HOROSCOPES

Is it possible to read your character from zodiac sign? Personally, I think that zodiac signs and horoscopes have nothing to do with real life. All those horoscopes in newspapers are written by people who just make them up. I remember when I was in high school and one of my teachers told us about his friend, who was an engineer and was writing horoscopes for one of the local newspapers.

On the other hand, they are written mainly for entertainment and shouldn't be taken too seriously. Look at the case of one of my friends who believed that she was going to win a fortune, because that's what her horoscope promised her. That's why every day she buys a lotto ticket. 

Personally, I think that horoscopes are rubbish and they're not worth reading.

HOLIDAYS: in your country or abroad?

Why people prefer holidays abroad to holidays in their own country? I think that people are bored with their own country and also they want to see new places. Travelling abroad gives them a lot of opportunities to see interesting places and get to know other cultures.

Also, I think that nowadays people prefer to travel to other countries, because they've seen all interesting places in their own country and now they just want to see something different.

In Poland, for example, people are home lovers and they rarely leave their houses. When they decide to go somewhere for holidays, they usually pick place in Poland, because it's cheaper than holidays in exotic countries.

In Germany, people travel. Also people from other countries, like Spain, Italy, Great Britain travel much more than we do, because they can afford it.

WOULD YOU LIKE TO BE FAMOS?

Most people find the idea of being a star very attractive and tempting. The people who dream of fame many times don't really realise that living in the public eye brings as many disadvantages as advantages. Many people see only the enjo about being famous and they just ignore the problems that go along with it. 

Famous people have photographers around them all the time wherever they go. They have to put up with journalists writing gossips about them in newspapers. With this kind of pressure, some celebrities find it difficult to keep up relations with their friends or partners and sometimes they may even regret making the decision to be famous. It's true that once you've become well-known you can't go back to an ordinary life. So is fame actually worth it?

REMEMBERING INFORMATION

It's very frustrating for every person not being able to remember some information. Having a bad memory can be also disadvantage for students during exam time. There are countless ideas for improving our memory, for example some people claim that we should use all our senses during the process of learning. That's why instead of reading silently we should record the material and then listen to it again and again. The combination of speaking and listening helps to remember better the written text. Other people think that there is a better possibility to remember something successfully when we try to do it when our house is silent and just before the bedtime.

STUDENT ACCOMODATION

Are you looking for student accomodation? Here you have some basic rules to check when you are looking for a flat. 

1. If you like peace and quiet, avoid housing estates next to roads and motorways.

2. If you're on a tight student budget, you need to find a flat that you can afford. 

3. Check the bus or tram timetabe near your new flat. You have to be sure that the transport links are appropriate for your needs. 

4. Check how close is your potential flat to shops, health centres or post office.

5. Talk with the owner of a flat that you're interested in and get to know what's he/she like. Does he/she repair all the faults quickly or maybe you are responsible for covering all maintenance costs?

6. Check if the flat is in good repair. If you notice any patches of damp on the wall, it's not a good idea to move in.

7. Read the contract and check how much you will pay and when.

MILAN, a wonderful city!

I recently spend a few days in Milan. What a place! I can surely say that it was one of the best mini-breaks I've ever had.

The best thing about Milan is that so many of its attractions are close to the city centre. I started from the world-famous cathedral and then I went to one of the many famous art galleries, I discovered so many famous monuments and museums in Milan, that I can't even count them. 

I loved Milan because it was very relaxing and there was plenty of options for everyone to enjoy a perfect holidays. When I was hungry I had a choice from hundreds of cafes or restaurants, which were servind delicious Italian food. But what I liked most was the opportunity to see Leonardo Da Vinci's painting of the Last Supper. It was amazing. 

With all its attractions I recommend that you go to Milan. 

WHY DO WE NEED TO SLEEP?

Why do we need to sleep? The answer for this question isn't obvious and the fact is that no one can answer this question without any doubt. It is commonly believed that sleep gives the body chance to recover after the day's activities. In reality, unfortunately, the energy which is saved by sleeping for eight hours is minimal. So how sleeping can help us to grow in strength? The answer for this question isn't clear as well as the answer for the first question.

One way to understand the role of sleeping is looking at what happens if we don't sleep. Lack of sleep has serious effects to our brain's abilities. After one night without sleep, concentration becomes difficult. If you continue without sleep, the part of brain which controls language, memory and planning doesn't work properly.

