Last blog entry for this semester

My last duty as English student before the KGP, the presentation on American paintings, is done. I really enjoyed all the presentations today, although it was hot as hell in this rooms. Anyway, I listened to many excellent presentations today, I think I perhaps filled in two or three negative things on the feedback sheets but these were only details, so not a single presentation was in any way horrible. I think we did a really good job today, as well as the entire year. Although I really enjoyed this year at university and although I have finally found a study I'm am content with, I'm also really looking forward to this moment when my last duty is over.

I'm working as a waitress in Switzerland this summer for about two months. The place I'm going to work is called Gottstatterhaus and is a fish restaurant directly at the Biel lake.

The Gottstatterhaus, view from the lake

It looks amazing, don't you think? I'm pretty excited about it and I can't wait to work there. This summer means for me new experiences, new people, new language (!), and new adventures. In order to keep blogging and perhaps in order for you guys to keep up with the events during the summer, I put up another blog. So, if you want to know more about my summer or Switzerland, just follow me in this blog:

http://switzerlandadventuresnati.blogspot.co.at (I'll try to keep things up to date, I promise.)

Or just visit me there if you still lack plans for the vacation. I'd appreciate it very much. :)

With these last words I say, goodbye good luck for the KGP and have an amazing summer!!! We deserved it!

good luck and

have a wonderful summer!

All the best, 

yours adventurous Nati

OMG I'm such a great fan!!!! #2

The final nail to my coffin: I officially announce that I am part of the tumblr community now. I can't wait to wallow in my fangirldom. This actually should be illegal.

Anyways, the actual topic of today's post is what the difference between a geek and a nerd is. As a member of various blogging platforms and social networks, I stumble upon these expressions from time to time. For some people geek and nerd are synonyms. Both are dedicated to their interests but still they connotate differently. I have to emphasize here that this are my personal opinions and interpretations. I would call a person a geek if he/she is very enthusiastic of a topic, book, movie, hobby etc and is determined to collect all possible information about it. On the other hand, a nerd is more an intellectual of a certain field.

So for me, a geek would look like this...

...and a nerd perhaps like this:

There are some more of those funny new expressions, such as "hipster", "nerd glaze", "duh" or "to chillax" (the latter has actually been added to the dictionary recently). However, I won't get into detail about those now but if you want to find more about it in the links below.

hipster explained by a "grrrrl": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_a1FdDf72AQ
the night when nerd glaze was coined (bless this man!) :http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QO0D87dBmoM
duh http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=duh

So here we stand now, surrounded by all this modern stuff, without really knowing what to do with it.

(Internet-) society somehow pigeonholes us, no matter what we do or like. If you have another opinion than other people, you are pigeonholed as a so called "hater". If you actually like to listen to Coldplay, you are pigeonholed as a hipster. And if you enjoy a particular book and can't put it down, especially if it is a book series, you are labelled a geek. I do not say that stereotyped thinking is entirely bad because in order to form an opinion you have to make lists in your mind. No one has ever said that you are not allowed to rearrange your list. However, I feel that (internet-)society is over-using certain expressions and classifications and I sometimes feel exhausted reading the same ideas over and over again. So this is a call for action addressed to all you on the internet reading this: BE MORE CREATIVE! Be more original in what you think, in what you write and in what you post. I will also give my best. Best wishes, the English adventurer.

Sweet dreams!

Last week we had a optional homework, although I had intended to write it, I somehow missed to do so. Therefore, I'm writing this blog post on the given topic. The task was to choose one of the health related topics, either mentioned in the Innovations books or one on this website.

When I was reading over the various diseases and conditions I chose one that, first, I can best relate to, and second, that is not too gross. So, the die was cased, I decided to do the interactive tutorial on the sleep disorders topic. The reason why I chose this topic is because I used to have difficulties to fall asleep myself. Just to make it clear, I had no sleeping disorder in this sense but it did affect my health to some degree. 

This is exactly the same thing what my brain would do before falling asleep. (and from time to time still does)

Here is a summary what I learnt doing the tutorial.

