Thinking About the Future | College & Stress

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I was planning to write this post for a long time now, because being a senior in high school means that you have to think constantly about what you are going to be doing next year. And it is so stressful deciding what major you want, planning for college and thinking about finding a job. Almost every single day I go online looking for colleges that interests me and finding majors that I like, and that can be a little overwhelming sometimes. I'm trying to keep calm and don't think about it as much, but it is hard to do so when there are a bunch of teachers and sometimes family members pressuring you about the future, telling that you have to decide now because it is what you are going to be doing for the rest of your life. And that if you don't go to college you won't get a good job, won't have money and won't have a good life. 

But that is so wrong. I don't think that the only way of being successful in life is going to college and get a major. In my opion the real mening of being successful in life is being happy with what you do, so if you feel happy going to colloge and getting a major in economics, good for you if that's what you feel joyful doing. Or if you like just working, at a bookshop or a supermarket and feel happy doing it, great. And whatever you choose in doing in the future does not mean that you can't change it, you can switch major any time and look for another job, too. Do what feels right for you and don't bother in what other people are going to say about it.

Well, I am going to tell a little about my plans for next year. Since I'm half way into my senior year, I have still have six months to plan it all out (here in Brazil schools start in January and end in December). So, I'm thinking of applying to college in the U.S and here in Brazil, too. If I go to college in the U.S, I'll be getting an AA degree in a small college first and then probably go to a 4-year University, and in the mean while work somewhere. And in Brazil probably just go to a 4-year University, because we don't have that much options here. For majors I'm thinking about Journalism, History of Art or Internacional Relations, but I have not decided yet.

This is my plan, but I know that anything and everything can happen and maybe I will change my mind about my major or about college. This is life, we will never know with certainly what is going to happend, so the only thing we can do is plan. So don't get stressed out over the future, if it is suppose to happend it will, and if not, it won't. If you are in similar situation as me, I wish you the best of luck. If you are confused about your future, don't worry, you will find your path in life and it will be one that makes you happy.


So good luck to you all. I hope you are having a great weekend,

Ana

Would You Rather Book TAG !

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I wanted to write a post today but I didn't know what to write. So I thought about answering a tag, more specifically a book tag of course. I found this tag on youtube and I thought that it very interesting to watch and answer. It is a book version of the Would You Rather Tag that has been going on on youtube for years now. This Tag was created by RayKayBooks on youtube, you should totaly check the video and the channel out. 

So, let's start with the tag, shall we?

Would You Rather...

1. Read only trilogies or stand alones?

2. Read only female or male authors?

3. Shop at Barnes & Noble or Amazon?

4. All books become movies or t.v. shows?

5. Read 5 pages per day or 5 books per week?

6. Be a professional reviewer or author?

7. Only read your top 20 favorite books over and over or always read new ones that you haven't read       before?

8. Be a librarian or book seller?

9. Only read your favorite genre, or every genre except your favorite?

10. Only read physical books or eBooks?

Answers...

1. As much as I love reading series and triologies, I have to pick stand alones. I don't know why I like stand alones so much, but when I finish one it makes me feel joyful and complete. Maybe it is the fact that the story ends shortly and that it always a easy read. I know that you don't get connected with the character as much as you do in series, but I think sometimes you don't need to get attached with the characters but actually with the stories.

2. Well, I don't really have a preference, I really don't look at the gender of the author when I pick up a book or even the name of the author, I just read a book because of it's sinopsis. But if I had to choose, I would choose female authors, just because I have read more books written by women.

3. Barnes&Noble of course. Keep the bookstores alive! I love going to the bookstore and just wondering around looking for the perfect book. And the smell of bookstores are just amazing.

4. There is a lot of chances that a book to movie/tv show adaptation won't be as perfect as the book or as good as the book as well, so I have always this fear inside me when there is a book that is going to be transfromed into a movie or show. So if  I had to choose, I would choose a movie. Just because it is smaller and I think the story (depending on the book) can be told in a 2 hour movie.

5. Is there any in between? I certainly won't feel satisfied with only 5 pages a per day, but I know I won't be able to read 5 book a week. So I will have to choose 5 pages sorry. 

6. Author for sure. I like reviewing books, but I like to think that I don't have the right to judge badly a book just because I didn't like it. Because probably someone else loved it, and the person who wrote the book put in her time and effort to write it, so I don't think that I would be a proffesional reviewer.

7. