How I’m learning Korean

Hello everyone!
This blog finally came back to life after a billion years with one purpose only: having no purpose, as always. I haven’t updated it in a long time and I apologise, but life kinda got in the way. Today’s post is a peculiar one and it directly linked to another project I have been working on for the past 5 months, that is, a studygram (@morethanyoora if anyone’s interested!). As you may know, captions on Instagram are limited so I am using this platform to write an endless amount of words without worrying too much.
So! Let the fun begin.

My Korean Journey – which is also the name of 278 blogs about Korean learning so I am probably being completely obvious.
First of all, I am NO expert, my journey has been going on for almost 3 years now and I still feel like I am barely scratching the surface of what this language is about; I see myself as an very low intermediate speaker, with loads of holes at the beginner stage. Nonetheless, I have learnt other languages for a longer time so I will try and incorporate my overall experience in this post, in the hope you will find it somehow useful!

Second of all, I write a lot so apologies. Had I YouTube channel this would be quicker but guess what? I am a tit and I hate being in front of a camera, especially if I’m moving.

I started studying Korean back at the end of 2015 – if we consider the start of everything as the day when I learnt how to read Hangeul. As obvious as it may sounds, I just wanted to know how to read it – it didn’t even cross my mind that I would become slightly good at it. I just wanted to sing along to EXO’s songs tbh. That changed almost immediately, because I became literally THIRSTY for this language: I would spend all my free time on it – which I still do, ha! – trying to grasp grammar and vocabulary and listening and all that. The easier task for me was definitely grammar/writing. Why? It’s, in my opinion, the easier to practice.

Let’s break down my routine, kind of?

Writing:
– I immediately went on Interpals.net, signed up and started messaging random Korean people with my really broken Korean trying to get them to help me; fun fact: one of them is a friend of mine up to this day and still is of huge help in my learning journey;
– I also downloaded HelloTalk, for the exact same purpose – it’s more convenient because you can use it on your phone, Interpals doesn’t have an app;
– I downloaded HiNative – this was a saviour for me. It’s basically the mobile version of the famous Lang8, where you can basically ask native people for corrections/translations/curiosities about the culture;
– Memrise: I can’t stress enough how important it was and still is for me. A good 70% of my vocabulary, I owe it to this app.
I write a lot in general, so I think I improved that skill quickly than others because it was the only one I could get feedback on, since I had to work on other skills alone without any feedback. (HiNative also allows you to send short audio files but it’s literally 10 seconds so you can’t say much.)

New fun fact: I never used a book. Not a single one. I feel like I didn’t need one? At the very beginning I started with a couple of lessons from TTMIK but I changed almost immediately and became obsessed with howtostudykorean.com; I will never be able to thank the creator of that website enough for the help he gave me. He is a foreigner who learnt Korean and that gives him a HUGE advantage in explaining the language, since he knows exactly what struggles one encounters when learning that language and he’s got them all covered. His lessons are usually long and go quite in depth so maybe they’re not perfect for a beginner level but I loved them nonetheless and found them incredibly useful.

Listening: I never had a book so I never had a CD that comes with the book. I only listened to Korean stuff (music, videos, interviews, variety shows and so forth). Literally, that’s all I did. Don’t try and push yourself because you need to UNDERSTAND everything, just let the language surround you in the most natural way possible; I know most of you don’t have the chance – as I didn’t – to be in touch with Korean speakers in real life so the only way you can replicate a daily exposure is by listening to a lot of music, watching a lot of shows and just get used to the language. If you have an exchange partner send them audio messages and make them send them to you!
If you like watching dramas, have them on with Korean and English subtitles – VIKI.com has the learning mode which is just brilliant! As I told you in one of my previous posts, if you’re into Kpop, download Vlive and follow your favourite stars over there and watch their lives – they are one of my favourite ways of learning because you are genuinely interested in what they’re saying and the absence of subs motivates you to trigger your knowledge and boost your listening comprehension.

Reading: just read, guys. Read a whole lot. Tweets, children books, even short paragraphs on Instagram (shoutout to @humansofseoul!) and write down new vocabulary. Read out loud to improve your pronunciation and RECORD YOURSELF!! I can’t stress this enough: r e c o r d y o u r s e l f. Hearing your voice afterwards will be of incredible help in improving your flow and accent. Once you feel a little bit more comfortable, switch to short novels – you can use @beelinguapp for that, since it has the audio track attached to the text.

Speaking: I had very long conversations with myself. My listening and speaking are the most lacking and I am trying really hard to improve now that I have the chance to be in contact with a bunch of natives. Just speak alone, describe what you’re doing to yourself, use new words that you learnt and try and incorporate them in your vocabulary.

Vocabulary: there are different methods that work for different people, as always. I am mostly a visual person so writing the word again and again – or using Memrise – helps my memory recall that word faster. If you are an auditory person, then you might want to record a series of words (with translation) and play that file before going to sleep, repeating them out loud so they can stick to your brain. Or you could use the method a lot of people use, which is FLASHCARDS! Either online or the good old paper ones, whatever works best for you!

COOL TIPS FROM A FELLOW LEARNER:
I just have one. Be curious. If you started learning Korean for something that is not University related then remember why you started. Be curious about what you read or hear, don’t just stick to a book or a curriculum, don’t move forward boring-ly, I guess? If you read something online and you want to know what that specific word means or that ending, LOOK IT UP! Don’t think “Oh I’ll find it some time in the future, I’ll study it then” – no, just look it up right on the spot. Because chances are you’ll find it again, and again, and again before you get to that through your book. Also, if you don’t feel like actively studying, don’t. But never let a day pass without giving your target language at least 10 minutes. It’s better to do a little bit every day than to stop for a week waiting for the weekend to sit down and “properly study”. Slow progress is the best progress, and before you realize it you’ll have improved tremendously. Studying  a language out of interest is not a duty, it should be a pleasure, so make it fun! 🙂

I could write a lot more about my journey but I think that will do for now. If you have any more questions, feel free to ask me via DM on Instagram, I am always happy to answer!

Guide to my jealousy.

Hello people. Long time no see. I should make “long time no see” my intro since it’s the only thing that remains constant in my blog posts. Apart from bad puns and gifs that only I find funny.

That said, I am back with another exciting blog post about a personal matter that I believe could be shared by other people. Isn’t that super great?