Apparently, sleeping is one of the most crucial things to do in order to stay healthy. Sleep affects not only our physical health but also our mental health. During the night we go through five phases of sleep, namely drowsiness, light sleep, deep sleep, slow-wave deep sleep and REM (rapid eye movement). Depending on how old we are and on our individual needs, 7-8 hours is the average amount of sleep. 

Sleep deprivation affects our immune system, our concentration and memory, our growth, our mood etc. The most common sleeping disorders, which all can be cured once they are diagnosed, are:

• insomnia (mild insomnia can easily be cured only be changing one's sleeping habits) 
• sleep apnea (interruption of breathing during sleep, therefore very often awaking during the night)
• RLS (restless leg syndrome, affected people have a prickling sensation in their legs and have the urge to move them in order to relief the sensation)
• narcolepsy (the brain is not able to regulate sleep-wake cycles properly, so the affected people fall asleep randomly and suddenly in the middle of being awake)

The next thing I want discuss here is how you can get a healthy amount of sleep but at the same time become a morning person. You would say: "What? A morning person???  No way!" But trust me, there is a way.  

change from this...

...to this! 

First, I want to mention that I am the last person you would call a morning person. However, I noticed that getting up early after having sufficient sleep is a really pleasant thing. It has a lot of advantages, for example, you can get work done earlier or you can go to fetch your breakfast in the morning sun.

In order to be able to wake early you have to get enough sleep first! But how do you do that if you can't fall asleep!!?? Here are some tips that I applied in order to change my sleeping habits.

• The reason why I was not able to fall asleep was because I was thinking about what I have to do the next day. So I got me a small organizer (I have two, one for everyday matters and the other one for before-going-to-bed-notes). In this organizer I wrote down everything I have to finish or do the next day, included all the personal things e.g. what I should do better the next time I'm confronted with a difficult situation. This way, I can clear my mind from those distractions. 
• It is advisable to stop using all electronics, such as phones or laptops, 30 minutes before bedtime.
• After setting the alarm clock, I usually make a cup of tea (no black or green tea!!!) and I hop into bed with a book and the mug in my hands. It is more advisable to put the mug down first, though. 
• Taking a warm shower or letting some air in the bedroom before going to bed is also very helpful.

After doing all this "preparation" waking up early does not came magically either. 

• First it is essential not to hit the snooze button! Because hitting the snooze button means that you will fall asleep again and reach the light sleep phase before the alarm wakes you up again. This way you will have interrupted your circle and will be more tired then before you hit the snooze button. 
• Start slowly changing your waking habits. If you usually set the alarm at 10 o'clock, change it to 9h45 and move it down every day for 15 minutes. 

Good night, sleep well and sweet dreams!!!

OMG I'm such a great fan!!!

As probably everyone already knows, we live in a world of mass production and mass media. I don't want to get into detail here. My point is, today fandom is present everywhere. When I did my shopping the other day for some milk and bread in the store, I discovered yogurt for Disney fans. Maybe you can imagine how i reacted to this. There is one thing that life toughed me: If you see something with your favourite book, movie or TV show on it, TAKE IT no matter what. 

Well, isn't that strange? Would you do the same? I know that this attitude is not curable, however, there are much more extreme fans than me, to be sure. And they are all part of a fandom community, which means they know everything about a book, movie, comic or TV show and even beyond it. They usually have their own clubs, go to cosplay events (short for costume play) where they dress up like their favourite characters or they create their own fandom art, for example, on tumblr.

Only fans understand this.

In general, those people are seen as geeky, loners or even as creepy. Might be that some people really exaggerate in being obsessed with non-existent places, people, objects, names, stories or creatures. However, if you keep it contained and know your limits it is actually fun. You can exchange thoughts and opinions about something you recently have read. In addition, sometimes even recommend a new story that you like and think the other person would like to know abut it too. Additionally, some people are very focused on one particular thing which is not very exciting. Knowing about a wide range of recent, very addictive media is more affective if you want to have a topic to talk about with other fans.

