'We could do the ghost tour now if you want?'
My travel buddy Zach didn't have to ask again. We'd only been in Edinburgh for one full day, but I'd already spent most of it freaking out over how awesome it is that half the city seemed to be haunted. To say I'd begged Zach to go on a ghost tour with me wouldn't be that far from the truth. We'd spent all day hiking and visiting monuments, which was cool, but this was going to be a whole new level of awesome. I could feel it.

We decided on a City of the Dead tour. We started our Underground City tour next to St. Giles' Cathedral and at that point in time I honestly had no idea where I'd be going or what I could expect. Then the tour guide asked our group three simple questions: Were we claustrophobic? Were we terribly afraid of the dark? Did we have a heart condition/possible pregnancy to take into account? In my case the answers were no, no, and hell no. For some reason we did have a girl in the group who said yes to the first two questions. Why she joined in the first place is beyond me, but now I'm getting off topic.
We started walking while our tour guide told us a little about the somewhat disgusting history of Edinburgh. Stories ending with people knee-deep in poop on streets with names like Cowgate aren't my favorite.
Then, after a short walk, the real deal started, We went up to the Vaults, the underground arches of South Bridge.
'Who's feeling brave tonight?' the tour guide asked when he opened the door. 'I need a volunteer.'
Right up until that moment I'd felt very brave, but that feeling immediately disappeared when the tour guide asked his question. This is why I'm a Ravenclaw, not a Gryffindor. Zach then raised his hand. 'I'll do it.' He got a flashlight and the task to be the last of the group to leave each room and the first to enter the Vaults while the tour guide locked the door behind us.
I was extremely excited when I heard this. Awesome, I thought, we get to be at the back of the group where all the creepy stuff will be happening. Go Zach!
I changed my mind the second we entered the darkness of the Vaults. 'Awesome' turned into 'Damn it Zach, now all the scary shit will happen way too close to me!'. For a second I thought about going back. I did not go back. Mostly because Zach's flashlight lit everything up and the first vault was nothing more than a man-made cave.
'South Bridge is cursed,' was the short version of what our tour guide then told us in that first room, a closed off vault made by filling up the arches of South Bridge. The slightly longer version: to celebrate the opening of the bridge an old lady was asked to be the first to cross South Bridge. However, before this could happen she passed away. Not because of something weird, simply because of old age. City council stuck with their decision that this lady would be the first to cross South Bridge though. To celebrate its opening her coffin was transported across South Bridge. Unsurprisingly, rumors soon started to circulate that the bridge was cursed. And now I was stuck inside the damned thing. I'd voluntarily entered Damnation Alley...

We moved on to the next room, where the tour guide continued his story - and where shit got real. The guide told us about people living in the Vaults. Dying there. All the while we heard strange noises. Sounds we didn't and in some cases couldn't make. We'd only just entered the room when I heard a snapping sound, like plastic breaking, from behind me. I quickly turned around, only to see Zach searching the room. Nothing, just emptiness. As the guide told his story, Zach kept his flashlight aimed at the back of the room the entire time.
Then the footsteps started. And the thumping against the walls. Traffic, I told myself. That's totally traffic. But then a female voice began to hum right behind me. I was standing with my back against the wall.


This is normal,' the guide said. 'Well, not normal, but the kind of sounds that are usually heard down here. But there's a spike in activity every March.'
I grinned. I was at the right place at the right time. I decided to challenge the paranormal activity by putting my hair in a ponytail, inviting it to pull my hair. Whatever it was in there, it didn't pull my hair. It walked away. I heard the footsteps. They were clear as day. They started in the back of the room, in the far right corner, walked to, then through the wall. I heard the footsteps come through the wall. The came towards us. I told the tour guide this when he asked if anyone'd heard those footsteps. He let out a slightly nervous chuckle. 'Funny you say that. Because the place you just described is where the next room is. You heard it go through the door and into the room we're going to enter now.'
Needless to say, not everyone in our group wanted to go to the next room anymore. If I hadn't been with Zach, I would've been the first to get in there. Now I was almost last. It didn't make much of a difference. Whether you entered first or last, you immediately noticed the enormous drop in temperature. Apparently this Vault was always cold, no matter what kind of weather it was outside.
'This is where The Entity is. The evil spirit that haunts this part of the Vaults.'
And I... I did not feel The Entity's presence at all. As I stood at the back of the group, I completely zoned out trying to feel the presence of this evil spirit. All that happened was more thumping against the wall. Then, all of a sudden, everyone started screaming, including me. I grabbed Zach's arm and hid my face against his back, only to realize we'd fallen for the only jump scare of the tour. Luckily Zach forgave me for nearly ripping his arm of in panic, or things would've become a little messy in there...
I wanted to spend more time in this room, luring The Entity into communicating with me, but we had to go. As soon as I left the room I noticed the temperature go up. That, and a heartbeat pattern coming from the walls. Zach and I stood close to the door of the room we'd just left while the tour guide wrapped the tour up. From the other room, the thumping against the walls continued, this time in a heartbeat pattern. On. And on. And on. A door slammed closed, while the heartbeat continued. Even though every fibre of my body wanted to go back in there, it was time to leave the Vaults. It was time to say one of Edinburgh's most haunted places goodbye.

