Who am I?

Well, that is one tough question to ask! Every time I hear someone ask me that my thoughts always seem to drift away and my philosophical side resurfaces. Coupled with my very slight case of ADHD it is a recipe for disaster. I always end up saying my name, which by the way is Marija Kovacevic. While my opposite probably introduces himself my mind wanders off and starts sprouting nonsense like: “Who am I really? Why am I here? Why the heck do I have this urge to cry out, to be or not to be?”

At this point I would like to thank my father for all the countless hours we spent together pondering the meaning of life and wasting my precious time which I am never going to get back! Great job dad! My apologies for my sudden bout of insanity but I can assure you, that my mother got me tested and I am not crazy but I digress… It is difficult to find a definition for who I am! If you have managed to read this far without wanting to tear out your hair you must have the patience of a saint! As a reward I am going to stop torturing you with my inane thoughts and cut to the chase. I assume that I have given you a very good idea about my personality so let’s skip this part, shall we?

My parents have had a great impact on who I am today as well as my brothers I guess… Mainly I learned to be a very patient human being like every other girl with male siblings. On the other hand my patience does not extend to taking care of pets. I don’t care much for them and the feeling is mutual. My family is originally from Croatia which explains why my surname sounds like gibberish to most Austrians. Our Croatian culture has always been present in my everyday life and has shaped me to some extent but that is a story for another day. There are various things I like and even more I dislike but they change often and are not worth mentioning. Well, I guess that is me in a nutshell. For more useless information on my person stalk me on facebook!

Who am I?

Hello beautiful stranger. My name is Diana Sabrina Anastasia Bachler, but you may call me Diana. For about half a year I have been following this pulchritudinous path that is called translation studies in Graz and have set foot on earth almost 20 years ago. My family lives in the North of Styria, on the countryside, but I tend to refer to that place as "country-countryside", or "nowhere", or simply "hick town". Still I find it incredibly charming and love being there.

A view over the place that I call my home.

There are several activities that I like to practise during my spare time. In winter I pass most of my days on the slopes, as skiing is my favourite kind of sports. In fact I wanted to become a professional, but two severe injuries right at the time of application for skiing school wouldn't allow me to and still limit me a little in my physical activities. Nevertheless I do take part in races here and there and exercise throughout the whole year.  

Apart from skiing, I'm an enthusiast for motorsports. When I was just a tiny, fair haired toddler, my parents would already bring me to DTM, Superbike or MotoGP races and I've loved it ever since. Unfortunately I'm too old and unexperienced by now to take up a career in racing, but at least my dad and I sometimes take part in semi-professional Go Kart races. So I got that going for me, which is nice.

I try to live healthily. I work out four times a week at the gym, play volleyball and tennis whenever there is time, but then again there are nachos and pizza and well... Deliciousness!

One of the things that everyone reading this needs to know is to better not insult Meryl Streep in my presence. You probably shouldn't tell me that you like her either because I might incessantly talk to you about her if so. She has been my idol for almost ten years, and I love her not only for her great humour and immense talent, but also because she has this overwhelming presence not only on screen.

My car in Umbria, Italy

How else could it be that traveling is as well one of the things I like to spend my time with most, but it's still too little for my taste. 

The two islands Lanzarote, part of the Canary Islands, and Gozo, Malta's neighbour island somehow grew to become second homes for me, since my parents and I regularly go there. Of course it's even better to explore new places, but coming back after a few years and looking at how everything has changed is nice as well. 

My love, Budapest

One of the many places I've lost my heart at is Budapest, since this city has something so charming and it makes you feel that each time you go there, you take in too little of it because it's that beautiful.

 


 

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?

As most of you know, I am somehow obsessed with sports and train at least two hours on an average day, six days a week. So people who visit me at home are not really surprised to see a whole shelf stuffed with sports equipment when they enter my living room. If they have a look through it, they can see dumbbells of different sizes, colourful thera-  and deuserbands, all kind of running shoes, skipping ropes made from different materials and a ... hm ... yea, what is that strange thing?