Now, one word that could probably define myself in the best way is “average”. We will start from this and we will get to the point of this post. Just yesterday I was reading this book called “Norwegian Wood” by a certain quite unknown author called Murakami Haruki – don’t know if you heard about him – and there’s a thing that the protagonist, Toru, says that resonated with me on a spiritual level:

Sono una persona comune. Nato in una famiglia comune, ho ricevuto una comune educazione, ho una faccia comune, prendo voti molto comuni e penso cose comuni.

Translated into English, this would be “I am an average person. Born to an average family, I receveid an average education, I have an average face, I get average marks and I have average thoughts.” This right here is the representation of how I see myself. Not that great, not that boring. Always good but not the best. Which is totally fine by me, by the way. I hate to stand out too much so the fact I was born to be low-key is absolutely brilliant. Problems for people like me start arising when you have to face other people who – lucky for them, I guess – were born to stand out in some way. They have a talent. They are prettier than the average human being. They can sing. They can hold their breath for forty-five minutes. My talent is breathing. Literally, just that.

When this happens, average people tend to feel threatened. That feeling of threatening becomes bigger and more unbearable if the setting is romantic. Let me explain. If an average person accidentally starts feeling things for another person – be them average OR NOT – it is inevitable for said average person to feel threatened by everything and everyone who happens to exist around said other person. Because OF COURSE those people are going to be better at existing than out average person. Is that confusing? Probably. Does it make sense if you are in the same situation? TOTALLY.

The thing that I would like everyone who’s not average to know and understand, is that we are not jealous because we are possessive and we like to be in control of other people’s emotions or lives. We might be control freaks but that’s another story, the two things are not related. I think. I hate that I have to be classified as jealous. I am not jealous. I know my place in the world. And that place just happens to be below everyone else. Sad? Yes. True? Well, in my opinion, yes. What we think is “Why should someone choose me over someone else? What do I have that other people lack?” The answer we often come to is “Nothing”. I don’t think I have something that defines me or that makes me different, so I understand why I am not the best pick. I am a good pick, but not the best pick.

Our outlook on life is not depressing though: as for me, I do not sit at home eating bowls of ice cream and think about my life as a complete failure. Again, I just know my place. I am ambitious, I know I can do some things and reach some goals but I don’t like to raise my expectations too far up above my head, I try to keep it cool. There’s someone who’s gonna do better than me anyway, right? And that’s totally fine.

This sounds like the most depressing thing ever. I really am not good with words, oh my goodness. This post sounded so much better in my head. Anyway, I pretty much summed up the whole point. I think that the awareness of not being the best at anything gives us a million more ways to improve ourselves. We are not the best at something specific but we can certainly do more things…average-ly. We were ACTUALLY born to be multitalented. Right? No? Okay, I tried.

I think I ran out of things to say so I’m gonna end on this note. This blog post also clarifies why I am not the best blogger, either. I am scratching the bottom of good but meh, that’s it. I hope it was not too depressing to read and I hope you can understand your average friends a little bit better after reading this. It would be blimey.

I will see y’all again, at some point, when life will challenge me with something else. Byeee!

Dietro le quinte delle Olimpiadi di Rio 2016.

Aloha. O forse sarebbe il caso di scrivere “Oi“, visto che in questa calda giornata di agosto ho deciso di ritornare su questo fantastico – e rinnovato, sì, notate la grafica degna di nota – blog per fare un po’ una cosa a mo’ di “Cose che nessuno sa…“, quella rubrica che si trova su “La Settimana Enigmistica“, per capirci, e parlarvi di quello che si nasconde – e nemmeno troppo bene, devo dire – dietro i riflettori puntati su Rio De Janeiro, sede delle Olimpiadi di quest’anno.

Bene, prima di iniziare, io mi auguro che tutti voi sappiate dove si trova Rio De Janeiro. No, non è la capitale del Brasile. Sì, è la città che ha la statua di Gesù con le braccia aperte. Visto che fidarsi è bene ma non fidarsi è meglio, ve lo dico lo stesso. Rio De Janeiro è la seconda città più grande del Brasile dopo San Paolo e la capitale dello stato confederato a cui da’ il nome. La capitale del Brasile è Brasilia. Il Brasile si trova in Sud America, e se volete avere un’idea delle sue dimensioni, vi dico solo che la sua superficie equivale al doppio di quella dell’Europa e 16 volte a quella della Francia. Na robetta da gggnnnente, ‘nsomma.

Queste sono le generalità, le cose che dovete sapere prima di addentrarvi in questo – probabilmente lunghissimo – blog post che riguarderà non le bellissime Olimpiadi che stanno tenendo tutti – me compresa – incollati alla TV a tifare per i nostri azzurri, ma bensì tutta la montagna di melma che è stata (mal)celata sotto le scintille dei fuochi d’artificio fatti esplodere l’altroieri nella cerimonia di apertura.

Iniziamo da oggi, che forse è più facile. Forse.

Scandalo scandaloso scandalosissimo! Voi ce l’avete presente Dilma Rousseff? No, eh? E allora prima vi dico chi è e poi vi dico di che scandalo parlo. Dilma Rousseff è stata la Presidentessa del Brasile – la prima donna, peraltro – dal 1° gennaio 2011 fino allo scorso 12 maggio 2016: era al suo secondo mandato, che aveva vinto al ballottaggio nel 2014. Segnatevi il 2014, ci ritorneremo. Membro del Partito dei Lavoratori, è stata parte del gruppo di lavoro che ha stilato il piano energetico nel periodo in cui Luiz Inàcio Lula da Silva – per gli amici solo Lula – durante la sua campagna elettorale, nel 2002, per diventare Presidente della Repubblica. Mo vi devo spiegare chi è Lula. E poi vi dico dello scandalo, pettegoli.

Lula è stato il predecessore della Rousseff: lei era proprio la sua preferita, tant’è che nelle elezioni del 2010 si è speso in prima persona per aiutarla a farsi pubblicità e a farla conoscere al popolo brasiliano. Lula è stato il Presidente che ha ricevuto il maggior numero di voti nella storia della democrazia brasiliana, proprio nel 2002, raggiungendo il 61% al ballottaggio. Craycray. La sua politica di welfare ha fatto sì che le condizioni di vita dei brasiliani migliorassero esponenzialmente, con il ceto medio che ha raggiunto il 54% della popolazione proprio durante il governo della Rousseff che – SPOILER – poi le elezioni le ha vinte pedddavero.

