Reasons to Visit Kassel Germany 

Summer is rapidly approaching which means that it’s time to start solidifying those summer travel plans. Kassel Germany is one place perfect to go for anyone who considers themselves a festival goer mixed with some history lessons.

The town of Kassel is on record of existing all the way back to 913 AD, and there are many well preserved historic buildings as well as museums to celebrate the rich history of the town.

This coming June Kassel will be launching a two year German Fairy Tale Route, that is marking the anniversary of the publishing of German Legends. The book was published in two parts in 1816 and 1818, which contained 585 stories by the Brothers Grimm—Jacob and Wilhelm.

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The celebration will include events along the chosen 370 mile route. The locations chosen are somehow connected to the lives and work of the authors. The town of Kassel is known as the capital of the German Fairy Tale Route, and is home to the GRIMMWELT (Grimm World) museum that opened in 2015.

Kassel is located right in the middle of Germany, and there is not an airport there, so the closest places to fly in would be from Hanover or Frankfurt, both of which are about 120 miles away from the town.

Kassel is home to many palaces and parks, including the park Bergpark Wilhelmshöhe which has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  The park has been called “the most magnificent achievement of the Baroque style in the blending of architecture and landscape” by art historian Georg Dehio.

It is the largest largest hillside park in all of Europe, and took 150 years to complete after being started in the year 1696. It is beautiful and also historic in and of itself.

The Wilhelmshöhe castle museum is located inside the 17th-century palace which was notably a summer residence home for Kaiser Wilhelm II.

The Museum Fridericianum is one of the oldest museums in all of Europe, which was built in 1779. It has huge grounds that are fun for exploring and also has plenty of temporary exhibits that are regularly updated for visitors to come back time and again.

Karlsaue Park is located right on the banks of the Fulda river, and has over 400 acres of beautiful parkland. There are man made lakes, fountains, and canals which make the experience an extra nice one.

There is also a planetarium that you can visit which contains a lot of interesting instruments. Here there is also a flower covered island, as well as an area that is popular for swimming and windsurfing. It is also a popular place to have parties during the summer months.

Algerian traditional dress

Algerian dancers in their traditional costumes 

Algerian traditional dress is one of the most significant in the North African region in the sense that it has maintained its original style for centuries. Although in the main cities of Algeria, the Algerians use the western style dresses yet in the remote areas of Algeria, especially the rural class still continue their tradition of using the traditional Algerian attires. If we say, the cultural debate about Algeria is incomplete without mentioning the traditional costume of the Algerian people, it might not be wrong.

Algerian traditional men's dress.

The traditional men’s costume of Algeria consists of a Gandoura or cloak which is made of white or brown wool. They also use a shirt which is worn over another longer shirt. Burnous is also used by Algerian Men in their clothing which is a sleeveless coat. Burnous is made of lawn in the summer while it is prepared with wool in the winter. This may be consisting of captivating embroidery and various design patterns.

A woman in Algeria wearing traditional Haik. 

The typical women of Algeria wear a dress that is known as Haik which is a veil-like fabric that covers the woman from head to toe. Under this, they use loose-fitting trousers. The Islamic influence is also shown as mostly the women cover their heads by headdresses. The traditional wedding dress of Algerian women is a very sophisticated attire and on wedding occasions, the women of Algeria wear their traditional wedding dresses. These wedding dresses are prepared in many fancy and elegant patterns.

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Algerian traditional wedding dress

Although Algerian traditional dress reflects the influences from the western culture it also has many distinctions in its different styles. The way these traditional dresses of Algeria are prepared, they carry a huge attraction for the tourists due to their fascinating designs and varieties.

Algerian dancers in their traditional costumes 

Traditional dress of the Republic of South Africa

Zulu warriors - Image by jason&molly

Vibrant and magnifying colored clothing is one of the most alluring segments of the great African heritage. We shall discuss in this article about thetraditional outfits from the vast southern region of the African continent. Obviously the featured country will be the Republic of South Africa which is a large populous and multiethnic country mostly dominated by the people ofSub-Saharan ancestry. As the name describes itself, it is located on the southern tip of Africa. South Africa has the oldest human inhabitation background on the lovely planet as the traces of ancient archaeological and human fossils are discovered over there.

