Liebster Award!

I was kindly nominated for the Liebster Award by the lovely Annie-Lou of Big World Small Girl. You can view her post on it here. I actually did this ages ago on my personal blog (and the cute little graphic definitely didn't exist back then!) so it's lovely to do it again.

The rules are:

1. List 11 facts about yourself.
2. Answer the 11 questions the blogger who nominated you left.
3. Ask 11 new questions for those you nominate.
4. Choose 11 bloggers with less than 200 followers to nominate.
5. Go to each bloggers page and let them know about the award.
6. Thank the person who nominated you and link back to their blog.

So, 11 facts about me...

1. My beauty weaknesses are nail polish and lipsticks...a girl can never have enough in my opinion.

2. I have two pets, a bunny called Dusty (or Duddles) and a guinea pig called Peanut (or Nuttles).

3. I am a first year Linguistics and Phonetics student in the north of the UK.

4. Josh Groban is my absolute favourite musician and I'm SO excited for his new album.

5. I can write my name (Rachel) in the alphabet/language from which it originated (Hebrew). It also means 'ewe', which is possibly the most random name meaning ever.

6. Today is a snow day, so I'm snuggled in my favourite jumper doing nothing...just how I like it ;)

7. I'm OBSESSED with Forbrydelsen (known to most people as The Killing). If you haven't seen it, you should. 

8. I'm lucky enough to have met nearly all of my favourite comedians (Jon Richardson, Mark Watson, Rhod Gilbert), have been tweeted by one of them (Adam Hills) and have spoken to another (Alun Cochrane). In case you hadn't noticed, I'm a huge comedy junkie.

9. I speak two languages, English and Spanish, but am also studying Hebrew and Icelandic and have taught myself some Swedish.

10. I don't like watching films. I don't know why, I just don't.

11. There's nothing I enjoy more than spending a miserable day sitting in my grandma's living room while she tells me stories and shows me photos.

And now for Annie-Lou's questions (which I love because they're mainly travel themed!)...

1. If you could live anywhere, where would it be?

Bizarrely, I'm fairly content living where I am. In my wildest dreams, I'd have to say either Australia or somewhere in Scandinavia.

2. Make up your own ice cream flavour: what would it be?

OK, so I'm going to cheat a bit on this one because I have eaten this flavour before, but only once and I've never seen it anywhere since... Salted caramel. I had it in France in...2011(?)...and it was literally the best flavour ever. Unfortunately, I haven't found it since and that makes me sad.

3. What super power would you like to have?

The ability to read minds... but I'd have to be able to switch it on and off whenever I wanted. It would have helped me out so much in previous situations...

4. All inclusive package or backpacking adventure?

Backpacking! While all-inclusive would definitely be more luxurious, I definitely believe backpacking is more enriching and just more fun. If I hadn't gone backpacking with World Challenge in 2010, I'd never have had the amazing experience of camping right next to the top of a waterfall, I'd never have seen so much of the beautiful Croatian countryside, and I'd have never experienced a true feeling of being proud of myself.

5. What is the one thing you would not want to travel without?

A camera (preferably a decent one, not just a crappy phone camera) and a travel diary/notebook. When I was in Croatia I took pictures of literally everything and I love reading my diary back. 

6. Skiing on the slopes or surfing in the sun?

I'd like to say surfing in the sun, but I imagine I'd probably fit in a lot better skiing on the slopes... plus I have an irrational fear of being underwater, so it's also probably a lot safer for me, haha :)

7. What animal would you use to describe yourself?

I've had this conversation with my friend Eliza before and I can't remember what we decided on. Probably an owl because I'm constantly looking all around me... especially in exams, which isn't a good habit to be in.

8. Do you prefer the hustle and bustle of urban city breaks or the tranquil and peace of rural retreats and why?

I actually love both, but I think I'm definitely a city girl and I feel much more at home in a foreign city than the countryside somewhere. I think rural retreats are something that you shouldn't do too often because then you appreciate them more. 

9. Born to travel or stay at home?

I definitely want to travel. There are so many places on a mental list inside my head that I want to visit. 

10. What is your best/worst travel experience?

Best: I have a few. I previously mentioned camping basically at the top of a waterfall, and that's definitely one of them. Our group toasted marshmallows over a campfire and Slaven, or tour guide, played his guitar and sang to us. Another is when we were in our minivan on the way to Split Airport on our way home and Chasing Cars by Snow Patrol came on the radio and we all sat there singing along in our own little worlds. One of my best travel memories is also from Poland in 2011 when my lovely friend Jess and I sat having a heart-to-heart in our favourite coffee shop in Krakow. 

Worst: Getting stuck underneath a kayak in Croatia, being stranded in the Channel Tunnel en route to Disneyland Paris for hours and hours surrounded by screaming children, and the time we landed in Liverpool John Lennon Airport after the Poland visit and my suitcase came out onto the luggage carousel open. Way to go, EasyJet. The worst experience is probably climbing a mountain in Croatia and spending two whole days pretty much having panic attacks because I couldn't breathe. Awesome. I think I redeemed myself when I pretty much ran back down the mountain to get help on our last day when the people I was walking with all became ill, though.

11. Travel plans for 2013?

No plans as yet. My Comedy Twin (CT) Poppy and I are hoping to go to the Edinburgh Fringe this summer and my friend Sophie and I have briefly discussed the idea of going to Sweden (especially hoping for this to happen). I'll be going somewhere with my family, but we went to Cornwall and got rained on for a week in 2012 so I don't really count family holidays as 'travel plans'.

And now for the questions I'm setting...

1. If you had to choose a quote to live your life by, which one would you choose and why?

2. Do you speak any foreign languages? If so, which ones?

3. Describe your perfect day.

4. Do you have any 'odd' habits or rituals that you do but nobody else you know does too?

5. What is your favourite season and why?

6. Why did you start your blog?

7. If you could be any animal for a day, which would you be and why?

8. If you could pass a new law that would ban something you dislike, what would you ban and why?

9. Go onto iTunes or your music library and go to your most played songs. Which song have you played the most times?

10. Have you ever had any interesting celebrity encounters?

11. Tell us about one of your proudest achievements.

I can't think of anybody to tag at the moment (they've all done it!) but if I think of anyone in future, I'll pop another post up about it :)

Thanks for reading,

Rachel x

Twitter: rachelizabethxo

Personal blog: estoy mejor sin ti

Instagram: iRachey

Email: rachelelizabeth.xo@googlemail.com