The Hunger Games Inspired

"Arts enables us to find ourselves

and lose ourselves 

at the same time"

I do arts occasionally, maybe once a month or whenever I'm in the mood. I used to use pens or pencils to draw and sketch but lately I've been into using watercolors. I don't know why. Maybe because I love the feeling that I get when I'm lost in the process, when I'm in my own world, when it's just me and my passion and nothing else. I'm addicted to that feeling, I think. 

Anyway, this one is The Hunger Games, Effie Trinket inspired with some taburan bunga as usual ;)

Watercolor brand: Winsor Newton

Paper: 300gsm Canson Watercolor Paper

Travelogue | Spain - Cordoba, Granada and Barcelona

"And then I realized,
adventures 
are the best way
to learn"

Honestly I don't feel like writing separate posts for my Spain trip, so I'll just conclude everything in this post! We only went to Cordoba, Granada and Barcelona since we were really on a budget, so we had to choose which cities that were really worth a visit. We crossed out Madrid off the list because based on my friends' experience, the city was a bit plain. Probably a day trip visit would do, but nevermind. We wanted to go to Sevilla, Malaga, Cordoba, Granada and Barcelona but reconsidering our limited time, we had to cross out Malaga and Sevilla as well. In the end we managed to spend only around £280 for this trip inclusive of flight tickets. I was actually a bit proud of myself for this achievement! Hehe

How was Spain? One word; AMAZING. 

So let's start with our first stop, Cordoba. Our main reason for visiting this city was its Mosque-Cathedral of Cordoba. It used to be a cathedral that was dedicated to Virgin Mary, but when Muslims conquered Spain in 711, they turned the place into a mosque and rebuilt everything. Then when Islam went lost during Reconquest period, they turned the place back into a cathedral, until today. Sad, right? Anyway, you probably want to avoid visiting it on Sunday like we did. Apparently the Christians held their religious event on every Sunday, obviously. But we totally forgot about that. So it was only opened from 3pm-6pm to public and yes, that place was swarmed by a lot of people. I repeat, a lot. But it was still a great experience though. And bear in mind that we muslims are not allowed to pray in that place. The guards will always have their eyes on us which was a bit uncomfortable. I actually saw a non-muslim woman was kneeling because she wanted to take photos, and she was asked to stand up immediately. And I was like, okay..

So next stop was Granada and this place was my personal favorite (I think it's everyone's favorite). The main attraction was of course the palace, Al Hambra where all the detailed carvings was done by hands, and I was just like wow. Amazing. You have to buy the tickets beforehand by the way, so that it'll be easier. Oh and I loved their Moroccan Market! If it wasn't because of our budget, I would've splurged my money on those beautiful  lamps, painted tapestries, harem pants and other things-that-i-know-i-would-not-even-use. I've always I had a thing for Morrocan decorations, so everything just happened to look so appealing. But, I managed to calm down and suppress my inner shopaholic. Though in the I ended up buying not one but two harem pants that cost me €20, and I almost bought a tapestry to hang on my bedroom wall haha

Our final stop was Barceola. We spent a day and a half in this city. Now, we didn't manage to go to Montserrat (bummer) but it was still a great experience. And again, you have to pay to go inside most of the attractions. So make sure you bought the tickets beforehand especially for Parc Guell, just in case it was sold out on the day of your visit. Talking about Parc Guell, I personally loved it. Did you know that that place was supposed to be a residential area for the borguoise people back in 1900s? But it was unfinished, so years after that the place became city property. One of the things that amused me about this place was that the stone benches was actually comfortable, like really. So I was impressed with Gaudi's architecture. 

Anyway as usual, scroll down for photos :)

Photos taken using Nikon D3200 and iPhone 6

Thank you for reading! :)

Ten Updates

Hi! This is just a quick update!

• Spring open exams next week! Pretty nervous, obviously.
• The lady in MAC store gave me the wrong foundation shade and I had to go back and switch it with the correct one, which I find annoying.
• Found a new daily body moisturizer and I fell in love with it.
• Went to the Boxing Day last weekend and successfully managed to buy things that I don't really need.
• The flood in York is getting better and flood waters are in retrieve.
• I've been exercising regularly and determined to lose 8kgs. 
• New Year's Resolution; to fully make use of my time.
• Justin Bieber's Love Yourself repeats itself in my head. It's kinda like an involuntary action.
• Currently reading Memoirs of A Geisha and loving it so far.
• Obsessed with makeup, skincare and workout videos of Youtube. Favorite channels at the moment are Carli Bybel, Kathleen Lights and XHIT Daily (Rebecca-Louise)

Travelogue | Pickpockets in Spain?

Alright, this post is solely a safety reminder if you ever planning to go to Spain (or other places as well) because it might just save you from being a victim of pickpockets or losing your personal belongings. 

So Spanish people are very nice and helpful. They might don't really seem friendly or nice at first, but trust me, they are. There was a time when we went for a lunch at a restaurant, a fancy one. So I thought that it was okay to just like sling my handbag at the chair. I mean, it's a fancy restaurant, I thought that it was fine, that it was safe. After a while, a woman tap on my shoulder and pointed at my handbag. She didn't speak English though but she was kinda like telling me not to put it there since anyone can just take it. Basically she wanted me to be careful. It might seem a small gesture, but I did appreciate that. I really did.

Our host on the other hand reminded us about Romanians in the metro, and because of that reminder, we were safe from being victims of pickpockets. We were on our way to Parc Guell or Sagrada Familia I think, that two women suddenly standing so close to Jazilah although the train was not packed with people at all. Obviously they were up to something bad that I just had to glance at them. It was so, so annoying that one of them suddenly pretending to be pointing and reading the metro map but oh, with a grin on her face while her eyes at the corner, trying to look at me. Urgh. Bloody annoying. We urged Jaz to take a seat across us since it was empty. Then these obviously-unskilled-pickpockets attempted to asked Nad about maps but were ignored. Second unskilled-attempt; by doing a gesture asking what time it was and again, they were ignored. And guess what they did after that? They just left. Well guys, I think they were newbies in this pickpocket thingy. Heh.

Then when we were in Granada, we stopped at a kebab shop (kebab was always our go-to food during travelling) to takeaway our lunch. The owner seemed a bit unfriendly, he just took our orders and did his thing; cooking the meat and all. However, after we went out of the shop, he suddenly ran after us and hurriedly asked us to follow him back to his shop. I was wondering why? Did we left anything? Or did he want to give us free kebabs? I'm not lying, those were on my mind back then hehe. He then started to speak in Spanish but guys, language was never a barrier. It took us a while to understand but with the help of hand gestures, we finally understood that he wanted us to be careful with our backpacks, always look at our reflections in the mirror to see if anyone was following us from the back. He also said that people can use knife to cut our backpacks and steal stuffs. Then we concluded that he probably noticed strangers following us right after we went out of his shop, so he hurriedly tried to warn us. BECAUSE, we finally did realize that two women were actually been following us! Geez, thank god that nothing bad happened. Phew.  

But please don't be afraid to travel to Spain. Visiting the country will be one of the best decisions you ever make. These are just my experience that I think I have to share with you guys, just so that you'll be extra careful with your surroundings. Be alert. Don't put your money where it is easily accessible. Some people are watching your moves; they're observing where you keep your money and personal belongings. Always, always keep an eye on each other's luggage or backpacks. And please, everytime you want to get into your apartment or accomodation, make sure that no one is following. Make sure that no one is around when you wanted to close the door. I mean, anything can happen right? Anyway, hope this post helps us to be more aware when we're travelling in the future. Stay safe, wherever you are :)