Dancers from South Africa – Image by Tamara Rafkin

South Africa had the earliest settlers, the native herd people speaking the ancient Bantu language. Later the significant community is known as theKhosian people. But the most famous of all of them are the two substantial ethnic communities, who are living for centuries in this territory and are called as the Xhosa and Zulu peoples. Later history of South Africa tells about the white people domination who came from Europe and started their dwelling in this part of the world. Portuguese explorers attracted the other Europeannations and it remained the colony of the Netherlands and the Great Britain.

Women in traditional outfits in South Africa – Photo by Retlaw Snellac Photography

When we talk about the traditional dress of the Republic of South Africa, we’ll be mostly covering the tribal outfits worn by the notable ethnic groups of the country. Historians are not dead sure about the exact clothing customs of the ancient South Africans. It is really hard to keep alive the custom of wearing the pure traditional outfits, but on special occasions, the locals feel proud to wear their respective ethnic clothing. Many designers in South Africa are today involved in making the traditional dresses and people love to wear these exciting stuffs.

Ethnic dancers of South Africa – Image by tonymz

Variety of cloth materials are used like Shweshwe, Siswati prints and other fabrics to prepare the traditional wears. It is also common to observe the South Africans wearing the awesome traditional costumes adorned with modern touches in the festive events.

A traditional dressed up man from South Africa – By Club Med – Doscover a New World

Let’s have a short background about the traditional South African costumes that were prepared mostly in the past with plants, animal skins and brayed hides. These were gradually replaced by the induction of imported woven fabrics and the changes occurred. There are easy distinctions in attires prevailing in this part of the lovely planet through which one can easily guess the status, age and ethnic association of a South African. Through dresses, the men and boys are also differentiated with women and girls and even married persons with the unmarried ones.

Zulu warriors – Image by jason&molly

The largest ethnic groups of South Africa Zulu, who are actually considered the descendants of the Nguni tribes, live in the South African province, ‘KwaZulu-Natal’. They speak Zulu language which is the most widely spoken language in South Africa. The young kids and infants in Zulu tribes are usually seen with naked bodies. Sometimes only a string of grass is wrapped around the private parts. When the youngster reaches puberty, the genital area is covered by a piece of beadwork. A pubescent Zulu girl only wears a white cloth wrapped around her body which is a taboo for a married Zulu woman. Black colour dresses are worn by Zulu people in the mourning events. Very precisely, the traditional clothing of Zulus consists of unique varieties which they wear in festive occasions and in cultural ceremonies.

Swazi people of South Africa – Photo by crawford.l

Let’s also highlight the feature of another prominent ethnic group, which are known as Swazi people. When Swazi boy becomes adult, he uses a traditional penile trip cover along with a kilt of animal tails or a calf skin hips coverings. The young girls wear white aprons like the Zulu girls during their childhood but when they become mature, they are further permitted to wear the red coloured garments and gradually are disallowed to wear the white ones. Spotted colored costumes are only for the married Swazi women.

South Africa – Awesome colors – Image by Wilfred Paulse

In the nutshell, the women in South Africa have the traditional wear consisting of woven skirts, blankets, aprons and cloaks decorated with magnificent motifs. They also wear exotic jewelry which is prepared with stunning metal materials including copper, grasses and beads. In the past, there was no concept to hide the chest among the South African women but gradually with the encounters ofEuropean missionaries, the breasts were started to cover. The traditional breast covering of a South African woman is a wrap tucked under the arms, tied at back or around the neck.

Carnival colours of South Africa – Photo by Paul Saad

The formal and ceremonial attire of traditional nature of almost all of the ethnictribes are enormously refined and are usually embellished with leaves and other green plants. As mentioned earlier the women love to wear the ornaments made with grass garments including rings, wrist bands, anklets and bracelets. Women of some tribes also get ready in formal occasions with half naked bodies whitened with clay or powdered sandstones.

Modern influences on South African outfits – Image by Jennifer Su

Western settlers introduced in their own dresses to the Afrikaans and the traditional European wear might be the tight bodice along with pointed fronts and lace behind for women. Other accessories were neckerchief, classic cap and linen collars. The different colored skirts were in run which were usually full and gathered or pleated around the waist. Military coats, pagoda hats, brightly colored kerchiefs, waistcoats and jackets were the classic accessories for men’s wear. The woolen blankets were replaced by typical cloaks by men. These were immensely popular in the urban areas of the country.

