Who am I?

For those who don't already know, since I've been around ITAT for quite a while now already: Hey, I'm Martin, 26 years old, about 6 feet tall and 143 lbs. heavy (which I suppose is rather skinny for that height).

As a person, I'd label myself a "fun-loving dirt bag" all in all. That doesn't necessarily mean I feel particularly comfortable when not having showered for days, yet it occasionally happens when being on tour with a punk rock band. And the "fun" aspect of that definitely outweighs the hygienic one in most cases. (Hey, at least you may still brush your teeth at weigh stations and clean yourself a little with baby wipes in between shows) :)

For the majority of the day my head is filled with music. I'd see it as a universal language with little to no room for potential misinterpretation (as it might occur when two individuals engage in chatting online e.g). Even allegedly simple things such as chord progressions on the guitar could get me in a melancholic, contemplative mood, but also fuel my enthusiasm in order to face certain challenges of life. (Like focusing on university tasks) All this happens without me even hearing the lyrics, which eventually just add to the whole picture by giving the song a more distinctive meaning.

Moreover, I'd consider myself to be blessed with a very bad sense of humor (graphic, immature, but hopefully not as offending and annoying as I see it myself at times), tendencies of martyrdom and a big potty mouth. Even so, I also try to be considerate when it comes down a serious dialogue or debate, since I'm really interested in communication between people.

So please feel free to leave comments about my posts and call me on my shit. I will most definitely call you on yours too if I strongly disagree with your opinion.

I've attached some pictures from a UK tour I've participated in two weeks ago as well as a song by the amazing Ani DiFranco here in order to give an overall impression of "who I am, what I do and what I say. If you like it, let me be. If you don't, please do the same" :)

Cheers and beers! (Photo: (C) Irena Udovič from the Slovenian DIY network/record label Giljotina)

Who am I?

Hi everyone, I am Julia.

For me, always the most difficult questions are “Who are you?” “What makes you special?” “What are your hobbies?” I seriously have no idea what makes me special or what my hobbies are. I am an ordinary girl from a small town in Upper Austria. However, I might have a wild guess what brought me to where I am today.

After graduating from High School, I decided to live abroad for a while. I’d always known that I definitely don’t want to immediately continue to go to school or to start going to university. I needed a break and that’s what led me to Cultural Care Au Pair, an agency which supports you and finds a fitting family for you in which you will live and take care of kids. My perfect match was living in Concord, Massachusetts, which is very close to Boston. In September 2013 I flew over to Boston to start my adventure and meet my new family. I knew from the first moment on that this will work. I immediately fell in love with Felix and Lily, the two-year-old twins I had to take care of. The first month was a challenge, though, since the kids needed to get used to me and I needed to get used to them. I had to get to know them and find out what they like and what they hate and most importantly I needed to gain their trust.

After some complications at first, I managed to get used to my new life in the USA and also got the kids to be happy about that they could spend time with me. But most importantly I finally knew my way around and managed to drive somewhere without getting lost. (Probably the biggest challenge throughout the whole year!)

I met amazing people from all over the world. I travelled across the USA. From Maine to Florida, over to Chicago and San Diego to Seattle. I enjoyed the sun in Key West on the beach and went skiing in the Rocky Mountains in Utah. 

I went to concerts which I'd never seen before, because those artists have never come to Austria. I had to manage everything by myself, I was forced to grow up and stand on my own two feet, which made me who I am today. For example, now I am no longer impatient – two-year-olds know how to convert you to a patient person – and I definitely got more open-minded, I am no longer the shy girl from next door, I got more self-confident and more extrovert.

To finish up, I am now back in Austria, studying “Transcultural Communication” at the University of Graz. Because of my gap year I chose English as my first foreign language and there’s also a reason why I chose Russian as a second language. My host-mom’s brother is a translator and he knows over 15 different languages. However, not common languages like Italian or Spanish, he knows Mandarin, Japanese and other small languages like these, but most importantly he never managed to learn Russian and I accepted the challenge. I wanted to know what’s so hard about it and I definitely know now, but I’ll manage ;-)

I guess, after reading my text, you can figure that I love to travel and even if I don’t have that much time and money anymore like during my gap year, I definitely want to continue to travel the world. Next on the bucket list: Australia ;-)

I hope you enjoyed my little story. Take care :-)

About Me

Hello everyone!

Today I want to tell you something about me. I am an Austrian female student who simply hates introducing herself. Anyways, I will give you some quick facts and then I will show you the few things that probably describe me best. 
Well, I was born in Vienna, Austria, to a german mom and a carinthian dad. When I was 5 years old we moved to a tiny village near the Semmering. I went to school there and now I'm here in Graz and study translating and interpreting at the ITAT.

 One of my passions is MUSIC. I love singing, I love song writing, composing, recording and editing songs.
I need music to calm down. I especially enjoy listening to Romanian pop music and Latin American reggaeton and also pop music. I write most of my songs in either Spanish or English but NEVER in German because I think it's hard to not make it sound like Volksmusik or even rap.
I have my own little studio at home which consists of a professional microphone, a mixing desk and an editing software of my computer.

Another big passion of mine is fashion. I really do think that fashion is a way to express yourself. I do mostly use it to express myself. But when it comes to school I prefer wearing cozy clothes and nothing too fancy. My sister and I share a youtube account where we like to upload fashion videos and lookbooks. The video next to this text was our first fashion video ever. It is not the best one, though.  




I also love acting! I've been in a theater course for several years now and in September I wanna join the TAO Theaterwerkstätte and also a Spanish theater club. I've been in a few of my friends' short movies but, unfortunately those are not available online.

Some of my books are missing because I couldn't find them
since I am such a chaotic person

Another passion of mine are languages. I'm currently studying Spanish, German and English at university and at home I'm trynna learn Romanian, Portuguese, Italian, Latvian, Norwegian, Danish and Swedish. I'm an aspiring polyglot and can't wait to visit all the countries that I'm learning the languages of. 








And last but not least: I ADORE EVERYTHING THAT HAS TO DO WITH ARGENTINA! It's my favorite country in the world, I love the people, I love their language, I have several friends over there and I am obsessed with a teenie series from there that's called Aliados.

This is the cast (source: Wikipedia)

It's basically about troubled teen human beings whose "light being" come down to earth to help them get on the right track. Many people think the whole plot is exaggerated but I find it quite relatable so I think that tv series kind of describes me, too.

I'm planning on going to Buenos Aires in September or December to visit my friends there and to maybe feel "home".

I hope this introduction wasn't too boring and I'm looking forward to having you as a reader of my next posts.