While you're thinking of a different world.

Vintage faux fur coat: borrowed from Sadie. Asos denim smock dress: £36. Cath Kidston foldaway weekend bag: gift. Topshop anna buckle boots: £76.50.

Photos by Sadie.

When travelling, I try to keep things as comfy as possible. I'm no Chung, who manages to skip off an eight hour flight with her fedora at the perfect angle, but think more along the lines of no make up and a roaring stomach - it ain't pretty. So imagine my absolute delight on hearing that I have a seven hour coach journey ahead of me, arriving at sunrise to a day of exploring a new city... Yep, there were a few grumbles that even the really cheap ticket couldn't quite quieten. On the promise of a walnut and apple muffin x caffeine mix, I managed to tidy myself up a little bit here for breakfast at Bullys Bakery (after the bulldog of its logo!), and with each sweep of my eyeliner things got a little better. Of course, a smock is the optimum travelling garb, even if it's a bit short, plus a faux fur coat is equivalent to wearing a pillow and, really, what more could you want?

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I want you we can bring it on the floor.

Aubin and Wills breton top: £30. American Apparel corduroy skater skirt: £15, via ebay. Topshop buckle strap boots: £76.50. Urban Outfitters fedora hat: £26. Knitted scarf: borrowed from Sadie. Charity shop belt: 20p. Asos over knee socks: £3.60. STYLIGHT tote bag. Essie "lapiz of luxury".

Photos in front of Brandenberg Gate by Carmen.

I've never quite managed to take outfit photos in front of the Eiffel Tower, and definitely haven't bothered to fight the crowds on Southbank to score the perfect Houses of Parliament shot à la Jazmine and Cat (in fact, my only recognisable background was probably the Disneyland Paris castle, although I am pretty proud of that one), but at least we all took the opportunity to be Berlin tourists and take some photos in front of Brandenberg Gate.

On our last full day, we headed down to the site of the evening's festivities (more on that later!) and to do our best tourist act, albeit without those "look! I have this massive gate between my forefinger and thumb!!" photos - missed opportunity, I know. From my personal experience, Berlin may be better known for its graffiti and nightlife (and serving burgers from a converted public toilet, which is on my to-do list next time folks, next time) when visiting, but it's still home to all those things you learnt about in your History A Level. Much like Saint Paul's, I've got no idea how this beautiful piece of architecture survived the air raids, but I sure am glad Brandenberg Gate was preserved.

As I've now passed my halfway point in Munich, maybe it's about time I started sharing the touristy places I walk through on a daily basis on my blog too, because, even if they're cliché, there's no shame in being a tourist in your own city.

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Now I know the lonely days are gone.

River Island tartan tappy dress: £25. Zara navy coat: £30. Zara tartan scarf: borrowed from Charlotte. Topshop Anna boots: £76.50. Tan satchel: borrowed from Sadie.

Photos by Sadie.

After spending half the night awake on the coach due to unruly passengers throwing food at us (yep, "pardy bus" vibes being ruined by my 4am "can you stop"), Salma and Max somehow still had the energy to go shopping, whereas Charlotte and I met up with Sadie (who very, very kindly let me stay at her pad) for a hot beverage at Coffee Fellows, which is the german equivalent of Costa. It may seem a bit odd to go to a new city and sit in a coffee shop which you can do anywhere, but there is something nice about whiling away time with people you work in different departments from and an old friend who you haven't spoken to properly for years. As it reached golden hour Sadie, who's an (amazing!) blogger too and can therefore appreciate the difficulty of winter lighting, quickly headed out to take some snaps, and I seriously considered never giving her bag back.

That evening we headed vintage shopping where I was very self-restrained (which had a lot to do with me having about one euro in my bank account), before heading to Good Morning Vietnam for the rest of the evening. I'm no expert on vietnamese food, but I'll tell you that it was pretty delicious, and I wouldn't mind going back for more.

And here is a photo of a pug looking sad on the u bahn. Because pug.

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You turn around and you don't know where you've been.

American Apparel silky collar tee: £18. Topshop leather skirt: £13.50. Topshop buckle boots: £76.50. Zara navy coat: £30. Brit-Stitch mini satchel. Rotary watch: gift. Miss Selfridge knitted snood: gift.

Photos by Charlotte.

Last month you may have heard me mention on twitter or see some of my instagrams of heading a little North to Berlin. Sorry for the radio silence on that front, but I typically managed to get a little distracted, and now I'm only just getting round to showing you my photos.

Despite having wanted to visit since I started learning German in year seven, this is the first time I've managed to make it to Berlin. Now I'm living in the same country, we managed to nab a really cheap return bus journey (taking nearly four times as long as it would be to fly from London, but let's just ignore that painful memory for now) and a few of us headed to the German capital on Friday night. Of course the Berlin Wall memorial was on our to-do list, and we headed to East Side Gallery in the biting cold. It's always odd to see something you've seen in photos millions of times before, but it does hit home quite a bit more in real life. From learning about various Fluchtversuche in A Level lessons (the fact I actually remember that word says a lot, in the above photos the words "freedom", "history", and "euphoria" have been woven into the art work) to seeing the iconic graffiti on instagrams worldwide, it was a bit of a surreal experiencing it first hand. Unfortunately the freezing cold got the better of us and we didn't manage to walk to entire length of the Berlin Wall, but we headed back to the edges of Kreuzberg for a warming hot chocolate.

I was determined to bring my Brit-Stitch satchel to Berlin, purely to photograph the B in a city starting with the same name (me? perfectionist?), so it made its way on the coach with us. I decided to pair it with my favourite Topshop leather skirt, which has definitely seen better days, so I'm on the look out for a new one - please let me know if you see any good'uns! I've recently been looking at Zalando's leather skirts as they're a German company (based in Berlin, funnily enough) so it'll arrive a lot more quickly than if I were to get another Topshop one, but I'm currently undecided. Add in a collared blouse and buckle boots (and, obviously a warm coat, ain't nobody got time for colds), and I had a thoroughly 'me' outfit. Not bad for panic packing in about an hour...

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I've seen those English dramas too.

Polkadot blouse: mum's, vintage Sarsaparilla. Leather skirt: £4, charity shop (similar here, and probably won't fall apart the first time you wear it). Two-tone flats: 50p, Russell and Bromley via ebay. Shopper bag: c/o Laura Ashley. Lipstick: Topshop Really Ruby.

Apart from the obligatory burger snaps, you may have noticed a few bloggers' instagrams had a slightly different backdrop than usual yesterday. Lucy, Kristabel, Carrie and I headed West to visit our pal Dina in her university city of Oxford. One of the most beautiful cities in the country, with undoubtedly some of the most awe-inspiring architecture around (yep, I'm the girl who walks round staring up at the buildings rather than looking where she's going), I couldn't wait to head back after my two years away. 

If you don't know much about the system at Oxford, applicants apply to a college rather than to the university as a whole, and each college has its own mini campus. Dina's at Lincoln, so we headed there first to have a wander around the quad and check out the Harry Potter-style dining hall (they actually filmed it down the road at Christ Church), which put my own university's carnatic halls to shame. We meandered around many of the city's colleges, including Magdalen (where my outfit photos were taken!), which has its own deer park, and New, home to some of the most colourful flower gardens I've ever come across. The location for our mandatory group shot (taken by the ever-patient Sonia) was underneath the bridge of sighs, which should probably be renamed the bridge of lols after the amount of failed jumping shots we attempted to take - you can't have everything, after all.

We probably needed the exercise after our lunch at Atomic Burger on Cowley Road. In true fashion, we piled in at peak time, and squeezed around a table with Dina's university friends. I sampled the Jake n Elwood (blue cheese, bacon, and onions), although I noticed a Messy Jessie and Bandit around our table. It's definitely worth popping into if you're in the area, even if only for the Barbie-themed toilets. We rolled (nearly literally...) into Pierre Victoire for dinner for something a little more refined, if that's how you classify eating with a knife and fork. Sadly we then went our separate ways into the night, after our day of being tourists. Looks like I'll be heading back soon though - we didn't even have time to go punting!

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