Happy New Year!

Every year at this time, I grow pensive about the past year and the year to come. New Year's Eve has always been my favorite holiday, because I love the idea of a fresh start and new beginnings. I learnt a long time ago that New Year's is originally the holiday of the Roman God Janus, a God with two faces, one looking back and one looking forward. Naturally that is what many people do around this time- reflect on the events past and look to the future with anticipation.

When I was younger I kept journals (I wanted to remember every single detail of my life so I wrote nearly every day! Now I'm not as interested in my own life, haha). Around New Year's I'd write summaries of the year month by month. I did this also at the end of 2013 in my old blog. So here's what my 2015 looked like:

January: Adjusting to living in Munich again and my first-ever visit to the ER, working a lot and even visiting the memorial site of the former concentration camp Dachau again. This is also the month I became interested in veganism.
February: The month of firsts! I met a guy I started hanging around with a lot, met a lot of new people, and partied a loooooot.
March: On and off-again in my relationship, I recorded new songs and visited the Therme Erding (thermal spa north of Munich) which was goooooorgeous. Visited Bolzano, South Tyrol.
April: Spent a lot of time in Austria, trying even more new things, and went to Frühlingsfest (spring beer festival)!
May: PARTY. Basically this month was just a lot of working and a lot of going out. haha
June: My birthday! I was unfortunately sick at this time but I did eventually have a birthday dinner with my mom. Flew to Tenerife (Canary Islands) at the end of the month, which was lovely.
July: More parties, and a lot of time outdoors. Barbecues and rafting on the river Isar :) This is the month I "discovered" Amy Winehouse and began to take an interest in her.
August: I attended a christening for the first time ever! I'm not religious but it was a really neat event, and everyone was dressed up in their Bavarian traditional dress. I also travelled to southeast Austria to a region known as South Styria, right on the border of Slovenia. Delicious wine and amazing, cheap food! I loved it there. Finally, after this, I cut ties with my ex-partner. In this same month I also saw the documentary 'Amy' twice.
September: I think the obvious summary to this month is OKTOBERFEST!!!!! ;) This year was definitely my best Oktoberfest yet and one I'll remember for years to come! So much fun! I also met my band this month, that was undoubtedly a big positive point of the month.
October: More Oktoberfest! Hahaha. But notably this month I also travelled to London, which I really loved and adored. For sure one of my favorite cities in Europe. Finally I also started singing at an open mic night in Munich at a place called Cord Club. It was a huge success and so much fun!
November: Ah, November. A month of slip-ups and drama. But I wrote two or three new songs in this month so it was all worth it ;)
And finally, December: Hard Work! And miracles. I would say December might actually be my favorite month from last year, because so much has happened in just that month: I wrote more music, and of course it's also the point in the year where I felt most actualized, happy, and successful.

All in all, I would definitely view 2015 as a successful year. I really cannot believe it's already over though. It seems so unreal that the year is behind us already. Amongst other things, last year I learned to manage my finances in a much more organized, sensible way- dividing my money into various accounts for spending, saving, investing, and emergencies. Last year I also learned about a certain approach to "reading" people through traditional chinese medicine. It involves looking at someone's birthday and also looking at the features of their face to determine their personality traits, values, and even their path in life. It might all sound very kooky but I find it to be stunningly accurate (and specific! Unlike these weird horoscopes that are like, you have Mars in the 2nd house this week which means you're going to have stress with something. It's like, oh okay thanks for the heads-up) and the thing I like most about dealing with the birthday readings is that it has absolutely nothing to do with the stars, and rather with the natural cycle of the earth. I never liked the traditional zodiac anyway. 

2015 was also a year of firsts. I travelled to many new places, tried a lot of new things, and even for the first time in my life have made a major shift to veganism! When I was younger I thought vegans were crazy. I was always like- but what about butter and CHEESE?!!!! Now I understand it much more, and since trying months at a time of being vegan, I realized it really isn't all as difficult as I thought, and really is much more a thing of mind over matter. And I've discovered I love eating plant-based! Eating mostly vegan I feel healthier than I ever have, and when I gave up dairy I lost excess weight- four pounds in one week!!! Plus a few more after that. Everyone I know is the first to tell me I don't need to lose weight- well I know, and that wasn't my goal with going vegan. But I did have a bit of excess fat around the waist area, and if it happened to go away on its own without me having to lift a finger, well I'll take it! Plus I'm a perfectionist- I'm happy with my body, but if I know I can do better, then that's what I want because I know it's do-able, and I like being in the best possible shape I can be.

