It's been a year

I woke up in a hostel room surrounded by people I didn't know; in a city I hadn't heard about until I had to apply for Erasmus; in a country I only thought I could visit when I was a little girl and I had read about it on a Barbie's magazine. 

The first days were a kind of routine: meeting tons of people which name took me two weeks to remember; walking around the city trying not to get lost; remembering how going to the supermarket was like (woda niegazowana!); spending hours to think what we should do that day, and finally doing it two days later; all the problems we had with our Learning Agreement, timetables, lessons, etc. And yes, of course, being able to go out almost everyday without missing any lesson at the University. 

I had no idea that Poznan would be a home for me during the best months of my life. I had no idea I was going to learn a bit of Polish and even enjoy it, however difficult it is. I knew travelling was great, but I didn't know it would be a fullfilling experience I want to join whenever I can. I had no idea that you can consider the people you've met a month ago your new family, a family that I missed as hell during Christmas and I am missing right now as well. And most of all, I had no idea how incredible and wonderful the Erasmus experience could be.

Summertime

     Hi there everyone! Yes, it's been more than two weeks, but I'm finally back! These two weeks have been quite...irregular. Most of Spain and some parts of Europe are suffering one of the longest and more difficult warm waves in the last years. Since the second half of June (20s more or less), temperatures  have too high. Here, every day, each and every day, maximum temperatures are no lower than 35º, whereas minimum temperatures change sometimes, though most of the nights we have around 27º, even 30º. It is horrible, trust me. 

     It is so difficult to rest and have some good sleep. You feel tired the whole day, you can't concentrate enough, and the only thing you want to do is to take 4 showers a day. I hate summer, and this is the main reason. My plan for this summer was to start running in the evenings, but it is actually impossible. The only sport I can do is to swim a little in the swimming pool my aunt's owns. Though it is not enough. Oh lord, I wish this horrible heat will dissapear as soon as possible!

     I'm thinking about being a home-teacher this year. I've thought about it these past three years, but I think this is the right time to do it: I'm almost graduated (yeah, I failed again), I will have more time to prepare it, it will be a new and good experience and...yes, I need money. I'm old enough, and I think I should start doing money for myself, and even in order to help my parents sometimes. 

     Hmm, what else? Oh yeah! Two weeks left to London and Dublin!

See all of you soon, I will write here more often, I promise!

Retake

     Good afternoon you all! Sorry for my absence in here, but I have been quite busy these days. In my University, retakes exams take place just two weeks after final second semester exams, so...I have to study! Furthermore, it is my final (4th) year, and I can't wait to finish at last!

     Today, I had the great news that I passed my History of English Language retake exam, which I took last Thursday. It seems that last time, I trust in myself too much, but now the results are great! It is one of the most difficult courses in the whole career, and I like it so much, so I feel very very glad. Imagine studying the history of a language, all its most important changes, in only 3 and a half months; too much work, yeah. Someday I will talk about it for sure, it is really interesting to know how English has changed through its history. 

     Next Wednesday, I have to retake the most difficult exam I had in the whole career: Modelos de Análisis Gramatical del Inglés (Grammatical Analysis Models of English or something like that). It is about different theories of how English grammar works and how to classify it. More or less. I'll talk about it too later on so you can see what I mean. I have studied Chomsky, Bloomfield, Saussure, Traditionalism, Structuralism, Generativism and Systemic Functional Grammar. This course is from 3rd grade, so I had to re-enroll in it this year again (and pay more, of course). The only thing I want now is to pass it, and if possible, with a great grade!

     In conclusion, I will write again here when I have enough time and inspiration, see you!  :)

Breakfast time

     Everyone has heard this sentence at least once in his life, "breakfast is the most important meal of the day". In my case, though it is still so important (specially for children), lunch seems to be more important as far as quantity is concerned. My breakfast has always been based on a cup of milk with ColaCao (a kind of powder cacao) and 10 cookies. Some days I had toast with tomato, plum mermelade or "churros" and "manjabanillas" on Sundays. Therefore, my breakfast are a little "heavy", but of sugar. 

     When I started going at the University, I had to move to another city during the 9 months of each school year. I had the oportunity to vary my meals, though I still had more or less the same as at home. However, lately I have been trying to eat healthier, I started changing my breakfast. The main change I did was to substitute my cup of milk with Colacao by a cup of green or red tea, and a natural orange juice. I also have a toast with olive oil and tomato, which I think is much healthier than cookies, pancakes, or any other thing full of sugar. Nevertheless, somedays I still have my routinary cup of milk with cookies, so I'm doing this change little by little. Besides, I LOVE my old breakfast! hahaha.