Forse ora posso dirvi dello scandalo quindi.

Indovinate un po’? La Rousseff non è andata alla cerimonia di apertura delle Olimpiadi. E se detta così non vi sembra tutto sto granché di scandalo, sappiate che è stata il primo Presidente in quarant’anni – q u a r a n t a – che, durante il suo periodo di governo, non ha partecipato alla cerimonia di apertura dei Giochi Olimpici tenuti nel suo Paese. Non è la prima in assoluto, considerando che prima del 1980 nemmeno i Presidenti degli Stati Uniti ci andavano. Pensavano che i Giochi Olimpici fossero una rouba dda ppovri, forse. Ritornando a noi, al posto della Rousseff c’è andato un altro tale, un certo Michel Temer. Aridaje a ridirvi chi è.

Michel Temer è stato eletto come Vice Presidente della Rousseff il 1° gennaio del 2011 e dal 12 maggio 2016 è colui che fa le veci del Presidente. I due appartengono a due partiti diversi: la Rousseff appartiene al Partito dei Lavoratori, di sinistra, mentre lui è membro del Partito del Movimento Democratico Brasiliano, che è di centro ma è un po’ confusionario. Io non ho mica tanto capito da che parte vogliono sta.

E voi vi chiederete, e perchè? Lunga storia.

Partiamo col dire che, il tutto è iniziato quando il 12 maggio 2016 la Rousseff è stata sospesa per impeachment dagli incarichi di governo. Se non siete familiari con il termine e magari lo ripetete solo perché fa ‘nsacco fico, l'”impeachment”  è l’atto di mettere sotto accusa una persona che ricopre un’importante carica pubblica, in seguito a delle irregolarità riscontrate nelle sue funzioni, con lo scopo di destituirla. I capi d’accusa che galleggiano sulla testa della Rousseff sono almeno due: è stata accusata di aver falsificato i dati di bilancio e di aver usato i soldi delle banche statali per mascherare le reali condizioni economiche del Brasile, durante le elezioni del 2014 – che poi ha vinto. Il grande regista di questo impeachment è stato Eduardo Cunha, membro dello stesso partito conservatore di Temer, che fa tanto il portatore di giustizia e poi aummaumma è coinvolto negli stessi scandali di cui accusa la Rousseff. Grandissimo. E’ il mejo. La “vittoria” dell’impeachment è stata la vittoria del ceto alto del Brasile, e della città di San Paolo, i cui abitanti non hanno esitato a festeggiare all’uscita del risultato.

Il nostro “tutto” non finisce mica qui, cari miei. Ve lo ricordate ancora Lula, uno dei presidenti più amati del Brasile, sì? Bene, anche lui è stato coinvolto in vicende giudiziarie. Durante l’operazione di polizia denominata “Autolavaggio”, iniziata nel lontano 2014 con lo scopo alla luce un sistema di tangenti all’interno dell’azienda petrolifera statale Petrobras – di cui vi parlerò nel prossimo paragrafo – anche lui è stato coinvolto, con l’accusa di aver ricevuto denaro da essa e diversi favori da parte di varie imprese. La sua discepola, la nostra Rousseff, ha provato a salvare le ciapèt di Lula nominandolo ministro – il che l’avrebbe reso “immune” ai tribunali statale e il suo giudizio sarebbe avvenuto solo al livello di quello federale – ma non c’è riuscita. Boo.

E ora arriviamo finalmente al punto che vi eravate sicuramente segnati, quello riguardante il 2014. Inizia tutto qui. E’ proprio nel 2014 che inizia quella che viene definita come la maggiore azione di anticorruzione della polizia brasiliana, la “Operação Lava Jato“, che ho descritto nel paragrafo precedente. E’ difficile individuare qualcuno che non vi sia incluso, ma così per farvi un’idea, coinvolge i dirigenti della compagnia petrolifera di stato Petrobras e le principali aziende brasiliane per le costruzioni e i lavori pubblici. [Queste società si sono occupate in particolare della costruzione delle infrastrutture per l’estrazione del petrolio al largo delle coste brasiliane. La Btp ha formato un cartello per controllare questi appalti e ha gonfiato i contratti dall’1 al 3 per cento del loro valore. In cambio i partiti che fanno parte della coalizione di governo hanno ricevuto tangenti e finanziamenti illeciti. – fonte: questa ]. Quest’operazione sarebbe dovuta durare solo un anno, ma si è protratta molto più a lungo: la richiesta più pressante era quella delle dimissioni del Presidente Rousseff che, sebbene pare non sia direttamente coinvolta, era Ministro dell’Energia durante i periodi incriminati, e anche presidente della commissione della Petrobras, quindi ci risulta un pochetto difficile che non ne sapesse proprio gnentegnentegnente. Però evviva la fiducia.

Vi state annoiando? Sì? Non saprei come rendere la cosa più piacevole. Fatelo per cultura personale. Se preferite andare a mangiare o dormire, fate pure, però poi restate col dubbio della fine. Vi tormenterà per sempre.

Dicevo. Come già vi avevo detto, in questa operazione di polizia ci sta ‘nsacco de gente, tra cui anche Lula, Temer e il tizio che vuole fare il giustiziere, Cunha. Nessuno si salva. Voi dovete sapere che quando Lula, nel lontano 2009, riportò le Olimpiadi in Brasile – sapete che ci vuole un po’ di tempo, non è come organizzare una serata a briscola – che noi vediamo oggi, il Brasile era un’economia fiorente, aveva una produzione di petrolio altissima, era riuscita a resistere al crollo del 2007 e i piani futuri prevedevano che nel 2015 si sarebbe dovuta raggiungere la produzione di petrolio pari a metà di quella dell’Arabia Saudita. Mica spicci. But then, 2014 happened.

