Spiderman: Homecoming review!

Hello world,


I'm back with another movie review, this time I am going to review the new Spiderman film. I know it is quite late as the film/movie came out about 3 months ago but it came out a month later in Spain as it did in the rest of the world and I have been incredibly busy with work and sorting out things for university.

But now without further ado and more excuses ( even if they are valid) I will get on with the review.

First of, I am a big Marvel fan, I haven't read all the comics but I have seen all the films and am quite up to date with everything going on. Spiderman has always been one of my favorites mainly because he is young, like me, and he loves science, also like me. I was quite excited for this Spiderman film as I am quite a big fan of Tom Holland and loved his performance in Captain America:Civil War. I was a little apprehensive about there being another Spiderman movie as I had never been the biggest fan of the previous films, they were good don't get me wrong but they didn't have the WOW factor I was expecting from a superhero movie.

The first thing I noticed and liked was that they skipped how he turned into Spiderman, this is universally known by any comic book fan and way overdone in my opinion. I also loved how it took of were CACW ended and the way Peter had to get back to normal life. I don't want to spoil anything but I think this is quite obvious, that after such a big battle Peter is going to have some issues adjusting. I was a little thrown of by the title as I wasn't to sure what it meant. At first I thought it was because of the fact he came home after going to Germany but during the film I figured out it was because of a Homecoming dance Peter and all the people at school where working towards. As we don't have dances like those in Spain I was confused until the last moments. Another thing I loved about the film was the "father" role Tony stark aka Iron Man plays in this film, he has alway been a great character in the films mostly because of his funny and most times sarcastic nature.

I don't want to give to much away and I also don't want to make this review to long so I will get to the point and leave my ramblings aside. Without giving any spoilers, in my opinion the film was great! Tom Holland did an amazing job as Spiderman. I liked Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield as well but in my opinion they where only good in portraying either Peter Parker or Spiderman, not both characters as Tom Holland did almost perfectly. I understand that everyone has their own opinion and some might not like Holland saying he is to young or whatever, but what we have to keep in mind is that Peter Parker is only 15/16 years old. The younger an actor is, the younger the character this way more people, especially teenagers can relate to these characters more and can learn from them. To summarize this review I thought the movie was very good and it had a lot of plot twists and unexpected things, it wasn't your everyday superhero film where the good guy defeats the bad guy and gets the girl, I mean that sort of happens but not in the context we expect making it very good and different in my opinion. another thing that cracked me up was the post credit scene, the first was a normal one as seen in every other marvel film, but the last one after all the credit were over ( which we watched BTW) was very funny and good although not relevant to the film.

Anyway, this was my Spiderman:Homecoming review, I hope you enjoyed it and if there are any films you want me to review, both new and old let me know! I am probably going to watch IT in cinemas really soon and I also want to watch Goodbye Christopher robins so I will review both films when I have seen them although it might take a while. I'm starting university on the 2nd of October so I will try and write some posts in advance to return to a regular uploading schedule of once every 2 weeks or maybe even return to once a week.
If there are any series you want me to review let me know as well! I know I said I would do game of thrones review or Teen wolf but I think these series are going to be to hard, especially Teen Wolf as I still have to start the 6th season but if you want me to review the first 5 seasons let me know and I will.

Goodbye for now and have a great day/night.

 xxSimonee

Baby driver review.

Hello world!

So as it is summer and there are a number of good films coming out and I actually have time (and money) to go watch them, I thought I would write some reviews about the films I watched and give my honest opinion on what I thought about them. In no way do I want to be negative or discourage anyone from watching the mentioned films, I just want to say what I thought and if I believe they are worth watching or not. If you still want to go and watch it then you definitely should. All I want to do is help you if your not sure about going to see it or not.

So without further ado, here is my first film review.

Baby Driver.
First thing you notice when watching the trailer, the music sounds sick! Every trailer is filled with music and one of the main songs was radar love, a song I like a lot and listen to it all the time with my dad in the car. However watching the film, the song only featured for about 15 seconds which was slightly disappointing but I'm not going to let one song ruin the film of course. In the end it's all about the film allthough the music was a very big part of it.

