The Perfect Pair Of Jeans

Over the Christmas break I had to write an essay about Levi's and I did about a months worth of research on the brand to the point where I became obsessed. I had to have a pair, but where I was so used to buying £20 jeans at New Look, they were just so expensive!

I've never been one to fork out on a product. Brands like ASOS or New Look are always my first point of call and that's based on price over quality. I suppose you could say that these are the brands that I'm loyal to, but would I be choosing them first if I wasn't on a student budget? With all that's on offer these days, I wouldn't say that I've ever really been loyal to a brand in terms of what it stands for. This all changed after researching Levi's. It got to the point where my mum had had enough of me banging on about them and dragged me in their Regent Street store the other week. 

And that's how I ended up with my first pair of Levi jeans.

This is the first time where I have brought a product and felt like a genuine customer. I didn't just buy them for the image of the label, I brought them because of the quality and the history behind the brand and I understand what the brand stands for. It's not often that you can say that and this is definitely not the last pair that I will be buying. And I figure that if they're going to last then why not fork out a bit extra, rather than paying £20 4 or 5 times a year.

From walking in to the store, to walking back out again with my brown bag in hand, I loved the whole experience. It was exciting and the visual merchandising is perfect for the brand. And even though it was 7pm and they probably just wanted to close up and go home, the staff were so friendly and helpful. Little things like that are so refreshing, especially after you've been in shops were the staff were pretty much snapping at you. 

If you haven't got a pair already, I promise you it's a bloody good investment. 

Berlin On A Budget

I'm hopeless at saving money. It's one of the things that I'm trying to be better at this year. Last year I went to New York with $300, which was never going to be enough, and this year I went to Berlin with €160.

Before I went to Berlin I'd heard that it was quite an expensive city and it was safe to say that I was worrying about it. Spoiler alert: I came back with €30, which is pretty good considering we were there for seven days; so I've come up with a few tips on how to do Berlin on a budget.

1. Stay at a hostel 
What's the first thing that comes to mind when you think of the word hostel? Probably squeaky metal bunk beds with a grubby shared bathroom right? This is the second time I've stayed in a hostel with FCP and both of them have far exceeded my expectations.

We stayed in the Meininger East Side Gallery hotel and I couldn't recommend it more. It's a new build so it was modern and clean; the beds were super comfy, we got our own bathroom, and the breakfast was good too!

Not only are hostels a lot cheaper than a hotel, but they usually have kitchens for guests to use so we saved a lot of money on dinners like pasta and vegetable curry by just shopping at Aldi or Lidl. This leads me on to my second point...


2. Eat cheap 
There is no need to eat at five star restaurants every day, and admittedly it does get boring after a while. For lunch we just had small things like sandwiches or a slice of pizza from a the cafes in the train stations. We ate out a couple of times before dinner, but as I said before we did half of the dinners ourselves. There's also a lot of the common franchises in Germany like McDonalds and Subway, which aren't very cultured but it saves a load of money.

3. Have your money physically rather than paying on your card
Having the physical cash to see makes it easier to not spend much because you can see it going down.

I took my money in an envelope which I hid in one of my pockets in my handbag and then put €30 in my purse each day as my budget. If you don't feel comfortable having so much cash on you, withdraw your budgeted amount for each day each morning.


4. Free or discounted activities 
In New York I found that for most tourist things you have to spend money one way or another, but in Berlin there are loads of things to do for free. For example, you can go up the Reichstag building, which has 360 views of the city, and you don't have to pay a penny, just register before you go! The Berlin Wall is also free to go and look at, and if you walk the whole thing that's a couple of hours of your day done. The Memorial of The Murdered Jews is also free.

A lot of the museums, such as the Natural History Museum and the Helmut Newton Foundation do discounted rates for concessions such as students, making a ticket €5 instead of €10.

5. Day travel ticket
A day travel ticket which covers both the S and U Bahn, trams, and buses is only €7. This gives you the ability to jump on all of the public transport until 3am the next morning as many times as you like, so it works out so much more cheaper, especially as a lot of Berlin's highlights are located around a lot of different areas and it's worth it when it's SO cold outside!


To be honest you can probably use these tips wherever you choose to go. Both Meininger and The Generator (where we stayed in London - see my review here) have hotels all over Europe, making it so much easier to book good quality, yet affordable, accommodation, and with a bit of a Google/Pinterest search you can always find budget friendly things to do!

End Of The F***ing World

End of The F***ing World is a 8 part dark-comedy series, which has recently been added to Netflix and has had the whole world talking. This is not your average girl-meets-boy love story, and that's why I absolutely loved it.

End of The F***ing World is based around a confused, teenage pair, Alyssa (Jessica Barden), and James (Alex Lawther) who run away from their parents in search of escape, and find themselves on a road trip around Britain. Alyssa, a loud and assertive character, is the contrast to the socially awkward James, who believes he is a psychopath. But they do say opposites attract.

Ever since he was a young boy, James has been obsessed with murder; killing animals and recently deciding it's time to move on and kill a human. He's convinced that Alyssa would be a perfect first victim and pretends to fall in love with her in order to get her closer and gain her trust.

Watching the first episode, I found the show very bizarre. There is minimal contact with supporting characters and the humour is dark yet witty, but you can't resist sticking with it. It's a breath of fresh air for British television, and television in general, moving away from the general feel of young adult shows nowadays such as Riverdale and Pretty Little Liars. I've got my friends watching it too and they found it equally as fascinating.

The show is very fast paced and each episode is the perfect length for binge watching, which I did in Berlin! And trust me, you will be left wanting more.