To make it clear: I do not claim that I have absolutely no part in this fandom phenomenon. On the contrary! For example, I grew up with the Harry Potter books (and then the movies). I'm still convinced that something happened to my owl, so that is why I didn't get my Hogwarts letter when I was ten years old. Anyhow, I enjoyed the books instead and I still get goosebumps when I am re-reading them.

Seven days without a pun makes one weak!

I am really bad at remembering jokes. People who like to tell jokes are having an easy time with me because, although they have already told me a joke, a couple of weeks later I would have a laugh attack nonetheless. It's always like..

...I once heard a joke about amnesia but i forgot how it goes. 

However, this post is about the only kind of jokes I remember. Namely word plays. Or in specific: PUNS

My favorite puns are...

• I'm glad I know sign language because it's pretty handy.
• It's raining cats and dogs. Well, as long as it doesn't reindeer. 
• For some people marriage is a word. For others it is a sentence. 
• A prisoner's favorite punctuation mark is the period. It marks the end of his sentence. 
• A baker stopped making doughnuts after he got tired of the hole thing. 
• He got his large circumference from too much pi.
• Sleeping comes so naturally to me, I could do it with my eyes closed.
• I wondered why the baseball was getting bigger. Then it hit me. 
• Mummies are bound to be upright. 
• A relief map shows where the restrooms are.
• Those who jump off a Parisian bridge are in Seine. 

Okay, I'm stopping here, I don't want to drive you in Seine, right? Just this last one for all language learners:

The most important grammar rule: double negatives are a no-no.

Of course, there are also a enormous amount of picture puns...

Those are not only funny but also incredibly cute!!!!! My favorites are still those by Gemma Correll. She is an artist and very fond of her pug and more into animals than humans methinks (sometimes).
Those are the best in my opinion:

I know it is the wrong season of year but this video of Christmas puns is genius! Enjoy!

Good, that's enough for today. Do you know any funny puns you want to share with me? If so, please do it! As you have noticed I'm obsessed with them. A little.

Did you know...that the poet and painter D. Rossetti wrote a poem about his wombat?

the poem 

How good is your general knowledge? Do you watch or read news a lot? How about science magazines? Have you been interested in all your subjects back in school? 

Which came first: the chicken or the egg? 

How many languages do you understand? How good are your geography skills? When did Constantinople fall? Do you immediately recognize a painting when you see it? 

 What is the name of the king who is killed by Macbeth?

Surely, you've heard many times of the Pub Quiz Nights in the Office Pub. My friends and I, we like to go there every Tuesday, have a couple of drinks and subsequently answer some tricky questions. Well, ever since our small, brainy and crazy group (Alliterations Anonymous) was founded last summer (in a very official and ceremonial way), I'm obsessed with the thought of winning the quiz one night. In order to promote and finally achieve this very high-aimed plan I decided to feed my brain with as much general knowledge as it can cope with. Which sometimes does not work that well. Oh well...

Here are some useful links you can check out in order to feed your brain a little:

• If you want to quiz yourself, you can do it here: http://www.quizfactor.com
• Instead of TV, you should watch this: http://unplugthetv.com/post/21671093706/ghost-hunting (you can still skip videos you don't want to watch
• If you want to learn a new language, try this: http://duolingo.com
• This site is simply amazing because you stumble upon many interesting things: https://www.stumbleupon.com/logged-out
• If you want to memorize famous authors, painters, places etc you can try this http://www.memrise.com

And here are some YouTube channels that make you smarter. And are very entertaining at the some time!

• super-creative and super-smart http://www.youtube.com/user/Vihart
• John Green ftw http://www.youtube.com/user/crashcourse
• fun science http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCC552Sd-3nyi_tk2BudLUzA
• fun science with Charlie http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEB92E275F78C7301

Have fun with them! May the force be with you! And may the odds be ever in your favor! 

Hakuna Matata! 

