Happy new year, should be happy new days

Almost 2019. Why we see a new year as such a new beginning… It makes it easier to stop unhealthy habits, since we are more socially supported if you stop because of a new year than if you stop on ‘just another day’… But why don’t we just choose a new beginning ourselves: new day, new week, happening of something special, making a decision to start with something new, get out of your comfort zone… Okay, maybe I am a pessimist about new year intentions and the 'new me'-thing. I believe in a new you in a continuous way. You change in one year, but we change every day. I think we focus on reflecting and starting something new often during this time of the year, simply because we have/take our time to… Just a quick holiday in which we all can slow down and connect with family members you normally don’t see because of our busy lives. I think we should take these moments a bit more, just to ground with who you are now. Live day by day and have an awesome new day again and again.

We are forced to set goals and work on our future. But you live NOW. Living in the moment is already a lot, so many things you face each day. And of course it can be good to have a point on the horizon to aim for, but there are many different ways. Be flexible. Be in the right place at the right time and experience real luck. Doing the right thing in the right way is something you feel (NOW) and don’t even really plan to.

Both only really happen to you when you empty your heart of ambition, purpose, and plan; when you give yourself completely, to the golden, fate-filled moment (@twobeersontheroad).

Happy new days guys, enjoy tonight and take more time regularly to reflect on who you are, what you want and why you want this. Life is about the journey, not about the destination.

Picture of exactly one year ago. Working in a French casino was also fun at new years eve! Drinking tonight with a great friend and her friends, can not wait to pop the champaignnn!

Travelblog 2: Model trip Istanbul

Today exactly one year ago I came back from my first and (quite sure) last international model trip. Ever since I went abroad for modelling, people ask me the same questions. For that reason, but also to reflect on that time internationally modelling, I am writing this blog. I hope you get a little insight in a models life (read: my model life) and the things I learned from that kind of life. Be aware that there are different types of models, commercial and high fashion. Every agency also focusses on either one or both. This means every model has a different story depending on market, country, agent and model ‘level’.

How is it to live in a tiny model apartment with many models?

So actually three questions are asked. How is living in a small apartment. And how are models in their home moods? Anddd how do those two things combine. Well I lived in a small house with a maximum of ten models, two rooms, one office/living room, one shower, two toilets and one kitchen. I am used to living in small rooms, say 10 squared metres, but living in that same space with three other girls on bunk beds was something I needed to get used to. You need to get along with each other since you know you will be there for two months, so you try to be your best self of course. But after a while you can feel your general (less positive) home moods coming up as well, which is normal. The bond with your roommates is growing, and I had this in particular with two girls. I cannot imagine my stay without them. It is something special we shared. They were there when you needed them and the other way around. Remembering the moment I created a figure under my blanket with pillows, so I could sleep for one night with my boyfriend in the hotel on the other side of the street. It was crazy that this was necessary, but my roommates got my back. I could not sleep that night, because I was afraid the agent would find out.

Did you make money?

No. This was also not my aim for the two month trip. I did it for the experience and this was way more worth it than money would ever do. Nevertheless, I did not lose money as well. Everything is payed for you if you have an on-stay contract: flights, weekly pocket money, apartment, diners, gym, spa, parties etc. Butttt, this also means you come there again for your boss and not for yourself… You can not go out after 11pm (cameras were there to make sure we did not), you cannot buy all sweets, fats and not (modelling) worthy food. You need to stay in the same shape and size as how they booked you. It depends per agency for sure how strict they are with rules. To come back to the question, I did not make money. And many people ask me then why I did not… Well, in my opinion my appearance was just not right for the clients my agency had. They always wanted someone with a more cute face, bigger boobs, bigger size than mine 34/36 (which I see as a good thing), more beautiful hair and full lips etc. My appearance was just seen as more high fashion I guess, while at the same time my height is not for that market. I have always been in between those two markets, too small for high fashion, but too different faced for commercial market. And that is fine, I have been conscious about this fact, and I chose realistic goals based on that.

Did you have many shootings?

To start off and give you a quick image: I had 105 castings and I had only 2 jobs, an Instagram promo video and a fitting job in which I just was a living doll: dress, twist and turn, undress and dress again. I had many test shootings in the first couple of weeks. Normally that is good and shows that the agency is putting effort in you. These photos were supposed to fill up my portfolio with images the clients of our agency would like. Nevertheless, the photos were not printed… Test shootings were always in the weekend or in the evening after a long day of castings. This was tough, because you could not live the life you wanted to. It was more than a full time job.

