Well, actually you don't.
If European fashion is the barometer of style, then we are definitely out of sync with the rest of the world.
Surfer stuff aside, Australians can be pretty stylish people. We love a bargain, don't shy away from vintage, and generally don't look too boring or skanky. We have good-value, interesting fashion available in a number of different price ranges, which means everyone has the opportunity to dress well.
Not so in europe, where there is very little available between the mass-produced H&M, Zaras and Mangoes of the continent and the super teuer "400 Euro for a jacket" type of fashion.
And boy can you tell.
Another difference is purely a regional one. What is cute, different and retro in Australia is just what normal middle-aged women wear in Europe. Take the high-waisted denim skirt with a tucked-in shirt that i often wear. At home this looks like i'm channeling East German factory workers, taking the prescribed elements of official socialist dress (functionality, not-too-showy, but with a small amount of denim allowed to appease the masses) and placing them within the Australian fashion discourse. The resulting look is a bit retro, different and unusual, a bit 70's and feminine yet assertive at the same time.
(Shit with that sentence I should work for Anna Wintour. Hell, I should BE her: I have a bob, am known to be rude in the morning and have big sunglasses.)
Whereas in Germany, I just look like everyother middle-aged shop worker. Not quite the same look that I was going for. Especially when people tell me I was meant to start at 9 when I go to the supermarket.
P.S. it's nice to be back in the English-speaking world. Not least because the English, unlike some of their EU counterparts, can actually dress (and UK customs quizzed ME on arrival in Terminal 5!).
Friday, July 4, 2008
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Ich hab' noch einen Koffer in Berlin 1#
So I've just spent a month in Berlin, where I studied (along with other fabulous people) many moons ago.
When I booked my flight back to Berlin (Malev via Budapest: is it too much to ask for an airbridge? Actually Malev, when JAT do airbridge and you don't, then you know something is wrong with your service), I was excited: "woo! a month of party in Berlin with all these crazy people from before and more randoms, woo!" but as I was sitting Sarajevo Airport checking out the duty-free selection from afar (which I can tell you took all of 1.5 minutes), this changed to "shitt, I forgot to close my bank account and now i owe the Deutsche Bank 300 Euro, I didn't return at least one library book to the Stabi, the Deutsche Bahn were threatening me with legal action (don't ask, it's a ridiculous story of the differences in German thinking: german academics, instead of teaching German Humour, you should teach German Logic, with an optinal second semseter for the mathematical analysis of this phenomenon (did I just tell a maths joke: oh)), but most importantly, will Berlin and I still share the same love and precious moments that we did 3 years ago?"
The answer was, like yeah, totally, or, given that this is in theory a travel blog and occassionally warrents some kind of cheesy travel pun "auf jeden" (Berlin for of course). I even landed at tegel, my favourite Berlin airport (Schoenefeld just hasn't been the asme since Interflug stopped using it as its him), and Lorenzo, maker of the best pasta that doesn't have a chef's hat of Michelin star, was a fabulous porter. we used to live together (with Benni), where we all ate a lot of pasta, drank a bit of red wine and avoided cleaning the floors together. Lorenzo decided that life in the centre was getting a bit too hard, and moved back to surburbia (Siemensstadt (Siemens is company, they make electrical things like telephones and machines and...shit. Not anything bad or crude mind you): near Tegel and far from Potsdam) to write his PhD.
This resulted in us "grilling," using firestarters (those things you used to put on the barbie before everyone went gas) and something which resembles Allfoil. Tasty, nice crispy flavour. We also had some DELICIOUS pasta, am regreting my lack of photo-taking of it. I do not, however regret asking Lorenzo very politely (more than once) to make some pasta for us after we'd been out ("it'll be cheaper than a Doener, and less fattening, but only if there's no cream!"), I would even eat his pasta for breakfast.
I did eat very well in berlin, but... that deserves a post of its own (and a facebook album: Wir lieben lebensmittel if you haven't seen it).
Anyway, I have to go to sleep now and wanted to write more, but this will have to be a teaser for one of the many Berlin posts (i know I have posted on it already, but this time i'll go further into depth) of the future.
I'll leave you with this food for thought: Should airbridges, like toiletry kits, be a right not a reward when travelling by plane?
Discuss.
When I booked my flight back to Berlin (Malev via Budapest: is it too much to ask for an airbridge? Actually Malev, when JAT do airbridge and you don't, then you know something is wrong with your service), I was excited: "woo! a month of party in Berlin with all these crazy people from before and more randoms, woo!" but as I was sitting Sarajevo Airport checking out the duty-free selection from afar (which I can tell you took all of 1.5 minutes), this changed to "shitt, I forgot to close my bank account and now i owe the Deutsche Bank 300 Euro, I didn't return at least one library book to the Stabi, the Deutsche Bahn were threatening me with legal action (don't ask, it's a ridiculous story of the differences in German thinking: german academics, instead of teaching German Humour, you should teach German Logic, with an optinal second semseter for the mathematical analysis of this phenomenon (did I just tell a maths joke: oh)), but most importantly, will Berlin and I still share the same love and precious moments that we did 3 years ago?"
The answer was, like yeah, totally, or, given that this is in theory a travel blog and occassionally warrents some kind of cheesy travel pun "auf jeden" (Berlin for of course). I even landed at tegel, my favourite Berlin airport (Schoenefeld just hasn't been the asme since Interflug stopped using it as its him), and Lorenzo, maker of the best pasta that doesn't have a chef's hat of Michelin star, was a fabulous porter. we used to live together (with Benni), where we all ate a lot of pasta, drank a bit of red wine and avoided cleaning the floors together. Lorenzo decided that life in the centre was getting a bit too hard, and moved back to surburbia (Siemensstadt (Siemens is company, they make electrical things like telephones and machines and...shit. Not anything bad or crude mind you): near Tegel and far from Potsdam) to write his PhD.
This resulted in us "grilling," using firestarters (those things you used to put on the barbie before everyone went gas) and something which resembles Allfoil. Tasty, nice crispy flavour. We also had some DELICIOUS pasta, am regreting my lack of photo-taking of it. I do not, however regret asking Lorenzo very politely (more than once) to make some pasta for us after we'd been out ("it'll be cheaper than a Doener, and less fattening, but only if there's no cream!"), I would even eat his pasta for breakfast.
I did eat very well in berlin, but... that deserves a post of its own (and a facebook album: Wir lieben lebensmittel if you haven't seen it).
Anyway, I have to go to sleep now and wanted to write more, but this will have to be a teaser for one of the many Berlin posts (i know I have posted on it already, but this time i'll go further into depth) of the future.
I'll leave you with this food for thought: Should airbridges, like toiletry kits, be a right not a reward when travelling by plane?
Discuss.
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