Back in the alley where we'd entered the Vaults, I couldn't believe what I'd just witnessed. I spent the rest of the night in an adrenaline rush. I don't care what the skeptics say. If you like to share the shit out of yourself or if you're interested in paranormal activity, you have to take this tour. I heard things in those Vaults, things I can't explain. Yet part of me wanted more. I needed more. So I'll be back. Next time I visit Edinburgh, the Vaults will be at the top of my list. There's an Entity I want to meet and I'm ready for whatever creepy shit it'll throw at me.

Believe it or not, but I made it to the ripe old age of 20 without ever drinking a cup of coffee. The reason for this was simple: every time I tasted the stuff, I gagged, made myself a cup of tea instead, then felt guilty for cheating on tea, one of the loves of my life.
However, not too long ago I decided I wanted to give coffee a second chance. After all, everyone and everything deserve a second chance. Or in this case a third chance. And a fourth. And a fifth... So one day in Antwerp I ordered a cup of coffee. Okay, it wasn't entirely voluntary, but I was too curious to let the opportunity slide. Here's what I thought while trying to drink a cup of coffee for the first time. Spoiler: it didn't go too well...

Edinburgh, the city that stole my heart in March. It left me so speechless that I'm still not sure how to start this post. Give me a second.

Okay, that didn't help. I still don't know how to introduce you to the awesomeness that is Edinburgh. I spent five days in the Scottish capital and I'm just going to say it: those were the best five days of 2017 so far. There is so much to see and so much to do that five days isn't really enough, but long enough to fall in love with the place. If you're going to Edinburgh, there are a few things you should do that have gotten Envy's Seal of Approval, which means you can't just not do them without damaging the awesomeness of your trip. Oh, and I also added all the stupid shit you shouldn't do, because when I was there I filled up the travel blogger fail quota for the year. Enjoy!


For all the lazy people out there: you will regret taking the bus everywhere. Yes, it's an option, but no, it's not the option you want to go for. You see, Edinburgh has all these little closes and staircases, hidden streets and bridges. Walk everywhere and you'll discover something new around every corner. Roaming the streets, looking for hidden stairs and closes was one of my favorite things to do there. One tip: ignore the stop lights, or you'll spend your entire trip waiting to cross the streets.

City of the Dead tours are not the cheapest thing to do. I spent 11 pounds on the tour to the vaults, but it was worth every penny. City of the Dead is the only organization that has access to the vaults and all I want to say it: Just do it! The vaults are haunted as hell. You'll hear things you can't explain. Footsteps where there shouldn't be any, thumping against the walls, singing... And the first person who comments on this post saying I was fooled by a loudspeaker is so getting banned from my blog.

When I was in the vaults, there was one man in his late twenties who thought it was funny to knock on doors to scare the shit out of people and make them believe it was a poltergeist. Like, seriously dude? First of all, you're not fooling anyone. Second, you're just pathetic.



So there are some cliffs in front of Arthur's Seat. They are not Arthur's Seat, no matter how bad you want them to be. This happened to me. I came completely unprepared, picked up an American guy at my hostel and together we decided to climb Arthur's Seat. It did not go as planned. That's another story for another blog post though. For now, let me just say that I didn't understand why there was nothing the mark the top of Arthur's Seat, completely unaware of the fact that I wasn't on Arthur's Seat at all.