So the story is that baby (Ansel Elgort) is a young man driving the get away car of criminals. He records nearly all conversations and turns those into cassettes.  He meets a girl and well, everything changes. Every scene basically has a different song attached to it which makes it seem even more like you are actually in his head. He meets new people along the way, makes friends and makes enemies. It may seem as your everyday action comedy but I think all the music they added makes it different from all others. I loved the movie, however I did think that the music was what made me like it so much. I know I keep going on about the music and mention it a lot but really it was the main focus of the entire movie. The theme that should have been central, a young man redeeming himself in his own eyes and those of others, was slightly pushed to the back whenever the music plays. Which was basically every scene. nevertheless I still think it is a great summer movie worth watching, especially for those with a taste of "old" music. there is a complete playlist on Spotify that has all the songs and I have found myself listening to at least half of them on a weekly basis.

So yeah, this concludes my first review, I hope you liked it and want to see more. If there are any movies in particular you would like me to review, let me know as well and I will go and check them out. I am also thinking about doing something similar with Game of Thrones and Teen wolf as they are some of my favorite series ever and new episodes are coming out weekly on both of them! I know this might be short but there wasn't much else I could write without spoiling anything big.

Have a great day/night wherever you guys are!

xxSimone

Grief

Hello world,

So as some of you might have noticed I have been absent from this blog for over a month, and despite what people may think I have a very good (or at least in my opinion) reason for it. So a little over a month ago I got the news that my granddad had passed away. Losing a loved one is always tough (even those who don't have a good relationship with said family member). As was the case for me, I am one of the few lucky people whose grandparents where all still alive, until recently that is. I have never been very close with my dad's parents and generally only saw them 2 or 3 times a year when we still lived in the Netherlands. When we moved to Spain, three times a year changed to once in 6 years, which is a very long time to go without seeing family. The last time I saw my granddad was almost 2 years ago, and the worst thing is I didn't really miss them that much. As we where never really close not seeing them was an easy thing to deal with for me. This didn't mean however that losing him didn't hurt me or the family around me. The day we heard the news I was meant to go to work and hang out with friends later on, that however quickly changed to packing and getting on the first plain to Germany (no planes to the Netherlands on that day). My sister was away on holiday when it happened so apart from comforting my dad I had to lie to my sister and pretend everything was okay, which was probably one of the hardest things I have ever done. Being in the Netherlands with just my dad and my grandmother was a strange thing, and it opened my eyes to a lot of things that had gone on in my family that I didn't even know about. My grandmother has always been a bit cold and detached, not really one for showing emotions, when I was younger I didn't really notice it much but as I got older I noticed she was very different to other grandmothers and sometimes resented her for not being nicer to us. I know realize these emotions where stupid and that she did care for me and my sister but she just has trouble expressing said feelings. One of the "good" things that came out of my granddad passing away was that I got to see my aunt and uncle again. They live in Greece and I hadn't seen my aunt in about 9 years and my uncle in 14 years, which is very strange as I was 6 the last year I saw him so I didn't really know him anymore. We used these days together to bond bit and are know planning on visiting them in Greece hopefully sometime next summer.

As my granddad was the first close family member that I lost, I got my first experience of what goes in to arranging a funeral and all the other things that need to be done, which, let me tell you, is a LOT! My granddad was a very popular and loved men in the town he lived in, he did a lot for the community and worked for a lot of sport clubs, such as the local football (soccer) club that he practically prevented from turning bankrupt and having to close. He was also an avid ice skater and would have loved to compete in the "elfstedentocht" which is a 200 km ice skating course through 11 cities in the north of the Netherlands all on natural ice. It has to be very cold to be able to do the course which is why you never know when the next one will be (the last one was in 1997). he never got to compete because in 1963 his wife (my grandma) forbade him from going, which ended up being a good thing because the weather was terrible, so bad they even made a film called "the hell of '63. After that he was part of the organization managing a part of the course meaning he wasn't allowed to compete, he was responsible for a bit of ice that he had to check every day to see if the ice was thick enough etc. The response and support we got from all the people in the village was astounding, from a phone call or a card to a message on a website or in the newspaper, it was more then we expected. the first few days we didn't get to many messages but when the announcement we put in the newspaper was published tons of cards arrived, sometimes even 20 or 30 at once, which is a surreal experience to be fairly honest. As I had never really been through something like this I wasn't sure how to act or react but in the end I did what my granddad would have wanted, I kept going and remembered all the good memories I had with him. Because my granddad was one of the happiest people in the world and he, just as anybody else that loves you, would want me to continue loving life and making new even better memories.

