Kina Grannis Elements Tour

Hello everybody!!!

As you might already know; I am crazy about concerts. Last night Kina Grannis was on the agenda. I've known her for a while through YouTube, but for a year or so, I didn't really look at her videos anymore. Around a month ago I clicked on a video of hers, and I fell in love all over. Her voice is so soft and soothing. I saw tour dates on her website and I noticed that she was coming to Antwerp. And just like that, I decided to buy tickets without even properly knowing her songs yet. I had the feeling that I needed to go the concert, it felt like something that I had to do. And in maybe 2 weeks all of her songs were stuck in my head.

Finally, the day came and in the afternoon the person I was going with cancelled because she was ill. Quickly I had to find another person to go with and I did.

This concert was so different from all the concerts I've done so far. There was no waiting outside 4 hours before just because you wanted to stand in the front row. There was no standing up for another 3 hours inside. There was no pushing because everyone want to go in at the same time. There was no not being able to see because large people were standing in front of you. There was no ear damage because of all the screaming girls.... Don't get me wrong. I don't hate any of these things, but it's nice to have something else for a change. There was coming in 15 minutes before because you have assigned seats. There were really comfortable seats to enjoy the music on. There was no pushing, because everybody came in at different times. There was a total view of the stage because there were no large people in front of you. There was only soothing of the ears. There was a really fancy theater hall, which I've never been in. There was a sitting wherever you wanted because the hall wasn't full, and sitting on your assigned seats didn't really matter that much...

Imaginary Future did the opening act. It's so nice for Kina that she's able to tour with the ones she loves, like her sister and her friends and her husband. Jesse (Imaginary Future) did so well! It's lovely to see how such a humble person can still be so humble but so grand just by standing and singing on a stage with only his guitar.

We had to wait an hour until Kina would come on stage, but it was totally worth the wait. I went to the merch stand and bought her cd, and then we sat ourselves down in the front because there were still some open seats left there.
After a little more of waiting, finally the lights went out, the band appeared and then Kina came on stage. Time to get into the zone.

The many interactions with the audience were something that I really liked, because it's not always that common. She told stories behind her songs and she even called four girls on stage to sing with her (I might've done it if I'd known the song better); Jesse kept asking how everyone was doing; And they both told quite a few times how much they loved being in Antwerp for the first time; The rest of the band entertained the audience when Kina was tuning, etc ...

Most of the songs on Elements were performed, but she also did some old songs, even a cover and a duet with Jesse, which was totally the cutest thing ever. My Own was beautifully performed by Kina and her sister, Emi, Little Worrier was introduced by a (cute) story which gives a nice view as to what the lyrics are about, Forever Blue was really emotional which made the performance beautifully powerful and made me tear up a bit, Winter has a beautiful set-up and should last forever, My Dear was the supposed "last song" (followed by 2 other songs, after they said goodbye and after Kina came back on stage) and it got a standing ovation, which made Kina tear up.. "Way to make me cry, guys."..

I could go on forever about the songs, but you might get bored.

Overall, it was a calm, relaxing and satisfying night which I will never forget.

Best Day - The 1975 ♥

Hello everybody!

Yesterday was one of the best days/nights I've ever had so far. I saw 'The 1975' in concert and I also met them! I still can't believe it actually happened, it feels quite unreal.

Normally, we had class from 15.00 to 17.00, but we were hoping the teacher would be absent since he was ill the previous the day. Guess what, he was absent the next day too. We felt so lucky, because it meant that we could go to the venue earlier. The doors opened at 19.30 and if we had the class, we might've been there a little bit late, and then we wouldn't have been able to stand in the front row.

