Recently I went to Edinburgh for a weekend to look at the university. I loved the place as a whole as it ticked all the boxes so I think that I will put it down on my UCAS. It was incredibly photogenic and I had to limit myself to the pictures that I uploaded. 

This is Peters Yard. It is a Swedish bakery. I had a cardamon bun and Dad had focaccia and both were so yummy! The interior was very bright and airy and I really liked the rolls of paper on the walls used  to display information. Overall it was a really great spot that I would definitely recommend to anyone in Edinburgh. 

This is the statue of Greyfriars Bobby outside of Greyfriars Kirkyard a graveyard in Edinburgh. The dog supposedly guarded the grave of his master until he died. Apparently it is good luck to rub his nose and this has left his nose a different colour from the rest of his body.  

Both Photos taken in Clouds and Soil restaurant. 

We tried to go to the Gardeners Cottage for dinner. It focuses on making seasonal food and grows some of its ingredients in the garden in the front. Dinner is a 6 course affair on long communal dining tables. Unfortunately we didn't book as we didn't realise how popular it is. The Garden Cottage looked amazing and if I'm ever in Edinburgh again I would love to go.

Overall Edinburgh was a lovely place to visit and I would definitely go back!

In August I went abroad alone for the first time. I went to geneva on a study trip to the UN which was organised by this company. It was a really well organised and great experience and I would definitely recommend it to people with an interest in politics but also international development and NGOs.
I arrived in Geneva in the late afternoon on sunday after making my way onto the FREE train that takes you from the airport to cornavin the central station in geneva. I was not impressed but I think that had something to do with the hunger, sweaty back from my rucksack and angst about what I had just done to myself. But once I got to the hostel this dissipated when I went into my room and met a great group of girls.

After this point its safe to say that Geneva grew on me. It is expensive but I think the price hysteria is driven up by the fact that the francs to pounds conversion rate is difficult. It seemed like a lovely cultural place but it wasn't overwhelmingly busy like London can be. I was particularly impressed by the fact that public transport was free for us tourists. I would definitely love to go back and the whole experience made me excited for uni and travelling next summer with my friends.

All the photos were taken on my Canon 100d which i bought for the trip/future travelling. We have a canon 70d as a family but I didn't feel comfortable taking it abroad and thought it was time to get my own camera. The 100d is great as its smaller lighter and therefore more portable and great for travelling without significantly sacrificing on quality and it can use all of the lenses we already have at home which is great.

A ceiling of a conference room within the UN. I spent as much time in awe of the architecture of the buildings as I did admiring the work done within the buildings.

This ceiling was made out of resin!

As you can see the light in Geneva was amazing.

Architecturally my favourite building we visited was the UN AIDS building (above) within the building there were courtyards that has trees growing in the them and the abundance of glass made it a beautiful space.

I liked these dated columns in the International Labour Organisation headquarters.

Swiss french border.

When I was taking these photos I was annoyed by everyones hands getting into my frame but its actually produced some interesting photos. I like the glow of the sun through the hand.

David + Astrid

enjoy!

I had a glass jar with some succulents in but it was by no means a terrarium because I hadn't even unpotted the individual plants. So as its summer I thought I would set the terrarium up properly. This is just a demonstration of what I did and it seems to be working well but I am by no means a plant expert.

1. Separate your plants and gently remove soil from the roots.

2. Clean your pot or whatever you are using. Add some pebbles to the bottom for drainage.

3. Add a layer of sand on top. These steps are important so that there is an element of drainage even in a sealed pot.

4. Add a layer of soil (I mixed it with vermiculite for aeration) and arrange your succulents.










Place the terrarium inside and water whenever the soil looks dry. I water mine 1-2 times a week. enjoy!

Coffee body scrubs went through a bit of a phase on instagram around 6 months ago and at the time I decided to try to make my own version. After some experimentation this is what I was left with. Its fine on my skin and I have quite sensitive skin but as always be mindful about what you are putting on your body and if you are unsure then do a patch test or such like.

INGREDIENTS

1tbsp Ground Coffee

1 tbsp Sugar

1tsp Salt 

1 tbsp Coconut Oil

1 tsp Avocado oil

METHOD

1. Add the dry ingredients together. The reasons there is salt and sugar is to get a variation in the size of granules that will scrub your body so as long as the variation is there then it doesn't matter what type of salt or sugar you use.

2. The oil can also be adjusted this will work with most oils but avocado and coconut are my favourite. Add the coconut oil first and then use the avocado oil to get the scrub to a good consistency.

enjoy!

It's the last few weeks of term and I'm feeling particularly ready for summer although it will be very busy. I was looking thorugh my old blog when I came across all my old pictures from paris and I thought that you guys would like to see them. We went last year for my 16th birthday as a kind of post exam results trip. I really enjoyed paris and we did most of the touristy things but we failed to visit the eiffel towel but you do see it from most parts of the city so I didn't consider it a must.My favourite place in Paris was Shakespeare and Company bookshop. It runs as a refuge to writers with the agreement being that if you work there in the daytime you have somewhere to write and board in the evening. The shop was very old with various nooks and it was full of old books and modern classics and new books and a large variety of people. Of course I bought a book, and since we were in Paris it was a book about macaroons. But my favourite part of my favourite place in Paris was the quote above one of the doorways which read "Be not inhospitable to strangers lest they be angels in disguise" which the owner attributed to yeats but now people think its a variation of a biblical passage. Paris was so beautiful and  I would definitely love to go back hopefully a little bit better at french next time.