And if nothing works...grab a book from your shelf. 

I should mention that this post has nothing to do with your common sense.

The fascination for sad, scary, heartbreaking, soul shaking stories

Do you have a characteristic that you think is awesome...but at the same time a bit of a problem? For me, it's my easy falling for stories that make me anxious. What can I do? It's a part of me. And I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one with this characteristic. Otherwise, there wouldn't be so many creepy or melancholy stories out there.

WARNING: The next lines may contain spoilers.

But where does the fascination for such stories come from? Everything started with the very first epic of mankind, the Gilgamesh epic, Homer's epics, as well as the first dramatic works. The ancient world preferred tragedies over comedies as they were a sign for dignity.

Who was not moved by Romeos desperation when he finds Juliet's (wrongly assumed) dead body, or scared by Lady Macbeth's slightly bloodthirsty behavior? I was worried sick about the poor little orphan boy Oliver Twist when he was making his way all alone to London.

When I finished reading The Black Cat by Poe I decided not to leave my bed that evening because I was afraid to find the silhouette of a strangled cat on my bathroom wall. I felt sick when I was reading Kafka's Metamorphosis. When I was reading Atonement, I hated Briony for accepting the letter from Robbie because at the very same moment as she takes it she knows she is going to read it, although she is not supposed to.

I cried my heart out (not really but my I thought I heard my heart making a silent cracking noise) after I learned that Natasha thinks that she is in love this bastard Anatol (although a good looking one- at least in my imagination), who only wanted to seduce her. She breaks the engagement with Prince Andrei, whose pride is obviously hurt. (foolish, FOOLISH girl!!!).

When I was a teenager, I loved the Harry Potter books. I was really, really addicted to them. Today, Game of Thrones replaced them. Sort of. No I just changed my mind: Nothing can replace Harry Potter. Anyhow, everytime J.K. Rowling, R.R.Martin or Susanne Collins decided to kill a character I had become overly attached to, I felt like this:

Needless to say, it is very depressing when a hero or a heroine fails. Before the failure happens, the main emotions the reader experiences are fear, cluelessness and uncertainty. After the failure it is sadness, grief and disappointment. Nevertheless, the reader is more fascinated by this fear and sadness than by the hero's success. But why do we crave so much pathos? (I know some of you might think differently).

One reason for our craving is perhaps because sad and scary things release more intensive emotions than funny ones do. The requirement, however, is that those things are not real but only part of a fictional world. I think it is a sort of aesthetic satisfaction we get when we see a character escape death by a whisker, and even more when he/ she suffers from his/her failure. I wouldn't call this schadenfreude, though, because this would mean that the reader wishes or wants the character to fail, which is not the case.

In a nutshell: Although those stories make us sad, depressed, angry or horrified we still gain satisfaction from them. Therefore, we really like them or in my case get addicted to them. Well, why not? I'm in!

A movie survey

I wanted to try this movie survey for no particular reason and just because I thought it was fun giving it a try. However, it took me longer then I'd thought it would. It was really difficult to keep everything more or less contained and there are simply too many good movies. Here we go!

Your favorite movie: There are too many, I honestly can't decide. It's like choosing your favorite child! I count all those movies below to my favorite movies. 

The last movie you watched : Easy A

Your favorite action/adventure movie(s) : X-Men (all of them), Hanna, Pirates of the Caribbean, Lord of the Rings, James Bond, Inception

Your favorite horror movie : Nightmare on Elm Street (not because it is very good but because of the memories and associations I have because of it- no nightmares!)

