I did not have time to write this post yesterday but the 3rd of March deserves some attention and since my blog is somehow based on my PhD experience and life and could not forget this topic.
Indeed, yesterday I completed one year of PhD life. 365 days ago I moved from Portugal, most precisely from Almada to Nottingham to do a PhD in the University of Nottingham, School of Biomedical Sciences. Since then, a lot of things changed, I changed, but most of the things changed for better and I cannot deny I am very happy here and happy with my "job". Of course, as I am always complaining, this is not easy life but it has its rewards! I love science, I am passionate with discoveries and I like to work. Additionally, I have got a very nice life (dont get jealous ;)) ), now with my very nice new home, it is so comfortable and me and Pedro we are making it really nice and beautiful. I have holidays planned, I am going to skiing in two weeks, and I have got the perfect man, I am so happy :)))
Of course nothing is entirely perfect, I miss my parents and family and sometimes I feel really sad I cant hug them or my friends in Portugal, I miss our coffee times, our nights out, our funny moments or even the most serious ones..
But after all it seems that is being worth the effort!!
Not directly related to my sentimental-like post I leave this video below, just for fun and the sake of science showing that it can be funny too ;)
And thanks to Cati, that actually posted this video in the BCM communal blog: Sexy Hotte!
Showing posts with label Social. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Social. Show all posts
Wednesday, 4 March 2009
Sunday, 15 February 2009
Friends
I cant believe I left a horrible photo on top of my blog for such a long time.. I have been no time at all and not much inspiration too, but since I have got some photos from the time I was in Portugal with my friends (One of my friends just posted me a cd with very nice moments from my christmas holiday in Portugal, where me and my best friends and very much loved boyfriend went to a place called Vila Nova de Mil Fontes. I went there once before for a lunch with my family but didnt much realized how nice it is. And this holiday there, well, just three short days, with these people were so much fun!!! Cant wait to repeat something like that! And thank you for the photos, Margarida :)).
A tribute to my best friends :)
Ilha do Pessegueiro on the Background, Rui, Pedro, Boavida and Motinha.
Ilha do Pessegueiro and the shore
The girls, framed, Joana, Margarida, Raquel and Me.
Me and Pedro running down the dune to the sea
Me, Joana, Boavida, Raquel and Margarida, "The old friends"
Pedro, Boavida and Mota ("the very new friends.. or the boyfriends and the friend")
Two girls and a boy, a threesome and a friend reading the garfield apparently in french, this was waiting time
Me and you, with love:)
New year's
The chocolate eaters
A tribute to my best friends :)
Ilha do Pessegueiro on the Background, Rui, Pedro, Boavida and Motinha.
Ilha do Pessegueiro and the shore
The girls, framed, Joana, Margarida, Raquel and Me.
Me and Pedro running down the dune to the sea
Me, Joana, Boavida, Raquel and Margarida, "The old friends"
Pedro, Boavida and Mota ("the very new friends.. or the boyfriends and the friend")
Two girls and a boy, a threesome and a friend reading the garfield apparently in french, this was waiting time
Me and you, with love:) 
New year's
The chocolate eaters
A sight by the sea, cold winterful sea :)
Sunday, 25 January 2009
Moving out, new home, new life :)
Its official,
I am now looking for a new home, another nest to live :) hopefully and certainly much better than the one I have.
When I came to Nottingham, the decision about coming and the time I had for moving and settling were very short, therefore I didnt have enough time to plan it and to spend some time looking for houses and/ flats. Everything had to be done quickly. I came here 15 days before I started the project and stayed for 3 short days to find a place to live, that once I would come to start everything would be entirely ready. By that time I wanted to live in town, in Nottingham city centre, but since many people from work suggested Beeston as the best place to live, I just looked for houses around Beeston. Being new here I accepted the suggestion since as you can see on the map I am posting below, the university is far from the centre and being in Beeston is easier to go to the university, but just by walk, because by bus the centre is 10 times better (but I didnt know that). On the minus side Beeston is far from the city and is a little tiny shopping area, with supermarket and other shops but nothing special.
Meanwhile, I end up choosing a 5 bedroom house in Beeston village centre which is where I still live, sharing a house with another 4 people. On that beginning I didnt think I would stay here longer than my original contract, there is 6 months. And that was why I was not very picky because the plan was to stay here temporarily until I would have some more time to look for something more decent.
But it just did not happen before, but now it is time! Finally I am on the way of changing homes, and hopefully close to get my own space, private and specially clean.
I do quite like the location of this house and that was why I did not think about moving straight after my contract was finished but the worst problems about this place are indeed not the place at all but the people inside.
As the only child I am, I am of course deeply spoiled in several ways and I am not used to share things. Also despite me being quite social (when I want to), I am not, when I am at home, I just dont have patience to socialize with the people from the house just because they live here. So I tend to stay inside my room, sometimes I dont even bother not eating not to face anyone and the dirtiness left behind them.. That is the very worst part of this story, people have different concepts of hygiene and cleaning and that is troublesome. I am fed up with most of the things around here and I am so so happy I am moving out soon :)
On the plus plus side, I am gonna have a much better house to welcome my friends visiting and on the plus plus plus plus plus top side, I am going to live with someone I love. Thats just genial! I can wait to see this dream coming true and in a way to start saying good bye to the house where I am still typing this post I leave a map showing where I live, where I want to live and where I work, dont get confused next time you visit me :)
I am now looking for a new home, another nest to live :) hopefully and certainly much better than the one I have.