We (me and my three friends: Sophie, Kaat & Michelle) arrived at the venue at around 15.30. There were only a few other people, so it was still pretty calm. There were two buses standing right in front of the building. At first I wasn't sure if they were their tour buses, because they didn't really look like tour buses to me, but soon enough I figured out that they were indeed. Let me explain. At one point we decided to wait inside so we were sitting right in front of the entrance (where we made some new friends). Suddenly I heard someone say that Matty and George were entering one of the buses, and I could only see them for a second. I was kind of bummed that I didn't see them properly, but suddenly someone said that they were coming out of the bus. I started freaking out just a little bit, because I saw they were coming our way. They entered the building and just said "hey, how are you?" and George did a peace sign. I didn't really know what to say and I didn't hear the "how are you?", so I only said "hey" back. It was a short moment and I just couldn't believe what happened. It all felt so unreal; my idol walking my way and saying "hey", as if we were friends and not fans. After this, we still had to wait for a long time and my legs and knees hurt.
Half an hour too early, we all stood up, because there was a woman coming our way with a key and everybody thought that she was going to open the doors, but that wasn't the case. So we just stood there for half an hour. The only positive thing is that it felt good to stand up.
I got a bit claustrophobic, because everybody was pushing us towards the door we had to go through. Eventually, two men came to open the door. People were rushing in, but the men tried to hold people back, which is quite impossible since we're talking about crazy fangirls. Luckily, I could easily slip through. I think I have never run up stairs so quickly. They scanned my ticket, gave me a stamp on my hand and I ran as fast as I could to the front row and saved spots for my friends.

We had to wait for 45 more minutes until the support act started, which were The Mojo Filters. They're a band from Belgium and I really liked their music. When their performance was over, people cleaned up the stage. 25 minutes later, it was time. Their "signature square" on stage lit up. Then the boys  walked up, like nothing special, just casually walking on stage. I was in the front row, so I was really close to Matty. I even could've touched him if he was just a bit closer. I shed a few tears because I couldn't believe they were really standing in front of me.

Michelle and I both bought a shirt at the merch, she a white one and I a black one with the cover of "Music for Cars" on it. It's a little on the big side, but I love it anyway! Then we went for some drinks. After that we went outside and started waiting for them to come out. We sat in the cold for about an hour and a half, but it was worth it.
Suddenly they were there. They went in the bus for a few minutes and Matty was just casually standing in the door smoking, like it was no big deal that there were a dozen of fans out there. Then they went out of the bus to get started. We had to make a row and Michelle & I didn't realise we were actually standing at the beginning of the row (we lost Sophie & Kaat on the way, they were a little bit behind). So it was our turn rather quickly.

I don't remember everything that well, because I was just overwhelmed by all these emotions, so some things are a little vague, but I am going to tell it the way I think it happened.

First, it was my turn. I just kind of walked up to Matty with probably a "shocked/excited face". I didn't say a lot, because I was speechless. But he was so kind and sweet. Okay, so I walked up to him and I think I stretched out my arms to hug him. He gave me a tight hug and it felt amazing. I also heard that he sometimes gives kisses on the cheeks so I wanted to give him one, but I felt like his face was going to the back of my head, so I didn't. But then he gave me a kiss on the back of my cheek and I think my heart skipped a beat. He smelled really nice, and his hug was really warm and welcoming. He held onto my back, and so did I with him, as it was time for the picture. But first he asked me what my name was, I said "Lore", and then he said that my shirt was nice. Then Michelle took the picture and he looked me right in the eyes and said "nice to meet you". I stumbled "you too" and then we said goodbye, but I had to stay to take a picture of Michelle, so I said goodbye twice.

Since Sophie & Kaat were behind, I had a plan to go with them to take their picture, which I did, but also to get another picture with Matty, but this time a polaroid. It was our turn and first I took a picture of Sophie and Kaat had a polaroid taken by Michelle. Then I walked up to Matty, looked him right in the eyes and, I think, nearly poked his belly, don't ask me why I did that. I asked if I could have a polaroid with him (he said "Of course, babe"), with which I meant only with him, but George, Ross and Adam were already posing and it would kind of rude to say I wanted a picture with only Matty. But now I  don't mind that they are on it too, because it is a pretty picture. After that Matty said "bye, darling". I know he probably says it to everyone, but it did make me feel really good and it still makes me feel good every time I think about it. I just loved how nice he was to me, such a sweetie. I wanted to get my polaroid signed by Matty and Michelle wanted to let the boys sign the drum stick she caught when George threw them in the crowd (which actually landed right onto her face).
But it was time for them to "go to bed". We wanted to ask though, but they were in the bus before we even could. It's a shame, but at least I got a chance to meet them and get a picture. And I am really grateful for that.

Then it was time to go. It was freezing outside, I couldn't feel my fingers and the boys were inside the bus already. I didn't sleep at all that night. Not even for the 5 hours of sleep we could get because we had to go to school at 8.00.

It was the best experience I have ever had, and I definitely would like to see them again some time. But for now I will have to comfort myself with looking at the polaroid, the other pictures I took, the shirt I bought and with listening to their music, which never fails to cheer me up.
This is something I will never ever forget.
I love 'The 1975'!

Thank you for reading!
Have a nice day!

xoxo
Lore

February Favourites

Hello everybody!

Again I apologize for not posting anything this month and for it now being two “favourites” in a row. I didn’t really know what to post, but I have a few ideas in my head now.

Okay, wow, I can’t believe it’s March already. Time just flies! February is already over and I have been loving a lot of things in this very short month. Let’s get started!

- Favourite beauty product:

·         “Daisy” by Marc Jacobs. I am not a really easy person to please when it comes to perfume, because a lot of perfumes just don’t smell good to me. But this perfume smells amazing! When I tried it first, at the beginning, it just smelled like any other perfume to me. But when has “soaked in”, it smells just like a flower shop and I absolutely love it!

·         “L’eau” by Nina Ricci is a nice perfume too.

·         Labello Fruity Shine – watermelon. My lips are dry a lot, and this lip balm really moisturizes it and it also smells and tastes good!

·         Red lipstick: I am not naming a specific red lipstick by a specific brand, because I have a few and I use them all. Red lipstick is, I think, something that can never be wrong, though I only really wear it when I go out.

- Favourite food article:

I don’t really have a favourite food article this month, except for Nutella, which is my biggest vice, but I have been getting more and more into coffee. I used to dislike it when I was younger, but now I am starting to like it very much. When I am at Starbucks I will either take a Caramel Macchiato, a vanilla latte or a caramel frappuccino, but I am open to try new things.

- Favourite book:

For school I have to read “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Clouse”. I have watched the movie once and I really liked it, so I was excited to read the book. I think it is a really well-written, pretty book, but sometimes I need a break, because the book can be confusing at times.

The other one is still The Fault in Our Stars. I have read the book in Dutch, but now I started reading it in English, and I think it is so much better in its original language.

I am in love with this book!!

- Favourite Youtuber(s): Zoella, Bethany Mota, Cameron Dallas & Nash Grier.

- Favourite songs: this month I have a lot of songs again. I just keep discovering great new music which makes me always have something to listen to.

·         Riptide by Vance Joy

·         Love Alone is Worth The Fight by Switchfoot

·         Rather Be by Clean Bandit

·         Trumpets by Jason Derulo

·         Monster by Imagine Dragons

·         Rude by Magic!

·         Borrow my Heart by Taylor Henderson

·         Twin Forks: I just can’t describe how much I love their music, the songs can’t do anything but make me happy. My favourites are Cross My Mind, Kiss Me Darling, Scraping Up The Pieces & Back To You.

·         Twenty One Pilots: my favourites this month are Kitchen Sink, Ode To Sleep, Fake You Out & Forest.

·         That’s What’s Up & Man On Fire by Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros

·         Arctic Monkeys: I never thought I would be into rock music, but now I absolutely rock out to it. My favourites are Do I Wanna Know & R U Mine?

·         Two Door Cinema Club: this month I started listening to them more again and my favourites are Crystal, Golden Veins, Settle & Something Good Can Work.

- Favourite quote: "I fell in love the way you fall asleep: slowly, and then all at once." - The Fault In Our Stars

Thank you for reading and have a nice day!!

xoxo

January Favourites

Hello everybody!