I know I'm rambling but I really needed to explain why I had been absent and because I wanted this blog to be more personal I thought I should just explain it indent. it has been hard to write/talk about this which is why it took me so long to actually write it all down and upload it. I probably wrote and rewrote this post about 10 times and was never happy with it, but I think this is acceptable. If you don't like these kind of posts I apologize and I promise the next few will be much happier and easier to read and write. As it is summer here know and I have finished my exams I want to try and upload once every two weeks. I will probably do some film/ book reviews and talks some more about places I have visited. I will talk about some more serious stuff that I think should be discussed and continue talking about my experiences with moving to another country.
But for now, this is it for today. I hope this cleared things up and maybe even helped someone who is dealing with personal stuff.

have a great day/night wherever you are and I will write very very soon.

xx Simone

Changes

Hello world,

This post is going to be a lot different from the others and I am sorry for that but I think it is necessary for the continuation of this blog. I haven't posted anything in over a month and the true reason is that I have lost interest in the post I made. I have not for any reason lost interest in this blog but for me to continue I want to make some changes. first of I changed the name, it just seemed nicer and more personal then the previous name. I am in no way going to delete my previous posts or am I going to change the main purpose of this blog. The only reason I made it was so I had a place where I could write and by doing so be of help to people all around the world going to similar situations as mine. As of now I promise more regular post, which might be shorter but are more personal and closer to what I wanted to achieve on this blog. There might also be some post in other languages (Dutch & Spanish) but I am not entirely sure yet. From this day forward this will not only be a traveling and lifestyle blog but a place where I can empty my mind and speak freely without the fear of being judged (Although not really). I want to adress things that other people do not want to talk about because it is not right or not a popular theme. I have also been quite busy writing stories lately, both a longer story I intend to make into a novel as short stories I wrote just for fun. I intend to from now on use this blog as well to publish some of these stories to see what people think so I can continue to improve my writing style.

If you have ignored this entire rant about this blog I won't judge you to hard, (who am I kidding, I totally will). Or just ignored this entire post that is fine, it really just explains the changes I have made and will make to this blog to hopefully enjoy it more myself and so you guys ( & girls) reading it will enjoy it more. Anyway I think I should just stop rambling and let the new posts and new layout of the blog speak for itself.

I will also change the amount of times I upload a post, once a week was to hard to do and it caused me to lack a lot, so I will try and upload once every two weeks. this way I can make post with better content and quality instead of rushing to upload something, reducing the quality drastically. Wow and I am rambling again...

Anyway, I will write again soon!

Simone

Going to Hogwarts!!

Hello world!

About 2 weeks ago I was in the Netherlands and while I was there I went to the Harry Potter Expo in Utrecht. No I am a BIG potter head and have read all the books (about 5 times) and seen all the films (about 20 times). So to say I was excited is an understatement although the same can be said for my sister who is an equally big fan as me. Our dad got us into Harry Potter years ago when he got a box set with the first 4 films as a gift from somewhere ( Honestly can't remember where from).

The day started great with an hour long drive to Utrecht where the expo was in a big cinema called Cinemec. Getting inside was a bit of a struggle as I was walking with crutches (Still am) and there where a lot of stairs and no lift... But as soon as we where inside and gave our tickets to the lady it was worth it! we had to wait a little while bit where soon let inside and towards the sorting hat. All the things we saw in the expo are real props used in the film that where transported from the Warner bros studios in England.