Il crollo della Petrobras ha segnato l’inizio della recessione brasiliana, gli investimenti si sono drasticamente ridotti fino a raggiungere lo zero e l’inflazione continua ad aumentare; ed è così che arriviamo ad oggi, con un gran bel salto di due anni, e forse magari ora capiamo un po’ meglio il perché delle innumerevoli proteste dei brasiliani contro i giochi olimpici. Essi stanno creando un diversivo perfetto per nascondere la terribile condizione dell’economia, della politica e della vita sociale brasiliana; la quantità di soldi che è stata spesa per la costruzione di stadi e attrezzature per i giochi sarebbe stata molto più utile nella costruzione di ospedali, scuole e infrastrutture utili a migliorare il welfare dei ceti medio e basso. Lo spreco di risorse, il tentativo di nascondere la vera natura attuale del Brasile, rendono le Olimpiadi detestabili agli occhi dei brasiliani: quelle che sarebbero dovute essere la coronazione di una delle economie nascenti e più forti dell’America Latina, si è trasformata nel giro di pochi anni in un vero e proprio insulto alla dignità umana e alla decenza.

Questo post potrebbe essere 356,982 volte più lungo e pieno di così, ci sono davvero tante cose da dire, ma non saprei come organizzarle senza renderlo assolutamente noioso e sconnesso. Pertanto vi invito a informarvi, il web è PIENO di spiegazioni, punti di vista e articoli su questo argomento, che è vivissimo ancora oggi e si aggiorna giorno per giorno. Il Brasile è ora diviso a metà – il Presidente “sostituto” Temer è stato fischiato alla cerimonia di apertura – e il prossimo 29 agosto sarà la giornata decisiva per il futuro della Rousseff. Tenetevi aggiornati, mentre guardate la prossima gara di nuoto o di judo.

Knowledge is power.

 

“Ma perché studi Lingue?”

Non passo su questo blog da parecchi mesi, anche troppi azzarderei. Nell’ultimo periodo sono cambiate tante cose, si sono aperte tante porte e altrettante si sono chiuse. Una che fa un po’ avanti e indietro è quella di questo blog: so che c’è, che è qui che mi aspetta ma a volte proprio non ho tempo – o voglia, non lo nego – di aprirlo e buttar giù qualcosa.

Una cosa che forse avrete notato è che sto scrivendo in italiano. SACRILEGIO! Beh, sto parlando di lingue – non ancora ma lo farò tra un paio di righi, si spera – quindi sarebbe un controsenso usare una lingua che non è la mia.

Detto ciò, partiamo col dire che io non studio Lingue. Io “faccio” Mediazione Linguistica. E scusate se ogni volta che me lo chiedete ci tengo a sottolinearlo ma c’è una bella differenza.

“Ah, tu fai Ingegneria Informatica?”

“No, veramente faccio Civile…”

“Ah vabbé, è uguale.”

Non so se un dialogo del genere sia mai accaduto nella vita reale, ma l’ho usato per farvi capire che le differenze ci sono e spetta a me farvele notare quando me lo chiedete, visto che questa facoltà è relativamente più “giovane” di altre. Fatto questo breve intro, passiamo avanti.

Esistono principalmente due gruppi di persone: quelli del classico “Eh, brava, le lingue oggi servono, hai fatto un’ottima scelta” e quelli del “Ma perché lingue?”. Bene, prima di tutto, quelli del primo gruppo sono composti per la maggior parte – e sto generalizzando, non fraintendete – da gente che non sa nemmeno quello che sta dicendo ma si limita a riproporre la solita frase trita e ritrita giusto per non fare scena muta, dopo che magari gli hai dovuto spiegare che fai Mediazione. Poi ci sono quelli che effettivamente sanno di cosa stai parlando – sfortunatamente ne ho incontrati davvero pochi – e che quindi hanno la decenza di aggiungere che, nonostante le lingue siano senza dubbio un trend in continua crescita, studiarle e laurearsi in Mediazione non significa lavoro e che se non ti fai un mazzo così, puoi benissimo passare la tua vita a parlare cinese con il tizio che ha il negozio sotto casa.

Passiamo al mio gruppo preferito. Quello dei dubbiosi e/o sorpresi quando riveli loro l’arcano della facoltà di Mediazione. Prima di tutto, non importa quante volte tu glielo ripeta, per loro tu farai sempre Lingue. Arrenditi anche prima di iniziare, non esiste differenza. Di seguito riporterò una serie di frasi che mi sono sentita dire nel corso dei miei tre anni di studio – e ciò che mi spaventa è la possibilità che questa cosa non finisca mai:

• “Ma come mai proprio Mediazione? Ah, fai traduzione? Ma ormai l’inglese lo traducono tutti, a che serve studiarlo all’Università?”
• “Ma quindi fate solo test di grammatica? Scommetto che sono a crocette, haha.”
• “Ah fai conversazione? E all’esame? Ma così è facile.”
• “Ma cosa ne vuoi sapere tu, studi Lingue.” – solitamente citata quando si parla dei cosiddetti “mattoni” da studiare, perché i nostri esami sono a crocette. Secondo loro.

Eccetera, eccetera, eccetera.

Tante sarebbero le cose da dire riguardo a queste persone ma piuttosto che rispondere usando l’intelligenza per far comprendere loro il motivo per cui studio LE lingue – un articolo cambia tutto, eh? – attendo pazientemente che la loro “conoscenza” dell’inglese si manifesti, il che non è molto complicato grazie ai social, e se sono particolarmente in vena, faccio notare gli obbrobri che hanno scritto. E sto evitando di toccare l’argomento “italiano”, perché altrimenti mi servirebbero due giorni per scrivere questa roba. Mi limiterò a dire che studiare LE lingue vuol dire conoscere e utilizzare correttamente anche la propria e che vedervela storpiare ogni giorno senza pietà mi fa salire il sangue al cervello.

Ma comunque, il motivo principale di questo post, oltre ad essere uno sfogo strettamente personale è spiegare perché io – e tanta altra gente che frequenta la mia facoltà – abbiamo scelto di studiare LE lingue.

Avete mai sentito parlare di passione? Questa sconosciuta. A me piace studiare le lingue. Mi piace conoscerle, mi piace capirle, mi piace comprendere i meccanismi che sono dietro all’uso di una lingua. Una cosa che mi sento dire ogni anno, da professori diversi, è che non basta saper dire “Ciao, come stai?” o “Sa dirmi dov’è il bagno?” per poter affermare di conoscere una lingua. Le culture, le tradizioni, le abitudini, sono tutte parti che formano una LINGUA. Ed è questa la parte migliore.

