Things to do in London: Greenwich Park – The Middle of Time

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DSCF3769Good evening guys!

I hope you have all had a great long Easter weekend!

I had work the first three days of holidays but yesterday I finally had my first day off. Greg and I hadn’t got to spend a lot of time together for a while as we have had such different schedules, so yesterday we decided to spend some quality time together.

We went to Greenwich Park, which isn’t too far from where we live. I first thought we had had some bad luck with the weather, but as the day went on it cleared up and we ended up having a great time at Greenwich.

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Greenwich Park is so beautiful and it has a great view over the city of London. With Canary Warf in the background and the city itself a bit further in the horizon it is a perfect spot for a day date in the city!

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For those of you who doesn’t know (I didn’t make the connection until we were there) this is where the GMT, the Greenwich Mean Time is set. Meaning that the time of the worlds is set from that point. Anywhere that is 3 hours before us is GMT +3 and somewhere that is 5 hours behind us if GMT -5. Pretty cool right? As Greg and I was talking about, it is as if we are standing in the middle of time, right where it starts. Not only is time set from Greenwich, but also longitude and latitude is based of Greenwich Park. The longer longitude and latitude it is on a map, the further away you are from Greenwich. So being at the top of Greenwich park, one can think that you are not only where time is set from, in a way you are also in the center of the world. I thought that was pretty amazing to think about!

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We walked around the park, philosophized about time and distance, grabbed a coffee and sat down watching all the people and dogs in the park.

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We saw this beautiful Golden Retriever and I started nagging Greg for a dog again. He said something about us not having a garden but I chose to ignore that and continued my campaign to get a Golden Retriever haha.

After the park we went for lunch in Greenwich before heading home for a cheat day of Chinese food, chocolate, cheesecake and a couple of movies.
All in all it was the perfect day.

I think it is so important in a relationship to take time to spend quality time together, such as going to the park, to lunch or just for a walk every now and then. It is so easy to slip on that especially when living together. I would hate for us to just fall into a routine of work and home, not really appreciating each other.
I can tell already after one year of living together that that is an easy trap to fall into so these dates is important to me.

Today we are back to weekdays, Greg has just come home from work and I have spent the day studying. I went a bit overboard with the sweets last night so I have been feeling a bit unwell today. But as yesterday was Easter I will give myself a pass on that.

I hope all you guys have had an amazing weekend and a great start to the week!

– Camilla

7 Day Wellness Challenge

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Good morning guys!

Today is the start of my “new life” as I am starting a 7 days challenge to get myself back to a healthy lifestyle. The reason I am doing a 7 days challenge is to not put too much preassure on myself and thereby fail, but instead set my self a goal of 7 days.

I have struggled to be healthy lately in many ways. I have been snacking overly and not eating enough nutritious foods, I have not been drinking nearly enough water and my work out routine has been long forgotten. In addition to that I have been struggling to get to sleep and have a good sleep routine.

By not giving my body the right fuel it needs it has affected other areas of my life. I am starting to fall behind on uni work as I am having troubling concentrating, I feel out of energy, and less happy and I in general dont feel well on a daily basis.

Last week I tried to change my routines, but it fell trough. I dont think I felt motivated enough and it was easy to fall back into being unhealthy after just a day or two. I believe that lifestyles can be quite addictive and that is what I want to change now! My life style.

So in the 7 next days I have decided to stay away from snacks, work out 6 of 7 days and have salad of vegetables with every meal. I will drink between 1 liter and 1,5 liters of water a day and take my vitamins. I will also get up before early and go to bed early, with the exception of the days when I am working late, on which I will go to bed once I get home.

What I am hoping to get out of this are six things:

  1. To get a better health
  2. To feel happier in general
  3. To have an easier time concentrating
  4. To gain HEALTH weight and not unhealthy
  5. To get a better healthier looking skinn
  6. To start a better lifestyle for my self that I can uphold.

I will fill you guys in every day on my feelings and progress and any challenges that I might come across. I hope to inspire some of you and be open about difficulties I will face. It will also be a good motivation for myself to report my progress on the blog. Hopefully it will be a report of successes and not failures!

Well guys, as scheduled I am off on my run and stating the first day of my new healthy life! Wish me luck!

If any of you have some tips, advice or experiences on this please leave me a comment!

Have a super day everybody!

– Camilla

Terror in London

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I never want to make my blog political and I try to stay away from writing about my opinions about current affairs. However living in London and writing my blog about my life in London, today it seems unnatural not to share my thoughts or at least mention the terror attack that happened at Westminster this afternoon.

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According to the BBC four people have been killed and at least 20 are wounded.

I had just come home today, when I turned on the TV and it said that there had been a terrorist attack by the Houses of Parliament. I first thought about Greg, because he works so  close to the site and my immediate thoughts was that he could have gone there for lunch. My worries for him were calmed fast though as I saw that it happened after he would have been due to be back at work after lunch long before this happened, so that he would have been at his office when this took place.

Looking at the TV today though filled me with sadness and made me start to wonder about life, the way that these things always make you do.

Wherever a terrorist attack happens it is a tragedy and horrible for the people involved, for those losing a loved one and for the people walking around feeling that fear of terror in their body and in their streets. All lives count the same and everyone treasures their lives and the loss of a life is the same for anyone, that is a given. Of course when an attack happens close to you however, and you feel that this could have happened to you, where you are or where you might have gone you think of it more. I feel that we all walk around thinking in the back of our minds that such a terrible incident could not happen to us or where we live regardless of if that is true or not. It is how we survive and go about our day. So of course when it does happen you get surprised and shocked.

I remember when the Terrorist Attacks happened in Paris on November 13th 2015. I worked in a bar at the time here in London and when I came home and saw the news I felt very touched by it personally. Much because it was in a big European capital like London and also because the shooters shot down many places similar to my own work. This gave the added feeling of identification with the victims because it felt as though they had  a very similar night to my own up until it happened and it gave me a feeling that it could have happened at my job during my night just like it could with them.
It is the same thought that makes me feel strong about the London attack today, the fact that you walk so many times on that exact spot it happened and the feeling that I could have just as easily been walking here today or someone I love could just as those unfortunate people today or this could have just as easily happened when I walked here not long ago.

I think that is some of the effects terror has on us, the feeling that we are not safe  where we are and that if it could happen to them, it could happen to us which is so unfortunate and a part of the desired effect.

Earlier I was thinking of how this morning I was stressed and worried about what is going on in my life and when things like this happens you realize how small and insignificant these things are. Those poor people who died today do not have worries to wake up to tomorrow and they had no idea this morning. Their loved ones would most likely have good and bad things on their minds with their morning coffee and now those things are all over shadowed by what happened today and the grief that comes with it.

I feel bad for people in our community that might experience more racism, bullying and exclusion after today as well. In my experience this is something that often happens, people lash out at innocent people who had nothing to do with the incident because of their own ignorance. I hope that that does not happen this time, and lets remember to be kind towards one another and please do not put responsibility where it doesn’t belong with innocent people who had nothing to do with this. We have to be nice and kind towards each other even after such a terrible and tragic event.

I feel so sad for the people that lost their lives today, for the brave policeman risking his life and dying for the safety of others and for everyone grieving. I will be praying for them all and that we will all just start being nice to one another and stop hurting each other.

– Camilla

Sick or Worried?

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Good morning guys!

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I have had the worst night leading up to today. I was a little short of breath yesterday and just after I went to bed last night it got really bad and I felt really dizzy and very short of breath.
I couldn’t sleep and laying down I felt even worse, so I got up and just sat up in the sofa relaxing.

I thought it could be that I was slight dehydrated so I made sure to get a few bottles of water to drink from which helped a little.

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I have so many things going on at the moment and my head is in so many different places right now. I am not fond of change either and with the end of my degree at Uni coming to an end and a new routine about to start when the exams are done is stressing me out. I am not sure why, because I know there is a good chance that much better things are coming after Uni. I am actually excited to see what will happen after Uni and I feel excited by all the opportunities, both with the possibility of going into working and starting my career or doing a post grad. The opportunities are endless and I love it, but at the same time the thought of the unknown is making me feel stresses. Perhaps it is the possibility of failure or something bad happening, I don’t know.

I also know that so much of my future depends on me doing well at Uni for the next few months and also to seek out opportunities outside of Uni now, such as internships, or a job I could enjoy that would be towards what I want to work with in the future. Basically I feel the pressure to stay on top of things much more this semester.

I don’t know if me feeling unwell stems from a bug or just being under the weather, or if it is my subconscious freaking out a little. I am still feeling a little unwell and I think I will take the morning today to relax and recover, and hopefully feel better. I hope I will feel better during the day, so I can get back to work and hopefully relieve some of the pressure or at least not add to it by being taken out of action for some time.

In the early mornings today I started watching an old season of “Keeping up with the Kardashians” and made myself a few cups of tea. It helped a little, I am still feeling a little out of breath and shaky but better than last night. If nothing else, zoning out to a show and enjoying a cup of hot beverage does take your mind of feeling ill.

I wish you all a great day, and hopefully I will be feeling better and have something more fun to report next time!

– Camilla

Goals for the week

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Its  a new week and a fresh start! Time for new goals and a clean slate!

Everyone always talk about how they hate Mondays, but I actually quite like them. It feels like a new start, just as the beginning of the year feels like.

I also often work long hours on the weekend and at the end of the week since I am a student on week days so that might be a part of my love for Mondays. Uni life feels more relaxed than working hours, even though the uni work load is much more. It  is probably because the hours you study is more flexible to manage that hours that you are at work.

Since it is Monday today and a new week is commencing, I have set myself 5 simple goals for the week:

  1. Go for a Run and exercise minimum 4 times
  2. Eat healthy the entire week, and only have chocolate or candy 1 day in the week
  3. Spend minimum 35 hours on uni work this week
  4. Answer messages as soon as they come and keep in touch with friends
  5. Stay positive

  This Monday has been a great start to the week. I have been for a lecture at uni that was really interesting, cleared up at home a little bit and made Greg and I tacos for dinner.
Here are a few pictures from my day today so far;

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I will take the rest of the evening off now, and watch some Big Bang Theory or Silent Witness on the TV when Greg finishes his play station game.

What goals have you guys made for the week?

 

– Camilla

New Job!

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Good morning guys!

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This morning I have been for  a run, done some exercises and now I am enjoying my breakfast whilst watching the Kardashians and gathering the energy for a productive day. Wohoo!

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I have fallen slightly behind on my uni work the last few weeks, so I have some major catch up to do over the next few days.

A week ago I got an extra job as a waitress! As the summer is sneaking up on us slowly but surely I felt that I needed some extra money for holidays and etc, not to mention that uni is soon over and I dont know yet if I will be able to go for my masters after the summer or how long it will take me to get a full time job if I dont go on studying straight away.

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I really like my new job and the people there, much more than I thought I would actually, however I have to be very disciplined with getting my work done for uni now that I am working more  hours than  am used to and the last few days has been a bit of a slip. But that all changes today!
I am getting super stressed that we are already in March, both in terms of all the work I have leading up for the end of the term, but also that three years of uni is coming to an end. I defiantly feel that I am not done studying and the unknown about what I will be doing after the summer is quite stressfull. Time is just going to fast and I almost feel that life is passing me by! That might be a bit of a stretch but you get what I mean. Therefore I feel that it is super important that I make the most out of the next two months to stay on top of everything.

I got next to no sleep last night, so that will be a challenge when I am trying to read and learn today, but with a few cups of coffee and some good old will power I think I will be alright.
Luckily I got of to a good start with my work out and a good energetic breakfast. I also have a few errands to run today, such as getting a haircut for my poor neglected hair!

What are you guys up to today?

I wish you all a good and productive day!

– Camilla

 

Cleaning Out my Closet, Cleaning Up my Life

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Good morning!

Monday is here and I am hoping it is the start of a great and productive week!

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Last night I started planning for the week, and as I did that I also cleaned up at home!
One of the things that was long overdue was my closet. I am somewhat of a horder, especially with clothes. I can never seem to be able to let anything go, and with too many clothes for my closet it is a constant mess! Half the clothes I owe are stuff I never wear, even wrong sized clothes I hang on to in the fear that I might one day not have anything to wear and need some emergency clothing.

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It is actually working against it’s purpose with me always being in a rush in the morning combined with a chaotic closet always leads to me not finding anything to wear and end up dressing like a klutz.
Not to mention our bedroom always being in a state of chaos.
So I decided to put an end to all that and finally go through it. I filled up an entire bin bag to give away!

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Much better!

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Finally – A closet where I can actually find my clothes!

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I am hoping and planning for the closet change to be the metaphorical start to a much better week than the one that passed. A boarder separating last week to the coming week.

The week that passed was such a mess with to many unfortunate incidents and me failing to meet any of my goals.

Last week started well with many outings and fun. I ate healthy, worked out and spent my days with productivity.

Well, as the storm came to London it blew away my motivation and whisked me with bad luck.

I let my diet go, ate loads of sugars and cut back on nutrient food, leaving me feeling bloated, out of energy and unwell. I “forgot” my exercise and I overslept nearly every night, making it hard to fall asleep in the evening and then I was caught in this really bad sleep routine. Fortunately I didn’t have anywhere I needed to be early, but still –  bad.

To top my week of, on Friday I was out with one of my friends and I lost my phone! It was stolen out of my bag! Four years in London and my first theft incident so I guess I am lucky, but still so very annoying.
So yesterday I had to go get a cheap phone so people can reach me and now I am stuck with this really old phone that is super hard to use. But at least I have a phone and can be reached!

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What a week, fortunately that’s over! 

So, that was my week – a fiasco of a week, but fortunately that is over now and a new week is upon us!

I have already started well, I have been for a long run, did my exercises, had a shower and I am now doing my makeup. All ready for my 9 am appointment and a good start to the week!

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I wish you all a great Monday, and hope to report with good news throughout the week!

– Camilla