Pleasures of a sunny day

Today in Sweden was just amazing and...typically Swedish, especially the weather. Sun and heat on the first half of the day, then a quarter of an hour of pouring rain in the afternoon, and then (again) lots of sunlight and warmth for the rest of the day. Luckily, I was on the lecture when it rained, and when I left the university building, it was all sunny again, without a tiniest footstep of rain. In the morning, I woke up way ahead of my alarm clock, but when I looked out the window, I decided I would take advantage of this pure awesomeness outside, and study outdoors. I went to the university library, borrowed the books I needed and then moved outside, at the embankment of the river. I always carry my camera in my bag and take pictures when I see something I really like, so here they are, fresh and summerish captures of today's study time.

Ladybug cars. It's the first time I got to see something like that.

Cuteness overdose: duck family meeting

Blossoming trees at the lighthouse

Shoeless for the first time this year!!!

Lovely view of the city

Glasvegas @ Malmo Folkets park

This Thursday, when me and a group of my classmates were sitting on the grass outside, enjoying the sun (which has been shining so rarely lately), having a friendly chat and relaxing, one of my friends invited us to  a concert in the park. She mentioned the name of the band and said it was for free, so, although I did not know the band, I decided to give it a shot. The band was called Glasvegas. All I knew was that some of my friends really liked it, so when I came home, I made a little research on it and listened to a couple of songs that I actually found quite enjoyable. In the evening, I went to this place called Folkets park, which, luckily enough, is about two minutes away from where I live, and met my friends. We got to the very front just before the band came out on the stage. First impression: awesome outfits, quite young musicians, and promising screams of fans (not only teenagers, but some people in their forties as well, which is a good sign). One more thing that gave them some extra points from me - a female drummer (since I have this experience of playing drums in a band myself, I admire those girls). The concert lasted a little more than one hour, but It was a lot of fun. The songs they played varied from quite hard rock to lyrical and slow ones, which gave us an opportunity to charge our batteries. The music was really good and enjoyable, the fans went crazy and as it was nearing to the end, it felt like a huge party. Enerizing! Needless to say, I slept really well that night.

Cute hand-written letters ^^

I have a really good friend, who used to be my classmate. Sadly, when we graduated last summer, she went to the capital of my home country, and I left for Sweden. Since September 2012, we met only twice: on the Christmas and Easter holidays. Despite that, we stayed really good friends and now we can't wait until the end of June when we will meet and spend the summer together. But for now, although we are a few hundreds of kilometers apart, we still communicate, and the best part is, we do it old school - we send each other long hand-written letters, where we write, draw, share our adventures, worries, and joys. So, I wrote her this letter last night, and I felt like doing something differently. After giving in to this impulse, I ended up drawing this little cute giraffe on the envelope. I bet my friend will be really happy to receive it (last time I wrote some extra quotes on the other side of the envelope, someone crossed them out :( I hope it won't happen this time).

So this is how the letter looked just before I sent it out :)

My motivational desktop background

So, this is what's on my desktop right now. I made this when I started doing the challenges, so that I don't have to look for them everyday in my photo gallery. What is more, there were enough space for Ryan Gosling to sneak in and take half of the space there. It's not that I am a no.1 fan of him, but I just looove this picture. It really does motivate.

Doing my abs (crunches)

So, besides starting the squats challenge, I also started another one. This time, crunches. So far, I have been doing it for 13 days as well, but it is not as difficult as squatting. Firstly, the numbers aren't that big, and, secondly, I have worked hard on my abs before, by doing a challenge that involved doing 100 of them in one go, everyday, for two weeks. So, the fact that I'll have to do 90 of them today doesn't look so scary. Even if you do not have any experience in this, but you want to get started right off, I suggest that you take this. However, if you want a smooth start, I can upload a lot of different workout plans :) So, I'll get back to this when it overcomes 100.

Sports challenges: keep it low (squats)

So, as I mentioned before, I've been trying quite hard to get fitter and improve my physical state, or, in other words, to get ready for the summer. I have found a lot of tips and tricks on the internet, which also involved different kinds of sports challenges. So, I found a series of those monthly challenges. They contain only one kind of exercise, but as you move on with it, you have to do more and more of it. So, although it's recommended to take only one of them at a time, I started off with two, and I am going to comment gradually on how I am doing with both of them. The one I begin with is the monthly squat challenge. I have been squatting for 13 days now, and I really feel it's getting very difficult. It's been 130 squats in one go for today. Quite a workout actually. 