Did you like it?

First things first. I knew I would come to Istanbul for work. It is not the same as going on a holiday or quick city trip. I liked it the first week and it was all exciting, but after some time I felt trapped inside a house. We needed to stay inside most of the time and could not do much. And for people who know me, I love being outside, explore, do my own thing for sure. This was something I struggled with. Also the communication was amazingly bad. I have a grudge against those situations. I learned a lot about myself and coping with these situations, because sometimes you can not do anything. I had no choice. The director has the right to somehow form and plan your days. If they want you to put extra make-up on, you do, because they say and they pay for you being there. This was my case. If you know me you probably also know that I dislike wearing a lot of make-up daily. I love to give my skin some air. Whenever I normally put makeup on it is just only concealer, mascara and sometimes an eyeliner or a darker eyeshadow color in the outer corner of the eye. Right in Istanbul, totally different to Milan for example, they wanted full make-up since they taught that a model was good in front of the camera if she could do her own make-up and styling… 

Living in Istanbul taught me great lessons, let me meet wonderful human beings and a different culture. The food has been amazing, the free gym, swimming pool and sauna in a five star hotel as well. I would never forget this trip and the people I met. I am really grateful for that. 

Travelblog 1: The Greek cyclades

Dear blog readers,

If you read my first post since ages, then you will definitely know that I have been travelling a lot. Instead of starting with the first (model)trip, to Istanbul, I will start with my last trip at the end of May, to the Cyclades, Greece. Just because maybe some reader will go there on summer holiday and do not really know what to do on which island or maybe they do not even know yet to which island they want to go. That is what my boyfriend and I were wondering in the first place before we booked nothing else then a plane ticket to Santorini, one of the most famous Greek islands. In total we have been to five islands in ten days. We wanted to see many different islands in actually a very short time frame. That was the main reason why we did research on the internet for things to do on different islands. Over here I will give you a (hopefully) fun overview of where we went, why we went there and what we did. 

Instead of flying to Athens and go by boat to the Cylcades, we flew to Santorini from Amsterdam. This was the cheapest and fastest option. Next to that we saved time by not going on a boat immediately. We booked a retourticket and all our boattickets we looked up on go-ferry.com where you can see which transfer is cheapest and then we went to the right boat company's website to buy the ticket there. We collected tall tickets in Santorini, Fira at an boat ticket office for all companies. Once we arrived on Santorini we found out that we should have asked the first hotel we stayed in to shuttle us from the airport to the hotel, because taxi's from the airport are quite expensive. Nevertheless it all went well and we got to Kamari really quick. Kamari is a wonderfull place, we immediately fell in love with. The boulevard has many great restaurants and if you pass by all of them a bit too early for dinner, they sometimes make you an offer like free wine. Since we planned to stay here one full day we arranged on the day of arrival to do a boat & hot springs & volcano/Kameni tour in one with a guide the next day. That has been a good choice! We loved Kamari because this place is not as busy/touristic as Fira and Oia, but the atmosphere is amazing and relaxed to start off your holiday and cheap local busses to Fira continuing to Oia will go from here too. That is what we did after the boat tour day, we went to Oia. This is probably the most famous village on Santorini with the picturesque white little houses on an hill. We had a wonderful sea view during dinner. After all we also wanted to see ancient Fira, but we snoozed for too long... In any case we would have had enough time to explore Santorini since we booked a stay in Fira before we went home on day ten. We stayed 54 hours on Santorini, Kamari & Oia which was more than enough for that moment. 

On day three we went to Naxos, the biggest island of the Cyclades. Most of our boattransfers took approximately 2 hours. Most of the hotels we booked were close to the haven to save time and also practically with our hand luggage and sunny weather we were happy we did. Naxos has an amazing coastline, not only because the wild water and wind (see pictures), but also because the long busy boulevard where everyone relaxes after a day of work. This island did not seem touristic at all to us. Only at the Portára, the not finished temple of Apollo, you saw some tourists, but that was mostly it. We also went to the archeological museum, which was pretty hard to find because there were many small streets that form a labyrint. A nice and cheap museum though with lots of pottery, from before Christ. Naxos has wonderful beaches too, so we chose one of the prettiest according to our host, Plaka beach, which you should definitely go to. We stayed 29,5 hours on Naxos, which could be more if you want to go inland or see more beaches.  