When I came to Nottingham, the decision about coming and the time I had for moving and settling were very short, therefore I didnt have enough time to plan it and to spend some time looking for houses and/ flats. Everything had to be done quickly. I came here 15 days before I started the project and stayed for 3 short days to find a place to live, that once I would come to start everything would be entirely ready. By that time I wanted to live in town, in Nottingham city centre, but since many people from work suggested Beeston as the best place to live, I just looked for houses around Beeston. Being new here I accepted the suggestion since as you can see on the map I am posting below, the university is far from the centre and being in Beeston is easier to go to the university, but just by walk, because by bus the centre is 10 times better (but I didnt know that). On the minus side Beeston is far from the city and is a little tiny shopping area, with supermarket and other shops but nothing special.
Meanwhile, I end up choosing a 5 bedroom house in Beeston village centre which is where I still live, sharing a house with another 4 people. On that beginning I didnt think I would stay here longer than my original contract, there is 6 months. And that was why I was not very picky because the plan was to stay here temporarily until I would have some more time to look for something more decent.
But it just did not happen before, but now it is time! Finally I am on the way of changing homes, and hopefully close to get my own space, private and specially clean.
I do quite like the location of this house and that was why I did not think about moving straight after my contract was finished but the worst problems about this place are indeed not the place at all but the people inside.
As the only child I am, I am of course deeply spoiled in several ways and I am not used to share things. Also despite me being quite social (when I want to), I am not, when I am at home, I just dont have patience to socialize with the people from the house just because they live here. So I tend to stay inside my room, sometimes I dont even bother not eating not to face anyone and the dirtiness left behind them.. That is the very worst part of this story, people have different concepts of hygiene and cleaning and that is troublesome. I am fed up with most of the things around here and I am so so happy I am moving out soon :)
On the plus plus side, I am gonna have a much better house to welcome my friends visiting and on the plus plus plus plus plus top side, I am going to live with someone I love. Thats just genial! I can wait to see this dream coming true and in a way to start saying good bye to the house where I am still typing this post I leave a map showing where I live, where I want to live and where I work, dont get confused next time you visit me :)
Saturday, 24 January 2009
Girly gangs and chavs
Today I went for a coffee with two girlfriends here from Nottingham, both doing PhD, but both foreigners like me, so of course we end up sharing a lot of feelings about the life here.. and one subject that got into debate today was exactly the question about the "girly gangs" in Nottingham and in general, but in Nottingham it is just more appreciated...
I think I slightly pointed out that in the past but basically for those who dont know the girls here in Nottingham, from Nottingham, or God knows where from, they tend to have very particular behaviours which I would say are far from one would think as normal. Lets be more specific... Girls here, like in most other countries go out in groups, there is nothing new about it. Those girls and each group tend to follow a style or a standard that means that all girls in the same group look more or less similar.. thats what I mean by gangs.. basically similar styles stick together and form a group...
Usually there is that group of fairly pretty girls, a group of girls that look like they read the bible before going asleep, group of girls that are a bit overweight, etc... there are a lot, BUT:
The awkward funny thing is that in Nottingham those "girly gangs" vary a lot more than our imagination could eventually think of, and thats the funny part!
Yesterday I went out and suddenly recalled how does Nottingham night life works... I have forgotten that since I spent a long time not going out here.. So basically I should first introduce you to a general concept of "chav". This is a slang british term according to the dictionary: Brit slang, derogatory a young working-class person who dresses in casual sports clothes, but actually it is a lot more than that..
watch the videos to get familiar!
Ok, so chavy girls go out in gangs, but unlike the other girls they are not simply fat, or simply pretty or simply ugly, or whatever because these girls have no simplicity at all!! They are a mix of dirty bitches with cheap chicks, look all very easy, very drunk and brainless no matter how old they are. Bear in mind that you find chavy gangs from all age ranges, from youngs to mums and grannys! Of course it is very hard to describe them better without any photographic material, but for example during the day the dress code is very sportive whereas by night their looks vary from when they organize to dress a specific costume, usually very very dirty or if not they will dress as less clothes as they can and there will always be a lot of make up and they usually look orange... its a must see! But they are not found in London for example, while here in Nottingham is like the chavy land.. apparently there are a lot around the midlands like birmingham and also in Liverpool (I saw)..
Conclusion, girls hang out together, thats fine, but when I see a group of chavs I know I am gonna be impressed, trust me, it is disgusting!
I know one day you see one you will remember my description or in case you already know what I am talking about you probably wonder why do this people have no taste? how can someone be like that?
I sometimes over criticize things and people but this time one has to agree with me, inst it weird?
I think I slightly pointed out that in the past but basically for those who dont know the girls here in Nottingham, from Nottingham, or God knows where from, they tend to have very particular behaviours which I would say are far from one would think as normal. Lets be more specific... Girls here, like in most other countries go out in groups, there is nothing new about it. Those girls and each group tend to follow a style or a standard that means that all girls in the same group look more or less similar.. thats what I mean by gangs.. basically similar styles stick together and form a group...
