Obrigada!

So almost two months ago already, on the 17th of June, I flew to Portugal with two other Estonian girls to take part in a youth exchange in Amarante. The experience was absolutely amazing and everyone I know have probably heard more than they want already, but I gotta talk about it on my blog as well. Although I could talk about the people, the culture, the food and all else endlessly, I'll make this a short post and link you to the video I did whilst there. I'm quite proud of the video and I think it conveys the emotion of the experience well.

Now about the project that I took part in. It took place in Amarante, a little town with about 12 000 habitants situated in the North of Portugal, about an hour drive from Porto. We stayed at the local youth center which also hosted a youth hostel and a vegetarian restaurant. The project was put together by the coordinator of the youth center and it consisted of us visiting local landmarks (like the Alvao National Park), the youth center's partners (like the local orphanage) and taking part in workshops about for example improv and team work. It lasted two weeks and had participants from Estonia, Portugal and Italy.

I can only say that I had two of the best weeks of my life there and the people I met and the experiences I had are unforgettable. I strongly encourage everyone to take part in a youth exchange or something similar at least once in their lives, it's seriously a life changing experience.

I hope you like the video and take this as an inspiration to do something similar, because it is very worth it.

Til next time,
Ingrid.

Half-way there

Now here comes a post I didn't plan on writing, but I somehow got really nostalgic today, and lo and behold, I got an idea to revisit my new year's resolutions. It's a bit more than 6 months from when I wrote them down and I haven't really been thinking about them all that much. So I though looking at them again will make me keep to them more.

My first resolution was to read 50 books and finish the 2015 reading challenge. I have done quite bad on the reading front this year. I started out strong and read 5-6 books in both January and February, but then I hit a reading slump I haven't really managed to get out of since. I'm quite sure I won't hit the 50 books mark this year, as school's starting soon and I will then have even less time and motivation to read :( but I will definitely try again next year.

The second and third resolutions were to exercise more and not to leave everything to the last moment. I have exercised more, I even did it regularly during school, but in the summer I haven't done much. I hope to start going to the gym again when school starts though! And well leaving stuff to the last minute is a vice I've always struggled with and have yet to get over.

The fourth one was to get more weird musical instruments into my possession and I have gotten one! I got a glockenspiel for my birthday from two very nice friends. I don't really know how to play much on it, but I've gotten a few melodies down, because of my talented friend who can play by ear and is patient enough to teach me stuff.

The fifth and sixth are learn Norwegian more and finish the German course on duolingo. If I'm being honest with you I have been terrible at these. As always I started the year all motivated and stuff, but now I haven't thought about either of those tasks for a couple of months I'm sure. I hope I'll continue learning Norwegian when school starts though.

The seventh is to continue my piano lessons with Liis, what again I haven't done in a long while. I'm quite shit at keeping promises right? Which brings us to the last point: keep to your promises. I think this one's self-explanatory.

Til next time,
Ingrid