Pronunciation Post #2

Hey guys! 

As promised, this is my second post on pronunciation. I’ve found out further flaws in my pronunciation and in this post I will tell you how to get rid of them.

Rachel's English

Rachel is just great! She knows exactly what to pay attention to when pronouncing a word. Not only does she explain thoroughly how the tongue needs to be positioned, but also how to deal with intonation of every single word. What I particularly like about her is the way she sets up her explanations in her videos. She uses videos of every-day life situations like birthday parties, road trips or thanks giving preparations. In these videos, people are talking in every-day English and therefore use natural collocations and useful idioms. Rachel then takes out a phrase of what someone has just said and goes into detail about the meaning and the pronunciation of a phrase. Not dry at all and very informative! Awesome for practicing :-)
A great example: http://www.rachelsenglish.com/videos/how-say-happy-birthday

Amy Walker

As I’ve already in detail written about her in my previous post, I’ll keep myself short here. But as I still struggle with the “shwah”- sound, as Amy calls it, I like to watch this video over and over again. I hope I’ll be confident about the “shwah” in January, when I take the vocabulary and pronunciation exam.

Perception of Spoken English Test

I took the test some days ago. It is so good to have an “objective” opinion (even though it’s a test online) on how I pronounce words. As a German speaker it’s almost impossible to detect my flaws in pronunciation when I’m talking, so I am pretty glad that there are pages on the web like this one. The result of the test is really OK, I just have to be careful with differentiating k and g when used as final consonants, as well as p and b. At the beginning of a word, I sometimes had difficulties to distinguish the f and the soundless th.

Go and test your perception of spoken English here!

Minimal Pairs
In order to practice k/g and p/b, I do exercises on this page or- again- watch an Amy Walker video on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yuBQ-q_z_LM&feature=youtu.be 

This website also provides numerous helpful exercises.

TOEFL Test Preparation
In January, I take the TOEFL test. The test requires doing reading, listening and speaking sections. For the speaking section, I’ll have to talk about every-day situations, such as student life, hobbies etc. During the speaking section, I’m allowed to take notes for 20 seconds so that I can talk an entire minute about my chosen topic. I try to practice on a regular basis, so I get used to it and to acquire my strategy of taking notes in this short time. Additionally, I record myself and afterwards analyze what I could’ve done better.

Well, I hope you’ve enjoyed this post! If you have any questions or suggestions, I would be glad to see some comments!

!!Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!

Pronunciation Post #1

“Good pronunciation should be one of the first things that you learn in English.”
http://www.antimoon.com/how/pronuncwhy.htm

Today, I start with my pronunciation diary which is about my strategy on improving my US-American accent. 

 Admittedly, I’ve never paid too much attention to the pronunciation aspect of learning English as I’ve always been pretty content with how I pronounce words. I’ve always been well aware of the fact that English spoken by a native sounds different, but I couldn’t find out how it differs from the way I pronounce words. Last week I found out. I was assigned to record my own voice while doing some pronunciation exercises in order to get some feedback from my English teacher. By looking at the evaluations, I was glad my pronunciation is OK. However, a couple of errors were found in my record:

·         p vs. b: paper pad, bed, bee

·         voiced z: sizes

·         $ 27.69: read out a price

I’m glad that I had my record evaluated because now I know exactly what needs to be improved. So, after I got the feedback, I took some time to find out how to boost my pronunciation skills best:

Amy Walker
She is out and away the best tutor when it comes to acquiring an American accent. Because of being immensely skilled in talking in a number of English accents, she knows what matters most to imitate an American native speaker. She even has her own website, called 21 Accents, which is worthwhile visiting! I made a list of the vowel sounds that are typically American and I think I will put it over my bed or somewhere else I often see it so I remind myself of working on my pronunciation regularly. Another good idea is to record my voice (although I don’t really feel comfortable listening to my speaking) in order to compare my pronunciation with, for example, Amy’s. Basically, I became enthusiastic about this idea while reading Dominik Abe Berger's blog. Thank you, Dominik!

Antimoon Pronunciation Test
-> http://www.antimoon.com/how/test-pronunciation/test.php
On this page you can test your pronunciation. It will only take you 2 minutes and at the end of the page there is some advice what can be done to improve pronunciation skills, dependent on how well you did on the test. I took the test just some minutes ago and I believe I again did OK, although making some mistakes. One of the tips they’ve given me is to visit this website to download a software that apparently perfects your pronunciation. Unfortunately, I can’t afford buying it. Another suggestion on accent reduction is to look up pronunciations in dictionaries. Admittedly, I’ve hoped I can resist working with the phonetic alphabet. Well, but now I think I should really begin to force myself using it. Not only is it one of the things the website recommends to do to boost pronunciation skills, but I was told by actual people that it would be very beneficial. Ok… it’s time to give in then, I guess. But as working on my pronunciation is surprisingly fun, I hope that studying (with) the phonetic alphabet will be a pleasure too!

What is your approach to improving speaking in the one accent you’re opting for? Let me know, as I’m always open for new strategies and ideas :-)

That’s it for today. You will read more on pronunciation soon!

Have a nice evening!

Vocabulary Post #2

Hey you guys!

This is my second post on how to improve my vocabulary, as an assignment by my English teacher in charge of vocabulary and pronunciation. As I kept my first post on this topic pretty short, I've spend more time on this one. I'll tell you how I take advantage of the web, of blogs from other students and how I cope with acquiring 700 words I will be tested on in about 5 weeks. 

Of course, the internet offers an indefinite number of websites related to language and language learning. My problem, though, was that I never knew where to begin my research in this sea of websites. Thanks to my English course, I've already come across many good-quality monolingual dictionaries, news pages, etc. which proof to be very beneficial

TED is one of my favorite websites recently. Not only is it inspiring listening to "ideas worth spreading" but it is a great opportunity to improve English by watching these people talk. There are plenty of different topics covered such as global issues, entertainment or business. They certainly cater for all tastes. Watching these videos is an entertaining way to expand my vocabulary as I feel like investing my time in something that interests me and therefore makes it easier to keep new words in mind.

Monolingual dictionaries. There is no excuse not to use them and get rid of those bilingual ones! OK, it's not that bad to use bilingual dictionaires once and again, but from experience I can say it is more effective not to. My Top 3 monolingual dictionaries are the Longman Dictionary, Merriam-Webster and The Free Dictionary. I like the Longman and M-W dictionaries because it is easy to navigate on their websites, there are clear definitions of provided and more or less enough sample sentences. This is an important aspect, as the word is used in different contexts which makes easier to understand its meaning. I appreciate The Free Dictionary because I don't know any other dictionary dedicated to this great extend to idioms. By the way, dear reader, you could contribute to my effort in learning new words as well :) As I am still in search of a dictionary providing good collocations, please share your knowledge with me and let me know where I can find one. I would be very grateful!

For several weeks, I've intensified taking advantage of anglo-speaking news, like The Atlantic, The Economist, BBC News, and CNN and. Reading the news has become almost as relaxing as to browse through the local newspaper when having breakfast. The small difference is that you don't enjoy the usual buttered bread but words. A great diet, I can tell you and either way, your breakfast comes with a cup of coffee ;-) But frankly speaking, it is somehow pleasant to find a word you're about to learn in an interesting article. It makes it so much easier to remember it thanks to the context! Now that's learning by doing :) 

By looking at some fellow students' blogs, I became motivated to write words that are hard for me to remember on post-its (idea taken from Alissa). I will put them in places I often pass by to force myself to learn them. Another way to acquire a new word is to research of its word family (seen in Sohpie's blog). Although thi requires a lot of time, I can well imagine that this will have a positive effect on me expanding my vocab. In Marlene's blog, I read about SKeLL, the Sketch Engine for Language Learnin, which is a corpus for British English. Although I opt for American English, I believe it's useful in several cases. The corpus is easy to handle and doesn't overwhelm you with information, which some others do. 


To learn the words we will be tested on in January, I gathered some colleagues in order to create a glossary together. Writing down the definitions, synonyms, antonyms and sample sentences of 700 words is just too much to do the work alone. As soon as the glossary will be finished, I will mark all the words with (for a German speaker) a difficult pronunciation. Other than that, I might add some pictures I can associate the words with to remember them better. To support my learning process, I'll do the exercises in the Porter book, as if I'm not mistaken, all of the words are used from this book. 





With the help of these strategies, I am optimistic and I will do my best to take the exam well-prepared. 

Have a nice day!

Bye for now :) 

The pictures are not mine, I've taken them from 

https://fbcdn-profile-a.akamaihd.net/hprofile-ak-xfa1/v/t1.0-1/p160x160/528550_10150712204063308_54187003_n.jpg oh=6af64c48c917845a6ff72df808b1972a&oe=54E5A1B1&__gda__=1427379246_296ec762d190918a0ce793e94e14cf14 

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDw5PtsgATdNbgulkpP7H-SzGa7P7P3qJftbvwNeERe-Uxi05dRZ-N_8ORAc7YRuIwpqO7UcAXv4bVNnKH1SH9_KA-35XwzxbNlmi_NHSLH2i_sw0VPhfi0v__sFpHIbzQbTRevSZrKKQ/s400/The+Atlantic+Magazine.jpg 

http://kathywelton.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/14255682-teamwork-and-strategy-concept-in-word-tag-cloud.jpg 

Summary Writing

Hey guys!

This is my entry on one of our main topics in this semester, namely summary writing. This may do not sound that complicated, and with the right techniques, indeed it is quickly done. However, it requires a lot of practice to make a flawless summary. A couple of weeks ago, we were supposed to prepare a summary under exam conditions for then getting feedback from our English teacher. Mine was better than I had expected, but it had left space for improvement, that is for sure. I’ve provided my summary made in class with a correction based on the feedback I got. First though, I’ll give you a quick instruction of how I learned to create a summary.

 

1)      Don’t think too much and REALLY don’t try to understand everything!! (It took me a long time to actually get it ;-)

2)     Read the text and pay attention to the key aspects. Should the text be about complex topics, keep calm and try to infer from the language and how it changes throughout the text what to pay attention to. For example, at the beginning of the text there was positive language used for a new introduced theory. Throughout one paragraph, the language changes and there are words like “however”, “but”, “error”, “problem” etc. Later, you can find out more about it. For now, to see the development of the text is your framework.

3)     Read the text one more time and create a shopping list (subheadings with bullet points) and then a mind map. This helps you to connect your ideas and to deviate your text from the original. Unless you do a mind map, you tend to stick to the structure of the original text, which is not exactly the idea of a summary.

4)     Plan your paragraphs and add information when necessary.

As promised, here is my first attempt of making a summary under exam conditions. Here is the link for the original text.

Before

The article Great profits during the Great War? deals with innovations made during World War One and asks the question if this was done out of pure patriotism.

During wartime, Britain put much effort in improving the infrastructure of weaponry. Realizing that other means than private industries were needed in order to win the war, Britain established the Department of Scientific Industrial Research, also DSIR.

Numerous companies, however, refused to serve the state. The only company willing to contribute to the state’s warfare was the Marconi Company. The obviously patriotic company facilitated wireless communication for Britain during the war and made it possible to track German navy and airships.

It was evident that the Germans had an advantage over Britain due to interception. The British reaction was the invention of the Fullerphone , a device that hindered the Germans from   further intercepting.

Although the texts says that both Fuller’s invention and the support of the Marconi Company were a great support for the British to win the war, the Marconi Company was more richly awarded than Fuller. Both brought their interests into conflict with the British government, namely claiming to not being fairly compensated for their significant work during the war. Fuller thereupon reached the rank of major general and the Marconi Company was paid enough to become a telecommunications giant.

The text ends on an ambiguous note; how should inventors like these be awarded? Were they looking for recompense or were they benefitting by other means? 

Analysis:

• too many words
• weakly linked paragraphs
• sticking to shopping list- scheme
• some misunderstanding of the original article

After

The article Great profits during the Great War? by Elizabeth Bruton and Graeme Gooday in The Guardian of 28 October 2013, questions whether scientists and engineers provided the British government with their victory-leading invention for pure patriotism or profit.  

In 1915, the UK government established the Department of Scientific Industrial Research (DSIR), encouraging scientists and private firms to form industrial research associations. However, none was willing to cooperate with the state, except the seemingly patriotic Marconi Company. The Marconi Company’s contribution to British warfare resulted as highly valuable as the company facilitated wireless communication for the country. Most beneficially though was the tracking of German navy and airships. Another device the British government benefitted from was the Fullerphone, a device that hindered the Germans from intercepting.

At a Royal Commission on Awards to Inventors, the Marconi Company and particularly the Fullerphone were deprived from rich awards. Furthermore, The Marconi Company had not been compensated several years. A post-war dispute with the British government ensued with Marconi’s lawyers accusing the state of exploiting its intellectual property. The amount of the final compensation has remained unknown.

The article concludes with the aforesaid question and an open end.

Analysis:

• concise summary 
• well linked paragraphs
• using a mind map -> less paragraphs, different structure than the original text

As you can see, I’ve already analysed both of them but don’t hold back to leave a comment if you find more. I would very much appreciate it!

Have a nice evening J 

Vocabulary Post #1

Hey guys!
In this entry you're going to read about my strategy on learning vocabulary.
Acquiring vocabulary is doubtless something that takes learning and time. One needs to be patient when it comes to learn a language. It is impossible not to do this step by step because you can easily overwhelm yourself sitting before seemingly endless vocab lists. Of course, this isn’t very attractive and quickly puts you off. So, to know how to learn vocabulary effectively and for a long term is essential. Here is my personal strategy of extending my vocabulary slowly but surely:

In my opinion, a word can only be learned, if you use it passively as well as actively. In other words, I am not able to use a word when studied solely from a vocab list. This particular word has to be read, listened to, and spoken by myself. Otherwise, I am very likely to forget about it and have to look it up again and again in my dictionary. For example, I am reading some article online. I catch up a word its meaning I’m not entirely sure about. I look it up then, and write down its different usages and so on. But this is not enough. Additionally, I need to hear it on a different occasion in a different context so that I feel comfortable using it actively myself. To put it in a nutshell, my key of learning vocab is variation.

What really helps me to keep on practicing, are cards. I always write them by myself out of normal paper sheets in a college block. I cut them in small pieces and write on the upper side the word I want to learn. The other side gets covered in meanings, examples and sometimes translation in another language if I think that helps additionally. Studying with cards is like a game and it makes me remember words easier.

Lately, I’ve been studying vocab on the vocabulary.com website. Before knowing this great website, I preferred not to study online, as I think I am basically more concentrated if I hold a piece of paper in my hands, being able to highlight important information and not having to stare at a screen. But with vocabulary.com it’s no problem studying online really. You can create your own lists, share lists and learn them in different kinds of ways. So, again something that I like: variation.

Last but not least, the good old mind map, something that didn’t really interested me when I first got in touch with it in secondary school. Now, many people I know continually tell me how brilliant this tool is so I’ve tried it out (again) and I have to admit, this is one of the most practical programs when it comes to studying vocab. I still need to improve my handling with this new device but I suppose it will help me a lot in the future.

What are your strategies to learn vocabulary? Do you still stick to endless vocab lists or have you developed a particularly clever way to extend your thesaurus? ;-) Share your ideas!

The Economics of Robinson Crusoe in a Mind Map

My first year at university has almost passed…

Hey guys! This will be my last post for this semester. I know, you hear this almost every day, but isn’t time passing too fast? When I was younger I swore to myself that I would never sound like my grandmother and only a few years later, I already do J

Honestly, I didn’t know anything of what I would get myself into. I didn’t have the slightest idea of what the study I’d chosen would be like. I didn’t even know where the right rooms were. Nothing.
Everything was so strange at the beginning.

Although I thought I would need months to get into my new rhythm of life, in the end I got used to it surprisingly fast. I think this is because of the way the students at particularly my faculty are. As we are studying translation, we are in touch with very different people, from different cultural background. But we have one thing in common, namely being open-minded and tolerant towards others. Moreover, the cooperation between students and teachers is the complete opposite of what I remember from school. In school, I often had the feeling that the teachers were not really enthusiastic about being able to teach something new to students. Unfortunately, there was neither encouragement, nor enthusiasm in class many times. At university, teacher and students work together and I have the feeling of learning something that really makes sense and I can take advantage of.

In only 9 months, I have the feeling of having taken huge steps. I’ve learned so many interesting things that I will never forget. We’ve covered such a great variety of topics and each of them called my attention, no matter if it was about history or cultural stuff. There were uncountable aha moments in comparison to school that I’ve even enjoyed studying for my exams ;-) This makes studying in my faculty something very fulfilling. By the time, it has also got easier to cope with a great amount of stuff to study, for example vocab. Although I’ve had my ups and downs, I would say that I am a motivated student.

I’m really glad of having chosen this study. Although they’ve said that next year is going to be very hard, I’m eager to take more challenges in the upcoming semesters in order to keep studying what I’m passionate about and to continue expanding my horizon.

Let's hear it for the 60's!

Hey!

What comes to your mind when you hear the words 1960’s? Two things I immediately have to think of are revolution and voice. These two meaningful words indicate that in those 10 years several significant events occurred that changed the life of many people.

Imagine one day in the 1950’s. Women, dependent on their husbands, are in front of the stove waiting for their children to home. Men are at work to bring home the money. Life is led stiffly because of stringent rules you seemingly cannot change or escape. Blacks suffer racial discrimination on a daily basis (->Jim Crow). The Vietnam War starts. War again. It seems like the world got stuck in something that can’t be changed for many upcoming years. But then, the 60’s began and the world became completely different.

It seems like the calmer the 50’s were, the louder the generation of the 60’s became. It seems like people were tired of waking up every morning knowing that the world could be a much better one but no one was strong enough to alter the situation. Consequently, numerous movements emerged and finally started claiming for changes. No more war but more rights and equality for everyone. The movements appealed to people’s emotions and reason. Martin Luther King is most likely the most famous person that paid his contributions to the achievement of equal rights for Blacks. For years, he raised his voice and encouraged others to follow him. At the Woodstock Festival, Jimi Hendrix opted for something similar, namely peace and love on earth, supported by around half a million hippies. (Particularly young) people started to see that there is no point in war. And thankfully, vast parts of the population listened and used their common sense in order to improve the quality of life to many.

There was also a movement that required equal rights for women so family life was also about to be changed. First and foremost, people asked for equal rights at working places that were actually accepted by the government. Secondly, the pill was introduced. Consequently, there were less unwanted pregnancies that allowed women to be more independent. Besides, the birth rate plunged dramatically and marked the end of the baby boom- generation. The invention of the mini skirt, designed by Mary Quant, was both a sign of freedom as well as a trend that has lasted until today.

These are just a few aspects of what has changed in the 60’s but these changed were of great importance, if you ask me. What a feeling it must have been, realizing that finally civilians raised their voice and shouted out loud to end- or at least reduce- injustice and inequality.
Let’s hear it for the 60’s!