We started the tour with the sorting hat and a few kids where sorted into different houses which was pretty cool to see. After the hat we went to a different room where all the trailers had ben mixed together to form a short film which was beautiful and of course my sister and I quoted all of the lines of the films ( we have annual Harry Potter marathons).

Now I am not going to describe the entire tour because if any of you are going it would ruin it all but I will state my opinion and show some pictures I took. The pictures aren't the best quality as it was dark and we couldn't use flash. Anyway on to explaining and getting all excited.

After the short film we saw the Hogwarts express or atlas part of it. It was just as magnificent as I imagined but very dark so we couldn't see it that good. After the train you enter the real expo and take a walk around different sets and learning more about the making of the films. There where a few interactive things you can do as well as pull out a mandrake root or throw a quaffle. Overall the experience was great but it was quite busy as it was a Saturday so a tip for anyone who wants to go: go early like we did or go during a weekday when there are less people. It didn't bother us to much as we where still able to see everything and we where lucky as when we left there where a lot of people waiting in line to be able to enter. After you finish the expo you enter a gift shop that is completely in Harry Potter style which makes you more inclined to buy something. After much debating I decided to buy a wand as that was something I really wanted, they weren't cheap but the quality is AMAZING! I got Sirius Black's wand as he has always been one of my favorite characters allthough I wouldn't be able to tell you exactly why. My sister bought a big poster and a luggage tag and for our dad we bought a mug which we will give him for his birthday. There where a lot of the typical sweets but we didn't buy any as it was very busy there and they where actually quite expensive.
Anyway enough writing as this post is getting quite long and possibly boring. I will add a couple of photos (definitely not all) of the Expo and I will see(?) you soon with another blog!

 My sister and I next to the Weasley's flying car.

Sirius Wand in a beautiful box!

Have a great day/night wherever you are!

xxSimonee

Getting lost in Riga.

Hello world!

Firstly sorry for the long time between post but my laptop died and my phone was to uncomfortable to write on but I've got a new laptop now so I am back to posting every week!
Secondly I had a important hockey tournament about a month ago and I hurt my knee so for the past month I have been to several doctors had multiple tests done and have been walking on crutches ever since. All photos I have taken where taken with my phone as taking pictures and walking with crutches proved impossible, so I apologize if the quality isn't the best.
Today's post is going to be about my recent trip to Riga the capital of Latvia. I only got back a few days ago and am still in awe at all I saw, so sit back relax and enjoy this new post.

Now many people when I spoke to them and I told them I was traveling to Riga were surprised that I chose to go to one of the baltic states as it is not a very popular tourist destination. My sister however, saw an offer to go to Riga on a website an fell in love instantly. As we do nearly everything together it was only natural we would go to Riga together. On the 28th of February the day had finally come that we would go to Riga, as the offer was from a dutch website, we flew to the Netherlands first and spend a few days there before flying to Riga. we where only in Riga for 4 days but saw a lot of things in that period. Alltough not nearly enough and I'm sure we will be back soon.

DAY 1:
Our flight was quite early in the morning but as Riga is an hour ahead of the Netherlands we still lost half the day. After we arrived at the airport and took a taxi to the hotel  we where staying at the hotel city teather we unpacked our stuff (both of us hate to live out of a suitcase even if it is just a few days) and rested a bit as we where tired. we didn't have to worry about dinner as the offer came with a three course meal in the hotel's restaurant the first night. we went to dinner not expecting much but hoping it was good judging the hotel and the looks of the restaurant. the food was good but the portions were very small due to it being so fancy. The dessert was especially dissapointing tasting nothing like we where promised, but overall it was very nice.

                                           Starter: goats cheese mouse with beet puree and arugula.

                                       Main: corn fed chicken with parsnip puree and green beans.

Dessert: ?? suposed to be milk chocolate mouse cake with raspberry sauce and caramel sponge.

