Twenty quick facts about me

I'm baaaaaack!!!!!
Tell the truth: were you all thinking I could have given up with my blog? Well, I haven't! I have decided to come back with twenty quick facts about me! (Maybe a couple more than that...)
Let's start now!
Full name:
Tommaso Zurli
Birthday:
31 May. Will be my 22nd this year, so...
Languages:
Native Italian speaker. Fluent in English and German. Trying to learn Swedish.
Do you like travelling?
Absolutely yes! Would do it more than once a year...If I could!
Countries you've been to:
Spent five months in Austria last spring as an Erasmus student: loved it! Also been to Spain once, England twice, driven through France, been a couple of times to Germany and Switzerland, one week in the Czech Republic.
Most beautiful places you've been to?
Salzburg, Vienna, Munich, London, the Goodwood Estate in West Sussex.
Dream holiday?
Sweden först och främst! Norway would be equally great, just like Australia and New Zealand. Also, wouldn't mind a third (fourth, fifth...) trip to the UK.
Favourite books?
The Millennium trilogy by S. Larsson.
Favourite TV shows?
Top Gear (the original British one!) and Morden i Sandhamn.
Favourite colours?
Blue and yellow.
Favourite food?
All kinds of fish and seafood.
Favourite sports?
To practice, gym training, cycling and trekking. To watch, rallycross, rallying and endurance racing.
Favourite drivers?
Petter Solberg, Andreas Bakkerud, Colin McRae, Kimi Räikkönen, Ramona Karlsson...and many more.
Dream cars?
Nissan GT-R Nismo, Subaru Impreza WRC, or even pretty much everything built to RX Supercar regulations! (600bhp, four-wheel drive, 0-100 km/h in less than 2 seconds!)
What kind of person are you?
It's not always easy to become friends with me! It all depends on how one approaches me, and if I find them interesting in any way, like having common interests and so on. Once I get along with someone, I always tend to put a lot of energy in our friendship, caring a lot about the other, trying to be as helpful as possible, listening as much as I can...and it usually works! I almost always know what I'm doing, and if I set myself a goal I really care about, no one will ever make me change my mind! I've always been a nerd. I love reading. I hate fashion. I will never be stylish. I don't care about style!
Love stories?
Might sound a bit embarrassing, but...I haven't had one yet! Nor am I in love with any girl, at the moment. There might be one I kinda like, but nothing serious! (Before you start wondering, she lives not far from here)
Blondes or brunettes? You prefer...
Blondes! And redheads.
The first thing you look at, in a girl?
Everything has to start with the eyes, then the rest of her face. Everything else is less important. But her personality is foremost.
Would you get married?
Of course I would! I'd also love to have one or two children.
Any nasty habits?
Well...I don't drink or smoke, but my worst habit is to hate on people who've been mean to me.
Got anything else to say?
At the moment, no!
A final greeting, before closing?
Lycka till, mina kära vänner!

"Low-fat mode", fitness, idiocy and vanity

I will begin with a simple fact, although completely unrelated to the topic of this new post: my previous post about my love of Sweden has been successful, and I also got some congrats for that...saying I'm happy is definitely not enough! I have been a lot more than that! Can't find the right word to describe my feeling...
Now, coming to the actual matter of it: as I have already said, I have been trying to achieve a healthier lifestyle over the last few months. First step: low-fat mode; more simply, eating better, avoiding unnecessary snacks during the day and reducing fat foods in my meals as much as possible. It works.
Second step: training. I go to the gym every day from Monday to Friday. My workout routine has been basically the same since I have started, but I have already lost 8 kg since I began with all of the above. There is still quite a long way to go, but that's a good beginning to me! My weight loss is noticeable (but I'm not going to post any of the before/after photo crap) and, to be honest, I feel much better overall!
There are, however, a few problems with other people.
First one: the instructor. He is not helping me in any way, I have no idea whether or not my workout routine will be good or harmful in the long term, he's not giving me, or indeed anyone else, advice! For a simple reason: he is vain, stupid, sex-obsessed, snooty...
If your gender is female, you are aged between 15-55, and you have big boobs and/or a nicely-shaped bottom, no problem! He will always be at your disposal, he'll promptly answer all of your questions! Otherwise...He won't literally give a fuck about you. As it happens with me. Also, he once said that nothing pisses him off more than people asking him to prepare them a workout plan. YES, I JUST SAID THAT. BUT THAT'S WHAT YOU GET PAID FOR, YOU C**T!
Other problem: guys who only go to the gym to show off. Striving to get a perfect body, just to impress girls. Then, in the changing room, you hear them talking about farts, burps and all sorts of childish stuff. If I were a girl, I wouldn't find anything even slightly attractive in such people, no matter how handsome.
A nice person in an imperfect body is, to me, infinitely better than a handsome piece of shit.  
The second problem can easily be avoided by ignoring those people. And that's exactly what I do.