Imparare una lingua, a parlarla e a conoscere le persone che la parlano, è un modo incredibile di aprirsi al mondo. Voi non potete immaginare cosa significhi per me riuscire a cogliere il significato di qualcosa che ascolto in radio, o di qualcosa che guardo in TV, che non è in italiano: per gli altri tutti quei suoni sono un’accozzaglia di roba senza senso, per me sono parole. Io li capisco.

E credetemi che è difficile da spiegare se non lo si prova ma è un po’ come per un liceale che risolve un’equazione difficile dopo averci provato per ore. Beh, per noi si parla di un anno – minimo, quindi immaginate quanto possa essere soddisfacente.

Io studio le lingue perché mi piace il mondo: perché non penso che il mio Paese sia il migliore di tutti e perché sono convinta che non ci sia un Paese migliore degli altri. Se c’è una cosa che ho imparato, tra una crocetta e l’altra, è che le differenze sono un tesoro da proteggere e non un ostacolo da spianare. Studio lingue perché voglio viaggiare. Viaggiare sul serio. Vivere i posti in cui andrò, non accontentarmi dei tour nei bus a due piani per fare le foto ai monumenti. Voglio conoscere le persone, voglio parlare nella loro lingua e capire quando loro parlano con me. Credo che la frase più bella per me, e per chiunque studi in questo campo, sia questa, di Nelson Mandela – how cliché – :

“If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart.”

“Se parli ad un uomo in una lingua che capisce, capirà con la testa. Se gli parli nella sua lingua, capirà col cuore.”

Per questo studio le lingue, perché non me ne frega un cavolo se sono un trend in crescita; io voglio usarle per capire le persone. E con le persone il mondo. E con il mondo, me stessa.

Se siete arrivati fino a qui, vi offro un caffé.

Arrivederci, goodbye, auf Wiedersehen, au revoir, tchau , doei-doei, 안녕, さようなら, 再见.

Giulia.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Boost of positivity. You’re welcome.

Hello folks! Telling you how much I suck at blogging has now become overrated so let’s just pretend that it’s not been more than one month since my last entry.

How are you all? I’m currently doing great! I’m having a happy moment in my life and I really wanted to blog about it because why the heck not! It seems to me that Internet has become the place where everyone complains about how shitty their life is – I’ve done so myself, guilty – and keeps sharing deep and sad quotes from God-knows-what-author to express their depression in a more poetic way.

Well, I decided to tell you about something that (hopefully) will bring you some joy and positivity; I’m sorry I’m not Jim Morrison though, your quotes might not get many likes if you say you took them from me.

I’ve been through an awful time for the past year, let’s start with that. It was a year full of bad things: bad luck, bad timings, bad people, bad me. It was one of the darkest moments of my life, one I will probably always remember; it made me question everything and everyone, I got more and more depressed as time went by and I really couldn’t find something to be happy about.

I can only hope you’re not experiencing these things but if you are, I want to tell you that there is one AND ONE ONLY way to get out of a dark time. I don’t really know how it happened for me, I guess it was a bit of many things and events happening around me so I can’t really use the “I woke up one day and I felt different” cliché. That’s part of the process: it takes time. If you can’t see the light at the end of the tunnel as for now, just know that it’s over there and that you probably can’t see it because there’s some bat flying in front of your face. It will take some time for him to get bored and leave you alone so that you can start running as fast as you can towards the light.

Now THAT was a hella good metaphor. Feel free to quote it. 

Anyways. It took me some time to understand that the only key to happiness is the easiest and most natural thing in the world: focus on yourself and ignore everything and everyone that makes you worry or feel sad. This is a pretty general statement, of course, but it’s the core of my very personal experience. I think that there is one mistake that we all make, even more than once, in our lives: we put our own happiness in someone else’s hands and they end up crushing it, breaking it and throwing it away. And guess who’s got to stitch those pieces back together?

We’re getting there. The only way to stay happy and positive is to focus on yourself and to put your happiness in no one’s hands but yours; do what makes you happy, what makes you feel alive, accomplish goals, set new ones and reach them too, learn new things, get to know new people and most of all, FEEL GOOD IN YOUR OWN SKIN. Love yourself, your personality, your appearance, every little flaw that makes you… You!

I know how cliché this sounds; I used to read many articles that kept saying the same thing and I couldn’t believe one thing. That bat flying in front of my face took way too long to go away, that light seemed too far away and I didn’t think I could run that fast. Or that I could run at all. So I did the only thing that no one has to do, EVER: I stopped trying. I stopped believing in myself and in my abilities, I was deeply convinced no one was ever going to love and appreciate me. What I couldn’t understand was that the only reason those thoughts were haunting me was that I WAS THE FIRST ONE WHO DIDN’T LOVE HERSELF. 

But at the same time, I was sick of feeling down, of not having a good reason to get up or even wake up, I wanted to be productive but I couldn’t find out HOW to. Again, I don’t know how it happened – probably surfing on the Internet –, but I realised that my only escape was to focus on my own abilities and passions, to better myself. So you know what? I’m drawing more. I’m learning a new language – maybe two, who knows. I want to go to the gym again. I’m going to London for ten days. I’m being nice with people and I’m loving myself more and more everyday.

I realise that we all have to deal with other people, our friends, our family, and that we can’t always be happy – we need some sadness too, in order to appreciate our happiness more. But my advice is to never stop striving for happiness, to never stop improving your own self – mentally and physically, to never stop amazing yourself with what you can do and accomplish if you want it enough.

Positivity is the key to success, remember it. 

Nobody deserves to see you happy more than you: don’t hurt yourself trying to please everyone, don’t get sad because nobody seems to understand how much you’re worth; as someone said, your value does not depend on someone else’s ability to see your worth. Learn to fight for what you believe in, to fight for your goals, to always be nice and to let go bad things that could affect your positive outlook on life. As we know, life’s too short to be sad. 🙂

Hope I managed to cheer you up a bit!

Stay crazy,

Trade in your fortune for a lesson in honesty.

Hello there!

This one is an absolutely unplanned post but my current mood is so appropriate that I must write about it. This is gonna be a very hateful and angry post so if you’re sensible or feel like you belong to the category of people I’m going to talk about, just leave. The title is taken from a song by my favourite band, Our Last Night.