I have had people asking me if it was a kind of a knight's helmet or the protection cloth that beekeepers wear ...but I can tell you I'm definitely not breeding bees, it is actually a fencing mask! Believe it or not, but I used to be a competitive épée fencer until the age of fourteen. But let me tell you the whole story. It all started in primary school, when Lissy, former Olympic épée fencer and trainer of the UWK fencing club, was searching for young talents. Therefore she visited several schools, bringing equipment with her and giving brief instructions before the children were allowed to just try it out. The ones who she thought were talented received an invitation for a free lesson at the club ... and I was one of those who got selected. So I went there - and immediately knew I loved it! I used to be a shy, quiet and self-conscious child, but training at the club, as well as fencing itself made me gain more and more self confidence.

I spent four great years there and found some true friends, with whom I shared numerous amazing moments, e.g. winning a bronze and a silver medal as a team at the Austrian Championship, taking part in a World Cup tournament and of course endless hours of hard training. One of my personal highlights was the Styrian Championship in 2009, where I fought really well and even managed to win the title.

Now you may ask "Why the hell did you quit if you had such a great time?" ... Yep, that is a good question, and to be honest, I still regret it a little bit. The reason why I quit was that I simply lost the motivation. The problem was, that while I was a fast, confident, and technically strong athlete at the club, I suddenly was full of doubt when entering the competition hall and lost against opponents, who I actually should have beaten easily. Nowadays I sometimes feel like I just should have been more patient but on the other hand, to quit fencing enabled me to try out so many other things and to make a whole lot of new experiences.

So that is it - the story behind the mysterious blue helmet hanging in my living room.

Who Am I?

Hello everyone! My name is Stefanie Schauer, I am 21 years old and a person with way too many different hobbies and interests. A day must have at least 48 hours in order for me to be able to embrace all of my favourite activities.

My affection for my two biggest passions already began to show when I was very young. At that time, my family and I lived in a very small house only surrounded by forests and endless maize fields. It was beautiful to look at but sometimes really boring – until we got our first personal computer. Ever since then I spend way too many hours of my weekends either playing games or browsing the Internet. It was around the same time, when I started binge-reading any comic books and novels that I was able to get my hands on.

Here you can see my first attempts at knitting and crocheting,
some cupcakes I made for my niece's birthday party
and my homemade Onigiri.

Nowadays, my hobbies are more varied than that. Besides reading, I also enjoy writing, drawing, painting and doing crafts. Some of the hobbies I recently started are knitting and crocheting easy applications. It may sound like something only your grandma would enjoy, but I found out that it is the perfect activity for me to do while watching my favourite series.


On the weekends, I also love to cook or bake all kinds of confectionery for my family and friends. Lately, I have been trying to extend my cooking abilities by experimenting with different Asian recipes, especially Japanese and Korean ones. Most of the easy ones actually turn out pretty good, like these Japanese Onigiri.

I think that should be enough information about me for now. If you are interested in getting to know more about me, feel free to talk to me any time.
  

Who am I II

The disastrous sequel to Who I am–the blog no one red*
Same title, same boredom, same idiot
Starring: Micéle S. Red van Shouten
Guests: Vincence Sega, Noncence Atari

In my last picturesque autobiography (yes it is, considering the fact that it was actually supposed to be a flyer) of my pseudo rock star life I may have mentioned that I spent my spare time with writing lyrics and vocal lines for a modern Melodic Metal band once in the early years of our still young century. After that phase of representing testosterone, glamour, and testosterone I realized that I grew old and therefore nintended to set priorities–which meant to become more mellow and less dick, which also meant that I had to change the majority of my habits.
Consequently, in order not to challenge my countable amount of hair too much, I gave up screaming and headbanging. One says that losing hair doesn't come with Metal Music but with age. Whatever the real reason, I haven't found a recipe for staying young and potent at the same time, so I 'ave to blame my past music "carrier" for the undeniable existence of my unholy shakra's landing area that life off the beaten track automatically brought about. In other words, life sucks and below I may tell you why....

