How to be prepared for a semester abroad/exchange programme

As I write this post, I am a 20 year old girl who has spent a semester abroad in Maastricht and is preparing to spend the next academic year in Paris. Therefore I have felt your pain twice. 

I have felt the homesickness, the first flutters of regret, and then excitement. 

Let me tell you darlings then, how to prepare for this exciting adventure. 

Firstly, you must learn how to pack light. If you are travelling from one country to another by yourself, you cannot afford to bring more than a suitcase. 

It'll bite you in the ass on your way back too, when you have more belongings.

My method is: bring 3xTrousers, 5xTops, 2xJumpers, 2xSummer/Going out tops, 3xDresses (or for guys, smart shirts), 2xPJs, lots of clean underwear, 1xshorts, 1xJacket.

Some may call that excessive, and others may find it lacking. There will be clothes shops there, so chill. 

Secondly, do not spend too much time missing home. 

Yes it's hard, and yes it's natural but you'll miss out on all the fun things if you mope around and keeping talking about your cat Baxter. 

Thirdly, go to every single social event you can find. It's kind of like freshers again, where the people you meet at first may not be your best friends after all. 

On that note, don't go out of your way to only hang out with people from your country, or people who also speak your language as a mother tongue. It'll be no different that studying at home.

Lastly, try and get some non-exchange student friends, or some befriend some local students. They will know all the best bars, cafes, and places to see. They'll also know how everything works around there and can help you out. 

I hope these helped, have lots of fun and make some memories you sexy bastards.

 

Lush's Catastrophe Cosmetic Face Mask Review

It's Friday! The day us 9-5ers let out a sigh of relief and bask in the glory of the weekend.

It's also Face Mask Friday (FMF)! The day where I put on face masks and tell you all about them. Sound good?

This week the product I tried out was Lush. You can hear about my crush on Lush right here. The lovely lovely assistant in the Lush near Bond Street was so generous with the samples that I got three different face masks.

Earlier this week I tried the Catastrophe Cosmetic mask:

Looks edible right?

The minute I put on this mask, I knew it was going to be a hit. For those of you that have read my previous reviews you know how much smell means to me in a face mask. 

So Catastrophe Cosmetic smelt amazing! Sweet, slightly fruity, and natural. It was just the right amount of all three, and it was not too overpowering or artificial-like. 

There was an interesting texture in the Lush mask that reminded me of The Body Shop's Seaweed Ionic Clay mask. As implied, it was clay like but you could tell that this was a very natural product with the pieces of blueberry in it. 

While I was putting on the mask I thought this might be a classic case of smell over substance, but I was wrong! I knew that it was time to take Catastrophe Cosmetic off when I saw the mask had hardened up. 

After I washed it off, there was a gentle after smell, with notes of some-kind of oil. But the best bit was how smooth and soft my skin felt to touch afterwards. I noticed that the few bumps that I had on my face had also faded away. The smell lasted for a good few hours and my face was lovely and soft for the next couple of days.

All in all, this was my ideal face mask! Great smelling, worked well and almost all natural, which is why for the first time on FMF I shall be awarding Catastrophe Cosmetic a 5/5.

Until next time my fellow face mask enthusiasts. 

My thoughts on: Lush*

Also known at the time Lush won me over.

Let's be clear, Lush and I did not hit it off on our first encounter. I think the word hate would strongly sum up my reaction to the Maastricht branch of Lush. The smells were too overpowering, and there were too many of them, which gave me a headache from the moment I stepped inside the store. 

Now the minute I saw the €20 sign on a tub of facemask I thought "hell no". Unless this was a facemask that was made up of tiny pieces of gold, pearls and angel's tears I would not pay that much for a tiny tub of gloop.

Ok and THEN, a miracle occurred my friends. My friend and I, upon impulse and hearing good things from other people, went to the Lush store on South Molton Street in London. 

It was not nearly as overpowering as my last Lush experience, and the minute we walked in a friendly guy pretty much became our best friend for the next half hour. He explained that all the ingredients in Lush products were either natural or safe synthetics which were preserved naturally. Which DELIGHTED me, because I spend hours looking for shampoo without SLS or parabens. 

And they're super against animal testing or buying from suppliers that do test on animals. I kind of don't trust the Body Shop ever since their L'oreal takeover, and the fact that they STILL use parabens and SLS in their products. 

But yes, those were all enticements but the real deal sealers were Lush's unique products. I mean I saw things in that shop that I could not find in any main cosmetics line!

For example, their bubble bar:

Which when crumbled into a running bath creates bubbles

Or their lip scrub:

You apply it on your lips, rub them together and lick the edible scrub off the reveal softer lips! 

This is the future of cosmetics for me. A lot greener, more conscious of harmful chemicals and ending unnecessary animal testing for a bunch of cosmetics. All whilst creating kick-ass quirky new products that smell great without artificial harmful chemicals.

It's official Lush, you're now my favorite cosmetics brand, I won't be buying any shampoos on my student budget just yet but I'm totally switching my body wash for a bar of Lush soap. I think it's evident at this point that my next Face Mask Friday will be based on some products from Lush!

*For those of you that do not know, Lush is a global cosmetics chain. Link to their site here: https://www.lush.co.uk/

Six French Words I Like This Week

Today the aim is to create a little list of French words that I've come across in whilst trying to improve my vocab because as it turns out, I am moving to Paris in September.

Words*: 

Apart from the usual oui, non, bonjour and  merci, learning French adjectives, nouns and verbs would be so very handy in every day conversation. It will massively improve your vocabulary learning a few new words every week.

La Niaque (nee-ya-kah) - Determined attitude, strong willpower

Lucarne (loo-car-n) - Skylight, small window

Douceâtre (doo-sat-rha) - Sickly sweet, when using this adjective for a person, e.g. un homme douceâtre, it                                           would mean a nauseatingly sweet man, a kind of fake sweet.

Pelotonner (pulo-ton-ney) - To curl up, or to huddle up. 

Frimousse (fri-moose) - In my dictionary this noun is defined as a "sweet little face" but on the internet it also                                       means an emoticon/smiley.

Bricolage (bree-col-aje) - Do-it-yourself/DIY

* The parts in Italics are the pronunciations of the words

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.