You know, there’s a specific type of people I can’t stand. I basically hate everyone who’s like this; I would totally scream the worst insults at their faces everytime they act like this if I could. Sad thing is that I can’t most of the time.

Deceivers, self-serving people and puppeteers. 

I just can’t really understand how someone can completely change their attitude towards someone in such a short period of time; unluckily, I’ve known loads of these people and I grew up hating them so much I literally can’t even stand their presence. No matter how close or far they live, I’m sick of them breathing the same air I breathe. How can you, you little no one, feel comfortable with yourself when everything you do in your life is being an absolute deceiver, who uses people when they’re willing to give something to you in exchange for your pure consideration? How can you deal with knowing that you’re deliberately manipulating them? That you’re gonna get rid of them as soon as they’re not useful anymore? It’s just disgusting.

And believe me, the amount of people who act like this is unreal. They think they’re some kind of kings and queens, that they have some kind of power over us poor needy plebs when ACTUALLY they are who they are and where they are because of us. They would be absolutely nothing without us.

I can’t get it. I’m just letting out my thoughts about it, I’m sorry this is such a messy and nonsense post but w h a t e v e r . Nobody should EVER feel better than anyone, even if you’re the Queen of effing England, let alone if you’re some no one who probably spends their existence claiming a non existence brilliant life on social networks.

The one thing these people need to realise – but that we should ALL realise – is that we alone would be absolutely nothing. No matter how much you love yourself, how comfortable you are when you’re alone, how many times you tell yourself you’re beautiful in front of a mirror, how many selfies with tons of hashtag you take.

What makes you important are the people who surround you.

The ones who show you their love on a daily basis, the ones who would climb an effing mountain to make you happy, the ones who think about you when nobody else does, the ones who make you feel beautiful and special. You’re no one if you’re on your own, and treating people who care about you like shit won’t take you far.

So, dear you, stop being assholes and complete idiots and start acting like human beings. Whatever might sound like a bore or a waste of time to your Highness could make someone else’s day better. Use your brain. Being nice is free, remember that.

All the love,

5 reasons why being an only child actually sucks

Hello everyone. I’m on a roll these days, aren’t I? I’m sure you’re all loving me for being such an active blogger. Me? I’m hating myself cause I should be studying but everything is more interesting than my notebook.

Anywaays, I’m here today to present you my view of the world as an only child. Many people – actually, 99% of people I know have either a brother or a sister or both – think that being an only child is a complete lush. Reality is, it’s not. And here’s why.

1. Loneliness.

As a child, you hear your sibling equipped friends talking about how much fun they have in the afternoon, after school, when they get to spend so much time with their brother or sister at home when YOU have to spend all afternoon either locked in your room with a bunch of soulless Barbies or with your parents watching TV. So you feel extremely jealous because you miss having a partner in crime, you even get mad at your parents, you find yourself begging them to “make you a little sister” because you really cannot stand that you can’t talk about family that isn’t mom or dad; furthermore, it gets harder and harder to make up different stories about Barbie and Ken everyday.

2. Lack of pals

Growing up, you even realise how useful having a sibling is; talking about girls, your friends always have someone to go shopping with, someone who to tell your secrets to – in the hope they will never tell mom and dad, though. They know who to go out with if no one else’s around, they always have someone to go travelling with because OF COURSE their parents will trust them being with their sibling/s. While you, you poor only little child, are stuck at home every time that no one else is going out, you go out shopping with your mom (who makes you try every single piece of clothing in the store), you CANNOT travel on your own so you have to sell your soul to the Devil to find someone to go with – since, guess how lucky I am, your parents are afraid of flying – and you eventually stop trying.

3. “You’re spoiled!”

This is the most common “insult” you get when people find out you’re an only child. The common belief is that if you don’t have someone to share things with, you’re automatically the one who gets all the treats. Well, no freaking way. That’s not how it worked for me. And you wanna know why? Not because my parents hate me and don’t want to buy me things (in fact, I always got marvellous Christmas presents and birthday gifts) but because they K N O W how easily lonely childs get spoiled and they didn’t want to make me believe that I could get everything I want just because I was alone. So it was like a double curse: discrimination from strangers AND from my own parents. Awful.

4. No secrets allowed.

I read once that only childs are the best liars and well, I think it’s actually true. I realise how good I am at lying when I confront people with siblings. The reason? They don’t really need to lie to keep something from their parents.

I do.

The thing is, when you know that four adult eyes are all set on you – when you’re home, when you’re out, when you’re with your friends, when you’re alone, ALWAYS – you need to learn some tricks to have some privacy. And after many fails – many, many, many fails – you eventually understand how to do whatever you want without letting them know. It might sounds bad to you, but if you’re an only child, it probably won’t. When there’s more than one child in a family, the attention has to be split in two, three or four parts so it’s almost obvious that keeping something away from your parents becomes easier. If you have all the attention focussed on you, 24 hours a day, well… You have to find your ways.

5. Best friends

Last reason why being an only child actually sucks is your view of what a best friend is. As an only child, I’ve always seen my best friends as brothers and sisters: I would want to hang out with them all the time, I was always up for a pajama party together, for a pic-nic together, everything together, can my parents adopt you? Problem is, my best friends, ALL OF THEM, already have a best friend: their sibling. No matter how much you care about a friend, you can’t just swap them with a brother or sister; and that’s why my view of being best friends and my best friends’ views have always been different. They don’t really need someone to keep them company, they might never feel alone or get extremely bored – there will always be a casual fight happening to wake them up and change their day. While you, you’re always there hoping somebody will call you and say “I’m coming over.”

Nah fam, it never happens.

You learn to be the seeker, you learn that nobody’s gonna look out for you but your own self, you learn how to find what you need in your abilities, you just learn to be in love with yourself because at the end of the day, you’re gonna be the one you’ll spend your whole life with, right?

And that’s pretty much the end of it. I tried to sum everything up in five points, but I’m sure there are many more things you have to learn and face as an only child, they’re just not necessarily as common. Now, I’m not saying that my life was a complete nightmare just because I didn’t have a little sister, that’s just a way to show you how I had to deal with life so far. I’m sure many people with siblings wouldn’t agree with most things I wrote.