Who am I? – The bloke no one met

After my share of time with the band, I constantly played with the thought of founding my very own Metal band. Since I didn't want this little dream to turn into an idea as bland and unconceivable as a deluded open-air-baby-fart I accomplished what I thought was a smart plan.
First, I wrote some easy-cheesy songs with the equipment I already had. Then I bought office materials, brand-new studio equipment, furniture and tools vital for every kind of upcoming working process I had in mind, and other inexpensive materials I needed to mount the entire homemade installation. For instance, I had to collect a few dozens of these 29 centimeter-long, square-shaped egg boxes which I fixed on the wall as an improvised isolation against unwanted reverberation.
Having collected all this, I built a low-price working room for creative work that served as both a music studio (for recording vocals and guitars) and a contemporary atelier (for keyboard programming, drawing, textwriting, and artistic jewellery).

Atelier/Office

Studio part, first wall

I knew it would take me some time to bring this concept to existence but I was sure it would be worth spending time and euros on it. The entire working process, which lasted several months–due to the fact that I usually had to work in kitchens or on assembly lines during the day–kept me from uncanny behavior that every second hobby-psychologist would define as manic depressions. Simply staying busy was the best I could do during my creative phase between summer 2007 (the year in which the old band "dissolved into parts") and winter 2012 (the second year of my first semester TKK studies): I wrote songs; sometimes drew pictures; did a few remunerative jobs for several companies; and kind of tried to manage my beginning language studies. I also played basketball once in a while.

In the same phase–to be precise, in the autumn of 2009–my job as a kitchen hand brought back to consciousness my interest in cooking, a hobby that has always been quite consoling to me (especially back in times when I constantly had to concern myself with death and other hurtful goodbyes). Until late spring 2012 my home kitchen was equipped with a perfectly functioning oven and a spacious stove area above.  In the professional kitchen where I used to work [in the mentioned year] I could improve my cutting techniques and, as a result, it was more fun trying out new recipes at home. I did fairly well in baking pizzas, creating pastas, and baking fruit cakes,.. and minestrone.

Since my leisure time was marked by demotivating solitude, I prospected for a change in my life that would make me feel less lonesome; I didn't find the answer ever since.
Even so, I changed my life completely: First–pushed by constant arguments with the real estate agent–I gave up my fifty-square meter luxury home in which I mounted (and, logically, later demounted) my working room and instead moved in a forty years old mega-tight camping trailer where I managed my studies during what was actually supposed to be the warm season.

–Ass-kicked by misfortune, I had to deal with the coldest spring in hundred years of Austrian history (2013)–no joke–and that meant snow until May; resulting freezing feet all day all night; resulting frozen hair after somewhat zero-degree-cold showers; resulting panic attacks; a resulting weak nervous system; resulting outrageous behavior such as regular irregular shadow-boxing-sessions; and resulting spontaneous hundred-percent-necessary, desperate screaming concerts combined with loco running-in-circles. (There wasn't more order than I already put into this writing.) Of course, action taking place next to a public cemetery...   I doubt that I'll ever mentally recuperate from this "historical spring". Glad that it's over now; Back to the story–

I gave up my home, moved in a trailor, and from then on tried to focus on my studies. On top of that, in the winter of 2012, I would radically change my eating habits and become a vegan. In my first vegan spring, creations would work out fairly well; and on a monthly trip to Ljubljana, Slovenia I was given the opportunity to conjure up my first pizza–free from dairy, free from meat, free from whatever animals might be able to give unwillingly.
Becoming a vegan and now actually being some kind of convinced vegan was/is by far the most challenging personal modification for me as a recognized designer. What is most fertilizing is how different world makes sense these days.

Before autumn 2012; stuffed turkey roulade
in soy-Feta sauce with zucchini and potatoes

Winter season 2012/13; seitan burgers
in portobello sauce with yeast bread

The sad thing about what I'm telling you is that I can show you a few of my creations but unfortunately, those pics won't give you a clear idea about me as a person. What I can tell you is how I would like to be, what I think sometimes keeps me from being myself, and best–what part of my bad characteristics I don't want to give up (although these matters may not make me appear like an amiable mate).

