Moving to Copenhagen!

Moving to Copenhagen!

I've just moved to Copenhagen for my next fashion design internship with Anne Sofie Madsen (their stuff is amazing!), with one of my closest friends, Anya.

We flew in on Thursday night and after having a nightmare trying to sort out accommodation, we booked an Airbnb to stay in that morning before we set off to the airport - this is how organised we are...

Travelling just before the weekend was a good idea, as it gives us a couple of days to get used to our surroundings before we start work (a must-do when moving abroad). Here's the lowdown on our first day of exploring our new city.

The amazing architecture of the oldest building in Copenhagen - the Stock Exchange Building, built in 1640. I love the spiral tower, it reminds me of a unicorn's horn! The city is full of beautiful old buildings alongside more contemporary architectural designs, so there's always something inspiring to look up at.

Saying my goodbyes right before I set off to the airport. I'm going to miss my family loads after seeing them for just a few days throughout this whole year, but my internship year is a fab opportunity that allows me to get some much-needed experience in such a fast-paced industry.

Our last-minute Airbnb for the two weeks before our student accommodation is ready is fab, and we couldn't ask for a better place to stay. It's covered in fairy lights and pretty little decorative features, plants and lamps; nobody does interiors better than the Danes.

Colourful, cool street art is everywhere, and we also found some really interesting shots of Earth from space, teamed with little explanations! You wouldn't find this kind of stuff in London...

A colourful little side street found in the centre of the city.

We stumbled upon this cute little pizza restaurant, called Gorm's. The interior was lovely and relaxing, full of candles, foodie books and stripped-back wooden tables. I can tell I'm going to love the whole concept of 'hygge' while I'm here - everything's so chilled and cosy.

We had the 'Denny Special,' an unusual signature pizza by Gorm's, with mozzarella, thin potato slices, rosemary, goats cheese and truffle oil. Potato's not ordinarily something I'd expect on a pizza, but it was thoroughly enjoyed in the restaurant's nice, warm setting, paired with a coffee (and a beer)!

I've also been learning some Danish on my free Duolingo app, and trying to get the hang of it... I'd highly recommend the app, it's easy to use and the activities make languages so quick to learn. Everyone speaks English here, but I feel it's an amazing opportunity to learn a new language in practice.

So that was our first day in Copenhagen - we got a bit of exploring done, while trying not to be ran over by bikes... Bikes are everywhere here, it seems like there's more bikes than people. It's such a good way to get around the city, as each road has a designated bike path that looks a bit like a wider pavement. We can't wait to get our own, it's such an eco-friendly way of getting around and the city is carefully designed with biking in mind.

I'll be posting updates of how settling in and exploring goes, maybe along with some of the updates I promised from my visits around London's exhibitions and shows!

Tak for læsning!
Indy ♡

Graze Box Review

Graze Box Review

I'm a big fan of subscription boxes - I've been a Birchbox subscriber for over two years now, and love how everything I receive is like a self-gifted surprise! I have tried the Graze box before and loved it, but I thought I'd order another one to see if I want to become a full-time subscriber.











My first box included:

Banana Protein Flapjack

I didn't enjoy this flapjack as much as the other snacks, simply because I don't really like banana-flavoured things. I'll be putting this in my snack 'bin' on the website, as you can choose what you like, love, dislike and really want to try! I have since received other versions of the Graze flapjack, such as the lemon one, and loved them!

Herby Bread Basket

This was my favourite snack out of the whole box - I much prefer savoury to sweet foods so these were perfect for me and tasted amazing, with garlic, basil and oregano flavours. 

Triple Berry Smoothie

This one was very much enjoyed. I love all things fruity, so I had this one morning for breakfast and it was surprisingly filling! I was a bit put off by the idea of dried banana, but they did go well with the rest of the fruits so I can't complain.

Vanilla and Almond Protein Yoghurt Topper

I haven't yet tried this one, but I'm sure it will be lovely. I'm not a massive yoghurt eater but have since received another of these snacks in the post. I need to sort myself out and take advantage of the bin / try / like / love system on the website!

I love that everything Graze offers is healthy and interesting, with lots of protein and vitamin-rich options. All packaging is recyclable and biodegradable too, so they're very conscious about environmental issues.

The sizing of the Graze box is great; the plastic pots are perfect for keeping in your bag as a quick lunch snack, and nothing needs to be refrigerated so you can store them anywhere. The box itself fits nicely through the standard letterbox - a must for busy people, as you don't have to be home when it's delivered! Portion sizes are controlled by the brand's nutritionist, and are big enough to leave you feeling full and satisfied.