Usually there is that group of fairly pretty girls, a group of girls that look like they read the bible before going asleep, group of girls that are a bit overweight, etc... there are a lot, BUT:
The awkward funny thing is that in Nottingham those "girly gangs" vary a lot more than our imagination could eventually think of, and thats the funny part!
Yesterday I went out and suddenly recalled how does Nottingham night life works... I have forgotten that since I spent a long time not going out here.. So basically I should first introduce you to a general concept of "chav". This is a slang british term according to the dictionary: Brit slang, derogatory a young working-class person who dresses in casual sports clothes, but actually it is a lot more than that..
watch the videos to get familiar!
Ok, so chavy girls go out in gangs, but unlike the other girls they are not simply fat, or simply pretty or simply ugly, or whatever because these girls have no simplicity at all!! They are a mix of dirty bitches with cheap chicks, look all very easy, very drunk and brainless no matter how old they are. Bear in mind that you find chavy gangs from all age ranges, from youngs to mums and grannys! Of course it is very hard to describe them better without any photographic material, but for example during the day the dress code is very sportive whereas by night their looks vary from when they organize to dress a specific costume, usually very very dirty or if not they will dress as less clothes as they can and there will always be a lot of make up and they usually look orange... its a must see! But they are not found in London for example, while here in Nottingham is like the chavy land.. apparently there are a lot around the midlands like birmingham and also in Liverpool (I saw)..
Conclusion, girls hang out together, thats fine, but when I see a group of chavs I know I am gonna be impressed, trust me, it is disgusting!
Anatomy of a chav girl
I know one day you see one you will remember my description or in case you already know what I am talking about you probably wonder why do this people have no taste? how can someone be like that?
I sometimes over criticize things and people but this time one has to agree with me, inst it weird?
Wednesday, 14 January 2009
I am becoming a programmer.. This is enrichment of my geeky brain slots
Yesterday I started a new course called Programming for beginners. This is a workshop-course run by the uni for post graduates interested in learning the basics of programming. The uni offers a large variety of workshops in a wide range of areas from languages to computer science, academic and industry skills development and so on, but most of them are boring and useless. Its a really waste of time, but I have to do them, so no more whinging.
Back on PhD stuff conversations and posts, as part of my PhD program I have to attend for these workshops to get 20 credits for my first year. Therefore until the 3rd of March I have to get 20 credits. This course, has then a few plus and convenient sides, and hopefully will be a lot more interesting than the ones I went before, getting me 8 credits, helps me recalling the basics of programming (something I did for a little while in the past), and that is now a tool important for my own PhD project since I intend to start my mathematical modelling and I need to do some programming for that... On the other side (not too bad though), it makes me a bit more geeky with the PhD in biomedical science slash biochemistry comprising a lot of computational biophysics and mathematics and with some programming background makes me someone no ones wants to meet once reading my CV.. (I will make sure I attach a photo of me to show I look human)..
Ok, I’m missing up the topic, back on the class yesterday, it was very nice to see how easy is still for me to pick up the programming basics, and I think I do understand it better now. Most of you don’t know but before I chose to get a biology degree I did a bit of computer science engineering, so got to know some programming.. Lets see how it goes from now on..
Another new year's resolution was to start doing sports, bought the university gold card that gives me free pass to any sportive activity and I am now committed to go to the gymnasium at least 3x a week and I will try to do some swimming too. There is the need to finish up with my unhealthy life here, eating rubbish and not doing any sports, I am decided to move up and become healthy again :))) (not something I have ever been, but at least I used to eat less grease and exercise more)
PhD is back on track now, back to the lab experiments and to the results, I will have my first viva soon, not yet know the date, but soon, afterwards whether I pass it (hopefully will, my God cant even think of the contrary), I will be an MPhil (??? hell???).. but the good thing is closer to the PhD award!
And that the mid of the officially first week back in Notts, a lot is certainly coming, I am quite exciting and happy :) have fun!!
Back on PhD stuff conversations and posts, as part of my PhD program I have to attend for these workshops to get 20 credits for my first year. Therefore until the 3rd of March I have to get 20 credits. This course, has then a few plus and convenient sides, and hopefully will be a lot more interesting than the ones I went before, getting me 8 credits, helps me recalling the basics of programming (something I did for a little while in the past), and that is now a tool important for my own PhD project since I intend to start my mathematical modelling and I need to do some programming for that... On the other side (not too bad though), it makes me a bit more geeky with the PhD in biomedical science slash biochemistry comprising a lot of computational biophysics and mathematics and with some programming background makes me someone no ones wants to meet once reading my CV.. (I will make sure I attach a photo of me to show I look human)..
What Kind of geek are you?
(click to enlarge and find yourself)
(click to enlarge and find yourself)
Ok, I’m missing up the topic, back on the class yesterday, it was very nice to see how easy is still for me to pick up the programming basics, and I think I do understand it better now. Most of you don’t know but before I chose to get a biology degree I did a bit of computer science engineering, so got to know some programming.. Lets see how it goes from now on..
