I'm a Coffeeholic

Reading makes you better. And ALIVE.

2011-09-15T15:42:00.000+02:00

I never even thought about the possibility of online dating. Mostly, because I know myself well enough and I am pretty certain I would never show up at a date with a perfect stranger I only talked to on the internet. I could do it (and actually did it) with friends I've know for years through our blogs or the one forum I litterally grown up in. But I'm way too shy when it comes to supposedly romantic relationship, so online dating could never really work for me. To be fair, dating could never really work for me either - I've actually never been on a real date with someone when we still were not "officially" a couple. I always ended up with friends I regularly hang up with, so the stress of the first date was never as high as it could have been, had I not known the other person well enough.
Anyway, a friend of mine of the aforementioned forum showed in her signature her result to a test about "how much of a nerd/geek/dork" you are. I asked where she took it because, of course, I wanted to take it too - I'm into this kind of things. She answered she took it on okcupid, so I decided to join in just to take the test. It was incredibly funny, and I ended up as a "Modern, cool nerd" (is there such a thing as a COOL nerd?).

I was going to forget about the site completely, when I found out then one way for the website to make matches is having the users answering hundreds of questions, much of them pretty interesting. So, I spent both my coffee-break yesterday answering those questions. Today, I found out the site, on the base of those answers, thinks me to be more independent, less old-fashioned and way more literary the most of other straight women. Now, I know I should not get excited over this kind of things, but I always do. I do love people (and websites, too, yes) to recognize that my love for books, movies and tv series, and my costant searching for informations of all kind on google, if not browsing the (not so great) public library of my town, are not completely useless. My family thinks I'm wasting my time, while I would never trade my studying a little less but knowing a deal more than they do with their great academic success, which goes paired with a non-existent knowledge of everything else.

I think the reason to this is my curiosity. I cannot help but get interested in all sort of topics, and study them even if it is not required to. It makes me sorry to see that people I love do not see any merit in this; when they feel kind, they just joke about it, but there are times when I feel almost under attack because they think that I'm dispersing my energies. Would they rather have me unhappy and/or bored ot that? I know I probably do too much, or at least way more than other people my age do; and that other people my age have better academic results - but can parents really pride themselves of children who only study and hang out with their friends? They never read a novel, or poetry, nor watch an interesting movie or, I don't know, feel interested about politics and such. The wake up, then go to class, then go back home, study, go to a pub, then back to sleep. Every day. Sometimes, instead than going to class they take an exam, but still. I could never be happy living like this, I would feel like a tiger in a cage.

still here, still alive

2011-08-30T19:01:00.002+02:00

Oh my, it's been months since I last published a post on this blog. I'm a horrible, horrible blogger, I know.

Moreover, I only just realized how screwed up the layout looks on firefox. I promise I will fix it as soon as possible - or, at least, as soon as my brains recover from the holidays.

Why, why does everything always look so perfect on Chrome and then be completely upside down on every other browser?

Anyway, I just wanted to say that I'm alive. I've been through some accidents these last two months (I fell three times from the stairs, but I always woke up in the same spot where I had lost consciousness, never at the hospital, which I suppose is a good thing, right?), but I'm still here, all my limbs exactly where they're supposed to be.

I think I'll just stop the post here, and come back as soon as my head stops telling me that I should be studying, not on the internet doing nothing at all.

Reading time

2011-05-31T11:31:00.001+02:00

A couple of years ago, while I was attending my very first creative writing course, the teacher told us to think about the particular situations and places in which we love to read, and write about it - you know, say why you love to read, for example, in the middle of the street with a storm going on around you, and what you feel and think while you're out there, catching all the possible diseases, just because you find it funny to read there etc.

As most of the bookworms who study in college do, I only have time to read while I'm traveling to and from the university. When I was in high school, I used to read when I went to bed, but now at night I'm too tired to even think - but I'm not sad, really, because I never actually chose to read before sleep, it was a matter of time table really. Truth be told, I like it more to read on trains and buses than in bed.

I recently noticed that I have some "rules" to chose the books to read. I never read the same book during the first part and the second part of the trip: there's one book I read on the train and another one I read on the bus. On the train (which I spend less time then on the bus) I generally go for something "dull", at least according to other people. The train to and from Naples is where I read Les Miserables, Petronius' Satyricon, One, no one and one hundred thousand and so on.

On the other hand, on the bus I often chose science fiction. I don't know why, I only know that I don't like when I see other students reading those "serious and important books" just because the bus is full of professors. It looks too much like they want to impress them - never saw anyone reading the X Men on that bus, for example. Are they all really into russian literature? How's that even possibile? A bunch of people sharing the same brain. That's scary. So I read The Hichhiker's Guide To The Galaxy saga. Or even the Star Wars books, or the Doctor Who ones. The teachers are more interested in sleeping or reading the newspaper to notice what I am doing, anyway. Well, at least the don't notice me until I start giggling like an idiot (which happens frequently when I'm reading Douglas Adams). They don't care in the least, though - but the other students often look at me like I'm a little, stupid girl with the lower IQ on earth, which is funny. They probably have Darth Vader's blankets on they're bed, at home.

Random thoughts of a silly fangirl

2011-05-31T00:19:00.002+02:00

I'm in love with Benedict Cumberbatch. No, really.

I remember watching Fortysomething when I was in high school and falling desperately in love with this ginger guy working with homeless people, loving and respecting his girlfriend even though she had cheated on him with his brother, and being, well, I don't know...adorable (which is not the kind of guy I generally like, I must say). So yes, at first I had a crush on Rory Slippery. Then, I started being kind of a fangirl, watching a lot of movies and tv series just because Benedict was in them. I think I was the only one who liked his character in Atonement (he was Paul Marshall, the one who raped Lola and then married her), and I know I only did it because of how much I like the man.

A friend of mine used to say that I like him because he's ginger, and that's enough for me to fall in love with anyone (which, by the way, is not completely false - I didn't have a lot of boyfriends, yet I had more ginger boyfriends than anyone I know). But I absolutely adore him now that he dyed his hair black for Sherlock (one of my favourite tv series ever, I should say, and it's not only because of Benedict - or one of my other imaginary boyfriends, Martin Freeman, who plays Watson - I think it has more to do with the fact that it's written by Steven Moffat).

I don't think anyone cares about it, but I thought that he deserved a brief post in my blog.

About blogging and stuff

2011-05-27T18:17:00.004+02:00

I've been talking a lot about being a blogger and how blogging affects my life, lately. Mostly, it's because I've never hidden the fact that I'm a blogger, even if I don't go around giving my url(s) to everyone, inviting people to "come over" and "tell me what you think, leave a comment" - I've done so, a couple of years ago (probably even more), leaving a link to my blog in my info page on facebook. I don't accept everyone, on Fb, I have a lot of friends but most of them are my relatives and close friends, or kids I worked with as a babysitter, an animator or an educator, so it wouldn't be a problem for me to have them reading what I write. It turned out I shouldn't have trust people so much, if they have nothing to hurt you with or for, but they want to hurt you, they'll find a way to do it.

Anyway, people know I'm a blogger, so they often ask me about it - about ANYTHING, actually. It looks like non-blogger people think that the very fact that you have a blog means that you have something to say about every little thing that crosses their mind. By the way, a lot of people have been asking me if I had my own domain. Then I've been talking about self-hosting and whether buying a domain for a personal blog is a wise way to spend money or not on 20something bloggers. So that's how I arrived to write this post.