Culture Days

Hi everybody!
The end of this semester is already very near which means our great final exam will be soon. One thing I really appreciate about this upcoming exam is that we are allowed to choose from a wide range of topics. These topics cover different parts of the culture our teachers belong to, namely Irish and US-American culture. As my teacher is Irish, I will be talking about her culture in the exam.
Past Monday and Tuesday, Culture Days, as we call them, took place in my university. I was fascinated by the topics the students had come up with and it took me some time to decide which 5 I want to talk about in my exam.

Health problems of the Irish Travellers
The first topic I’ve chosen, is Health Problems of the Irish Travellers. Admittedly, I’ve never heard of the Irish Travellers in my life before past Tuesday. As I’ve been to Spain, I do know the gypsies from there, but I wasn’t even aware of the fact that there are such communities in Ireland as well, so I was very interested in what Nina Nöst was going to talk about. And I was stunned. How is it possible that in such modern countries as in Europe, that provide a proportionally high standard of living, there are still groups that have limited- or no- access to health services? They suffer a variety of different diseases, some more some less dangerous but in any case they could be cured with some improvements, for instance primary care.  

David Norris Contribution to the LGBT
My second topic is about David Norris, a seemingly charismatic person that paid his contributions to the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender community, LGBT. According to Kathi Luttenberger, the presenter, it must have been a very exhausting and partly hopeless process until finally reaching some more rights for homosexuals. For me, it isn’t understandable that people are still judged because of their sexual orientation and are excluded from society and discriminated against. Thankfully, there are personalities like David Norris who fight for the situation to get better for these groups.

The Vikings in Ireland
As I was truly a fan of Vicky the Viking, this topic immediately called my attention. During the presentation of Verena Roßmann, I was comparing the series to how the Vikings actually were. Of course, in the series some things don’t match with reality but sometimes I could see the similarities. The presentation was very interesting as it gave much information that was completely new to me and because it broke some stereotypes such as the Vikings being just evil and brutal plunderers. Moreover, it was surprising that the woman played such an important role for them.

Belfast- a city still split by the Troubles
Although the Troubles are long ago, the impact is still omnipresent in today’s society in Belfast. It is known that the conflicts between Catholics and Protestants came to an end when the Good Friday Agreement was signed. That there are still conflicts, however, is widely forgotten. It is of great importance to make several further improvements to actually spread long-lasting peace which allows removing of the so-called peace walls.

Is Irish a dying language?

As I am passionate about languages, I chose the presentation of Nina Mikusch for my oral exam. I was surprised by the fact that such a low amount of people can actually understand and speak Gaeilge, as the Irish call it. Nina told us some very interesting stuff about history and how difficult it was for the language to survive. She emphasised what a shame it would be, if Irish died in the future and I completely agree with her. Gaeilge is a language that has carried so much history that the Irish really should keep it alive. 

I love places that make you realize how tiny you and your problems are.

Hey guys!
I am sure you know this feeling of realizing how tiny you and your problems are, and isn’t it incomparably incredible?  I can remember having this feeling, especially when I was somewhere far away from home. Mostly, I was with someone very close which made the moment even more special. Here are four places that allowed me to forget how tiny I and my problems actually are.

Cornwall coast, England
In 2005, I was there with my parents and my little sister. Being on holiday with them is one of the greatest things anyway. But one windy day we went to a remote part of the coast that was only 15 minutes from our accommodation. As we came there, we realized that the tide was unusually high. Because of the waves splashing against the cliff we were standing on, we could feel tiny drops of water in our faces. It was exhilarating standing in the wind feeling the strength of the Atlantic Ocean.

Scala dei Turchi, Italy
I was there in August last year, with the « girls » of our family- my sister and cousin, my mother and my aunt. It was the first time we went on holiday only the 5 of us and I had a very good time. The first memory that comes to my mind is the trip to the Scala de Turchi, the Turkish Stairs, in Sicily. These “stairs” are basically stones that actually look like stairs and are up to 100 metres high. One extraordinary thing though was they were white! I didn’t even know that such thing exists, which is why I was amazed by it. We were strolling around there being fascinated by that beautiful landscape. I can truly recommend this place to those of you who are into extraordinary stuff.

Elafonissi, Greece
This is a very special place. If I hadn’t known it better, I would have thought my parents took me to the Caribbean Sea. I’ve never seen such clear, light blue water in combination with almost white sand. We arrived there early in the morning so five kilometres of paradise-like beach was ours! It was like a lagoon with numerous small islands spread over the entire bay. I think we were strolling around for hours and we couldn’t get enough of this natural beauty.

Grüner See, Austria
Grüner See means green lake in English and this is what it actually is. Styria, a province of Austria, has loads of unspoiled nature to offer. This is what people appreciate so much about it. The Grüner See though, is one of the highlights and it even scored best in a survey of a local newspaper that asked its readers which place of this province is worth visiting the most. Unfortunately, I’ve only been there twice but I can tell you that this place is amazing! After walking in the forest for a while, you arrive at the lake in the middle of firs and mountains. The colour of the lake is extraordinary as it is actually green because of the green algae. Yes, it sounds a little disgusting but it is possible to swim in it though. However, I think you wouldn’t do it because the temperature hardly is above 8° :)  

You've certainly been to places like these that just make you feel stunned and breathless. Which ones are your favorite ones? Can you recommend places to go if you want to forget your problem for a while? I'm looking foward reading you comments! 