Mandela – Madiba Shirt

A Madiba shirt is a batik silk shirt, usually adorned in a bright and colourful print. The Madiba shirt was designed by Desré Buirski and first worn by the then newly elected president at the dress rehearsal of the opening of South Africa’s first democratic Parliament in May 1994. Mandela wore this style of shirt many times afterwards.

South African white women in tremendous dresses – Image by RobW_

Traditional dress of the Republic of South Africa in it pure form is somehow existing in the remote ethnic colonies of the country. African block-patterned fabrics, wrapped around the body in artistic way are common in the tribe’s people even today.

Butrint Albania ...

Butrint Albania

The ancient ruins of Butrint lie 18km (11mi) south of Saranda and are a real gem if you have a fascination for the ancient world. The remains are from a variety of periods, spanning 2500 years. The poet Virgil claimed that the Trojans settled Butrint, but the site has been pored over by archaeologists and no evidence of this has been found.

Greeks settled Butrint during the 6th century BC, although the area had been settled long before by the Illyrians. Within a century of the Greeks arriving, Butrint had become a fortified trading city with its own acropolis, the ruins of which you can still visit. Just below the acropolis in the forest is the 3rd century BC theatre, also used for performances by the Romans. Nearby are public baths with geometrical mosaics, and deeper into the forest is a wall with Greek inscriptions and a 6th-century baptistry decorated with colorful mosaics of animals and birds. Overlooking the whole site is an acropolis with a fortress erected by warlord Ali Pasha Tepelena early in the 19th century. Butrint is accessible by road from Saranda, which is linked to Tirana and Vlora by bus and minibus. The ruins are nearly on the country's southern border with Greece, 160km (99mi) south of Tirana.

MASHTRIMI!!! - Mega Holdings Albania - PROactiveAlbania... skem piramidale

Mega Holdings Albania ne Shqiperi eshte perhapur nga disa djeme qe kane studjuar ne Turqi ne dege te ndryshme, Nga degat ushtarake deri tek universitetet private apo shteterore.

RREZIKU

Te rinjte e mashtruar (shumicen e rasteve keta do jene shoket/shoqet tuaja te ngushta) do te perpiqen qe te bindin dhe ty se sa mundesi e madhe eshte Network Marketing per tu bere i pasur dhe per te jetuar endrren tende (Makine luksoze, vile goxha te madhe, udhetime pafund rreth botes etj etj… Jete qejfi e thene ndryshe). Rreziku ketu qendron se atyre u eshte bere lavazho truri dhe me prezantimet ne power-point etj etj do tju tregojne foto te jeteve luksoze, fjaleve te mencura dhe motivuese etj etj.. Keto kane nje impakt te madh ne trurin e njerezve dhe sidomos te te rinjve qe te imponuar edhe nga TV kane enderr nje jete luksoze dhe pa mund.

ATEHERE, CFARE ESHTE MEGA HOLDINGS

E thene shkurt Mega Holdings eshte nje sistem Network Marketing me nje skeme piramidale Matrixi 2×3. Cfare eshte Sistemi Piramide , Cfare eshte Network Marketing (oppsss, lidhje e ngushte me skemen piramide???) Matrixi 2×3 e thene ndryshe sistemi me 8 topa eshte nje sistem ku ti per te fituar leke duhet te rekrutosh 2 persona, keta 2 persona duket te rekrutojne nga 2 persona te tjere dhe keta persona duhet te rekrutojne nga 2 te tjere. E ilustruar si kjo foto ne anen e djathte. A ju duken familiar keta topa? Sigurisht qe po nese keni degjuar per Mega Holdings ne shqiperi dhe keni patur ndonje “takim pune” per kete “mundesi” te ofruar nga ndonje shok/shoqe apo mik/mikeshe i/e juaj. Sic mund ta shikoni tek keta topa, ata qe fitojne me miliona leke jane vetem ata persona qe jane ne krye te piramides, dhe ata qe jane ne bazen e piramides jane te destinuar te jene sklleverit e ketij sistemi./Megaholidings.al/ 

 

Bima e Paulownia - (mashtrim)-kompanit piramidale edhe ne shqiperi..