A new skill or just wordiness?

So, this time, I decided to write about my writing.
I started drawing my own path of creative writing when I was about fifteen. What I started with were essay contests, and this new beginning appeared to be quite successful. Since then, I have written quite a lot of essays and short stories. But when I graduated from school, my productiveness in creative writing fell to almost nothing. Unfortunately, when I made it to Malmo University, English Studies, I got obliged to write, it became my new routine. However, not being pleased by this state of unproductiveness, I was never going to complain about that. Suddenly, the amounts of text I wrote got really big, especially when compared to the amounts I had to produce in high school. Instead of 500 words a week, I was suddenly supposed to write three essays of 1000. Oftentimes, even more. And that was where the real skill-building progress began. For some time in the beginning, it was all about writing: courses, lectures, homework..everything. Now it's about other things as well, including linguistics, but writing is still a major part of my entire degree. So now, having almost finished my first year in English Studies, I can say that so far it is giving me a priceless skill: ability to write much more than before, but not by getting wordy. I started to think more about reasons and consequences, fill the text with thoughts of my own, but also search for the answer, considering all possibilities. Although it's not so much about creative writing anymore, it's still something I enjoy very much. Besides, I feel like that is what I want to do, and a huge part of what I want to become.

Ponderings on the business of photography

So, about photography. Making pictures of whatever catches my attention is one of the most enjoyable things for me. Needless to say, quite a few pictures get to appear on my Facebook wall - people love to share things they like, and I'm not an exception. In fact, quite a few people actually tell me I'm good at it. As I tend to skim through my Facebook news feed quite often, there are certain types of posts I see more or less often. One of those in the category of posts I see every day has to do with making money out of photography. Nowadays, every person can start that, if, of course, he or she has a camera. Preferably, a good one, to make the whole thing look very professional. Then I think to myself: maybe I should do that too? A lot of people I know do that, and not having finished any kind of course that has to do with photography works as well. A couple of photo sessions with friendly people, a dozen of recommendations and boom - you have your own successful business! But then I think to myself: there are plenty of photographers, plenty of photo-models. I guess I should at least get a university degree first. Maybe then? Naaah, I'll come up with something else.

The profits of writing a food diary/counting calories

Since the summer is getting closer and closer (it's almost here actually), for the past three months I have been trying quite hard to get fitter. What I began with was sports: jogging, exercising, running, walking etc. Then, after some time, I did a research, looking for tips and tricks on the internet. And then I found this picture.

And that is where it got really interesting. It wasn't all about sports anymore. As time passed, more and more people were starting to live, eat healthier. This sort of became a new trend, so there were plenty of tips and articles I found everywhere even without any special effort: Facebook, Weheartit, Twitter, and so on. So I made a lot of research on healthy lifestyle and balanced diet (if you are interested in what I found, you just have to ask for it, and I'll write more blog posts about that), gathered everything in my computer and started changing my eating habits.  I bought much more vegetables and fruits, changed white bread and rice into their wholegrain equivalents. I also read that if I wanted not only to prevent weight growth, but to lose some, I had to reduce my calorie consumption.from 2000 a day to at least 1500. But how do I know how much I consume? There was a way to do it. I started a calorie journal. Every day, I made a schedule, trying to eat at the same time every day, four times a day, following the balanced diet tips and, of course, counting calories I have consumed. What made it a lot easier were different websites for calorie counting, such as http://www.caloriegallery.com. So, I went for 1500 calories a day and wrote the journal for about a month. Then, quite recently, I stopped doing it, because there was no need to do it anymore. My body got used to it and I am pretty confident I do not consume more than that. Of course, I can never be sure, but I eat way less than I used to before, and I'm happy with it. I still jog and exercise daily, and so far it is working :) So, my advice is to keep the food journal in the beginning and to just stop when you feel it's not so relevant to keep note of what you eat anymore. This way you will get used to eating regularly and less, and, what is more, you will have evidence to be proud of :)

Blogging works!