I want to be honest, I couldn't buy my own domain right now, even if I wanted too. I already have two different domains to pay for, and even if they're the less expensive I could find, they still cause me some financial "disorder". But I cannot give them up, since I need them for work (well, actually, one of them is supposed to be my journalistic portfolio, but I can't update it because it looks like none of my ex bosses will take five seconds to sign a note in which they give me permission to publish my articles on the web - but I will give it another year try, before accepting the situation and say goodbye to my idea of a personal portfolio).

Anyway, even without the financial question, I don't think I would ever buy a domain for my personal blog.

I do love my blog(s), blogging is often they only way I have to relax a bit, forgetting about how crazy and messy my life is. I started blogging when I was a child, and I doubt I would ever be able to stop (I tried after the not-so-nice experience I mentioned before, but after three months I was already online with a new blog). But PAYING to do it?

It's ok if this could give you some kind of advantage, like the possibility to better customize your blog. But even then, if I were you I'd take a look around before paying for something that surely somebody else offers for free.

Example: paying for the full customization of the themes on wordpress.com. Seriously, guys? There's a lot of web hosting services waiting to host your wp-based blog FOR FREE. You don't know any of them? Google "free web hosting", it'll lead you to Narnia. You're not able to upload wp via ftp? Google "how to upload wordpress via ftp", it'll lead you to Wonderland - and you'll learn something new.

At this point, there will surely be someone pointing out "ehi, ok, but this way you'll only have a subdomain!"

Yeah, well, of course. But do you really need your own domain for A BLOG?

Ok, it sounds cuter. Uhm. There are lots and lots and lots and lots of ways to make your blog look so cute that readers won't even notice what your url is. So: is this really enough reason to spend a certain amount on money you could surely use to save? My answer: NO.

Ok, it looks more professional. Nothing to say about that, except: do you remember we're talking about a personal blog? Do you really need it to be PROFESSIONAL? It's a blog, it's something like your secret diary from middle school, where you wrote about your crush on that kid that used to sit next to the window during geometry. Or, at least, it is so in more than 50% of the cases. So, if your job somehow benefits from your blog (either because you're kind-of-a-vip, or you integrated your portfolio in your blog and so on) then of course you should go for it. Without even thinking about it. If you can't afford to spend too much money on a monthly or yearly base, than you could start by using a free hosting (like blogspot, altervista, 000webhost ecc.) and only buying the domain with the redirect, it could be way cheaper.

On the contrary, if the only thing you can achieve by spending your money for a domain is that you'd look cooler to your friends, than please, PLEASE think about it twice. And thrice. And more. It's for you, really, your choices surely won't change my life - but there are most important things that a string of letters. You should try to improve your blog and make people love you for what you write and what you think, surely not because you've got a nice url.

(Not a) Summer Lover

2011-05-23T21:20:00.002+02:00

I was planning to go to London this summer, officially to get prepared to take my IELTS exam, but really just because I miss the UK way too much. Unfortunately, it turned out that I'll have to take at least two exams in a couple of days (hopefully three) in September, so I'll be forced to stay home to study all summer. Actually, I could join my parents wherever they'll go (they still have to even start thinking about the possible places to go to this summer, let's just say they're not the best organized people on earth), because I don't like to go to the beach every day, so I'd just stay in while they spend the day sleeping under the sun and then go out with them during the evening. You know, to be with someone. But I'm not sure whether I want to go with them or not. My father always ends up fighting with everyone for the stupidest things, and my mother would ask me if I'm studying and what I'm studying and when the exam will take place every five seconds or so.

It's weird because I feel like a tween who has problems with her parents, while I've never had issues with them when I actually was a tween with stupid hormones making me feel and do stupid things.

A lot of my friends will surely stay in town for summer because they have to work or cannot afford to go somewhere else. I could just stay home myself and hang out with them. The problem is, I'm not very good at staying home alone. It's not like I need somebody to do things for me, I just don't like being home alone and know that nobody is coming home to join me - even if I spend most of my time on my own when everybody is home with me.

