Brandy Melville: 2016 February Italy Trip Shopping!

Spent the afternoon contemplating whether I should go for the Brandy garage sale in Milan next week LOL. It sounds really tempting but transport is going to cost €60 return and accoms I could get it for about €20 so that would be €80 ... Sounds reasonable but considering the purpose to be just shopping, not really. I've already been to Milan like, 6 times so there's really nothing more I absolutely need to see plus weather isn't superb ... I just don't want to have to pay €80 to attend a sale with no expectations of what there's going to be!!

But anyway, in order to convince myself that it's not a worthwhile trip and that I already own way too much Brandy I decided to compile my buys from February's Italy trip! I've not blogged about Venice yet either - should get to it soon before I forget. This time round my trip was from Strasbourg - Milan - Rome - Florence - Venice - Milan - Strasbourg, so I went to the stores in Rome, Florence and Milan again. The same stores that I've already been, so everything was pretty much the same ... except the stuff on the racks of course. Especially the last chance rack omg. And also for Rome and Florence YL was with me so we were Brandy shopping buddies! Woop woop :)

Milano

I only had 5 hours for my transit so after having lunch with Lizzie there wasn't much time. We were at the Duomo so went to the Duomo store first but nothing much there, so I decided to make my way to the Via Statuto store since it was geographically closer to the Lampugnano bus stop (kind of). Didn't find much there either but I got a Reyna top in burgundy and a gold necklace!

Brandy Melville Reyna Top in Burgundy

Roma

In Rome YL and I went to the same 2 stores that I went the last time. The one on Via Del Corso is the biggest store in Rome and it was there that one of the girls told us that Brandy actually originated in Rome!! And there was also at least 2 stores in every zone (I'm supposing the municipals) but the rest were too far ... I only bought a black highneck velvet dress in Rome and a silver crystal stone necklace. The dress is one of the Italy exclusive items so they don't have it online and I don't have a photo of it, but it's quite a nice LBD though I think I already have enough LBDs ...

Firenze

Bought a lot of stuff in Florence. 9 items for €109! They had a sale rack omg the sale rack is absolutely amazing. I bought 2 striped Tori tops (one plain and one with the alien patch), 2 Mason Tops (one striped and one orange with the alien patch), a striped Kaitlyn top, an olive green Nathalie tank, a navy Abi knit sweater, a pale blue Betty sweater and a denim pouch with the alien patch. Super happy with the buys woop woop! Okay pictures are nice so:

Brandy Melville Tori Top in Stripes

Brandy Melville Mason Top in Stripes

Brandy Melville Kaitlyn Top

Brandy Melville Nathalie Knit Tank in Olive Green

Brandy Melville Abi Knit Sweater in Navy

Brandy Melville Betty Sweater in Pale Blue

Venezia

There was no Brandy store in Venice unfortunately :( A bit of a funny story here I actually managed to google an address - I think it must've been a very old address or something - in Mestre, went there, and it turned out to be ......... a hair salon. LOL. But weather in Venice was very nice and I bought some Murano glass pendants :D I think the nearest store to Venice is in Padova but was a bit out of the way to go.

Milano (again)

Milan round 2 was much better. LOL. I was initially supposed to stay 2 days in Milan and take a day trip to Genova on Saturday but decided to come back earlier one day so I cancelled the Genova trip. My bus was then at 4.45pm on Saturday instead of Sunday, so I had Saturday to shop. I had the 24h Urban Transport day pass this time, so taking the metro around was a lot quicker. Went to the store at San Giovanni first since I didn't manage to go the last time, but there wasn't anything new and no more sales so didn't get anything. Then went to the Duomo store, but they closed off the whole basement floor that day cause they were shifting around stuff I think so didn't feel like shopping around much there. But the Via Statuto store was great!! They had a whole bunch of stuff on last chance so I tried on a lot of stuff and bought most of them. Really wanted a nutmeg sweater but it was the last one and there was a massive hole at the front so didn't get it. Also regret passing on the Bite Me Cherry black sweater ah it was so cute but didn't think I would wear it very often. I bought 8 pieces of clothing there and 2 necklaces for €134 total, which was not bad considering I got 2 sweaters. Also I found the button-up corduroy skirts for only €15!!! I was meaning to get those the last time but they didn't have black in the store, and now there's a new navy colour too but both colours were on sale! And they were the last pieces ahaha I think there was another one in black but size M. It fitted more comfortably but was really baggy so I still went for the S. Anyway here are some of the stuff I bought!

Brandy Melville Joanne Tank in Olive Green

Brandy Melville Harriet Turtleneck Top in Black

(This is one of my favourite tops - wore it to the concert last night!)

Brandy Melville Gracie Knit Sweater in Light Blue

Brandy Melville Gracie Knit Sweater in Olive Green

Brandy Melville Klum Corduroy Skirt in Black

Brandy Melville Klum Corduroy Skirt in Navy

Brandy Melville Gwen Sweater in Blush Pink

Brandy Melville Leia Sweater in Burgundy

I had a hard time differentiating if the sweaters that I own are the Leia sweaters or the Ollie sweaters because they look so similar in the pictures, but decided that they were probably Leia's because the Ollie's tend to be of a thinner material. They also tend to snag easier because of the material. I was really tempted by the Ollie sweaters (and still am) especially the blue and pink ones but decided that I probably won't wear them as often for fear of snagging them. But I might still get them if I ever find them at a good price!

So that concludes my shopping for February - wish there would be one for March too LOL but am now thinking it's highly unlikely that I'm going to go cause it's just not worth it spending €80 just to go to the sale when I could probably get like a bunch of stuff with that amount on the usual sale racks. I've also been to Milan so many times, so I can't really use the excuse of "travelling and exploring" since it's unlikely that I'm gonna have time to see anywhere else LOL. And the sale stuff are probably gonna be from the winter collection but I prefer the summer collection so much more! And also it's going to be in the Via Statuto store and I think I've already bought enough stuff there and didn't see anything else that I really really want at the moment ......... Omg just trying to convince myself not to go LOL okay but I will go if by some miracle or other I can find cheaper transport there for like €10 like the last time or something LOL.

In other news I also got featured on Instagram by Brandy Melville Italy yesterday!!! Super happy and honoured, it came as a surprise really cause I got the notification that their account liked my photo and the next thing I knew ......... They tagged me in a photo. OMG. I feel like it was a major #achievementunlocked moment LOL. But still yes I'm super happy woop woop!
The post can be found here: https://www.instagram.com/p/BCktCGVyyNa/

Brandy Melville: 2016 January Italy Trip Shopping!

A GUIDE TO SHOPPING BRANDY MELVILLE IN ITALY

Got back to Strasbourg last Sunday and have been super busy this whole week! Had 16 hours of classes from Monday - Wednesday and was really tired but I wanted to blog about my shopping hauls before I forget LOL.

So as I've been blogging throughout the trip, I went to Italy from 1-10 January. It was the perfect way to start off the new year hahaha and I've basically been to all the main Brandy stores in Rome, Florence, Bologna and Milan, which is not a bad accomplishment really. January is also the beginning of sales in Italy!! So it was perfect timing really, minus the bad weather ...

[Omg I started the post on 14 Jan actually but only continuing now which is like 24 Feb LOLLOL been soooooo busy!!!]

So anyway, I wanted to post my shopping hauls from Italy!!

Roma

I arrived in Rome on 1 January, and went to the one at Via del Corso in the evening but it was too late and the store had already closed. Went to the store on Via Cola di Rienzo the next day with the 2 guys who had to sit on the steps and wait for me while I tried on clothes LOL. Also went back to the Via del Corso store that day to check out the store hehe. Didn't buy anything in Rome because it was just the beginning of my trip and I didn't want to have to carry the clothes to the rest of the cities that I was visiting. Actually meant to visit a 3rd store that's near the Villa Borghese on 3 Jan but unfortunately it doesn't open on Sundays, and the rest of the stores in Rome were too far out from city centre so I only went to a total of 2 in Rome ...

Store at Via del Corso

#Brandyselfie at the Via Cola di Rienzo store

Firenze

Left Rome for Florence on the morning of 4 Jan. My hotel in Florence was actually pretty near one of the Brandy stores (reasons why I booked that hotel lol) but we took a day trip to Pisa so only got back to Florence in the evening. But I still managed to visit the store near my hotel on the way back that day! It's pretty big and has a ground floor and a basement. Didn't buy anything cause the guys were with me so didn't want to keep them waiting, but I went back the next morning and spent like 2 hours there LOL. I bought a total of 6 items, which includes 5 tops and 1 dress!!

I bought a May Top in stripes, a white Mason Top, a grey speckled Genevie Top, an orange Nadine Top, the Margie Make My Day Top and a burgundy Laurel Dress. These were all on sale so total damage for 6 items = €69 HEHEHEHE.

The stuff were so heavy and I had to carry them up while climbing to Piazza Michelangelo ... NO REGRETS THOUGH HAHAHA. Also went to visit the other store near the city centre later that day, but didn't buy anything cause the store is quite small, like literally maybe just 2 rooms?

Bologna

Left Florence for Bologna on 6th Jan evening and arrived about 7pm so didn't go out in the evening. Went to the only Brandy store the next day. Bologna was part of my solo travels so I had the liberty to stay as long as I liked in the store. And the staff were so friendly!! They spoke english too. I was asking one of the guys if they would have sales in Milan as well (it was during sale period or saldi in Italy that time) and they seemed really amused.

Bologna store during sales

#Brandyselfie at the Bologna store

This is the exclusive Brandy Bologna paper bag.

I have to say, the sales were actually pretty decent. I bought a total of 3 items from the Bologna store, but they're all the exclusive Italian items so no stock images and don't think they can be found on the USA site. I bought a white button down shirt and a pair of jeans on the first day, then went back again on the second day and bought a lattice front dress in red. And they were all half price!!! So the jeans were really worth it cause it was only €29 when normally it would cost like at least €50 ... And the Bologna store has their own paper bags!! With the address printed on it hehehe and also the store interior was really really nice like they had these lacy ombre decos and stuff ... I would say it's one of my favourite stores! Total spent in Bologna = €58.50

Milano

Left Bologna for Milan on 9th morning. Checked into the hotel, went to meet M for breakfast and then basically spent the rest of the day shopping LOL. There are 3 stores in Milan and I've been to 2 but there was one at Via San Giovanni sul Muro that I didn't go the previous time when I went for Expo because it's closed on Sundays! I actually don't remember the order that I went in, but I definitely went to the one at Via Statuto and Via S. Giovanni twice LOL. So I think I went to the one at San Giovanni first since I didn't go the previous time. This store actually sells like home deco and stuff which are super cute! And I found the Kiara tank in paisley print there from summer!!! And the black floral Jacky dress too. But since it was the first store I didn't buy anything cause I didn't know what else I was gonna find in the other stores. Went to the Statuto store next because the two are really near each other, like they're literally on opposite sides of Castello Sforzesco hahaha. I bought a red striped Luana there because it was on sale for only €10. Then went to the store near the Duomo. The sales were quite crazy there lol they had many jeans for €15, but the quality wasn't really good like the material was super thin so they probably really just produced it for sale at €15 I guess? But I bought a formal shirt there for half price as well as the Armelle skirt for only €10?! They had a lot of other skirts and stuff on sale too but most were damaged :( Also bought 3 necklaces!!! Some accessories were on sale so necklaces were going for €3, bracelets for €2 and rings and earrings for €1.

After having seen all 3 stores I went back to San Giovanni store and couldn't resist buying the Kiara tank and Jacky dress even though they weren't on sale but the prints were from summer and I've been searching for the paisley print for ages! Then went back to the Statuto store and got the Klum Corduroy Skirt in burgundy and the Rosa Sweatpants in olive green. The Klum skirt is actually the same as the Bruce / Sena Skirt just that it has an inner elastic band at the waist which actually makes it more comfortable lol. Wanted to get it in black too but the store didn't have it and by the time I went back to the Duomo store it was already closed ... Total spent in Milan = €140.60

Stuff I bought in Milan, necklaces not shown

So that concluded my January Italy Brandy shopping trip!! Total damage = €267.60 for 19 items which I honestly think is not bad lol considering that it includes a pair of jeans too. Very very pleased with my buys!!

Left Milan at 7am the next day (10th Jan) to take the train to Basel then Strasbourg so no shopping then obviously. But it was a Sunday anyway so nvm!!

Store Addresses:

Rome: (There's supposed to be 6 on Google Maps but I only went to 2 ...)

- Via del Corso, 435, 00187 Roma, Italie - Open 1100-2000 everyday. This is apparently the biggest store in Rome! It's along the shopping street near the Spanish Steps.

- Via Cola di Rienzo, 136, 00197, Roma, Italie - Open 1030-2000 from Monday to Saturday, 1100-2000 on Sunday. This store is near the Vatican City.

Florence: (2 stores)

- Via Camillo Benso Conte di Cavour, 172, 50129 Firenze, Italie - Open 1000-1930 from Monday to Saturday, 1530-1930 on Sunday, but they close for siesta on weekdays from 1400-1530. This is the bigger store in Florence.

- Via Porta Rossa, 48r, Firenze, Italie - Open 1000-1930 from Monday to Saturday, 1530-1930 on Sunday, but they close for siesta on weekdays from 1400-1530. This is the store at the city centre.

Bologna: (1 store)

- Via Guglielmo Oberdan, 6/b, Bologna, Italie - I forgot to check the opening hours but think it's open until 2000 everyday and they probably open from 1000 or 1030. I THINK.

Milan: (3 stores)

- Via S. Giovanni sul Muro, 18, 20121 Milano, Italie - Open 1500-1900 on Monday, 1030-1900 from Tuesday to Saturday, closed on Sunday. This is the store with the homeware.

- Via Statuto, 16, 20121 Milano, Italie - Open 1030-1930 from Monday to Saturday, closed on Sunday.

- Piazza Cesare Beccaria, 5, 20122 Milano, Italie - Open 1030-1930 from Monday to Saturday, 1130-1900 on Sunday. This is the store near the Duomo, also the biggest store in Milan - it has 3 floors!

Decided to rename my post "A guide to shopping Brandy Melville in Italy" LOL. Gonna be updating on my February Italy (and Brandy) trip soon when I have time!!

Day 9: Milan

Omg super tired today!! Woke up at 5.30am because my train from Bologna to Milan was at 7.05am, much regrets for booking morning trains LOL but I think they were the cheapest. The train was so empty haha I guess not many people want to travel early on a Saturday morning. Check-out was pretty smooth, I just had to leave the keys on the door and make sure I had everything with me. The B&B I was staying at is called Stazione Centrale and I'd booked it via booking.com. Thought it would be a hotel at first but turned out to be a private-apartment-turned-B&B with 3 bedrooms and a shared toilet. But the location was prime hahaha it was literally right outside the station like just across the road from the exit! Less than 1 minute to go between the two LOL. Anyway I had a double room all to myself, and breakfast was provided but it was just a tray of snacks haha but suits me anyway LOL. There was also an espresso machine which I didn't use since I don't drink coffee, but there were plenty of other drinks available too even soy milk!! And I had a constant supply of juice hahaha the owner was nice even though he didn't speak much English. Also the toilet was really clean haha just that the shower was a bit weird because the water kept alternating between scalding hot and cold lol. But all in all it was quite a nice stay! If I didn't have so much luggage with me I might've picked a location closer to the city centre though haha.

Anyway, the train ride took about 2 hours and I slept a bit on the train. Arrived in Milan at 9.10am then went to drop my bags at the hotel. I was supposed to meet M at this pasticceria called Ernst Knam for breakfast so I got the bus there. It's supposed to be quite a famous chocolaterie but I guess it might be from Milan? Anyway when we arrived they didn't have tables and seats so we just bought some cakes and chocolates and went to M's place nearby to eat instead. Was a good catch-up session!

Went back to the hotel afterwards to check-in before heading out for my Brandy shopping LOL. I basically spent the whole day shopping hahaha the weather was awful anyway it was a light spray sort of rain and very foggy and visibility was like only 1km?! So there wasn't much point in sightseeing in such bad weather. I did want to visit the castle at first but I still passed by it on the way out from Brandy LOLLOL it's actually in the middle of 2 stores hahaha ... Anyway, I went to the San Giovanni store first because the last time I went on a Sunday it was closed! It's quite small but they had a lot of home stuff and deco. They also had a lot of the summer floral prints somehow and I spotted a whole rack of Eve shorts on the upper floor but alas I already have them all! Also saw a few floral Jadas and other dresses and the Jacky dress which I'd been contemplating! As well as a paisley Kiara tank. Tried on a lot of button-up shirts but they were all really oversized and not very suitable for formal occasions. Didn't buy anything from that store cause I wanted to check out the other stores first.

Went to the Via Statuto store next! They had a lot of items on 30% off in the basement but they were mostly the stuff in the autumn colours like rust orange and mustard yellow and baby blue. All the Alena dresses were 30% so they were only €19!! But I already tried the baby blue and it looks so weird on me and I've gone off Alena dresses for now so didn't get any. In the end I bought a burgundy striped Luana top that was on sale for €10! Also saw a ton of scrunchies there but I have so many already omg.

Finally went to the Duomo store after that. It was super crowded omg. They had a lot of jeans at €15 but the materials were all really thin so I didn't really want to get them. Tried on a couple of other shirts and there was a striped Peyton top at 50% for €16 but it was too cropped for me but the other shirt fitted perfectly! Then I went to the 1st floor (they have a basement, ground loot and 1st floor) and there was a whole rack of skirts at €10!!! But they were mostly the corduroy skirts with the full front zip which I didn't like and some Raquel skirts that looked way too big. Picked out an Armelle skirt in the end and got that even though it was slightly too big but I'd been eyeing it for ages! The material isn't as nice as Topshop's denim skirts though to be honest, and I think the skirt is one of the items manufactured in China. There was also a bunch of accessories on sale so I got 3 quite cute necklaces! Kind of regret not buying more omg ...

Spent ages in the Duomo store so by the time I left it was already past 5pm. Went back to the San Giovanni store as it closes at 7pm and got the Jacky dress and Kiara tank there! The Kiara tank was the last piece in store omg! It wasn't on sale but the Jacky dress had 10% off hehe. Then went to the Via Statuto store again and got the burgundy corduroy skirt with the elastic band (even though I already have the one without but this fits better) and bought the Rosa pants in olive green!! It's super comfy omg. Almost bought the Lima pants, they had the navy and olive green ones at 30% off but didn't really like the material of the pants and would rather spend the same amount on a pair of Rosa's. I really wanted the corduroy skirt in black (been meaning to get that the whole trip omg) but they didn't have it in store and the other stores would've been closed by the time I reached since it was already 7.30pm by then T_T And almost got the other Rosa's in the lightest grey but decided against it at the last minute again hahaha no fate. But my skirt!!! Aish. Also regret not buying more Rosa's when they were €25 in Florence omg. But anyway I didn't buy that much stuff!!! Still a bit of stuff to add into my luggage but hopefully will be okay ...

Anyway so that concludes my day LOL omg I need to finish packing now and super sleepy will continue tomorrow!!

Amo Milano

Sitting on the Flixbus going back to Strasbourg now and there's supposed to be wifi but it's not working very well ... And so this marks the end of my grand 10-day Scandinavia-Europe solo backpacking trip :( But it was so amazing haha and everything was actually so impromptu?! I like it better this way hahaha basically the only things I planned were the travel timings and even that I only booked everything in like beginning September. And October is over too! I was marking my calendar and I've actually spent half the month out of Strasbourg haha.

So I stopped when I was boarding the flight to Milan (oh shucks did I even publish the post I need to check). Slept the whole way on the flight because I was SO TIRED and even when I landed I still looked like a zombie with huge eye bags hahaha so super sleep deprived. Everything went pretty smoothly though, M came to fetch me from the airport (so super nice of him!!) then he showed me around Bergamo. Also he was driving, so that made everything a lot easier hahaha while I appreciate the convenience of knowing how to drive I don't know when I will ever bring myself to go learn ...

Anyway, Bergamo is an absolute GEM. I can't believe what I would've missed out if not for M bringing me there!! And I was lucky that the weather that day was brilliant. Actually I've been pretty lucky this whole trip with weather because it was nice and sunny in Stockholm and Copenhagen even though it was super cold last week. Then London had okay-ish weather, like it didn't rain during the day but it was drizzling at night when we were going back to C's place so that was annoying. But the weather in Milan was good!! So we drove up to the old town part of Bergamo and walked around. It's not huge, but I really liked the interior of the church that we visited. (And as always this will be a photo-less post but everything's already on my Instagram anyway. And VSCO.) I also tried polenta, which is this corn-flour dish (I think it's really similar to 玉米粥/窝头?!) for the first time and it was super filling T_T I couldn't finish it even though I'm usually super determined never to waste food. But still that didn't stop me from having 2 gelatos after that HAHA. I freaking LOVE gelatos omg damn sad I actually only ate 3 this time :( The first gelato shop we went to was called La Marianna, and apparently it's famous for inventing the stracciatella flavour. I kept thinking that it's cookies and cream but I was wrong!! It's actually milk with chocolate chips. So I got that with strawberry and that was my first gelato ^_^

After that we drove down back to the lower town. There is actually a BRANDY MELVILLE IN BERGAMO. That I didn't know about!!! But it was closed T_T so I am determined to go back again ahh they have a siesta thing between 12.30pm - 4pm and we went around 2-ish so arghhh why do they do this!! T_T Okay but I will definitely have to go back again HAHA. So we went to get another gelato instead and this time it was at La Romana (or something). I got pistachio and pear!! 2 gelatos in a day felt very accomplished LOL.

Drove back to Milan after that and we went back to M's place for tea. Again I need to say it's damn shiok to travel around by car HAHA new experiences every time woop woop!! We wanted to get to the Expo by 6-ish since the night tix only allowed entry after 6, and it took about half an hour to get there by car. Super sian that the sun sets so early in winter it was almost completely dark by then T_T

Arrived at the expo around 6+. It was HUGE. To get to the actual place we had to cross this white bridge. But everything was very fascinating haha it was like a huge festival. So that makes 2 mega events I went to since term started hahaha Oktoberfest and Expo Milano. The Japan pavilion was supposed to be the nicest but it was already closed when we got there, so we just went into the Estonia pavilion randomly and sat on swings. Also saw the USA pavilion. The rest of the pavilions had too long queues and there wasn't much point to wait. But we saw the light show at the Tree of Light!! It was AMAZING omg and I really really loved the music hahaha they had Vivaldi's summer in there! And we went to the side so we were pretty close and got a rather good view. M's Chinese friend MX came to join us afterwards and we had pizza at EATaly hahaha I think that was my first pizza in Idk how long, maybe since April when we ordered Dominos in Argyle?!? HAHAw. Left the Expo around 11 and M drove us back, super grateful otherwise I would have had to find the Airbnb place by myself hahaha. But anyway J and the rest were already back by then so I just had to ring the bell. The Airbnb was a loft and it was so nice omg!! There was even a spiral staircase HAHA I have an obsession for spiral staircases now after the one inside Copenhagen's Botanical Gardens. But yeah the apartment was huge and damn shiokkk. Was super tired by then since I didn't sleep the night before so I just bathed quickly and slept because my eyes couldn't even open anymore HAHA. Almost forgot to set my alarm but luckily I remembered and had to force myself to get up to set my alarmS LOL.

31/10/2015:

Woke up at 6.30am even though my alarm was set for 6.15am omg super sorry for waking up J who was sharing the same room as me cause they weren't intending to get up so early T_T I was supposed to meet M at the Pta. Venezia metro station but luckily it was only 12 min away from the Airbnb place. We went to the expo early to queue for the Japan pavilion!! Arrived at about 8+ even though the gates only open at 9, but they let us in slightly earlier and people were actually RUNNING to the expo LOL. Despite going there so early there was already a super long queue at the Japan pavilion and the staff told us that the waiting time was 6 hours. SIX FREAKING HOURS. I didn't believe him at first but turned out it was true lol. But yeah, we waited for 6 hours. At least there was free wifi in the expo so it wasn't that boring HAHA could be worse. And I think most people who went on the last day were Italians because everyone around me were speaking Italian and I had to keep asking M for translations T_T Feeling the need to learn more languages now to facilitate my travels HAHAHA.