Your favorite drama movie : Atonement, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Bright Star, The Last King of Scotland, Anna Karenina, Forrest Gump, Doctor Zhivago, A Beautiful Mind, Dead Poets Society, Three Colors: Red, Blue and White, Black Swan, One Day, Birdsong, Les Miserables, In Bruges, Children of Paradise

Your favorite comedy movie: Monty Python's Life of Brian, Euro Trip, Juno, Amelie, The Artist, A Fish Called Wanda, Easy A, Home Alone, Kung Fu Panda, Girls of St.Trinian, 10 Things I Hate about You, 

A movie that makes you happy: Harry Potter (all of them), Despicable Me, Fame, Finding Nemo, Brave, Love Actually

A movie that makes you sad: Becoming Jane, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Bright Star

A movie that you know practically the whole script of: Atonement, Fame, Les Miserables

Your favorite director: Joe Wright, Peter Jackson, Hiyao Miyazaki 

Your favorite movie from your childhood: Bambi, Pokemon: the first movie

Your favorite animated movie: nearly all Disney movies, Princess Mononoke, Howl's Moving Casle, Gnomeo and Juliet  

A movie that you used to hate but now love: Those emotions are a bit strong, but let's go with James Bond

Your favorite quote from any movie: 

"How old do you have to be before you know the difference between right and wrong?" - Atonement

"Me, I'm dishonest! And a dishonest man you can always trust to be dishonest...honestly!" - Pirates of the Caribbean 

"I'm so fly I can any girl look good." - Take the Lead

The first movie you saw in theaters: Pokemon: the first movie

The last movie you saw in theaters: Oz the Great and Powerful

The best movie you saw during the last year: let's go with Brave, Step Up Miami Heat and Easy A

A movie that disappointed you the most: the ending of Django Unchained

Your favorite actor(s): James McAvoy, Rupert Grint, Eddie Redmayne, Robin Williams, Johnny Depp

Your favorite actress(es): Keira Knightley, Lena Headey, Emma Watson, Emma Stone, Lauren Graham, Emma Thomson, Jennifer Lawrence

The most overrated movie: Gone With The Wind (too cheesy and stupid even for my liking)

The most underrated movie: Big Fish, Hamlet, Match Point, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (!)

Your favorite character from any movie: Olive (Easy A), Arthur (Inception), ALL Harry Potter characters, Katniss (Hunger Games), the Minions, ...

Favorite documentary: Sadly, I don't watch so many documentaries.

A movie that no one would expect you to love: I've no idea what people's expectations are.

A movie that is a guilty pleasure: Maybe Imagine Me and You (very cheesy!) and Twilight but I always have a reason why I enjoy cheesy movies, so I don't really feel guilty or embarrassed.

Favorite classic movie: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Doctor Zhivago, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

Movie with the best soundtrack: Atonement, Anna Karenina, Pride and Prejudice, Hanna (the whole soundtrack was made by the Chemical Brothers!)

A movie that changed your opinion about something: Seeing Anna Karenina made me realize that you can't and should not blame yourself for the rest of your life if you made a (considerably big!) mistake. Even if you hurt many people with your deeds (especially yourself), you shouldn't jump in front of a train for heavens sake!!! 

However, THIS is what learnt from Disney movies.

Your least favorite movie: I really didn't like American Pie. 

Is anyone brave enough to accept this movie survey challenge? It's not as easy as it looks like! 

Breaking the fast...all over the world

After a long night of digestion, a restful sleep and sugar-sweet dreams you will need a gorgeous, healthy breakfast.  The best way to start your morning off and to gain energy for the day is a decent meal. Skipping breakfast is said to be very unhealthy as you lose your energy for important things, puts you into greater risk of being overweight as well as losing joy because food makes people haaaaaaaaaaaaaaappy.

All over the world people start their day with a yummy breakfast but all those meals look different.

I'm sure everyone has an idea what an English breakfast is:

An English breakfast usually consists of bakes beans, sausages, bacon, scrambled eggs, mushrooms, tomatoes and toast. All this is washed back with a cup of black tea with milk.

I've never been in England, however, a friend of mine, who is from London, once made us a very delicious original English breakfast. When I was in Scotland the B&B I stayed at served the very same things. In addition, they offered haggis, which is a traditional Scottish dish, at the buffet.