How I fell in love with Sweden (without even having been there!)

I'm so sorry! I haven't been updating my blog regularly over the past few weeks! The problem is, when I'm at home on holiday, it's a bit hard for me to be inspired to post something new, I always end up thinking about something else...
But now...I have announced you that my next post would be about some aspect of my life that I mentioned in my older posts, but never thoroughly treated.
More specifically, it's my great interest (or should we call it love?) for the country of Sweden, its culture, or, broadly and basically, everything related to it!
First things first: this is a passion that started in my teenage years, unlike the ones for English language and reading, which I had since my childhood.
As a child, geography has always been one of my favourite subjects; I could name the capital cities of every single European country, and most of the others, but when it came to Sweden, my knowledge was a bit limited, and, honestly, a bit on the stereotypical side: Stockholm, snow, cold temperatures all year long, blonde people with blue eyes, reindeer, high standards of living, IKEA, ABBA, Volvo, Saab, and nothing else.
But how did it really start?
I was 17 years old. It was summer. My mum had just finished reading the most famous of all my (not-yet-)beloved Swedish thriller novel series, Stieg Larsson's Millennium trilogy. I was, at the time, reading a book on hackers and cybercrime. The author wanted to approach readers who didn't necessarily have specialised knowledge in IT, and therefore he chose a character from a popular novel series who perfectly embraced the figure he wanted to portray.
Lisbeth Salander.
I won't tell you anything about the character or the story, just read them!
So I became curious. Are those books any interesting? Worth reading?
As soon as I had a chance, I bought myself a copy of all three novels, and, with immense curiosity, I started reading them.
The girl with the dragon tattoo. 
The girl who played with fire.
The girl who kicked the hornets' nest.
And, quickly, I started learning about the places where the stories are set.
Stockholm and its surroundings.
Norrbotten county.
Gothenburg.
I am the kind of person who tends to be almost obsessed by the things I really like; back then, not a single day went by without me looking for information on some place, institution or any kind of Sweden-related topic; and I decided that, one day or another, I would have learnt some Swedish. I have found an online language course, a nice one, and I also get some little help...
I decided I wanted to be friends with someone from Sweden, and three years later, I was glad and honoured when I finally got in touch with one of them, with whom I share my great love of racing; we keep in touch regularly and we exchange postcards and greeting cards on special occasions, without having ever met in person! Tack så mycket, Emma!
And, of course, my ultimate dream is a trip to that beautiful country. I don't care what the others say, it's expensive, it's not interesting, blah blah blah...I just need to choose the right time, the right places, and get some money on my own. Needless to say, I'll soon start looking for a little job...and save!
Now that my interest has been well established for years, I have also read many other books, alongside the aforementioned three, and gained an even deeper knowledge of the country; also, watching films and TV series helps a lot, and sometimes, I watch them just for the setting, as it happened a couple of months ago with a terrible story set in an amazing piece of countryside!
There is, however, one more reason why Sweden attracts me so badly: the popularity of motorsports, such as rallying and rallycross, by far my favourite ones! I had chances to meet Swedish racing and rally drivers in the past, very nice people indeed! Also had some kind of crush on a certain Ramona Karlsson...(nothing serious, I think everyone at some point in their life become extremely attracted by some celebrity...average Italian guys usually choose stupid people...proud not to be one of them)
Before closing with the usual photos, a little question in case I had any readers who often go to Sweden or, even better, live there: Are there many Italians in Sweden, either as tourists or expatriates? If the answer is NO, then it's a great thing to me, on the day I'll go there! We can be extremely annoying! (not all of us, luckily :D )

Panoramic view over Stockholm, from Kungsholmen:

The Kungsportsavenyen in Gothenburg:

Fjällbacka in Bohuslän:

 Åre, a famous ski resort in Jämtland:

An amazing New Year's Eve

After the festivities...here I come, with a new post! I have spent my New Year's Eve in the mountains, as usual! I was in Brusson, a village in the northeast of Italy, with all of my friends! I must say that I haven't had this much fun...in quite some time! And that's impressive, considering that I spent just three days there! One of the funniest things that happened? One day, we wanted to go to Champoluc, a famous ski resort in the area. We had no choice but to take a bus. My friends couldn't read the timetable (it was a bit messy, but other than that...) so they asked a couple who were also waiting for the same bus...and they couldn't understand anything! The tourists they asked were Welsh and couldn't speak Italian, so...only one person could save us all. Guess who?

I also found the whole valley to be popular with tourists not just from the UK, but also from Sweden! So we joked: someone here would be pleased if we ever had to ask a Swede to give us a lift home! :D

 Personal opinion: Swedes drive nice cars, but they are...a bit reckless! That explains many things!

Other than that, I'm posting a few photos from my holiday, and...see you soon for a new post on a topic I already mentioned a few times!