I've been sending my resume abroad, to be more specific to Swedish companies. I run into some job offers that, in my mind, seemed to match my current qualifications. Unfortunately, they, politely sent me back an email saying my qualifications do not meet our needs/profile. What a bummer!! . Anyway, aside from these dismal responses :( what I want to empathize here it's their efficiency. Even if they are not interested in my application they reply to my job submission. In this way you don't fuel faint hopes, make pipe dreams and I think it's the correct and serious behaviour that a company should have. In Italy, generally, the human resource managers contact you only if they want to interview you...
Saturday, 12 December 2009
Tuesday, 8 December 2009
Stop writring guide, it's time for Video Guide !
In my role as IT consultant, one of my tasks is to write user guides for our products. It' s really boring, useless and it sucks definitely! at least when my chief says to me: please write the guide, I brace myself !
Why is it boring ?
Because you have to spell out every step that you take in order to make things run. You can't omit anything, to write it as comprehensible as it is possible is an asset , otherwise the end-user can't make it out!
You have to care about the details, take several snapshots hopefully none of your colleagues change the front-end in the meantime.
Why is it useless?
In my brief experience, I've run into several users that simply ignore the guide or skim through it. The final result is that they will contact you in anyway is possible and ask you for an explanation. Please do not ask them have you read the guide ? the obvious answer is no or they stammer to say something " I didn't find it".
Why does it suck?
if the reader has never written any guide, please try it just once and I'm pretty sure you'll agree with me.
Then what can we do ? I realized that we might pin down on video-guide. People have changed the way they interact with media over last years, generally there is no time to read a paragraph, sometimes the instructions are not clear, misleading and not up to date.
Why not use video-guides? End users, nowadays, are familiar with Youtube, they are accustomed to see short movies and probably they can get the information in much easier, more quickly and funnier way !!
With a video-guide it's very hard that they do not understand, images and voices can drive them to explore all the features of your products.
To produce a video-guide is simpler than writing one, I suppose it saves time (therefore it implies your company saves $$$). Some problems arise, of course. You shall guarantee that the user has installed on his computer a video-player, but it's not a big problem because you can provide it with your user guides. Maybe the toughest thing is to keep your video-guide up to date. Sometimes we need to update only a few lines or change some screenshot, how can we do it with a video ? I do not think it's easy to replace a frame with a new one.
Now I want to read your comments.
As user guide do you find a video-guide more handy than a written one?
As technical writer would you replace the traditional user-guide with a video guide ?
Why is it boring ?
Because you have to spell out every step that you take in order to make things run. You can't omit anything, to write it as comprehensible as it is possible is an asset , otherwise the end-user can't make it out!
You have to care about the details, take several snapshots hopefully none of your colleagues change the front-end in the meantime.
Why is it useless?
In my brief experience, I've run into several users that simply ignore the guide or skim through it. The final result is that they will contact you in anyway is possible and ask you for an explanation. Please do not ask them have you read the guide ? the obvious answer is no or they stammer to say something " I didn't find it".
Why does it suck?
if the reader has never written any guide, please try it just once and I'm pretty sure you'll agree with me.
Then what can we do ? I realized that we might pin down on video-guide. People have changed the way they interact with media over last years, generally there is no time to read a paragraph, sometimes the instructions are not clear, misleading and not up to date.
Why not use video-guides? End users, nowadays, are familiar with Youtube, they are accustomed to see short movies and probably they can get the information in much easier, more quickly and funnier way !!
With a video-guide it's very hard that they do not understand, images and voices can drive them to explore all the features of your products.
To produce a video-guide is simpler than writing one, I suppose it saves time (therefore it implies your company saves $$$). Some problems arise, of course. You shall guarantee that the user has installed on his computer a video-player, but it's not a big problem because you can provide it with your user guides. Maybe the toughest thing is to keep your video-guide up to date. Sometimes we need to update only a few lines or change some screenshot, how can we do it with a video ? I do not think it's easy to replace a frame with a new one.
Now I want to read your comments.
As user guide do you find a video-guide more handy than a written one?
As technical writer would you replace the traditional user-guide with a video guide ?
Sunday, 29 November 2009
How to dress for your job interview
Today's topic is focused, again, on a typical job issue. My intention is to lead you in our labour market, to unfold some typical issues and, indirectly, answer common questions about job in Italy.
Shifting today's topic, what to dress depends mostly on two factors:
Shifting today's topic, what to dress depends mostly on two factors:
- the position you've applied for
- the company
In my brief experience as an engineer I've always suited up before having a job interview. Honestly, I don't know if there is a real dress code I suppose there is a hidden consensus about a tie and a jacket for your job interview even though nobody has told you to put them on. Probably because I've always applied for consultant positions which requires a customer face role. In Italy a consultant is often thought as someone who suits up, is elegant. We care about our physical aspect too much. However you are not forced to dress a suit always. For instance, in my current company I'm free to dress as I wish when I work in our offices, but when I meet my clients I had to suit up.
In other circumstance I felt out of my comfort zone at my job interview because of my suit. I had a job interview with a Swedish telecommunication company that hold some offices in Italy, as well. When I was there, they immediately broke the ice and weren't formal at all. The line engineer who interviewed me dressed a simple T-shirt accompanied with blue jeans. They didn't make me feel embarrassed but you know, in some occasion you feel like a fish out of water.
Another example, during my interview for a consultancy company, aside from the fact that the manager was suited up, he clearly said to me: " we have a dress code to follow, just on Friday you do not have to respect it, Friday is called casual day."
Conclusion:
if you've applied for a consultant position you should suit up, but it's not compulsory. It's impossible to guess what best choice is, but in general it's advisable to be elegant, show that you are not scrubby, definitely!
In other circumstance I felt out of my comfort zone at my job interview because of my suit. I had a job interview with a Swedish telecommunication company that hold some offices in Italy, as well. When I was there, they immediately broke the ice and weren't formal at all. The line engineer who interviewed me dressed a simple T-shirt accompanied with blue jeans. They didn't make me feel embarrassed but you know, in some occasion you feel like a fish out of water.
Another example, during my interview for a consultancy company, aside from the fact that the manager was suited up, he clearly said to me: " we have a dress code to follow, just on Friday you do not have to respect it, Friday is called casual day."
Conclusion:
if you've applied for a consultant position you should suit up, but it's not compulsory. It's impossible to guess what best choice is, but in general it's advisable to be elegant, show that you are not scrubby, definitely!
Sunday, 22 November 2009
A call for more democracy in the tv world
Young guys and girls, with a brawny body, tattoos, tanned 365 days per year, call for more democracy in the TV world.
An entire society which, over last the years, has its fundamentals and pillars on the importance
of becoming popular, showing off. Youths who are obsessed by the idea to become famous, as the only turning point of their life, unique way for escaping from a common, ordinary life.
This pipe dream for some of them may be true, for the majority can't be.
The way for the success goes through a picture with a vip or an appearance in a Tv show, few minutes to show your face, smile and catch up Who is Who's attention.
Behind the faint hopes and ambitions of these guys, there is a restrict circle of decision maker people, who can give you a pass for the gate of your dream.
You could be taken aback to discover how important the image is in a country and to find out that is in the hand of just one person.
He is not a common man, he is someone who is in power, who represents an entire nation, whose abilities allowed him to become rich and start up a profitable business.
If I've managed to make these lines tempting you must see Videocray, a call for the democracy in the Italian Tv world.
An entire society which, over last the years, has its fundamentals and pillars on the importance
of becoming popular, showing off. Youths who are obsessed by the idea to become famous, as the only turning point of their life, unique way for escaping from a common, ordinary life.
This pipe dream for some of them may be true, for the majority can't be.
The way for the success goes through a picture with a vip or an appearance in a Tv show, few minutes to show your face, smile and catch up Who is Who's attention.
Behind the faint hopes and ambitions of these guys, there is a restrict circle of decision maker people, who can give you a pass for the gate of your dream.
You could be taken aback to discover how important the image is in a country and to find out that is in the hand of just one person.
He is not a common man, he is someone who is in power, who represents an entire nation, whose abilities allowed him to become rich and start up a profitable business.
If I've managed to make these lines tempting you must see Videocray, a call for the democracy in the Italian Tv world.
Monday, 16 November 2009
How to write an Italian resume/cv
Hi dears,
In this last period it seems I'm really concerned about the job and all the things related to it... it's true, definitely :)
Now, I'm going to give you some suggestions for writing an "Italian" resume.
Listing:
1) Use a standard template/format, we generally fill in the European resume template. It's available here. Broadly speaking, we don't have a lot of different CV styles, for instance I saw that in other countries there is a resume particularly suitable for executive manger or other for young graduate, we just use a standard format.
2) Write not more than two pages. Recruiters are always in a hurry, they just skim through the text and their attention is caught by some key words, therefore you do not need to make it long.
3) Pay attention to your hobby section, do not be neglect. A lot of times, even managers, have been interested in my hobbies.
4) Report your work experiences from the more recent to the less one.