It seems that we all must sleep to mantain normal level of skills. However, it seems that we don't know what is the amount of time that everyone needs to sleep each night. The only certain fact is that no one can live without sleep. So if you are tired but you can choose between seeing a new episode of your favourite TV series and going to sleep, GO TO SLEEP. Your brain will thank you :)

THE MEANING OF COLOURS

Wedding advice

1. One year ahead choose the date for the wedding and select bridesmaids and the best man.

2. Decide on lications for the wedding ceremony and for the reception and book the places which you've chosen.

3. Make a guestlist and send the invitations.

4. Six months ahead choose the dresses for the bridesmaids and select the flowers.

5. Choose the meals for the reception according to your wedding budget.

6. Organise accomodation for your guests.

7. Choose the best place for your honeymoon according to your budget and finalise all the arrangements.

8. If you're going to spend your honeymood abroad, three months ahead check if your passport is valid.

9. Organise a photographer who will have your wedding photographs taken.

10.  REMEMBER THAT YOUR WEDDING DAY SHOULD BE A HAPPY ONE!

"You are what you eat" - six ways to eat smarter

1. Food like bread, pasta and rice should make up a half of your diet. This kind of starchy food is the main source of energy and fibre.

2. Fruits and vegetables are very important for our health. Eat fife portions of fresh or dried fruit and vegetables every day. They're one of the main source of vitamins and minerals and, what is more, are low in caloreis.

3. Don't eat much food and drinks like jam, sweets, fizzy drinks. They contain a lot of sugar and are high in calories, so try to eat them in moderation.

4. Drink still mineral water not carbonated which is high in sodium. Remember too much sodium is bad for your heart!

5. Eat lean meat, fish and eggs because they're a good source of protein.

6. Limit fatty food. It is better to choose unsaturated fats than saturated because they are healthier and can be found in vegetable oil, fish, such as mackerel and salmon, and soft margarine. Also, it is better to drink semi-skimmed milk than whole milk.

QI

Some time ago at English classes at the University we were talking about a British comedy quiz show QI. The abbreviation QI stands for Quite Interesting. In the programme four people try to answer questions. Most of the questions are not very clear and that's why it's very hard to give the right answer. One section of the programme, which is called General Ignorance, is dedicated to questions which seems to be very obvious, but later it turns out that they're not so easy.

After this lesson I decided to look for some examples of questions which are obscure. I've found tree exapmles of questions which have obviously but wrong answers.

Firstly, it is generally claimed that the only human-made object which is visible from the Moon is the Great Wall of China, but that's not true. Neither the Apollo astronauts nor Earth-orbiting astronauts saw any human-made object from Space. Surprisingly, city lights are quite well visible from the Earth orbit.

Secondly, it is also commonly known that bulls react nervously to the red color. This is false. Bulls, like all cattle, are dichromats and they're unable to percieve the red color.

Thirdly, many people think that swallowed chewing gum is digested by seven years. This is also not true, because chewing gum is indigestible and passes through our digestive system with other food

Frankly, I have to admit that I've never thought that there are so many widespread but false beliefs. It was very interesting experience to get to know how little do we know.

Olga Boznańska

 During the long weekend I had an extraordinary occasion to see the exhibition of a Polish painter Olga Boznańska. She was one of the most eminent female artists who lived at the turn of 19^th and 20^th centuries.

The National Museum in Warsaw presented 150 works from various periods of her activity. Her artistic heritage was contrasted with paintings by such names as Diego Velázquez, Édouard Manet, Eugène Carrière, Henri Fantin-Latour and Édouard Vuillard as well as Japanese woodcuts so as visitors were able to see her work from the global artistic perspective. Boznańska is usually associated with the French impressionism what seems to be not entirely true. In the circle of her interests were still lifes, interiors, landscapes (views from the window at her atelier) and predominantly portraits of the members of her family, friends, high society and self-portraits.

Despite the crowd every sight at the each painting was mystic. Boznańska was a real master of emphasizing the spirituality and psychological expression of her models. The moderate technique based on a wide brush strokes, narrow but harmonised range of colours made her paintings nearly monochromatic. Thanks to the sketchiness of forms she was able to maintain intimacy and melancholy. Her paintings make impression of dematerialisation and eternity. Under the guise of austerity Boznańska's paintings hide a range of emotions and profoundness of feelings. Her paintings emanate sincerity.

