Heavenly sky!

Hey there! (:

 

Why haven't I shown this to you before?

So, from the beginning.

On the 22nd of December, 2015, my family, some friends of the family and myself were sitting in the living room as my sister suddenly became aware of the beautiful lighting of the sky. Immediately, she grabbed her mobile and went outside to take a picture. Since I was curious, I followed her. When we discovered what was going on above our house which we haven't seen through the window, we were breathless. A massive bright orangish cloud was stretching over the sky. I have never seen such an amazing scenery before. Promptly, everyone was outside gazing into the sky. It did not last long but shortly after, you could see pictures on facebook from all aspects of the sky.

I am sure that I will never forget that impressive sight.

Bye bye! (:

Caretta caretta!

Dear readers!

Taking about Zakynthos, I felt the urge to tell you about my caretta caretta encounter as well.

As you already know, in my early teens I spend one week with my family in Zakynthos. One day we spent on a boat and I can't remember why. Maybe, seeing a tortoise was even the purpose of this boat trip. Anyway, all of a sudden, the captain got a call that a tortoise has been seen. Immediately, he headed for the location. Within a few minutes, we saw a couple of small boats, quite near each other. They were all dangerously leaning for the occupants were all gathering on the same side of the boat. Clearly, a caretta caretta was present. As our boat was approaching the spectacle, we could see it too. A quite big tortoise was floating on the water with its head above the surface. It was adorable! So now our boat was nearly overturning as well. Everyone just wanted to get a glimpse of a free-living caretta caretta. Now I wonder if the animal was stressed because of the situation or if it was used to it or if it just did not mind. I hope it did not mind.

Now I need to include a few pictures of caretta carettas because I think they are absolutely adorable. ;D

Have a nice day and thanks for reading!

Bye!

The Blue Caves... magnificent! bewitching! stunning! astonishing!

Hello again! :D

There are countless positive adjectives out there and I could possibly describe the Blue Caves with all of them.

Years ago, I spend one marvelous week on the small Greek isle Zakynthos with my family.  Of course we saw most of the sights and they were all amazing. But, my favorite was the Blue Caves. These are small caves and rock formations marked in the northern coast of Zakynthos. You can only access them by a small boat, which then navigates through natural arches and into impressive caves. This place is most famous for its light reflection, which turns the water into a fantastic, translucent azure blue. See for yourself. I'll insert some pictures for you.
But before that, let me tell you a short, rather sad, anecdote.
Once upon a time there was a little boat. In it there was the man who navigated the boat into one of the Blue Caves, an Austrian family and an elderly couple. The families mother and the elderly woman were excited, like all of the tourists in that boat, and did not know what they should photograph first. Then, suddenly, it happened. The elderly woman's camera slipped out of her excited, wrinkled fingers and dropped into the sea. Of course, the lady was desperate, not because she had to buy a new one now, as she claimed, but because she lost all the pictures from their already ending holiday on Zakynthos. Sadly, that incident spoilt her trip. And if no one brought that camera up from the seabed, it surely is still there.

But now the promised pictures:

By for now! :D

"Bump the app before you bump in bed"

Hey(:

I thought I would quickly tell you about an Icelandic curiosity. (;

A few weeks ago, my sister came back from her holiday in Iceland. Afterwards, she naturally had a lot to tell. What I found odd but really amusing, was her story of the Islendinger App. Because of the fact that Iceland has only 320,000 inhabitants, three young software-engineering students at the University of Iceland developed an app which lets users instantly compare their lineage by bumping their mobile phones together. When you bump, it shows your nearest common ancestors. If you bump with someone who’s too closely related, you get an alarm sound and a text warning, the “incest-prevention alarm”. It traces the lineage of all the country’s inhabitants, in some cases going back to 9th century settlers.

“People may think it's funny, but the app is a necessity.”

If you want to try it out now, I have to disappoint you. Users must have an Icelandic social security number to log on. (;

A language learner's assistance

Dear readers!

Since October 2014, I call myself a professional language learner. If you want to know more precisely, I study Transcultural Communication.

In this post, I’ll let you know what helps me to improve my language these days.

First and foremost, I am happy to have learned what the internet offers when it comes to the English language. Now, I’ll present my most used websites to you.