Bima e paulownia  eshte nje bime qe ritet shume shpejt ne ndryshim nga zdo bime tjeter ajo arin brenda 6 muajve deri ne 2-3 metra lartesi  ... dhe si mund te keni lecuar ne faqe te tjera bima e paulownia-s i sjedhe shume te mira ambientit duke pastruar ajrin dhe este 10 here me efektive per ket pune dhe gjitha-ashtu ka dhe nje arome shume te mire kur celin lule dhe kush deshiro te bmaj blet ajo eshte shume efektive pasi ka perqindje te larte nektari qe mbledhin bletet .....  

                                            QE KTU ZDO GJE NE REGULL  POR ..

nese dikush ka vendos qe te kultivoj kete lloje bime per  qedhime fitimi te mendoj  dyher para se ta zbatoj ne realitet pasi kjo munde te jete mashtrim  siqe ka ndollur ne australi ku shume persona kane investuar ne kete forme dhe ne funde  nuk kane fituar asgje pasi ata qe prentendonin qe te blinin kete dru dhe ata qe i kane shitur fidanet me cemime te kripura ja kane mbathur syte kembet dhe jane zdukur si kompani pasi ato jo vetem qe nuk jane lincesuar ne vendet perkatse  por kane gjenyer shume njerze  qe do ishin ata qe do kujdeseshin per ti shitur drurin por nuk ka ndodhe asgje kur investimi eshte bere gati per tu shitur jo vetem qe nuk ka pasur treg por ase qe nukmkishte vlere fare monetare .... 

NESE DIKUSH DO TE INVESTOJ NE KETE TREG TA MENDOJ 2 HERE PARA SE TE VEPROJ 

PSI MUNDE TE JENE SKEMA IRAMIDALE PASI SHESIN FIDANET DHE NGOPEN ME PARA THJESHT ZDUKEN DUKE TE LENE TY BASHKE ME FALENDERIMET QE BASHKPUNUAT .. 

National Anthem of Albania

National Anthem of Albania

Albanian Lyrics
Hymni i Flamurit
Rreth flamurit të përbashkuar,
Me një dëshirë dhe një qëllim,
Të gjithë Atij duke iu betuar,
Të lidhim besën për shpëtim.
Prej lufte veç ay largohet,
Që është lindur tradhëtor,
Kush është burrë nuk friksohet,
Po vdes, po vdes si një dëshmor.
Në dorë armët do t'i mbajmë,
Të mbrojmë Atdheun në çdo vend,
Të drejtat tona ne s'i ndajmë,
Këtu armiqtë s'kanë vend.
Se Zoti vet e tha me gojë,
Që kombe shuhen përmbi dhé,
Po Shqipëria do të rrojë,
Për te, për te luftojmë ne.

English Translation

Hymn to the Flag

United around the flag,
With one desire and one goal,
Let us pledge our word of honor
To fight for our salvation

Only he who is a born traitor
Averts from the struggle.
He who is brave is not daunted,
But falls - a martyr to the cause.

With arms in hand we shall remain,
To guard our fatherland round about.
Our rights we will not bequeath,
Enemies have no place here.

For the Lord Himself has said,
That nations vanish from the earth,
But Albania shall live on,
Because for her, it is for her that we fight.

National Anthem of Japan

National Anthem of Japan

Japanese Version

Kimigayo

Kimi gayo wa
Chiyo ni yachiyo ni
Sazareishi no
Iwao to narite
Koke no musumade

English Version
May the Emperor's rule last
Till a thousand years, then eight thousand years to come
Till sand, pebbles, and rocks
To be united as a ledge
Till moss grows on it

Ja çfarë studiojnë miliarderët

Ja çfarë studiojnë miliarderët

Akoma keni dyshime se çfarë do të studioni? Ndoshta mund t’ju ndihmojmë duke ju prezantuar studimin më të fundit mbi miliarderët.
Analiza më e fundit tregon se në çfarë dege kanë mbaruar studimet njerëzit më të pasur të botës. Kjo analizë ka përfshirë 356 miliarderë të cilët kanë qenë në listën e 100 personave më të pasur të “Forbes” në 20 vitet e fundit.
Sigurisht që duke studiuar njërën nga këto degët jo domosdoshmërisht do të bëheni të pasur, por kjo mund t’ju ndihmojë që të merrni një vendim nëse jeni përballë dy-tre zgjedhjeve.