Next stop for day number five was Koufounisia, one of the Small Cyclades. This was the most expensive boattransfer for only a short time on the island. But mennn, this was absolutely beautiful and worth it. Such a tiny island, whith lovely and chilled people. We could have rent bikes to go around the island in one day. But we decided to go by foot, staying close to the seashore all time and finding hidden paradises/private beaches. I think we walked one thirth of the coast, where we saw Piscine which is a natural pool and also many beautiful private beaches. The most beautiful ones we have seen during this holiday (see pictures). The water was super clear. We stayed 13 hours on Koufonisia, which could have been a bit more to see the whole island by bike for example. There is not much more to do than relax.  

Actually the same day as we arrived on Koufonisia, we also went by boat to Paros, Naoussa. This island I remember because of it's cute white haven and old fort (see pictures). On this island are many clothing shops, even a very nice outlet called VENTO. There is also a white church in the middle that might be worth visiting (see picture)… It was closed when we passed by. Firstly, we wanted to plan a canoe tour, but after all we rent kayaks on Chrisi Akti beach, where you could also rent windsurf sets, SUP's and more. We stayed 44,5 hours on Paros, which was perfect. 

Day 7 we arrived on Ios. We chose for Ios instead of Myokonos. Both are party islands, but Ios is less known by tourists and this made our night out so so good. Partying starts late though. We walked up into the village around 11.30 PM but we sat on a typical Greek terrasse under leave trees with live music until 2 AM I guess. Luckily all clubs are close together and the party season just started. In the end we stayed all night long in the silenct disco where we met new friends from Brazil and other places. The day after we walked, with 30 degrees Celsius and a severe hangover, to an amphitheatre mentioned on the internet. We thought it would be a historical one, but in fact it had the same age as me, hahaha anticlimax. The view was amazing though (see picture) and it was worth suffering for. On our last morning here we got on a snorkeling excursion to three locations: a ship wreck, private beach and caves. This was awesome, and I would definitely recommend this to anyone. We stayed 48,5 hours on Ios, which was perfect for us as well. 

One day before the last we arrived back on Santorini again. This time we slept in Fira, the central village of Santorini. We wanted to do some wine tasting with dinner, but we did not really find an option for this. Although there should have been a good one inland. Nevertheless we chose a restaurant with sea view again and had our last great Greek plate for dinner. We stayed 30 hours again on Santorini, Fira, which was enough time for Santorini in total. 

Mmm I planned on making a shorter blog, but I guess I am still too excited about this holiday destination. It was a vacation with lots to see, to do and to eat. But also a great one to relax from the busy city lives and get tanned on lonely places. See you on the next!

ps. Without a doubt, Greek food is amaaaazing!

@kvanantwerpen for more pics

That has been a long long time

Hi there again, oh well, after so so long I just felt the impulse to go back at it again. From the starting of my studentship I just had no priority for writing kind of stuff (because we already did this a lot for courses), but since my gapyear, which is almost over now, I felt the urge to write again. About last year, my travellings, my jobs, thoughs, still sporty and healthy lifestyle and of course the future. Maybe no one is gonna read it, but it is like a positive diary for myself to look back at. I am grateful for the freedom I had the chance to take and I am more than happy and satisfied with what I did this last year. I made it happen, and I think everyone should made the dreams and hopes they have happen. You all deserve that.  

So.. Where to start, pff.. I could start at where I ended, right before I started my Bachelor Psychology at the University of Leiden, but those three years were actually quite the same. Working at the Albert Heijn, doing committees at the study association, still modelling but not as often as I did, making some extra money with hospitality jobs, still spending time with the same boyfriend and new university friends, went windsurfing with the sports fraternity I joined in my second year and also did a committee and surftrip there, did volunteer jobs for healthcare with a schizophrenic buddy, depressive elderly and also people with eating disorders... I did a lot... Like always haha, it was a great time with parties, freedom and development. As soon as I got my degree, in three years, with more ECTS than necessary I decided I wanted to make that one dream come true. Going abroad for modelling. And it happened. I found a motheragent and she sent me to Istanbul for two months. After that I was more or less done with modelling, not because of the trip, but because my highest point, in between what I think I could achieve in the model business, was reached. I did it for eight years and it has been wonderful , I learned a lot, but my feelings said it was finished. Sooo, since I was not placed into another fashion city, I decided last minute to go backpacking on my own (after also one amazing trip to Morocco with a model friend from Istanbul). I got my vaccinations and two weeks later I was in Nepal, Kathmandu. Preparing for a two week trek in the Himalayas, a city trip to Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur and six days of rest and peace on a beach at Langkawi Island. It was the most wonderful trip I could ever imagine. When I got home I really felt the ATD, after travel depression. But the travelling was not over yet. A studytrip to Slovenia, Ljubljana was ahead of me and also an island hopping holiday to Greece with my boyfriend was planned. Right now all the travelling is over for some time, I am working because I spent to much money but also because I needed to get back to reality and daily stuff. However I will write mostly about last year up until the present. I will reflect on my trips mostly and share my thoughs. Next year will not be that interesting I guess, but we will see, you will never know. 

