This summer

Today I had two exams (Elections in Medieval History and Psychology) in a row which was really exhausting but now I only have to go to my Early Modern English class tomorrow and then I am free until Octobre. I do have another exam in September and there also is that paper about Clara Zetkin but all in all I have holidays! Hip hip hooray!

In order to celebrate that fact properly I have decided to share my list of things I want to do this summer in order to make the best out of it. The notes in italics show how far these projects have gone so far

- go to Sweden and Estonia with my friend Imke 

-> everything is booked and fixed

- read Edgar Allan Poe

-> started reading his short novels

- watch a play at a theatre in Cologne

-> I have a double ticket...Since 2010...

- visit a bunch of museums

-> I went to the Cologne History Museum today after my exams

- learn all elements of the periodic table

-> I know about 25 right now

- go to the Spa with friends

-> We bought coupons months ago

- stich more

-> There are some vague ideas...

- visit Aachen with the Count

-> I have to wait until he has written all of his exams

- create my family tree

-> I downloaded a programme and put my 20 closest relatives in it.

- go to the Botanic Garden of the Uni of Bonn

-> Again, I have to wait for the count...

- go to the opera for the very first time

-> A friend told me she wanted to go with me

- sew something

-> I know i want a black skirt...

- practice calligraphy

-> bought a new quill and new ink in gold

The Cologne City Museum was amazing! I never went to a museum on my own without friends or family but i must say it was absolutely briliant! The museum is in the old Zeughaus which is the armoury. 

Source

They have an impressive collection of medieval and early modern art and parts of the museum are reserved for the themes jews in Cologne, women in Cologne, childhood in Cologne, the founding of the University or science. I loved some of the paintings and especially the two huge old globes that are part of the science exhibiton.

They also had to special exhibitons, one was about the Cologne painter and revolutionist of 1848/49 Wilhelm Kleinenbroich and the other one was about Cologne's Churches and their decorations. I liked the original exhibition better but those two were still really good.

One random fact I learned: In Early Modern times children up to six years were dressed in girl's clothes without any regard to their gender. There are some features and hints on painting though that declare a child as male or female. One feature for example could be a bird on the arm of the child which is a sign that the child is male.

What are your plans for the summer? And what should I add to my list?

Have a great day,

The Countess

It's a Lush life

Today I went shopping because I needed some sandals. I didn't find any nice ones so naturally I bought something else. That's just how it works. I went to one of my favourite stores ever: Lush. I love everything about that brand: Their products are amazing, they smell gorgeous, 80% of them are vegan, the rest is vegetarian, none of them are tested on animals, the packaging is all recycled plastic and paper and many of the products come on solid form in order to avoid unnecessary packaging. 

This time I bought the Stepping Stone foot peeling. I first was not really sure if I really wanted to get it because 5,50€ is not exactly cheap for me. In the end I still got it and I am really happy I did! It smells like lemon grass, perfect for summer and not only does it remove unnecessary skin cells but it also pampers the feet with oils. All in all, it is great!

I have realized that I own quite  few things from Lush which is mainly because I just looooove what Lush does to your skin and hair and I just feel good knowing that my money goes to a brand that shares my ethnical values and helps spreading them. So I have decided to show you my little 'collection'.

So far I have:

Hair:

- Ultimate Shine Shampoo Bar

- Karma Komba Shampoo Bar

- Seanik Shampoo Bar

- Jungle Solid Conditioner

-Veganese Conditioner (2nd bottle)

- two samples of R&B Hair Cream

Body: 

- Stepping Stone Foot Peeling

- Lemony Flutter Cuticle Butter

- Fresh Farmacy Cleanser

- a sample of Karma Kream

- two bath wands that were limited edition. The are mot on the picture because I forgot to get them out of the bath room. I got both of them for my birthday.

It sounds like alot, at least to me but many of those products were given to me as a present and I also got a gift card for Christmas. I am not one of those people who just go and spend 30e in a Lush store, I can't and and do not want to spend that amount of money on cosmetics. I basically go to Lush when I want to get a special treat for myself, it is always special to get in the store and choose a product. 

What about you, do you Lush? What do you think about the products, the brand, the ethnics?

Have a great day,

The Countess

English Nerd Facts: Knicht

I am not only a history student, I also study English. It isn't my native language but I still learned quite a few cool things, especially in my Old English and Early Modern English classes. So today I have a little fun fact for you:

Did you know the Old English word "knicht" existed in Old German as well? It both meant "horse rider". That itself would not be very interesting, I admit. BUT:

As time went one the two languages developed and "knicht" became "knight" in English and "Knecht" in German. "Knecht" means "farm labourer" in English. So basically, the term has gone up in hirarchy in the English language while it has gone down in German. This difference in meaning can be found in nearly every single word that the two languages had in common and that changed meaning during the time. 

