Packing 101: 7kg luggage for 12 days

Hello again from my flight to Belgrade. Yesterday, while packing, I thought  to share my strategies coming form the years of light packing. In the last couple of years I am often flying with low cost companies that will charge extra for a suitcase. Up to now, I could bring my carry on trolley, but now the conditions of Wizz air had changed again, so I can bring only a backpack or small sport bag. This time, I am flying to Serbia, staying 12 days, and I plan to pack in 7 kg (about 15 lbs).

Let’s say that whatever I do in my life I like having a list. There is no difference between grocery shopping and packing. You want to make the most out of your money. Currently, I prefer this packing list from Pinterest.

I write down the occasions that I have to attend (this time there will be wedding of my best friend, but my dress and shoes are already in Serbia) and I check the weather. Then I make a plan which combines easily combinable tops and bottoms. The weather in Serbia should be pretty hot, so I am not planning to take my running clothes with me and towels and most of the cosmetics I am planning to steal from my mom. So let’s start with the clothes:

I am taking 1 pair of jeans on me, 1 more in the bag (I could probably get away without these if I was not too clumsy and spilling things on myself) and a pair of Capri pants in grey. I intentionally skip vibrant color capris that I have, since they are really hard to match.

Two pairs of shorts, one jeans hot pants that I plan to wear to the beach and one mint color longer ones that are also usable for the evening walks. One neutral skirt that works good with hot and cold weather (I intentionally skipped to summery, too colorful or to thick skirts), and totally out of the rule, I am taking my new colorful light skirt since it weights so little and it is so pretty. This one I plan to use for a couple of dinners that we have. I made sure to have gray thank top with me.

A white silky cardigan that I plan to use for the colder nights, and also to cover my shoulders in the church for the wedding.

One long sleeve top, two tank tops and two T-shirts.  know that this look like too little. But I plan to use my parents washing machine and to fit in in some of my old tank tops (since I lost 4 kg).

Five undies, sleeping bottoms, a swimming suit, 2 pairs of socks (hello mom’s washing machine) and only very small cosmetic bag with make up, face wash and cleanser (I plan to use my parents shower gel and shampoo).

City bag (a new one from TkMaxx), and a clutch that my mom takes to the wedding (my white clutch is already in Serbia from the last flight).

Agenda, wallet, cell phone and charger, keys, wedding greeting card (I hate getting these things in the last moment), sunglasses in a case, passports and boarding passes (Nenad is going with me), folder with a chapter from Janeway’s immunology and light reading. Please note that you are allowed to bring a reasonable amount of reading material in your hands, so you don’t have to count the books in those 7 kg.

Not pictured are my netbook and charger and trench coat that I will bring in my hands. Also note that I am using very ugly sport bag, since I can fit many things inside. I do plan to buy prettier one as soon as I find a good offer.

Ready, set, go. Serbia here we come!

Parmesan chicken zucchini

Last year, I was peaking in my Italian friend kitchen, and since then I am cooking this meal at least once a month. I modified it a bit, so it is quick to make and pretty light and healthy.

So what do you need:

• 300 g of boneless, skinless chicken breast
• 50g of parmesan or similar cheese
• 1 large zucchini
• 1tbsp Garlic powder
• 1tbsp Basil
• Salt and pepper
• (Lemon)

Cut the chicken into cubes, peel and slice zucchinis, and put the parmesan and spices in 1L bag. Put the chicken and parmesan in the bag and shake shake shake

Put in oil sprayed baking dish and bake for 30 min at 200 Celsius degrees

Voila!

Marija’s bachelorette party

My second and the most important reason for a short visit to Serbia was Marija’s bachelorette. As a Maid of honor, I gave my best to prepare a great party for my best friend and coordinate it all the way from Germany. Marija is 4 months pregnant, so getting wasted in front of a sober bride was not an option.
Since in Serbia I stay with my parents that have very small flat, making a party there was always complicated. I took keys from Marija’s and Milenko’s flat, kicked them out and prepared a party with the help of the other girls. As you can see, there was a lot of hearths involved.

I know my best friend very well, and even if some people find it too much, I knew that she is going to love it.

The girls were super supportive. I got pink hair flower for each of us, this way, everybody could wear what they like, but we still looked like a team.

The cocktail that I prepared is worth of mention. It called Hugo and is really popular here in Germany.
Hugo:

• 1/2 glass champage
• 1/2 glass sparkling water
• a bit of Elder flower syrup
• 3 leaves of mint
• 2 cubes of ice

The girls loved it and it was easy to adjust to more sparkling water and less champagne for the bride.

We also had a visit from Mileko’s nieces. The thing that they liked the most was “Girlhood diary”. A photo album with all of our pictures from the girlie days. I somehow totally forgot to take pictures of this one, even though I had the idea to make the tutorial. Oh well..the bride was super happy to have it.
Around midnight we headed to dance! The destination, a fancy shmancy club “Muzej”.

The atmosphere was great and we danced our booties till the early morning hours!

High school reunion

Last weekend I made a quick 4 day trip to Serbia for long waited High school reunion and Marija’s bachelorette party. It was quite a tiring trip for 4 days, but it was totally worth of it.
After my race, I took early flight to Belgrade, where my parents waited for me at the airport. I love our little ritual of meeting there, but the main reason is that public transport connections between Belgrade airport and Novi Sad are horrible, so they always pick me up.
I spent most of my 4 days with my parents, since we haven’t seen each other for 5 months and I moved most of my friend meeting for my second longer visit to Serbia this month.
The high school reunion was great. From 36 of us, 26 came, and it was great to see people growing up, changing and being more mature. I must be honest that the high school years were probably not the best years of my life. Our school was always proudly had a nickname Elite Gymnasium, and since we barely have private schools in Serbia (and they are not that good), it was the one that was offering the best education, but also the nasty things which come with elitism. Let’s say that I was always feeling like Dan Humphrey from Gossip Girl going there

We met each other at our old classroom, together with our teacher, and everything looked exactly the same. Some of my friends got married and started families. Most of the people had graduated and got decent jobs, what is really a surprise with Serbian economy…

After the school part, we continued our celebration in a local restaurant by the river, with a lot of wine, dancing and talking to each other. Actually, I wanted to say that much that I lost my voice the following day.

Running Bonner Nachtlauf

Yesterday evening I took a part in the Bonner Nachtlauf for the second time. It is a 10K evening run along the Rhine in Bonn. Last year, Bonner Nactlauf was my first race and I had a lot of fun doing it. My goal was only to finish those 10K, and even though it really was a challenging, I made it in 1 hour 7 minutes.

This year I wanted to do it again, and my goal was to do it in less than 1 hour! I was working hard and was dedicated to my training. I already did 10K  twice for 59:50 during my training, but I knew that the race will be a challenge, since the area is not so flat.

I knew for a couple of days that the weather is going to be bad, but I did not expect that it will be raining the whole day. The weather forecast was announcing that the rain will stop just before the race, but it was actually drizzling all the time. Still, my friends came to cheer and took a couple of pictures. It is really great to have such a great and supportive people around me. My sis in law even made this wonderful collage.

During my training, I was trying to keep my pace at 6 min/km and it was often a challenge. On the race itself, I felt so motivated and full of energy (probably has something to do with the fact that I had enough rest before the race , that I slept and ate pretty good for a couple of days before). I started with 5:40 pace, hoping to slow down if  I get too tired. Well, that did not happened. After a minor problem with felling too hot in the raining jacket and moving my number to the T-shirt while running, but once I made it everything looked easier. The water station was on kilometer 6, and from there one the run was going downhill, that abled me to keep my pace even when I got a bit tired. I noticed the slight battery low feeling in my legs during the last 2K, but still there was enough energy to keep the pace, sprint last 300 meters and finish at 57: 48!!! Crazy!

My friends and Nenad were waiting for me and the end and I got non alcoholic beer to celebrate, which explains the last picture of the collage.

I am currently in the plain to Serbia, hoping to make up for a couple of missed sleeping hours last night and to join the festivities.

Paris: Day 3

Hello hello,
After we got back from Paris I was in the lab day and night, Saturdays and Sundays (oh, the fabulous life of a PhD student), so my Paris Day 3 recap is coming a bit late.
Thanks to the previous night being nice and quiet, we woke up bright and early, got our car out of the pricey parking and headed to Versailles!

Oh, so many gold and beauty, flirting with kitch! All in all, coming from the Communist world, I was absolutely clear how did the French revolution happened

After we got back to our hotel and had a short time to relax, we headed to Montmartre! Since watching Amelie Poulain, I had a great wish to see this beautiful neighborhood! Watching Midnight in Paris, even more enhanced it. So we were there, at the Paris North station and I was all excited! Going up the stairs Nenad noticed that the sole of his shoe completely went of! There was a huge hole on his heal! At the very same moment the pouring rain had started! I was so determined to see the Montmartre that none of that could stop me! Nenad kept begging that we get back to hotel, but me and our friends were determined to do it!
So you can imagine the scene with pouring rain, broken umbrella and my wet-feet boyfriend so pissed, that he did not even want to share the umbrella with me! Whoever said that Paris is beautiful by rain had whole shoes and a good umbrella!

Finally, after many stairs, the church was there, and it was amazing! From inside and from outside! The service was just on and the quire was magnificent!

It was worth of every stair and raindrop and I am sure that Nenad and me will laugh at this event till the rest of our lives!

Needless to say, our Paris sightseeing was finished with this great view! We went to our hotel, got dried (well except for Nenad’s shoes) and had a dinner with our friends at the hotel steakhouse.
Since this recap is getting very late, there are new things already going on. Tonight I am running my 10K race, Bonner Nachtlauf. Tomorrow morning I am heading to Serbia to participate in 10 year high school reunion and bachelorette party of my best friend! I will give my best to recap all of these events!
Now off to the race!

Paris: Day 2

Bonjour from Paris once again. I am drinking my morning coffee at the breakfast bar and getting ready for a long ride home.On our second day we got up bright and after kicking out Nenad out of bed, we were ready to get the know the city.
Nenad and I had started a day in a lovely café in a small street close to Notre Dame, and I can’t imagine better start of the day!


From there on we took a walk along the Seine…

and visited the Notre Dame

After the Notre Dame, we stopped by the flower market to get some lavander bags

walked by the Louvre

continued the stroll through the Concord park

And ended our stroll at Arc de Triomphe

We had the plan to have a glass of wine at Trocadero, Paris rain had stopped our plan and made us get back to the hotel