If I were you…

Waking up and being someone else? Someone that I’ve always wanted to be whose life is the best life one can imagine. Sounds good. At first it’d be quite a stunning surprise. Then there’s only one thought: ‘our dreams come true’. In the end, I’ve gained the possibility of having a perfect life.

Recently, I’ve watched ‘The Change-Up’ that apparently could be a little banal but in fact it was a gripping movie that made me think. We tend to complain a lot. We often can’t see any bright sides of what happens to us everyday. One day we’d like to wake up and be richer, healthier, more beautiful, and so on and so forth. Is it really awesome to have everything?

We wouldn’t dream, so we couldn’t make those dreams come true. The feeling of achieving something especially long-awaited or succeeding in something tremendously hard that requires a great effort is priceless. So let’s stay when we are or maybe have a little more willingness to fulfill our dreams. They’re not so far away, however noticing them, sometimes takes time.

And all those little things that happen to us everyday are steps for our own fullfilment.  

Better me

Here we have a new year, new plans, new ideas, new aims. Every year almost everyone obligates oneself to be better, to change old habits into those more desirable, and to keep those promises as long as possible. Usually we stay in those New Year’s resolutions only for couple of days, several weeks and much more often we simply can’t hold on with them during months or years. It’s always hard to stop smoking if we do that regularly for 10 years or start working out if we are the types of couch potatos; or even such small decisions of everday life like switching lifts into stairs for our health or sleeping enough hours to feel good. And it’s understandable: if the list is too long, it’s more difficult to concentrate on everything. Maybe this year let’s make our resolutions list as short as possible, choose only one thing and take the opportunity to fulfill it. Firstly, however, it’d be preferable to ask for more motivation, persistence and patience.

New year suggests us that something new starts. So it’s quite good to give it as a pretext. However, a new day, week or mounth isn’t any different from new year. It’s worthwhile to remember this for 365 days a year. 

The new taste of life

Nothing happens without a reason. This academic year I was to live with three of my friends. We’d even prepared the list of our guests for the greatest housewarming party. We had looked for a spacious rooms to accommodate as many people as possible. We’d payed a retainer and we’d simply tied up loose ends. Unfortunately, we lived in that flat only three days and all our magnificent plans came to grief. We decided that everyone searched a flat on her own. I moved to the flat of my another friend with whom I’ve the most exciting story of our first meeting in Barcelona’s airport (but this funny encounter is worthy of more details maybe in another post) and with whom I live until now.

Her feel for not only cooking but also for being one of the most creative person I know, make her so special. Every time we cook she teaches me many various combinations of different tastes that I’ve never thought to eat together before. But it really works. I love planning our ‘cooking&eating days’. It’s so exciting. I observed that I’m a kind of ‘foodie’ lately. I read a lot of recipes, I think of my dinner’s ingredients in advanced and I experiment with newly invented tastes nearly everyday. But coming back to my flatmate and her originality in the kitchen. She is the person who obviously enjoys eating, but what’s more fascinating about her, is the fact that the whole process of cooking is more pleasant and amusing for her. It has its own charm. Every day she spends a large amount of time on preparing food. One of her favourite diversion, from which she gains a lot of energy, is meeting her friends at home. Do you know why? Yes, because she delight in preparing a real feasts for them. Lucky their friends J and me who can share a flat with her. Her hospitality has no limits.  

Her dream is to be able to organize her own kitchen workshop for what I really cross my fingers. Oo and when she starts writing a blog, I’ll let you know! For sure you’ll find some inspirations there! My task is to convince her to start it as soon as possible because I cant’t wait to read it! 

Language, language, language

Have you ever tried to speak with foreigners in Polish? It’s funny, isn’t it? They do their best to do it well or even to be understood but unfortunately it isn’t always clear enough what they really want to express. Personally, I love listening to their different accent, strange pronunciation, mixing up ‘ż’, ‘dż’, dź’, etc. It has such an inimitable charm when they repeat some phrases after you and it isn’t similar to what you’ve said at all. Of course, we shouldn’t make fun of them but sometimes it’s inevitable.