Have a great day,

The Countess

History Nerd Facts: Puritan Names

Welcome to another episode of weird and funny history nerd facts! Today I present you my favourite Puritan names. Of course many Puritans gave their children biblical names but some parents took the whole 'naming your child'-thing one step further and named them after desireable virtues or slogans. Some of those names are still in use today, examples are Hope, Chasity, Joy or Faith. Most Puritan names however have died out....Fortunately! Here are my favourites:

- Moral

- Hate-evil

- Endurance

- The-Lord-is-near

- Kill-sin 

- Tranquilla

-  Fear-the-Lord

Aaaaaand my very favourite:

  - If-Christ-had- not-died-for- thee-thou-hadst- been-damned

That's impossible, you might think, nobody would give their child such a ridiculous name. Well, let me prove you wrong: Meet Nicholas If-Christ-had-not-died-for-thee-thou-hadst-been-damned Barbon!

Horrible Histories made a great video about Puritans, you should definately watch it, it's hilarious. So is all the stuff Horrible Histories does, by the way!

Enjoy!

The Countess

Boredom+MakeUp+Picasa= WTF?

Okay, so I was kind of bored this evening and I own a 120 eyeshadow palette...This is the result:

Less edited

If the monster of Loch Ness and Doctor Who aliens had a love child this is how it would look like.

Don't ask me what happend there, I got a little crazy, I guess.

Well, good night,

The Countess

Bubbles

I wanted to share with you a picture that was taken aabout a year ago because I just found it after having forgotten that it exists. Because I like it. And because bubbles are awesome!

Have a great day and go make some bubbles!

The Countess

Pure randomness

This is an absolutely irrelevant update on my life. Nothing important, no cool outfits, no politics, just loads of pictures. So this is what happend during the last weeks and days:

I made some vegan Irish Soda Bread. Or at least I tried. The result is something that looks like the surface of the moon. Or a toad...

It did taste delicious though!

I got Young Avengers #1 Director's Cut via ebay for 3€ and a few weeks later I bought the Young Avengers Children's Crusade part 1 in a comic book store. They only had it in German but as I have already read the whole Young Avengers series in English I can now laugh about all the weird mistakes they made while translating. Billy calls Teddy "Boyfriend". In the German version. They didn't translate the word at all. No German person would refer to their boyfriend as "Boyfriend" in German. Never. Ever. Nevertheless Young Avengers is also cool in German. Not as great as in English but still...

Young Avengers #1 Director's Cut

YA Children's Crusade N°1

After a long time of being unbelievably unproductive I did not only start to write a paper about Clara Zetkin and her influence on women's rights, I also sewed a pencil case. I used to carry my pencils loosely in my bag end ended up never finding one because my bag is like Hermione's: Endless and full of misteries. 

I made it from some felt I got from my boyfriend's mum for Christmas. The wings have been lying in my sewing box for more than a year now so I thought now would be a good time to finally use them. They remind me of Wiccan's head thingy and of Thor of course. 

I had some felt left so I made another bag:

Detail shot: The little black things are parts of volcanic rock because stones are awesome.

I don't really know what to do with this second, smaller bag. Imke, any chance you want it?

I'm obsessed with a nail polish at the moment. It's Genius In the Bottle by Catrice and it is nothing but beautiful!

Because it looks fantastic with old gold jewellery I decided to wear my selfmade Oscar Wilde necklace with it for the first time. I love that pendant so much but I never got around wearing it.

Okaaay, what else? Oh right, I got my nose pierced but you won't see a photo until it is all nice and healed. Right now it is still red and half a red nose is not exactly the prettiest thing in the world... Speaking of red: I coloured part of my fringe pink but it came out more as a wine red which is perfectly fine with me.

It's the best quality I got. In all the other pictures the colour was kind of...wrong...

Excuse the bathroom picture. If Blogger was Myspace and this was 2005 I'd be cool.

Okay, enough randomness. 

Before I go to bed, hip hip hooray for 20 followers!
I'd like to get your opinion: What kind of blog posts would you like to see?

Daily random stuff? More life/politics? More outfits? I'm planning on doing more weird history facts, how would you like that? I could do the same with English...

Good night,

The Countess