5) It is not compulsory to add your passport picture. If there is no compelling reason or it's not explicitly required do not put your picture. Provide it only on demand.
6) In your languages skills section provide your listening, writing, speaking and reading capabilities. It might come in handy the self assessment grid with which you can assess your capabilities on your own. Also, this grid allows you to express your mastering of the Italian language (and eventually others) in a standard way.
7) At the end of your resume add your agreement for your personal information treatment according to our law. We write something like: "Ai sensi del d.lgs 30/06/2003 n. 196, autorizzo il trattamento dei miei dati personali".
8) Good luck :)
In this last period it seems I'm really concerned about the job and all the things related to it... it's true, definitely :)
Now, I'm going to give you some suggestions for writing an "Italian" resume.
Listing:
1) Use a standard template/format, we generally fill in the European resume template. It's available here. Broadly speaking, we don't have a lot of different CV styles, for instance I saw that in other countries there is a resume particularly suitable for executive manger or other for young graduate, we just use a standard format.
2) Write not more than two pages. Recruiters are always in a hurry, they just skim through the text and their attention is caught by some key words, therefore you do not need to make it long.
3) Pay attention to your hobby section, do not be neglect. A lot of times, even managers, have been interested in my hobbies.
4) Report your work experiences from the more recent to the less one.
5) It is not compulsory to add your passport picture. If there is no compelling reason or it's not explicitly required do not put your picture. Provide it only on demand.
6) In your languages skills section provide your listening, writing, speaking and reading capabilities. It might come in handy the self assessment grid with which you can assess your capabilities on your own. Also, this grid allows you to express your mastering of the Italian language (and eventually others) in a standard way.
7) At the end of your resume add your agreement for your personal information treatment according to our law. We write something like: "Ai sensi del d.lgs 30/06/2003 n. 196, autorizzo il trattamento dei miei dati personali".
8) Good luck :)
Saturday, 31 October 2009
Do your social media contact go into your cv (3)
I came across an article published on The Local, a Swedish news paper.
This article reports that an employee has been dismissed allegedly for the post published on his blog! In my first post of the series "Do your social media contacts go into your cv ?" I started to investigate whether it's worth publishing or not your social media contacts on your resume (or curriculum vitae). Even though the fired employee, in the article that I have pointed out previously, haven't posted his blog address on his cv, I think this article well-stress the conjuction between your internet corner and your work.
See you.
Tuesday, 27 October 2009
Do your social media contacts go into your cv ? (2)
I still can't give some answers to my previous post. I just want to add that after I have questioned myself with those answers I ran into this blog. The author is an engineer like me and he posts his personal thoughts as well as his "geek articles" on it and he also have added his blog address to his work email signature...
Sunday, 25 October 2009
Programming and Going Green
I'm just wondering how I can give a sense to my work...
I'd like to work at software project (I'm mostly a software engineer) whose target is an everyone benefit. For example a project that involves "going green" aspects or aids to achieve humanitarian purposes. Any help or suggestion is appreciated.
Sunday, 18 October 2009
Do your social media contacts go into your cv ? (1)
During these days I spent some time to update my curriculum vitae (cv, resume) with the new competencies that I've gained since I started to work.
Two questions arose:
Two questions arose:
- Shall we add our social meeting contact to our cv ?
- Shall we add our blog address (or windows web space or whatever you use to "post your thoughts on internet") to the cv ?
Regarding the first question, the answer is not immediate and easy.
You can also add your Skype contact, in somehow you can consider it like an additional telephone. I've already seen managers who exchange their Skipe contact, maybe in Italy we are not accustomed to use it in our business meeting, but I bet in other countries it is widely spread for your daily job conversation. But would you write your messenger contact on your cv ?
How can it come in handy for the recruiters ?
I don't think that it's helpful to add your msn contact to your cv for several reasons:
1) Maybe you are not going to add your recruiter contact to your list because you do not know who is behind that nickname, a similar explanation is valid for Skype as well.
2) Chatting does not reveal enough about you and might be misleading. On the contrary, Skype works well because it's like having a job interview at telephone.
Let's shift our focus on the second question.
Nowadays a lot of us get on line in a several different ways. Just to name few social-media: Facebook, Windows web space, blog, Twitter and so on.
Would you allow a recruiter (who still does not know anything about you) to access to your FB wall, or blog ? Would you write your blog address on your cv ?
Well, here the answer is more complicated and crunchy. Proceeding by examples. if you have your "geek coffee on line" and you hunt a job in the IT sector it might interesting to reveal it. Indeed it shows that you're really concerned about technology, you're fond of it :) and moreover you show how you are able to master some kind of technology.
Now, changing the example. Suppose you have your blog where you tell your personal life, your daily experiences, in other words a place where you free up your thoughts. If you give these information to your recruiter, you might reveal more than you would do during an interview.
From the recruiters' point of view, I suppose your blog or FB is an attempting source of information. Indeed the human resource manager is highly interested in your soft skills (organizational. communication capabilities ...) and sometimes they are more important than your technical background or previous work experience(s).
By adding your "on line personal corner" (for the sake of simplicity, I call FB, blog, etc in this way) you expose yourself to the human resource manager and it could even be an advantage.
You're just saying "that's me" , here my true point of views, you can also enforce your candidature with your blogs and show that you're the right person for that vacation.
How would you answer the opening questions ?
You can also add your Skype contact, in somehow you can consider it like an additional telephone. I've already seen managers who exchange their Skipe contact, maybe in Italy we are not accustomed to use it in our business meeting, but I bet in other countries it is widely spread for your daily job conversation. But would you write your messenger contact on your cv ?
How can it come in handy for the recruiters ?
I don't think that it's helpful to add your msn contact to your cv for several reasons:
1) Maybe you are not going to add your recruiter contact to your list because you do not know who is behind that nickname, a similar explanation is valid for Skype as well.
2) Chatting does not reveal enough about you and might be misleading. On the contrary, Skype works well because it's like having a job interview at telephone.
Let's shift our focus on the second question.
Nowadays a lot of us get on line in a several different ways. Just to name few social-media: Facebook, Windows web space, blog, Twitter and so on.
Would you allow a recruiter (who still does not know anything about you) to access to your FB wall, or blog ? Would you write your blog address on your cv ?
Well, here the answer is more complicated and crunchy. Proceeding by examples. if you have your "geek coffee on line" and you hunt a job in the IT sector it might interesting to reveal it. Indeed it shows that you're really concerned about technology, you're fond of it :) and moreover you show how you are able to master some kind of technology.
Now, changing the example. Suppose you have your blog where you tell your personal life, your daily experiences, in other words a place where you free up your thoughts. If you give these information to your recruiter, you might reveal more than you would do during an interview.
From the recruiters' point of view, I suppose your blog or FB is an attempting source of information. Indeed the human resource manager is highly interested in your soft skills (organizational. communication capabilities ...) and sometimes they are more important than your technical background or previous work experience(s).
By adding your "on line personal corner" (for the sake of simplicity, I call FB, blog, etc in this way) you expose yourself to the human resource manager and it could even be an advantage.
You're just saying "that's me" , here my true point of views, you can also enforce your candidature with your blogs and show that you're the right person for that vacation.
How would you answer the opening questions ?
Sunday, 11 October 2009
Day 5: Malmo
45 minutes by train keep us away from Malmö, in the morning we decided to take the train and visit it.
Malmö is quite different from Copenhagen. Firstly the weather was sunny I can't say hot, but good, definitely. The city is more calm and quiet than Copenhagen, there aren't many tourists at least this was my impression by sight. The city centre is very small and in preparation for hosting the next summer events, unfortunately we couldn't take part in them because they started in the weekend we will be leaving for that time :(
I also caught the opportunity to train my poor and basic Swedish with some Swedes, for example with the customer assistant at shop, but I have to work around it really hard...
Again, I can say that Swedes are welcoming and kind. Like it happened two years ago, when a bicycle rider helped us on his own volition, now a woman, gently, pointed us towards the correct direction without we would have asked her any help... I love this Swedish society's aspect :)
Another big difference between Copenhagen and Malmö is the average population age.
Copenhagen citizens look much younger than Swedes.
Comparing the two city centres, Malmö seems more concerned about love for the environment, indeed I notice more parks than there are in Copenhagen and in some cases they are obsessed as you can see in that picture in which some three grow up over a house wall... but it's nice :).
Anyway I was there for a short time, I can't give you a real taste of Malmö :(
Malmö is quite different from Copenhagen. Firstly the weather was sunny I can't say hot, but good, definitely. The city is more calm and quiet than Copenhagen, there aren't many tourists at least this was my impression by sight. The city centre is very small and in preparation for hosting the next summer events, unfortunately we couldn't take part in them because they started in the weekend we will be leaving for that time :(
I also caught the opportunity to train my poor and basic Swedish with some Swedes, for example with the customer assistant at shop, but I have to work around it really hard...
Again, I can say that Swedes are welcoming and kind. Like it happened two years ago, when a bicycle rider helped us on his own volition, now a woman, gently, pointed us towards the correct direction without we would have asked her any help... I love this Swedish society's aspect :)
Another big difference between Copenhagen and Malmö is the average population age.