In Hawaii the usual breakfast consists of fruits, bagels and cream cheese. Well, I'd call that a healthy start into the day! In Russia they eat oladi, which are Russian pancakes, with soured cream, honey, jam or berries. In Spain, they usually eat very little for breakfast, sometimes just a coffee. When I was in Barcelona we sometimes had magdalenas, which are sweet, little, lemony cupcakes (I made the experience that I don't like them, they are too sour and too sweet at the same time). Once I bought rolls  filled with ham and cheese which, in contrast, were really good.

A friend of mine was so kind as to tell me what they usually eat for breakfast in Egypt. She said, a traditional breakfast consisted of ful, which are cooked and mashed beans, falafel, sheep's milk cheese and eggs. Sweet alternatives are bread with halva, sweet syrup (they refer to it as "black honey") or sesame paste.

In Bosnia we eat a great amount of white bread, not only for breakfast but also for lunch and sinner. And snacks. We like to eat in Bosnia, that's a fact. To return to the topic: A breakfast normally consists of white bread with spicy sausages (sudjuk), cheese, ham. A sweet alternative would be kajmak (a creamy dairy product) or butter and jam.

Well, that sounds delicious, doesn't it? Oh boy, I'm pretty hungry now writing about food all the time makes one's tummy rumble!

W(h)erewolf, Whowolf, Whatwolf, Whywolf ???

The best party game, except of Activity perhaps, is Werewolf. Activity is fun but the party or the gathering is quasi over if someone forgot to bring the game to the party. What should be done then? Well, first of all, don't panic! There is still another option: Werewolf

The advantage over other games is that you don't need anything, except a piece of paper, which is cut in small stripes or little cards, and a pen. It's a simple game for a large group of people, however, it is a little tricky at first to get the procedure of the game and you need at least seven people for it.

Here are the rules:
before starting the game you will need

• to choose a moderator (preferably with a good imagination)
• paper stripes or cards, on which you write (or if you prefer draw) the different characters. The characters are two werewolves, a seer, a witch and villagers.

After the preparation everyone, except the moderator, draws a paper stripe on which they see which character they are going to represent. The werewolves' goal is to kill all the villagers, which includes seer and witch, before they identify the werewolves as such and lynch them. 

The game changes between day and night. During the night everyone closes the eyes. First, the moderator asks the werewolves to open their eyes, choose one person in the circle they want to kill and close their eyes again. Then the moderator asks the seer to open his/her eyes, choose one person in the circle whose identity he/she wants to learn. The moderator sticks the thumb in the air if the person is a villager and down if the person is a werewolf. After the seer went to sleep again, the witch awakes. The  person who plays the role of the witch can either kill or save a person but only once. The moderator tells the witch whom the werewolves killed before, so she can save the person or kill another in addition to the already killed player. 

The sun rises and everybody opens their eyes. This is where Werewolf gets really exciting. The moderator announces who was killed and who was saved overnight. During the day the players can say and do anything, including lying, bluffing and drawing off the attention from themselves in order to convince that they are innocent and that another player is the werewolf.

At this point usually a huge discussion erupts. By the end of the day the players have to nominate a person they suspect to be a werewolf and lynch that person. The nominated person has to reveal the identity after the moderator announced his/her death. 

The procedure starts again, the sun sets, the werewolves wake and sniffing through the cold night they make their way to their new victim...

The person who remains at the end is the winner.

There are several possible variations of the game but this is the way my friends and I play it. When there are more people we usually add some characters. For example, cupid who chooses two players at the start of the game and these players fall secretly in love. If one player should be killed during the game the lover dies with the murdered. 

A hint for the moderator: he or she shouldn't speak in the direction of the player with the eyes open, this could be a hint for the other players and the fun fades away quickly. 

The game is real fun, you should try it out! 

Here are two links where you can print the cards out:

WEREWOLF CARDS

WEREWOLF CARDS

Gather some friends around you and get the party started!

Why Elvis Presley is the dwarf in the priest's garden...

Whoever reads my blog posts will notice at some point that I have those little obsessions I can't, and don't want, get rid of. So, I want to share one of my obsessions with you because it's related to language learning in the most interesting way imaginable: etymology.