I am starting with Java, therefore I still dont have a proper geeky gang signs, but I am gonna finish with C++, so I am glad I will, LOLOLOL
Another new year's resolution was to start doing sports, bought the university gold card that gives me free pass to any sportive activity and I am now committed to go to the gymnasium at least 3x a week and I will try to do some swimming too. There is the need to finish up with my unhealthy life here, eating rubbish and not doing any sports, I am decided to move up and become healthy again :))) (not something I have ever been, but at least I used to eat less grease and exercise more)
PhD is back on track now, back to the lab experiments and to the results, I will have my first viva soon, not yet know the date, but soon, afterwards whether I pass it (hopefully will, my God cant even think of the contrary), I will be an MPhil (??? hell???).. but the good thing is closer to the PhD award!
And that the mid of the officially first week back in Notts, a lot is certainly coming, I am quite exciting and happy :) have fun!!
Monday, 8 December 2008
Before I forget: schedule of my Xmas holidays
Dear friends, before I forget I must post the schedule of my Christmas holidays, so that if you will be in Portugal (like me) for Christmas you will know when I am available to see you. Since I became an "emigrant" my time in Portugal is very restricted therefore I will try to see everyone just please be available :) and remember to book in advance lolololol
-Arrival on the 17th!! YEAHHH I cant wait to land in Lisbon airport!! This day is reserved for my parents and family. Fully booked!
- 18th Dec: Morning and afternoon I will go to the hairdresser (more or less the first thing I do once I get to Portugal every time, I cant risk going to the hairdresser here, I am afraid of two things: price but more important, the final result.. if you know me well you might know how complicated is to do something with my hair, cannot dispense my personal hairdresser also my friend);
-18th Dec in the evening I have dinner with my very best friends and we will go for a couple of drinks.
-19th Dec I leave Lisbon in the morning towards (I am not going to tell you) for a very relaxing time
- 23rd Dec I should be back in Lisbon in the evening
- 24th whole day and evening.. Xmas is for family
- 25th the same but in the evening is Xmas night out (friends!!!)
- 30th going to Alentejo for New years celebration
- 2nd Jan 2009!! Back in Lisbon
- 7th Jan departure, the end of Xmas holidays.
So basically, I still have time left between the 26th and the 29th of Dec and in the beginning of January.
And now I have to "enjoy" the last week before holidays., still so much to do here, report with the last few corrections, Xmas presents to buy, xmas cards to buy and to post, etc etc.. my God... Have fun!
-Arrival on the 17th!! YEAHHH I cant wait to land in Lisbon airport!! This day is reserved for my parents and family. Fully booked!
- 18th Dec: Morning and afternoon I will go to the hairdresser (more or less the first thing I do once I get to Portugal every time, I cant risk going to the hairdresser here, I am afraid of two things: price but more important, the final result.. if you know me well you might know how complicated is to do something with my hair, cannot dispense my personal hairdresser also my friend);
-18th Dec in the evening I have dinner with my very best friends and we will go for a couple of drinks.
-19th Dec I leave Lisbon in the morning towards (I am not going to tell you) for a very relaxing time
- 23rd Dec I should be back in Lisbon in the evening
- 24th whole day and evening.. Xmas is for family
- 25th the same but in the evening is Xmas night out (friends!!!)
- 30th going to Alentejo for New years celebration
- 2nd Jan 2009!! Back in Lisbon
- 7th Jan departure, the end of Xmas holidays.
So basically, I still have time left between the 26th and the 29th of Dec and in the beginning of January.
And now I have to "enjoy" the last week before holidays., still so much to do here, report with the last few corrections, Xmas presents to buy, xmas cards to buy and to post, etc etc.. my God... Have fun!
Friday, 28 November 2008
Visitors from the 5 continents!!
Dear readers, this post is dedicated to you as a reader, does not matter how much of my blog you read, if you came by chance or if you follow my blog. Obviously I care a little more about those who follow my blog but that is just natural I guess. Anyway I do thank you all for your visits and although I know my blog does not teach anything to anyone I try to give a record of a normal, sometimes boring, other times very exciting PhD student life. It goes also beyond my PhD as fortunately my life is not restricted to it but sometimes it does take a lot of time and life out of me indeed..
Today I looked carefully at the visitors map and realized I have got visitors from all over the world, actually from the 5 continents :) As expecting the majority of my reader are in the UK and in Portugal, where btw are my friends too. Nevertheless, my biggest surprise comes from the amount of visitors from Asia, very nice!
Overall, thank you very much! I am keeping you posted ;)
Today I looked carefully at the visitors map and realized I have got visitors from all over the world, actually from the 5 continents :) As expecting the majority of my reader are in the UK and in Portugal, where btw are my friends too. Nevertheless, my biggest surprise comes from the amount of visitors from Asia, very nice!
Overall, thank you very much! I am keeping you posted ;)
Thursday, 13 November 2008
McBeth, Blackout and SuperBOCK in Nottingham UK
Yesterday evening I decided to make a brake on my report progress (not that it is progressing very fast) and went to enjoy a short time with some friends and get a bit of a relief from this painful life I have got.
We went to the theatre in Nottingham. It was the first time I have been to the theatre besides Nottingham has a massive cultural offer, there's always events going on. There is a big stage, called Nottingham arena where concerts take place, and all the famous international bands come here from time to time. There will be a Metallica concert here in February, for example and I just realize Prodigy is coming in April, I have to go! I went there to see Whitesnake, in July.
