Big news

It has been WAY too long since the last French post so watch this space because there will be a post on French words trés trés soon. 

I do not know if I have mentioned this before but I'm MOVING TO PARIS!

It was so last minute, only confirmed last month but paperwork is still dragging along. I am now taking a year out of university, and working in Paris for the next year starting from September. I decided that learning French in a classroom was too slow of a way to learn French for me, so I signed up for a scheme  (http://www.britishcouncil.org/language-assistants) where you can teach English in France.

After a taste of living abroad on my ERASMUS in the Netherlands I decided I hadn't quite gotten enough. I am super nervous, because I don't know anyone in Paris, my French is extremely poor right now Paris is hella expensive and I haven't even found anywhere to live yet! But life is an adventure and each new big experience that puts me out of my comfort zone is almost an adrenalin rush for me. 

Here's to making it through 9 months in Paris. 

Updates

Hey there good looking,

Yeah, I totally meant you because I am a shameless flirt. 

Enough so that the other night as a joke I told a guy that  if he wasn't doing anything for his birthday I'd give him an invitation to the pants party. He didn't get that it was from Anchorman and later on text me his address. 

So I should apologize for my lack of activity on this blog. As you might have guessed, I am back at university which means the party animal in me has been unleashed and I've been spending the last week partly drunk which would not make for a good blog post. 

Also I have been bombarded with reading to do and lots of work and events and argh I can't even. It feels like there's so much to do (in a good way) but so little time. It doesn't help that my application for a studying abroad is due in soon, as are my forms for a work placement. 

I shall try to review a face mask soon or talk about something vaguely interesting, instead of telling you these sorry excuses. 

You stay classy blog readers.

Revolutions, helplessness and other antics

I don't what it is about today but I just feel angry and sad and a little bit violent. Kind of sounds like the symptoms of depression. Don't worry, my job hasn't made me lose the will to live just yet. I'll see about that in a couple more weeks. 

I just feel like things aren't right. I feel so helpless and unable to do anything in relation to the topics I care about. Let me give you a few examples: 

- The current Syrian situation and how Britain can even contemplate going into Syria. Has history taught you nothing Cameron? Maybe the saying is true, that history does repeat itself because fools do not notice the patterns. 

- The continuous disrespect of the humanities in today's society. Because science clearly outweighs the humanities in importance. I am sick of hearing about things like new technology that can enable you to control someone else's actions through your thoughts. It's only a matter of time until that technology is going to be misused and no one else seems to care enough about this. I understand the importance of science. I know, being a History student, the fundamental role that Chemistry has in our lives from the materials around us to the sub-shells in an atom that allows it to have its functions. But why is it that History has become a dying art? History sculpts your mind in the best of ways, allowing you to think in unique way. 

But it's much more than just those two things. It's anger over poverty, the impacts of consumerism, greed, lack of morality and all these other matters. I guess it's just one of those days right? 

I just want to start a revolution on days like this. I want to join a march for something that counts, I want to stand up for what I believe in.

Alas, so lost am I in my thoughts I forget the coward that I am and the metaphorical cage that I trap myself in. I come up with excuses as to why I am helpless to do anything. I think of my bank balance, which is currently at a great big 0. 

And I come to the conclusion that maybe I am unable to do anything. Maybe it's not time yet. Maybe this just isn't my role in the world.

I imagine this is how all potential revolutionists die inside a young person.

Here I am, complaining, letting my inner revolutionist wither, as I think oh well, I feel like having a piece of red velvet cake. 

Belief

Oddly enough I've been thinking about a higher power of some sort a lot recently; odd because this is never a topic I like to dwell into a lot. It leads to a nasty spiral in my twisted mind where I go from belief to the meaning of life to inevitably ending up at a point where I begin to wonder about my existence on earth and how indescribably insignificant the impact of my existence has been. Although may I add, not in a suicidal way, just in a 'losing all hope, why am I even doing anything when I will amount to doing nothing in the eyes of the world' manner. We all have our moments.

Whilst I am a follower of the Jain way of life, I find that religion makes me feel guilty. Religion makes a lot of people feel guilty. Maybe that's the ultimate role of religion and even the idea of a higher existence...to make you feel conscious about your actions and thoughts. Don't get me wrong, that's not a bad in any way because more often than not I have recently been feeling that I need to be reminded about my morals. Morals keep me grounded, and personally my morals are the strongest when I am around my parents who often remind me of right and wrong.

Here is what I have concluded over my summer of being mostly isolated of all decent company (no, my parents and little brother do not count). The thing is about being so withdrawn is that you begin to think a lot more. People's thoughts affect you a lot less and frankly after my numerous incidences in the past year, which I shall not get into, it is just what I need.

