Let's talk! Bucketlists!

Hello world!

So, first I have to start by apologizing for not uploading in ageeeees. I have a valid explanation: I had my first university finals so I was very busy studying and stressing out and decided to take a break from writing on this blog so I could focus on my studies. But now I am BACK! and I am here to stay :)

I’m back with another let’s talk post. Today I want to talk about bucket lists, in particular mine. Everybody during their live makes a list of things they want to achieve and places they want to visit. So I thought it would be a good idea to give you a little inside on mine and maybe give you guys some advice.  Now I for myself have 2 different bucketlists, a travel one and a normal/achievement one.

One thing you should know about me is that I love to travel and if I could I would travel around the world and go to every single country (Well almost every country). But as that is very hard, I made a selection of the places with the most priority to me. The ones I want to visit the most. It is quite a long list that includes places form all over the world. I will write a simplified version here and maybe add a photo.

TRAVEL BUCKETLIST:

-          Australia, especially Sydney

-          Riga, Latvia

-          New York

-          Paris

-          Lisbon

-          London

-          Berlin

-          Poland

-          Hawaii

There are obviously many more places I want to go and there are fortunately a few places I can cross of, like Lisbon a beautiful city I visited recently with my hockey team. And Riga, a place I visited with my sister. My actual list is a lot longer but I will stop here so I don’t bore you with my entire list ;).

Apart from a travel bucket list I have a normal bucket list that just has a bunch of things I would like to achieve/do in life, either with family and friends or alone. I guess most people would just have one list but I prefer dividing them as it gives me a better view of them and yeah, for me it is just easier. I’m a perfectionist and a bit of a control freak, I also want to have everything organized at all times so making lists is a big part of my daily life. I literally make lists for everything, those things could be groceries or things to do or just things I take with me on a trip. If I don’t write it down, I will have the constant fear I’ve forgotten something and I will be unable to relax or sleep if I pack my things a day before travelling. I always triple check all my lists, yes I know it’s a bit of an obsession but I can’t help it this is the way my mind works and there’s nothing I can do about that. Anyway enough about me, let’s get back to the thing at hand, my goals bucket list. Once again I’m only writing some things down.

Bucketlist:

-          Make a stranger smile.

-          Adopt a dog.

-          Decorate my own house.

-          Live near a beach

-          Do a photo shoot with my sister.

-          Get married.

-          Do volunteer work.

I guess my bucket list might be different from others; I don’t have things like win the lottery or things like that on it. Not because I wouldn’t want it but I will die happily without winning it. I guess for some people this would be a dream achievement but I think there is so much more to live then win a lot of money and even without a lot of money we can do great things. There’s a saying that goes “she believed she could, so she did.” I really like this quote as it really represents that when you truly want something you are able to achieve it no matter what your status or condition in life. Of course, some things are harder to achieve then others and not everything is possible, we have to be realistic but if you have a goal that is achievable, then by al means go for it! Don’t stop when things get hard, stop when you achieved your goal. There have been many times in my life when things where hard, especially with hockey, and I wanted to give up but luckily I never did and this has given me a lot of great opportunities. Another setback was when I wasn’t given a spot at my dream course at university last year. Instead of giving up and doing something else I didn’t like and possibly throwing away a lot of money, I decided to take a gap year and retake some of my university access exams this year to be able to still get in to my dream course (Criminology). I am now in the middle of my first year at university and even though I unfortunately didn't get in to criminology ones more, I am now doing something else that I really enjoy. I am studying English philology, or English studies with German as a second language. As I mentioned before I have just finished my first term finals and passed all of them with excellent grades so I am very happy with the choice I have made. Despite this I know there will be many stupid mistakes, and I have already made many, many terrible mistakes just as about anyone. One other piece of advice I could give is ones more to never give up and use these mistakes you will make to learn and do better next time.

Well I think that’s enough talk for today but I will see you guys very, very soon. I am going to make a blog post about my trip to Lisbon, so keep your eyes peeled for that.

Have a great day/night wherever you are!

XxSimonee

Back to the Wild West!

Hello world!

First of sorry for the incredibly long wait! My laptop broke then I was Ill and then I was on holidays. I probably won't upload for the next month or so as I have my finals very soon but I just wanted to have a quick update for you guys.

Today’s post is another travel post. This time I’m writing about the day I spent at a place called “mini Hollywood”. Mini Hollywood is a place in the Tabernas desert in Almeria in the south of Spain, now it is an attraction park but it used to be a big film set where most western movies were filmed. It has been the set for most Clint eastwood movies such as The good, the bad and the ugly; once upon a time in the west and my name is nobody among many others.

 There are three different sets all within 5 km from each other, the biggest one where I went is no longer active as a film set but the other two that I didn’t visit are still used regularly. Episodes of doctor who have been filmed there, together with parts of an Indiana jones movie and Exodus. We didn’t visit the other two sets because we spent the entire day in the biggest one. The place we went to is a permanent attraction park that has the old film sets used in lots of western together with a cinema museum a carriage museum and a big zoo full of endangered species. The cinema museum was very interesting as it had the film poster for every single film made there as well as old camera equipment and projectors used in the 19^th century. The floor is covered in sand and it’s very dusty just like in the films. The set pieces are actual buildings you can go inside, or climb up and twice a day there is a can can dance show and a Wild West show.  I especially enjoyed the Wild West show; there were horses and gun fights and people flying everywhere. 

The zoo was also beautiful, the places the animals were staying were big and well kept, nearly all, if not all animals were endangered species in the zoo for a special breeding program. It’s hard to explain everything as it is so surreal. I honestly didn’t think it would be this nice, I thought the set was just that, a bunch of cardboard cut outs but no they were real buildings. The surroundings are also amazing, you really feel as if you have gone back in time, walking through a town thinking any minute a bandit on a horse comes galloping in. The saloon had the typical doors you see in all the movies. For most people it might seem a boring trip especially as it was a 3 hour drive from my house but for a cinema fanatic like me, it was amazing! When I got home later that night, we watched an old western filmed there and it was really fun to see all the sets we had seen that day in the movie. 

I’m going to add some picture and see if that can do more justice although I doubt it as you should really just see it with your own eyes. Soon hopefully I’m going to visit the other two sets that are still in use and a lot smaller than the one I visited.

I hope you enjoyed and I will see you all soon!

Have a great day/night wherever you are.

XxSimone