Finally got into the pavilion at around 3pm holyyyy it was really a 6h wait lol ... Apparently there was 1000+ people in front of us O_O But the queue went around the pavilion building so we couldn't really tell how long it was. I don't think I've ever queued so long for anything besides the Brandy Carnaby sale in May LOL but hopefully this kind of things don't happen again HAHA I mean I won't even bother queueing for the new iPhones ... Okay but the Japan pavilion was really really cool so it was rather worth the wait I guess? I mean it's not like we could've done anything else in the 6h when it was so crowded haha. There was this amazing wall of FOOD (pictures not real food sadly) in one of the rooms haha omg I want to eat the whole wall LOL. Then there were quite a few videos but the best part was the Restaurant of the Future at the end! And I still don't know how to use chopsticks the correct way hahaha mega disgrace T_T But the last part was probably why it took so long to wait cause there were limited seats and each show is quite long.

After the Japan Pavilion M's other friend A came to join us, then we went to get food and look at the shops. I bought this super pretty weaved bracelet from Cruciani in ombré pink and now I'm regretting not getting another one ... Wanted to wear it as an anklet but I think now I 舍不得 cause so nice so I'll keep it on my wrist HAHA. Then we went to the Open Air Theatre for the closing ceremony :D Super hyped that I got access thanks to M and A hehehe!! There were a lot of speeches though mostly in Italian but they had French and English translations so I was technically still revising French in Milan :P But I really wanna learn Italian now!! It's similar to French so it'll probably be easier to learn via French than English anyway. But yes the closing ceremony was really cool and they had fireworks in the end! We wanted to take pictures on the stage but sadly they didn't let people up anymore.

We went to eat again at EATaly afterwards and I finally had some legit Italian / Milanese (according to M) risotto HAHA (but was a complete waste cause it all came out afterwards T_T). Also had wine!! I've missed it hahaha haven't had any since like last Wednesday?? Then we walked around and wanted to go to the bar at the Russia pavilion, but it seemed close until some guys ushered us up a secret flight of stairs ... To the rooftop bar where there was a party going on LOL. I think it was some exclusive Russian party but we were there anyway. Drinks were free!!! BELUGA VODKA. HAHAHA. But I was gone after 2 drinks 2 shots and a bit more when the guy came around and just basically shot vodka into people's mouths LOL. So I don't remember the rest and hopefully I didn't do anything stupid even though M said I was okay. He sent me back then J came out to get me too ... Very very grateful again for friends that you can trust to take care of you T_T But I felt very bad for being a burden, AGAIN T_T Hopefully things like this don't happen again omg lol. And it was Halloween!! No Halloween party this year but I think partying on a rooftop bar Russian style in Milan Expo was pretty worth it HAHAHA.

01/11/2015:

Woke up this morning on the freaking floor HAHA but J put a duvet on me. But I was perfectly fine and actually got a solid 9 hours of sleep hahaha. Quickly packed cause I was leaving today while the rest are only leaving tomorrow. Then we went for breakfast/brunch/lunch even maybe?? It was this place called café Sansovino that was only a few stations away and THE CAKES AND PASTRIES WERE SO GOOD?! I bought 8 of the small cakes at first and then went for a second round with pistachio mousse and 2 other cakes ^_^ Then we nua-ed at the café cause they wanted to wait for the new batch of croissants that never came out :( So we left around noon then they went to the castle area (which I only just discovered so I have to go next time!!) while I headed for Brandy Melville. FINALLY!!! I didn't even go for the whole of Friday / Saturday and only the Cesare Beccaria store is open on Sunday :(

Wanted to deposit my luggage at Centrale at first but it was too out of the way and in the end I just left it at the Brandy cashier counter. The staff were really nice about it! But I spent like 2 hours there HAHA I bought 2 signboards, 1 pencil case, 1 pair of pants, 3 Brya skirts, the grid print Abigail dress, the Ellery top that I tried on in Basel but didn't get and 2 other tops! They have the Alena dress in new colours of mustard yellow and baby blue but they didn't really suit me even though they look so cute on their own. And I find Brandy's new colours so weird HAHA like bright colours are so not Brandy?? Idk hahaha. And I was really lucky to have gotten the Brandy Melville signboard!!! Been wanting it for like the longest time ever but it's usually not for sale at their stores. I think I saw it in the Stockholm store but it was 220SEK and it'd have been impossible for me to lug it all the way from Stockholm anyway so I didn't buy :( But it was only €15 at the Milan store!!! And it was the last piece HAHA I was at the counter explaining to the guy that I wanted more signboards, then he asked me which ones I wanted cause there were a few more California and Madrid ones behind the counter. I told him I wanted the big Brandy Melville one on top and surprisingly he said "Yes you can buy it" and I was like REALLY?! Then he got it down for me and told me I could only buy that and not the ones above (which I didn't even see) and it's actually the last piece!! So I was freaking lucky hahaha omgggg. And it's HUGE haha it can't fit into my duffel bag so I had to carry it separately but the Brandy paper bag broke halfway so I had to throw it away T_T