Copenhagen citizens look much younger than Swedes.
Comparing the two city centres, Malmö seems more concerned about love for the environment, indeed I notice more parks than there are in Copenhagen and in some cases they are obsessed as you can see in that picture in which some three grow up over a house wall... but it's nice :).
Anyway I was there for a short time, I can't give you a real taste of Malmö :(
Sunday, 4 October 2009
day 4 There is no perfect place
Copenhagen has been recently stated as one of most liveable cities according to Monocle's Most Livable index, despite its second place I saw an area near the city centre called Christianshavn in which you can find clear signs of urban blight and decay.
Wall destroyed without a safety protection, or more dangerous, young guys driving their mopes without their crash helmets, crossing gardens at fast pace almost stumbling your shoulder..
About night life, if you visit Copenhagen during the week don't expect a buzzing city at night, actually it was tough to find a good place where to drink and dance.
In a lot of places the admission is free and there is a huge variety of clubs, some dedicated only to techno music other to rock and so on.
I noticed that CPH lacks a place like a "disco club" in Italy. We have places where you can either eat or dance when it gets later .
In Copenhagen, but I reasonably suppose in the entire North Europe, clubs are used exclusively for drinking and dancing..
The prices are quite high as I told you in the former emails and their alcohol did not seem to have any effect on Marco and me... I'll tell you how we get drunk on last night :)
Girls are typically drunk, I haven't seen a girl to drink as much as Danish girls do.. . Chatting with some of them, they told us that the Italians give always a dim-view of themselves
I had to hear always the same complaints.. we can't speak English, we are womaniser, we talk out of loud and so on .. what a crap !!
In Copenhagen I ran into some Norwegian girls, to tell the true I expected that Norwegians go to
hotter places for their holiday rather than going to another quite cold place :)
Yet about CPH, one Norwegian girl told me that Copenhagen is quite expensive even for them and she was going shopping in Gotenborg because it's dirty cheap !!
What else? In club there were also people over 40 among people aged from 22 to 30...
it was weird indeed we were wondering if it was night for over 40 people, but we went to the same club more than once and we noticed again the people over 30.. conclusion there is no age range in the clubs ;) .
I was about to forget another upsetting point.. in the club there were sluts (sorry if I'm rude..)
mostly coming from Africa and Asia. They were there to make someone take the bait
and carry him to the other "colleagues"... disappointing.
At the end of the night we couldn't miss out a wonderful spectacle, some guys throwing glasses bottles to othe each other and someone says Naples is not a safe place....
Wall destroyed without a safety protection, or more dangerous, young guys driving their mopes without their crash helmets, crossing gardens at fast pace almost stumbling your shoulder..
About night life, if you visit Copenhagen during the week don't expect a buzzing city at night, actually it was tough to find a good place where to drink and dance.
In a lot of places the admission is free and there is a huge variety of clubs, some dedicated only to techno music other to rock and so on.
I noticed that CPH lacks a place like a "disco club" in Italy. We have places where you can either eat or dance when it gets later .
In Copenhagen, but I reasonably suppose in the entire North Europe, clubs are used exclusively for drinking and dancing..
The prices are quite high as I told you in the former emails and their alcohol did not seem to have any effect on Marco and me... I'll tell you how we get drunk on last night :)
Girls are typically drunk, I haven't seen a girl to drink as much as Danish girls do.. . Chatting with some of them, they told us that the Italians give always a dim-view of themselves
I had to hear always the same complaints.. we can't speak English, we are womaniser, we talk out of loud and so on .. what a crap !!
In Copenhagen I ran into some Norwegian girls, to tell the true I expected that Norwegians go to
hotter places for their holiday rather than going to another quite cold place :)
Yet about CPH, one Norwegian girl told me that Copenhagen is quite expensive even for them and she was going shopping in Gotenborg because it's dirty cheap !!
What else? In club there were also people over 40 among people aged from 22 to 30...
it was weird indeed we were wondering if it was night for over 40 people, but we went to the same club more than once and we noticed again the people over 30.. conclusion there is no age range in the clubs ;) .
I was about to forget another upsetting point.. in the club there were sluts (sorry if I'm rude..)
mostly coming from Africa and Asia. They were there to make someone take the bait
and carry him to the other "colleagues"... disappointing.
At the end of the night we couldn't miss out a wonderful spectacle, some guys throwing glasses bottles to othe each other and someone says Naples is not a safe place....
Saturday, 26 September 2009
Day 3 in Copenhagen: Mind the cycles
Strolling again...
The first sentence of the day is:"Domenik, here, we have to mind the bicycles not the cars"
In this phrase I can sum up the Danish (broadly speaking, the North ) way of life. They are accustomed to use bicycles rather than cars. Cycles lanes are widely spread all over the city,
there is also a route dedicated to the tourists in order to make them enjoy the most relevant places of the city by bicycle.
You can rent a bicycle or get one for free, indeed there are some that you can take like you do for a shopping cart. With 10 DKK (Danish coroners) you borrow it from one of well known bicycle points and you can freely ride it. When you park (not necessarily in the park where the cycle was picked ) you 'll get back your 10 DKK.
Unfortunately, the number of bicycles is underestimated and it's not easy at all to find some one that is in a good condition... what a bummer !
Going ahead, we went to the Round tower from which you can enjoy the view of the city.
Then we reached the Kastel Church, here I ran into some mills. Shifting briefly our focus to the mills: In Denmark, I noticed that even on some souvenir are represented or depicted some mills, as far as I know, Netherlands is famous for its mills... I have to ask to Google :)
We went sightseeing the city with a canal tour that takes about one hour.
The city is a mixture of old and new buildings. Residential areas are really nice and
liveable as we could notice by going there on foot, later on. For instance, a lot of houses stretch along a square in whose centre there is a playground for kids.
There are also several benches where you can simply seat on and wind up...
Honestly, a lovely place where I eventually would like to grow up my family. These facilities impress me, because I think that they are expensive to build up and maintain, but they can really enjoy only for a short time due to unaffordable weather conditions.
At 6:00 pm we were back on our way towards our hotel. Generally for the whole holiday, we decided to go back to the hotel at about 6:00 -6:30 pm, in order to have a shower, give relief to our pour aching foot and.. SLEEPING for 2-3 hours before going clubbing :)
In our hotel was also available a swimming pool, well why don't we plunge ?
that 's what I and Marco did, we brought with us a swim-suits, originally we wanted to
go to the Copenhagen shores, but as you can imagine the weather prevented us from doing it :)
A sad and nasty note:
At night we wanted to join the night life in Copenhagen, first of all, we were unlucky because during the working days Copenhagen is not so buzzing.
Second of all, we asked to the reception assistants to show some places where we could enjoy ourselves. One of them pointed us towards a well know night club...
Ok we might have looked like wolfs ready for their buck-hunting, a classic Italian stereotype
but you can suggest to your clients a night club, when they ask you "where can we chill out?,
where can we have a whale of time? "
Anyway we decided on our own where to go... this is another story, stay tuned :)
The first sentence of the day is:"Domenik, here, we have to mind the bicycles not the cars"
In this phrase I can sum up the Danish (broadly speaking, the North ) way of life. They are accustomed to use bicycles rather than cars. Cycles lanes are widely spread all over the city,
there is also a route dedicated to the tourists in order to make them enjoy the most relevant places of the city by bicycle.
You can rent a bicycle or get one for free, indeed there are some that you can take like you do for a shopping cart. With 10 DKK (Danish coroners) you borrow it from one of well known bicycle points and you can freely ride it. When you park (not necessarily in the park where the cycle was picked ) you 'll get back your 10 DKK.
Unfortunately, the number of bicycles is underestimated and it's not easy at all to find some one that is in a good condition... what a bummer !
Going ahead, we went to the Round tower from which you can enjoy the view of the city.
Then we reached the Kastel Church, here I ran into some mills. Shifting briefly our focus to the mills: In Denmark, I noticed that even on some souvenir are represented or depicted some mills, as far as I know, Netherlands is famous for its mills... I have to ask to Google :)
We went sightseeing the city with a canal tour that takes about one hour.
The city is a mixture of old and new buildings. Residential areas are really nice and
liveable as we could notice by going there on foot, later on. For instance, a lot of houses stretch along a square in whose centre there is a playground for kids.
There are also several benches where you can simply seat on and wind up...
Honestly, a lovely place where I eventually would like to grow up my family. These facilities impress me, because I think that they are expensive to build up and maintain, but they can really enjoy only for a short time due to unaffordable weather conditions.
At 6:00 pm we were back on our way towards our hotel. Generally for the whole holiday, we decided to go back to the hotel at about 6:00 -6:30 pm, in order to have a shower, give relief to our pour aching foot and.. SLEEPING for 2-3 hours before going clubbing :)
In our hotel was also available a swimming pool, well why don't we plunge ?
that 's what I and Marco did, we brought with us a swim-suits, originally we wanted to
go to the Copenhagen shores, but as you can imagine the weather prevented us from doing it :)
A sad and nasty note:
At night we wanted to join the night life in Copenhagen, first of all, we were unlucky because during the working days Copenhagen is not so buzzing.
Second of all, we asked to the reception assistants to show some places where we could enjoy ourselves. One of them pointed us towards a well know night club...
Ok we might have looked like wolfs ready for their buck-hunting, a classic Italian stereotype
but you can suggest to your clients a night club, when they ask you "where can we chill out?,
where can we have a whale of time? "
Anyway we decided on our own where to go... this is another story, stay tuned :)
Thursday, 17 September 2009
Recession... curious signs ?
You can see recession every where, big companies are going to close their offices in some countries, laying off a lot of people... I personally notice a curios sign.
Every morning when I take the bus there is a woman who used to bring with her a handbag branded by a blue chip company... some days ago I went to know that this company was laying off its personnel and coincidence the lady has replaced her bag with another one....
Every morning when I take the bus there is a woman who used to bring with her a handbag branded by a blue chip company... some days ago I went to know that this company was laying off its personnel and coincidence the lady has replaced her bag with another one....
Sunday, 13 September 2009
Second day in Copenhagen
We booked a room and in our package breakfast was included, the only drawback due to this choice was that we had to get up early in the morning, not later than 9:30 a.m.otherwise we should have said goodbye to our "vital" breakfast.
The first morning we had a great idea, why don't we prepare enough sandwiches for our lunch time ? Well, while we were eating croissants, sweet biscuits, jam and everything you can imagine
we packed our sandwiches let me say we made 10 of them ... Stupidly we left them lay on our table... a big hill of sandwiches, two minutes later a waitress, gently, rebuked us by saying: sorry, you can't take them out"... we were running a pony show, Italian stereotype.. I know it's frowned upon...
We were embarrassed, but we didn't want to excuse ourselves from the table with all those sandwiches therefore... we started to eat them, can you believe it? we were already stuffed ... just one word PIGS :)
Ready for our first visit in Copenhagen, a sweater or a windbreak -jacket embraced our chest (it was a bit cold), a map in our hands and we went to the city centre on foot. It's nice, small and most people ride a bike, it reminds me of Stockholm but the latter is better :)
What I didn't expect is the width of the main streets that are larger than the ones we have in Rome (frankly, the avenues in Rome are very large). For example the Andersen boulevard takes 50 seconds to be crossed from one side to another.. how can I know it ?
because they use some traffic lights equipped with an electronic counter that shows how many seconds remain :)
The buildings are quite similar, one to each other with stunning colours but it seems a city without a precise identity, actually. For example I didn't see a square dedicated or in honour of someone. Now I can also reveal what staff is really expensive in CPH.. FOOD !!
A bottle of natural water, half litre 1,5€ !! a chewing-gum packet 1.3€ thus our breakfast turned out to be "vital", because by eating in the morning as much as I could,
I could skip our lunch and this was what we carried on doing...
Next ride, next tale :) follow some pics
The first morning we had a great idea, why don't we prepare enough sandwiches for our lunch time ? Well, while we were eating croissants, sweet biscuits, jam and everything you can imagine
we packed our sandwiches let me say we made 10 of them ... Stupidly we left them lay on our table... a big hill of sandwiches, two minutes later a waitress, gently, rebuked us by saying: sorry, you can't take them out"... we were running a pony show, Italian stereotype.. I know it's frowned upon...
We were embarrassed, but we didn't want to excuse ourselves from the table with all those sandwiches therefore... we started to eat them, can you believe it? we were already stuffed ... just one word PIGS :)
Ready for our first visit in Copenhagen, a sweater or a windbreak -jacket embraced our chest (it was a bit cold), a map in our hands and we went to the city centre on foot. It's nice, small and most people ride a bike, it reminds me of Stockholm but the latter is better :)
What I didn't expect is the width of the main streets that are larger than the ones we have in Rome (frankly, the avenues in Rome are very large). For example the Andersen boulevard takes 50 seconds to be crossed from one side to another.. how can I know it ?
because they use some traffic lights equipped with an electronic counter that shows how many seconds remain :)
The buildings are quite similar, one to each other with stunning colours but it seems a city without a precise identity, actually. For example I didn't see a square dedicated or in honour of someone. Now I can also reveal what staff is really expensive in CPH.. FOOD !!
A bottle of natural water, half litre 1,5€ !! a chewing-gum packet 1.3€ thus our breakfast turned out to be "vital", because by eating in the morning as much as I could,
I could skip our lunch and this was what we carried on doing...
Next ride, next tale :) follow some pics
Monday, 7 September 2009
(From) Farewell
I love the love that distributes
in kisses, bed and bread.
Love the can be eternal
and love that can be fleeting.
Love that wants to liberate you
to return to love again.
Divine love that gets close
Divine love that leaves
P. Neruda
in kisses, bed and bread.
Love the can be eternal
and love that can be fleeting.
Love that wants to liberate you
to return to love again.
Divine love that gets close
Divine love that leaves
P. Neruda
Sunday, 6 September 2009
First Day in Copenhagen
10-Aug,
I didn't know one of the fellow travellers: Valerio, the other one was my closest friend Marco.
> We were at the train station waiting for our train for the airport, all of a sudden Marco's mobile rang...
I'm Valerio, I'm facing a problem... I don't find my ID card... well
Since by nature I'm a sociable animal :), I have started to talk to a guy and a girl..
succeededin getting to departures with us
Our hotel was DGI Bean, a newly furnished building in a perfect Danish and modern style. A bit cold in my opinion, you know, some places can make you feel some emotions already at first sight...
In the end we unpacked our luggage, had a shower and went out, strolling in the city centre,
teasing and laughing at Valerio for his ID-card and planning our next days...
Intense, tiring, funny, exciting days were on the way :)
I didn't know one of the fellow travellers: Valerio, the other one was my closest friend Marco.
> We were at the train station waiting for our train for the airport, all of a sudden Marco's mobile rang...
I'm Valerio, I'm facing a problem... I don't find my ID card... well
Marco told me that Valerio lives at the edge of this world :) , but I couldn't believe he was able to lose his ID-card...anyway, no panic !! and try to wash away silly prejudices :) before meeting him.
Nevertheless, we decided to go to the airport and talk to the local police station, they suggested to Valerio going to the municipal office and ask for a new ID card, in the meanwhile we, Marco and me stayed in the queue for the check in.
I didn't care about his "problem" because I felt pretty positive about this holiday and confident that Valerio was able to reach us somehow.Nevertheless, we decided to go to the airport and talk to the local police station, they suggested to Valerio going to the municipal office and ask for a new ID card, in the meanwhile we, Marco and me stayed in the queue for the check in.
Since by nature I'm a sociable animal :), I have started to talk to a guy and a girl..
The latter one surprised me with her story. She was Peruvian and living in Italy, her brother was half Danish and half Peruvian. This world is more and more beautiful and wothy to be discovered. Chatting, getting in touch with people, the time goes at fast pace... I've never told you, but I love queueing if there are some people you can talk to:)
Thanks to God, our airplane was delayed two hours and Valeriosucceededin getting to departures with us
In Copenhagen, a cloudy day was waiting for us, I personally didn't know that it would have been
our closest friend for the entire vacation ... The CPH airport is well connected to the city centre and within a few minutes, we got to it. Public transport are wonderful and efficient, but trust me, damn expensive.. one ride in the city centre is about 2 €... but we still ignored what the most expensive thing was
I'll say it to youlater, in the meantime try to guess ...our closest friend for the entire vacation ... The CPH airport is well connected to the city centre and within a few minutes, we got to it. Public transport are wonderful and efficient, but trust me, damn expensive.. one ride in the city centre is about 2 €... but we still ignored what the most expensive thing was
Our hotel was DGI Bean, a newly furnished building in a perfect Danish and modern style. A bit cold in my opinion, you know, some places can make you feel some emotions already at first sight...
In the end we unpacked our luggage, had a shower and went out, strolling in the city centre,
teasing and laughing at Valerio for his ID-card and planning our next days...
Intense, tiring, funny, exciting days were on the way :)
Monday, 31 August 2009
Friday, 28 August 2009
Travelling&Love
Travelling is like Love,
excited before leaving like while wooing,
a new place is being discovered, a new life is in front of you.
Happy when you get to the destination, when you give your first kiss.
A soul to love, a place to live
unhappy when you're coming back, when it is over...
excited before leaving like while wooing,
a new place is being discovered, a new life is in front of you.
Happy when you get to the destination, when you give your first kiss.
A soul to love, a place to live
unhappy when you're coming back, when it is over...
Sunday, 23 August 2009
Wednesday, 19 August 2009
Sunday, 9 August 2009
Departure eve
Now I'm in Naples, organizing last things before leaving for Copenhagen...
I wish all you "Wonderful holiday"
Kisses and hug !
I wish all you "Wonderful holiday"
Kisses and hug !
Saturday, 1 August 2009
Last months
Probably, you've wondered how I spent my time recently and why I'm always out of time to write an email...