Life is good when...

... you wake up and know that it's going to be a good day.
... you go to sleep and feel like having accomplished all you've planned for the day.
... you expend your horizon.
... you spend some great hours with your friends and your family.
... you make somebody smile.
... it's Summer.
... you think about how blessed you are to have every opportunity in life.
... you eat shushi.
... you think about nothing and listen to the birds singing.
... you can give some good advice to help somebody out.
... you have cooked the best meal ever.
... you do others a favour.
... they do you a favour.
... you know that your sister/brother trusts you.
... you have tidied your room and then drop into your freshly-made bed.
... you spend some time outdoors.
... you do sport and especially after you've done it.
... you live in a peaceful country where you feel safe.
... you have a good time abroad.
... you develop.
... you experience something new which makes you understand the world a little better.
... you discover a passion for something that you would have never expected.
... you are healthy.
... you surprise yourself.
... you have everything you need.
... you think about how good life is.
... you feel comfortable in your body.
... you feel like being capable of doing something that makes sense.
... you pass an exam.
... something makes you laugh.
... everything goes for you.
... you love somebody.
... somebody loves you. 
... you have the best family in the world.
... you run.
... you listen to some good music.
... you live abroad.
... you discover new abilities of yourself.
... you lie under the sun.
... you walk home from a long night, the sun is rising and nobody is on the street.
... you relax after an exhausting day.
... you can talk something off your chest.
... it's Friday.
... you have fascinating conversations.
... someone picks you up from the airport or the train station when you come home.
... you learn something new.
... you meet new people.
... after a long Winter, Spring finally arrives.
... you can be proud of youself.
... you know you are not the only one who is struggling sometimes.
... you dance.
... you learn a foreign language.
... you feel  like a child at times.
... you ride your bicycle.
... you relax under the sun.
... you can feel the crunchy snow under your feet.
... you are happy.
... you swim in the sea.
... you fly on an airplane.
... you look in the mirror and think "Today, I look good!"
... you have proved yourself that you can do it.
... you make friends.
... you know that you can rely on your friends.
... a child is born.
... you have a unexpected phone call from a friend.
... you eat your favorite dish.
... you sing and do stupid things.
... you have a good read.
... you play basketball.
... you watch a good movie.
... something unexpected happens that turns your boring day into one of your best.
... you can still be a child at times.
... you make use of your talents.
... you make the right decision.
... you take a bath.
... you know what you want.
... you achieve your goals set.
... you see dolphins in nature.
... you know you can rely on somebody.
... you are in the Buschenschank (see in one of my older posts)
... you are able to do what you want.
.. .you stroll around in the city.
... you have an ice cream.
... you have a job.
... you watch the sunrise/ sunset.
... you make the most if it.
... you are on holiday.
... you are outdoors and physically active.
... you have a good glass of ron.
... you dance salsa.
... you appreciate mental and physical health.
... you're walking on the beach and you feel the sand between your toes.
... you munch a good piece of Spanish tortilla.
... you travel to new places.
... you laugh.
... you do sports.
... you have bought new shoes. (Let's be honest, girls :))
... you have a pet.
... you see the good things on earth.
... you use your time for something that makes sense.
... you enjoy the little things in life.
... you are at home watching a thunderstorm.
... you drink a banana smoothie.
... you do snowboarding.
... you laugh about things that actually aren't even funny just because you have a good day.
... you achieve something you've worked for a long time and you've put much effort in it.
... you have a cup of hot chocolate.
... you meet the entire family.
... you've done some sports.
... you have a lie-in at the weekend.
... you go out after a long time studying.

I've spend some days thinking about what makes life a good one, and these are the things that came to my mind.
I know, this blogpost seems as if it wasn't the most substential one I've ever written, but certainly the most personal one. This list is about my attitude of "life being good", but I just felt like sharing my thoughts with you and maybe to emphasise that particularly little things make a life a good one. Yes, we all now this, but still this is often forgotten because of our everyday stress we have to cope with and bad news that put a constant strain on us, starting with reading the newspaper in the morning. So let's enjoy your lifes and make the best of it.. Start now :-)

The early Bird catches the Worm

Goood morning!