And I'm not even sure about how the all hang-out-with-my-friends thing will work out. Last year we went to the bowling alley a couple of times, then people we couldn't reach started making a fuss because we were very bad people for not inviting them to join us, so we just stopped doing anything. Me and a couple of friends met each other casually and I forced them to come with me, because I needed to drink like my tenth coffee in the morning and we just sit there in the cafeteria for half an hour and then somebody found out and we became even more evil than we were before.

I know, we should stop caring about these stupid people, but we are somehow "forced" to see each other almost every day, so it's better for us to stay on good terms with them. It's either that, or our life becoming a hell.

So I don't know, that's probably one of the reasons why I don't like summer. I never get to do things I actually like - there have been only one summer I actually enjoyed my holidays, because me and my family went to Umbria and got to see Assisi, Perugia, Cascia, Norcia and a lot of other beautiful places. But my mother hated every second of it because she missed the seaside so I felt horribly and never asked to do it again. I don't understand why it couldn't be Christmas time all year long. It would be great, with all the snow, the presents, weird people caroling and the possibility to travel without being somewhat forced to take a tan.

The doctor's in, Charlie Brown!

2011-05-10T17:31:00.003+02:00

This morning, I finally received the Peanuts books I ordered months ago (It's the Great Pumpkin, Linus!, Get Physical, Snoopy!, Play it again, Schroeder! and Let's hear it for dinner, Snoopy!). This was actually the second order I placed, and the first one (at least according to the website) has been sent three days before this one, so I think I can be pretty sure that the horrible Italian post service lost my parcel again (that would be the fifth time in four months). And this time I really cannot forgive them - you can do anything you want to me, like, I don't know, tell me I'm ugly, tell me I'm stupid, trip me over, pull at my hair, or throw pencils at me, and still you won't see me mad (I'll just look at you with disgust, feeling so very much your superior and thinking you're too stupid to even notice it).

But DO NOT TOUCH THE PEANUTS, which means: do not lay a finger over my giant plush Snoopy, do not open my collection of strips, do not look too much to the Snoopy vinyl cover of my macbook, do not think you can try on my Peanuts t-shirts or my Woodstock slippers or my Lucy&Schroeder bracelet, and for Schultz's sake DO NOT SAY ANYTHING AGAINST GOOD OL' CHARLIE BROWN.

I have an insane love for Peanuts, as you may have already realized. For what I read about him (and I read his biography, Good Grief - which I liked so much I actually forgot to make coffee the evening I spent reading it), I think I'm pretty similar to Schultz in many ways. Surely, I'm similar to Snoopy - at least that's what a very good friend of mine thought, since he used to say that I'm none other than the human version of Charlie Brown's beagle. He used to call me "Little Snoopy Girl" and he bought me my first Snoopy wallet, and it was before I even developed this crazy obsession at all.

To be honest, I DO weird things like imagine myself being a heroine, or a great dancer and singer, or a football or basketball or volleyball player...unlike Snoopy, I don't do it in front of other people now, but I did when I was a child. And no, they're not just fantasies. I act. I imagine myself in a certain situation and start talking like it's really going on, even if I'm alone in the room (thanks to God, I would say). I'm not insane, I just find it funny. This acts are often prompts for short stories I write as soon as I have the characters well outlined in my mind, so it's not a completely useless activity - Just a crazy one.

I remember imagining to be held captive by Gaston from Beauty and the Beast and ask for help, then ending up falling for him. It was quite a heartbreaking scene, me crying alone in the cold cell, knowing that no one could save me - while I was actually just flailing around like a fool in my cradle.

I'm grateful that Freud will never read my blog - especially for the part when I fell in love with my crazy kidnapper. And he wasn't even good looking.

This is so similar to Snoopy acting like the First World War Hero on his doghouse, fighting against the Red Baron.

