Take ink and weep

 

February. Take ink and weep,
write February as you’re sobbing...

Okay, so Pasternak's poem is a little too sad. But it is now officially the shortest month of the year, which means it's time for me to get back into some kind of routine - regarding studying, workouts, sleeping, cooking, everything.

January was pretty great, and I was a little all over the place, not really focusing on anything. It was fun, it really was, but this month, I need to get things done. An absurd amount of things, to be specific. Still, it just might be a good month. Here's hoping!

Brand new things

She's a butterfly in mid-july 

who just can't wait to try her brand new wings

on brand new things...

I've had somewhat of a mellow monday, but Johnny Cash never fails to brighten my day. I had a dream about the scent of fresh Jasmine last night - I can't remember ever having scented dreams before, and it was wonderful. Outside my apartment building there are several large jasmine bushes, and the scent they give off in the summer is unbelievable. But summer is far away, and life is moving slowly these days.

The last red berries

  November comes
And November goes,
With the last red berries
And the first white snows

...and we're somewhere in the middle of those two stages right now. Winter is very late this year. My university town is looking very Tim Burton-esque: The river running trough the town reflects the starry evening sky, and all the naked old maples provide quite a haunting sight - it's very Sleepy Hollow, very Corpse Bride. Beautiful.

Even I, the most easily spooked person I know, cannot bring myself to be afraid of the dark in this town - it manages to look charming even on the darkest of November evenings. And they are getting dark alright - darkness falls at four in the afternoon now, and soon we'll be down to just a couple of hours of daylight every day. (I told you I live high up north...)

I do find it quite cosy. It's a great excuse to indulge in some way-too-early christmas decoration-crafting (I'm very much into making beaded metal-wire hearts and fabric flowers right now) while watching cozy movie of choice. Personally, I've never really fallen for Love, Actually, so I'm going with one of my favourite guilty pleasures: Dirty dancing 2. Yes, the "Havana Nights" one. It actually features a christmas celebration, so I think it's justified... But really, it's just such a sweet movie. And so visually beautiful.

A river's disguise

Now in Wienna, there's ten pretty women
There's a shoulder where Death comes to cry

It's friday evening, Leonard Cohen is singing softly in the background and my first week of classes is behind me. It really exhausted it more than it should - thank goodness for weekends. Mine will be spent drawing (I'm really inspired by amusement parks and vintage circus pictures right now, and I'd like to channel that into some pencil sketches) attending an aerobics class (I've really been waiting to get back into my workout routine after the summer holidays - I definitely need to!) and brushing up on my French grammar in order to stand a chance in my advanced French class.

Take this walz, take this walz
Take its broken waist in your hand

Plus I need to figure out if there's anything I can do to make my study feel more like an actual apartment and less like, well, a room. I've lived here for tree years now, and during my first year here I had blood red curtains, a dark red comforter on my bed and a red carpet. I loved it for about a year, then I got super tired of it and gradually changed it into what it looks like now: white and slightly romantic, with a beautiful old lamp and black-and-white photos on the walls. Still, it feels more like a bedroom than an actual apartment, if you know what I mean.

I've actually loved the cozy dorm room feeling this study has ever since I moved in, but now I'm all of a sudden longing for something, well, more home-like. Decluttering it a bit and removing some old pictures might help, I guess. Any ideas are extremely welcome!

I'll dance with you in Vienna
I'll be wearing a river's disguise...