunately I didn't bring the camera as the plans had been to do some shopping for our flat, but got changed as my man thought the weather was too nice to spend shopping haha We did pick up some decorative "fishing nets" to hang in our bathroom on the way back though. Picture follow futher down in this post. In the evening we ate some leftover cake from the previous day and drank sparkling wine, my favorite of course, Rotkäppchen (Little red riding hood).

We did a whole lot of shopping on the Saturday. I must have done something right as I got properly spoiled with a beautiful dress and a pair of shoes. I only have a picture of the dress (ignore my weird face)for now so it will have to do. Guess if it hurt leaving this dress in Hamburg?? (It felt risky transporting it and boyfriend seems to plan an event to use it for)

Yesterday was the day I came for in the first place. My boyfriends family had a family gathering due to his grandparents being married for a whole lot of years. I had an amazing time and everyone was very nice and welcoming to me even though some of them didn't speak English, or didn't quite dare to. That was one of those moments I really wish my German was better than it is! Oh well, the food that was served was also very nice, dish after dish came in and I don't think i've ever eaten as much as I did yesterday, before. We also made a visit at my boyfriends fathers place very nearby which was absolutely great too!  I'm sooooo upset I didn't bring my camera cause his place looked like a museum. As an example, he had a bike of an older model (the kind with a big wheel and a small wheel) as decoration in there, an old camera (around 20s-30s I would guess), a whole lot of different old violins, clocks and scales. Really, all from an old gramophone to an vintage toy carriage for dolls.  Everywhere you looked you saw something amazing. Next time I'm going there I won't forget the camera! Mark my words!

I will end this post with some photos from our bathroom. The "fishnet" I mentioned above, and candles we set up in the bathroom. 

I will get some sleep now. It's quite exhausting to travel, and i'm going back in 9 days only. I can't wait! :)

Love, Kristina

A Stroll Through Stockholm

Time for a post, or what do you say? Just been taking it easy today relaxing. I've been trying to do a bit of writing. I've been stuck for a while, mainly cause I have so many different story lines going on in my head at the same time which makes it impossible for me to know what to write and where to start. Everything just blends together. I did manage to get going a bit today with a new character in the making, and I think i'll continue later today with it. I might be getting back into a writing flow now. Finally! lol

Yesterday I spent with my sister and grandmother. We had first planned to take a ferryboat out to an island in the archipelago of Stockholm but the weather wasn't nice enough. So instead we had lunch at "Örtagården" by Östermalstorg. For 99 SEK (about 9-10 euro) you can eat as much as you please, and their food is delicious! Afterwards we took a round in the Old Town, which is one of my favorite places in Stockholm. We took a stroll around the Royal Palace and my grandmother also bought a birthday present for my boyfriend who's turning 25 next month(!). Before heading back home we sat down at a café talking and eating some more. Yes, all I did yesterday was talking and eating! lol Unfortunately I didn't take that many pictures, but here is one. The dress i'm wearing is quite new, picked it up from H&M for 100 SEK (10 euro), on sale.

I may also announce that my dress I ordered from Zalando arrived Monday and it's fitting and is perfect. I don't have a photo of it yet, but when I do I will post it on here. For the rest of the evening I'll continue take it easy, it's Friday evening so hopefully some nice time with the family, and of course some time dedicated to my boyfriend. Maybe sort out my closet too? Hmmm

Aaaand, 5 days to go until i'm back in Hamburg. I can not wait!

Love, Kristina

A Sweet Taste of Wind and Water

Good evening! Or since I'm going to bed very soon perhaps I should say goodnight instead? I'll first post a couple of pictures from today though. Me and my sister spent most part of the day together, first I helped her working.. or help or help, I kept her company. She's delivering advertisement so I came with her while she did so. After lunch we took the camera and made our way to a mansion nearby with a park open for the public, by bike. I'm not really a bike person and now I have a very sore bum! Anyhow, we got a few nice photos (despite a WHOLE lot of wind) and thought i'd share them on the blog.

Me:

Blouse: Massimo Dutti

Skirt: Lapidus Of Sweden (Second Hand)

Shoes: H&M

Faux Fur Collar: H&M

Hat: H&M

Bag: Vintage from vintagesmulor.se

My sister:

Blouse: Zara  (I think)

Skirt: H&M

Shoes: SkoPunkten 

Tomorrow will be spent at IKEA with the family. I'm not quite sure what's on the list of things to buy but i'm tagging along anyway. I'm usually quite good at convincing my parents to open their wallets if I may ;) 

Wishing everyone a goodnight! Or a good day/morning if you're located somewhere further away in the world.

Love, Kristina. 

A Bag Made Out Of Straw

I haven't been blogging for a week so I thought it was about time to write a post now. I just came back from a successful shopping day with my sister, who came back to Sweden Wednesday! There's a mall not too far away from where we live, and this mall also holds a second hand shop and this is where we spent most of our time. I found a very nice black skirt for only 10 SEK (about 1 euro), it's knee length and somewhat pleated. It's by the brand "Lapidus of Sweden" and doesn't seem to be manufactured recently as the sizes doesn't seem modern, but I can't quite place the decade on it. I also got a very cheap, but lovely dress by the brand Mari Phillipe along side a pair of H&M cateye sunglasses. Everything found extremely cheap and i'm very happy with the day as a whole.

The other day, Wednesday, I did meet my sister up by her flight bus as she arrived to Stockholm central station. As she flew off to the Netherlands before I came back from Germany we hadn't seen each other for 3 weeks, so guess if I was happy to finally see her again. We grabbed some food out and soon decided to go visit our grandmother. The very same day she was supposed to travel to Portugal to visit a friend but had to cancel this due to having severe pain in her knee. Over the years she's had a lot of problems with it, but now it's worse than ever. To cheer her up we bought some flowers and showed up at her door surprising her. Needless to say, she got really happy! Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of the flowers but take my word for it when I say they were really adorable and I know they are in great hands. My grandmother is a real flower person, opposite to me who seem to be very prone to kill plants so I usually go for plastic ones.

I also had two orders done a few days ago. I ordered a really cute dress from Zalando, dark blue with white polka dots and the thought is that I will be wearing this dress on my boyfriends family gathering next month. I also bought a vintage bag, a 50's one, and it's absolutely lovely. It's from a Swedish webshop http://vintagesmulor.se/, so take a look if you're Swedish, or otherwise as well, she may even ship abroad? It was love at the first sight! As I actually was torn between my love for the bag and my senses telling me "no you need to save your money" a friend had to give me a push to actually buy it. And i'm glad she did! The bag arrived two days ago, only a day and a half after I ordered it, and it also came with a handwritten note thanking me for ordering from her. I was surprised with the really good service, and I never want to be without this bag ever! I got some photos of the bag, and I will also post photos of the dress after it arrived. Hopefully it will on Monday.

Other than this me and my mum went to the cinema together last Sunday and we saw "Snow White and the Huntsman". I must admit I was a bit sceptic to the film at first due to Kristen Stewart being in it as i'm no fan of the Twilight serie, but I was actually surprised in a good way. Kristen did a great job along side other actors such as beautiful Charlize Theron and Chris Hemsworth. Even though a lot of the traditional Snow White elements such as the dwarfs, the magical mirror and poisonous apple were all there there was a nice change to see Show White picking up a sword leaving the views of how these traditional fairy tale princesses are seen as. In my opinion it's definitely a film worth watching.

I got some chocolate mud cake waiting for me and some chocolate, so i'll definitely have a nice Friday evening even though I really miss the German chocolate. Luckily i'll be back in Germany on the 11th of July so the countdown has started.

Have an amazing Friday evening!

Love, Kristina