So that's probably why I like the Peanuts so much: Schultz wrote about me decades before my parents started thinking about the possibility of getting married, let alone procreate.
I already read all the four books (but it must be said, I already knew a good 90% of the strips), as a prize for having escaped from death in the stuck elevator and then killed a poor pigeon to spare him too much pain after being attacked by a seagull (yes, I'll talk about it some other time). I really hope the post service will find my books and deliver it to me, where they're meant to be, or this time I will ask to be paid back. Which means I'll pay the lawyers more than I spent for my orders, but I don't care. If I drink only six coffees a day, I should survive (it will be hard the first couple of weeks, but I'm sure I can go through this) AND save enough money to pay the lawyers, I think.

musings in an elevator

2011-05-09T21:40:00.008+02:00

I haven't lead a very interesting life, lately.

Mostly, I wake up, drink a lot of coffee, start studying, then I have lunch, go back to study, maybe go out for a couple of hours with some friends or because I have something to do (to buy), then go back home and start writing the article due in (more or less) five minutes - during the evening, I watch one between Doctor Who, Primeval or Glee, the last BBC drama or some old newspaper movie, then I go to bed and that's it.

It's not a horrible life, I quite like it because I love what I'm studying and even more I love writing (even if writing about beetles is not very exciting,when your dream is to become a correspondent from the battlefield). I even get to see my friends almost every day, which is more then I could say a couple of years ago. I don't have a boyfriend, but I don't miss dating at all - People keep looking at me like they think I'm the most miserable person on earth or something, but the truth is, I'm not dating anyone because I'm not looking for someone to date. I broke up with my last boyfriend because I had no time to meet him daily, but probably we could say I simply didn't feel the need to see him every day so I didn't try and find the time to meet him for a coffee. Then I didn't look for anyone else because I've been planning to leave Italy since I was fourteen and I'm not going to start a relationship I know is certainly going to end someday. And no, I'm not thinking about the possibility to stay just because I love someone too much to leave him. And I know I should not say "just because", but I'm not a romantic person, I've never been and I never will be, so it really is a "just because", for me.

Most important, I'm pretty good a girlfriend, I don't want to know where my boyfriend is, what he's doing or why, who's with him and so on; but I'm also the "perfect single". I have a lot of interests that nobody shares with me, at least not in Italy. I like sci-fi, dream about going back and forth in time (either inside the Tardis or with a Delorean, or even through an anomaly), I love reading Peter Pan, Alice in Wonderland, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and Harry Potter, and I absolutely adore the musical Wicked, and things like A Very Potter Musical and Starship. Most of my friends don't appreciate these obsessions of mine, and no one shares more than one with me. So, I have to dedicate myself to them when I'm on my own, which I couldn't do if I had to go to dates every spare minute.

Now, I know that being with someone doesn't mean you don't have a life of your own, but my point is: I don't miss having a boyfriend, because I'm always happy and overexcited about a lot of things. I don't say so because I've never been in love, because I've been, and I was so lucky because he really was (and is) one of the most incredible creatures on earth. He was a great guy, and we've been together for years; we even managed to stay together when he had to move to the other part of the country, and when he came back we were as much in love as before, if not more. We broke up because we had grown up differently, and we just weren't in love anymore, even if we loved each other as brother and sister. It was sad, of course, and the first five or six months I really missed our complicity, but that's all. I didn't try to kill myself, and I didn't start looking around for The One, even if that's what all my friends expected from me. They kept saying things like "he will come back to you" - but I didn't want him to, I was actually the one who wanted to break up with him in the first place - or "you'll find someone else, you'll see" - but I didn't want or need someone else to make me happy, I was (and am) happy on my own.