DAY 2:

On our first full day in Riga we got up not to early and went to breakfast which was great, although a bit strange as they had salads for breakfast (A typical Latvian thing we found out later). unfortunately for us it was raining so we didn't get to enjoy the day as much as we liked but still we made the best  of it. We had some Riga Live cards which gave us free access to public transport and a hop on hop off bus with a audio tour. We used that bus to drive around the city and walked around the old town for a few hours before taking the bus back to the hotel. As it was raining and already around 4 PM and we where tired we just watched netflix until we went to dinner. For dinner we went to a place called B Burgers that had amazing cheap burgers. My sister and I both chose a chicken burger with mozarella and pesto and it was one of the nicest combinations ever. Together with chips, sauce and a drink it was only 6,50 euros!  

One of the best burgers ever!

DAY 3:

When we woke up on the second day we where happy to discover it was not raining and the sun was even trying to peak trough the crowds. Feeling hopeful we went up to breakfast and then got ready to go to the city centre. We where planning to take a train and go to the beach but when we arrived at the station there where no more trains going to the beach as it was winter and cold ( 1 degree Celsius).  So we decided to go to a few more museums such as the Latvian occupation museum and the national museum of art. After that we went back home and watched some more Netflix (we are not obsessed we just had good wifi). For dinner we went to a cute pizza place that looked quite expensive but was really cheap ( 10 euros for 2 pizzas and 2 soft drinks). I had a margarita pizza ( My al time favourite) and it was amazing!

DAY 4:

This was our last day in Riga as our flight was at 7 AM the next day. we started the day with breakfast and then went on a tour through an old apartment called "the corner house". This house was used by the KGB (Russian secret service) during the soviet time when Latvia was ovulated ( from 1940 to 1991). It was the most impressive and terrible thing I have ever seen, not even the concentration camps compare. We learn a lot about WW 2 in history but very little about the soviets and the countries they occupied. After that we went back to the old centre and took some more pictures as It was raining the first day we where there. To end the afternoon we had a late lunch at the Big Bad Bagel a cute small cafe that sells all kinds of bagels, juices, smoothies, soups and salads. I had an amazing bagel called "Bacon in Mexico" it had bacon (DUH), fried egg, cream cheese and fresh spicy guacemole (that actually was fresh). I ordered a hot chocolate with my bagel as it was very cold and a smoothie to take with me afterwards. All the things I had where very nice and the atmosphere in the cafe was very nice as well. After lunch we headed back to our hotel packed our bags and just relaxed as we had to get up at 3:30 AM the next morning to be at the airport on time. For dinner we went to self-service restaurant where they had typical Latvian food but I don't have a picture of that but it was quite good.

So this concludes an amazing trip to Riga below I will put a couple of pictures of the architecture of Riga as so far the only pictures have been of food ( Sorry not sorry). I hope you enjoyed this blog post and I will write again very very soon!!

Enjoy the rest of your day/night wherever you are 

xx Simonee

Baywatch & boat barbecues.

Hello world!
I am back with another blog post!
Today I will be talking about the lovely town that is Torre del mar.
It is a small, typicall spanish village, that is right next to the beach. It is very beautiful and a lot less touristic then other places like Marbella or Torremolinos. My grandparents live here so I come here quite often and really enjoy it. The last time I went I decided to take some pictures and talk about it on my blog.
So with out further ado, let's get to explaining all about this old fishermans town turned tourist atraction.
Like I mentioned before it is a typicall spanish fishermans town with a bunch of lovely beaches that have become famous with tourists. Providing the main income of most of it's citizens. It has a lovely promenade with several "Chiringuitos" which are typicall spanish fish restaurants, partly or entirely on the beach. They bake their fish on a barbeque, made out of an old boat, which is then filled up with sand and logs producing an amazing smell and perfeclty cooked and smoked fish. My tip if you go there? just order the fish of the day, an entire fish ( most times), which has been caught that same day in the morning. It generally comes with chips (fries) and sometimes a side of salad, alltough vegetables are rarely found in spanish restaurants. This can be resolved easily by ordering a salad, these are generally the same in all restaurants, unless you order a specific one.
Apart from great fish you can also eat in many other restaurant off the beach. There is a great american style restaurant called yankiees. They have great American food, for great prices. The place looks like a diner but more modern I guess. They are very american sizes tough, so be carefull you don't buy to much (happened to me the first time). I personally love there peperoni & cheese pizza, aswell as the garlic bread and the nachos. There are also a lot of great ice cream shops, of course.
But that is enough now I will let the photos convince you. If you are ever close, you should check it out, if not for the beaches and food, for the amazing atmosphere.

