Sophie's World

So close to New Year's Eve, everybody, it's insane! I can't believe how fast this year has gone by... crazy. To mark the Christmas season, it's a family tradition to go to the pantomime every year. This year we went to go and see Beauty and the Beast! We got dressed up all fancy - I wore a Great Gatsby-esque sparkly top and a skirt - and Thorfinn took fancy to mean joggy bottoms and a t-shirt. Boys am I right? I was especially excited this year because I could finally order a drink at the bar at the Pantomime! It made me feel like such a mature adult being dressed up all nice, knowing all the inappropriate jokes, and sipping my vodka and coke. Sooo cool 😅 They did ID me twice  though as I was trying to get my drink... very annoying. The first lady asked if she could see my ID, looked at it, and then walked away and proceeded to ignore me. The second lady then finally noticed that I was still standing at the bar staring at them and asked for my ID again 🙃 Claire and I

Hello again! Sorry for the lapse in posts for a bit - it's been quite hectic. So. Let me tell you everything. Well, let me try lump everything in at least. On Friday the 21st of December, it was my cousin (Corrie)'s 18th birthday party. It was one of the big events of the week, and I think a couple of people were expecting a blog post about already, but let me backtrack a little and I'll tell you why I haven't written it yet. So on Thursday night - the eve of the party - we had just moved into the next house we were staying in. I was so excited for the party, but of course, my happiness jinxed something. That night I went to bed and even though I was wearing enough clothes to go to Antarctica, I was still lying shivering and trying to bury my head under my pillow to escape the pounding in my head. Yeeeeep, I got a virus. Fun fun fun. So, since my dad wouldn't be arriving until Friday night, I decided l would just go sleep with my mum so she could take care of me

I know that I only just posted one a couple of days ago, but like I said, SO much going on! For the last couple of days, I have been staying in the halls at the University of Stirling (where I'll be going to university in September). On the morning of the 11th, which was a Tuesday, I went on a run for the first time since my half marathon! Quite the accomplishment, let me tell you. It was very cold but it was nice to finally get back out and clear my head before heading off to the train station for Stirling. Eloise, my friend from Hilversum who I hadn't seen since I was about 10, met me off the train and we took a taxi back to the uni. It was really exciting for me being able to actually stay at the school I'd be going to soon. After dropping off my bags in Ellie's room, she took me on a tour of the campus. I've already been on a tour before but it was cool getting all the insider information and tips like these: Which accommodations are the best ones to apply

This Europe trip has been so amazing so far! Even though I have only been here for one week with my second parents, Aysen and Tim, I have done so much and had so much fun! I've been trying to hold myself back a little on the blog posts and only post on Mondays so I don't overwhelm everybody, but turns out I kind of stabbed myself in the back with that idea because I ended up doing so much every day that it is going to be very hard to condense it into a summary. Oops 😅 Wednesday Ok so Wednesday - Sinterklaas today! I know that Sinterklaas is a bit of a controversial topic right now, especially with the Zwarte Pieten, but for me it has no negative racial connotations to it, just reliving fun childhood memories. The morning began with the kids (Adam, 9 years old, and Dylan 4) bursting into the room very early to see what the Sint had left in their sacks by the fire. I have been sleeping in the living room all week because of how many people are here - which has actually been v

The time is here! I have finally left for Scotland and Holland! I just got off of the long long flight from Portland and have found a little Starbucks to situate myself. Let me tell you something - this Starbucks was not easy to find. I walked around for ages looking like an idiot because I could find no coffee shops and I definitely need it to keep me going. Right now it's 8:51am in the Netherlands and 11:51pm in Portland, so I'm just a little tired... not looking forward to another 12 hours being awake 🙃 Ok so for those of you that I haven't really talked to about this trip, let me give you a quick run-down. So I left today (well I guess technically yesterday... I don't even know anymore nevermind) but the 3rd of December, whenever that was. At the beginning of my trip, I'm staying in Rotterdam with basically my second parents who I haven't seen in about 10 years. I then leave on the 10th and head off to Scotland for the rest of my trip - which then conclud

Happy belated Thanksgiving everybody! I hope that everybody's weekend was relaxing and filled with people and things to be thankful for - I know that mine was. This time last year we were living the good life on beautiful Maui. With chilled vibes, warm weather, and amazing surfing - I definitely think that Hawaii is my spirit place. As one would imagine, taking a trip to Hawaii is the experience of a lifetime, and definitely one that I will never forget. That being said, I was very skeptical how this year's holiday would measure up in comparison to palm trees and turtles. Thankfully, however, our beach house turned out to be better than I could have hoped. On Wednesday the 21st of November we packed the car, had some lunch, and began the 2-hour journey to the Oregon coast town, Manzanita. Hayley had a soccer tournament in San Diego over Thanksgiving break so she stayed home until her early morning flight the next day. While it was sad and weird not having her there for t

Hello again! I thought I'd better follow up my first post with some more details about what I've been up to so far. In case you didn't know this about me, I'm a really big Demi Lovato fan. Watching her on tv and seeing her grow older as I did was a really big part of my childhood; I still remember sneaking onto my iPod late at night to watch "Sonny With a Chance" on Disney channel. What really resonated with me through all these years, however, was her honesty about mental health and the struggles that are so real in so many people's lives. Working for Youthline - the teen to teen crisis line I volunteer at - and teaching about suicide in classrooms has really opened my eyes to how stigmatised mental health really is. We cringe when these topics are brought up yet it is the 2nd leading cause of teenage death in Oregon after automobile accidents. I think mental health is often thought to be an individual struggle when that is really not the case. I admire D

As most people know, I am taking a gap year from school at the moment. In order to make things interesting and give me motivation, I decided that it would be fun to make a Gap Year Bucket List. It has been really fun so far trying to check off the different things that I've challenged myself to do, and I thought that it would be cool to record, for myself and anybody else who might be interested, how that journey went :) Me and my bestie at Florence Beach (11.11.18) These are the things that I've put on my bucket list: Going to a Demi Lovato concert Sky diving Go to Thailand Volunteer in a foreign country Do a road trip Learn Chinese Meet a monk Write a book Order a drink in a pub (because I'm legal age in Europe and most of the world now - yay!) Run 1/2 marathon Run marathon Go to a music festival Make $10,000 (getting pretty close to this one) See the northern lights Bungee jump Do a police ride along Read 50 books Some of these I've alre