Worth of Words

Today we've had a visitor speaker at uni (as every Thursday) and in the discussion was the topic of Marketing. I really am not a numbers person, I'm more into letters. Doesn't their combination give you a million more options than the combination of numbers? So there you go, that's one of my reason for being keen of letters/words rather than numbers.

Granted, numbers and maths can be fun too, but they are just not my thing. I promise, though, to give them another chance and try to live with them peacefully.

So all this topic led me to remember to this trend of voting for the most beautiful word of a language.
I know this is done in Spain once a year (the word 'Querétaro' was the winner in 2011)  and it was done in Iceland last year ('ljósmóðir' was the winner, it means 'midwife'). I personally have many favourites in the many languages I speak.
And now, I have decided to do something different this time, due to THE LACK OF INTERACTION IN MY BLOG. So I INVITE YOU, READERS to participate! Just write your favourite words, in any language you know, in the comments section!!! 

This could be very fun, and we all can learn words from other languages we don't know, we would like to learn or even languages that we knew but not fully! 

Clarification: This is about words that you like, not expressions you use regularly.

C'mon, let your imagination flow and participate! :D

My choices are:                                                                                       

-Spanish:

• "tarta": it means 'cake'. It might sound simple and boring, but it really gets to my mind a picture of a spongy, soft, creamy cake. 

• "hipoalergénico" : it means 'hypoallergenic' and for some reason, I like how it sounds)

-English:

• "Splendid": I like its musicality, especially when pronounced by Robert Downey Jr.

I'm...just...done.

• "acquire/acquisition" : me and my best friend Silvia fell in love with this word while taking the course "Applied linguistics to English language" and it really recalls very nice memories of those times).

• "dandelion": thanks to the fun and great Netflix's show "Orange is the New Black", this word has been taken to a whole new level. It's so much fun to try to pronounce with the same entonation as Crazy Eyes) 

-Icelandic:

• "strax" : it means kind of "right now" or "already". I just like words that contain letter 'x' and no way I was going to for 'lax' which means 'salmon'. Just... no.

• andskotin" : I just like how it sounds. This one is kind of a swear word that means... what? Kind of "fuck"? I don't really know. There aren't actually swear words in Icelandic, and if there are, they are too light, too weak. If there's a good thing to happen out of the Spanish invasion Iceland is suffering now, that is the creation of swear words. Believe you me.

So people, what are your favourite words and why? Play along!




P.S: I'm so happy for writting this, because I messed up with the format somehow and I had to fix it by working with HTML! So proud of myself :D 

Waterpolo in Aberdeen

If any of you know me well, you should know what one of my hobbies is.
Yeah, that's right, sleeping is one of them, but that's not what I was meaning.
Any more?
Sure, browsing dog puppy pictures on google is also fun, but that's what not I was talking about.

Okay, I guess that you don't know yet...
WATERPOLO!
I've played this sport since I was 15, and I've been always a star. But I never shone. And yes, I am very humble.
Now talking seriously, one of my biggest interests in life is waterpolo. No matter where I go, in which country I'm living, I always join for a team.
It is true that I left it on a side for a year, and believe me, it was a nightmare of a year. I'm not sure if it's related, or if it was the circumstances, but I was so unmotivated, always so moody, and very apathetic.
Now, in Stirling, I've joined the waterpolo team in univesity. I'm one of the experienced players, and for sure not the best one, but we have tons of newbies that are really promising. I wish that I had been that good when I started. It's so much fun to be part of a team again, and feel that "family" sensation. But what I enjoy the most is that people play to have FUN. To enjoy the moment, to learn and get better, to be social. And that's my phylosophy too, so perfect match!

Our debut as a team this season was on the 11th of October in Aberdeen. That's a 'very' big city (anything is big compared to Stirling...) that is in the coast. I didn't get to visit it, but we drove (*cough*,*cough*) around quite a bit and I really liked it. Call me weird if you'd like, but what really caught me was the cementery. IT WAS RIGHT IN FRONT OF THE SEA. How cool is that. If you are a sea lover, you can, (or could, since it seemed pretty crowded) be buried there and just watch the sea and sunrise everyday, for the rest of eternity. Call me crazy, but that idea delighted me.

Now on the Granite Cup tournament. THAT was just for fun. Rules were pretty loose, the pool had a shallow end (I don't care what people say: it's unfair, uncomfortable and against the rules, so SAY NO TO SHALLOW END IN WATERPOLO), games where short... but it was fun, social and I got to know my team members. There weren't even prizes! So it was nice. No pressure, just practise and learning. The games started pretty well, we didn't win or anything, but the score difference wasn't very big. It started growing as we played more matches, but it's normal. We were tired, out of shape... It will get better. Just some hard work is needed!

                           

Scariest part of the day was on the way back. It was dark, and we were running out of gas, with no petrol station around. And because that wasn't enough, the traffic was diverted, so it was even harder to get a service station! We panicked a bit, wondering if we would run out of petrol completely and that would be our end... but, in case you didn't notice, we survived. Well, at least me, but I won't tell what happened at the end. (Creepy).

And that's all by now. More to come soon.

Good night!

Glasgow and the Universtiy Campus a.k.a Hogwarts

Hello everyone! I finally had some time to update the blog.
Today I'm gonna talk about my visit to Glasgow. At first it was supposed to be about some paperwork, but then it ended up in a tourist visit as well. And a reunion!
So we took a train from Stirling to Glasgow. Not a very long trip, but the train was CROWDED by business people and other tourists. We could only find one free sit, and because I'm a very polite lady and frind, I let Lara take it and I just stood for half an hour until we got to Queen's street.
It hadn't rained yet in Stirling/Bridge of Allan. Or at least not as everyone expects rain to be in UK, heavy and kind of stormy, but alas! It was just like that in Glasgow. A welcome present, I guess.
When done with the paperwork we had to do in the second most terrifying suburb are I have ever seen (I guess that's what we can call "the Brooklyn of Glasgow") we ran back to the city centre, so we could do some city sightseeing.
You'll see, they say that Glasgow is not that beautiful. Or even that is ugly. But it's not. You just need a better day and  better weather. Let's face it, it's not as beautiful as Edinburgh (but few cities are) but it's not vomitive either.

In Glasgow, they are super funny and their statues wear this kind of construction cones as a fancy accesory. Still haven't investigated the reason for this.

 They also have this kind of beautiful-grey buildings.

Actually the city centre is pretty much all the same. We guessed (based in zillions of evidences) that what Glasgow has is a wonderful night life. It's in our plans to visit and test very soon :D

We decided to have some lunch, but we didn't want to eat something typical we could get somewhere else, that is, not chain restaurants. And we landed somehow in a very Scottish/Glasgowian pub that we really liked! The atmosphere really made you feel in the very deep Scotland. And also the wonderful and nightmare-y Glasgowian accent of the waitresses.






So when we believed we were done with the sightseeing, we took the subway (yes, they have one! With only one route...?) and went to the University Campus, which is also known as Hogwarts, since the school where Harry Potter lived his adventures was inspired/filmed in this place. And that was remarkable beautiful;

   

 Definetely, we made a very good decision by leaving the city centre behind and visit the University because it was wonderful.
So, for any visitors to Glasgow, my recommendation is that you take a walk around the city centre (don't go TOO FAR OUT, you might bump into some creepy gang) and then take a bus to visit Hogwarts. Even if you are not a fan of Harry Potter, because I am not (haven't read the books, have watched some of the movies...) and I still enjoyed the visit. There is also a museum, the entrance is for free and it's quite interesting. Especially if you are a science person, but once again, I'm not and still I enjoyed.











After that, I reunited with one of my old friends from my Erasmus year, and if you read my previous blog you will remember him!
And of course, after a couple of beers, some beating playing pool because I'm terrible and some updating, we took a picture to record the moment:

It wasn't very bad to see you again, Fran! Just cut that tiny braid off, please...

And after that we raced to the train station and came back home in a lot emptier train. Although the toilet had a very fancy open-close- door system that not everyone could figure out, so a woman was suprised while peeing by a young man. That was awkard and we couldn't stop laughing... Sorry, but I had to mention it, it was really funny! (I don't think I would have found it funny if it had happened to me, though...)

I promise I will keep you updated in the next few days!
Bye Bye

P.S: Today is someone's birthday, one of the most important people in my life that I miss like crazy more often than not. I'm really sad that I'm far from her this day once again, but still I'm there in the distance. Happy birthday, mum! You are the best!! <3 <3 <3

Of Mad and Men

 (This text goes to Silvia, because of her love and devotion to Don :p )

Today was the day. Today was THAT day, the day I was expecting for a few days now (and I'm sure there are more to come).
As you may know, because I mentioned before, we have to work on a publishing project of our own (so ideas are welcome!) and also a board that will function as an inspiration and motivation for the project. And when this was mentioned and shown... what did I think of? Yep, MAD MEN. I remembered that room, with Ginsberg, Peggy, Stanley sat at the table and thinking on designs... and maybe consuming suspicious substances.

But that's not all. We also have a marketing module, in which OF COURSE, I had to think of Mad Men, Don Draper, Roger Sterling, Peggy Olson and all of them. I can't listen to Marketing and Publicity lectures without thinking of them. It's so obvious, you can really relate what we are learning and how it works in the firm!

http://blog.wordnik.com/wp-content/uploads/mad-men-1024x768.jpg

But wait, there's more. We had a Design class today, which I actually enjoyed a lot. Might it be that I'll end up in books design after all? Time will tell, but today we talked about them. MAD MEN, the series. OH, YEAH. The day had come. It started with the teacher asking who watches the tv series. You know how many rised their hand? ... one person. And yeah, that person was me. I felt kind of a freak, but then the teacher mentioned something on the design timeline about publicity ethics that only I could understand :) That is that there were no ethics in advertising, basically...
BUT when I thought that there wouldn't be more, THERE IT WAS. A picture of an article on Don Draper/Jon Hamm. What a wonderful caption of this man, and what a fascinating layout of the article. I couldn't be happier: I was enjoying the lecture and one of my favourite shows was mentioned in class! I wish I could set the picture here so you could see what a piece of art it was, and the references that it suggests... if I find it, I will show it to you!

You might think that this not remarkable, or wondering why I talk about this in my blog. Well, it's about design, and it's about creating. I think there's no more creative series on tv at this current time than Mad Men. And also the fact that the dynamics on SCDP and a publishing house are kind of similar, and there are many other elements into cosideration. And I felt proud of myself for watching such an interesting and somehow productive tv show!

...I can only hope not to end up as Ginsberg...