Posts Tagged ‘life abroad’

The blogging experience

The blogging experience

Photo (c) Elena Azzalini Photography

I started blogging seven months ago and I thought I should write some words about the blogging experience and share my thoughts with whoever might be concerned. Thoughts come out from my experiences. Blogging was and still is a very new world for me, such a big world and so many new things to learn, from technical things such as hosting companies, plug-ins, and SEO, to marketing and promotion. Overall, the blogging experience is fun but it can also be very tricky as well.

Copyright is something that everybody should take seriously. But many people don’t know that. And to be honest, some months ago, I also didn’t know that. When you hear of copyright, you might think: what’s the problem if I take a picture from another website? It is not that simple. Taking pictures that belong to others or copying text that someone else has written might get you into a problem and actions can be taken. I am not trying to warn you or to threaten you, don’t get me wrong. I am just trying to tell you to be careful with this stuff. I also visited once a lawyer who gave some very useful advices on what to do and what I shouldn’t do and also talked with photographers about copyright. For that reason, on my blog, which is like a photo journal, I use photos that were taken by me, or photos that other persons gives me with their written permission. I never use others’ photos without their permission.

To create a blog you need money and technical knowledge at the beginning. To keep up the blog and make it grow and grow you need a lot of time and creativity, and a big imagination in order to write entries that people would take the time to read and photos that people would fancy to look. Blogging is a job. It is like any other job that requires your effort and time. So, I find it reasonable that bloggers add advertisement to their blogs to make some money out of this.

The usual topics that bloggers write about are fashion, food, and travel. And I find that reasonable too. Would you imagine a girl writing about politics or football? I mean, if you feel like writing about football, you can do so. Nobody will forbid you from doing so, unless you do something that hurts or insult others. The topics of my blog are the same with so many other bloggers. By blogging the same topics we all run one risk. The risk of doing something that at the end might become boring and of no interest. The best we can do is, not to change topics of course, but to try to do it on our way, personal and unique.

The virtual world of The Viennese Girl has nothing to do with Silia’s world, my real world. This website gives me the chance to create a brand new world. A world that is more exciting, more charming and more interesting than my real world. A world without airplanes that are crashed on the air above the Ukrainian air zone, a world without wars and battles, a world without hunger and poverty. It’s all about creativity and imagination and whoever follows this blog shouldn’t confuse these two different worlds.♥

I have some plans that excite me for the future and the online world of the Viennese girl. But it takes time to realize them because simultaneously I have to carry out several other things in my private real life that need my time as well.

The conclusion is: You should never stop doing what you love and makes you happy, no matter what.

3 years in Vienna

It has been 3 years since I moved to Vienna. How do I feel? Strange! I came for 3 months and after 3 years I am still here. Crazy but true! You probably think that I met the love of my life in those first 3 months of living here, who changed my mind and convinced me to stay here. No. That’s not the reason. My life is not so romantic. You might think that I decided to stay here because of the economical crisis in Greece. No. That’s not the reason. There isn’t one reason actually but there are many.

I decided to stay here because I wanted to do something different, I wanted to see how life abroad would be. I somehow felt that I had to bring myself a step further. I had a project whose name was “self-improvement”. Easier said than done, but certainly an ideal to strive towards. I was curious and believed that this experience is worth having. And it is. I was right. Generally, I am very aware of what I am doing, what I want in life and what is good for me. But things don’t go always as planned, because we sometimes depend on others and because there are plenty of things that are out of our control.

Now what? What I have managed? Where have I failed? Where do I see myself in the future? That kind of questions are an endless inner monologue. You also ask yourself that kind of questions from time to time. We all do it, it’s normal and mature. Well, I actually aim to finish my studies and then I will reevaluate things, set priorities, contemplate the future, and make seriouuuus decisions, as usual.♥

Thumbnail photo by Jakob Reinfeldt

Life abroad

Life abroad

Life abroad

Human relationships are nowadays incredibly fragile

If you say a word that you shouldn’t say, the relationship you’ve fostered can vanish instantly. Relationships can break like a vase that you throw against a wall, into a thousand little pieces. Everything will be gone in the blink of an eye. One word, one phrase, or one not so pleasant moment is enough to destroy what had been built for a long time.

It is hard for me to realize that people tend to judge other people with ease, rather than trying to understand and solve hard situations or problems with open-mindedness and lots of understanding.

It easier and more comfortable nowadays to throw away something and replace it, than to take the time and the effort to repair it.

Life abroad

 No place like home

Before I moved to Austria, my father knew that I wanted to live abroad and he was even positive and excited with my idea. But he warned me!! And he said that I will never find a home that will be as good like my home. I must confess now that I didn’t get what he was talking about when he said that.

Later on and after having lived abroad for three years, I now understand what he meant. I think a lot about his words and how right he was. So, expanding yourself abroad is attractive but experiences prove that no place is like home.

Life abroad

How to manage difficult situations and above all how to manage difficult people

When you go abroad, in order to start creating network of friends and establishing relationships with other people, all you have to do is to be open, friendly, and nice. I assume that’s the way it works or that’s the way it should work.

But even if you are open, friendly, and nice, it doesn’t automatically mean that others are as well. I often catch myself to be too naive and too good natured and still get in trouble or cause misunderstandings without even wanting them. So, I suppose if you want to get along smoothly without having many problems caused by others, choose your friends carefully and keep the ones that inspire you, motivate, help and care for you.

True friends really are worth their weight in gold.

Expat in Vienna

 Family is the most important thing we have

Friends are also important in one’s life and we need them but throughout these past three years in Vienna, I realised how many people come and go, but family still stays. To make it clearer, even if you choose to live abroad, think about where all the expats are going for Christmas, where and with whom do they choose to spend these special holidays. Of course, they go back home.

Life in a shared apartment

Life in a shared apartment with people that you don’t know can turn up being very unpleasant. People, especially 18-30 years olds, share flats because of money. They think “I cannot afford a flat on my own so as a second choice I will share the flat with others, and also the rent and bills.” And of course, it is comfortable for your wallet but I don’t know how comfortable is it for your inner serenity and for your mental well being.

The starting point is wrong: you are doing something for money, and not for what you want. So, in my opinion, if you want to save yourself troubles, stress, and wasted energy, ask your friends if they want to share a flat with you or try to find a better solution.

I don’t want to be pessimistic and negative. It can even work out very well for you. But after all that I experienced, I am amazed at how this system still works and at the same time I am happy I managed to survive after all that I have gone through. I am happy to be where I am now!

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