I think I should thank him for this. He's been the first boyfriend I really cared about, and the first one who really loved me; and we've been together for ages, and learned together how to be part of a couple. So, it was him who taught me that you can love and need someone without having to breath air from his mouth to stay alive. Being with him taught me how to be single and happy, because my life was all about myself even when I was madly in love with the guy. Which doesn't mean we didn't spend time together, because we did. But we didn't hold hands the entire time (like our friends did), or look at each other before making decisions, we just kept being ourselves. It was because both of us were really un-romantic, and even way too shy for our own sake. We didn't like to kiss in front of other people because we hated when other people kissed in front of us, and we didn't want to sit next to one another or look at each other all the time because we didn't like to show too much about our real feelings to our friends. So, we ended up not needing this stuff to be happy together. We just needed to know that we were there for each other.

So, my dear neighbor, that's why I can perfectly imagine my life without a man, sorry I couldn't explain all this to you in the elevator.

Vesuvius Day

2011-04-25T21:56:00.002+02:00

I'm, at last, feeling a little better. I already forced myself out of bed yesterday, to spend Easter with my family at my grandfather's house, but it didn't work out well: I passed out as soon as I arrived, then I had to stop eating and go back home because of the headache. Thankfully, I started feeling better in the afternoon, I've been able to sleep all night and this morning I was pretty well, so I could go out with my parents to celebrate Easter Monday and Liberation Day. My friends decided to spend the day in Sperlonga, at the seaside, but it was too far from home so I couldn't go with them, but I've been very happy to spend the whole day with my parents anyway, I actually think I needed it. We eated at Gianni al Vesuvio, one of the best restaurants on the Vesuvius, then after lunch we went up to the crater. Unfortunately, it started raining and we had to stay in the car, so I couldn't enjoy the National Park, which is probably my favourite place ever, but I felt very happy anyway. Just being in the Park gave me an incredible feeling of elation, even if I hadn't the chance to sit on the grass, writing nonsense in my notebook, reading or taking photos of absolutely nothing, as I usually do.

Now I think I should go and try to study a little, since I lost almost an entire week because of the flu and I won't have much time in the next few days since I've got a lot of work to do too.

All right, I know I'm going to end up watching The Ghost Writer for the thousandth time, but it's not my fault. It's Murdoch's.

Of mugs and bags and a sick blogger

2011-04-21T19:26:00.003+02:00

As always when I'm sick but forced to go out and do stuff I actually feel too weak to do, I cheered myself up by buying something. Specifically, a mug and a bag. Now, I know I was definitely not in the need of another bag, and even less of a mug, but I liked them too much - and I bought them at my favorite shop, these are the last days I can go in there and feel like a little girl, with sparkling eyes, amazed by all those things coming from Liverpool, that I cannot find anywhere else...so there was no way I could stop myself, I ended up buying these:

I've been courting that bag for the last twelve months. Rosaria bought it last year, and it had been there, hanging in the right corner of the shop, for the entire spring and autumn, then she put it away during the winter, so I thought it'd been sold. Then when I saw it today I couldn't stop myself any longer, I had to buy it.

The mug...well, it has no explanation whatsoever. I saw it a while ago, but I was with my mother so I didn't buy it (she would have started complaining that I do nothing other than buying mugs, bags and books, and I wasn't in the mood at all), then I saw it again today, and decided to bring it home with me. I could feel she needed some other place to stay, that shelf looked so crowded and uncomfortable...I'm pretty sure she will be very happy now, in her new family of mugs of all sizes and colors.

Now I think I'll go to bed, I woke up an hour ago but I'm aching all over, and I can't stop coughing and sneezing.

A shopaholic with a flu

2011-04-20T22:27:00.000+02:00

I think I managed not to be too horrible with my friends, this evening. I haven't been very helpful at the rehearsals, since I felt dizzy for most of the time, but at least I made an effort to be there, and they appreciated it.

I even found the time to go at my favourite shop to pick up the presents I had to buy - I actually forgot my wallet at home, but Rosaria saved everything for me (to be fair, she wanted me to take everything with me and pay tomorrow, but I really couldn't do it). I choose a phone holder and a funny card for my uncle, and saw a lot of beautiful things that my mother would really love - I hope to have the time to go there tomorrow morning after work.
I really love buying presents, even if I'm not really good at it; it's something I put a lot of think on, and if I can hand make something, I do it. So, to the must-do presents, I'm probably going to add some other little things for my cousins and aunt, and for my grandfather's nurse. Saturday I'm going to the bookshop with some friends, and there I'm pretty sure I'll find something perfect for my father. He loves to read, and loves books about football, thrillers and comics - I will surely find something cheap he would like.

Right now, I think a marathon of "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes" would be absolutely perfect. I have the hugest crush on Jeremy Brett, he's the one and only reason I bought the first book about Sherlock Holmes (I think it was A Studio in Scarlett). I remember watching some random episode (I think it was the fifth season or something) on Sky when I was a little girl, while zapping looking for a cartoon. It's been love at first sight. So, here's my plan for the night: The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - season 3, a cup of tea and the Glee soundtrack in the ipad, for when I have to go to the toilet, or feel like taking a break.

weekly activities report

2011-04-20T15:16:00.004+02:00

This is definitely not the best way to start a blog, but the only thing I feel like doing, right now, is complaining. I feel so sick it makes me awful, I would just tell people to back off and let me sleep in peace. Of course, my mother is not the kind of person who just lets you be, she has to come and ask how you're feeling every five minutes, and if you tell her you're not good then she thinks you're only doing it to make her worry and starts to glare at you, and doesn't stop for hours.

Besides, I have a lot of things to do (first of all, going to the rehearsals of the play the boys and girls of the Catholic Action are putting on for Easter) that I cannot procrastinate, so I must find a way not to be too bad to other people, and above all to endure this soar throat - yes, because I'm going to get surgery in May, but since then I'll have to bear this pain.

Other than that, everything is going fine. Easter break has started so I'll have no more courses until next week. If I'll feel better, I'd like to try writing a short story for "The Catcher in the Rye" contest (I know I only have 10 days, but I want to try anyway). No idea what I'm going to write about - I don't have a lot of chances to succeed, I know.

I'll spend the rest of the week buying presents, since my uncle's birthday, Easter and Mother's Day are coming soon. I don't have lots of money right now, so I know it will not be easy. I took up a job of copywriting a couple of weeks ago so I won't get paid for at least other two weeks, and the website I'm writing articles for is having financial problems, so I don't even know whether or not I'll get paid at the end of the month. Anyway I would like to buy everything before the end of the week, since next month my favorite shop will close for good. I used to buy all sort of things there, and Rosaria always gave me the best advices when I had to buy presents. She used to go from Italy to Liverpool to buy things to sell in her shop - but I was probably the only one to buy them.

This is a first post - handle with care

2011-04-20T13:11:00.007+02:00

Uhm, I'm not very good at writing first posts, even though I found myself in this position countless times before. Well, I think I have to say that my name is Laura, but I'd rather be called Laurie, I'm 22 and I'm from Naples, Italy. I'm a major in Media and Communications at the University of Salerno, and my dream is to become a reporter and travel around the world, looking for interesting stories.

I really hope to become a great investigative reporter such as Nellie Bly, she's my hero.

I'd like to go study in the UK, either at the City University of London or at the LSJ. For now, I'm trying to manage between two jobs, my position as an educator for the little boys and girls of my parish, and my courses.

I started this blog as some sort of an english version of my "official" italian blog, La Caffeinomane. If you can speak italian, I would be glad to see you there. Of course, this blog is going to be as important as the other one - it only has less posts, obviously, that's why I redirected you there. I don't think I will ever just translate posts from the italian blog to the english one, so this won't be exactly and english version of La Caffeinomane, but I'd like to say I'm going to follow the same "spirit". I will probably write similar posts in the two blogs, sometimes, but they will not be real translations.

I hope to find the strength to actually update both of the blogs without abandon one of them for ages :) (and no, I don't use smiles very much, I actually do not use them *at all*, I just had no idea how to end up this post)