I remember, I once was a very sociable and sanguine kind of guy who was well-integrated in society. Today matters are totally different. I barely smile and usually only laugh after a work-out in order to fill my lungs with oxygen. But I'm a desperate, misanthropic moaner for a reason: I trusted in the wrong ones for ages and now don't have the slightest idea how to integrate myself in my environment. In fact, I am still trying to shape a personal image I myself could undoubtedly accept. What's more, I usually cannot partake in group activities if my role inside of it isn't directing or to a certain degree authorative (certainly, because I had too little to compose in my own life). Since this summer of 2012 I am literally homeless and therefore cannot keep track. I am constantly afraid of losing my private space, and the fact that my budget–which I need to continue my studies–still melts away doesn't keep my composure upright. Sometimes I would like to be a little more sensitive, less consuming, more reserved, and more cooperative. But I truly struggle with the rest of the world, simply because I don't have a single loved person with whom I could share thoughts of what permanently burdens my breast. Since the split of the old Metal band I am with no one straight but me myself. That hurts and feels disgusting. I am wholeheartedly disappointed about the last seven years of my life, and I cannot find a single humanitarian aspect that could raise an honest smile. My life is real shit. That's why I'd do wrong if I didn't moan all day.

The only good thing about me as a person is that I never totally gave up myself and always found business that allured some creative and invigorating moments throughout these dark ages. In the last four years I read over hundred books (including comics of course) and now, eventually, I consequently feel like writing and expressing my view of the world, in which I appear to dwell: Ten years ago I started with an idea, the story of a helpless vagrant under a Grazian bridge. Last year I wrote the first scenes and some monologues. And in a warm and cozy Grazian nuthouse I even drew five sketches that could accompany my wordy story telling. Well, and since I do not want to pull you into my very private abyss, I instead provide you with two more pictures that may be able to give you a first fertilizing impression of my future work. It's a little queer.

Under the bridge

In prison

Thanks for your attention
CU in class
Michael

Lara without K

Hello y’all!

Because I’ve never really read any blogs or actually “followed” someone on one, the answer is pretty clear why I never  thought  about starting a blog to let people know me better - but OK, let’s give it a try …

The name for my post is Lara without K because most of the people who I introduced myself to didn’t quite get my name right. I could definitely count on the 3^rd try to clear things up – that I was Lara and not Klara, finally. I didn’t found out yet where the problem is; maybe I have a weird accent, perhaps I don’t sound that clear in my English, German or B/K/S language, should I speak louder or with my mouth wider open? Nah. I’ll just say: “Lara, you know, like in Tomb Raider”.  Things mustn’t get boring, right ;).

My mother and I in summer of 95'

I’m a Slovenian 22-year-old Aquarius with her mind maybe a little bit off but with her heart in the right place. I was born and still live in Maribor, the second biggest city in Slovenia. In my country, I was a part of the first generation (93’) of children, who went into 1^st class with 6 instead of 7 years of age. So, I went to primary school for straight 9 years, but I think I turned out just fine. I'm still very close to my family and doubt that that will ever change (even after they send me to a 9-year-lasting primary school ^^).

In high school things got a bit complicated. I failed my first year at “Prva Gimnazija Maribor” (First Gymnasium in Maribor) because of so many doctor/specialist appointments and not being able to attend my classes regularly. For months I was transferred from Maribor Hospital to Ljubljana Hospital and back. Only one doctor seem to know what has been going on with me … I got the diagnose Lupus or SLE. After almost 8 years of taking meds, countless doctor appointments my disease is in “remission” so I can study at UNI Graz in peace and hope for the best. They say: “The disease isn’t curable …”, I say: ”… for now!”

Taken in Koper 08', Slovenia

My passion was photography, drawing and writing poetry. I’ve inadvertently put these things aside (boyfriends and stuff) but I’m definitely going back on that train. I love group sports, not so much with kicking sth. (my legs get all bruisy so fast) than playing with hands (such as volleyball, tennis, basketball, badminton etc.). I feel very nature-near, so that I would rather spend the vacation outside in a tent than a fancy-trillion-star-hotel. I Like making handcrafted things, I think I may be a bit OCD-like :D, or I’m just a really neat girl who likes her things in their place and who gives you, a stranger on the bus, a tissue because your nose is running and it’s getting her nerves J.