Earlier, I would always come up with one solid resolution for the year. But I, like virtually everyone out there, can't stick to a new year's resolution and I think it's kind of dumb to just have like one goal for the whole year. So this year instead of a resolution I came up with a list of things I want to accomplish!

Which includes:
-get a tattoo (I don't have any! Yet) ;-)
-finish my material for the album
-give up dairy completely (I slip up from time to time. It's hard in Bavaria, Germany's dairyland!)
-I am considering bleaching my hair again to the color I had it when I was 18, but I'm not sure yet
-travel to a new continent (so far I've only been to North America and Europe, time to see something new! Probably South America, but I am also dying to visit Hong Kong. Why not both?!)
-climb at least one mountain bottom to top (for starters, but maybe more as well!)
-visit the States- I'll be turning 21 this year. And I just feel like America is the place to celebrate your 21st birthday. So I'll do this either in Las Vegas (I just feel that's the place if anywhere to do the 21st), or I'll head homebound to NYC!
-expand my financial education. This year I read some books that have changed my financial mindset and approach completely. I'm extremely interested in finance and definitely want to improve my skills in it.

There are a few other things on the list but they are not as interesting (buy a blender, for example).
So that was my 2015, and there are my hopes for this new year! How about you? I hope all of you had a great year and look to 2016 with as much hope and optimism as I do. I know I am very excited about the developments and changes ahead- I feel that 2016 will lay the groundwork and be a year full of change, preparing for 2017, which I believe will be an even more exciting year. But let's not get too ahead of ourselves.

Happy New Year! (again) and cheers to 2016!
India

Music for the mood: Tous les Mêmes by Stromae (incredible Belgian artist of electronic dance music, it really helps if you translate his lyrics or if you understand French- because what he writes is GOOD STUFF!)

Love Will Tear Us Apart (Again)

I'm back! I'm really really back!

After taking exactly one year-long hiatus from writing and blogging, I'm back with a new blog, new ideas, and a fresh take on my life.

So what has all changed in one year?

Well, for starters (and to state the obvious), I'm older. I turned 20 almost three months ago (I know, I know, I'm practically an old maid- so my friends like to remind me).
Secondly, I ended basically the worst relationship ever. It took me forever to do, but I've mustered up the courage to make a final cut and change in my life, a long needed one. (Remember all that stuff I wrote about in my old blog, Dutch, Deutschland, Definitely? Well guess who didn't take their own advice all the while!).
And probably most notably, I live in MUNICH once again! My home! The city that I adore!

It's a tough topic to consider. People all have their own points of view on the matter- all I know is, I was in a relationship that did not serve me, it did not add to my quality of living, it made me tired, depressed, irritable, and so on. All my friends noticed how I felt in and outside of it all I can say is, it is REALLY good to be single again! I am celebrating every day. I mean jeeeeeez, I'm only 20, I need my freedom, ya know?

Don't get me wrong, I don't mean this at all in a snarky teenage-angst way (well I kinda do). He was a nice person. The relationship taught me a lot. I learned a lot about my own inner strength, about my character, who I really am, and all of that motivational movie stuff. No but seriously, I feel like I've personally come a long way in a year.

My goals are clearer. I'm so much closer to finishing my album, here are a couple of the titles (I can't give away all my secrets, now can I?!)

Not The Same
Vollgas/Nonstop (two versions of the same song; one in German, one in English)

Plus a few more that I can't name yet. Right now I'm working on finishing three of my favorites; a new song called Runner, an older one called I Told You No, and finally, song VERY very personal to me, Irresistible. It sounds maybe kind of like a cliché title, but it's actually about my struggles with this last relationship and how it almost felt like an addiction to me. I couldn't break free in my mind of my own emotions- it's crazy when you actually deal with something like that inside (and more!).

a very blurry picture of me enjoying a Maß at the Oktoberfest

So yeah, it's been a crazy year obviously. Let me try to recall what exactly has happened between the last time I blogged and now. Last post was August 30th, 2014, so in September 2014 I joined my Mum for one day at Oktoberfest, then my ex-partner and I flew to England.

