Just some thoughts about homeland

The last 15 months I have (more or less) spent abroad, to be more concrete: in Austria and Germany. Two days ago I came home after 3 months. Driving to Munich I talked with a guy from Germany and as I mentioned that I come from Slovenia, he said: "It must be beautiful there, right?" "Yes, it is. Have you ever been there?" "No, I just drove through Slovenia on my way to Croatia." This is actually the most frequent answer I have heard so far from Germans. On the other Hand I met many People from other parts of the world, who said: "Yes, I have been there, it´s an amazing Country." Funny Thing :D
These days I had time to check some interesting stuff online, whatever caught my eye: "Best Pictures of Slovenia in 2015 from different authors, a new article with the title "Is Slovenia really the most underrated Country in the EU?",.. In this article the author wrote, that being at the Lake Bohinj, surrounded by ist mountains, was the most amazing Thing she has seen. She also posted a Picture of her, Standing at the lake. This reminded me of me, being at the Lake Achensee in Austria, which is also surrounded by mountains. Like her, I was thrilled with the lake. And seeing these professional photos, I think to myself: "Waw, what an incredible Beauty!"

Bled

So, like I already read some Quote, living abroad sharpens your sense of seing the Beauty of your Homeland. It makes colours more intense. Something like this :D It happened to me this autumn, when I went with my mum to the forest to pick up chestnuts. As we drove back home, it crossed my mind: "Amazing, how much forest! And all These small hills." Though I have drove there several times before. (By the way, did you know, that Slovenia is one of the most wooded countries in the EU? 60 % of its territory is covered by forest).
Or Ljubljana. I was never actually a fan of this City. Now I think it is a really cosy and cute City.
Mountains. When I lived in Austria, I was fascinated by them, but we also have them -almost in front of our nose :D I even climbed the mountain in Innsbruck, but have never been on Triglav (our highest mountain).
And Lakes. Being fascinated by them abroad, forgetting what pearls we have at home. In my opinion, the Lake Bled is a worldwide masterpiece! :)
So, yes-being abroad changes your mind. And in the next year I will try to explore more amazing places at home. Which should not be to hard, since we live in a small Country.
P.S. And I can´t wait for the Ski jumping to start tomorrow! I know it is out of the context, but I just had to write it :)

Finding new friends

Living abroad means that sooner or later you will have to find new friends. People to go cycling with, for a coffee, in other words: to hang out together. And somewhere you have to start.

One of the easiest ways to do this  nowadays is probably social media. First I checked the Events near the City on Couchsurfing. I found nothing relevant. So, I posted my own post called "Ich suche neue Freunde" (the title was "a Little for fun, a Little for serious" we would say in Slovenia) with a short description, that I would like to meet People to go cycling, inline Skating with. To be honest, I expected that maybe 3 or 5 People would write me. So, the Feedback really surprised me. About 30 People wrote me that they would like to meet, wether they commented the post or sent me private Messages. Guys and Girls.Writing me: welcome in the City, some recommendations what is cool to do in the City and of course, that they would like to meet. Really cool! (: Then I got an idea that it would be nice to meet all of them and so I created the Event. 9 People came (10 including me). I also created a Group on Facebook and that was it. Let the hanging out begin! (:




The place where we met

Already at home, before going there, I had a feeling that it will be fun. Especially because People in the couchsurfing community have this open-minded Spirit and are communicative. And exactly that is how it was, speaking 3 languages(: One guy even said that he has a friend from Slovenia here and will introduce us! (: We met at the City beach, where we chilled in the deckchairs and then later went to some Biergarten and Bürgerfest.

Some of them wrote me, that they can`t come to our Meeting, but would like to meet some other time. So, it Looks like it`s really easy to find new People/friends. And I´m really looking Forward to meet them! (: Or how Taylor Swift said: "I love making new friends and I respect them for a lot of different reasons."

Let's talk about...women

This is a theme that I had in my thoughts for a longer time, I just never took the time to write about it. Then I saw at the Sophia Bush's Instagram (one of the women I adore, by the way) a quote which I wanted to include in this writing. "Other women are not my competition, I stand with them, not against them." A philosophy that I can relate to. If I'm honest, if I had to choose, I prefer men against women. Why? Because men are simple, there are no dramas. Women on the other side can be good actors and they can pretend very good. A lot of them. You can be the most friendly and helpful person and yes-women Will not like you. The reason? Competition.