My sister and I on the beach for an evening stroll.

                                                                 An old fishers boat.


                                                                                          

                 The ligefuard tower á la Baywatch( without hot lifeguards unfortunately)

                                                The view of the coastline, and the other coast towns.

  Really getting those baywatch vibes, just waiting for a hot lifeguard to run past in slow motion...

                                         One of the famous "Chiringuitos with it's boat barbecue.

                                          A look at the promenade in the evening.

                                         The terras of the Yankiees, an american style restaurant.

                             Another look at the promenade and one of it's many fountains.

                                                               Entrance of Yankiees

                                                    Another themed bar/ cafe.

So I hoped you enjoyed! If there is anything specific you would like me to write about, let me know in the comment section.

Enjoy your day/ night wherever you are!

PS: sorry for the weird stripes on some of the pictures I have no idea what happened and can't change it :(

Simoneexx

Best places to go! Spain edition Nº TRES

Hello world!

So I am back with part 3 of Best places to go! the spain edition, which will probably be the last one for a while as there are no other big cities here in Spain that I have been to.

I did a Málaga & Madrid version before these, so if you haven't read those yet, go read them now.
I have been to Valencia many times, but have only been able to actually enjoy the city twice, as all the other trips where for hockey trips. So this list of my personal hotspots will probably be a lot shorter then the Malaga  or Madrid one, but I hope it will still be usefull.

Accomodation:
 Now one of the places I have stayed where great, others not so much. My favourite place I stayed was an apartment complex called Port saplaya, it is as the name says, near the beach and if you are lucky you get an apartmemt with a view of the beach. When you walk outside it is literally a stone throw away from the beach. It's a very nice beach by the way so you can just enjoy a nice holiday on the beach and have dinner in on of the small typicall spanish bars around the area.


Food:

Now if you are staying in an apartment, chances are you are going to make your own food. Next to the apartment complex I mentioned before, is a big supermarket and there are many more scatterd around the city, so that is no problem. If you are staying in the centre of the city I wouldn't really be able to tell you much as I have never been there but I do know there are several Tommy mel's in the city (yes I went there when I found out about that little fact). Apart from that the city provides many restaurants, and I always say the best way to explore a city is to do just that. Go out and explore, with or without a map, just walk around and you will probably find you something very nice and not in any touristguide. But try not to get lost because you know apart from that that would suck big time, Valencia is big, and spanish people don't normally speak english or any other language for that matter.


Musea:
 Valencia is especially famous for it's city of arts and sciences. Which consist of about 5 different building made by the famous architect Calatrava and they each harbor a different museum. I only went to two as visiting all in 3 days was to much. I went to the Oceanografic, a big marine zoo of sorts and to the science museum. I loved both but the oceanografic was by far my favourite, dolphins have always been one of my favourite animals and I love the ocean and all it's life for ever so I really enjoyed it. The science museum has lots of experiments you can try out yourself and you can learn a lot in an interactive way. There are 3 other museums, one about the anuiverse and the stars, one full of art & another one that is about cinema, I think.
Apart from these 5 musea I don't think there are any other big important ones but there might be.

Shopping:
I haven't done much shopping but i know there are several big shopping centres (Malls) in the city, I've been to one and it was great, very big and had everything, including many restaurants. So if apart from beaches and culture you want shopping this town is perfect. apart from the shopping centres there are many small shops where you can buy small trinkets and souvenirs. And then there are the people that walk around the beach selling beachware or any other rubbish, that sometimes is actually good.

So I hope you enjoyed, and I'm sorry it is shorter then the previous one's I just don't have a lot and I only want to talk about the things I have actually visited personally. Not some I read on internet.

Let me know what you thought and if there is anything you want me to write about, let me know in the comments.

have a nice day/night wherever you are!

Simoneexx