Blogging.. Now I think that it was pretty smart to finally start doing it. What gave it a push was an open lecture I attended this Thursday. It was about writing for media. So, in the lecture there spoke a man, who studies the same thing as me (he's just about to graduate now), who has already started working as a copy editor, and a woman, who's a professional at marketing and has her own company. They spoke about what an English student should do to create a path to his/her carrier when still studying. So, I went out of the lecture room carrying two main ideas: take the Copy Editing course, and..start a blog. The marketer gave us this idea. She said that if we wanted to associate our future carrier with writing, we should get used to it, practice it. Then she mentioned blogs. What there is to add, she also said that having a blog might give you some extra points when searching for a job. And, of course, it will help you develop your own voice and style.
Although I am still not sure I will be able to keep up regular blogging some time later, I am really enjoying it at the moment. 2 posts a day, and still actively searching for new ideas and topics to write on. By the way, if you ever happen to wonder what I think about some particular things or learn something related to what I do in my free time, you can always ask for it. I am open for this kind of stuff :)

Hundreds and hundreds of roses

So, this blog post is going to be about something that tends to occur on my Facebook news feed more and more frequently:  pictures of girls with enormous numbers of roses in their hands- usually anniversary gifts from their beloved ones. Of course, there is no way I am going to say this is wrong or inappropriate, I wouldn't mind receiving one myself. What is more, reading comments below those pictures is also something that makes me smile. Cute, cute, cute, that's what envious girls tend to write there. It really is cute. Talking about guys, although they do not usually post comments under this kind of pictures, we can all understand that seeing it on your girlfriend's Facebook wall makes you insanely proud of yourself.
But there is always a 'but'.
To begin with, this kind of gift is very expensive. We can all understand that all those flowers appear in a trash container only a week after they are received. Of course, there are people who can afford this (and not only once), but the point I am trying to make is that this kind of gift is not the most valuable thing you might spend a big amount of money on. Again, I am not saying you should give this money to charity or donate it to someone who might 'need it more than you do'. Every guy should try and make his girl/woman happy, and one mustn't forget about anniversaries. But now I am turning to guys who are not in very good financial state. What should they do? I am sure that seeing your beloved girl posting comments under the pictures with those huge bouquets and knowing you can't afford one hurts, but is it really all about pride and Facebook posts? It seems like we are all starting to believe that yes, it is. But think about it this way: if you are with someone who can't afford that, this, of course, doesn't mean you must hide your high expectations and thoughts. However, if I were this kind of guy, I guess I'd feel the pressure of being able to afford to surprise my girl in a way that I could be proud of what I did, reading those comments under the picture of her, hardly being able to hold all those flowers in her hands. But one shouldn't forget - what we see most often is not all there is. Nobody says you must be the one people should get jealous about once in a while (although I bet his feels really good). What's more to add, giving so many flowers could in some cases be considered as buying attention. However, those who do that shouldn't judge. All I am saying is that it's not yet a must, so guys, there is always something more original and exciting to go for.

And the blogging begins

No expectations. That's how I begin my first blog ever. Plans: try and write about things that catch my attention in a different way, developing my own voice and style, and finally, finally get a long-time habit of writing regularly.
So, to begin with, a little bit about myself.
A struggling writer, still searching for my genre. Very eager to write, but sometimes too lazy to do it. Full of ideas and thoughts, but lacking the spirit and motivation to write regularly. Therefore, trying to change it and get better. So far, unsuccessfully. This made me consider starting an online blog. So, this is my another attempt to start writing daily, at least weekly.
I am not a native speaker, so there might be some grammar, punctuation or spelling mistakes in my writing. I am not going to set a specific topic for my blog posts. I imagine my blog being a reflection of me: everything from fancy and creative to scientific and very serious. In my posts, I will express my opinions, ponder over what I see on my Facebook news feed, get creative sometimes, or even do a research on something that catches my attention. If my blog happens to be successful, I might also consider making tutorials of cooking, handcraft (friendship bracelets, making teddy-bears), making different hairdos or healthy lifestyle.
I am a first-year student in Malmo University, Sweden (but I am not Swedish, just so that you know). and since my studies have to do a lot with writing, this blog will also be my way of practicing it, getting used to it.
So, I really hope that blogging will become a fun part of my life :)