In my opinion, the most important thing to know when you learn English is that there are sooo many great monolingual dictionaries available on the Internet. AND, they are more useful than you might think! That knowledge really helped me out in the past few months. 

To conclude, I`ve never used such dictionaries before and am glad that my current teacher showed them to us students right in the beginning of this semester.

Oh, I nearly forgot. If you want to know, my favourite one is the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. It contains everything a language learner’s heart can wish for and apart from that, its design is clear and neat, which I very much like.

Next: website for finding synonyms.

And the winner is: Thesaurus!

A problem of mine is that I have so much more words in my passive vocabulary than in my active vocabulary.  What I do to eliminate this issue is that whenever I want to use a word which I have already used in the same essay before or when it is just too simple and worn out, I look up a synonym for it. I believe that helps to expand my active vocabulary.

But, I have hardly any experience with websites with this purpose. Because of that, there is a good chance that there are many other websites which are better that Thesaurus and unknown to me.

What I also use quite frequently is the dict.cc app on my phone. It is a bilingual dictionary and works without a connection to the Internet. That’s why I prefer it as my phone often isn’t willing to cooperate when it comes to the usage of the internet. But, be aware that access to the internet is necessary when you want to listen to the pronunciation of a word!

Finally, when I have finished writing, I’ll use the grammarly.com website which analyses my text and tells me how many different mistakes it contains. That gives me an idea of how grammatically correct I have written and what I have to watch out for while rereading my work.

Now you have gained some insight into my life as a language student. 

I hope you enjoyed it!

Bye for now!

Why everyone should watch "Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer" (movie 1998)

Hey there!

 At first, I wanted to to write "Why every child should watch ..." but then I realized that it's a cute Christmas movie for young and old. So you should continue reading and then watch the movie.. ;D

I think that children`s films are in general very enjoyable, have catchy songs and contain a lot of nuggets of wisdom.
Just like "Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer".
As you probably already know, it's about a young reindeer who was born with a red instead of a black nose. All his life he has been harassed and tormented by nearly everyone he knew because of his bright, shiny nose. But, in the end, it turns out that he has certain advantages because of his otherness. "Peculiarities," Santa tells him, "are our strenghs."


What we also learn from this movie:

We are all different on the outside; what really counts is what's inside our hearts.

It could always be worse.  

Tell the truth and you'll be successfull.

If we work together, we can make it.

Everyone deserved a second chance.

A medal will be awarded to those who show courage, character and a heart that's true.


I just wanted you to know that I think that it's great that in children's films these nuggets of widom are simply said. Children don`t have to guess the deeper meaning of the movie, the characters just speak out what's important in life. As I've already mentioned, I believe that's great. 


Short post is already at the end... goodbye everyone! (:

Christmas presents (:

Halooo, ho ho ho! :D

Have you ever wondered what to get your ants, grandparents, etc. as a Christmas present?
I always do. What do you give someone who doesn't wish for anything and has enough of this decorative little stuff?
I have found the perfect solution for Christmas 2014:  Kirschstengeli!! :D
That's the story to it:
My distant relative from Swiss always brought some excellent swiss chocolate with her when she came to visit us in Austria. Among others, these Kirschstengeli which have always been loved by my family.
This week, while in search for some presents, I accidentally found a little shop called Heindl which sells these chocolates. That really was a lucky coincidence. Now I have a present which certainly will delight my relatives and which can be eaten and therefore is very useful, indeed.

Of course I took a picture for you and even decorated a bit to make it look christmasy. ;D

Great book to movie adaptation!

Spoiler alert! xD

Dear readers! (:

On an early evening about two weeks ago, I was sitting in my room thinking about what I should do with the rest of the day. Finally, I decided to watch a movie. In my mind I went through all the books I own which were made into movies and decided to watch If I stay by Gayle Forman. I liked the book when I read it some months ago but couldn't imagine that it would make for a great movie. Nevertheless, I watched it and loved it. In my opinion it is better than the book and that doesn't happen often, does it? Therefore, I decided to tell you about it..