Well, unfortunately my free time is dramatically decreased due to two sucking deliveries in these last months.
In addition, it's getting hotter and hotter so I don't like to stay at home in front of my PC,
actually I sweat like a pig (we haven't got an air conditioner :( and what I do, mostly, during my weekend is to go to the sea.
I haven't been in the habit of going to the sea for years, I disliked it... now my mind has changed and I like being tanned and have a rest in the sun lounger... maybe because after an entire week spent to slog away I just need to relax...
In the past I was addicted to tanning, someone called me "lizard" because the number of days spent to go sunbathing... it's true, old habit die hard :)
But, definitely I can't say that I'm a sun worshipper :)
About my next holiday, the dice is cast finally ! just another week at work, We are going to go to Copenhagen from 10th Aug to 14th Aug then I'll be back in Italy and plan other things to do, my days off last until 23th Aug.
How have you planned your holiday ? What country or city will you visit ? What is your itinerary ?
Well, unfortunately my free time is dramatically decreased due to two sucking deliveries in these last months.
In addition, it's getting hotter and hotter so I don't like to stay at home in front of my PC,
actually I sweat like a pig (we haven't got an air conditioner :( and what I do, mostly, during my weekend is to go to the sea.
I haven't been in the habit of going to the sea for years, I disliked it... now my mind has changed and I like being tanned and have a rest in the sun lounger... maybe because after an entire week spent to slog away I just need to relax...
In the past I was addicted to tanning, someone called me "lizard" because the number of days spent to go sunbathing... it's true, old habit die hard :)
But, definitely I can't say that I'm a sun worshipper :)
About my next holiday, the dice is cast finally ! just another week at work, We are going to go to Copenhagen from 10th Aug to 14th Aug then I'll be back in Italy and plan other things to do, my days off last until 23th Aug.
How have you planned your holiday ? What country or city will you visit ? What is your itinerary ?
Friday, 26 June 2009
Happy-nice-small-things
Your shiny smile in the trembling sun light
A kiss with your plump lips still milk flavoured
Another day gets started
work,friends, duties, time-wasting
...
The sunset is fading away
and I'm walking in your moon light
At home, you and me,
another night loving each other.
A kiss with your plump lips still milk flavoured
Another day gets started
work,friends, duties, time-wasting
...
The sunset is fading away
and I'm walking in your moon light
At home, you and me,
another night loving each other.
Sunday, 21 June 2009
Rowing
I had rowed for a long time in the ocean,
I never lost my direction, my heart was my compass
it carried me to you.
I never lost my direction, my heart was my compass
it carried me to you.
Saturday, 13 June 2009
First time..
Last Thursday I was on business trip for the first time, precisely I had to go to a meeting off-site, in Turin, where our client is located.
It was the first time that I had to deal directly with the client, in the past I had just a conference.
Moreover I was alone, I mean as technician without a senior, on my left there was only the sale manager who didn't give me a great support, actually.
Honestly, before leaving for Turin I gathered all the possible advise that I could, I spoke to seniors, managers and so on.. I was worried about this task because I didn't have any frame of reference on how to cope with customers.
I was afraid of becoming the laughing stock or shooting from the hip.
Also, it was the first time that I had to take some decisions for our current project and guide our client towards the best solution (at least I hope it was the best one...) and propose a new activity for the sake of increasing our revenue.
In some moments I acted more as a pre-sale manger than a technical adviser... but it goes with the territory in my profession.
Summing up, I think I hit the target :), I reported the outcome to my manager and I received some compliments on it, but it's not the time to rest on my laurel :)
An unhappy note... I was forced to pay all the expenses (aside from the flight tickets) in advance and I'm about to be strapped because I can't withdraw more money, I'm near to overcome my monthly limit withdrawal ... I set it too low... :(
How was your experience when you had your first meeting with the client ?
Moreover I was alone, I mean as technician without a senior, on my left there was only the sale manager who didn't give me a great support, actually.
Honestly, before leaving for Turin I gathered all the possible advise that I could, I spoke to seniors, managers and so on.. I was worried about this task because I didn't have any frame of reference on how to cope with customers.
I was afraid of becoming the laughing stock or shooting from the hip.
Also, it was the first time that I had to take some decisions for our current project and guide our client towards the best solution (at least I hope it was the best one...) and propose a new activity for the sake of increasing our revenue.
In some moments I acted more as a pre-sale manger than a technical adviser... but it goes with the territory in my profession.
Summing up, I think I hit the target :), I reported the outcome to my manager and I received some compliments on it, but it's not the time to rest on my laurel :)
An unhappy note... I was forced to pay all the expenses (aside from the flight tickets) in advance and I'm about to be strapped because I can't withdraw more money, I'm near to overcome my monthly limit withdrawal ... I set it too low... :(
How was your experience when you had your first meeting with the client ?
Monday, 8 June 2009
Friday, 5 June 2009
An easy week
During this week I haven't worked a lot, actually I had a simple task to accomplish: technical writing !! it's not rewarding and cool at all, but sometimes you need a bit of relax.
I also discovered a singer whose voice is cosy and nifty, he is Paolo Nuttini
I hope we 'll have a sunny weekend I want to go to the sea and go sunbathing.. I needed it !
Enjoy your week !
I also discovered a singer whose voice is cosy and nifty, he is Paolo Nuttini
I hope we 'll have a sunny weekend I want to go to the sea and go sunbathing.. I needed it !
Enjoy your week !
Saturday, 30 May 2009
Goodbye Ricccardo
It was January, my first work experience, my first project and I met Riccardo, recently graduated like me. We didn't know each other but sooner we discovered to share the same dreams, ideas and the spirit to tackle down every challenge ! .
Someone named us "Cluster"for our extraordinary capacity to work together and accomplish every task. Someone thought that we have been friends for a long time... even thought our friendship was born only some months ago..
Riccardo, an indefatigable worker, a true and kind person, an intelligent guy.
I will never forget when we burst in a loud laugh (mixed with some sarcasm and desperation) in the late afternoon after an entire day spent to do some researches for our first project, trying to do our best.
How can I forget how you pronounced in English some words and your willingness to improve it and follow my advice.
Now, Riccardo is going to take another chance, another opportunity and I wish him all the best hopefully we'll keep in touch. Good luck Riccardo !
Someone named us "Cluster"for our extraordinary capacity to work together and accomplish every task. Someone thought that we have been friends for a long time... even thought our friendship was born only some months ago..
Riccardo, an indefatigable worker, a true and kind person, an intelligent guy.
I will never forget when we burst in a loud laugh (mixed with some sarcasm and desperation) in the late afternoon after an entire day spent to do some researches for our first project, trying to do our best.
How can I forget how you pronounced in English some words and your willingness to improve it and follow my advice.
Now, Riccardo is going to take another chance, another opportunity and I wish him all the best hopefully we'll keep in touch. Good luck Riccardo !
Saturday, 23 May 2009
What do you look when you choose your apartment?
I want to list what someone should look for when he/she chooses his/her room:
- The flatmates: they should be old like you're, it helps you to make new friends and to feel in your comfortable zone.
- Students with students, workers with workers: in other words, partying doesn't match with working :)
- The floor: I live in an apartment at the lowest floor of the building and I can barely see the sun light of this wonderful days :(
- The furniture: try to have enough furniture to put your things...
- Number of people: more than three people with one bathroom..it's a bit tough to share it
- Location. if it is well served by public transport it's better otherwise... car
- Balcony: I would like to dry my wet clothes easily by taking advantage of sun, above all during summer !
- What am I missing out ?
Friday, 22 May 2009
Saturday, 9 May 2009
Free admission weekend
As I anticipated I had my tourist tour in Rome a week ago. It was nifty and winding down for my mind but not for my legs :)
On the contrary if you want to find out about Roman history, you must visit Foro Romano and
Foro Traiano. Visiting them took me the entire Sunday. You can go through those old ruins and try to imagine how the Roman society lived.
We discovered that the marble with which the pillars and interior house objects are made of varies, some have even a quirk name. For example, there is a marble slab called "Cipollino" little onion, its name is due to the several layers, from the grey to the red colour, that compose it !
I even learnt that Romans used to build up animal shaped statues!!!. As far as I know Egyptian
I started off on Saturday afternoon with "Il Vittoriano" Palace in which mementos of our history have been collected since the Renaissance. To tell the truth in some show rooms there is a bit of confusion because in the same area were messed up symbols of Futurismo with Risorgimento (Reinaissance).
In the palace, statues and portraits fill all the rooms as you can reasonably expect, but the thing that caught my attention was a post about Futurismo. I have always been attracted by the Futuristi's words and dialectic, even if their speech, sometimes it's harsh and bloody, but on the whole it is vigorous.
In the palace you can also run into some Roman wall paintings!!!, they are just spots !
In the palace, statues and portraits fill all the rooms as you can reasonably expect, but the thing that caught my attention was a post about Futurismo. I have always been attracted by the Futuristi's words and dialectic, even if their speech, sometimes it's harsh and bloody, but on the whole it is vigorous.
In the palace you can also run into some Roman wall paintings!!!, they are just spots !
On the contrary if you want to find out about Roman history, you must visit Foro Romano and
Foro Traiano. Visiting them took me the entire Sunday. You can go through those old ruins and try to imagine how the Roman society lived.
We discovered that the marble with which the pillars and interior house objects are made of varies, some have even a quirk name. For example, there is a marble slab called "Cipollino" little onion, its name is due to the several layers, from the grey to the red colour, that compose it !
> were accustomed to it, but I ignored Romans had this habit either.
Unfortunately, I didn't join a guide there and it was needed because I could have gained a deep insight :)
Monday, 27 April 2009
Speaking about your boss
I don't have any boss, at most I have a guide.... and I choose him/her
Puntino
Puntino
Sunday, 26 April 2009
Free admission in Rome
It's the free admission week at Roman museums, actually today is the last chance to visit them for free... try to guess what I'm going to do..
bye
bye
Saturday, 18 April 2009
Following what ?
After my studies at university I can say that I've just started to hand my Life, definitely.
Until some months ago, my life was filled with many things: dreams, desires, travels and so on but everything traveled on well-know rails, I could know when some things had to happen, it was more than guessing a date or an event.
Since I moved to Rome, I can say that my life is off the train, thanks to God.
I don't know what's going to happen and I live every day with more expatiation than I did before.
There are a lot of things that I'd like to change, like my job, it is sometimes mind-numbing not excited how I wished, strike up new friendship, I need new people around me with whom to share only my dreams.
I heat to find me and other people sipping our beer and after a while start speaking about our work in an end less conversation. It's par for the course to discuss about your work, exchange your experiences, etc but I can't afford an antire conversation about your crappy work.
I honestly miss my conversation with Gigi Electrionic and Top, with them I feel like a fish IN the water, not like someone is swiming against the current.
They are really good friends, with them I fell in my comfortable zone and get the force to pursue my happyness.
What I'd like it's going to happpen is to meet some quirky, interesting, buzzing people with whom I can share my passions, like travelling, English, literature, desire to moving out from our native country.
When I read my fellow blogs about Sweden, I get encouraged and I hope to meet people like them.
I feel that I'm not alone, many people follow my same dream, have my same willingness to change their life, but where are them? what do they do in order to make their dreams true? Do they live just in another country ?
I'd like to get in touch with someone who is following something.
Until some months ago, my life was filled with many things: dreams, desires, travels and so on but everything traveled on well-know rails, I could know when some things had to happen, it was more than guessing a date or an event.
Since I moved to Rome, I can say that my life is off the train, thanks to God.
I don't know what's going to happen and I live every day with more expatiation than I did before.
There are a lot of things that I'd like to change, like my job, it is sometimes mind-numbing not excited how I wished, strike up new friendship, I need new people around me with whom to share only my dreams.
I heat to find me and other people sipping our beer and after a while start speaking about our work in an end less conversation. It's par for the course to discuss about your work, exchange your experiences, etc but I can't afford an antire conversation about your crappy work.
I honestly miss my conversation with Gigi Electrionic and Top, with them I feel like a fish IN the water, not like someone is swiming against the current.
They are really good friends, with them I fell in my comfortable zone and get the force to pursue my happyness.
What I'd like it's going to happpen is to meet some quirky, interesting, buzzing people with whom I can share my passions, like travelling, English, literature, desire to moving out from our native country.
When I read my fellow blogs about Sweden, I get encouraged and I hope to meet people like them.
I feel that I'm not alone, many people follow my same dream, have my same willingness to change their life, but where are them? what do they do in order to make their dreams true? Do they live just in another country ?
I'd like to get in touch with someone who is following something.
Sunday, 12 April 2009
Lesson learnt
Dear guys,
Before leaving Rome for my Easter holiday my manager delegated to me the translation of project written in Italian into English.
It's going to be really challenging and helpful to improve my business English.
In order to have a good translation, I thought of studying some project management guides in English because it's much easier to get the proper words that match the Italian ones.
I suppose that this translation methodology makes much more sense than looking up in a vocabulary and get a translation. Anyway I have to be very careful because this project will be sent to our French board direction...
While reading the guide as I mentioned above, I've noticed an interesting section called "lesson learnt".
I think it expresses the idea of a continual improvement, the willingness to learn from the previous mistakes and results. As you can imagine this section is missing in my Italian documentation... upsetting !!
This lack shows how we manage our project and more generally our methodology !
Before leaving Rome for my Easter holiday my manager delegated to me the translation of project written in Italian into English.
It's going to be really challenging and helpful to improve my business English.
In order to have a good translation, I thought of studying some project management guides in English because it's much easier to get the proper words that match the Italian ones.
I suppose that this translation methodology makes much more sense than looking up in a vocabulary and get a translation. Anyway I have to be very careful because this project will be sent to our French board direction...
While reading the guide as I mentioned above, I've noticed an interesting section called "lesson learnt".
I think it expresses the idea of a continual improvement, the willingness to learn from the previous mistakes and results. As you can imagine this section is missing in my Italian documentation... upsetting !!
This lack shows how we manage our project and more generally our methodology !
Sunday, 5 April 2009
Becoming crazy or feeding my mind?
Dear guys
I've started to study Swedish on my own, unfortunately I can' t attend a Swedish course at the moment.
The pronunciation is really painful (it's a royal pain to me, honestly!) but I'm trying to do my best. The weird thing is how I study it.
Maybe you could suppose that I refer to the plenty of free available resources on Internet, it covers only a small part of my work. I mostly use a self teaching book whose explanations are in English... so to learn a new language, Swedish, I go through to another foreign language, English... at least I can master the latter fairly :)
One friend of mine said to me: it's good, you can train two languages at the same time.
It's true, and it's not maddening (for me)... I'd say it's quirky :)
the final results are:
I've started to study Swedish on my own, unfortunately I can' t attend a Swedish course at the moment.
The pronunciation is really painful (it's a royal pain to me, honestly!) but I'm trying to do my best. The weird thing is how I study it.
Maybe you could suppose that I refer to the plenty of free available resources on Internet, it covers only a small part of my work. I mostly use a self teaching book whose explanations are in English... so to learn a new language, Swedish, I go through to another foreign language, English... at least I can master the latter fairly :)
One friend of mine said to me: it's good, you can train two languages at the same time.
It's true, and it's not maddening (for me)... I'd say it's quirky :)
the final results are:
- I don't use Italian language for my notes (written only in English :)
- When I pronounce Swedish words for some reason, I use an English accent (I had better say American accent). For example I tend to apply the "schwa" sound for words like Här, år
Curious ...
Saturday, 28 March 2009
From "The Great Gatsby"
Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us, but that's no matter-to-morrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther... And one fine morning
It's a fragment form the last page of "The Great Gatsby" by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the last book that I read in English.
It's a fragment form the last page of "The Great Gatsby" by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the last book that I read in English.
Sunday, 22 March 2009
How I rule myself
Dear
Probably, you've wondered how I spent my weekend in Rome and how the Roman night life looks like...
Well, I was in some places here at night even alone. Indeed most of my friends are from Naples like me, in the weekend they go back home and I remain in Rome. After my first weekend in Rome spent at home what a pity ! it was upsetting, I firmly decided to go out even if I was with no friend ! I don't want to give up!
So sometimes I visited Rome at night and I found it amazing and extraordinary. Also, I was a moron I left my camera at home !! But no pain for that, I'll have time to get lost in the Rome's night again :)
Yesterday I was at "literary coffee", really nice. When I was in Naples I didn't use to go to these kinds of places, honestly I don't know any of them in my city !
They are buzzing places where you can sip your coffee or cocktail or whatever you like and read a book, talk or simply surf on the web. While I was picking my book I saw one guy that I met months ago, he was a friend of one friend of mine... it's a long chain :)
After one minute I was with him and his friends...
I found it wonderful because you don't need to arrange everything,
sometimes you can enjoy yourself easily, just to take the first step, a bit of willingness...
If I hadn't taken the plunge to go out, even when I was alone, I'd have never met that people !
Living is exciting !
Well, I was in some places here at night even alone. Indeed most of my friends are from Naples like me, in the weekend they go back home and I remain in Rome. After my first weekend in Rome spent at home what a pity ! it was upsetting, I firmly decided to go out even if I was with no friend ! I don't want to give up!
So sometimes I visited Rome at night and I found it amazing and extraordinary. Also, I was a moron I left my camera at home !! But no pain for that, I'll have time to get lost in the Rome's night again :)
Yesterday I was at "literary coffee", really nice. When I was in Naples I didn't use to go to these kinds of places, honestly I don't know any of them in my city !
They are buzzing places where you can sip your coffee or cocktail or whatever you like and read a book, talk or simply surf on the web. While I was picking my book I saw one guy that I met months ago, he was a friend of one friend of mine... it's a long chain :)
After one minute I was with him and his friends...
I found it wonderful because you don't need to arrange everything,
sometimes you can enjoy yourself easily, just to take the first step, a bit of willingness...
If I hadn't taken the plunge to go out, even when I was alone, I'd have never met that people !