My cousin Mateo

That’s about it. I consider myself as an uncomplicated, friendly, open-minded person who likes to enjoy life and everyone else should too.  Hang onto your hobbies, people you care about and enjoy yourselves in the most way possible!

Thanks for reading!

Who am I?

My name is Mickey and i am a young paranoid student. I don t like to expose myself in public, I don t like to be followed wherever I go and I don t want to be tracked down wherever I am. Every hit on a key on my keyboard, every log in / log off on my laptop or on any other computer at university, every website I open and every post i blog is recorded. I do think that this is outrageous and preposterous even If I have to do it at university. It s a nightmare for me to be so transparent and not having a tiny rest of privacy. Maybe 99% of my fellow students won t understand my  concerns, but I just don t like to get naked in front of people I don t know. I usually don t undress in the center of Graz and neither do I want to do that on the internet. I can t avoid it completely but I don t not want to fuel all the big companies that make billions of Euros with my data. You may call me old fashioned or just crazy – I just don t like to go around naked – I like my privacy! Thanks! Mickey

Who am I?

Uki ja Mummi - grandpa and grandma

As a young man my grandfather, former skidoo champion of Finland, used to work at a car-rent that only rent luxury cars to celebrities and politicians. When he went on the first date with my grandmother, who was quite a diva, a real mannequin, he wanted to impress her and told his brother to dress up like his chauffeur and drive him in one of the most expensive cars to pick her up. Indeed she was quite impressed and started getting interested in this young, supposedly wealthy man. The next date another car, his brother in drivers uniform, my grandmother in her red, satin vintage dress. It continued that way for some time and I don't know at which point my grandfather admitted that he was only a poor sales clerk, and I think only at their wedding she realized that the chauffeur for real was her brother in law.

Papa und Äiti - mum and dad

My father used to be a paratrooper in the military. After his military service he started studying architecture and that was when he met my mother, who had come from Finland to study architecture too, returning to the city she had spent parts of her childhood in. Anyway, after finishing her studies she returned to Finland and my father went to Japan, where he shared a room with an internationally wanted IS terrorist and modeled at a fashion show, representing an ancient darter. Years later he was getting wasted in a hotel room in Denmark with a friend, when he decided to call my mother. They met, got engaged, but when he followed her to Finland he had to find out that she still had a boyfriend there.

Me

To learn something about me it helps to know a little bit about my family. They are all my inspiration and with their stories have aroused the curiosity to travel and get to know places and people. They have all travelled a lot, lived in many different countries and cultures, learned several languages and risen me with the attitude, that the world is wide and worth exploring it. And it's the results of this mental education that I'm going to talk about in this blog post. Here's a little bit about me...

Since I was a child I've spent most of my summers and parts of my winters in Finland. I've always loved it and in my eyes it was the most beautiful country in the world. With 15 I moved there for a year, found my first love, drank my first beer and started thinking that Austria might be the country I've born in, but needn't be my home country. When I came back to Austria I fell into a one summer long teenage-depression, thinking that everything was better in Finland.
After graduating I left home again, this time to Bolivia. I fell in love again, had adventures and grew up. When I returned to Austria, I had become another person. I had seen poverty and suffering and the European life style seemed ridiculous to me. Rules and order, that's what it all seemed to be about. Closed minds and high standards. I started working and studying, trained a lot and missed Bolivia. My aunt once told me that all her life she has spent with one foot in Austria and another one in Finland, what was beautiful but exhausting. I realized that I was about to do the same-again. My thoughts were constantly jumping from one country to another which made it hard to concentrate. I spent way too much time on my phone, trying to stay in touch with my second life 10 thousand kilometers away while I missed too many things right here.

I returned to Bolivia this february and well, everything was like I had left it and that tranquilized me. My chico was still waiting, my kids growing and my room still smelled the same. I think what I feared the most was getting forgotten. I hate to see time passing and friendships ending. I hate to leave a country and see friends leaving and if there's one thing in this world I wish existed, it's teleportation. I spent five weeks there and lived like on another planet, in another universe. I'm a different person there, I dress differently, I speak differently, I have another kind of friends and love latin music. But it's already getting easier for me to return. I don't get culture shocks anymore and adapt in just a second. Anyway, that doesn't alleviate the separation and does not make the distance shorter. The only thing that helps is to know, that things don't change that fast, that people wait and cities don't change- at least not too fast. 

