Music of my Childhood

Music has always been a big part of my life, so obviously I started singeng and enjoying music very early.

Playback shows were the best thing, I participated every single time! Baby One More Time was for sure one oft he songs. Then there were Don’t Speak, I Will Always Love You and many more.

My fave bands were The Backstreet Boys, Ace of Bace, The Spice Girls, NSYNC, Westlife and Atomic Kitten.

In 2000 I watched Popstars on German television. The five girls, who won formed No Angels and I was their biggest fan. According to myself anyway ;). I went to see them live in Zurich, I remember it being one of my first real live concerts. After them Bro’Sis (4 guys, 2 girls) won the contest a year after. The did pop music as well, but a bit mixed with R’n’B and rap. I went to see them in the Hallenstadion, the big concert hall in Zurich. As a supporting act there was a band called Tears (they won the Swiss version of Popstars and I liked them too).

The year after my two fave Popstars bands were formed: Preluders and Overground, the whole thing was called boys vs girls. Of course I went to their concert and there I discovered Vanilla Ninja, my absolute fave band ever. I’m still a big fan and actually sad that they are not singng together anymore.

Vanilla Ninja are from Estonia, a band of four women (three in the end), who played a mixture of pop and rock. They have incredible voices and write most of their songs themselves. I loved them so much and of course went to see them live again! The represented Switzerland in the Eurovision song contest in 2005, which was fabulous. Lenna is still very active and sings with different bands. It’s always great to hear her voice.

Other than that I really enjoyed Destiny’s Child, Avril Lavigne, The Black Eyed Peas, Green Day, Hoobastank,  Shakria and Pink. I’m sure I’m forgetting many more.

Another highlight was always Kelly Clarkson, she is just fantastic and Gareth Gates, I really loved him.

After that my adult life started, I will write about that music in a different post.

Who were your favourite acts of your childhood?

My Childhood Memories

It’s my birthday!!! I’m 27 today, I can’t really believe it, I’m so close to 30 now. Well anyway, I wanted to write about my childhood memories for a while, so I thought my birthday would be a good occasion for that.

Of course, like everyone, I can’t remember a lot, so here is a collection of my favourite and most important memories.

When I was between 2 and 6 years old I had crazy curly hair, more than I do now. So wherever I went with my parents people wanted to touch my hair. I remember one moment in Italy. My mum was in the bus with me and and old woman came up and asked, if my hair is naturally curly. My mum said yes and the women actually asked to touch my hair. The was really weird and everyone was staring at me, I didn’t like this situation at all.

I lot of my memories seem to be connected to holidays, here is the first one. Every year we went to the beach in Tuscany. We went to a place called Castiglione della Pescaia. We always stayed in A bungalow at the Roccamare resort. Across the street from the hotel complex was a Bar & Giriglia. It’s a great restaurant and we basically went there every single day. We got to know the owners and they have become great friends. The holidays down there will always have a special place in my heart, because of these friends, the location and all the amazing memories. After a while we change the hotel and started staying at the Riva del Sole. Last time I went there was in 2011, I hope I’ll be there soon again.

I move on to some school memories. In 1^st and 2^nd grade I had the same teacher. We all didn’t like her at all. We learned to write then and she gave us a little board, where we had to repeat words and letters neatly. I remember that, if she saw one mistake or it wasn’t quite perfect, she made us erase everything and we had to start all over again. That was hard and tough, not my favourite teacher, as you can guess. Whenever I think back to this, I try to tell myself that I never want to teach the way she did.

Connected to school is my next memory. In first grade all girls had a crush on the same boy. We all used to write little love letters to him and he basically never had a minute of silence. He eventually picked one of us (not me sadly), so it was over from one minute to the other. We were all heartbroken…

Another holiday memory and this time it’s Florida! So apparently I went to Florida for the first time when I was two. I don’t remember a thing! The next time we when I think I was around 9 years old. We went to Orlando of course and did Disney World and Epcot Center. That was amazing! I had such a wonderful time and always love remembering these moments.

My probably saddest memory is connected to the year 2001. We all know what happened September 11^th, we know what we did that day, where we were and how we learn about the devastating news. Only a few weeks later on September 27^th we had an attack in our state’s parliament. I crazy guy just went in there and shot several people. My class teacher was one of them. We always knew that he sometimes has to go there and we had a substitute teacher. So I went to school that day. When I got home for lunch my mum told me to turn on the TV and then we watched the news. We just heard what happened, but we didn’t know anything about dead people yet. With a weird feeling I went back to school in the afternoon and I started talking about it to my classmates. Some mums were there as well. Eventually we were sent into the church just next to our school and waited, our mums were there as well. Somebody brought a big white poster and we just wrote down our thoughts. And then came the moment, they told us he was dead. I can’t remember what I felt then. I think it’s just a blur, also the days after. We didn’t have school and they had to figure out what do do know. Luckily the holidays started a few days later and we all just had to get away. After the holidays we had a new teacher, I remember that that was really weird. The whole situation brought us really close together as a class.

I don’t want to finish this post with something sad, so here is one more memory. I started my ballet lesson at the age of five. I really enjoyed it. The older I got, the more I wanted to get away from ballet (I regret that now), so I started doing Modern Jazz, Jazz and then also Hip Hop. I loved going to my lessons every single week. I was part of a lot of performances and standing on stage gave me a great feeling. I think it was probably to start of my “journey” on stage. I also met a lot of very lovely girls there, so of which I still call my close friends.

What are your most precious childhood memories, let me know in the comments. 

My Hair Story

The question I probably I get ask most is „Is your hair naturally curly?“ YES, IT IS!

Looking back at my childhood I even had more curls back then. When I was at primary school I didn’t really care about my hair, a bad hair day didn’t exist, my mum made it work and later I did it myself.

I got older, puberty started and then I had a phase where I didn’t like my curls at all. All I wanted to do was straiten them all the time. After one wash, of course it was all gone again. I didn’t do it that often, but I liked having straight hair. I looked really different with straight long hair, people had difficulties recognizing me. I had to learn though that using a straightener all the time is not good for my hair. I stopped it and learned to appreciate my natural hair.

I had a time after I handed in my dissertation at high school and then another time a few later, when I started losing more hair. It was due to stress both times, but I started being really careful with my hair and I actually started loving my curls. I first wanted shorter hair, finishing a bit under my ears and I think that looked great. Now I want longer hair, so I’m letting it grow, you can slowly see it, which makes me really happy.

I always think it’s funny when I hear bloggers say that they have naturally curly hair and then you see it and you’re like: Oh, that’s just a bit wavy, have you seen my curls. And a lot of them want to hide their natural curls. Straitening all the time is not good for the hair, but oh well it’s their decision.

I’m happy with my hair and that’s the most important thing! I had to learn how to be happy with it and I’m glad I did. I still have my bad hair days and I can’t do fancy things with my hair. That’s fine, because it’s different for everyone.