The boxes are only £3.99 - as a student, they're a really handy way to get healthy and affordable treats delivered, meaning you won't have to resort to having ice cream or something equally ridiculous as a midnight snack. If the Variety Box isn't your thing, Graze offer a range of other choices, from a Light (calorie aware) box to an Aromatic Broths box! There's also a shop selling ingredients from the bag, sharing bags and multipacks.

Have you tried the Graze box before? Which are your favourite snacks?
If you haven't yet subscribed, you can get your 1st, 5th and 10th boxes free here!

Indy  ♥

Grasmere

Grasmere

Today I visited Grasmere in the middle of the Lake District with Robbie and his grandma. It's always a popular tourist area so we thought it would be really busy on bank holiday Monday, but the visit was well worth the little people and car-dodging we did and it was actually quite quiet in most places.
 

Faeryland - a tea and coffee garden on the lakefront, with cute pastel-coloured rowing boats to hire.

We visited The Potting Shed for food as the menu sounded amazing. I went for the BBQ chicken pitta and vegetable ribbon salad with a feta yoghurt dressing and tzatziki and beetroot dips.

The setting was lovely as it was based in the Grasmere Garden Village - so we were surrounded by stone animals, flowers and wooden carvings of owls.

After food we visited the Wordsworth Daffodil Garden, right next to the famous Grasmere Gingerbread bakery and shop. Wordsworth lived in Grasmere and was therefore known as one of the 'Lake Poets,' alongside others such as Samuel Taylor Coleridge.

The final stanza from Wordsworth's poem, I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud. The paths of the park are filled with the names and locations of donors that bought their place on paving stones in aid of the church alongside which Wordsworth is buried.

We saw a few paragliders while walking next to the river. Something I've always wanted to do!





Overall we had a lovely day in the sun! Grasmere is such a pretty place and we walked past loads of pretty little gift shops, ice cream places and cafés. It's also home to the Lake Artists Society, which hosts a Summer and a Winter Exhibition in Grasmere's town hall, attracting over 10,000 visitors each time. The summer exhibition ends on the 7th September and the dates for the winter exhibition are still to be announced on the website. It was really cool to go there and see pieces by people such as my old art teacher and local artists I'd met during workshops. This actually inspired me to start a new Pinterest board based on Lake District art and artists, particularly those featured in the exhibition.

Thanks for reading,
Indy ♥

Benicàssim Festival

Benicàssim Festival

Okay, so I'm aware that my blog is full of travel stuff at the moment, but I've been on a couple of holidays just recently so it's all I've been up to the past month!

I got back from a trip to Spain with my flatmates and a couple of other friends about a week ago. We had gone to the festival in the first week and Barcelona for the second week (more on that in a later post). The festival itself was in Valencia, so after arriving at Barcelona airport we took the three hour bus to the town of Benicàssim. The bus was freezing as the air-con was on way too low - or high? But as soon as we finally arrived we had to trek our suitcases through the heat and what seemed like miles of bumpy dirt paths, so I'd have been grateful for any cool air!

Just a warning that this is going to be a really photo-heavy post, as usual...



Playsuit: Missguided
Shoes: Superga
Bag: Primark
Anklet: from a stall in Benicassim town. I haven't taken it off since I bought it, so it's survived a lot of swimming in the sea and wandering around Spain!

Landing at Barcelona airport - the sunset looked amazing. I always love flying while the sun goes down, the colours are unreal.








Issy's bag: New Look
Stopping off at a service station for a snack and a break while on the way to Benicassim from the airport.

Our faces got progressively glittery as the week went on. We also didn't get Wi-Fi by the tent so I made my own Snapchat filter. So clever.

Right at the beginning of the week, on the bus en route to the beach.

Enjoying watermelon from the fruit stand! Grabbing some fruit and freshly-squeezed orange juice in a morning was so refreshing after waking up in a boiling tent.

Headband: Claire's Accessories - I don't usually shop here, but I'd gone in with a friend once as she looked for something and thought this would actually be really cool for festivals!

The inside of the Toastie Shack was really cute, with bright bunting and metallic signs. It even had a disco ball. Amazing.

Some of the pretty streets we found in the town. There were quite a few colourful buildings too, it's such a nice place! We spent most of our days sunbathing / sleeping on the beach and going in the sea to cool down, then wandering around the town looking for nice places to eat.

Vegetable and smoked cheese bruschetta, with aubergine, courgette, tomato and leek.

Salmon carbonara - this was actually really nice but I ate the tiniest bit as I was so full after my bruschetta starter! I think our stomachs were shocked whenever we tried to eat a full meal, as we lived off baguettes and crisps whenever we weren't by a restaurant.

Playsuit: Missguided (as seen before)
I actually look tanned on here - I somehow ended up being the only one of us that didn't burn! My face doesn't tan well though, so it always looks really pale in comparison to the rest of me when I go away.

Necklaces: New Look

Dress: ASOS
Shoes: Topshop

Bralette: Calvin Klein
Tattoo: from a strange shop in the town

After looking back on this post, I've realised I haven't put photos of the acts themselves - I mainly took videos or all my images were on Snapchat, which weren't saved to my phone. Oops. We saw some amazing people though, some of my favourites were Mac Demarco, Biffy Clyro, The Chemical Brothers, Muse, Hannah Wants, Skepta, The Vaccines, Disclosure and Bloc Party. I did miss a few acts I wanted to see, like Massive Attack, as everything is on until about six in the morning due to there being no acts on in the day. I'd really recommend the festival on the whole though; I just didn't sleep great and I am always tired anyway - I struggle to stay awake past 10PM at the moment. It was lovely being able to camp at a festival without getting caked in wet mud though, as there was obviously very little chance of rain. I'm used to English festivals, where it pours for about a week and everything gets ruined due to basically camping in a swamp. Overall, the festival was a great experience for my first time at Beni - but here are some tips for next time...

Tips

• Make sure to get enough sleep, even if it is on the beach during the day. Just don't fall asleep in the sun!
• Take some old trainers you don't mind getting ruined. My white Supergas were brown by the end of the festival, but I had to wear them while in the arena to avoid my feet getting trampled while in sandals. The dust and stones also get into sandals really easily, so trainers were often more practical.
• Buy a couple of disposable cameras to use while you're there.
• Learn a bit of Spanish before you go. It goes a long way when you're trying to communicate, I know I struggled sometimes.
• Buy the Benicassim bus card at the beginning of the festival. It's only 15 Euros and makes getting on and off the bus so much quicker, you even skip the queues sometimes.
• Take tons of baby wipes and antibacterial stuff - 'Wet Ones' wipes are really handy for keeping hands clean and bacteria-free. You and everything you own will either get covered in dust from the ground, or sand from the beach.
• Be prepared with all the medications and creams you need. I was our camp's go-to pharmacist as I had loads of different creams with me, from antihistamines and calamine lotion for bites to aqueous cream and Elizabeth Arden's 8-hour stuff to use as extra-strong aftersun.
• Drink a lot of water and wear a hat. Being dehydrated and getting ill from sun stroke is absolutely not fun.
• Buy a cooler box and make sure to get ice from the supermarket every day to keep drinks and aftersun cool. Drinking warm Desperados is never fun.
• Take a good portable charger for your phone. I lasted the week without my phone dying once, as I had bought a RavPower charger for about £20 - it charged my phone a full six times! This also stops you going to the charger tent and spending 10 Euros on a charger that will only charge your phone once, if that, before it breaks; this happened to a friend.

Have you ever been to Beni? How did you find it?
Indy ♥

Dalyan

Dalyan

While in Turkey, we went on a day tour to Dalyan, organised by a tour guide friend, to visit the mud baths and see the turtles. The day featured lots of boat rides, some amazing views and an hour of being slathered in herb-infused mud. The bus journey took about three hours each way, but was so worth it.

Dalyan is a town in Mugla, surrounded by the most beautiful mountains and amazing turquoise sea. It's home to the endangered loggerhead turtle, who lay their eggs on the protected beaches.

Mud Baths

The mud baths - there were about five different areas of mud, each mixed with a different type of skin-enriching plant, such as rosemary and rose. Afterwards our skin did actually feel really good! The only downside was that we had to spend about half an hour trying to scrub ourselves off in the showers (and it was literally everywhere).

This makes me laugh because I look like something that just crawled out of Shrek's swamp and Robbie looks really good. There were also a lot of fat, muddy men that actually looked like Shrek himself.

Seeing the Turtles

Lunch was included in the tour, a salad buffet with a choice of chicken or fish. When it comes to choosing between meat or fish, I almost always choose fish!

We also ate some freshly caught and cooked crab while on the boat, and got to hold some of the live ones - they creep me out so much.

(not a real turtle)

I bought this for my little sister, Sailor, from the shop near the buffet place.

Lycian tombs cut out of rock. I had to zoom in a bit for this photo so it looks nowhere near as amazing as the real thing.

(a real turtle)

It was so cool seeing these swimming around and coming to the surface to catch pieces of crab! I've always loved turtles so getting to sea them in their natural habitat was a really good experience.

The Beach

We went to the beach before heading back, to see where the turtles lay their eggs, which are surrounded by metal cages. People also aren't allowed to sunbathe or stay around the area and are told to move further down the beach, in order to protect the eggs.

So there was our day trip to Dalyan! It was a great experience and a fab day, so I'd really recommend it to anyone thinking of going to Turkey. I think it also cost around just £20 in total too, so it's really affordable. We had gone to Pamukkale last year on a tour, which was also amazing, but I actually think I preferred this one more.

Thanks for reading!

Indy ♥