Sorry, I've just gone off topic. I believe. That is what I have concluded. I think everyone needs a bit of belief in their life. Everyone needs a higher power to look up to when life does not turn out how you expect it to. Belief in that higher power, whether it is science or God, is what keeps us going in our times of hardship. Even thought you do not realize it, religion becomes a part of you.

It is good that religion makes you feel conscious of your actions. Of course I am not referring to extremism, or supporting homophobia. I am talking about how a higher power can make you a better person because you want to do more good. And I hate it when people are so adamantly against religion because surely anything that often provokes a person to change for the better and do good in the world is something to support. A higher power is something which I cannot avoid. There must be something greater than the human race out there which controls the fate of our actions. A puppeteer to the puppets would be a cynical way to look at this. But you get what I mean. I don't know if it is Allah, or God or simply an invisible force which has no consciousness. I just know that the universe is big and ever expanding, and there has to be something out there.

I think that belief in anything is brilliant. My crisis now is what I believe in. 

Apivita express beauty with orange review

Oh look it's the return of Face Mask Fridays! I know, exciting times.

So this week I popped into the huge Marble Arch M&S near work and saw face masks on offer for £2.40 so obviously I couldn't resist myself. It was a double wammy, face masks on sale hit me hard. 

As I've probably said before my skin is normal, it never gets very oily nor dry unless it's winter or I've used a bad face wash. That's why I find it so hard to pick face masks because there are so many for oily skin. Because I'm such a little dare devil I went with orange, it's been a while and I've never seen a face mask with orange oil before.

As per usual, here's a picture:

I was expecting good things from this packet mostly because it looked fancy and it was from the one and only Marks and Spencers. It also said that it was paraben free at the back and I've found that products without parabens/SLSs have a better affect on my skin and hair than other products.

It all started out well as I applied the face mask because it smelt really fresh and refreshing. In an odd way it reminded me of the refreshers sweets in a good way. The minute the mixture hit my skin I could feel the tingling. Personally I love it when I can feel something because it shows that the face mask is actually doing something to my face.

I quote, the orange essential oil is supposed to 'tone and moisturise leaving skin with a natural glow and radiance'. After about ten minutes I started washing off the mask. This was an aspect I absolutely hated because the face mask was so hard to wash off due to its oiliness.

Eventually when I took off the mask I could see that the effect was not what I hoped it would be. The mask made bumps on skin more prominent and my skin felt a lot skin drier after washing it off. I expected this face mask to make my skin softer and clearer but it did not achieve that.

Therefore this FMF will be given a 1.5/5.

Good thing it smelt so nice and I'm easily won over like that.

Just give me something that smells good and tastes nice and I'm yours. Seriously. If you ever want to woo me, all you have to do as you see me busting a move on the dance floor of a club is come up to me and say these exact words:

"Want to grab a pizza and maybe a slice of cake?"

I swear I will look at you like you are Ryan Gosling and worship you for your wise words. 

There we go, a FMF that was on time and tips on how to get me to fall into your arms.

Until the next time sports fans. 

Finally a working woman?

Hey there,

I would just like to apologize for the absence of Face Mask Fridays for the last two weeks. The thing is, an unexpected event has finally occurred; someone has finally had the good fortune of hiring me. Gosh, about time right?

No, I'm just kidding. It was a combination of applying for roughly 100 jobs and that tad bit of luck. I should be grateful for the fact that I'm being paid by this chain store (I'll just leave it to that, I don't know if I'm really allowed to mention where I work because I might have put my blog down on my cv. I know, it's slim pickings). 

Obviously being the poor broke little thing that I am I accepted. But oh woe, the fates were not on my side. A couple of hours later I got an offer for an interview at a corporate bank and a job offer for an internship. Now I feel like a douche working at a chain store straightening up shelves and asking customers if they want a bag with their shopping. 

I hate not being able to use my brain and doing the same mind-numbingly boring tasks every day that require no skill at all for eight hours straight. Especially when I finish at 11pm.

So there you have it. The reason for a lapse in FMF (a little abbreviation always helps matters). 

I'm finally a kind of working woman. Except I'm not sure I like it. I hate how rude the customers are, I hate not being appreciated, I hate not being able to use my brain. But I mostly hate how I know I could do better than this, because as arrogant as it may sound to some I have complete faith in my abilities and I know that I shouldn't be in this dead-end job that eventually kills all hope and ambition you have. 

Maybe it's because this job is not for me and I need to be at a place where I can think, be able to input my thoughts and have control. 

I'm just glad I have to endure only five more weeks of this monotonous lifestyle.

I am pretty sure if this carried on for any longer I may have had to abandon all my feminist principles and just marry a rich man so I wouldn't have to work. 

Let's leave my complaining to that shall we? I will of course try to do a FMF post the coming week, because a girl needs a treat every now and again. 

Don't forget to be awesome.