It might not be the most original thing to do, visiting the Dungeon. After all, loads of major cities have their own Dungeon these days. But I met some awesome girls from Australia and England who wanted to go to the Edinburgh Dungeon and I happily tagged along. I don't want to give too much away, but I screamed my lungs out on the worst little boat ride of my life. I also officially received my witch's mark and I'm pretty proud of that, I must say.
One more thing: combine it with the free ghost tour. I did the free ghost tour the night before I went to the Dungeon and the scenes in the Dungeon made much more sense to me because I'd already heard some background stories.




To be honest, I've only scratched the surface of all the awesome things you can do in Edinburgh (and of all the things I managed to seriously screw up, but let's pretend I didn't say that). You could spend weeks discovering Edinburgh and the places around it. The list of do's and don'ts is virtually endless, but the most important ones of all are these two:

Sadly the title of my blog post wasn't catchy enough to become the actual title of the comic book I'm obsessing over this time. Instead, they simply called it 'Deadpool vs Thanos'. Simple, yet effective. The plot isn't that simple though. Neither is the art. But let me start at the beginning. I'm going to try and explain you the plot. It's not as easy as it sounds.

The nice thing about Deadpool vs Thanos is that it's a stand-alone story with a start and an end. You don't need to know every little detail about the characters and that's a good thing, because you'll need every bit of brain capacity to keep up with the plot. You see, the physical manifestation of Death has been kidnapped, so nothing in any universe can die. Sounds great if you've ever lost someone, but it has its downsides too. That pepperoni pizza you love so much? Not an option anymore, because you can't produce pepperoni if the meat won't stay dead. For those of you who prefer a more serious example: if your planet explodes you'll be in total agony flying through space, not being able to die and escape that ish.
Back to the plot: this physical manifestation of Death is in a relationship with Deadpool, but Thanos loves her too and so it's love triangle all the way. Easy, right? Now comes to more complicated part: after Thanos blaming Deadpool for Death's disappearance and discovering he's not to blame, they decide to go searching for her together by Thanos repeatedly beating Deadpool nearly to death, a state in which he can communicate with Death. Then they go on a search all throughout the galaxy, meet Ajax, the Guardians of the Galaxy, weirdos from a death cult and I think this already counts as a spoiler... Let me just say it's their goal to free Death and they beat up everyone and everything along the way.


I have to admit that the first two times I read this comic book I was too distracted by the art to pay attention to all the ins and outs of the plot. I have very mixed feelings about the art though. I'm not extremely impressed, but it speaks to me. I like it. Quite a lot. It's very graphic though and something it's even difficult to discern different panels due to the graphicness of certain scenes. Hats off for those details though.


Once I'd started rereading Deadpool vs Thanos I also started appreciating it more and more. The story that is. Like I said, you don't need a whole lot of background. Just take things as they come. Enjoy the ride. And believe me when I say you will enjoy the ride. The writing on this one is great. Dialogue on point, but most important of all: perfect jokes. As always, Deadpool is pretty much aware of being a comic book hero and that gives awesome opportunities to make fun of some comic book tropes and other characters.

After all I'm pretty proud of myself for picking this one as my introduction to the Marvel Universe. You see, Deadpool vs Thanos will always have a special place inside my heart. It was the first comic book I bought at my local comic book store without being ashamed of my geekiness. I read it at college, surrounded by classmates who threw me weird looks whenever I giggled over the chicken man, excuse me, Black Talon. And when I reached the extra pages, with all the variant covers and extra art work, I knew I'd taken the right decision by buying this comic book.


So in case you want to get into the Marvel Universe, this is a good place to start. The art is solid, you'll get the Marvel humor you probably already know from the movies and Deadpool is just one of the best characters ever. Don't worry about cliffhangers or backgrounds, this story has a clear start and end. Do pick it up. I hope you'll enjoy it as much as I did.

'80% of the time I don't understand you,' my ex-boyfriend once said. Not because I was being annoying, but because he really didn't and we'd just found out why: I'm gifted, which means my IQ is somewhere between 'pretty damn high' and 'Tony Stark level genius'. Now that all sounds nice and positive, doesn't it? In a way, it is. It makes it easy for me to learn new things. I see the world in a way most people can't see it, which is a great thing if you want to become a writer. But figuring this out was only the beginning of a journey that's pretty much killing me at the moment.