With no doubt Boznańska's paintings are the masterpiece of it's kind. It was just astonished. It was a really good decission to spend some of my free time during the long weekend to see that exhibition. It was absolutely worthwile standing in a queue around two hours.

Ann of Green Gables

One of my favourite novels from childhood is Ann of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery. It's a heart-warming book which tells the story of an eleven-year old girl orphan. Despite the fact that this book was written at the beginning of the las century, the book is still a bestseller.

The story is set in a small town Avonlea. One day Matthew and Marrila, a brother and a sister who lives together, decide to adopt a boy orphan to help them on the farm. When Matthew arrives at the station, he sees a red-haired girl instead of a boy. After some time Matthew and Marrila decides to keep her. Ann is a girl who gets into trouble very easy, so it's not easy to raise her, but soon matthew and Marrila become attached to Ann and are overjoyed to have kept her.

Ann of Green Gables is a facinating book. It's a beautifully told story. I think that it's a timeless book and I can highly recommend this novel to anyone who likes uplifting stories.

Amelie

This time I'd like to write about one of my favourites movies - Amelie, which was directed by Jean Paul-Jeunet. It's a french movie and it stars Audrey Tautou.

Amelie is a young woman who lives in Paris. On day she founds a box full of things which belonged to the man who lived there before. Amelie decides to find the previous tenant of her flat and give the box back to him. Throughout the movie, Amelie spends a lot of time trying to make other people happy, but later she founds out that she should take care of her own happiness first. 

This film tells about problems such as loneliness in a big city and the conflict between the real world and our own dreams. Also, it gives us a lesson and shows how much we can influence other people's lives. The film is neither a romantic comedy nor a drama. It is a story with a happy ending with a awesome music by Yann Tiersen. 

To sum up, Amelie is a special movie which makes you think. It's a real masterpiece of it's kind. The fact that Amelie is a french movie and not a production from Hollywod makes it more true and can touch you deeply. I can surly recommend this film to everyone who likes artistic films. 

Living with parents after wedding

Nowadays many young marrieges can't afford living on their own so the only solution is to move to their parents. As all situations like this, it has many advantages as well as disadvanteges.

One of the advantages of living with parents is that you don't have to pay bills and rent. It results in the fact that you can put by more money which you can allocate for buying a flat of your own. 

In addition, you always have someone who will help you. You can ask for help in taking care for your children. Despite having small children, you can have your ''own'' life. When you want to go out, parents can stay with their grandchildren. 

But on the other hand, you don't have any privacy. Mothers like imposing their own principles on their children and their spouses. You can't do anything which parents wouldn't feel comfortable and it results in the fact that this situation would hamper your relationship.

Also, when you live with parents you can't make up decissions without asking them. You are one big family and you have to pay attention to what they want and would they think. In-laws are harsh for their children-in-law and they grant them on quater, which brings many misunderstandings.

Summing up, while living with parents seems to be a perfect solution for those who can put up with others opinions, it probably is not a good way of living for those who don't care about other peolpe feelings.

Online shopping

Nowadays online shopping has become very popular. Many people did not even dream of it ten years ago. Every day more and more peolpe order things by Internet. In my opinion it's quite good way of shopping.

The most important advantege of online shopping is convenience. You can shop twenty-four hours a day without leaving your home or office. Thank's to this, you can save your time.

In addition, this shopping offers us a wider variety of products. You can get items, which aren't available in ordinary shops, like products from all over the world.

Obviously, there are people who claim that shopping in the Internet in an easy way to spend and buy more than you need, because there's a lack of personal attention.

In conclusion, I think that online shopping is a good way to do shopping for people who don't have much time. Personally I don't think that this way of shopping will be more popular than buying in tradiconal shops. However, we have to admitt that the comfort and an access to a wide sort of products  makes Internet shops very attractive.

For and against studying abroad

Spanish Omelette

INGREDIENTS:
75 gms butter
4 onions, sliced
4 large potatoes, peeled
1 garlic clove, crushed
6 eggs

DIRECTIONS:

1. Melt the butter in a large frying pan and then add onions and cook for about 20 minutes.

2. Put the potatoes in a pan and cover them with water. When the water will be boiled simmer them for 12 to 15 minutes untill they are tender. Then cut into thin slices.

