The days after Christmas

Sorry for my absence, again! The problem is, Christmas festivities take up a lot of time, with all those lunches, dinners, relatives around...
Now, though, most of that is gone, and that makes for extremely boring days! And, unfortunately, these aren't even particularly nice: from ill grannies to parents about to undergo surgery...that means spending a lot of precious time at home! :(
Of course, this isn't making me particularly happy; but then, I realise that in a couple of days I will be in the mountains to celebrate New Year's Eve!
Weird winter, this: it hasn't snowed at all, even in the mountains...and it's not good! But it's going to be fun anyway!
Stay tuned for more coming in the next few days!

Christmas week

Haven't been posting for a few days. You missed me, didn't you? :D
Honestly, I haven't had that much to say, last week.
Boring, sad days...apart from Friday night, when I had dinner out!
In the weekend, though, things went better: I got my first Christmas gifts and met up with a dear friend! Last night, though...
I went home slightly late, and started watching a new TV series! 100 Code, it's called. It tells the story of an American detective, Tommy Conley (Dominic Monaghan), who goes to the stunningly beautiful city of Stockholm (where else?) to investigate on a serial murderer who, apparently, started killing in New York City and then continued his spree in Sweden. Here, he is teamed up with Stockholm Police detective Mikael Eklund (Michael Nyqvist), whose methods are entire different from his new colleague's...
I've just seen four episodes so far, that is, just one third of the whole series, and I already love it! I'm not giving you any further information...if you're interested, just watch it!
Quite apart from this, I wish you all a nice week, and...see you soon! :)

Things I have learnt in one and a half year on Instagram (plus something else)

Ah, this week...
All the courses and modules in this semester have come to an end, so this week I am completely free! Before you start thinking that's awesome!, please keep in mind that, for me, there is nothing as boring as having nothing to do and staying at home!
I have, then, decided to write a new post. Something funny, not serious! So here we are.
The subject I have chosen is Instagram, the popular, photo-based social networking service. 
For a long time I thought Instagram to be absolute rubbish; but then, some friends persuaded me, and I joined it in August 2014.
Almost one and a half year after opening my own profile, I can say I have learnt a thing or two about the people who populate such network. Some of them, like the enormous number of fake profiles, are pretty obvious. Others aren't.
Here are the funniest ones, according to me: (NO DISCRIMINATION INTENDED!)

• As a social network, it doesn't offer much, in terms of actual communication between members, but still, some very good (amazing, actually...) friendships have started from there;
• There is a huge number of people around my age who still have an interest in cars and racing, a lot more than I expected, but still less than the bloody hipsters (and then they wonder why I hate fashion...). Of those racing enthusiasts, the majority seem to be girls, which is not bad at all (unless you are a sexist twat);
• Most of the above mentioned girls seem to be Swedish or, more generally, Scandinavian (other not bad thing);
• There are people who look like they are kind of obsessed with my profile: they like every single thing I post, from beautiful landscapes to nerdy stuff, EVERYTHING! And they are girls, so...can it be that they are secretly in love with me? :D (one of them is 6 years younger than me, so I definitely hope NOT; the others...I have no idea!);
• #throwbackthursday is a nice thing to me;
• The algorithm they use to give you suggestions for the people to follow is RUBBISH, as it thinks I might be interested in following footballers, socialites like Kim Kardashian and, even worse, MALE FASHION BLOGGERS! Can't possibly find anything farther from my tastes and interests;
• Last, but not least: those who kindly asked me to open an Instagram profile, promising that they would have followed me...well, they've been the first to ignore me! Okay.

Having discussed my Instagram experience, I would also like to talk a little about music: in the last few weeks, (too) many people in Italy have strongly criticised British singer Adele, whose new single, Hello, had just been released. It seemed as if, in those people's opinions, Adele had reached the lowest possible point, in terms of quality, in the whole of international music. First of all, I think that, while she is not my favourite singer and I do realise that her songs are not the happiest of them all, she is not as bad a singer as they want us to believe! To me, the lowest point in music has been reached by those extremely successful (an undeserved success, I believe) wanna-be rappers, the most influent of whom is the one who is also a judge on the Italian edition of The X Factor. If you are Italian, then you certainly know who I am referring to. If you are not, don't even bother: they REALLY are rubbish!

The end of first semester

Everything comes to an end. That includes, of course, semesters at university. This has mostly been a week of festivities, so I only had a class this morning. From next week onwards, I'll be (almost) completely free. I will, then, have time to think about Christmas presents and everything related to that day. Already booked my New Year's Eve in the mountains, just like two years ago. There's quite a bit of interest, this year, so I'm sure there'll be many other people, most of whom I already know! Not bad.
Just read the news. My dear and favourite driver, Ramona Karlsson, has just announced her pregnancy!  And of course, I couldn't help but wish her all the best! Hope the baby is going to be even just half as beautiful as his/her mother!
Strangely, though, she hadn't appeared in that dream I had last week...
Other than that, I wish you all a nice and pleasant weekend!

Boring days

I am so sorry for not regularly updating my blog in the last few days; the problem is, I couldn't find any inspiration to write.
Don't you think, however, that I am going to give up with this! I am sure that I will find new ideas soon!
The last few days have been quite boring and poor of things to do; Also, my grandmother has been hospitalised a fortnight ago, due to lung and heart problems, and only went home on Monday, even though she'd better have undergone rehabilitation at a specialised clinic. Other than that, my fitness plans are still going well, even though my instructor isn't exactly as serious as he ought to be: he prefers fooling around with women and girls instead of giving useful tips to us guys, he keeps telling stupid jokes and references sex-related topics every now and then. Annoying, isn't he?
All my closest friends are feeling well, some have exams, others are working, and it's always nice to hear from them!
I'm already thinking about Christmas gifts: I think I'll spend a couple of days abroad in February or March, but still I haven't decided where to go exactly. I have an idea, though...
On the other hand, I am sure my beloved sister is going to buy me a book. Chosen by me.
See you all soon! :)

Weird dreams

It's not the first time, nor will it be the last one. Last night, after having watched Fjällbackamorden, I was having a very good sleep. Then, all at a sudden, I started to dream. A strange one.
Let me describe it.
I was attending a high-profile rallycross event on what appeared to be an improvised track (seriously? Professionals racing on an improvised track in world-class cars? Can't be real! And it wasn't.)
A heat was about to start, and one of the teams found itself, for no apparent reason, without a driver, so...They started looking for a replacement...among the audience! A member of the audience was about to be randomly selected to compete in the race!
Weird.
And, of course, that one was me. Don't ask why.
I lined up on the starting grid, don't remember which car I was in. Full throttle, anti-lag system on, green light, off we go. I was, APPARENTLY, racing against the likes of Petter Solberg, Johan Kristoffersson, Timmy Hansen and others. Me, a 21-and-a-half year old who's never driven anything faster than a Toyota Prius. Can't be real.
A couple of corners into the race, while trying to defend my fourth place, I spin. Sixth place out of six. But I keep pushing. By the end of the race, I manage to get to P3, behind Solberg and Hansen. And there I stay, till the chequered flag.
I repeat, once for all, that it all was A DREAM. I would also like to specify that I hadn't drunk anything else than water before going to bed.
But still, I wouldn't mind if anyone ever gave me a chance to drive in there...
One for the closing photos,  the one with the sunset, is mine. The other isn't, and therefore belongs to its rightful owner.