I wonder if there is a need to learn a foreign language if you live abroad. On one hand, if you go there with some of your compatriots you can communicate with them, on the other hand, if you are alone and lonely, the minimum knowledge of a language can be welcome. It doesn’t mean that you are going to plough through Dutch grammar the whole week before moving to the Netherlands. Understanding and speaking in a communicative level is enough. And studying a language isn’t a sudden change by night but a long process you go through step by step. Be patient. If you less concentrate on the fact that all the time you get to know some new words, better for you! You won’t wait too long until you observe an improvement and one day you say: oh my God, I can understand the majority of what I listen to from people who surround me. Moreover, I can ask in a grocery whatever I want without any dictionaries, improvisations, pointing with my finger out a product I need. That’s a real independence, independence everyone deserves. For that reason, it’s always better to be aware of the fact that the knowledge of a language even a minimum one is always more useful than nothing. Knowledge is power so let’s develop it to the fullest; it’s worthwhile. Maybe one day you’ll be able to speak a foreign language in a way that nobody notices that you are Polish. That’s gold dust but never say never.   

“The world is a book; those who do not travel read only a page

Absorbing? Yes. Enjoyable? Yes. Exciting? Yes. Traveling gives us the opportunity to disconnet from our routine, to live life to its fullest and it also creates unforgettable memories. Not only does traveling provide a sense of adventure, but it also opens doors to cultures, new customs and different ways of living. You also get the opportunity to meet different people.

Traveling by car provides all those pleasures and even more. We can move quickly from one place to another without wasting our time and waiting for a bus. The journey isn’t as fast as by plane but gives you a chance to stop wherever and whenever you wish. That enables you sightseeing and discovering unique and exceptional places. You have no limits preserving your privacy. Feeling comfort is important if you actually need a real rest. Maybe for the driver it can be somehow uncomfortable but you can stop by the nearest hotel or have a nap in a car.

More and more airlanes companies encourage us by offering very cheap tickets prices. Don’t we lose something when traveling by plane? Instead, we could see misterious and pristine places of which we’ve never dreamt before. Trying something new is always a risk but what’s more important, it can give you a memorable adventure. My motto that helps me go ahead is: ‘Nothing ventured, nothing gained’. This is why a trip by car is on my things-to-do list. In the foreseeable future I promised myself such a holiday! Only I have to save some money which can be harder than simply set out for a journey. 

Nevertheless, it doesn’t matter: by car, by plane, hitchhiking or on foot, the best of traveling is the possibilty of spending time in a way you want and with who you like to and at the same time enjoying it! 

Kiss life

As it’s my first time in writing a blog (ok maybe once I had to do such a task at computer science classes but nobody had to read it except the teacher) I feel that I’ve a big challenge ahead of me. There are so many topics, pictures, videos to choose and to put here. Every day is different and brings something new. It seems that there are no limits but... There’s always this ‘but’. Why do people tend to complicate everything including the simplest things? Like choosing the appropriate topic of your post that you need to write only once a week. It shouldn’t be a problem but unfortunately it is. It’s curious why. There’s no need to reveal our secrets if we don’t want to. There are many neutral topics about which we can express our opinion or a second option: we can always reveal other people’s secrets. We feel confused about our writing skills. As we are only humans we make mistakes. The topics we choose are boring. Maybe for us sometimes yes but others can enjoy them and elicit valuable information or even learn something new. Writing a blog doesn’t have any sense. Yes, it has. Writing several lines of pointless story somehow improves your language. Don’t require too much of yourself. Nobody’s perfect. Oh, besides, it can be an exciting experience for everyone, not only for writers but also or even especially for readers. Thank you for writing it! Maybe it will encourage me to keep calm and write a blog.


I hope you don’t have too many ‘buts’ in your life. Firstly, learn that life isn’t hard, it’s interesting.

Chocolate or vanilla?

More than five years ago when I was in me secondary school, someone recommended Poznań to me as one of the best and the largest academic centers in our country. I thought hmm... interesting. 'I would like to try my hand at studying there.' That decision (a little bit rash and hasty) was totally groundless. OK maybe two facts were decisive: I've had a considerable group of my older friends studying in Poznań and the perfect distance between my hometown and the future nest (100km). So here I am:)

We're exposed to make so many decisions and I wonder why even those that seem the simplest, come to some of us with a great difficulty (including me). Our daily life is full of hundreds of small choices. Such a big range of options that we're offered every day has a significant impact on me. I can stay in front of the shelf with yogurts in one market for half an hour and I can't make up my mind. Similarly, I don't know what to order in a restaurant after several minutes of reading a menu. Choosing the colour of nail polish or a t-shirt to wear on Saturday can also be confusing. 

But maybe the best decisions are those made spontaneously. How long we think our options over doesn't necessarily affect the quality of life. My (quite a serious) choice of Poznań as a city to study is the best example that it's not true. Many good decisions can be made based on intuition and without planning. 

Do you find a skill of good decision-making troublesome? But before you answer, test yourself:

What do you prefer?

Or...

My choice is:

Wish you good decisions only!