Trip to Yorkshire Dales — Travel Vlog

On By nakeziaavillyIn exploreLeave a comment

Exciting trip to Yorkshire Dales National Park in December 2020

Hello!

Have you ever been to UK’s national parks? If you haven’t, then you must check this out!

I personally have never been to England’s National Parks, so this is a first for me. My friends and I decided to take a short 4 days trip to Yorkshire Dales, a national park with various mesmerising sceneries and highlands. From endless greeneries, sheeps, traditional British foods, hiking adventures, there are apparently a lot of things that you can do in national parks!

It has been quite a journey, although it was only a short one. I have never felt air that is as clear and unpolluted as the one I’ve felt within the high mountains of the national park. Although it was just never-ending mountains and green landscapes, I felt at peace looking at the sight. It truly felt like a scene straight out of Game of Thrones or Harry Potter!

There was even a place in Malham Cove, one of the places I visited in Yorkshire Dales National Park, which turned out to be a shooting place for Harry Potter Deathly Hallows Part 1! It was mental! As a Harry Potter fan since I was little, it was a great place to visit and see a real-life place where they shot the scene.

Anyway, I did a little vlog as I was on this trip and I hope it’s entertaining to see me and my friends just having fun together over the winter break. Don’t worry, we kept social distancing with other people and wear our masks whenever suitable.

Hope all of you enjoyed this vlog as much as I do filming and editing it!

Thank you for reading my blog and watching the video!

Please do comment your thoughts about it and what kind of videos should I make after this.

Lots of love,

Nakezia

5 Tips I Would Give My Past Self Before Going To University.

On By nakeziaavillyIn London student tipsLeave a comment

We all know that feeling of being anxious and self-conscious before going to a new place; especially moving across the globe without your family and knowing nobody. The dread of it all is enough to make someone becoming home-sick and depressed. I’ve been through this several times in my life but the most recent time was when I first went to university in 2018. If anything, now I’d like to give my past self 5 tips to avoid all that awkwardness and I hope this can inspire all of you who are going to university as well!

by Nakezia Avilly

1. Don’t Be Afraid To Connect

Hey, I know it’s your first time being in a university full of new people who you don’t know. And I know it’s hard for an introverted person to be social. But you’ll never know who you’re going to meet and they might change your life before you know it! So do not ever be afraid to try and connect with new people, even if it feels draining sometimes, eventually you’ll have a good time and meet new people with interesting stories to share!

2. Give Time To Yourself

Sometimes, everything can be overwhelming and it is hard to find solitude during busy days in Uni but don’t forget to always give time to yourself. Don’t be so hard on yourself. Yes, wanting to achieve things and being ambitious is great but don’t let it all took a heavy toll on your body and especially your mind. Your wellbeing is the most important thing at the end of the day. If you’re feeling stuck or having a block, it’s always nice to take a walk, eat at your favourite restaurant, and maybe treat yourself with a little thing that you’ve been wanting for a while now.

3. Seek For Help If You Need To

Being a fresher in Uni and not understanding how things work is completely normal and you are definitely not alone. That’s why we have university counsellors. I always go to them whenever I feel stuck with my work or if I don’t understand how to even begin with my project and research. You can also ask for peer mentors and ask your friends for opinions too, you’ll be surprised at how nice people can be and how willing they are to help you.

4. Don’t Compare Yourself To Others

One thing that I realise since going to an Art University is that everyone is so creative and most of them have such great ideas that might not even be thinkable to your mind. I would honestly advice to take it slow and just be yourself. Yes, feeling down and self-conscious will likely to happen when surrounded with all sorts of people but comparing yourself all the time will only take a heavy toll on your mental health. By this I don’t mean that you can just chill and not care about projects; if anything, you should feel even more motivated to do more research, study more, and challenge yourself even more to be on their level too. It’s totally okay to take it slow and failing a couple times along the way. I’m sure great things lie ahead if you keep on trying so do not ever give up on your dreams.

5. Expand Your Skills

Finally, I would like to give this advice which is to always learn new things and expand your skills. If you’re interested in things that might not even be in your area of studies, don’t be afraid to reach out to someone who understands and ask them to teach you. There are also a lot of resources in every universities that would accommodate students to make their learning and research abilities better. Always remember that you are doing this to make yourself better and don’t lose sight of that thought, even if it can feel tiring at times. But, don’t forget to take that break you need if you want to. Take it slow and you’ll get there, I promise.

All the best,

Nakezia Avilly.

Quarantine Vlog — Episode 1

On By nakeziaavillyIn lifestyle, UncategorisedLeave a comment

The current Covid-19 situation has left almost most of us to be in a form of quarantine. Although we still have to work from home or study at home, it really can be so boring and overwhelming sometimes.

It is why I tried to make the best out of this quarantine and filmed my activities in a week. It really is not much, but I am trying my best to be productive. I hope you enjoy this video and if you do enjoy it, please let me know so and I’ll make the second episode for this series!

Anyway, here’s the video, linked to my YouTube channel. Hope all of you are well in quarantine!

 

Thank you for watching this and I hope you can share with me your activities to keep you productive as well.

See you soon!

 

All the love,

Nakezia Avilly.

My Daily Healthy Breakfast in London

On By nakeziaavillyIn London student tips, UncategorisedLeave a comment

Breakfast is one of the most important meals of the day. Some might even say that it is the number one meal that fuels the body for the whole day. So, what is a perfect healthy breakfast that your body needs? I’ll be sharing my daily healthy breakfast that I eat almost everyday as a student in London.

by nakezia avilly

I usually wake up about an hour before I go to uni, so I have a bit more time for breakfast. I always make one thing, that is healthy and warming for your mornings especially in winter time!

That breakfast is oatmeal. In London, you can get about 1 KG for £0.90. What a great deal?! Totally perfect for students that needs to save money right? It’s also really easy to make, probably takes 5-6 minutes in total, or you can make it in advance and make it into overnight oats. So many possibilities for this wholesome and cheap meal.

I will be sharing my personal recipe down below and I hope you all enjoy it!

 

Feel free to share me some of your oatmeal recipes that I can try as well cause I’m willing to try other recipes!

Lots of love,

Nakezia.

Update on Life in London

On By nakeziaavillyIn London student tipsLeave a comment

As an international student who has had difficulties blending into the English cultures, I will now share my personal experiences after 1.5 years of staying in London and what I have found different this time round.

by Nakezia Avilly

It has now been one and a half years of me living in London as a student. I can say that I am growing to tolerate some bits now. I love the way things are now and I’m happy to call London a second home.

At first, I think I was really closed up and had a bit of culture shock even without realising it. Which after a few months led me into a series of depressive behaviour and staying indoor most of the time and trying to enjoy the gloomy weather. However, as the last term of the year came by, I realised that it was not entirely London’s fault for the rainy weather being depressing and what not. Upon self-reflecting, I found out that I did not try my best to overcome my fears and social anxieties. I didn’t try to get along with my communities, avoid people, and just being inclusive all the time.

Victoria Park (c) Nakezia Avilly, 2020
Victoria Park (c) Nakezia Avilly, 2020

That being so, I decided to try to be more open with my surroundings and see my experience from a different perspective. When my second year finally comes, I tried to always see the positive side in everything. I used to hate my area but now I really love it! Some people said that my area is kind of dangerous, but It is really near to a lot of interesting sites and old markets which I love. I joined more communities and try to blend in even though it feels hard sometimes because I really am THAT introverted. I try to be more active in Uni and even got elected to be the Student Rep.

It’s been an amazing year that I even considered not going home for my winter break because I just love my life so much at the moment. I guess living alone in a new place doesn’t just mean that you’ll have to learn to be independent of living by yourself. It is also about learning how to make yourself sociable, because sometimes you do need to depend on someone especially when you are in a new and foreign place.

canal
London Canal (c) Nakezia Avilly, 2020

 

Even until now, I keep on challenging myself to be productive each day. Go to a social event, walk around the area and explore new things, and even trying to vlog ( something that I’ve always wanted to try but too shy to do do it). Since then, I think my personal welfare has been so much better. From now on, I’ll try to always challenge myself to do new things and not be afraid of it. Because honestly, I never realised how much a person needs to be active and not staying in all the time to feel fresh and happy until now.

So, for anyone who is about to move out for college or move to a different country after finishing high school, I would really recommend to just be open and have fun. It surely can be tough for someone who is an extremely introverted person ((like me)) to do so, but that is the whole point of you leaving your parents’ house isn’t it? Not only to study, but also challenge yourself to the highest point and be independent as a person and break through the walls.

Even if everything seems to be so depressing and hard sometimes, it will turn out to be fine in the end, I’m sure of it. If you need more tips on living life as a college student, don’t hesitate to contact me and I’ll try my best to help you!

That’s all for today, see you soon!

Nakezia xx

Bali Vlog — Chasing Sunsets and Exchanging Laughs

On By nakeziaavillyIn explore, indonesiaLeave a comment

So, I went to Bali with my family and friends last December for around 9 days. I tried something that I have never done before in my life which was vlogging. I did my best and I know it lacked a lot and I also know it has been a LONG while since the trip and I admit I procrastinate a lot but I am actually proud to produce this after all.

That being said, here’s the final product of the vlog.

Hope you enjoy it!

 

Subscribe to my Youtube as well if you are interested to see my daily life in London, I will try to post something every week!

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All the love,

Nakezia Avilly

Goodbye and Thank You, 2010s.

On By nakeziaavillyIn content/writingLeave a comment

There is an end to everything; that’s what people always say. Without noticing, we are entering a new era, the 2020s. However, let’s remind ourselves for everything that has happened in the last decade and be thankful for everything that came from it.

By Nakezia Avilly

The last 10 years has been such a roller coaster to me. I was only 10 years old back in 2010. I am now 19 and about to enter 20 years old in 2020. Without doubt, I am terrified. Probably the most terrified I’ve ever been in my whole life. Only 2 years ago I became legal and about to finish high school and now I’m facing a true real challenge in my life, entering adulthood and 20s.

Back then in 2010, I could only hope for the best for my future, being only 10 years old then, I thought of having new friends in middle school and high school, falling in love, and getting new experiences as teenagers would. Now, I am clearly faced with the end of my literal teen years and about to enter adulthood, I tried to be hopeful but deep inside I would say that I am scared. Finishing Uni, finding a suitable job, getting married; so many things ahead of me that I am still unsure with and I am not sure how to deal with the feeling of it all. So, upon entering the new year, I just want to reflect how good the past decade has been to me.

Living my teenage life had been a great ride and I think whether I am ready or not, I have to brace myself to face the unknown future. Meeting my friends and family on Winter Break lifted the heavy feeling on my chest a little; I am truly grateful for everyone who has been with me throughout everything. One thing I realise upon growing up is that family will always be there to support you no matter what. Alongside that, there will be people and friends who eventually become family too. So, all I can say is always be thankful of those who surround you with positivity and supportive of you.

I also learned how those who you expected to stay  throughout the years eventually parted ways and those who you did not expect to stay, surprisingly stayed. Basically, the world goes around in a weird way. You’ll never know what will happen so just enjoy everything while you can.

It is already mid-Jan and I do have some goals that I wish to fulfil this year, and writing this is one of my goals to stay grounded while moving on to the new year and decade. All in all, I can say my 2010s went well and I would do nothing to change it.

What about you? How did your 2010s go and were you proud of your achievements?

 

All the love,

the dark macaroni xx

Portrait #5 — Winter in Australia

On By nakeziaavillyIn exploreLeave a comment
By Nakezia Avilly

Hello, I hope all of you are doing well. I know it is now Summer and I’m sorry for not posting for almost 2 months now. I have been enjoying my time off without my laptop and just spending my rest days with family and friends.

I couldn’t write much for now but here are a few pictures from my last trip to Australia late June. I came right in time for #VIVIDSYDNEY and I will now share the pictures that I took of the beautiful scenery.

Harbour Bridge
Harbour Bridge. (c) Nakezia Avilly

IMG_2056
Harbour Bridge 2. (c) Nakezia Avilly

 

I am still so mesmerised to see all of the beautiful and colourful lights on the iconic spots of Sydney in Darling Harbour. Even Opera House was filled with colourful laser designs. I took these pictures as I was cruising through the harbour. Such beautiful sights indeed.

img_2065.jpg
Opera House. (c) Nakezia Avilly

Make sure to come to Australia in Winter (in June to be exact) to see Vivid Sydney next year! They held the event every year to attract tourists all around the world and I guess I was one of the tourists that was caught up in the event! Would be lovely to be able to come here again.

These are my updates for now and I will make sure to write more posts in the next following weeks. Look out for more pictures from my summer holiday because I’ve been to several places over the summer.

See you guys real soon!

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Lots of love,

the dark macaroni

Money; Benefit or Downfall?

On By nakeziaavillyIn content/writingLeave a comment

Money seems to be the source of humankind’s happiness. People spend their whole lives to be ‘successful’ and rich, but is it really the most important thing in life?

By Nakezia Avilly

Good day to every single one of you! I’m sorry for the long delay for the new post. I’ve been using my time to finish my school assignments so I couldn’t update but here you go. Today’s topic is money and how it has corrupted people’s lives ever since the start of civilization. For all we know, the barter system couldn’t have been applied on modern times as it is inconvenient. However, the making of money itself and putting value on a piece of paper and metal has been a weird notion for me personally.

I’m pretty sure when the first money was made, it was used for fixed purposes, which is food or clothings. Nowadays, money’s purpose has shifted to be used for fame or an unrealistic goal among the people. People constantly race with each other to see who can gain more money in life. Is that really what life is about; to be the so-called ‘successful’ and rich by people around you? If that’s your life goal, maybe you should re-think your values again.

two person holding credit card closeup photo
Photo by rawpixel.com on Pexels.com

I’m not going to say that wanting to be successful is wrong, even I want to be successful in life. Nevertheless, what makes it wrong is when someone makes being on top of social hierarchy and consumeristic needs their goal for wanting to be rich. Right now, contemporary society has been stirred to think that being rich is the ultimate goal; to flash your luxury items on social media, to flaunt fancy cars to people on the street, and many more. I can ask you this, to what end? To what end do you do these things? To please others? To please yourself? Sometimes without knowing it, the things that we want to achieve are earthly bound. In the end, these things will be gone too and won’t matter when you’re old.

Recently, someone just told me that humanity has been programmed to climb the social ladder and compete to be on the top. All the while, ignoring all of the important aspects in life such as family. Money can buy you instant happiness and contentment, but not love. Love and acceptance from family and friends, at the end, is what matter the most. You don’t have to be ultra rich to make your closest ones to be happy and enjoy life to the fullest. Most of the time, spending time together and making memories should be the main goal. Do you want to spend your old days be surrounded with your materialistic things or by your loved ones? I’d prefer to be surrounded by those whom I love.

abundance achievement bank banknotes
Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

I’m not going to lie, my life goal used to be super rich without knowing what I actually want to do with the money. Do I want to just spend it or can I just use it for the better goods? Thus, I made a vision for myself to make an impact to the world with the money that I have in the future. Rather than spending it for something that’s seasonal, it’d be much better to spend it to make someone’s day or giving it back to the environment.

So, I can say that money is indeed something that is tricky. It can be used for good things but it can also be your downfall. At the end, money isn’t everything in life and being money-centric won’t cause you any good. Don’t forget the people around you that matters the most; rather, live your life to the fullest and may all the good things will come to you eventually. If you have the money, use it for something that’s good and not for your own contentment. Trust me, the joy that you will receive is so much better than buying that limited edition Chanel bag that you won’t even bring to grave when you die. Hope this rant of mine can unlock a new door for all of you out there that’s struggling to find purpose in life and have a good day.

 

Lots of love,

the dark macaroni.

Being 19.

On By nakeziaavillyIn content/writing, London student tips2 Comments

No longer a teenager, but not a proper adult as well. It sure can be confusing and I’m still trying to figure it all out. This is an insight of me reaching the age of 19.

by Nakezia Aviily

Hello beautiful people, I know it’s been quite a while since I’ve posted anything on this blog. I guess I’ve procrastinated longer than usual. Especially since Spring Break happened for one whole month and I just spent those days in my room, binge watching everything and forgetting about my assignments which technically due in another month or so.

Anyway, I know this post is quite personal and not like my other posts which usually would talk about hot topics but I don’t really have any outlet to say these things out loud, so here we go – I turned 19 just a few days ago. It wasn’t well spent to be honest. I was sick so I didn’t attend class and no one surprised me or anything. It felt like any other day and I’m alone again in my room.

Getting older has never been harder. Realising that you’re no longer a child, as you see your parents grow older with you, birthday doesn’t seem like a fun day anymore. At the age of 19, you realise that adulting is hard. Work is hard, Uni is hard, letting go of things is hard. At the age of 19, you realise that you did stupid things as a teenager that you wouldn’t want to repeat. At the age of 19, you realise that you will step into the real world sooner than you thought. So far, here’s a few things I’ve learned since entering this new age:

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act 1 : appreciation 

When I was younger, I thought public persona is everything. Parents, friends, and my faith would come later on. This doesn’t appear to be true at the end. It’s nice to have a good front, but it is also nice, to let go of such things and embrace who you really are. Sometimes, you don’t need a thousand people to recognise you as a good person. You don’t need those people in social media to praise you for your beauty and intelligence, because one day you’ll wake up and realise that, their opinion don’t matter.

Why do we think we need approval from everyone but not appreciate those people who’ve been with us from day one? Our family who supports us endlessly, those old friends that supported us before social media corrupted our opinions? At the age of 19, I realise that appreciation is important. Tell those people that you’re grateful for them. For sticking with you till now and for supporting you endlessly.

act 2 : letting go and moving on

Grieving has never been easy. Losing someone you love is devastating; it tore your heart into millions of pieces. I’ve been there, like everyone else, lost someone important. Whether it’s death, or a breakup, both can be devastating in their own ways. I used to never understand why people would grieve – until it happened to me too. It was traumatic, it was heart-wrenching, it shattered my whole being. Even so, it’s a part of life. Letting go of these things is a part of your life. Everyone go through it at some point in their life.

What comes after then? After those painful days of trying to let go? You move on. Move on from the loss. The world is still spinning after all. If you don’t get up and keep on drowning in sadness, you’ll drown further into the deep abyss and might never come back to the light again. Thus, at the age of 19, I learned to let go and move on from the past, and focus on the future. More things awaits to be discovered and loved by you.

act 3 : family, my strength

As a teenager, it’s quite easy to hate on your parents, siblings, whoever. Especially when you’re told that you can’t do things that you want to do. Be it drinking, going out late, dating someone that your parents don’t agree to, and the list goes on. I’ve been there; and I admit that I was a rebellious kid. I was that basic teenager that you can relate to at the age of 14 but you hate on now.

It was overwhelming and nerve-wrecking to be honest, if I were to follow all the rules that my parents gave me. And truth be told, they were so overprotective. The only difference is, now I know that they only want the best for me. Drinking? It got me to a bad state. Ignoring my parents? Nothing good came out of it beside widening up the gap between my parents and I.

Now, however, growing up and moving away from my hometown made me realise how much strength that family gives you. Especially parents, who know so much better than you because they’ve actually been through more than you do in life. So listen to them and appreciate them because it’s not only you who’s growing older; but them as well. You’ll never know when you’ll be separated so spend time with them as much as you can while you still have the time.

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So there you go. A few insights of what I’ve learned since growing up. I couldn’t really talk much because it would sound kind of boring. I really hope you’ll get my point though. Growing older is both a good thing and a bad thing. The bad thing is, you won’t be able to blame everything on your ‘childish behaviour’ anymore because you’re an adult now. The good thing is, along the way, you found things that you should be grateful for.

 

Lots of love,

the dark macaroni