Living is exciting !
Monday, 16 March 2009
what became of me?
maybe you have wondered during these days.
I have been snowed under, too many things to deliver.
One of the project in which I was involved ended up (thanks to God!, I could no longer stand it! )
Secondly I had to prepare myself along with one colleague/friend of mine for our first workshop.
The latter was a good and exciting experience and as I like saying it's a cross experience because it covers different aspect of our growth as consultants as well as men.
Yet, after my presentation there were our Spanish partners who provide some software to us.
They had their conference in English and I was elected interpreter to support them, if they didn't manage to get understood. In the afternoon I had a long meeting with them in order to discuss some technical details, I can say I spent 3/4 of my day speaking in English...great I needed it, before I became all out of practice.
Moreover I worked extra time last week and it wasn't paid at all !
What a sucking week !!
Now I hope to take a breath of relief and to be more free.
I have been snowed under, too many things to deliver.
One of the project in which I was involved ended up (thanks to God!, I could no longer stand it! )
Secondly I had to prepare myself along with one colleague/friend of mine for our first workshop.
The latter was a good and exciting experience and as I like saying it's a cross experience because it covers different aspect of our growth as consultants as well as men.
Yet, after my presentation there were our Spanish partners who provide some software to us.
They had their conference in English and I was elected interpreter to support them, if they didn't manage to get understood. In the afternoon I had a long meeting with them in order to discuss some technical details, I can say I spent 3/4 of my day speaking in English...great I needed it, before I became all out of practice.
Moreover I worked extra time last week and it wasn't paid at all !
What a sucking week !!
Now I hope to take a breath of relief and to be more free.
Sunday, 8 March 2009
Where I live and around Rome
Dears
I spent my first weekend messing around in Rome, finally. Until last Friday every weekend turned to be a weekend warrior, once I needed to buy some things for my room, another I was back in Naples and so on .
Yesterday, I met an old friend of mine and together, we took in Rome. We walked for a long time, about 3 hours or more !!! but it was a pleasure and healthy, as well.. you know when you work as an engineer you spent your day in front of a PC, above all.
Our stroll started from Colosseo to Navona square and ended up in Circo Massimo.
I took some pictures during our walk, you can see them below...
I spent my first weekend messing around in Rome, finally. Until last Friday every weekend turned to be a weekend warrior, once I needed to buy some things for my room, another I was back in Naples and so on .
Yesterday, I met an old friend of mine and together, we took in Rome. We walked for a long time, about 3 hours or more !!! but it was a pleasure and healthy, as well.. you know when you work as an engineer you spent your day in front of a PC, above all.
Our stroll started from Colosseo to Navona square and ended up in Circo Massimo.
I took some pictures during our walk, you can see them below...
Today, I explored my borough whose name is EUR. I still don't know its history, some colleagues told me that Mussolini was his founder, anyway it's a residential area with a lot of green that I didn't expect, definitely. But there are some businees building too, like the ENI's building.
I went to the "Laghetto" (small lake) in English. Actually it's not worth visiting, if you're a tourist don't come to see it.. or at most you can visit me, the latter it's worth doing :)
The Laghetto was particulary over croweded, I suppose because it was a spring day and at the same time the "Woman day".
The "Woman day " as you can suggest it's a day dedicated to celebrate the woman in our country, I'm wondering there is such a celebration in other countries too ?
Let's pull off my writing about where I live with some pictures took near my house.
I went to the "Laghetto" (small lake) in English. Actually it's not worth visiting, if you're a tourist don't come to see it.. or at most you can visit me, the latter it's worth doing :)
The Laghetto was particulary over croweded, I suppose because it was a spring day and at the same time the "Woman day".
The "Woman day " as you can suggest it's a day dedicated to celebrate the woman in our country, I'm wondering there is such a celebration in other countries too ?
Let's pull off my writing about where I live with some pictures took near my house.
Laghetto
Laghetto
St.Paul church
Saturday, 28 February 2009
Easy Love
With your breath I lived,
in your eyes there was my broken mirror,
From your mouth my misunderstood thoughts came,
Your sharpened voice in my ear, never in my mind.
Get out of our rut, let's play with our souls
no fear, time goes, it doesn' t wolf our days,
it simply ticks at the same pace.
Tomorrow it's another joy-day, you don't need to plan it
With sorrows and pains, Love flame fades away, dear.
I lie flat on my playground,
eyeing the sky and smiling to my faith,
I know my everlasting Love will come.
By Puntino
in your eyes there was my broken mirror,
From your mouth my misunderstood thoughts came,
Your sharpened voice in my ear, never in my mind.
Get out of our rut, let's play with our souls
no fear, time goes, it doesn' t wolf our days,
it simply ticks at the same pace.
Tomorrow it's another joy-day, you don't need to plan it
With sorrows and pains, Love flame fades away, dear.
I lie flat on my playground,
eyeing the sky and smiling to my faith,
I know my everlasting Love will come.
By Puntino
Wednesday, 25 February 2009
Monday, 16 February 2009
Male thoughts
= stupid thoughts !! (not always, actually !)
Some week ago, my flatmate and I wondered why the best cook are male while at home, usually, in our country the women is the Queen of the kitchen.
This silly and trivial question received a first answer by Zsofia, a dear friend of mine. In her opinion the people tend to be committed with other tasks, when they are at home.
if they work as teachers at home they don't like to teach their own children and so on.
An interesting theory, what do you think about ?
Another thing that I've noticed during these days. I spent most part of my work reading technical books and I discivered the existence of a masculine oriented literature. Let me spell out a lot of books are written keeping in mind that only man can read them. It's likely to be true for some kind of topics (e.g. computer network, programming languages,...) but they should never point towards a specific reader, I rekoon.
So I've run into loads of "his" and "him" and if the reader was a woman ?
Some week ago, my flatmate and I wondered why the best cook are male while at home, usually, in our country the women is the Queen of the kitchen.
This silly and trivial question received a first answer by Zsofia, a dear friend of mine. In her opinion the people tend to be committed with other tasks, when they are at home.
if they work as teachers at home they don't like to teach their own children and so on.
An interesting theory, what do you think about ?
Another thing that I've noticed during these days. I spent most part of my work reading technical books and I discivered the existence of a masculine oriented literature. Let me spell out a lot of books are written keeping in mind that only man can read them. It's likely to be true for some kind of topics (e.g. computer network, programming languages,...) but they should never point towards a specific reader, I rekoon.
So I've run into loads of "his" and "him" and if the reader was a woman ?
Monday, 9 February 2009
Last goodby
Dears,
I'm going to speak about a sad and harsh topic, if you are not in the right mood, store this post for a better time. The last weeks have been crucial,intense and bitter in Italy due to the strong debate about the euthanasia.
As a matter of fact, we've been arguing since Eluana Englaro's story was under the spot light.
Eluana was a woman who had a cruel incident ten years ago from which she got out of alive but in a coma, at the age of 20.
To make matter worse, she has been condemned to be tied to a bed whenever she had woken up, because of a spinal column fracture.
Eluana's pains were so strong that after 12 months it was possible to make a clear and definite diagnose: Eluana will live for ever in a permanent coma. For the English and American medical authorities is reasonable to state the neurological death and it's allowed to suspend the artificial nutrition.
Here in Italy, we couldn't consider this tough and painful fact because the Italian justice rejected the requirement of Eluana's father (Beppino Englaro) of blocking the artificial care assistance.
For this reason, in the 90's, Eluana story's got visibility: it was the first sign of a lasting, frustrating fight between Eluana's father and the Italian state.
A doubtful proof of Eluana's willing turned out through a friend of hers' confession.
She will have never accepted to live in that way, he said to have listened to this words by Eluana when they spoke about a similar topic before all this occurred.
Beppino Englaro conviced of the medical sentence (she'll never get alive back) and the Eluana's friend confession kept up his personal battle and more than once he asked to suspend the medical treatment for her daughter. A tiring series of battles against the Italian justice.
After a number of sentences from all levels of Italian justice system, Beppino, finally managed to receive from the highest court the permission to suspend the artificial nutrition, it was 8 October 2009.
The last and most dramatic step, Eluana was taken to a hospital where she could take the last breath of her life by suspending the care assistance gradually.
People who have followed this fact split up: with Beppino or against him.
It's a national involvement, people who still want Eluana to receive her cures and others who decide to leave her poor father to make his decision.
Behind this event, there is the lack of the Living will. We can't express how we would like to be cured in such a situation.
This last week the blind run of our government has started to rule this matter, a faint hope..
Tonight Eluana has passed away... goodbye Eluana
I'm totally convinced that we have the right to decide in this case and if we haven't expressed our will, someone who deeply knows us can take the plunge and act on our behalf, definitely .
Church, Pope, any national government can't and mustn't replace us in this situation.
There is no a reason for their intervention or speech. We are free and, after our 18s, able to decide (we are supposed to be mature...)
By the way, what do you think?
What is the feeling in you country or where you've moved to?
Have your government ruled this event in somehow ?
Please let me know
As a matter of fact, we've been arguing since Eluana Englaro's story was under the spot light.