Well, feel free to tell me about your side of the story if you have siblings or to let me know what other struggles you face/you had to face if you’re an only child.

Seeyallsoon,

The false myths of fat pride and fat shame

In the past few months (we might as well say in the past few years), the debate behind the so-called “fat shaming” has been reaching a whole new level. We all know this debate that has been going on for a while now but it was only brought to attention thanks to the new, energetic, judging and all-knowing generation of social media users.

One question that can sum up the fuss about this topic is definitely “When are we crossing the line between advising someone they’re being unhealthy and actual fat shaming them?”

First of all, we all need to face the reality we live in which is way different from the one it used to be just ten years ago. Our lifestyle, our habits and the new fast and changing world we live in are changing us, and it has been happening since the World War II; these things are making us bigger.

So before we even start unfolding this complicated topic, we must realise that we’re all walking down the same road and that we are personally not privileged or allowed to make mean comments nor to judge other people’s lives and habits.

That said, the idea of this article was born after I saw a video posted by the Canadian comedian Nicole Arbour on her Facebook page, “Dear Fat People”. 

For those who don’t know her, she’s an actress, dancer, model and writer who apparently likes to bring hidden common social believes to light by using her honest and sarcastic humour. The basic aim of her video was to make everyone realise that the “fat shaming” movement has gone too far – she could have found a nicer way to say it but that’s another story.

We all live in a historical period where there has to be made a big deal out of everything – some say it’s a strategy to keep us distracted from real problems and I might agree with that. Every tiny little thing gets on the internet, on magazines and on TV as a “scandal” and of course fat shaming is no exception. There is a little line we all need to see, fat shamers and fat shamees, that has to be analysed in order to prevent us from talking (or typing) stupid, immature and sympathy-seeker comments: it’s the line between advising and judging. I don’t know why it seems so hard to find for so many people.

If we could all get out of the Internet world for a second, we would clearly see that the line between advice and fat shaming is set to be found between the deep dark world of social media and real life. Now, I’m not saying that everybody using social media is an evil soul trying to break down your self-esteem; what I mean is that it’s easier to type down an insult on Instagram rather than screaming it in someone’s face. On the other side, someone who is self confident enough to post a picture of their body (and I’m not making any difference between skinny and fat people here) on Facebook, or Instagram, has to realise that they’re unleashing part of them somewhere they might be judged. And again, I’m not saying this is good but let’s be honest, social media are the best place for aspiring judges, they’re just waiting for a chance to express their disappointment.

You all might have heard or seen the fuss about Tess Holliday, the American model who’s famous for becoming the first size 26 woman to be signed to a major agency – Milk Model Management; she became the ambassador of the the body-confidence movement, the proof that you don’t have to be skinny to be successful.

And that is very right and the fact that this message is spreading is nothing but good.

However, there’s another message that this woman is spreading around the world: being obese is fine. Because, as harsh as I might sound, Tess is obese, she is not just curvy. And what’s even worse is that she doesn’t seem to care about it, she keeps saying how she is “happy to be fat”.

Now here, that’s where we really get to the point: there’s a huge difference between being proud of who you are and being proud of your messed up health. A recent common belief is that telling someone that they’re basically digging their own grave with their lifestyle is “fat shaming” and that’s the whole problem: I’m not talking about pointless insults under a picture, I’m talking about those people’s comments who are aimed at making you see what you can’t see yourself. So we are now happy to encourage unhealthy lifestyles just because criticizing them would make us “fat shamers” and would cause thousands and t h o u s a n d s of mean comments about how we only care about looks and appearance. 

No. Just, no. It’s not that. Promoting an unhealthy lifestyle won’t make you feel better about yourself! If someone is advising you to eat healthier and to exercise, it doesn’t mean they are trying to make you feel ashamed of yourself: they are telling you that you could really have a reason to be proud of yourself, for being a healthy skinny, curvy, whatever shape you are. Never act like a victim, don’t look for compassion in other people – who might be the same who actually shame you behind your back while telling you that “You’re beautiful the way you are”.

Try and listen.

Don’t make up excuses, everything can be done if you want it hard enough: you’ll be happy with yourself if you find a real reason to be and nobody can motivate you more than your own self.

So, to end this in the best way possible, here’s a sum up:

1. All healthy body shapes are beautiful and great and you always have to be proud of yours;
2. Don’t spread hate on social media: advise people and b e  n i c e, it will make everything easier;
3. Don’t be touchy if someone’s telling you something nicely: they probably don’t know you so you can explain why they’re wrong or, well, think about why they’re right;
4. Don’t make up excuses, you have the power to turn yourself into the person you want be (if you want it enough);
5. Love yourself and be happy.

All the love,

One of the boys.

Hiya.

It’s been a while. I’ve been crazy busy and sometimes way too lazy to post something – you know with my birthday and all that, people, life, it can happen. But I’m back – for now. I have collected many many ideas for my blog posts but as procrastinate as I am, I never got round to properly put one of them down. So I’m doing it today.

As always I talk about my personal experience and what’s more personal and real than my constant, neverending, frustrating life condition that is being “one of the boys”? Too dramatic.

Well, I think that there wouldn’t be a better way to quickly sum myself up than this definition, I only realise it at 21 – yeah, of course I needed to tell you I turned 21 last week. Since I was a cute little pink and fluffy girl at Elementary School I always tried to force myself into the “girls group” so that I could talk about cute boys, maybe get to know some of them through my friends, who were WAY MORE ATTRACTIVE than me – maybe because they looked like little ladies while I resembled a surf table.

However, my plans always fell apart, I cried my eyes out and I felt like a reject of humanity before ONE DAY I realised that

H  E  Y

I had male friends too. And they didn’t care that I didn’t look like a girl, they thought I was cool. So that’s how my career as one of the boys started – I’m probably a graduate in this field right now. I used to hang out with them all the time, we cycled into the woods, we played football, they taught me how to spit as far as I could (which I still can – ah, hidden talents), I learnt how to hit someone (and THIS I can still do very well) and all this sort of things little boys do.

But as you may (or may not) know, this kind of thing works and makes you feel good and accepted when you’re still young and innocent, and you think that you’ll never need a boy as anything else than a punchball – and that’s where I was wrong. DEEPLY WRONG.