1. Inxhinieri Elektrike (Numri i miliarderëve që kanë studiuar këtë degë dhe që janë përfshirë në listën e “Forbes”: 48)
2. Biznes - përfshirë Administrim biznesi, Financa dhe Biznes ndërkombëtar (Numri i miliarderëve që kanë studiuar këtë degë dhe që janë përfshirë në listën e “Forbes”: 38)
3. Ekonomi (Numri i miliarderëve që kanë studiuar këtë degë dhe që janë përfshirë në listën e “Forbes”: 36)
4. Juridik (Numri i miliarderëve që kanë studiuar këtë degë dhe që janë përfshirë në listën e “Forbes”: 15)
5. Shkenca - përfshirë Fizikën dhe Kiminë (Numri i miliarderëve që kanë studiuar këtë degë dhe që janë përfshirë në listën e “Forbes”: 8)
6. Histori (Numri i miliarderëve që kanë studiuar këtë degë dhe që janë përfshirë në listën e “Forbes”: 7)
7. Shkenca Kompjuterike (Numri i miliarderëve që kanë studiuar këtë degë dhe që janë përfshirë në listën e “Forbes”: 6)
8. Matematikë (Numri i miliarderëve që kanë studiuar këtë degë dhe që janë përfshirë në listën e “Forbes”: 5)
9. “Commerce” (Numri i miliarderëve që kanë studiuar këtë degë dhe që janë përfshirë në listën e “Forbes”: 5)
10. Filozofi (Numri i miliarderëve që kanë studiuar këtë degë dhe që janë përfshirë në listën e “Forbes”: 4)

Deget me te mira per te ardhmen... Pershendetje Maturante!

Deget me te mira per te ardhmen...
Pershendetje Maturante!

Doja qe ti keshilloja maturantet qe kerkojne me shume nga jeta e tyre, ata qe kerkojn nje profesion qe ti vlej per te ardhmen. Koha po evoluon, shkenca po ashtu bashk me shkencen dhe profesionet. E ardhmja do jete e perqafuar fort mbas teknologjise ne teresi, teknologjise nga puna por edhe nga paraqitja dhe perfeksioni. Deget me te mira per te ardhmen jane ato qe kane lidhje me teknologjine sic jane:

1.Inxhinieria Elektronike
2.Inxhinieria Kompjuterike
3.Inxhinieria Informatike
4.Inxhinieria Mekantronike
5.Inxhinieria Materiale
Rendita keto 5 dege si profesionet me te mira te se ardhmes. 3 deget e para, Inxh Elektronike, Kompjuterike dhe Informatike jane 3 Inxh me kryesore te se ardhmes qe kane te bejne drejt perse drejti me teknologjine. Dega e Inxh Mekatronike eshte e ardhmja e Automjeteve me teknologji te avancuar. Inxh Materiale eshte nje nga Inxh qe do kerkohet shume sepse cdo gje qe na rrethon perbehet nga materialet, nga anijet e Nasas dhe veshjet e astronauteve deri tek jastiku dhe divani ku jemi shtrire, Inxh Materiale do te bej qe Inxh e tjera te varen nga kjo Inxhinieri sepse pa materialin e permisuar dhe rezistent teknologjite e se ardhmes do te deshtojn. Nese doni treg maksimal pune dhe paga te majme ne te ardhmen ju sygjeroj nje nga keto Inxhinieri.

The 10 Best Beauty Looks: Week of April 11, 2016

The 10 Best Beauty Looks: Week of April 11, 2016

High-impact tweaks reigned supreme this week, with Kerry Washington showing off an artfully woven crown braid, while Ciara went for a tumble of brushed curls and Olivia Wilde polished up her long layers with a smooth blowout. And it wasn’t just about styling: Selena Gomez rang in the new season with a rich auburn dye job, just as Olivia Palermo celebrated with a brighter shade of blonde.

Makeup was also in the mood for a change: Diane Kruger amped up her signature nudes with a sliver of sapphire liner, while Cara Delevingne offset her bombshell side-sweep with an off-kilter shade of plummy brown lipstick. But if spring fever has you stoked for a simpler beauty routine, let Jessica Alba serve as a reminder that rumpled waves and a good pair of sunglasses are the ultimate shortcut to sunny chic.

The 10 Best Beauty Looks: Week of April 11, 2016

The 10 Best Beauty Looks: Week of April 11, 2016

High-impact tweaks reigned supreme this week, with Kerry Washington showing off an artfully woven crown braid, while Ciara went for a tumble of brushed curls and Olivia Wilde polished up her long layers with a smooth blowout. And it wasn’t just about styling: Selena Gomez rang in the new season with a rich auburn dye job, just as Olivia Palermo celebrated with a brighter shade of blonde.

Makeup was also in the mood for a change: Diane Kruger amped up her signature nudes with a sliver of sapphire liner, while Cara Delevingne offset her bombshell side-sweep with an off-kilter shade of plummy brown lipstick. But if spring fever has you stoked for a simpler beauty routine, let Jessica Alba serve as a reminder that rumpled waves and a good pair of sunglasses are the ultimate shortcut to sunny chic.

Where ikinga Rules the Road: Photographs of Burundi’s Vibrant Bike Culture

Where ikinga Rules the Road: Photographs of Burundi’s Vibrant Bike Culture

Near the end of 2013, photographer Stephan Würth was on assignment shooting portraits of people in a hospice in Bujumbura, the capital of Burundi, and allowed himself a couple extra days to drive outside of town. It was his first time in the East African country, and he wasn’t sure what he was looking for. Almost instantly Würth was struck by not only the ubiquity of ikinga, the subject of his new photo book from Damiani, in particular the inventive and uncommon ways that bicycles were adapted in the near absence of cars and trucks.

Everywhere, Uwunguruza abantu n’ikinga (“bike taxi-men”) ferried passengers on the backs of their bikes—women in traditional dress riding sidesaddle, men in Western suits, a woman with a baby strapped to her back. Bikes were also heaped with coffee beans and laden with containers of cooking oil, stacked with bananas, sugar cane, works of art, and even and rather unbelievably, bricks. Necessity breeds creativity here; the average annual income in Burundi is less than $300.

In this land that was so otherworldly to me, it was captivating to see how the ikinga was used so universally—all ages, jobs,” Würth said recently by email, en route from photographing another project in Thailand. “So I decided to just take pictures of every bicycle I saw during those two days.” What he captured is a kind of cinema vérité of the vibrant motion of Burundian life on the road. Riffing on Walker Evans’s stealth method of subway photography (Evans famously concealed a small camera in his coat), Würth abandoned his Leica and ended up using his wife’s phone to make the pictures. “I noticed that almost no one saw me take snaps with the iPhone,” he says. “And I loved the images because I was able to capture something more natural and real.”

Growing up outside Munich, Würth had thought of bikes as representing freedom; in Burundi, they have functioned as a literal means of independence. As Joseph Akel reminds in the book’s foreword, the country has a long history of deep unrest. Survivors of civil war in the country depended on ikinga for their lives, taking them into forests to avoid roadblocks set up by opposition forces: “Hitching rides under cover of night, bicycle-taxis were the fastest and most inconspicuous means to escape from certain death.”

Würth’s pictures don’t examine the political strife in the country, but rather the movement of day-to-day life. A sense of liberation and joy was apparent in the ikinga culture he encountered, and it’s plainly evident in these images. “I just really appreciated how universally used and loved the ikinga are. In a place where there is so little, these bicycles are treasures that are taken care of meticulously,” he says. On the cover of the book, a bike is sweetly draped in a colorful, hand-knitted scarf. “What struck me most about the people was that they seem happy, or at least content. In the Western world, especially in the U.S., I notice people with depressed faces. Here I saw no one just lying around—everyone seemed to have a purpose in Burundi.”

Pete Doherty Will Be the First Musician to Perform at the Bataclan Since the Paris Attacks

Pete Doherty Will Be the First Musician to Perform at the Bataclan Since the Paris Attacks

In a statement posted on Facebook Wednesday morning, Le Bataclan, the Paris concert hall targeted by terrorists last November, announced that the venue will reopen this fall. “The work of renovating Le Bataclan has started,” the statement said in French. “We’re going to try and preserve its warmth and friendliness. We want to maintain its spirit.”

The post also said that British rocker Pete Doherty, formerly of The Libertines, will be the first act to perform at Bataclan. Doherty is scheduled to play on November 16, only three days before the anniversary of the attacks, which killed more than 130 people. “Other concerts and shows will of course be announced in the coming days,” the statement said. “And on this particular day, we can’t help but think of all the victims of November 13 and their families.”

5 Things You Didn’t Know About Emma Watson

5 Things You Didn’t Know About Emma Watson

Emma Watson has made headlines over the past year for her role as a United Nations Women goodwill ambassador; pioneering her campaign HeForShe; and launching a feminist book club, Our Shared Shelf. But next week, Watson will return to her big-screen roots with her newest movie, Colonia. The historical drama, directed by Oscar winner Florian Gallenberger, hits theaters this Friday, which also happens to be Watson’s 26th birthday. To celebrate her standout accomplishments this year, here, five things you likely never knew about Emma Watson.

1. Watson had eight auditions before she was cast as Hermione Granger, and true to her character’s spirit, the young actress was equally fastidious about her performance. “I was crazy. I did eight auditions, and I would literally sit by the telephone in my house and wait for each call,” she has said. For the ninth audition, Watson met with the film’s producer David Heyman, who told her that she was the “preferred candidate” for the role. “Before I could obsess over what ‘preferred’ meant, they took a photograph of Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, and me, and it was broadcast on the Internet that we had been cast in Harry Potter. By the time I got back to my house, there was press waiting outside. We moved straight into a hotel.”

2. At 16 years old and with five Harry Potter films under her belt, Watson almost didn’t sign on to the final two films of the franchise. “Every film is such a huge production, and it’s a long time,” she said in 2006. Much of Watson’s indecision came down to college. “I have felt for the last ten years I have had this battle; I’ve been fighting so hard to have an education. It’s been this uphill struggle,” she told Vogue in 2011. Eventually, Warner Bros. made the necessary changes to accommodate her pursuit of higher education, and later, Watson revealed that she was glad to have finished out the series. “I would have found it very difficult watching the movies being made without me as a part of them, because I grew up making them,” she said. “Being a part of this film franchise feels like part of my identity in a way. I would have gotten a lot more sleep. But I definitely made the right decision.”

3. Crushing the dreams of Harry Potter devotees near and far, Watson revealed that her costar crush was not, in fact, Rupert Grint, but Tom Felton, who played the nefarious Slytherin Draco Malfoy. “Between the ages of [10] and [12] I had a really terrible crush on Tom Felton, to the extent that I would go into work in the morning and look down the numbers on the call sheet to see if he was going to be in,” Watson once said. “He was a few years older and he had a skateboard—and that just did it really.” While Felton didn’t reciprocate Watson’s feelings, he played off her schoolgirl crush like a real gentleman. “It’s very, very sweet,” he once said. “I remember hearing about it through the grapevine of the hair and makeup ladies. And we’ve been good friends ever since. It was such a long time ago—she was probably 10 and I was 12—it feels like a different lifetime. But it’s nice that we can look back at these things and laugh about it now.”

4. Among her celebrated accomplishments, including graduating from Brown University with a degree in English literature and being named as a U.N. Women goodwill ambassador the same year, Watson is also a board-two-certified yoga instructor. “I love having something completely unrelated to the film industry. I want to find something that will let me use my brain in another way,” she once said, explaining that the practice helps to ground her, no matter where filming takes her. “I was like, ‘I need to find a way to always feel safe and at home within myself.’ Because I can never rely on a physical place.”

5. Two years into her studies at Brown, Watson announced that she was taking a break from school to focus on her career. Unsubstantiated rumors online suggested Watson was leaving because her classmates were bullying her. One widely circulated rumor held that whenever Watson would answer a question correctly in class, a student would call out, “10 points to Gryffindor!” Adorable as that sounds, Watson has said that the anecdote was apocryphal. “This ‘10 points to Gryffindor’ incident never even happened,” she said in 2011. “I feel the need to say this because accusing Brown students of something as serious as bullying and this causing me to leave seems beyond unfair.”