Here’s a quick overview:

The main character, a 17-year-old girl called Mia, experiences a fateful car accident in which her parents and her only sibling die. She, however, has an out-of-body experience and consequently has to deal with seeing her friends and relatives grieving over her family. Repeatedly, the nurse tells her that she alone chooses her destiny at this stage. Soon, Mia realizes that she has to make the most difficult decision of her life. Should she stay or should she let go?

My thoughts on this movie:

First of all, I think that the actors are very well chosen and did a great job. They really fitted to the picture I had in mind while reading the book. I particularly liked that the characters are so solid and genuine.

The movie starts off with the car accident and just after, you get to know her life as she recalls important memories. During the scenes which show a particular scene or day of her life in the past, you kind of forget about her family being dead because the scenes really draw you in and then.. Shock! She is back at the hospital and you are crying again.. (At least that was my experience) (;

It’s really a movie to cry. I believe the reason for that is that everyone has to think of their own family while watching and how they would deal without their family. In addition, it’s not an unrealistic subject and that makes me so sad for all the children who have experienced such horror.

If I stay really makes you think about your family and that life generally is so fragile. One second, and it could have changed irrevocably.

I believe the second book in the duology is written from the perspective of Adam (Mia’s boyfriend). That, I think, is really cool and interesting because in real life you can’t escape your mind and often wonder how other people think about a particular situation.

I`m really looking forward to reading Where she went in the Christmas holiday. I wonder if she wakes up.. I have the feeling that she does. And if she does, I really respect her, because, man, that would be a hell of a wrecked life she would be facing.

 

I don't like the cover at all,
but you can't judge a book by its cover, can you? (:

Check out Gayle Forman’s other books: Just one day and Just one year. I have read the first one and am planning on reading the next book in this series as well.

Sadly, Just One Night is just a 55 pages long e-novella

Thanks for reading my thoughts on If I Stay. That’s nice of you! :D

The Book of Kells

Hello there!

Be aware that this is my first free blog. I hope it will turn out great.. (: Enjoy!

Recently, I had to do a project about the Irish history for my English class. It was then that I stumbled across the Book of Kells for the first time. This book caught my attention immediately because a, it’s got intricate and minute details on all but two pages and b, it is ca. 1200 years old.

I think everyone should have at least heard of this book. For the reason that I had never heard of it before,  I want to introduce you to this masterpiece. 

So, what is this book about?

First and foremost, I have to tell you that it is an illuminated manuscript Gospel book. Due to its ornate calligraphy and wonderful illuminations it is considered by many to be the most beautiful book in the world.   

Now, here are a few pictures!

Four Evangelists and their symbols: 

Matthew the man, Mark the lion, John the eagle and Luke the ox.

 Clockwise from top left

 

The Book of Kells is thought to have been started by Irish monks on the Scottish island of Iona. Later, it was moved to the Abbey of Kells for the Vikings attacked Iona.  There is no way of knowing if the book was produced wholly at Iona or at Kells, or partially at each location. Later, the Vikings also raided Kells and how the book survived this raids is unknown. The fact that it did somehow, makes it even more precious. It was kept in Kells until 1654. Since 1661 it is kept safe at the Trinity Colleague in Dublin.

          Some facts

• It is written in Latin
• Half a million (500,000,000!) people visit the library of the Trinity Colleague, Dublin, each year to see it
• It comprises 340 pages (30 pages did get lost over the years)
• Since 1953 it has been bound in four volumes  
• Its bejewelled cover was never found
• It is one of the best known books in the world
• In the 1980’s, a Swiss company created a limited number of replicas of the Book of Kells that are so detailed, they include tiny worm-holes in the vellum

If you’re interested, please watch the trailer of the movie “The Secret of Kells”. It looks lovely and gripping.

By the way, check out the Vikings!.. xD

So, thanks for reading! 

Bye! (:

Getting to know Selin!

Last Wednesday, I got to know the dark-haired girl with the glasses a bit better. All I knew about her before our conversation was that she enjoyed singing in front of people. Now I know more about the life of Selin Canli. What I want to share with you, is the story of her trip to Bali. During this monthlong adventure, she visited impressive Buddhist temples, went snorkelling and watched turtles. Surely, a highlight was that a bold monkey chewed on her shirt while being in the Monkey Forest. By and large, it was the best holiday Selin ever had.