First of all Happy New Year and all that jazz! There is a fair bit to catch up on since last I wrote…
(if you hover over the photos then you should get a little bit of info about where and what they are about)
I have just spent an entire weekend in bed and may or may not have eaten a whole tub of ‘Billionaire’s shortbread’ ice cream (seriously google it if you don’t know what it is – it will change your life!)
This is not because I’m sick – I’m not! It just boils down to the fact that Nottingham does not really have anything enough to entice me out from under the warmth of my blankie – this town depresses me greatly in fact and I honestly try to spend as little time as possible out there in the wilds – in case I almost step in human faeces again (that actually happened) – but that is all neither here nor there as I am down to my last fortnight in Notts and there are so many other far more exciting things to write about! Such as Edinburgh – Berlin – Antwerp – Barcelona – Lisbon – Marrakesh…the list goes on and the inspiration from my non-Nottingham time has been endless!
I think it’s time to embrace dot points for the sake of efficiency:
– In October I went to Edinburgh with the gorgeous Annabelle, a fellow exchange student from the Antipodes (New Zealand) Edinburgh was amazingly picturesque and offered up many culinary/sightseeing/art gallery/museum/hill climbing in heels/cutest ever B&B delights and a long weekend just didn’t feel like long enough to explore!
Then I went back to Nottingham and did a little more school work
– In November I headed to Berlin and I totally fell in love with it – even just on the short bus trip from the airport to the château Megarry in Kreuzberg. I ate the best doner kebabs ever, went to the Bauhaus Museum, saw the immense collection of Picasso and Matisse paintings at the Berggruen Museum and drank lots of delicious super strong and cheap beers, bought some fabulous prints from a tiny independent gallery and PAAAAARTIEEEEED at Berghain (seriously the most amazing club in the world) with the divine Jess who along with her partner in crime Dave, played the most gracious of hosts.
Then I went back to Nottingham and did a little more school work
– In December I embarked on an epic adventure with the parentals touring about Europe. We started in London and stayed in East Croydon which was not that great a place to stay (our Airbnb host has Gerbils in his kitchen – no joke) but we did see some fantastic things:
– We had ludicrously expensive cocktails at the Ritz Carlton and saw the Isabella Blow: Fashion Galore! Exhibition (which included McQueen’s graduate collection – so dreamy), we spent hours at the V&A and saw a free runway show put on by Meadham Kirchoff (which actually made me cry a little bit in excitement), I bought 5 pound boots on Portobello Rd and we ate the best laksas of all time in Shoreditch, Mum met her long lost cousin and we had some lovely family times, we saw Klee at the TATE and AUSTRALIA at the RA and boy did we pound those pavements!
– We caught a train to Antwerp and got there just in time to ride the Ferris wheel as the sun set and drank delicious Belgium beer and ate loads of cheese and cured meats, we went to the Happy Birthday Dear Academie! Exhibition curated by Walter Van Beirendonck of the Antwerp Fashion Academy students work – it was so inspirational and Antwerp so gorgeous I could happily live and study there (though I may need to learn more Dutch than “een biertje, alstublieft”)
– We got on a plane to Barcelona where we stayed for 6 beautiful days, we saw Picasso and Miro, ate paella and a motherload of delicious seafood, we had our haircut for charity and saw more Gaudi than you could poke a stick at and despite all our time there we barely scratched the surface!
– We moved onto Madrid where we joined a bus tour with 31 other people – let’s just say if I never go on another bus tour for the rest of my life it will be too soon!!! We coasted through many beautiful cities (and some incredibly unenticing ones) yet barely did our feet touch the ground before we were hustled along to the next location! It was one of the most frustrating times of my life and I definitely have to go back to visit most of the places we passed through at some point in the future!
– By far my favourite part of the coach trip was Morocco. It was so far from anything I have ever seen before yet familiar in so many ways! The countryside was amazing, the culture vibrant, the hustlers incredibly good at hustling and surprisingly for a predominantly Muslim country the beer and wine were exceptionally good. New Years in Tangiers was bought in by a wonderful Dabka Oriental Orchestra and an open bar and mum and I stayed up until the very wee hours of the morning dancing like a couple of crazies!
– After the hellish coach tour we started another smaller and more intimate (private guides and tailored tours) journey through Venice and Verona which lasted a mere 4 days but god damn we ate soooooo well! We saw Murano glass blowing and Burano lace being made and spent a day drifting around Valpolicella and Soave wine regions and then, after 5 weeks of being subjected to triple share rooms it was time to bid the folks adieu and head back to Nottingham to get back to the uni grind.
And here I am – gearing up to finish off my uni project and bail on this little town for good!
One more stop in Florence for the Pitti Filati yarn trade fair before I hand in my final garment and skedaddle down to London and then on home to the last of the summer sunshine.
MILLIE MOSCA STUDIOS 