Nottingham has got two main theatres, a modern and an old one; Yesterday, I went to the modern one to watch McBeth by William Shakespeare. My expectations were quite high because I had the idea that I watch it before, as an adapted version for opera in Moscow. However, I soon understood I was completely wrong and it has nothing to do with that. The play was generally pretty boring; I did not fall asleep as I could but found myself thinking about my life several times instead of following the play, but did not miss the story or its content. Indeed it could have been done in 15 minutes instead of two hours.. actually it took a little bit more (ihihihi).. I dont want to spoil you the story, perhaps you want to go and see it but in the end I have got the impression that whatever genius present on that script was lost with time and nowadays there is nothing much interesting in couples of monologues about power, life and sorrow, stupid fake murders followed by psychological depressive monologues ending with a sword battle done by two apprentices on their first class which made me feel sorry for them.
So what could happen to make it really different? Add a bit of a special effect, put the actors interacting with the public or interrupt the play with a trembling voice encrypted by fear after a sudden blackout and tell everyone to evacuate the room as soon as possible! (Was a bit creepy, everyone thought there was a big deal) This is very unusual in England where people is a hundred toms more civilized than anywhere else, people left the building very quickly (but still orderly), someone had a panic attack and in the end that was just a blackout indeed! I was expecting something a lot more exciting, fire or bomb.. bah, we had to go back then to watch the 5 minutes of boringness remaining…
Just one more line comment about Mcbeth, I struggled a bit to understand the language (English I suppose).. some sort of archaic English and I bet you that most of the English people present didn’t understand much more than me I am afraid.. that made it even more boring..
The whole thing was not that bad but I will be sure I will not go again and next after comes my favourite part. We went to Nandos, which pretends to be a Portuguese chain restaurant, but at least they sell portuguese beer! We got there at 10:25 and hardly got served, you know here in England dinner its served from 5 pm to 7pm usually and I am afraid they only serve until later sometimes because of the foreigners here.. It’s ridiculous!! And so annoying!!
We could get the food and I have got my SuperBock! Very nice though :)
We went to the theatre in Nottingham. It was the first time I have been to the theatre besides Nottingham has a massive cultural offer, there's always events going on. There is a big stage, called Nottingham arena where concerts take place, and all the famous international bands come here from time to time. There will be a Metallica concert here in February, for example and I just realize Prodigy is coming in April, I have to go! I went there to see Whitesnake, in July.
Nottingham has got two main theatres, a modern and an old one; Yesterday, I went to the modern one to watch McBeth by William Shakespeare. My expectations were quite high because I had the idea that I watch it before, as an adapted version for opera in Moscow. However, I soon understood I was completely wrong and it has nothing to do with that. The play was generally pretty boring; I did not fall asleep as I could but found myself thinking about my life several times instead of following the play, but did not miss the story or its content. Indeed it could have been done in 15 minutes instead of two hours.. actually it took a little bit more (ihihihi).. I dont want to spoil you the story, perhaps you want to go and see it but in the end I have got the impression that whatever genius present on that script was lost with time and nowadays there is nothing much interesting in couples of monologues about power, life and sorrow, stupid fake murders followed by psychological depressive monologues ending with a sword battle done by two apprentices on their first class which made me feel sorry for them.
So what could happen to make it really different? Add a bit of a special effect, put the actors interacting with the public or interrupt the play with a trembling voice encrypted by fear after a sudden blackout and tell everyone to evacuate the room as soon as possible! (Was a bit creepy, everyone thought there was a big deal) This is very unusual in England where people is a hundred toms more civilized than anywhere else, people left the building very quickly (but still orderly), someone had a panic attack and in the end that was just a blackout indeed! I was expecting something a lot more exciting, fire or bomb.. bah, we had to go back then to watch the 5 minutes of boringness remaining…
Just one more line comment about Mcbeth, I struggled a bit to understand the language (English I suppose).. some sort of archaic English and I bet you that most of the English people present didn’t understand much more than me I am afraid.. that made it even more boring..
The whole thing was not that bad but I will be sure I will not go again and next after comes my favourite part. We went to Nandos, which pretends to be a Portuguese chain restaurant, but at least they sell portuguese beer! We got there at 10:25 and hardly got served, you know here in England dinner its served from 5 pm to 7pm usually and I am afraid they only serve until later sometimes because of the foreigners here.. It’s ridiculous!! And so annoying!!
We could get the food and I have got my SuperBock! Very nice though :)
Friday, 7 November 2008
How to be the perfect girlfriend
I couldn’t resist putting this video on my blog and thats dedicated to all my male friends! You guys are a bit of a pre-historical beings right? Look at the amount and sort of things that make men happy and self realised... Its unbelievable how can you use the brain sometimes..
PS: Women still love men.
PS1:Women will always love men.
PS2: Men cannot live without women.
PS3: there are perfect girlfriends but not perfect men!
PS: Women still love men.
PS1:Women will always love men.
PS2: Men cannot live without women.
PS3: there are perfect girlfriends but not perfect men!