Eluana was a woman who had a cruel incident ten years ago from which she got out of alive but in a coma, at the age of 20.
To make matter worse, she has been condemned to be tied to a bed whenever she had woken up, because of a spinal column fracture.
Eluana's pains were so strong that after 12 months it was possible to make a clear and definite diagnose: Eluana will live for ever in a permanent coma. For the English and American medical authorities is reasonable to state the neurological death and it's allowed to suspend the artificial nutrition.
Here in Italy, we couldn't consider this tough and painful fact because the Italian justice rejected the requirement of Eluana's father (Beppino Englaro) of blocking the artificial care assistance.
For this reason, in the 90's, Eluana story's got visibility: it was the first sign of a lasting, frustrating fight between Eluana's father and the Italian state.
A doubtful proof of Eluana's willing turned out through a friend of hers' confession.
She will have never accepted to live in that way, he said to have listened to this words by Eluana when they spoke about a similar topic before all this occurred.
Beppino Englaro conviced of the medical sentence (she'll never get alive back) and the Eluana's friend confession kept up his personal battle and more than once he asked to suspend the medical treatment for her daughter. A tiring series of battles against the Italian justice.
After a number of sentences from all levels of Italian justice system, Beppino, finally managed to receive from the highest court the permission to suspend the artificial nutrition, it was 8 October 2009.
The last and most dramatic step, Eluana was taken to a hospital where she could take the last breath of her life by suspending the care assistance gradually.
People who have followed this fact split up: with Beppino or against him.
It's a national involvement, people who still want Eluana to receive her cures and others who decide to leave her poor father to make his decision.
Behind this event, there is the lack of the Living will. We can't express how we would like to be cured in such a situation.
This last week the blind run of our government has started to rule this matter, a faint hope..
Tonight Eluana has passed away... goodbye Eluana
I'm totally convinced that we have the right to decide in this case and if we haven't expressed our will, someone who deeply knows us can take the plunge and act on our behalf, definitely .
Church, Pope, any national government can't and mustn't replace us in this situation.
There is no a reason for their intervention or speech. We are free and, after our 18s, able to decide (we are supposed to be mature...)
By the way, what do you think?
What is the feeling in you country or where you've moved to?
Have your government ruled this event in somehow ?
Please let me know
Sunday, 1 February 2009
New prospective
These days are making me discover new prospective of life. I know I made a big change weeks ago, house moving, getting a job and so on...
But it's different what I feel now. I see my life like one sitting in front of an aquarium, I see what happen to me and how I react, it's hard to put it into written words. From this unusual point of view, I also see people who were compelled to move from their country and come here, they have a strong visible sign on their face like I have.
I can understand their efforts and feel much closer them to me, now. To open my mind there is Olga's speech.
Olga is one of my flatmates' girlfriend, she is from Ukraine, she works as a caregiver.
Today we spoke about being immigrants, living alone in a foreign country, her difficulties and challenges faced day by day.
Olga, smiling, says: "nobody is waiting for you, it's hard to gain people's trustiness but I never give up". Brave, happiness, pain, determination enveloped in a unique simple sentence.
Olga says: "My son wants to join me, I discourage him, here is not easy to get by and again I remark nobody is waiting for you, please I beg you stay in our country, I'll help you". Mother's love.
Olga says:"I try to shape up my Italian, when I come across a new word I look up in my dictionary and please correct me when I make a mistake". The immigrant willing to be part of the hosting society.
Olga says:"I have to work hard every day, but I also enjoy my life, even now that I'm talking to you". We have one life, fill it with all the possible experiences that you can live.
Olga carries on speaking and I learn from her.
But it's different what I feel now. I see my life like one sitting in front of an aquarium, I see what happen to me and how I react, it's hard to put it into written words. From this unusual point of view, I also see people who were compelled to move from their country and come here, they have a strong visible sign on their face like I have.
I can understand their efforts and feel much closer them to me, now. To open my mind there is Olga's speech.
Olga is one of my flatmates' girlfriend, she is from Ukraine, she works as a caregiver.
Today we spoke about being immigrants, living alone in a foreign country, her difficulties and challenges faced day by day.
Olga, smiling, says: "nobody is waiting for you, it's hard to gain people's trustiness but I never give up". Brave, happiness, pain, determination enveloped in a unique simple sentence.
Olga says: "My son wants to join me, I discourage him, here is not easy to get by and again I remark nobody is waiting for you, please I beg you stay in our country, I'll help you". Mother's love.
Olga says:"I try to shape up my Italian, when I come across a new word I look up in my dictionary and please correct me when I make a mistake". The immigrant willing to be part of the hosting society.
Olga says:"I have to work hard every day, but I also enjoy my life, even now that I'm talking to you". We have one life, fill it with all the possible experiences that you can live.
Olga carries on speaking and I learn from her.
Thursday, 29 January 2009
Rome is getting cold
When I went to Rome I was surprised how warm it was despite of winter time... now I'm changing my mind, Rome is as cold as Naples !!
Sunday, 25 January 2009
Stupid to say..
Once again I regret to say that I'm short of time this period of my life, a lot of things are going to change unexpectedly!!
From now on I will never say expressions like "sorry if I write only now" or similar ones..it's pointless, trivial!
I'm back in Naples, actually I was forced to come back because I had to fix my old desktop.
In Rome I can't say that all is going fine, I have been facing some problems at work, I hope it's normal for a freshman...
The thing that I'm suffering from the most, it 's that I can't keep in contact with all my friends when I'm in Naples. Since I'm in a friendship with several people belonging to different loops and I have just one night when I come back, it's hard to pick the one to join.
To make matter worse, I come back twice a month (this weekend is an exception), I can't endure it.
I also think that the time when the Friends come out, the ones will never leave you alone and smiling when you're back !
It's the curve of our life, ruled from a complicated equation! I've known it will happen sooner or later, because of the decision I have made for my life. I've always considered myself a tinker.
While writing this blog, I'm listening to one of the best musician ever: Jeff Buckley
From now on I will never say expressions like "sorry if I write only now" or similar ones..it's pointless, trivial!
I'm back in Naples, actually I was forced to come back because I had to fix my old desktop.
In Rome I can't say that all is going fine, I have been facing some problems at work, I hope it's normal for a freshman...
The thing that I'm suffering from the most, it 's that I can't keep in contact with all my friends when I'm in Naples. Since I'm in a friendship with several people belonging to different loops and I have just one night when I come back, it's hard to pick the one to join.
To make matter worse, I come back twice a month (this weekend is an exception), I can't endure it.
I also think that the time when the Friends come out, the ones will never leave you alone and smiling when you're back !
It's the curve of our life, ruled from a complicated equation! I've known it will happen sooner or later, because of the decision I have made for my life. I've always considered myself a tinker.
While writing this blog, I'm listening to one of the best musician ever: Jeff Buckley
Saturday, 17 January 2009
The first post after moving to Rome
Dear,
How are you
..well, a long time has gone, I' m really sorry but every day a new thing comes out !!
How are you
..well, a long time has gone, I' m really sorry but every day a new thing comes out !!
For instance, the day before yesterday I planned to buy a device for my PC, it meant to waste a lot of time queueing from 7:30 pm to 8:30 pm then I went to home, wiped out at 9:15 pm.
Yesterday, I was really unlucky because my Internet connection at home was out of service. Anyway my work is really interesting and at the same time I feel lucky because I can say that it is heavily related to my university background, I don't have to throw away my university competencies as some friends of mine have to do. I joined a friendly team whose members are ready to help me and get my way in. Among them, there is Paolo with whom I'm pleased and
glad to speak in English.
He is Italian like me, but he has a good proficiency in English. All my colleagues are from Rome and their accent is funny and weird, I'll get used to listening to it soon.
My home is far away from my office, it takes me about 1 hour walking and by bus to get to office, I don't mind it because in the meanwhile I can schedule my things.
What about you ? any news?
Yesterday, I was really unlucky because my Internet connection at home was out of service. Anyway my work is really interesting and at the same time I feel lucky because I can say that it is heavily related to my university background, I don't have to throw away my university competencies as some friends of mine have to do. I joined a friendly team whose members are ready to help me and get my way in. Among them, there is Paolo with whom I'm pleased and
glad to speak in English.
He is Italian like me, but he has a good proficiency in English. All my colleagues are from Rome and their accent is funny and weird, I'll get used to listening to it soon.
My home is far away from my office, it takes me about 1 hour walking and by bus to get to office, I don't mind it because in the meanwhile I can schedule my things.
Sunday, 4 January 2009
Housemoving
Dear guys,
Time is up!! I have to move to Rome to start my new life there, I got a job or to precise I'm going to attend internship which lasts 3 months after they would offer a contract.
I hope I can write on this blog regularly, tell my adventures in Rome and so on.
Bye
Time is up!! I have to move to Rome to start my new life there, I got a job or to precise I'm going to attend internship which lasts 3 months after they would offer a contract.
I hope I can write on this blog regularly, tell my adventures in Rome and so on.
Bye
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