I discovered giftedness and the way it affects me while my blog was down, back in February. In March I went to my doctor, who sent me to a psychologist. Last week she was struggling to diagnose me. Giftedness can cause trouble, but there was more to me than just the IQ thing. Depression was ruled out, but there were signs of an anxiety disorder. Today she let me know what's up with me: I don't have an anxiety disorder, I simply have an inferiority complex. Long story short: I hate myself because I'm different.

All throughout my childhood people responded negatively to me because they couldn't understand the way I think and see the world. Because of that I started to believe that it was all my own fault. I was not good enough for people to accept me the way I am. I was different, and different was wrong. Since finding out what it is that makes me different, I've made peace with my giftedness. The inferiority complex though... Well, that's what's killing me right now. That's why I'm writing this post.

Getting a diagnose can be pretty freaking hard on anyone. It sure is on me. So is therapy. When I go to therapy on a Thursday, it takes me all weekend to find mental stability again. And that's where my blog comes in. This week I couldn't get myself to write a post for Monday. Right now I'm struggling to find words for this post. The reason is simple: I am far from okay at the moment. Life is hard now, and my blog won't always be top priority. I put all my energy into my education and getting this mess inside my head cleaned up. Between those two, there's not much time left for things like blogging...

So what's going to happen with Lost in Translation? One of my friends thinks I should turn to blogging about mental health now that I'm all caught up in it myself, but that's the last thing that'll happen. It's just not me and it wouldn't feel right for me to post about all the nasty stuff on my mind. Hats off to those who can, but I'm not one of them. No, I've decided to keep my blog the way it is: filled with randomness, travel posts and art. These are the things that make me happy, so my blog will be my safe haven where I can get away from the nastiness and focus on the things I love. It'll only happen less frequent than I was used to.

All in all I don't think you'll guys will notice much of my mental issues. I might miss a post every now and then. I might write updates on the situation if I think that'd be relevant. I'll definitely have some ugly cries and rants on Twitter. Because at the end of the day, I'm not okay. However, I know that I will be okay again. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but soon enough. Hope you'll stay with me while I figure it all out.

Up until last week I only thought of very few things when I thought about Scotland: track athlete Laura Muir, Beth from Adventure and Anxiety, Louise from Louise Chatters, and Trainspotting. Occasionally I'd also think of hurdler Eilidh Child, then remember she got married and has a different name now, which gives me a headache because I can never remember her new name. So yeah, I knew basically nothing about the country I'd spend five days in near the end of March.

When I got on a plane on the 23rd I was basically shitting myself. I deeply regretted buying myself a ticket to Edinburgh, which I'd done in January right after breaking up with my boyfriend. Note to self: do not buy plane tickets when emotionally unstable. Especially not to countries you know nothing about.
So yeah, there I was, all alone in Edinburgh, scared out of my mind and with no idea of what to expect from the Scottish people and their country. Looking back on it, I think that was pretty stupid of me. I mean, Scotland's national animal is a freaking unicorn. That should convince anyone of the fact that the place is awesome. I, however, had to spend a full 24 hours in Scotland before I fell in love with it.

I don't fall in love fast. Neither do I fall in love often. But Scotland just stole my heart. It started with the people at the airport, who didn't mind at all that I had no sense of direction and had to keep asking for help. Then all the people working at the hostel I stayed in were friendly as well. Even the people in stores stayed friendly after I asked them 20 times what they were saying because I had difficulties with the accent every now and then. Bonus points for Scotland!

After I got over my initial surprise at the friendliness of most people, I realized I was in a city so full of history I could basically touch it. Edinburgh has a pretty nasty history with loads of plague stories and disgusting details. On top of that, it's haunted as hell. Put that together and you've got a combination that makes me a very happy Envy. Architecture, monuments, nature, history, everything I love was right there. And to top it off, I discovered some Banksy stencils in a back alley.


In my five days in Edinburgh I did so many things, met so many people, discovered so many places. I thought I could do my trip to Scotland justice with just one blog post, but I was wrong. So here I am now, just announcing that there's a tsunami of Scotland themed blog posts coming your way. I'll just have to write them, which is pretty difficult since I keep getting distracted by daydreams of Edinburgh. But those posts will happen. Very soon. Like, next week. Anyway, now I'm off to watch Trainspotting again (and this time finally watch the entire thing!) before I write all my Edinburgh themed posts. See you soon!