I find it hard to write about myself, I don't like to list my hobbies and analyze my personality. More interesting and helpful I find it to talk about my passion and the forces that drive me. I hope that text gave you a little impression about my personality, my thoughts and desires, and wasn't too boring to read. 

Who am I?

"Please allow me to introduce myself

 I'm a man of wealth and taste"

Call me crazy but this song got stuck in my head ever since I heard that we have to write an introduction post. But now that I think about it, it is probably not a good idea to start a text about myself with a song called “Sympathy For The Devil”..

Ok, can we reset please?!

Hi guys! My name is Simone, but everybody calls me Simi, so feel free to do the same – I never really identified with my real name anyway. I am 20 years old and I was born and raised as the last of four children, in the middle of Carinthia’s countryside. Sound idyllic, right? But boy, let me tell you, idyllic can be SO boring! Luckily my parents were always endeavored to show us kids as many places around the globe, as they possibly could.

So, I guess the first thing I can tell you about myself is that I am infected with wanderlust. I really love to travel and I know many of you share that hobby. My last journey took me to Tanzania, where I taught at an elementary school for nine months. It was an eventful, unpredictable and incredibly formative experience.

Besides exploring our mad world, I am crazy passionate about any kind of art. Whenever I need to relax and escape from my currently very stressful life, I start to draw… or edit a video… or decorating and rearranging my room – pretty much anything that lets me be creative.

To me artistry is a great way to unwind and relax. It allows me to gather new energy and recharge my batteries. Others meditate – I start painting my walls.

Now in order to let out all the energy I am gaining while tapping on my creative vein, I introduced something quite contrasting into my life. Boxing has been my go-to sport ever since I was 15. It gives me the perfect opportunity to vent and burn off all my energy. I know some people think, that this sport is all about aggression, brutality and mercilessness, but to me it combines strategy, accuracy and subtlety with a lot of exercise and hard training.

So there you go, these are my three great passions (minus rock music, because I don’t want to bore you with a paragraph full of cheesy love declarations for AC/DC and the Ramones) and I think, those say an awful lot about me.

To be honest, I don't really know who I am jet. But I am figuring it out, every day :) I guess at the bottom line I am just boringly normal..

At the bottom line, I am just a goofy, chaotic fool who makes a lot of really bad jokes and screams at her TV during Ice Hockey matches…   

Who am I?

Hello, dear fellow students and teachers :)

The question who am I makes me laugh because I´m still figuring it out. I think the past makes you what you are today. That´s why I want to tell you guys some things about me.

from the left to the right side: my host sister, Walter and me :)

My name is Karoline, I´m 23 years old and I´m born and raised in Vienna. My mom was about my age when she moved from Warsaw, Poland to the capital city of Austria. That´s why I grew up with two different cultures, but sadly not bilingual. My grandmother taught me polish when I was a little older. My family loves to travel, that´s why I feel like having a "traveling gene". One of the most important events in my life was when I had the chance to be an exchange student in North Bend, Oregon. I was 16 years old and I still keep in touch with my host family. Actually my (host) sister had a baby girl five months ago and I´m really happy to be her "aunt".


To fast a little forward...I started studying special pedagogics when I was 19 years old and in my third semester I wanted to do an Erasmus exchange. I took advantage to go back to my roots and I lived, studied and partied (a lot^^) in Warsaw for a few months. It was a great chance to improve my polish, spend time with my grandmother and exploring Poland. I traveled to Wroclaw, Krakow and Auschwitz (really not fun, but it changed my perspective!).