I know I haven't written in a while, but honestly I just didn't know what to write about. But since it is now February, I have an excuse to write a blog post which is going to be about my January Favourites.
I like watching "favourites"-videos on YouTube, but since I don't do that, I decided to do it on my blog.

- Favourite beauty product: well, I already told that I don't really use makeup or beauty products on a daily basis, so I am not going into lip products, body products, eye products... I am going to name one thing that I really liked that has to do with beauty.
It took me a long time to decide which was my favourite beauty product, and I don't know if this is actually a beauty product: it's the Yves Rocher 2 in 1 beautifying hand & nail cream. My skin tends to get really dry, especially my hands and especially in the winter, and this hand cream helps a lot. It's really moisturizing and it is also good for your nails, which is a benefit for me since my nails break off easily.

- Favourite food article: I really have been loving this muesli with chocolate (sorry for the picture not being in English) that my sister once bought. It's really addictive, and I like to say to myself that it is healthier than normal cereal, which it is not, it is just as unhealthy I guess, but I cannot stop eating it.

- Favourite activities:

• I already told that I had piano lessons a few years ago, but I haven't played in a while. This month I started to play again and I even learned to play Stay by Rihanna on the piano (not completely, but it goes quite well already). I am really loving the piano again and I hope I can learn some other new songs to play.
• Running: this has always been on my New Year's Resolution List, but then I only did it like once in a year. Setting resolutions doesn't really work for me, because I always turn out to not do them. So I didn't put running on my 2014 list and that works for me. My sister just said "let's start running every week". I wasn't super enthusiastic about it, but I just did it and it made me feel good. I don't always do it with my sister though. So running is one of my favourite activities, but then again not. It's not like I'm always super excited to go running, but when I do, I feel really good, because I am doing something good for myself. I also do exercises, like push-ups or sit-ups.
• Reading: I haven't read a lot lately, because of school, but this month I have started to read again a lot, and I love it. 
• Being with friends: I just love being with friends and going out with them. It makes me really happy and I like it that I can be somewhere else than at home.

- Favourite book: The Fault in Our Stars. The trailer for the movie is out now and it always makes me so emotional. It is everything I wished for, just like the book. It is amazing.
I just got the John Green box set as a late birthday present from my parents, and I am so excited about it.

                            

- Favourite TV-show: 

• The Vampire Diaries
• Cuckoo: sadly, this ended :(
• Raising Hope: this also ended, but I sure hope the next season will air soon.

- Favourite Youtuber: Breelovesbeauty, I have only found her channel this month, but I LOVE it already!

- Favourite songs: I have quite a lot at this moment. Sometimes I have times that I don't find any new songs and that I get sick of my old songs and don't have anything to listen to. But I am in that time now that I find almost too many new songs, but that's probably because I have become more open to new music genres.

• Mumford & Sons: if I had to pick my most favourite band, it would definitely be them. I never ever get tired or their songs, even if I play their CDs five times in a row. With other bands, after a while I won't listen to their songs as much as I used to, but I will always love Mumford & Sons. My all time favourite is definitely Hopeless Wanderer, big love for this song.
• The 1975: I knew their song Chocolate, but I never really thought about looking up other songs of them, but at the beginning of January I decided to look them up and I instantly fell in love. I even got tickets to their concert in March that I'm going to with some friends. I love all of their songs, but if I had to choose my favourites it would be Sex, Girls and The City.
• Twenty One Pilots: this is kind of the same story as with The 1975. I also love all their songs, but my favourites at the moment are Holding on to You, House of Gold and Lovely.
• Daughter: also kind of the same story. I knew Youth, but then I looked up more of their songs and my favourites now are Smother and Run.  
• Can't Help Falling In Love: I really like the versions of Twenty One Pilots and Fleet Foxes. They both give their own twist to it, and that's why I love them both and can't pick which of the two is my favourite, because they both are. 
• What You Wanted by One Republic: this is from The Fault in Ours Stars trailer, and that's probably a big reason why I love it. 
• I also have been loving "relax" (?) music, I don't really know what the genres of these songs are, but I have loved them anyway: Stay High by Hippie Sabotage, Discover Life by Uppermost, Make Your Way by EMBRZ, Changes by FAUL and I See Fire Kygo Remix (but I also really like the original). 