Thursday, 6 November 2008
The world's new face
A quick post to congratulate Barack Obama couldn’t be omitted from my blog. The ones that know me properly also know that I am not a politics lover although I like to be generally informed. For instance I didnt give proper attention to the whole US presidentials, didnt follow it since the beginning and only started to pay attention to it 3 or 4 months ago becoming a Obama supporter, because for any citizen in the world it DOES matter whoever is the US president and that is not something that gives exclusive respect to the USA and its people; I am happy Obama is now the new USA president. I think yesterday was a very important day to the world's history and I hope this new president will make the difference in how the USA are playing the dice in the world context. I am happy young minds arose and gave place to what I believe will be a withdrawal of the US tyranny that was spread all over during the past 8 years. From now let’s watch it!
Get more info: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/americas/2008/vote_usa_2008/default.stm
Get more info: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/americas/2008/vote_usa_2008/default.stm
Monday, 3 November 2008
Halloween for the record
As I promised in the post about the Halloween I would leave one or two photos to let you know how I looked like on a death woman costume (I think I did not mention what exactly I was going to dress up) but now you know, there was place for everything, I saw all kind of costume but here you are me and my friends:
Not that scary right???
Friday, 31 October 2008
Happy Halloween
A quick post about the Halloween today, I am so happy I am going to celebrate it, I haven’t ever done so! Remember that in Portugal, as well and in Spain, France, Italy.. Germany (?), maybe a lot more places the Halloween does really exist and whatsoever is nowadays celebrated it has been imported from the US such as like a lot of other things.
But then it means that once a kid I didnt enjoy dressing up as a pumpkin and go knocking the doors scaring the neighbours and get a lot of sweets! Well, since I am 24 it just not applies to me anymore but at least I can go out at night dressed in a spooky, creepy manner and scaring (or not) whoever passes by.. (or there is also some girls who defend that the Halloween is suppose to be sexy! Then I would have to dress as a sexy dirty witch but then I think I would be even scarier! At least I am sure my friends would be a bit scared about whatever would be happening to me, not that I dont like to dress sexy but this sexy I am talking about is beyond what I find sexy and instead goes towards what is dirty almost pornographic.. you should come and see me in Nottingham and I will show you what I am talking about if you dont believe me... girls here are far too much...and too many!)
Alright, so I am going out tonight and celebrate the Halloween and I am happy about that! I wish you a very terrifying Halloween! Have fun! And I will put a photo of me later ;)
And because of the Halloween I found a very sadistic thing, quite funny though, remember these cruel bunnies?? Check them in the You Tube, there are several 30'' movies like the one I am posting, have a look whether you are bored!
Monday, 6 October 2008
Freaky weather, shity food and facebook
What makes England such an attractive place for students all over the world?
That question comes to my mind from time to time, because actually there are loads of students coming to England every year to stay for their degrees either undergraduate or post graduate degrees, also for Erasmus or other sort of exchange programs not yet to mention all those other people who emigrate here to work!
England or shall I say the United Kingdom although Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales seem not to be as attractive as England nonetheless they also get a fairly good amount of foreigners looking forward for a good education and a better work.. for such a phenomena that must be a good explanation of course!
From my experience and since I came to England anyway, my reasons rely on the very high standard research with state-of-art facilities open to everyone permitting top world research specially in my field where a lot of equipment is required to do a proper project with no restrictions, therefore there is a lot of investment in the universities and there is, indeed, a lot of Money!
Secondly, what makes England more attractive than other countries in Europe with as good research conditions as England? The language of course! Doing a PhD is already a lot of work; I personally could not be bother learning another language in the meantime, which would be crucial for my thesis and project. These are my personal reasons and I am pretty sure that whether I would come out with a survey about this everyone would pretty much go for the same reasons as the top ones.
There might be other good reasons to move here but honestly I can’t see any other strong reasons to bring me here for living, not that I wouldn’t come for visiting because the country is nice at some points, but that’s it! Please feel free to express yourself whether you feel you had other reasons to come here ;)
And now let’s face the culture... tcharan: Freaky weather, shity food and facebook are the key words when you are a foreigner. (I could make a song, a poem about this! maybe later)
There is not ever best subject for a conversation that British weather! Portuguese whether is boring, any other weathers... BORING, BUT, British weather is so crapy that there is always a wish to complain about it and because it varies a lot you can have twice or trice many conversations about the weather than in any other country like:
In the morning waiting for the bus: "Oh, its sunny today but its freezing!" and after one or two hours in the morning break for a shity coffee (that’s another issue by the way) "its becoming warmer isn’t it but the sun is gone, its completely overcastted and it seems that will be raining soon" and later on when going for lunch with the colleagues "its so humid, because has been raining for two or three hours and there's no chance we eat outside" in the end of the day when heading for the lift a lab neighbour "the weather today is pretty rubbish it has been changing all over the day", etc, etc.. At least, it is always possible to break the silence and just in a Monthy Python's style "always Look on the Bright Side of Life"!!