Me in Sounio, the temple of Poseidon

So what else...my last vacation was probably the best I have ever had :) I backpacked thru Europe. I started in Istanbul, then I traveled to Sofia, Thessaloniki, Athens, Kefalonia, Cisternino (a small city near Bari), Napoli, Cinque Terre and Milano. I´m sorry I´m not using the English words for the cities, but they sound so beautiful in Italian. I spend one month by myself in dirty buses, trains and hostels(actually the hostels were always great). A lot of people laughed at me because my backpack was about half my size and really heavy^^ To be honest that month was one of the greatest in my life. I would be curious if you made an interrail trip as well and had a similar experience? A friend of me even told me that it is known that there is an after interrail depression ;D So we could have support group meetings once a week ;)

So after I came back home I still had to finish my bachelor thesis because I´m not really an organized person. (actually I really have to work on that!) So the following two weeks I hardly slept and finished it. And....I got a B on it which is not that bad :) So I´m officially Karoline Huber BEd (Bachelor of Education). I have no idea who had that crazy idea to choose this abbreviation, or what do you think? Once I was done the master program at "Fachhochschule" started and I´m in my second semester to be a clinical social worker one day. I only have class every second week that´s why I got really bored in fall. The consequence was that I wasn´t quite productive, but it had one bright side: I started learning sign language :) Have you ever seen it before or are you able to speak it as well? I got really into it and I researched possibilities to study it and found the University of Graz.

So...now I´m studying English and sign language from Monday till Wednesday and I´m attending the classes at the "FH" Thursday thru Saturday (but luckily only every second week!). I´m hope it will work out with two universities in two different cities, but if you don´t try something you´ll never find out!

When I tell people about my life as I told you they usually ask me: "What´s your age again?" or "So do you still have time for hobbies?" The answers are: I´m 23 years old and yes, I really like to go to the "Gartenbau-" or "Votiv-Kino" in Vienna. I like old cinemas where they show movies in the original languages. My favorite move is Mr. Nobody. Does anybody know this movie??? I would really like to find someone to go on and on about it how inspiring it is. What else? I like music and also dancing that´s why I´m not only going to electronic clubs and listen to Fm4 a lot, but also started a Lindy Hop dance class a few weeks ago. Do you know if there is a swing dance scene in Graz as well???
So if you want a little taste of the modern swing music, here we go: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDl9SDd1FJY or if you prefer the old songs: this is a french radio station I like: http://www.swingfm.asso.fr/html/index-en.html?lng=en

I hope you enjoyed reading my blog post as much I liked writing it and if not it was the first one I have ever written and I hope I will get better :D

Who am I?

Well, since I made this Friday a “homework-and-blog-writing-Friday” I can finally present you my introduction post! ;)

My name is Monika (no one calls me MONI – I simply don’t like it), I am 23 years old and I have one older sister and two younger brothers. They all study at the University of Technology in Graz.  I was actually born in Bosnia and Herzegovina but I am Croatian and I’ve been living in Austria, more precisely in Carinthia, for nearly 23 years. I was born in 1992, which indicates why my family came to Austria. At this time the Yugoslav War was going on and so my parents decided to search for a better place to live, which was Austria in their opinion. Their decision proved true and so the small country in the middle of Europe became our second home country. 

I was raised bilingual and during my childhood and my education I learned German, English, later on French and at last Italian. My father always used to say that languages are “extremely important” and “the more languages you know, the better it is for you, your education and your future”. I always agreed with him on this point! However, I never quite knew what I would like to do in the future regarding work and earning money. In my last year at school I wanted to learn Russian but unfortunately there weren’t enough students interested in learning this language. So, I think at this point I finally decided to study Russian and English in Graz. 

Okay, what else is there to say about me...let me think... When I’m not in the kitchen baking cupcakes, you can usually find me sitting in my room and learning, walking over the main square searching for some cozy pubs (having one or maybe two drinks ;) ) or being at home and watching One Piece with my brother. Damn! I nearly forgot to mention that I love metal music, especially ManOwar!!! :))

Tony Tony Chopper - character in the anime One Piece

Like many of you, I like travelling to different places too and every time I visit a new city, I buy a key chain which has the name of the city on it. Most of them are from Italy as you can see on the picture below. This summer however, I want to travel to Prague, visit the most beautiful sights and try some Czech beer. 

I hope there will be more soon :)

I hope you enjoyed reading! :)

Btw, this is my personal blog, if you want to have a look. I will try to post on a regular basis: http://smonin.blogspot.co.at/