Walked to over to the Duomo to take a few photos, then took the metro to this station called Cairoli where there was supposed to be another Brandy store open on Sunday. I found the store alright, but it was closed even though Google said it opens on Sundays! But it was probably a good thing anyway cause it was already close to 4 by then and if I stayed any longer I would probably miss my bus at 4.45. So I just went to Lampugnano quickly and it was quite easy to find the Flixbus. Also bought a new phone cover with Tour Eiffel (cliché I know but I'm in France!) on the way cause my current one is breaking and a rainbow weaved anklet woop! Then I boarded the bus quite early and have been on it since then.

It's 11.30pm now so I've been on the bus for like, 7 hours already? And we've just arrived in Freiburg one more hour to Strasbourg! I can't say this more but I'm really really happy with this trip HAHA and very very thankful for amazing friends who hosted me literally everywhere!! And honestly travelling experiences are the best hahaha I just have this perpetual urge to go everywhere now but sadly my November isn't gonna be as hectic and wild as October hahaha. Also having 3 exams and 1 commentaire exposé so gonna be spending lots of time in the library!! But right now I just wanna get back quickly to my room in Strasbourg and unpack and rest HAHA.

Travels + Happy New Year

It's 2015! Been a long time since I last posted, school + winter break was completely packed. I don't even remember how I survived Term 1 with 2 rehearsals a week, 5 concerts, 6 mods and 1 essay due. And there was so much stuff for Music Soc, hopefully Term 2 won't be so bad as it's just going to be opera and strings have one concert and I'm so thankful that I've found a proper concert venue. Was literally freaking out over the past week after having emailed about 20 churches in the vicinity and getting quotes going up to 800 quid a night?! But at last one of them replied and I went to see the church yesterday morning and it was a perfect location. So that's one thing done.

Over the winter break I travelled for about 3 weeks which explains why it's the night before school reopens and I've still not completed my work. I went to Switzerland and Italy the first Monday of Christmas break, and came back a few days before Christmas. In Switzerland we were in Geneva but didn't really do that much, I can't really remember what we did except going around the city center, travelling to Montreux to see le Chateau de Chillon, going up to La Cure and trying to find the Old Town on the last day. Switzerland was really expensive, the cheapest meal we could find around was 17CHF and I'd only changed 150CHF for 3.5 days which was not enough. For one thing the train tickets costed about 40 or 80CHF for a return so a lot of our money went out to transport. Food was also really expensive with the exception of Lindt chocolates so we ate mostly bread and ham and chocolates there. I felt so unhealthy as we didn't eat any vegetables for the whole time so I had to get a coleslaw on the last night.

We took the train from Geneva to Milano Centrale. I really wanted to visit Milan and it was primarily because I wanted to go to the Brandy Melville stores there. Upon arriving at Milano Centrale, we got scammed while buying the metro tickets. It was a lot harder to read and communicate in Milan as opposed to Geneva because the people spoke French in Geneva so I could at least understand and reply in French, but Italian was just foreign. Anyway, we were having difficulties reading the instructions on the ticketing machine and not realising that there was actually an English option when this HORRIBLE man came up to us and offered his help. I was quite confused at that point in time so I stupidly accepted his help. The metro tickets costed 3 euros and I had exact change in coins, but the man claimed that the machine doesn't accept coins?! So I wanted to put in a 5 Euro note and he pointed to the machine where the 5 Euro words were scratched out and said I could only put in 10 Euro. I should have realised at this point he was a freaking scammer but no I don't know what was wrong with me then. So I put in the 10 Euro, he gave me the tickets after they were dispensed when I could've just picked them up myself, swooped away all the coins and handed me back a 1 Euro coin. WTF??? He was still holding another coin in his fingers so I actually snatched it back and then he disappeared with a smirk. And then I realised I'd only gotten back 3 Euros in change which means he just stole 4 Euros from me?! Was completely shocked that things like this could actually happen in public and we couldn't get any help. I later found out it was actually a common tourist scam. Ugh Milan is SO DAMN DODGY but lesson learnt.

The airbnb that we got in Milan wasn't as nice as the one in Geneva as well. The son of the person that I booked with messaged me via airbnb at the last minute saying he had work and won't be around that evening but obviously I wouldn't have had wifi on the train so I didn't see the message until we were like at his doorstep. Thank goodness his flatmates were in so they opened the door for us. I mean the room was pretty decent and all but the whole place reeked of cigarettes so I've learnt to check for No Smoking when booking airbnb. The only consolation was that food in Milan was actually affordable in comparison with Geneva, and I had some extra Euros left over from last year's trip to Barcelona so I was feeling a lot less poor than I had felt in Geneva.