And now the really tcharan thingy which completes the story here and represents up to 1/3 of the time spent by a normal worker on its normal working day: The Facebook! this is a real phenomena.. moving to England? First question would be: Did you set up your facebook account? Not that you have got accommodation and a job, you might not get a job if you are not on face book! This is a serious issue! What is meant to be a leisure thing becomes more and more an important part of people’s life and its own part of the society by how do they interact on facebook. FAcebook is the tool to know more people therefore to enlarge your network, to be invited to the events to be noticed and to be known! there is no other place in the world where a gadget like facebook has been gone so far, and here its just a fundamental tool!
And now the overview of what I have got in England (from the country):
- Nice university that being part of my CV can give me a very nice job in the future wherever I go.
- All the conditions for my research as far as I am concerned there’s nothing missing!
- The opportunity to improve the English language and to become almost a native speaker, a skill recognized all over the world and that makes me able to communicate with a lot of people.
- Shity depressing weather
- awful food
- a strange society, actually I forgot to mention the alcohol which is a big part of the issues in this country but I will talk about that in another post later.
Any questions why?
That question comes to my mind from time to time, because actually there are loads of students coming to England every year to stay for their degrees either undergraduate or post graduate degrees, also for Erasmus or other sort of exchange programs not yet to mention all those other people who emigrate here to work!
England or shall I say the United Kingdom although Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales seem not to be as attractive as England nonetheless they also get a fairly good amount of foreigners looking forward for a good education and a better work.. for such a phenomena that must be a good explanation of course!
From my experience and since I came to England anyway, my reasons rely on the very high standard research with state-of-art facilities open to everyone permitting top world research specially in my field where a lot of equipment is required to do a proper project with no restrictions, therefore there is a lot of investment in the universities and there is, indeed, a lot of Money!
Secondly, what makes England more attractive than other countries in Europe with as good research conditions as England? The language of course! Doing a PhD is already a lot of work; I personally could not be bother learning another language in the meantime, which would be crucial for my thesis and project. These are my personal reasons and I am pretty sure that whether I would come out with a survey about this everyone would pretty much go for the same reasons as the top ones.
There might be other good reasons to move here but honestly I can’t see any other strong reasons to bring me here for living, not that I wouldn’t come for visiting because the country is nice at some points, but that’s it! Please feel free to express yourself whether you feel you had other reasons to come here ;)
And now let’s face the culture... tcharan: Freaky weather, shity food and facebook are the key words when you are a foreigner. (I could make a song, a poem about this! maybe later)
There is not ever best subject for a conversation that British weather! Portuguese whether is boring, any other weathers... BORING, BUT, British weather is so crapy that there is always a wish to complain about it and because it varies a lot you can have twice or trice many conversations about the weather than in any other country like:
In the morning waiting for the bus: "Oh, its sunny today but its freezing!" and after one or two hours in the morning break for a shity coffee (that’s another issue by the way) "its becoming warmer isn’t it but the sun is gone, its completely overcastted and it seems that will be raining soon" and later on when going for lunch with the colleagues "its so humid, because has been raining for two or three hours and there's no chance we eat outside" in the end of the day when heading for the lift a lab neighbour "the weather today is pretty rubbish it has been changing all over the day", etc, etc.. At least, it is always possible to break the silence and just in a Monthy Python's style "always Look on the Bright Side of Life"!!
Second reason one cannot avoid coming to England is the food (and it also includes the Coffee!). The food it’s just horrible! Sometimes I have to starve because nothing seems eatable! Mostly everything they have is chips (former French fries) and crisps (former chips) and other rubbish like a lot of grease everywhere, a lot of processed food, the cheese is bad, the bread is very bad, the ham is ok but very stupidly expensive, then they are a island but they don’t eat fish (can you get this???), and the fish they eat its fried on batter so again a lot of grease, them they mush peas and eat it with a big half boiled half roasted potato that they call jacket potato, and usually its accompanied by they lovely beans.. baked beans which are, seriously, really bad! And because their food its always bad anyway they end up putting a lot of sauces (and what they call gravy) in everything to hide the real flavour and give it an even more artificial flavour.. then their sandwiches with its inexplicable awful mayos and mustard.. thats just too bad. So traditionally a good lunch here is composed of a packet of crisps with a coke and a triangular sandwich, that in Portugal you only find in the gas stations and that even though are better then these here... The coffee.. its another issue, I cant count how many time I ordered a coffee and had to trough it away immediately because I couldn’t drink it even with 3 or 4 packs of sugar on it.. where are they getting the coffee from???
And now the really tcharan thingy which completes the story here and represents up to 1/3 of the time spent by a normal worker on its normal working day: The Facebook! this is a real phenomena.. moving to England? First question would be: Did you set up your facebook account? Not that you have got accommodation and a job, you might not get a job if you are not on face book! This is a serious issue! What is meant to be a leisure thing becomes more and more an important part of people’s life and its own part of the society by how do they interact on facebook. FAcebook is the tool to know more people therefore to enlarge your network, to be invited to the events to be noticed and to be known! there is no other place in the world where a gadget like facebook has been gone so far, and here its just a fundamental tool!
And now the overview of what I have got in England (from the country):
- Nice university that being part of my CV can give me a very nice job in the future wherever I go.
- All the conditions for my research as far as I am concerned there’s nothing missing!
- The opportunity to improve the English language and to become almost a native speaker, a skill recognized all over the world and that makes me able to communicate with a lot of people.
