I'm Baaaack!

Okay so third year kind of took over my life for the past 6+ months and looks like I neglected the blog completely! Many apologies for this and from now on I will try my best to post a lot more regularly :) #watchthisspace

For those of you who have not yet experienced third year (final year) then good luck because let me tell you it is STRESSFUL. It is not just about the workload but also figuring out what you are going to do with your life once you have graduated. The job applications are also very time consuming and selling yourself is a skill you just need to have which means using multiple avenues to BIG yourself up! So I wish good luck to any of you who will be embarking on that journey soon. For those reading who have graduated/have almost finished... I am sure you can relate #thirdyearproblems

However here I am a week until my dissertation deadline and it is such a weird feeling that I am waving goodbye to education. After being in full time education since the age of 4 the real world really is going to hit me! Although deadlines can be a pain... let's face it we will all miss being a student!

Over the next few weeks I will be updating the blogs in a series of posts about my last weeks as a uni student in Brighton all the way up until Graduation Day.. Eeeeek! I hope to be taking lots of day trips out in the sun (please let it be sunny) and writing about some places you just have to check out in Brighton. I will also be posting some recipes and some of my summer fashion favourites.

For now, I will leave you with some of my highlights from the year so far (I did try to have fun alongside the third year stress haha) Enjoy!

A standard foodstagram shot! Pizza at one of my favourite restaurants

Fat Leo's! It was so delicious

Top : H&M

Dinner at Chimichanga's in Wimbledon... Loving the Sombreros

Having some fun on Instagram with the red cups before a night out!

One of the best days of the year so far! We all spontaneously took part in the campus Holi festival. As an Indian I have never taken part in Holi celebrations before and I cannot believe that for the past 20 years I have been missing out! It really was a great day and the weather was also perfect, we were roaming about in t-shirts... luckily the clothes did not get too ruined... mind you I was not really bothered!

Procrastination at its best! Another standard beach trip on a sunny Saturday! 

Daddy's Girl- Evening stroll on Brighton Beach

Pink top: Pull & Bear

Floral Skirt: Pull & Bear

Birthday Pancakes made by my brother

Walk in Dedham on my birthday! Reminiscing my childhood days... where did the time go?!

One of my favourites!

Afternoon tea after a lovely country walk in Dedham

Top: H&M (2013)

The last of my 21st celebrations with my family!

The most amazing cake ever!!

Shirt: H&M (2013)

Maxi skirt: Matalan (2013)

These are really just a few of many amazing memories! Until the next post... Adios! xxxx

Nairobi!

Hello!

Sorry again for the long gap. I was frantically packing for university and now that I am all settled again in my new student house in Brighton, I will recount the last part of my trip in Kenya.

Thinking of Nairobi right now just makes me want to go back there. Being back into uni routine is definitely giving me the summer blues.

Nairobi was the last stop in our trip and we were there for a total of 10 days (sounds a long time but went very quickly). We were staying with family throughout our time here and it was really nice to get an experience outside a hotel or touristy residence. We all really got a feel for the way of life there compared to Britain. Of course staying with family meant we were treated like royals!  We had such amazing food and were informed of all local tips and knowledge (even though we already had a fair bit from my parents Kenya experience).

Nairobi consisted of many different activities and trips. There were all of the standard things which we did for fun like go karting, going to the cinema to watch Chennai Express (Bollywood film), bowling and eating LOTS of frozen yoghurt,

Apart from missing the family and the weather in Nairobi, the one thing I am missing for sure is Planet Yogurt. Now if you know me, then you know I am not a dairy fan. I will go nowhere near milk, cream and yoghurt, simply because I hate the taste. However after all the recommendations from people about this Kenyan franchise of Planet Yogurt, I took the plunge... and what do you know..I absolutely LOVED it!

(inserting ultra yummy photo here, that is making me crave it)

I loved it so much that I had it 4 times in total. I used to always go for vanilla, pistachio, chocolate, tiramisu and coconut. It was luscious. My aim is to find an equivalent one here, so if you have any suggestions then please comment below. I have heard that some over here are a lot more yoghurty tasting which is not what I want.

Okay, so lets now get off this topic of frozen yoghurt and move on. A highlight of my time in Nairobi was visiting the elephant orphanage. Every Saturday morning, people could go for a talk about all of the elephants and where they have been rescued from and why. They were so adorable! I just wanted to take one home with me haha. It is such a lovely idea and educates everyone about how poaching is still continuing. Many of these elephants were there because their parents were victims of the poaching trade and it was so sad to hear.

 Above photo: The youngest elephant there (3 months)

In my last two posts about Kenya, culture has been a major aspect which I have highlighted. The beauty of travelling is seeing all of the new cultures you come across and how this represents new places. When you are on holiday, one thing I assume you all want to do for your return, is to try and capture a bit of that cultural memory and bring it back with you. What better way to do this than souvenirs. Of course as a shopaholic, the Masai Market was top of my list!