England was sweet, and I'll be returning in October!!! Last year we spent three weeks in Bristol, while also visiting Wales (wild herb hunt on Hay Bluff!), Cornwall (Pasty's!), and Glastonbury (hippies and glitter everywhere!). What I didn't get to do though was visit London, and now I'm going back just to spend a week in that city. Actually, I've developed a fascination with London this summer. 

Hay Bluff, Wales- was actually stunning

It all started when I saw a little clip on the Grammy's Facebook page of Amy Winehouse accepting her Grammy for Best Album. I never knew much about Amy. When Back to Black came out I remember my Dad bought the CD. Rehab. Big hair and tattoos. That was it. When I saw this small 30-second clip, suddenly I was fascinated by this gal. I especially wondered why she died so young. So I watched a couple of videos on Youtube about this troubled young woman. I went and saw the documentary Amy twice in theaters (if you ever want to have a nice cry, be sure to check it out). And suddenly I became aware of what a huge talent and brilliant soul the world lost in July 2011. Suddenly I wanted to know about this place where she had "made it," about Camden, the pub scene, music in the British Isles (Ireland/Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales, England) in general (my favorite musicians EVER come from those countries: The Cure, New Order, Belle and Sebastian, CHVRCHES, obviously The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, The Smiths, Queen, Coldplay, Joy Division, Hozier and SO many more).

Poster for film "Amy"- by Asif Kapadia (photo does NOT belong to me)

So I'm going to London for a week to explore the city, get to know it better, and just have fun! I'll go to pubs, visit museums, see Big Ben and all that typical London stuff!

Shortly after Bristol September 2014, began a relatively quiet period until everything came to a head in December. Personal situations intensified and I made the decision to move back to Munich on my own, right around Christmas time. I found a quiet shared flat near the village of Dachau (getting to downtown Munich only takes 20 mins by train) and since then my quality of living has constantly stabilized and improved. Although since then I will say I've been to the ER twice (once was food poisoning on a holiday, another time was for tests for appendicitis, which I luckily didn't have!), and I've had the flu three times (the last time was on my birthday) :(
An intense year indeed! I've met a lot of random new people (some came, some went), tried new things, and basically spent my time doing what 20-year-olds do I guess- shop, eat take-out twice a week, get jumbo cocktails at happy hour, work, write music, sleep, and do laundry on the occasion ;)

I've also started giving a new tour in July (well, new to me). Before then I was always giving the city walking tour of Munich and the tour to the castle Neuschwanstein (soooooooo much Ludwig II you wouldn't believe). Now I've started giving the Third Reich walking tour through Munich. It lasts three hours, and I'm pretty sure it's my favorite tour to give, because out of the three tours, it's the one where you can leave behind the most positive impact/inspiration for the world today. It's a very negative topic, talking about where the Nazi party had its roots in Munich and how they came to power. But at the end you can basically leave people with the thought and connection to our present day, like are the times we live in now very different? Can we honestly believe that we have done away with intolerance, racism, classism, etc.? Of course when you ask such questions, most people walk away thinking, 'no, it really isn't that different.' And that we need some big changes in this world, and I think those are some very important messages to convey.

Besides this, I'm slowly dipping my feet back into the pool of writing (so to speak). I must confess- writing was legitimately hard for me last year. It didn't come naturally anymore. I just could not, did not want to write. I had so much going on in my life and mind that I couldn't possibly organize anything I wanted to say. So I gave up blogging, and I didn't write any new music for a long time, albeit I tried, and everything was coming out mostly very contrived so that I just gave up. I guess that's what you call writer's block, but that's not how it felt to me. At least I knew that it was dependent on my living situation, and that I in general was "blocked" myself, and my life had absolutely no flow to it.

So in any case, I'm really happy to be back here writing and sharing with you guys, my readers, the people who seem to be somewhat interested in what I have to say! Of course I hope that eventually this will stay the platform for me to share what's going on in my life as I progress through my projects with music, make videos, release an album, and eventually tour. Besides that it will just be the same me as ever- my thoughts on life, what's going on, and what I'm into at the moment (HAVE YOU LISTENED TO THE WEEKND BTW), haha!

Thanks for reading, you'll hear from me soon again ;)
Lots of Love
India

(Music for starters: obviously Love Will Tear Us Apart by Joy Division)