You might ask yourself why I am wirting that early in the morning. Well, I just feel like today is going to be a very good day. As I didn't do any sports yesterday I and I spent most of my day sitting in front of my laptop, I felt really uncomfortable in the evening. So, I planned to go jogging at 6.30 a.m. today. Yes, it is really very early and I was actually doubting whether I would be actually up and about at this hour but I gave it a go. And I did it! Now I feel absolutely amazing and ready to go. Last week I was jogging for the first time this early in the morning because I knew that once I am studying and concentrating, I won't leave the house. So, if I do some sports as early as possible, I can spend the rest of the day studying with an easy mind. The phrase The early Bird catches the Worm doesn't exist without reason :)

I think I've discovered my passion for running early in the morning. Only a few people are outside, you are listening to some great music and the city is yours! I don't say I have no difficulty motivating myself go get up and start running immediately. On the other hand, once I lose myself in the rhythm of my music and my circulation gets going, I feel incredible and strong. Indeed, I feel like nothing can stop me and as if I could run forever.

I think I am lucky to have a forest and loads of parks on my doorstep. There is nothing that bores me more than running along a seemingly endless street with cars passing by. This is so repetitive and predictable, which is why you can only find me running in the forest. You may think that a forest can't be a lot more exciting than the streets, but it really is. In a forest, there is always something different or new. It constantly changes, especially in this season of the year. As I haven't been able to spend much time outdoors recently, I enjoy it even more if I get to it.
This running session really boosted my energy level and now I feel like I could study efficiently for hours without any problem. So, let's go :-)

The ultimate Styrian food experience

Hello once again today ;)

This post is actually the correction of the text I wrote in my last exam. The text wasn’t really good, although I had a great feeling when I handed it in. However, a friend of mine explained me what I did wrong so my next text will be better :)

The very first thought that comes to my mind when I hear the words “the ultimate Styrian food experience” is a Buschenschank. I’ve enjoyed eating in these since I was a child because they do the most delicious dishes I know. For that reason, I would strongly recommend going there for your personal culinary experience. Styrians usually go to a Buschenschank in summer due to the good weather and the extraordinary views you get of the vineyards around you. I always enjoy sipping with a glass of home-made wine and having a savoury Brettljaus’n with my family and friends. This perfectly rounds up a long active and sporty day. A Brettljaus’n is just the best example of Styrian cuisine because it only contains regionally-produced food, such as cold cuts and cheese, fresh vegetables and home-made bread with a crunchy crust. Apart from the food, you definitely shouldn’t give the juices a miss. They taste far more intense so that you can have the taste of the actual fruit, which is incomparable to the juices you can buy in the supermarket. Speaking of drinks, Styrian wines are known internationally for a good reason. You have a great diversity to choose from as there are wines that have a sweet taste and others that are sourer. Nevertheless, the icing on the cake is Apfelstrudel, a pastry filled with home-grown apples that goes perfectly with a cup of coffee. Make sure you leave some room for that as well. Hopefully, I could give you some good piece of advice where to have a typical Styrian food experience. Do not hesitate, grab your friends and have a great day in the middle of the vineyards taking the summer sun. You won’t regret it!

How the Plague changed Ireland

Hey guys! Have a look at my first draft of my project work I've written for my English course at university! Feel free to leave a comment :)

In the Middle Ages, there was an epidemic that was spread rapidly in vast parts of Europe. The Plague, a highly infectious disease that caused a painful death after unbearable suffering, spread fear and terror. It is well known that people had to cope with considerable problems in the aftermath of the Plague. Which, however, were the impacts Ireland had to overcome?

The Black Death was a highly contagious disease that raged virulently through Ireland and caused anxiety, horrendous suffering and death among society. In 1348, first cases of the Black Death were registered in the Eastern ports Drogheda, Howth and Dalkey. While the bacteria, Yersinia pestis, was originally transmitted by flea bite, it soon deteriorated into a far more deadly disease that was spread through air. As a consequence, great fear and horror ruled society. „The pestilence was so contagious that whosoever touched the sick and the dead was immediately infected and died, so that penitent and confessor were carried to the grave” [1], recorded John Clyn, a Franciscan Friar in Kilkenny. No wonder the Black Death was considered the end of the world and thus the end of human existence. In the aftermath of the Plague, Ireland’s population had shrunken by around 40% and society was faced with considerable changes.

Not the entire population in Ireland was affected equally by the Plague. English and Norman settlers living in the densely populated areas in the East of Ireland were hit far worse than the Irish clans on the countryside. Subsequently, numerous English settlers left their goods and chattels and fled back to England if they had the means to. The Normans, in contrast, had been gradually assimilating into the Gaelic population, which became increasingly dominant. Gaelic aristocracy took advantage of the weakened settlements and recaptured their lands that had been in possession of the English.

As the Roman Catholic Church was at a loss to know how to heal the infected, it had to face up a tremendous disaster as multiple believers turned away from the Church. The medieval mindset considered the Plague a punishment sent from God as response to their sins. The supposedly unshakeable faith in the Church suddenly turned into disappointment and doubt when it was revealed that the monarchs neither knew how to cure the Plague. As a result, the Church had to face up a considerable loss of believers. There were, however, religiously fanatic groups that gained momentum: the flagellants. Their idea was that punishing themselves would prevent God from doing it. The cure should be achieved by whipping oneself until bleeding in order to get finally rid of the disease.