We went twice and each time came back with bags filled of glorious treats. The jewellery was so lovely and colourful as well as the gorgeous bags and purses. I picked up on many new accessories, with one of my favourites being an orange clutch bag. I am a lover of wearing a plain colour and then sparking it up with either statement jewellery but now I can spark it up with a statement bag! Unfortunately I cannot upload a photo of it currently, but as soon as I can, I will be featuring it in a post.

The rest of our trip consisted of visiting a lot of family. There were a few days however where it was a bit grey and rainy so we utilised these for watching films and playing games which was really fun and a lovely way to spend time with our family.

On our last weekend however we decided to go for a change of scene and spent a night at Lake Naivasha which was around an hour and a half's drive away from Nairobi. Lake Naivasha was so beautiful and the banda's which we were staying in were located at such a lovely spot with the most amazing view.

In the evening we all sat together around a camp fire. We talked and played games and it was really cosy and nice. It is shocking to say that it was my first proper experience of camping and that is not something to be proud of at the age of 20. None the less it was great and so pretty. A nice get away from the hustle and bustle of Nairobi.

It was also a great time to relax and kick back with a book!

Just like Mombasa and the Masai Mara, time went very quickly. Before we knew it, the suitcases were starting to be packed. The next stop was.... London. Back home for us, but it was a good amount of time to have spent away. Although I was going to miss it a lot, I was looking forward to going home and catching up with family and friends. I was also pleased to find that there was not a big difference in weather from Nairobi and for once we actually landed back in London to the gorgeous sunshine and a very pleasant temperature.


It is with great sadness that a month or so after we returned back home, there was an attack in the Westgate mall which we visited four times in our trip. Luckily all of our family were not involved, however for the many that were not so lucky, you are in my thoughts. It is such an awful thing to have happened and really does hit home, especially after knowing you have been there and that you have many relatives out there.

Jaina...Xx

Safari!

Hi again!

I hope you enjoyed the previous post about my trip to Mombasa.

Now I will continue to recall my travels around Kenya, with this post being about my first ever Safari experience!

We set off for the Nairobi Wilson airport early in the morning. I was so tired, but the thought of getting into the Masai Mara in less than 40 minutes excited me! We decided that going by plane was a better option because of how much quicker it was and also because the recent weather had made the roads on the way to the Mara very rough. 

The plane journey however was such a good experience as it was a low flying one meaning you could get an amazing view of the gorgeous African surroundings!

After two short flights we had arrived!

We were then taken by our guides to Keekorok Lodge, where we were to stay for the next 2 nights.

We chose Keekorok because it is where my parents has both stayed many years ago and they absolutely loved it that time. The lodge is so great as it is situated in the heart of the Mara and there are no gates or boundaries of any form to block any nature out. There had even been stories from some of the staff of lions sometimes roaming around (ahhh scary).!

A monkey sitting outside our lodge

Overall the place was so beautifully decorated with objects that really reflected the safari theme.

 The seating area outside the dining room

The dining area

The room decor

Very simple but yet very effective!

Okay so lets move onto the actual safari! Over the 2 days we spent there, we went on a total of 5, 2 hour game drives. 2 of them were early morning ones starting at around 6am. Another 2 were evening ones where we would see the sun setting as we came back, and finally 1 afternoon one.

So instead of me explaining what I saw, I am just going to post my favourite snaps from the entire safari because as they say, 'A picture speaks a thousand words'.

 Ahhhh Silembaaaa! (I just could not help thinking I was on the set of the Lion King)

 Mischievous but very cute cubs

 The Wildebeest Migration to Tanzania

 I wish I could have been in that car!

 Elephants! One of my favourite animals 

 Hey Mufasa

 Not an animal but one of many beautiful trees

 Sunrise

 My favourite landscape shot!

 Ostrich

Staring right at us 

 The gorgeous sunset

Near the Tanzanian border in the land which is neither Kenya or Tanzania. With our two excellent tour guides!

Well, there you go! I hope some of those pictures gave you a feel for what a safari experience is like if you have never been before. It really is a lifetime experience and something I definitely want to do again!

We were lucky to see quite a lot of animals on our trip and we really did get some great shots. One animal which our guides tried very hard to find was a leopard, however we were unsuccessful in our search. They are very difficult to find like rhinos. We did however manage to find a cheetah and we almost saw a kill but the cheetah became too lazy and gave up. It was such an amazing thing to watch however despite this as we got to see the cheetah run! It was such a popular sight that about 20 cars were all there waiting for this one cheetah to pounce. It is always a good sign when you see lots of cars from afar as you know there is going to be something good to see!

So after our last morning game drive it was time to say goodbye, but before we left there was still some time to go and pay a visit to the hippo lodge.

 I loved watching the hippos. They really are such funny animals!

Me with the hippo lodge in the background

Bye bye Keekorok!

Well it really was an experience to remember, and with all those amazing fresh memories we set off back to Nairobi. The holiday still was not over yet as we had just over a week left to spend with our family in Nairobi!

Join me in my next post about Nairobi!

Asante Sana

(Many Thanks in Swahili)

Jaina...Xx