You know how I get all bossy and teacher-like and tell you to broaden your horizons, go spend quality times with your friends and to keep breathing. Well, I’m following my advice right now. Aren’t you all proud?

I’m in Rotterdam with my best friend Julie staying at this swanky hotel (best deal ever) for four days of relaxation and some serious shopping. Proof? Just check out the pictures at the bottom of the post. Nice eh?

Mum got a knee replacement two weeks ago and life has been incredibly busy for me since then. From the moment Jules got on the train and we chatted I could suddenly breathe again. The perfect moment to get away from some of the trouble and readjust and realign myself.

I’m loving Rotterdam so far: lovely hotel, great shopping (musical theatre cd’s anyone?) and good food. Yes, and fabulous company.

Tomorrow we’re going to do a culture tour on foot to see some of the sights and then some more shopping – we only started at 4 pm today.

Have a lovely rest of the week!

I’m getting up at 4.30 a.m. tomorrow. It’s going to hurt a lot.

Then I’m going to get on a bus with over 30 other students from my school. We’ll be on the bus for 12 hours. It’s going to hurt a lot.

But then after those twelve hours we’ll be in Wroclaw, Poland. We’ll rehearse, take a look at the town, get to meet new people and perform in a concert. It’s going to be awesome.

See you all in a week!

PS: I guest posted at English Muse again: Mum’s the word.

Goodmorning to you all.

I have my first real day off since I got back home Friday night. We’re moving apartments pretty soon so my family is rather stressed out and busy. Time for some me-time today.

And what better way to start the day than reading some inspiring posts across the web? As I went through my blogroll on Bloglovin’ I came across a video Gala posted and I loved it. I really, absolutely, irrefutably loved it.

Right now I want to book multiple flights across the world. Seriously.

On my want-list are the following (and of course many more):

• Jordan – and more specifically the rock city of Petra
• Russia
• Peru – Machu Picchu
• USA – I have so many friends to visit there… not to mention: HELLO BROADWAY!
• Egypt – those pyramids!
• New Zealand

What about you? If you could jump on a plane today, where would you want to go?

I like a good adventure. Really I do. I then proceed to plan most of that adventure, or at least the travelling bit of the adventure. When it comes to planes/trains/busses I’m not too adventurous.

Tomorrow I’m off to Glasgow and world domination. Well, something like it I guess.

I’m ready for this audition and still I’ve got jitters. It’s so strange to have this day that I’ve been preparing for for over 6 months finally arriving. I guess this weird mixture of excitement and trepidation is going to follow me around for the next two days.

Keep your fingers crossed for me, will you?

I got the most lovely surprise for Christmas on the 29th. My mum had told me that we were going to have a mother-daughter day. And then suddenly in the evening of the 28th my best friend Julie arrived. Talk about a surprise. And still they wouldn’t tell me where we were going.

The next morning we got up at half past five and then took the bus to London at half past six! Hello awesome!

We arrived at Lower Regent Street at 11 a.m. local time and it felt so great to be back. It had been over a year since I was in London and it felt a bit like coming home. We divided the snacks we had brought and then Jules and I said our goodbyes to my mum and brother before heading off.

Passing through Trafalgar Square, a quick stop at St. Martins in the Fields and then to the big HMV at Piccadilly Circus. I found the 25th Anniversary dvd of Phantom of the Opera for £10 and also bought the Catch me if you Can album.

After all that shopping we had some fika at the Nordic Bakery in Soho, one of my favourite spots from summer 2010. Cinnamon buns, a gravad lax sandwich and tea. Perfect fika.

A visit to the Illamasqua store, wandering through Carnaby Street and Soho to end up with a Tesco sandwich at Covent Garden.

Jules had been in London a couple of days before with her mum but the Moomin store was closed so imagine her delight at it being open that day. I’ve never seen her so excited: the only Moomin store outside of Finland.

I have to say that I’m quite proud of my restraint in the face of so many awesome things. London really is a great city for shopping. So many books (and sheet music books) that I wanted to buy but I didn’t buy a single one of them. Restraint. Restraint!

I can’t wait until Tennant & Tate’s Much Ado About Nothing is out on dvd!

I’ve got two more posts about London coming up. London love for the win. I hope you all had a wonderful New Year’s Eve!

Some cities have soul. Some cities just breathe this certain je ne sais quoi.

Paris is the original je ne sais quoi city. It sweeps you up in its arms and makes you fall in love.

On Monday we went to Paris for the day. We visited the Eiffel tower, went to the summit and had a glass of champagne. Hello feeling like a million bucks.

Then we visited the Maritime Museum and got ourselves a delicious coffee (and some tea) at Place Trocadéro. The perfect short visit.