On being goth

During the last weeks I have stumbled across some interesting posts about being goth so I thought why not give it a go for yourself? First of all: Stereotypes. There are various clichés and stereotypes that are shown on television and that are stuck in peoples minds and most of them a rubbish BUT: Some of them are true. They are what I call my guilty pleasures.

- I only wear black. Even if I see a clothing item that i like I won't buy it if it isn't black. It's my colour and I will stick to it, full stop. I do wear coloured tights occasionally or some coloured accessoires but that's it basically. My standard question in shops is and will always be: 'It's nice, do you have it in black?'

- I love, love, love platform shoes. I have tiny feet and huge platforms make them look weird and unproportional, I like it.

- My style rolemodels are Wednesday Addams from the Addams Family and Abby Sciuto from Navi CIS.

- I think bats are cute. I don't really wear bats as accessoires but the real life ones are simply adorable.

- I'm pretty crafty, I make my own jewelry etc...

- I am constantly overdressed and I don't give a damn. My clothes are not practical ore useful, they simply look good.

- I enjoy old literature such as Bram Stoker's Dracula, Oscar Wilde, Sherlock Holmes or Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. I even took a class called 'Gothic Fiction', it was amazing because we got to discuss popular gothic motifs, psychology (e.g. why Freud sucks), the modern vampire and why Twilight is neither spooky nor gothic.

-I like graveyards, I think they're pretty.

-I also like old churches and chapels, my favourite being the Cologne cathedral and despite the fact that the Count says otherwise, I CAN enter churches, thank you very much.

- I love the victorian era. As a feminist I, of course, would never want to actually live in that time but it still fascinates me.

- The goths shown in mainstream television are often nerds that would rather spend the night reading a book and drinking tea instead of going to a club. I myself have never been to a club, I have occasionally visited cocktail bars with friends but that's it. I'm pretty indoorsy.

Ok, so much about stereotypes but there are also many, many ungothy things about me:

- I don't like gothic music. So, 'why are you a goth then' you might ask. To me being gothic is a lifestyle and a lifestyle needs more than just music. Even though there are very popular gothic festivals here in Germany such as the Amphi or the WGT I don't really have the wish to go to any of these.

- I don't like skull motives, I don't find them appealing at all.

- I like pink. Yes, seriously.

- None of my friends are goth. They're all kind of alternative but not in a bat-loving, black, spooky way.

- I tan extremely fast and therefor I have given up trying to stay pale.

- I own about 70 different nail polishes and even though 11 of them are various colours of red most of them have very non-gothy colours.

- As the Count says: I'm not a night-person. Neither am I a day person. He says I'm asleep constantly.

- I have a spider phobia and I don't really like cats. They're kind of cool but scary...

- I'm also afraid of the dark.

You can probably see now why I don't only classify myself as goth but rather as a Quaintrelle. Who cares about labels, anyway?

I say love it is a flower

Spring is finally here, it's getting warmer, there are birds everywhere and one can spot the first flowers. Today, I went into our garden to cut a few flowers for my first attempt on pressing flowers. I thought I could share some photos I took yesterday to show you the beauty that is nature.

Here we go:

Have a great day,

The Countess

Literature

As some of you might already know I study English and history at the university of Cologne. During the last semester I had various courses on English literature and I don't think I have ever enjoyed studying more! Reading novels and plays that are regarded as part of 'the canon' most of the time means basically one thing: They're pretty old. Old means history which is my second major subject so reading those works of literature was like heaven to me. 

I had courses such as 'Gothic Fiction' where I read Dracula, Frankenstein and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde or 'Oscar Wilde and the Problem of Representation' where we discussed The Happy Prince, An Ideal Husband, The Importance of Being Earnest and (of course) Dorian Gray. For an other class I read The Great Gatsby and Twelfth Night. I loved every minute of these courses, they were interesting and inspiring and they gave me the opportunity to read books that I normally wouldn't have read. 

I already knew Dracula, Dorian Gray and The Happy Prince but it was nice to have a look at them again and to hear other people's interpretations of some of the images and rhetorical methods.

I bought all of the books in the 'Pnguin Popular Classics' edition not only because they are cheap (2,80€ each) but also because they have some wonderful extracts of art on their covers. I seriously fell in love with the look of these books. Now, whenever I get a new book that is a classic (such as Sherlock Holmes) I try to get the Penguin version. Maybe in a few years I will have a nice collection of beautiful affordable books.

Do you like the so called 'classics' of English literature? I myself am a big fan of Oscar Wilde.

Have a great evening,

The Countess

Playing snow white...

Last year when I went to Berlin during the holidays the Count and I made some new friends:

Aren't they adorable?

taking a bath

When was the last time you did something for yourself? 

We go to university or school, work, study, see friends, do our hobbies and go on dates. That is all nice and good BUT: Where in this tight schedules is the time that is reserved for us and only for us? When are we are not surrounded by other people, have our mobile phone right next to us or are logged into Facebook, Twitter or Tumblr?  

To me it is very important to take some time every single day and do something for myself. Most of the time that means taking a bath. I put some nice scented bath stuff in the tub, take a book that has absolutely nothing to do with the things I work on for university, put my PJs on the heater and lock the door. I don't even have to stay in the tub for a long time, the only matter of importance is that I do not have a limit, a point where I HAVE to get out. 

Source

I'm doing an internship at a library right now and even though it is the exact opposite of hard work, I had the strong need for some time for myself when I got home this evening. So I put my hair into a bun, took a nice bath, read Sherlock Holmes, shaved and put my wonderfully warm PJs on. It was like heaven. The PJs on the heater seriously make all the difference, fresh warm clothes are the best thing in the world after a bath. This is pure luxury to me.

Now I can finish the day with the second Sex and the City movie and a nice cup of Earl Grey tea.

What do you do when you want to have some quality time for yourself?

Have a wonderful evening,

The Countess

Sneak a peek

What is that going to be? Anyone have a guess? 

To quote my sister: "You know it's white, right?"

Have a lovely day, everyone!

I'm a nerd

...and proud! Nerd, geek, call me however you want. I don't take it as an insult and neither so my friends. Sometimes I forget how nerdy I am because my friends are all into physics, maths and computers and I am...not. Not at all. Still, I'm a pretty nerdy person.

One of my favourite youtube persons, Charlie McDonnell aka charlieissocoollike once made a video about things that make him a nerd. If you want to check it out, here it is: 

I thought I could also make a list of things that make me a nerd:

1: I am completely obsessed with Harry Potter. I have read every book at least ten (10!!) times, I own all of them plus the extra books in German and English. I was one of the lucky ones to get into Pottermore early (on the first day in fact) and even though I always wanted to be a Slytherin, I became a Ravenclaw. Honestly, it wasn't a real surprise. I listen to wizard rock (yes, that is a real thing, check it out on youtube!) and when I people call me Hermoine I take it as a compliment.

2:  I collect semi-precious stones. I love them. I once started to talk to a person at a party who was wearing one around his neck about stones. He turned and  went away. later, I was informed that stones are not an interesting topic to meet new people. Screw people.

3: I study history and I could talk about it the whole time. My favourite periode is the victorian era, my favourite historical person is Elizabeth I. and my favourite topics are women's rights, torture and human rights. 

4: I know how to juggle. I took a class at university last summer.

5: I also know how to ride a unicycle.

6: I embroider in my free time. I love to hand embroider on handkerchiefs.

7: I actually use handkerchiefs. I make them myself because the tissure ones are terrible for the environment.

8: I'm an active member of the Green Youth. I even hold an office in my local group. On the other hand, everyone there does.

9: I love TV series. My favourites are The Big Bang Theory, Dr. Who, BBC Sherlock, House MD, Bones, The Tudors, Six Feet Under and many more.

10: People compare me to Sheldon from the Big Bang theory and I don't really take it as an insult. I even got a t-Shirt for my birthday that says "I'm not insane, my mother had me tested!".

11: I don't think that intelligent people are supposed to be sporty. I also catch myself using "I don't need to be funny/sporty/polite/pretty, I am intelligent!"

12: I don't care if you have a masters degree in German or English, I WILL correct your grammar if you make a mistake.

13: I speak 6 languages: German, English, French, Spanish, Latin and Japanese. German is my native language, people from England ask me from which part of the UK I am so I suppose my English is pretty good aswell, my French and Spanish knowledges are good enough to survive in France and Spain and to make sure I only order vegan food there but I make grammar mistakes. My latin is pretty good but I haven't used it in a while becuase I don't have any medieval history classes at the moment and my Japanese is VERY basic, I only took one class at university.

14:  I started to call myself the good fairy when I was about sixteen and I never stopped. I have this whole idea that the good fairy is supposed to take care of the world and that every problem should be resolved with fairy dust.

15: I'll start an internship at a library in two days, simply because I always wanted to work in one.

What about you? What makes you a nerd?

 Have a great day,

The Countess