5 Things I Learned in the First Month of Living by Myself

1. I'm actually a pretty decent cook.
When I was at home, I would obviously cook for myself, but I would really just want my mom to cook for me constantly. Since starting college, I've made so many incredible meals for myself and I'm beyond proud!

2. Being independent is a lot of hard work.
When I was still at home, I considered myself quite an independent person already, but I honestly had no clue about what being independent meant. I had never opened a bank account by myself or asked questions about public transportation. Now being able to do these things by myself has been scary but extremely rewarding in so many ways.

3. I can actually have a really fun time by myself.
I went out for coffee a few weeks ago by myself for the first time and for some reason, I was terrified. But then I realized how dumb of a thought that was because nearly 50% of the place was filled with people also by themselves. Since then, I went to an exhibition, went back to more coffee shops and walked around the city many all by myself. We forget how much we need alone time when we are constantly surrounded by people.

4. Not everyone will be friendly, but you just have to brush it off.
London is a huge city. Although I love it, there are days that I hate it because some people just always seem to be really unhappy and they will show this through being rude to other people. But what I have realized, is that these peoples actions should not effect me and my day.

5. Being homesick never really ends, it just gets a little bit easier.
My first few weeks here, I was absolutely miserable. I tried so hard to stay calm and enjoy being here but it was so difficult being in a foreign country and not having my friends and family here. But in those weeks I learned a lot about myself. Each day it gets a bit easier, but I still seriously miss California.

xx
Ashley

My Life In Suitcases

Hi everyone! I have been completely absent from this blog for quite a while because I made a huge and crazy life decision… I moved my entire life to London, England for college! For as long as I can remember, I have dreamt of living in London for a least a few years of my life and I decided that college was the perfect time. So I applied, got accepted and packed up my entire life into 5 huge suitcases (mostly filled with clothes, obviously.)

This past month and a half has honestly been one of the weirdest times of my entire life. I have experienced stress, excitement, fear, loneliness and hopefulness all at once. I have been feeling so homesick these past few weeks, missing my family and California like crazy. At points, I've wanted to quit. But when I take a step back and look at the journey that I have started, I can't help but be really proud of myself already. I'm only 18. I get mad at myself when I feel homesick because I know that so many people would love to be in my shoes right now. Then I remember that I need to give myself the benefit of the doubt because the way I'm feeling is perfectly normal. When you are taken out of your comfort zone, you tend to close yourself off and get upset. And it's okay to get upset but I don't want that to hold me back from enjoying the hell out of my 3 years here.

I have been extremely lucky to have already met some friends that I know I will have for a lifetime. Being in this city will only give me independence and experiences that I will forever be grateful for.

I just wanted to give you guys a little update on everything that has been going on with me at the moment. I'm going to try my hardest to blog, YouTube and Instagram as much as I can so you guys can go on this crazy journey with me. So stay tuned for some great stuff!

xx
Ashley

Follow me on YouTube here!

And Instagram here!

I HAVE A YOUTUBE CHANNEL!!!

With a huge push from many of my friends, I finally made a YouTube channel so you guys can keep up with me on my adventures! I just posted my first vlog, so go and check it out and subscribe!!!



Go and give it a like and subscribe!!

xx
Ashley

Bring Me the Horizon Drops "True Friends"

With the release of Bring Me the Horizon's highly anticipated album "That's The Spirit" quickly approaching, the band dropped another track this morning titled "True Friends." The album is set to be released on September 11th (which in my opinion is not soon enough.) The boys will be playing at Reading & Leeds Festivals this coming up weekend and have a U.S. tour coming up with band, Issues, in the fall.



Pre-order "That's The Spirt" here on iTunes.

xx
Ashley

My Music Festival Survival Guide

I have been to my fair share of music festivals. After a lot of practice, I think I have finally come up with a decent guide on how to survive. If you have never been to a festival, and are planning to in the future, here are my tips.

1. If you are going with a group of friends, have a meeting spot. Cell service at any festival is awful and getting a hold on your friends can be really difficult. So make sure before you split up, that you have a easy meeting spot.

2. Go in with a plan, especially if there are quite a few artists you want to see. Take pictures of the lineup and set times. It will save a headache.

3. Wear comfortable shoes. I can not stress this enough. I happen to be a "cuteness before comfort" type of person, so find something cute and comfortable. Converse, Vans, or even cute boots/booties. And make sure you don't mind if they will get ruined, because they probably will.

4. Drink a lot of water. A couple of years back at Coachella, I almost fainted due to dehydration and missed Tame Impala. I will forever regret not doing the simplest thing ever… DRINKING WATER.

5. SUNSCREEN!! This is probably one of the most important parts. I went to Warped Tour a few days ago and got one of the worst sunburns of my life before 3pm. Make sure to reapply it every few hours.

6. Portable phone chargers will be your best friend. You will probably be taking quite a few photos and video, which drains battery really quickly. You can buy a charger for as cheap as $10. It is completely worth it.

7. This is really only a tip for rock shows, but if you can't handle mosh pits, do not stand in the middle of the crowd. Mosh pits can get mental really fast. So if you don't like them, stand towards the back so you can enjoy the show.

I hope these tips help make your festival experience more enjoyable!!

xx
Ashley

Music Spotlight: Halsey

I recently talked about Halsey in a recent blog post after the release of her new music video, Ghost, but I felt like it was necessary to talk about her again. I discovered her about a year ago because of her involvement with a band I like... (aka love), 5 Seconds of Summer. Halsey is, in my opinion, one of the best songwriters of my generation. Her music only to be described as dark indie pop. She is only 20 years old and writes all of her own music. Originally hailing from New Jersey/New York, Halsey (aka Ashley Frangipane), draws a lot of her lyrical inspiration from being a unique teenager in New York. She is in the process of releasing her new album, BADLANDS, in August, and is currently touring as the opening act for Imagine Dragons. I was extremely lucky enough to meet her at Coachella this year and she was so incredibly sweet. She told me, "Touring with Imagine Dragons this summer is going to be really different for me because most of my songs are about sex and other things, and this is a completely different audience. Now I have to try and be 'family friendly Halsey'. But I'm extremely excited." Apart from her music, she also has the most incredible style and iconic blue hair.

If you don't know who Halsey is now, I'm sure you will be hearing a lot about her really soon.

You can pre-order her new album BADLANDS here!

xx
Ashley

Vinyl Theatre On Their Recent Adventures

Milwaukee bred, Vinyl Theatre, caught my attention when I came across their hit song "Breaking Up My Bones" on Spotify about 9 months ago. Since then, the song has been played over 1 million times and their name has come up numerous times in the alternative music world. Bassist, Josh, and keyboardist, Chris, met in grade school, later becoming friends with lead singer, Keegan, and drummer Nick in high school. After realizing they all had a similar interest in music, they created a band, originally named "Alchemy", later changing the name to Vinyl Theatre. "The name Vinyl Theatre comes from us wanting to be able to share the bond and connection that music creates with our fans. When you buy a vinyl record, you are sharing a closer, more intimate bond to the band. Theatre comes from us wanting to give fans the best possible show that we can, not only sound wise, but theatrically as well," stated the band.

The band signed with Fueled By Ramen last year and released their first full length album titled "Electrogram" in September. Every song on the album is different from the other and has its own unique vibe but the song "Breaking Up My Bones" definitely caught the attention of everyone quite quickly. "Breaking Up My Bones was a song that we worked on for a good amount of time. When writing it, we actually didn't think it was really going to be a single. The song to us is about the struggles of trying to create something that is unique in a world of noise. There's so much music out there, and it's tough to decipher what is unique." Obviously being proud of all of the songs they wrote on the album, I asked which one means something more to them. They said, "Gold is a song that we are all very close to. It was one of the first we wrote as a band and the meaning behind it has a very positive message about finding what it is in this world you want, and following it."

When writing, each member tends to have a different influence which in the end creates a really unique sound for the band. "Keegan and I (Chris) share a mutual bond over The Killers and a few other bands. Josh takes a bit of influence from some electronic artists, as well as, being into The Shins. Nick is a big fan of the Police and Rush. Overall, we all try and listen to the same groups while we are on tour." Their dream bands to tour with would be Bad Suns, which they said is one of their "go-to" albums to listen to or The Killers.

Currently, they are touring with the Mowgli's around North America. "The tour with The Mowgli's has been great. Everyone in their band and on their crew is extremely friendly and it has made for an awesome tour so far." They also recently toured with Twenty One Pilots. "Our tour with Twenty One Pilots was amazing. Having that be our first national tour was very important for us in terms of motivation and inspiration. We were fortunate enough to have a great group of guys to learn from. It was nice to see how they treat people and especially how they work as a team." After supporting quite a few artists over the past year, I think fans (including me) are anxiously awaiting a Vinyl Theatre headlining tour soon.



You can download Electrogram here!
Twitter: @vinyltheatre
Instagram: @vinyltheatre

xx
Ashley