In the Plague’s aftermath, around 1350, Ireland saw considerable changes in terms of society, politics and economy. As mentioned above, Gaelic customs and language on the one hand, gained influence. In fact, even such great descent Anglo-Norman settler families as the FitzGeralds of Kildare became glaelicised [2] by adopting Irish customs and Brehon Law, language and even Irish names. From the English settler’s point of view, the Anglo-Normans became even more Irish than the Irish themselves [3]. On the other hand, English settlements that had lost authority were pushed back into a small region around Dublin, called the Pale, which became isolated from the Lordships of Munster and Leinster. The fact that the Irish rapidly became extremely powerful made the English worry about whether they would have been able to maintain their existence on Irish terrain.

Thereupon, the government of the Pale passed the Statutes of Kilkenny in 1367, which should avoid further incorporation of the descents of Norman settlers into the barbaric Irish tribes and therefore prevent Irish power. Nevertheless, the Statutes did not bring about a noticeable effect on society as they were widely ignored by both Irish and Anglo-Normans ever since they had been passed. Nevertheless, there was a further dilemma the entire population was concerned about. In terms of economy, it seemed as if the feudal system was about to collapse. Due to mass extinction within tenants, nobles, also known as tenants-in-chiefs, were seriously concerned about the labour shortage and, moreover, the declining profits that were supposed to be paid to the King. As a consequence, multiple manors were forced to reduce the rents to attract new tenants and to dissuade others from moving elsewhere [4]. Yet, migration was unstoppable and many tenants moved to cities and towns. The great loss of labours resulted in a struggle for survival as food supply was severely depleted. Moreover, daily life was accompanied with continual warfare and insecurity. Further outbreaks of the Black Death resulted in chronic starvation and an increase in mortality which took the Irish almost one and a half centuries to recover from.

Obviously, the Plague caused mass extinction and therefore changes in social structures, national politics and economy. The capability of a disease such as the Plague cannot be underestimated. The Black Death can definitely be regarded as one occasion in Irish history that led to a great long-term change.



[1]:http://books.google.at/books?id=1O_PX2wVD0sC&pg=PA82&lpg=PA82&dq=john+clynn&source=bl&ots=HNuwMSaOTv&sig=O-6RrWIN7LSeGSJsjlNy156APYs&hl=de&sa=X&ei=wXV8U5S0H8uy7AamgYGYCg&ved=0CEwQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=grave&f=false

[2]:http://www.familyhistoryireland.com/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=31:the-absorption-of-many-anglo-norman-families-who-invaded-ireland-into-gaelic-irish-culture&tmpl=component&print=1

[3]: http://www.historyireland.com/20th-century-contemporary-history/more-irish-than-the-irish-themselves/

[4]: http://www.historyireland.com/medieval-history-pre-1500/unheard-of-mortality-the-black-death-in-ireland/

Sources:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/middle_ages/black_01.shtml#eight
http://www.lordsandladies.org/black-death.htm
http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/30097157?uid=3737528&uid=2&uid=4&sid=21104132829003
http://www.politics.ie/forum/history/43970-did-black-death-cause-demise-normans-ireland.html
http://books.google.at/books?id=yw3HmjRvVQMC&pg=PA54&lpg=PA54&dq=the+black+death+ireland&source=bl&ots=HCOnslVwf8&sig=kdBOjF6Q1jgjxYTKdfbYMKC2JeA&hl=de&sa=X&ei=SRRtU7f2C4XH7Abkq4CgDw&ved=0CFMQ6AEwAzgK#v=onepage&q=ireland&f=false The Black Death by Joseph Patrick Byrne
http://books.google.at/books?id=1O_PX2wVD0sC&pg=PA82&lpg=PA82&dq=the+black+death+ireland&source=bl&ots=HMDFMRcOUt&sig=yLdhQdDczjBqeRIXJ4Vw2bd-cvc&hl=de&sa=X&ei=SRRtU7f2C4XH7Abkq4CgDw&ved=0CE8Q6AEwAjgK#v=onepage&q=ireland&f=false The Black Death by Rosemay Horrox
http://www.corkpastandpresent.ie/history/historyofcorkcity/pre1400/theblackdeath/
http://www.gaire.com/e/b/article.asp?id=2543
http://www.authenticireland.com/irish-history-of-ireland/
http://www.123helpme.com/view.asp?id=22890
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPXaPhpmvtc&list=PLCtjc4UGjXI6j_rPXiW4B9tmopWuooQaa&index=2 The Story of Ireland; Age of Conquest
The Story of Ireland by Neil Hegarty
http://www.irish-society.org/home/hedgemaster-archives-2/history-events/the-statutes-of-kilkenny
http://www.historyireland.com/medieval-history-pre-1500/unheard-of-mortality-the-black-death-in-ireland/

picture: http://myriverside.sd43.bc.ca/emberw-2013/files/2014/02/790.hq_v1-1hzstoq.jpg