My life was way better when I didn’t like boys. Anyway, it happened. The moment came when I really wanted to use this guy as a kissball (does that make sense?) but given my past as a true male child/early teenager I was so unprepared and all I could do to catch his attention was… Well, show him how strong I was and how far I could spit.

Believe me, looking back at this period of my life is not very comfortable for me either so appreciate that I’m sharing it with everyone cause it’s utterly embarassing.

There’s no need to tell you it was a complete disaster. So after that terrible experience I tried to let my dark and masculine past go in order to get along with girls; and it worked for a while, we used to hang out with boys and I felt like I belonged somewhere (somewhere my mom actually liked, too). But that didn’t last long, sadly. Why? Because every time I liked someone, he never quite liked my company NOR my appearance so I just ended up trying too hard to make him like me and I failed miserably. What a joke.

This last sentence is the story of my life until now (now included).

The thing is that my “problem” – I use quotation marks because at the moment I don’t really believe it’s a problem – lies way back in my past. I have a very masculine mind: I’m extremely practical, organized and I don’t like soppy things that girls my age usually enjoy. I spend my money on a trip somewhere or on a CD/cinema ticket rather than make-up or girly dresses or whatever a girl my age might be obsessed with. And I know, I know, how cliché it sounds: “Oh she’s one of those girls who try to be alternative by saying she doesn’t feel like a girl, ha ha”.

Back to the point, my attitude and my personality in general make me “one of the boys”: I have plenty of male friends with whom I feel so at ease and I wouldn’t change it for the world. The problem comes up when I want and desperately need to step up my game with someone because I actually like him, and all I can do – no matter how hard I try not to, is be a friend and I ALWAYS end up being a “pal” or a “buddy” and that’s the end of it. I just can’t boyfriend. My mind refuses the idea of flirting, I feel stupid when I do it and I realise I can’t even do it – so I just slip into the friendzone and I drown, deeper and deeper until there’s no trace of sexual or whatsoever interest. Done.

And that’s how my life goes, day by day. I kinda got used to it now but the problem arises from time to time and it gets really hard to stay positive. I just hope someone out there likes boy-ish girls or something cause I can’t seem to be able to change this that I am, it’s in my DNA and I’m just stuck with this attitude forever. So if you think you can love me, HOLLA!

Now it’s your turn. Tell me, am I the only one stuck in this road with no exit? Am I the only one who can’t help but fall into the friendzone when interested in a boy? Am I the only LONELY person in this Universe?

I’ll just go, pack my things and move to Mars.

All the love,

Hard Work or Luck?

Good morning everyone!

How’s things? I’m good, thanks for asking. I’m currently sending applications for an internship next year so I’m quite nervous and the topic I’m going to talk about is kind of related to the stress I’m feeling, aghh! Responsibilities!

Anywayssss… as I had written/said in my previous post, I am going to talk about something that is more #liferelated. I realise that maybe not everyone can be quite interested in reading me babbling about songs I like or don’t like so… let’s try and make this space enjoyable for everyone, shall we?

One thing I’ve been thinking about lately is the neverending battle happening between people who believe in fate and luck and people who are committed to hard work, the so-called self made men. Or women. Before talking about my personal view that OF COURSE has to be the last, I must start by saying that most people act and think differently about this matter depending on the situation.

To be more clear, if they happen to succeed in some field and you ask them how they made it, you will most likely hear that “It takes a lot of hard work to get here, ha ha.” 

*insert sarcastic comment about how YOU will never make it that far*

But believe me that if you were to ask the same people about someone else’s success in the same field (o even in another one, where they didn’t reach the same results), well… they’ll say it’s probably because these other people have been lucky enough to get where they are or quite simply, they were destined.

And let’s not even mention the chance when they HATE those people for whatever reason.

That’s obviously what happens in most cases but not ALL of them, cause I still believe in people who genuinely admire someone else’s achievements and gets motivated by them to achieve theirs.

And that’s where we start talking about how I see things. I don’t quite believe in luck or fate; I do think that some of us might get luckier in some occasions but that works for everyone, so if you happen to be less lucky in a said moment, life will probably make it up to you and give you something else. It’s called balance. Or karma.

What I DO believe in, strongly, is the power of hard work and the neverending motivation you can get from your own dreams and goals. I consider myself a very ambitious person: I spend a lot of time during the day thinking about what my future is going to look like, if I will reach what I’m currently struggling to reach, if I will get to the point in life when I’ll look back to what I did and be proud of myself. The most important way to get where you want to get is definitely NOT hoping you have some kind of luck installed in your genes or analysing all your astrological inclinations to find out if you’re destined to be what you want to be.

You have to struggle everyday to get where you want to be and to BE who you want to be.

// Too many be’s and want’s and you’s. Apologies for any confusion but you got the point. //

You build your personality, your career, your relationships (your love life even!) day by day, through all the choices you make; whenever you pick one thing instead of another, that’s a step closer to the person you will be in five or ten years. As one of my teachers said (teachers. Really Giulia? Yes REALLY.) – referring to historical events, though – everything that happens in the past has inevitable consequences in the future and vice versa, everything you live in the present has deep causes in the past.

Working hard everyday can be tough and difficult and, I must say, you might feel like giving up sometimes. Well, more than sometimes. But it happens, we’re humans after all, aren’t we? The thing you must NEVER do is giving up on your dreams. You can give up on an assignement, you can give up on an unhealthy relationship, you can give up on whatsoever small thing happening in your life that you can’t handle anymore, that’s perfectly fine.

But do NEVER EVER EVER give up on your dreams: they’re a huge part – to me the most important – in your life; they’re the infinite fuel you can use when you’re not feeling so “hardworking” anymore, when the idea of getting up and send job applications looks WAY LESS appealing than your laying in your bed, when having to choose between University and Tumblr-scrolling never seemed easier, when you feel overwhelmed and you just wish you weren’t a person. Remember that you’re fighting for something and you’re doing it for YOU and no one else. Dreams can become reality and believe me, luck ain’t nothing to do with it, it’s up to you.

There’s one quote I read on Tumblr (lol the odds!) awhile ago. And that’s how I’m gonna end this post:

“When you’re torn apart between “If it’s meant to be, it will be” and “If you want it, go get it” remember that there’s a compromise:

If it’s meant to be, it’s up to me.”

All the love,