I forgot to mention, I turned into a redhead since I sort of stopped modelling and I did not need to look like my portfolio pictures anymore! 

Nevertheless, people book me more often now… Maybe also because I got an instagram account, quite late in the trend of having it, because it is only about see and be seen I guess, but okaaay another photo diary for myself: @kvanantwerpen 

The Modelling as Waiting

My mom told me I know a lot about what a model needs to handle and deal with. I’m talking about my model bag, designers, teachers of graduated students, catwalk coaches, photographers… So this one will be about The Modelling. A synonym for modelling is waiting. Waiting for hair and makeup, waiting to get into your outfit, waiting for help to get out of your outfit, waiting for the lunch, waiting for dinner, waiting for someone (a model) who is starfing enough to finally join you in the kantine, waiting for your final repetition, waiting for your dress to fit perfect on your body, waiting for your train to catch back (and of course the train you needed to catch had just left), waiting till the designer and makeup artist figured out what they really want after trying 4 different looks on you. Well I can tell you a whole lot more about what kind of waiting modelling refers to.

I hear you wondering, why would anyone love modelling??? Well the thing I like most, is meeting people, people who inspire me. And my aim is to inspire them, I want to see their smiles, their inner oneselfs and I want them to be happy.

The bag: deodorant, nude underwear, water, fruit, smint, makeup remover (for after the show, and you find the makeup is awful), high heels (just in case the designer bought one pair short), charger, mobile phone, a book or something else which keeps you busy during waiting (that’s the thing you do all the time).

Make sure you get your socks off on time, because the stripes you get from them is something which pisses off the fashion industry. And something else which is important, wear a shirt with a big head hole, because hairdressers won’t be happy if you ruin their masterpiece/work. And more: don’t wear make-up, dress simple but be sure they will remember you. Personality is everything.

Beneath you see pictures from the KABK 2014 graduation show, I walked for Anna Mala for the third and last time.

And I walked for Marly Roosen , graduated student at the WDKA. What an amazing show was it!

<(C) Peter Stigter

Ps. I just figured out the problem with my camera and laptop connection! Pictures overload you may expect…

Pps. I’m going to study Psychology at the University of Leiden, you guys will finally get some better English blogs than this DutchEnglish one.

At the El Cid (introduction week Leiden). I won the

RunnersWorld competition, which I was signed up for by someone else, because I don't like losing something I compete in. Butttt I was the first girl and number 8 over the finish, with 4 hours of sleep and many beers... Don't know how.  But if you believe you can, you can! Just go for it ;)

Be your best self xox 

Summermusic!

Next to techno, deep house, dubstep, mainstream dance, I've been listening to lounge dance music these days. Fully inspired by these ultimate summer music channels. The Sound You Need and MrRevillz both have great mixtapes from Bakermat to Bastille. I found these channels during my Testweek, of course, study avoiding habits. 

TheSoundYouNeed

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7R2ubzlbUw&list=PLpyrjJvJ7GJ5eNen9UaobomTcIfe8lAtu

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6teOmBuMxw4

MrRevillz

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nSjEQOFZoRw&list=FLm-rKMCgVxp3SloalOyXL_A&index=17

Workout, it's fun!

Went for many runs and bicycle trips these weeks, I also do Brazil Butt Lift (from beachbody.com) and in the upcoming weeks I want to do some skating and more Insanity!!! Get a summerproof, actually I mean fit, body haha.

Did you know that you burn the most fat during an interval training!? Because cardio only burns calories, high intensity training is there for getting muscles and high intensity low intensity burns calories and fat! 

Enjoy xox