Long time ago I saw somewhere a thought, which goes like this: "If men like you, women Will hate you." A very simple thought, which in my opinion expresses the point. And there are people, that we didn't actually choose to be friends with but happens that we somehow have some connection with them. Friends, roommates from our partners. I remember my ex boyfriend once told me how his best female friend is jealous of me. I was Quite surprised and asked: "How do you know that?" He said: "She told me." Yes, women often decide that they simply don't like other women .More often that men would thought. Co-workers are a special category, about which I Will not write :D

Recently I watched an interesting show on the televison. It was an experiment, where they at work (or was it a job interview, I don't remember) they confronted 3 women who didn't know each other before. Theye were waiting for someone to come and tell them what to do next. While one of them, the one that arrived as the third one, was shortly away, the person came and gave them some instructions. This person also asked these 2 to tell that also to the third one who was not in the room at that moment. When this third woman came back, the other two intentionally (!) didn't tell her about this information. The same experiment they did with men. What happened there? The 2 men, who got the information, immediately told about it to the third men when he came back. Furtermore, the studies showed, that 2 women create an union,into which other women can not enter. It doesn't matter who she is, how she looks, how she behaves. Men on the other side accept every new member and make a connection with each of them. Interesting, I have to say.

So, yes..it's not easy to find (true) friends among women. That's why I'm happy when I meet a genuine woman, with whom I get a good feeling. But to be honest, they are rather rare. But that is why I appreciate them even more. (:

Why living in Innsbruck is cool (even if you are not a winter sports freak:)

Last year I decided to spend the autumn and winter in Innsbruck. Because I believed it would be cool. Actually I didn't really move, but rather my last visit turned into a loong staying here. Totally spontaneously :D Though I'm not a winter sports freak, but a total summer person (or Sommermensch in German :D). But living in city, where other people go for a vacation, can be really cool. So, here are my favourites:

1. MOUNTAINS: it can happen that you will end up living in a house, directly next to mountains, which means that you have the view on them from every corner of it. Since they are all over the place, the city for sure has some charm. I know, we also have mountains in Slovenia, but I have never lived next to them. I remember I once told someone that we live under the mountain and he asked: "What, how did you mean that? Underground?" That was funny :D But when you look at the picture below, you will know what I'm talking about (:

View from the house

2. MUNICH: this amazing city is just 160 km away from Innsbruck, how cool is that? (: Besides that, the rides (I'm talking about car sharing) are really frequent (a lot of students go home for the weekend) and  acceptable (if not even cheap). So, in November I spent every weekend in Munich. 160 km, about 1 hour and 40 minutes of driving and unforgettable memories. (: It's hard to imagine to do this when living in Ljubljana!

Sunday walk in Munich.

3. CHRISTMAS MARKET: Christmas Market in Innsbruck really is something special. And as I saw on some chart, it was actually listed as the cutest one in Europe. It starts quite early (on 15.11.) and ends in the first week of January. So, no surprise Glühwein was my favourite drink this winter.

Visiting the Christmas Market with my mother.

4. AIR + STYLE: this event is really popular here and I can say it was one of the best things I've seen so far. A snowboarding competition at the Bergisel, amazing music and atmosphere (although it was snowing the whole time) and besides that also Cro, whose concert was on my to do list, was performing here! (: 

One word: amazing (:

5. COOL POSITION: in other words-everything is quite close, also Switzerland. 290 km to Zurich means that you also have to go there (: But one more cool place I would recommend to see, while being here: Achensee, the biggest lake in Tyrol. Seeing the picture of it, I wanted to go there right away. I also visited Rattenberg, the smallest municipality in Austria (only 400 people live there-a bit of geography:). Though in winter, it was totally worth it! (:

At the Achensee, last weekend.

To conclude: if I had to describe my life in the last 3 months living here, it would be: I enjoyed life to the fullest! Or how Germans would say it: Ich habe das Leben voll genossen! (:

Mission: searching for a room in Innsbruck

It was the end of October. After spending quite a lot of time in Innsbruck since June, I got an idea that living here in winter could be a great experience. So it was time to find my own place. I had never had flat viewings in my life. Living in the same flat for 8 years in Ljubljana was cosy. Also when I gave my flat away, I had exactly 4 viewings, all in the same afternoon. But I can say I had luck, because the fourth couple was exactly the type of people you want to live in your flat (:

But searching for a room in Innsbruck is another story. The time I was searching was probably the worst possible: the colledge started and everyone was looking for a flat. People told you right away: "Yes, we have 20 or 30 (or more) candidates for our flat." Innsbruck is a student city and because of that a lot of them accept only students (cause otherwise, other roommates don't get a subsidy for their rooms). Another difficulty you might be dealing with is time. For example: you write them on Monday and they reply, that you can come next week on Wednesday at 5 p.m. Which is a problem if you work everyday till 6 p.m. And when you ask if you could possible come a bit after 6 p.m., they reply: "Ok, but please hurry up, because at 7 p.m. we already have another person coming." And yes, people here have interviews with their potential new roommates. They ask you everything possible. I remember a guy living here said that when they were looking for a new rommate in their flat, they had 40 people coming and they had conversations with each of them. I asked: "40? Isn't that a bit too much? Do you guys really have time and energy for all those people?" He said: "Yes, it's important to me with whom I will live." Another friend told me that his friend didn't find a room here, so he moved to some other austrian city. It's actually not that hard to believe that now. And another fact: it is an expensive city. Someone told me, that the rents here are higher than they are in Vienna.