- Shity depressing weather
- awful food
- a strange society, actually I forgot to mention the alcohol which is a big part of the issues in this country but I will talk about that in another post later.
Any questions why?
Thursday, 25 September 2008
How to quit smoking and learn a foreign language in a short period of time and other stories..
Some time ago I wrote about celebrations which were not actually that important, but today I am writing about a very important one: Tomorrow I am celebrating one month smoke free what literally means that I spent one month, 30 days no smoking at all! I am such a brave girl!!
But no, I am not that brave and now you wondering what the hell has quitting cigarettes to do with learning languages and bla bla bla..
Easy and simple:
In fact this post is more about motivation and which kind of things makes a person undergo a certain effort to change her/his life! In my language we have a popular saying: QUERER E PODER, that means that wishing something is the way to get it!
And now the bridge to learn a foreign language... this makes sense here!
Amongst my group of friends we conclude some time ago that there are two major sources of motivation to learn a foreign language: either one learns it when a kid, in the cradle, or as an adult, in "bed". Of course, once a kid, the motivation is innate and comes from the need to understand the others and talk/express therefore communicate as a human being. From the adult perspective, that motivation is about LOVE! Ok, who says love, says something love-like and I just know so many people who are currently learning a language that they would never thought to learn as a way to impress their beloveds, or to make them happy, or to seduce them, or to date them, of simply to go to bed with them.. whatever the wills it entails motivation from the presence of a person who speaks a language one does not know.
But no, I am not that brave and now you wondering what the hell has quitting cigarettes to do with learning languages and bla bla bla..
Easy and simple:
MOTIVATION!
In fact this post is more about motivation and which kind of things makes a person undergo a certain effort to change her/his life! In my language we have a popular saying: QUERER E PODER, that means that wishing something is the way to get it!
And now the bridge to learn a foreign language... this makes sense here!
Amongst my group of friends we conclude some time ago that there are two major sources of motivation to learn a foreign language: either one learns it when a kid, in the cradle, or as an adult, in "bed". Of course, once a kid, the motivation is innate and comes from the need to understand the others and talk/express therefore communicate as a human being. From the adult perspective, that motivation is about LOVE! Ok, who says love, says something love-like and I just know so many people who are currently learning a language that they would never thought to learn as a way to impress their beloveds, or to make them happy, or to seduce them, or to date them, of simply to go to bed with them.. whatever the wills it entails motivation from the presence of a person who speaks a language one does not know.
So now I opened another bridge.. The bridge from MOTIVATION to FEELINGS!
The feelings are the other stories, that is so much about feelings and so many feelings in our human world and it is sometimes so difficult to control them: to understand them, to deal with them, to hide them, to show them!
But one thing one should bear in mind: feelings are a source of motivation! Motivation to learn a language, motivation to quit smoking, motivation to change life, motivation to travel, motivation to settle down, motivation to start again, to climb, to fight, to built, to stay or to go, to party and dance, to watch TV, to not watch TV, to change habits, to do sports, to smile and to cry and even to die for! And we can't deny our feelings, we can barely control them and they trap us sometimes taking us to situations that we think they could never happen! That’s so complex..
But not to make this post much longer because actually I just wanted to let you know I stopped smoking and I want as much people to know about this as possible people that I don’t want to let down and I think that will help me think twice before I lit up a next cigarette!
For those who read this and think about stop smoking or not and what would really change whether they would stop in terms of health benefits I leave you a list of What Happens to Your body if you stop smoking Right now?
by Wade Meredith on July 19th, 2006
This little timeline below is about some of the more immediate effects of quitting smoking and how that will affect your body RIGHT NOW (http://www.healthbolt.net/2006/07/19/what-happens-to-your-body-if-you-stop-smoking-right-now/)
- In 20 minutes your blood pressure will drop back down to normal.
- In 8 hours the carbon monoxide (a toxic gas) levels in your blood stream will drop by half, and oxygen levels will return to normal.
- In 48 hours your chance of having a heart attack will have decreased. All nicotine will have left your body. Your sense of taste and smell will return to a normal level.
- In 72 hours your bronchial tubes will relax, and your energy levels will increase.
In 2 weeks your circulation will increase, and it will continue to improve for the next 10 weeks. - In three to nine months coughs, wheezing and breathing problems will dissipate as your lung capacity improves by 10%.
- In 1 year your risk of having a heart attack will have dropped by half.
- In 5 years your risk of having a stroke returns to that of a non-smoker.
- In 10 years your risk of lung cancer will have returned to that of a non-smoker.
- In 15 years your risk of heart attack will have returned to that of a non-smoker.
So, you have more immediate things to look forward to if you quit now besides just freaking out about not being able to smoke.
But above all, smoking is not popular anymore, its not fashion, it is not cool! It is very expensive, smelly and useless!
I quite enjoyed smoking and for me the most difficult part of it was because I wasn’t doing it for addiction but it was the pleasure of holding a cigarette and drinking a beer while talking to people, etc etc, I got rid of the nicotine addiction a long time ago, the real hard part of the quitting procedure are the social meetings. I don’t want to fail this time; tried a few times before with no success; but NOW I have got a lot of motivators! And I don’t even have to learn another language!! :)))
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