3. Add the potatoes and garlic to the pan and then increase heat and cook for 10 minutes untill the potaotoes are golden.

4. Putt eggs into a bowl and beat them for a minute or two. Then season them with salt and black pepper.

5. Add eggs to the pan and cover it. Turn the heat down and cook gently till the bottom is golden and the top is well-cooked. Cut the omelette into pieces and serve it warm or chilled.

BON APPETIT!

Gracias por el fuego

My last two posts were about Spain. Today I'd like to share my observations about the book I read some time ago. Gracias por el fuego was written by Mario Benedetti who is an Uruguay writer. In this book he tells us about the fifties in Uruguay. The book tells story about Ramón Budiño, who is disappointed with the situation in his country and his own life. He hates his father and he blames him for all his failures. Another thing is that his father is the symbol of Uruguay. He's one of the most powerful men in the country, but for Ramón he is the epitome of all the worst. He's corrupt and he is inconsiderate to anyone. Ramón feels frustrated and that's why he thinks that the only solution to feel free is to kill his father. However he feels unable to do this.

Gracias por el fuego is book about frustrations, the frustration about living in someone's shadow, the frustration about living in a corrupt country under dictatorship and, finally, the frustration of the inability to end what we've planned. In this book we can see two important plans: political and personal. The personal crisis of the main carcter reflects the crisis of his country.

I can truly recommend this book to all who are interested in the Latin America literature and to all who just want to read an interesting book.

Octopus, soup and tarta - my favourites Galician dishes

My last post was about weather in Galicia. Today I'd like to write about the Galician cuisine, which is really delicious. When I was there I tried to use every occasion to try some new dishes. I must admit that my first contact with tradicional Galician cuisine wasn't really good. The first dish wich I tried was a tuna pie (empanada gallega de atún) and it was exeptionally untasty. Fortunately, it was the first and the last time when I had such a bad experience with typical food from this part of Spain.

As Galicia is situated by the Ocean, it's not any surprise that in it's regional cuisine dominate fish and seafood. One of the most known dishes is fair style octopus (pulpo a la gallega). It's prepared with boiled octopus and paprika and it's usually served with potatoes. I can surely recommend this dish to all of you.

The typical Galician soup is Galician broth (caldo gallego) which is prepared with cabbage, collard greens, turnip, white beans, potatoes, lard beef and chorizo; sometimes we can add also some kind of other meat like pork, spare ribs or bacon. This dish is really tasty and very good for autumn and winter dinner when we want to warm up.

The last dish about which I'd like to write some words is typical Galician cake, wich is called tarta de Santiago. The recipe for this dessert is very simple. We need only almonds, sugar, lemon peel and eggs. It's incredibly sweet like all Spanish sweets but also delicious. I'm not very fond of sweets but this tarta is one of my favourites.

There are of course lots of other Galician dishes which are incredibly appetizing, but there won't be enough place to describe all of them, so I wanted only to present my favourites ones.

Between Galicia and Spain

Few weeks ago I came back from Spain where I was on Erasmus. I spent 4 months in Santiago de Compostela, the capital of the region called Galicia. Honestly, I can assure that it's one of the most beautiful and pictueresque regions in Spain situated in the northwest part of the Iberian Peninsula. Lots of Spanish people say that Galicia is not Spain. Are they right? The truth is that Galicia differs a lot from the general idea of Spain, which we know from leaflets and giude books. The location of this region by the Atlantic Ocean causes that the climate is different than in the rest of Spain; the air is fresh and humid. The temperature in summer is much more bearable than in the rest of Spain, but during winter the humidity is so high that the average noticeable temperature is much lower than it is in the reality. I know what I'm saying, I spet there 4 winter months and the weather was awfull. It was raining all the time, what confirms the well-known stereotype that in Galicia it rains a lot. If the weather was so terrible, why I still claim that it's one of the most marvelous places in Spain? It's because of the views. They can compensate even an awfull weather. The landscape seems to be taken from a XIX^th century novels. In the landscape predominate small hills and large rivers. The green of the plants influences people's mood soothingly. Coming back to the differences between Galicia and the rest of Spain, apart from weather and landscape, also the language is different. The most of people who lives in Galicia speak Galician, which is similar to Portugal. Galicia isn't a typical Spain, it's much more. Galicia is not only sun, beach and party, it's a place where you want to come back.