Who am I?

“A good painting to me has always been a friend. It keeps me company, comforts and inspires.”

I had a tough time making or even thinking of trying to make a blog post so that you guys could kind of get the picture of who I am.  There are over 7 billion people on the lovely planet called Earth, which means there are over 7 billion unique stories to tell. But today is my turn and I´ll try and do my best.

Stuttgart, Germany, July 24^th 1994, “Marien Hospital”. A girl named Adna Kurtagić was born. I know I know, Adna isn´t really a German name. Both of my parents are from Bosnia, but during the war they escaped to Stuttgart, and there I was. At the age of four we moved back to Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Primary school was just around the corner. I started school in Sarajevo and finished it there, but in the meantime I moved a lot. Being able to spend time in the beautiful and sunny California (San Diego and Irvine) and not that sunny but still beautiful Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur) made me much stronger as a person and more independent. But times were not always that easy and fun. Do you know that feeling when you finally meet good friends, you get along with everyone, you are doing well at school and then all of a sudden it all comes to an end? The next second you find yourself on another continent, don´t know anyone and you just feel lost. Yup. Been there done that. Days over there, especially Malaysia, were not easy. Peer pressure, bullies and all kinds of things that you as a teenager do not want to experience, came up to me. It felt like someone threw a bunch of things in my face and I was trying to find my way back out. But, as they say, there is always light at the end of the tunnel.

Music, art, dance, singing, playing the guitar and ukulele.. It was all about finding that one spot where the world stops and your imagination starts. All of a sudden you feel like you are your own superhero, actor of your own movie called “Life”, trying to make it to the top and reach the stars… Ok, maybe I overdid it but seriously, have you ever felt that one spark in you trying to get out of you so you could really show the world how much you mean and who you really are? 

Those are and always will be Adna´s five minutes of fame. Everyone who knows me, knows that I do not really talk about me and my way of making music. On the other hand they know how much I love talking about music in general and trust me you never want to get in an argument with me about it or dare me to play the ‘Who-knows-every-song-in the world-challenge’, because you know I´ll win (not even kidding, but yes, I just did make up a new challenge :D ). Anyway, I will hate myself because of saying this but it is true: “I couldn´t imagine my life without music”. Drawing, fashion, makeup and all the other similar things related to arts are what I am really passionate about and what define me as a person.

That is also when we come to the question what am I doing in Graz?

After the period when I got back from Cali and Malaysia I finished my primary school in Sarajevo and started with high school. I went to a bilingual high school which followed the national curriculum and the International Cambridge Curriculum. But shortly after that, I moved to Zagreb, Croatia, again where I finally got my high school diploma and got my IGCSE´s, As and A levels done. YAY! But then the questions came: what do you want to study, where do you want to go and what do you want to do? The first thing that popped up my mind was: Languages! I love meeting new people, new cultures, traveling and hearing new stories. So, I figured out I want to go again somewhere abroad and just enjoy both the student life and the city and people where I end up living. After being accepted to Dundee University in Scotland and getting a full scholarship at the University of Istanbul, I decided I do not want to spend my bachelor years somewhere far away from family and friends.. Not again. At that point of my life I wasn´t feeling ready for it.

So here I am now, close to everything I need in my life but still far enough to have my own space and life. And yes, all of you who may be reading my blog, my life may seem to be quite intense and kind of moving from one place to another, but trust me it isn’t.  As a person I could not be any simpler than I already am. If you would ask me what my next stop in life is I could not give you an answer. I will just let things go with the flow and see where I end up living and what I end up doing...

Btw, in case you are bored and don´t know what to do or listen to, check out my Sound Cloud profile, feel free to both comment and share it and let me know what you think of it  : https://soundcloud.com/adna-kurtagic  :))