Etymology is the study of word origins and how the meaning of a word changed throughout time.

This is a rather new obsession of mine, in fact since my last birthday. I got an incredibly funny and informative book from a very good friend for my 20th birthday and I immediately fell in love with it. The book's title is "The Etymologicon- A Circular Stroll Through the Hidden Connections of the English Language" by Mark Forsyth. The author is a blogger and goes by the name Inky Fool which I think is a very catchy name. In my opinion, he writes in such a wonderful, clever and hilarious way that I would really recommend everyone having a look at his blog.

Who can find out what the title of this post is about? Why is Elvis a dwarf???

 

Bread Is Such A Loafly Thing

For many Western cultures bread is probably the most essential kind of food and always has been. Bread filled our ancestors' stomachs for thousands of years and still is staple food for us. Nearly every time when I have to do my shopping, there is always 'bread' at the top of my shopping list. I'm going to show you how bread is present in our everyday life and share some bready slices of fun facts with you.

The most common varieties of bread are white bread, wholemeal bread, multigrain bread , rye bread, and flat bread. Of course, there are also bagels, baguette, ciabatta and many many more. And because it is Easter time I shall not forget to mention the Easter bread, or the Austrian variety 'Osterpinze'. (not this)

Bread and language

According to the Online Etymology Dictionary the word 'bread' comes from Old English meaning "cooked food" or "piece of food".

The word 'bread' does not only appear as something you can eat but also metaphorically in idioms and proverbs. 

• a breadwinner is a person whose earnings are the primary source of support for a family
• below the breadline : to live in poverty, having nothing to eat
• someone's bread and butter : someone's basic income, the source of one's food; "I worked as a bartender for a year, and it was the tips that were my bread and butter."
• Murphy's law: Whatever can go wrong, will go wrong...in other words: Bread always falls on the buttered side
• the greatest thing since sliced bread : the most wonderful invention for a long time
• to know which side one's bread buttered on: to be good/loyal to the person that you will benefit from
• man can not live by bread alone: in order to live a good life, people need more than food but things like love and peace

Bread and music

Whole Wheat Bread is a punk band from Florida. I've not heard about them before and it's not entirely my cup of tea. Or slice of bread?

Bread and literature

For Christians the significance of bread is symbolised in the story of the Last Supper when Jesus shared bread and wine with his followers. It is written... 

²² And as they were eating, he took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to them, and said, “Take; this is my body.” ²³ And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, and they all drank of it. ²⁴ And he said to them, “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many. ²⁵ Truly, I say to you, I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.”

The poem Bread and Music by Conrad Aiken illustrates a lost person, maybe a lost love, and how they used to share bread and listen to music together. Everything reminds the narrator of this one person who is gone now and so he feels lonely without this person.

The science-fiction adventure novel trilogy The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins takes place in a futuristic place called Panem (which consists of the wealthy Capitol and the poorer districts). Panis is Latin for bread and panem is the accusative. Bread and food plays a significant role in this novels as the poor districts suffer from poverty. The heroine lives in the poorest district and has to prevent her family from starving. On the day of the 'reaping' her sister is selected as a tribute for the Hunger Games where basically children are fighting in an arena to the death. But the heroine volunteers instead of her sister in order to save her sister's life. The male tribute from this district is a baker's son. The reward for winning the Hunger Games is lifelong food and supplies. 

In Lewis Carroll's The Walrus and the Carpenter (which is one of my favourite poems) it says...

"A loaf of bread," the Walrus said, 

"Is what we chiefly need: 

Pepper and vinegar besides 

Are very good indeed-- 

Now if you're ready, Oysters dear, 

We can begin to feed."

Here you can read the whole poem, it is great!!!

Bread and Disney

In Alice in Wonderland the bread-and-butterflies fly passed Alice and turn into a loaf of bread. During the song All in the Golden Afternoon they kiss the tulips and wake the flowers.

Bread and sandwiches

The Earl of Sandwich did not actually invent the delicious snack we know today because it was nothing special to stuff things between two slices of bread. However, Sandwich made the sandwich popular. The Earl was a terrible gambler and he used to sit on a table gambling for hours, therefore he asked his servants to bring him something to eat. In his time sandwiches were associated with British aristocracy and wealth as well as gambling. 

Bread and quotes

"The smell of good bread baking, like the sound of lightly flowing water, is indescribable in its evocation if innocence and delight." -M.F.K.Fisher

"Man cannot live by bread alone; he must have peanut butter."- James A. Garfield

Bread and Charlie McDonnell

And this is my last slice of bread for you for today. It is not one of his best songs but I like the illustrations and the lovely story very much. 

May I introduce myself...once more?

New semester, new opportunities, new blog, new posts.

I'm really excited! I'm excited about all this new things. Last semester some of us have discovered this totally new way of writing texts. Personally, I am thrilled by the thought that I can write about something I want to learn more about and capture it in a blog post. This way I can share my thoughts and (hopefully!) others can share their thoughts with me. For me, this is a little adventure and I like to call myself an English adventurer.

Last semester my first post on Posterous was one introducing myself. I'll re-post it here...

Hi there, may I introduce myself... 
...I'm Natascha, also known as Nati, and I'm 19 years old. I'm a Sagittarius and my favourite colours are red and turquoise. My greatest passions are dancing, eating, the theatre, English and reading. Drawing and painting used to be my passions as well but unfortunately it is a quite time-consuming hobby and my attention to it shrunk to a minimum.
I love music (who doesn't??) and from now on I'll post all the songs I was listening to while writing my "free post" blog entry at the bottom of my post. This way you'll get to know me and my taste of music. I do not play any instrument, though. Actually I tried to play the piano when I was 15 but it occurred that I'm not very talented and I lost my interest. Anyway, music is a great part of my life as I dance a lot and obviously music is quite important in this case.

I was born in Tirol but I grew up in Graz. Graz is my hometown and just the best city in the whole wide world. I definitively want to go abroad for some time, but I just can't imagine leaving Graz.Another thing I can't live without is food. Yes, I know it is an essential thing for a human being like me but I mean I really, really love eating. Lasagna, ice cream, pancakes, salad, chocolate, strawberries, cookies, pizza...I could continue this list endlessly, but I think you've got an idea now about my eating habits. Any questions? :) Feel free to ask, I'll answer gladly!!! 

Music list
Les amours dévouées- by coeur de pirate 

Give it a Go - by Molotov Jukebox   

Let's analyse this post, shall we?
There are a few things that have changed since last October. Firstly, I'm 20 now but still a Sagittarius, my favourite colours are still red and turquoise and I still love eating. What is different, though, is my attitude towards never leaving Graz and leaving Austria. From time to time, I find myself thinking about building up my life in another country. However, this won't happen before I've finished my duties here in Graz, that is mainly uni. And who knows? Maybe my attitude will change again as it always does.

What is going to change is that I probably won't write the music list below the posts anymore. Except someone insists on it, then I will gladly share the songs with you I'm listening to while writing a post.

The last thing I want to share with you is not a song this time but something similar. It's a ballad by Samuel Taylor Coleridge who is an English poet. The poem is basically about an old mariner who tells his strange tale to a groom. If you want to know what the tale is about, simply listen to this reading. I really like the YouTube channel called 'SpokenVerse' because the reader has a gorgeous, dark and husky voice and every time I'm too lazy to read a poem on my own I usually search it on this channel. What I should probably mention here is that this is not the actual way of speaking in the 19th century but Coleridge used an artistic, ancient language in his poem to create the impression the ballad was written in ancient times. Enjoy!

uuuuuh, it always makes me shudder!!!
btw: happy World Peotry Day! :)

http://prezi.com/o1uclaxwhoow/turn-on-the-poetry/?rc=soc0facebook0hanna0awesome_prezis


any questions? feel free to ask!!! I MEAN it! ;)