We only had 3 days in Milan so we didn't really do much besides shopping and visiting Lake Como. Lake Como was really beautiful and I definitely spammed a lot of pictures there on instagram LOL. It was quite misty on the day we went but nonetheless the scenery was still worth it. We wanted to visit Castello di Vezio and climbed all the way up only to discover that it was apparently closed in winter ... Also had 2 gelatos there hehe. BTW in Italy if it's a single scoop of gelato it actually means double LOL cause they allow you to mix up to two flavours! And who cares about painstakingly making sure that the scoops are perfectly round balls (ahem sg), the Italians just slap the gelato onto the cone and voila the taste makes up for everything! I think I had 8 scoops in 3 days hehehe.

The highlight of my Milan trip was actually Brandy Melville LOL. Went to both the stores on 16 via Statuto and Via Cesare Baccaria (sp?) and I spent a hundred euros there LOL. The first store we went to actually had this sale basket with everything going at 10 Euros holy shit! I didn't even see the basket at first so I spent a long time looking around because I couldn't bear to leave the place without buying anything. In the end I picked out 2 striped long sleeve tops, one in a navy base with white stripes and the other one vice versa (my problem of having to buy the same thing in different colours). They were only 15 Euros each and actually costed cheaper than if I were to buy it in the US (cause of US tax and shipping and all). So I paid for those and decided to take one last look around and that was when I saw the sale basket. OMG. Apparently it had been there the whole time but I just don't know why I didn't see it earlier! So yes I raided the entire basket and found tons of things from the summer collection that I've been wanting for ages like the Heather skirts and Kaitlee skirts and this blue suede skirt that I've been looking for. So super happy with my buys ^_^ At the other store they didn't have this amazing basket unfortunately, but they had those cute wooden signs in the Brandy Stores and I've ALWAYS wanted one of those. There weren't many designs though and I contemplated getting one of Paris but it didn't really make sense since I didn't apply to Paris for my year abroad which means it won't be relevant to me in the near future lol. The one that I really, really want would be one that says LONDON or one of those proper Brandy Melville ones with the pink wooden heart in the center! There was also this really nice food market next to the Duomo, and lots of shops around the Duomo as well. We discovered shops that were really similar to Brandy - what is with Italian labels taking the American style anyway?? And then walked to this outlet (can't remember where) which was rather disappointing ... Didn't do much on the last day because to be honest Milan is actually quite boring after you've seen the cathedrals and the shopping so we went to the airport a few hours early and used wifi there hahaha -_-

Came back to London for Christmas and didn't really do much except playing Pokemon LOL and had a relatively peaceful Christmas except for the I Hall christmas gathering! Then it was Boxing Day which was quite disappointing this year and the sales weren't that good. I ended up only buying like a bar of soap from LUSH (which wasn't even on sale please) and a down jacket and 4 heattechs from Uniqlo (which I ended up returning 3) so yuppp. Trying to cut down.

The day after Boxing Day we left for Norway! It was absolutely freezing there and I was wearing like 4 layers - heattech, fleece, down, hooded coat (cause my other jackets didn't have hoods). The cold really hurts LOL like my hands were hurting even though I was wearing gloves. We actually reached the airbnb place at about 4pm and decided to laze around and watch tv and not knowing that the Oslo Brandy Melville does not open on Sundays T_T And it also does not open on public holidays i.e. New Year's, and those were the only two days we were going to be in Oslo ugh. This is my major regret lol. We brought food to Norway so hooray for Nongshin instant noodles! On Sunday we went to visit some of the museums, and did I mention it was the first time I saw proper snow! The snow in Switzerland didn't count because it was mainly ice flakes. But WHITE SNOW. SO PRETTY.

We took the train to Bergen the next day and stayed in Bergen for 3 days. It was snowing the morning we arrived and we took a long time to get to our airbnb place because it wasn't that near the city center and the snow from the previous days were knee deep. The place was on the top of a hill so it was quite difficult to climb up as the snow had covered the steps leading up. Some of the snow on the roads had melted so it was more like dirty slush. BUT SO MUCH SNOW. I've never seen so much snow before. 

There wasn't much to shop in Norway, but I got some cute socks from this shop called Cubus and the material feels very soft, almost exactly like Brandy's micromodal material. The highlight of our Bergen stay was the Gudvangen Fjords tour and also NYE fireworks. The Fjords tour took one whole day and it was on a ferry so it was really cold but it was all worth it. We stopped at Flam and had lunch there and walked around the very small town before taking the bus back to Bergen. NYE was pretty chill, the view of the fireworks was amazing since we were at the top of the hill. Travelled back to London on 1 Jan so that was the end of my travelling for now!