     Anyway, today I tried something else: toast with jam, fresh cheese and olive oil. And this is the result:

     Hope you enjoyed my post :)

First step into worldwide-known "Smoothies"

     I have been seeing hundred, thousand, tons of photos of, what I thought it was simple juices, but it has another "hipster name": smoothies. It's the same as "magdalena" in Spain, which people has started to name as "muffin" thanks to Starbucks and other famous coffee shops. 

Photos from Simple Green Smoothies and Healthy Smoothie Recipes

     I was not concious about the influence around the world of this healthy drinks until some months ago, when I came back from Poland. Apparently, now people is really conscious about their health, and lot of people have started to do sports whenever they can. And so am I. 

     I don't know the exact reason why, but now, I prefer to not eat a lot. I mean, I prefer to avoid meals as hamburguers, pizza, french fries, etc. or at least, avoid heavy meals. Sometimes I feel like my stomach will not bear that amount of food, and if it is fast food, it will be worst. 

      That's why I have decided to substitute some of those "fat" meals with some others "healthier".  I am not fat neither skinny, and I have never had problems with my health, so I will not go into a diet; at least, now. Since I'm from Spain, my meals are based on Mediterranean Diet: meat, fish, fruit, milk products, vegetables, bread, pottages...In conclusion, a diet which includes everything. But now, I will focused more on fruit and vegetables. 

    The first step I took was to try these famous smoothies. I have used the fruit my mother always get in my village, such as oranges, strawberries, bananas, plums or melon. The first one I prepared was banana with strawberry. I had to add some milk, since it was thicker than I thought. I also prepared one with strawberry and a plum.

     I think these drinks are one of the best and easiest ideas to get into healthy life and try new fruits. Some people may not like fruits, so mixing some of them with milk, even with vegetables, and drinking them would be a good idea to give an oportunity to fruits. Furthermore, you can keep them in the fridge for a while before drinking it, and in result, you will get a perfect and cold drink to fight against warm weather of summer. 

     The only problem I have found is that some fruits are not as cheap as I expected, as advocados, or I can not find them around here, as blueberries and rasperries, which are only present frozen at some supermarkets.

    Another things I started to do a couple of years ago is to drink more than 2 litres of water per day (a 1,5 l. bottle of water is my best friend) and go walking with some friends, or swimming in summer.

    I think that starting to have an healthier life and change your diet is something you have to be patient with. You may love some things, hate others, and you will have to make tons of experiments. Also, this is not something that changes from night to day, so I think people has to be careful about it and go step by step, until you reach your objective.

    I will be uploading some more info about topics similar to this. If you know about any blog about healthy recipes, don't hesitate at contact with me, I will be so thankful. 

     Stay with me, spread the word, and welcome everyone.

Beginnings

      Hello everyone. Hola, bonjour, hallo, cześć. Ey.

     One more blogger, you may think. One more asshole blogger who will write hundreds of pages of bullshit about fashion, food and makeup. One more asshole blogger who will based her incomes on a silly blog. 

Or not.

     My name is Carmen. I've been participating on Social Networks my whole adolescence. I registered on a forum 10 years ago (which main topic I will explain later; or not), discovered Facebook and Twitter in 2009 (in Spain, it was quite an early discovery), and I "killed" my accounts on MySpace, Metro and Fotolog and Tuenti ("Spanish" Facebook) some years ago. Now I mainly use Tumblr, Instagram, and Whatsapp. I also joined Flickr, Pinterest and WeHeartIt in order to share my photos. But Yahoo deleted the email account I used for Flickr (now I use 500px), I don't understand how Pinterest works, and I barely use WeHeartIt. Oh, and I almost forget it! I also have an account on Trentation and Lookbook.

     As you can see, I have been everywhere. I also used to publish in two blogs here, in Blogger, which I left to die as well. Shame on Tumblr. 

     Why have I decided to start a blog?

     I think I need some place where I can write about anything that comes to my mind about my likes and dislikes. I need to share my ideas with the world without looking as an asshole on Twitter everytime I get mad at something. I want to learn, and maybe, if I get the chance, I want to teach. 

     So, stay with me, spread the word, and welcome everyone.