Japanday 2014

JAPANDAY!!!!

This Saturday I've finally been there again after 2 1/2 years and it was amazing♥

Japanday is a culture event/convention in Düsseldorf and it was my third time going. I had lots of fun.

There were those guys playing by the river. They were singing One Piece and lots of other awesome stuff!!!

It was super full

This is what I looked like~ Please ignore my hair it was going berserk at this point even though I straightened it the morning because that's just what my hair does

And another picture of me that Wanja took~ I really like this one!

Mica and me ♥ He's my favourite person 

I was really looking forward to meeting all of my friends again, I haven't seen them for a really long time and we had loads of fun even though we were just sitting around most of the time.

Boku, Mica, me, Schatti and Kris

Another highlight of the day was the karaoke contest :D My friend Andy told me about it and I participated just for fun - I didn't even know there was anything to win. But yatta! I got 2nd place and won a ticket to the Connichi!

(Though I probably won't go. It's too far away and nobody else is going :C)

But I was really happy as you can see!

The winners~! All smiley!

Here are the songs I sang :3 Unfortunately I don't have videos of my performances (yet), I'll try to see if somebody there recorded any.

Annnnnd then when I tried to get home, the big surprise -_- There was a traffic accident somewhere along the train tracks and none of them were driving.

So I had to walk all the way from the main station in Cologne to the outermost edge of the city where I finally caught a train.

I think I walked around for longer than an hour;;

But in the end I arrived home safely and even before it got dark so that's nice!

Though my feet still hurt. ;;;;;;

AH~ well

It can't be helped

I'm happy c:

Lots of love to you all! Hope your weekend was as nice.

♥Besa

Fascism is alive

Hey everyone,

today I'd like to take a break from the cupcakes and clothes and talk about a topic very important to me.

As some of you may know, I'm of Albanian heritage. We're a nation descending from the Illyrians, with our own history, language and culture - which is being eradicated in the cradle of democracy itself.

What's happening in Greece right now is nothing short of a systematic genocide of the Albanian minority.

According to the 2001 census, there are more than 270,000 ethnic Albanians living in Greece, and they make up 64% of the total migrant population. However, they are marginalized more than any other group.

Albanians in Greece are repeatedly victims of racist violence and hate crimes, some going as far as murder. As an Albanian living in Greece you're forced to change your name, give up your whole identity and adopt an artificial one, just to be able to survive without being attacked. Seems familiar?

It's shocking that a country that prides itself on being the origin of democracy allows this to happen. It is even more shocking that we, in Germany, we who are supposed to be so undeceived after what happened 80 years ago, just turn a blind eye to blatant fascism.

The worst part is that the media ignores it. I didn't even know about what was going on until I was told about the protest - so I won't blame anyone - but that's why we went out on the streets to raise awareness and show people just what exactly is going on right in front of their porch, in a country we support year by year without knowing what that money is actually being used for.

On April 23rd we, a group of young Albanian students in Germany, gathered in front of the Cologne Cathedral to open people's eyes to those atrocities.

This was very special to me personally, because it was the first protest I've ever joined and I felt like I was finally part of something and could make a difference.

But it doesn't stop there. As long as there's still injustice in the world, we can't stop. We are young, we are educated and we have the voices to speak for all those oppressed and tortured and we are going to do that until they're free to live in this world. Because the freedom to live is everybody's right.

Kind thanks to my brother Naim Demiri for the wonderful pictures.

Handmade Circus

Hello lil birdies! 

The last few days have been really nice. I was home over the weekend because both my siblings & my sister's husband were visiting, and even though I should've been studying, it felt good to wind down a little.  I'm really excited because I'm going to be an aunt soon!!! :D (Even though I don't like the ring of that word. Aunts are middle-aged, chubby and red-faced little ladies who pinch your cheeks and hand out candies. And that's not really me. I don't share my candy.) The lil' chub is due in spring. Aww, spring baby. ♥

On Sunday they left so I returned to Aachen as well - and went to the Handmade Circus with a friend. It was great, I didn't have a lot of money to spend and neither did she so we mostly just strolled through the aisles and looked at all the pretty stuff~

There were some artists that stood out to me, and if you're looking for something cute to buy for someone else or yourself, you should really check out their stuff!

Sick of Winter was by far my favourite that day. Their mission - to spread sunshine and love in a grey, cold, and rainy world. After all, we're sick of winter. I had a chat with their founder (a really rad guy who also studied here in Aachen - which, by the way, is infamous for its London-esque weather conditions), and the whole concept just spoke to me on a deep spiritual level. I swear. I mean, they drove there in an old VW Bus. How cool is that?! The first thing I'm going to spend money on when I'm not broke anymore is going to be one of their shirts, for sure.

Closely followed by Süße Dinge! Their name already says everything because it's seriously the sweetest stationery I've ever seen. And I'm a sucker for stationery and office supplies and writing tools, so I really had to hold myself back there.

Another favourite was birdtoldme. I loooove this idea of offering pre-designed origami sheets, they're just too cute! Definitely check them out!

Here are some more impressions and shops you should have a look at: nicenicenice, Ménage à deux, Knallbraun, Zenzi Design, Karamelo, madeinosnabrueck and nadjA.

In the end, I left with two super cute buttons and my friend with the sweetest strawberry necklace ever - cut out from what was an actual crate of strawberries. Afterwards we had lunch at the cutest café ever, all in all it was a lovely day. Definitely something I'll do more often if I get the chance. :)

Which one of these do you like best? Please do leave a comment, I'd love to hear about what you guys think. ♥

Lots of love,
Besa