So, having about 20 flat viewing on average is kinda normal here. I don't know how many I had, but I would say about 10 or 12. And sometimes it was fun. There was a guy which I met at two flats in the same afternoon. In one flat they had sauna, but was full with things. The girl said I can clear it and use it if I want to. Come on, if I had sauna in my flat I would be in it the whole time! :D So yes, you can hear a lot of interesting things while visiting these random people. One girl told me that their roommate moved away because the room reminded her too much of her ex boyfriend :D

Last but not least, it's not a bad idea to do some Couchsurfing, when having difficulties while searching and you actually don't know how (and when) things will turn out. 

So yes, it was exhausting, but at the end I found a really cute flat, located literally under the mountains which means we see them from every room. A guy living here in Innsbruck said while we were talking about some city: "They might have the view on the mountains, but we have them here." Actually I feel like I'm here on a vacation. A bit longer vacation (: 

The view from a living room. I call it magic (:

When breakups become more cruel

Twenty-something women (closer to 30 than 20): when I look at the girls of my generation, I see that a lot of them are married/getting children, when it looks like the majority of them is in a serious relationship. Others are either single or maybe they just ended a relationship. A relationship they thought it was the one. So, why do the breakups get more cruel?

Talking with a friend my age about our peers settling down (having children), we agreed that we are under no pressure because of that (in fact we still feel quite young), but I believe at this age we somehow start wanting things (=relationships) that lead somewhere. What I can't really say for men this age. It can happen that a woman thinks they are doing fine, while he likes her and enjoys being with her. But if their relationship ended out of nowhere, he'll be just fine with it, while she will feel it's a great loss for her. And that he'll just find/meet someone in the future, while she believes she was lucky to meet him and who knows if she will have that luck again someday. So, when women our age meet a person, who represents a package that fits us in all aspects, it's likely we won't feel need to meet/ be with other people anymore.  

I read somewhere (or maybe did I hear it) that (though every death is hard and sad) it's even somehow harder for the relatives when someone dies suddenly, in a moment (for example in a car accident) than when someone is dying for a longer time. Because in the second case  relatives have time to prepare themselves and the chance to say goodbye, while in first case this is not possible. I don't know about death, but I think something like this happens in relationships. That probably the most painful way of ending some story is, when you thought the relationship worked really good and had a future, but it ended in a moment, out of nowhere. A story in which there was no arguing, no cheating, where nobody felt estranged from another. So, the one person, with whom you could practically stay forever, in a minute becomes a part of your past.

And what about the famous bad timing thing? Well, I'm convinced it doesn't exist, At least not when two people who like each other are together. Because if you want to be with someone, you make an effort no matter what. And where there's a will, there's a way.

Charles Bukowski once said:"You have to die a few times before you can really live." But women in twenty-something (around 30) got to this point of our life during years. Years in which we gained lessons, knowledge, experience. So there comes a time when we are able to settle down if (in our opinion) the one comes around. So guys, keep that in mind when dating a girl from this group. Especially if she's a keeper! (:

Where can you meet the most interesting people?

When we were younger (and single) my friends and me thought that we will meet interesting guys in the clubs. Then you see  that it doesn´t work like this and is therefore more an exeption than the rule. :D

Now, years later and quite a lot of international interactions behind me, my list of top 3 ways/places where you (can) meet interesting people goes like this:

1.) Carsharing: definitely the most sociable way of travelling (especially if you are travelling alone). All of my drivers on long distances were talkative, so also the rides were cool. Actually I can´t stay quite (and I don´t get the people who do that), because you can find out so many interesting things this way. For example: my last driver and me found out that we have a mutual friend (who is not a Slovene and lives in Germany!). When he walked me to his place, this our friend was laughing, like: What are you two doing here together? What a surprise for all of us! :DWith my other driver I was later singing at the karaoke. (: To sum up: 3 really pleasant guys in the last 3 months. 3 new friends, not bad!

2.) Couchsurfing: I have been writing about this before. But once again: via this community I have met truly interesting people. Last week I was hanging out with a guy from Sweden which was so amusingly. A friend recently asked me how is this scene and how are people here like. I said that it´s like all these people are the same nation, because they are not typical representatives of their countries. So if for example some nation is known to be close-minded or not open for meeting new people, these couchsurfers for sure are not like that.

3.) Friends of friends: And  last but not least: friends of your friends. I think it´s very likely to find a cool co-speaker in this group. Yes, I know-it´s not easy for women to find/have true female friends, but hey-maybe you´ll meet some cool person at the babyshower party. :D Or you can meet a new male friend at your friend´s birthday party.

So, that was my top 3 list. A list of people/events/things that made my life richer in the last weeks/months. And how do they say: "To travel is to live?" (: