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:
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.
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! :)
