Category Archives: university

Instagram, Willy Wonka & my life

by Ashley Posted on October 10, 2012

I’m sure you already know this, but just in case you haven’t heard: everyone is allowed to have feelings and I am a woman, so I have them a lot, ok? About everything! Yes, even about something as futile as Instagram. Mixed feelings to be exact. On the one hand I think it’s a ridiculous way to be even more self-absorbed than on facebook. A collection of a hundred instagram pictures of your daily food intake and some awkward mirror shots? HOW GREAT! I think this picture sums it up perfectly, thank you Wonka. But, let’s not be a party-pooper. On the other hand I also have very warm fuzzy feelings for instagram. It’s really fun to have a little diary on you phone, filled with cute pictures of your life. And hey, did you know: you too can now have a glamourous life! Instagram makes everything look like it costs a million bucks and instantely turns everyone into a supermodel.

I also like to think of Instagram as a great go to for the lazy blog masses. It’s a perfect way to let your visitors know about your day or week, without doing any extra work. Well, sort of. Because I’m a perfectionist, and it usually takes me about two hours to decide which pictures should be next to each other. But otherwise, it can be very quick! You may consider this post a demonstration of said fact.

Drinking coffee with my boyfriend in town – Not knowing what to wear and always ending up in the same old boring outfit – Haarlem, “my town” for the past 3 years, time flies! – Breakfast in bed with a latte caramel and yoghurt with swedish cereal, yum!

On monday I met up with Annemerel in The Hague to shoot some pictures, shop and drink tea. It was a lot of fun! Also spotted some important politicians, but of course I tried to act ~cool~ so I refrained myself from acting all fangirly, THANK GOD – Yesterday I felt like dressing up preppy. My boyfriend always laughs at me when I say this, but I’m sort of bummed out that I was never able to wear a schooluniform. I watch too much Gilmore Girls…

My current desktop background. I love the Virgin Suicides! Really need to do a post on that one, hmm… – This weekend I went over to Nathalie for some WINE and dine. We now have this theory that we should start the day with one glass, and then all will be fine ;-)

Whenever I look out of our window, I see this beautiful orange tree. I never really loved fall, but this year I’m really feeling it. – Probably my favorite outfit at the moment. Did only wear it once in two weeks, so I’m doing good people.

Oh, and yes, I’m just throwing it out there: I decided to quit school, it just wasn’t for me. I won’t bore you with all the details, but I’m glad with this decision. To prevent myself from dying with boredom, I try to fill my days with lot’s of fun stuff to keep me busy and of course I’m already thinking about which step I want to take next. Today I’m going to Utrecht to find out more about a Master I am interested in. If I’m lucky I will be able to start school again in february. Only 3 months to kill… musn’t be a problem ;-)

Posted in daily musings, girl stuff, Instagr.am, stupid pictures, university | 22 Comments

About pink fluffy pens and covering your text-books

by Ashley Posted on September 12, 2012

By the look of my text-books (click on the sentence if you want to see them, I made it a hyperlink, whoooo), you’d probably think I need some professional help. Covering your text-books and sticking everything together with tape that has flowers on them? And you’re what, a fifth year university student? 1 Yes, it does look a little crazy. But come on, I can’t possibly be the only person on earth who is a little crazy, has an obsession with cute stationary and who thinks Elle Wood kicks ass. Right?

For the few people who are not acquainted with Elle Wood, let me tell you something about her. She is a Harvard law student, wears a lot of pink, uses pink fluffy pens, and although most people consider her to be a dumb blonde, she TOTALLY kicks ass (and yes, she’s fictional, but that’s beside the point). Although the story of the movie Legally Blonde isn’t something new (and of course a bit cliché), I do love it, because for me it is about female empowerment. Who says you can’t be “womanly” in a very “manly” and “serious” profession? I don’t want to wear a pink suit to work (I look awful in pink!!), but I do want to have the option. Being a woman and loving all the stuff that comes with it (if you feel like it), doesn’t mean you’re not serious about your education or work. So, when I felt like covering my text-book and using my big pink pen, I thought about Elle, and I just did. If Elle can do it, I can do it! ;-) And now I have cute books!

(Of course, covering my text-books with cute paper is not a big political statement or a way of spreading the above message, I just love pretty things. It did give me a good excuse to watch this funny movie again and it also gave me a good idea of how to react when someone will comment on my pink pen ;-) Like Elle says when someone makes a snarky comment about her pink suit: “I like your outfit too, except when I dress up as a frigid bitch, I try not to look so constipated”. Good idea right? Haha! Just kidding. Oh, and of course it was a great excuse to make a small collage. Yay!)

Show 1 footnote

  1. Hey! At least I didn’t buy the cute sparkly stickers that originally came with it, so give me some credit! ↩
Posted in daily musings, girl stuff, granny hobby, university | 16 Comments

oh, hi, yes, this whole blogging-thing? it takes some getting used to again

by Ashley Posted on July 25, 2012

Well, the title says it all. This whole blogging-thing takes some getting used to again! And, yes, I know that sounds like a lame excuse, but I actually hope to shower you guys with good news (at least for me) & then maybe you will all be amazed and totally forget that I forgot to share my private life 24/7 with you for the past couple of weeks. Ok, not that I usually do that… I just really want to share this news with you. Anyway, here we go.

YES! MOTHAF… oops, I’m sorry, I got a bit carried away. But you have to understand: this thing ruled my life for the last one and a half years. I got the idea for my thesis at the beginning of my third year at uni (also already found a supervisor back then) and ever since, it was in the back of my mind. I took a fourth year to complete my bachelors, because I really wanted to go on an exchange to Sweden (and hello, more time to gain even more knowledge, YES PLEASE), which was fine, but man, that thesis… it caused a lot of stress. It’s true what they say: just write that damn thing and be done with it! Of course, instead of writing it when I had the time, I finished the first draft during my exchange (fun, let me tell you! but not really). When I got home four weeks ago, it turned out that my supervisor had a big problem with one of my chapters, so I had to rewrite it. With a BIG deadline looming, saying “it was stressful” was a bit of an understatement to say the least. But I did it! And during the final talk with my supervisor two weeks ago I got a lot of compliments (‘wha… you think I’m intelli.., wha… are you talking about me?!’). So yes, big relieve there. In the end I can say it was all worth it! I finally feel “free”! It also means I’ve graduated and got my bachelors degree! (For the people who are interested: my bachelor thesis was about the head-prosecutor of the Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, with a focus on Carla del Ponte and how her term at the tribunal showed us a lot about the interaction between international justice and politics. I won’t bore you with the specifics.)


This whole blogging-thing is something, but can we please talk about this whole “future-thing”?! Am I the only one who’s having troubles with this one? After four years at uni I still don’t know for sure what I want to do. I’m slowly coming to terms with that fact that I probably won’t have an epiphany and decide I want to be a life-saving Florence Nightingale II, go all ‘Sister Act’ and devote my life to god, or dedicate my life to the exploration of some boring archive. That’s why I’ve decided to think ahead only one year at a time. Or maybe two. Works for me! After some soul-searching about next year, I came to the conclusion I didn’t want to leave university just yet, but that going for my masters felt a bit too soon (the fact that the choice of masters in my field is a bit limited was a big part of that). Instead, I wanted to try to get into criminology and… I GOT IN (ba-dum-pum-pum – I guess the big headline was a bit of a spoiler). It means I’ll probably study for one year at Leiden University (for the international people: yes, that’s near Amsterdam, like the rest of the Netherlands) and after that I have a few more choices concerning masters. Don’t get me wrong: I would love to get a whole bachelorsdegree in criminology, but the dutch government made that nearly impossible for me. This way I get to follow a lot of interesting courses and gain 60 ECTS in another field of science. I’m really excited!

After getting the good news about my thesis and getting into uni again, I can finally relax. The last two weeks I’ve been enjoying my free time and the good weather, and I’ve also been dancing a lot to this (I don’t like to brag, but I’m just SO HAPPY about being finished with my thesis and I believe these things require victory dances). (If you don’t do victory dances, you should introduce them into your life, trust me!).

(hip hip, regular updating can now, once again, commence!)

Posted in daily musings, university | 11 Comments