- Favourite quote: "You don't get to choose if you get hurt in this world, but you do have a say in who hurts you." - John Green, The Fault in Our Stars

Thank you for reading and have a nice day!!

xoxo

Lore

First University Exams

Hello everybody!

I just finished my first exams ever in university, so I didn't really know what to expect.

Normally I would have had a lot of exams, like everybody else, but I only had two. I only had semester classes, so I had Dutch and history. Every other class of mine will be examined at the end of the school year.

My studying period started December 20, I think, so I had to study when all the high school students are finished theirs and had vacation. I had to study on the holidays, which I didn't actually do.

I started studying properly after New Year's Eve.

My first exam was Dutch on the 9th. I wasn't really nervous, because I learned everything and it was kind of easy. We had to study a lot of what I already had in primary school, but I forgot a lot of the terms in Dutch. I knew them way better in English, because in high school, the terms weren’t use in Dutch anymore, only in other languages.

This class (I will still have it next semester) is divided into classes over two teachers. The class of one teacher is harder than the other teacher’s class, but I actually think I did well. I could fill in nearly everything and I feel quite confident about it.

My second exam was history on the 13th and I nearly had a mental breakdown. I don’t really understand why we even had this class, since it’s not even about languages and I have always hated history. There was so much to study that I didn’t even know how to begin and how to do it. So I just had to start somewhere and I made a little studying schedule based on that. Unfortunately, the schedule was really bad and I didn’t have enough time to study everything. Around Sunday noon my friend had told me about a resume about everything, so I printed it out and told myself to only learn from that, because the book was way too much and I would’ve never been able to finish it on time.

But somewhere in the evening I discovered that some things weren’t in the resume and I kind of started freaking out. My parents told me to study for one more hour and then go to bed. What I didn’t study, I just didn’t study and they wouldn’t care if I failed my exam, so that was kind of comforting.

I did my best for the rest of that hour and then I went to sleep. I needed sleep, because I barely slept the previous night. I went to sleep at 1 o’clock at night, because I was studying and I woke up at 6 in the morning to study, only resulting in constantly falling asleep.

In the morning I did a little bit more but I also revised a pre-“exam” that we did in class, to see what kind of questions we could expect. It was good that I had done that, because a lot of these questions were on the exam. I was super lucky and so I think I did quite well.

Now all I have to do is wait for the results, which will be announced the 12^th of February.

The next time I have to go to school is January 20 for a test of Spanish grammar, but it’s not that hard. And after that, my school starts again at February 10, so I have a really long vacation and I am going to try to enjoy every single second of it.

ALSO: I’ve got a nose piercing!!! After my exam of history, me and my friends went to the shop and I was super nervous. When I was lying on the chair, all I was thinking was “I don’t want this, I don’t want this”, but it all went very quickly and it didn’t really hurt. The needle and the piercing were in it before I even knew it. I have to disinfect it around twice a day and it already seems a bit healed, because it doesn’t bleed anymore. But something really scary happened Thursday morning: I woke up and my nose kind of hurt, but I just thought it was because I accidentally slept on that side of my face and that it wouldn’t be bad. But it actually was bad, I will try to not sleep on that side again, because when I looked in the mirror I saw that my piercing was hanging out a lot, luckily not totally. I had to push it back in and disinfect everything immediately. My nose really hurt that day, but everything is alright now and it is already looking a lot better.  

Have a nice day!!

xoxo

Lore

Facts About Me!!

Hello everyone!

Like I said in my previous post, you will probably get to know me better. But I just decided to jump right in and tell you some facts about me.

1. I was born on December 23 1995, (so I am 18 years old) but I was due the 25th, so I would've been a Christmas kid. But I was like 'I want to have my own day, and not share it with another holiday. I need to get out of here!'. So I did and I am really happy about that.

2. I have blue eyes and dark blonde hair, but I dyed my hair twice and my hair looks a little bit gingery at times now.

3. I have two elder sisters and I have a really big family, especially on my mother’s side.

4. The school system in Belgium is very different from other school systems, but I am in my first year of university. I study languages to become tolk or translator. The languages I chose are Dutch as a first, English as a second and Spanish as a third language.

5. I am very petite for my age. I am around 1 meter 56 and yes, it is very small. Other people sometimes think it’s cute, and I really don’t mind it. Though, it can be hard to find some clothing items or jewelry or shoes. I have to go to the kid’s section in stores sometimes and it is kind of embarrassing. And as for jewelry, necklaces are the only pieces I can buy, because my wrists and fingers are too small to find a proper ring or bracelet. But apart from all of that, I really don’t care that I am this small.

6. I love to sing, a lot. I can’t live without music. I took vocal lessons for one year and I took piano lessons for one year, but I give up on things easily. I still know how to sing, luckily, but I’m not that good at playing the piano anymore. I also tried to learn myself how to play the guitar, but I also gave that up. 

7. My music taste has changed a lot the last couple of months. I met someone who introduced me to a few bands and after that I did my own research and found the most amazing artists and bands. I can still appreciate pop, but don’t make me listen to it all day. I really like folk, folk rock, indie, alternative, and not really popular music in general. I listen to bands that people probably already heard off, but they only know one song, and I know their whole album then. My favourite bands are: Mumford & Sons, Crystal Fighters, Two Door Cinema Club, Imagine Dragons, Bastille, Fleet Foxes, Of Monsters & Men, The Neighbourhood & The 1975. 

8. My favourite animals are pandas, penguins and cats. 

9. My idols are Zooey Deschanel, Georgie Henley, Emma Watson & Ariana Grande.

10. My favourite series are The Vampire Diaries, Pretty Little Liars, Orphan Black, Raising Hope, New Girl and Grey’s Anatomy.

11. I love Harry Potter. I could watch these films and read these books over and over. This is the same for the Lord of The Rings, but, I'm sorry, I haven't read the books yet, so this only applies to the movies. Another favourite film of mine is The Breakfast Club.

12. My favourite number is 5 and I really can’t explain why.

13. My bucket list consists of: visiting parts of the USA, the UK and a few other countries; sky diving; bungee jumping; getting a tattoo... I don’t have to do them all, but I want to have done at least one of them.

14. I love sweaters. If I could buy every sweater I ever saw, I would. And that’s partly a reason why autumn and winter are my favourite seasons. In autumn sweater weather starts and it’s just a beautiful season. The leafs on the trees are all coloured and it’s the perfect season for nice walks.  Winter is my other favourite season, because all the nice holidays are in it, including my birthday. The snow is nice when you’re inside (and have a fireplace), but I don’t like it when I have to go outside. It makes me fall and ruins my shoes.

15. My social life has really expanded since I started university. I met so many new people and I am genuinely happy and grateful that I met every single one of them. I have made a lot of new friends, I have also lost a few friends, but I know that they are here for me and that makes me really happy.

Also, I used to be really shy and had social anxiety. I don’t have it anymore now and that makes it so easy to meet new people. This is what makes me really happy and gives me a reason to smile every day, because I know that I am not alone. Really, I don’t know what I would do without my friends.

16. I really don’t like chaos. If a room is not cleaned and messy, my brain doesn’t function properly anymore. I can’t do anything else before the room is cleaned.

17. I don’t really like social media that much and I don’t understand why they call it social media, because there is nothing social about it. I still prefer a real life conversation or even a phone call or a nice text over a conversation via social media, but I cannot not use it and I will always keep using it, because it is really handy for some things as making appointments or talking to someone when there is absolutely no other way of talking to them... I use it, but I still prefer real life like I already said.

18. My biggest fear is losing everyone I love and ending up all alone. And I also fear death. I think that the thought of just not being here anymore is terrifying.

That was all. Of course this is not everything there is to me. But if I would have to write everything down, I would need a book instead of a blog.

Enjoy the rest of your day!

xoxo

Lore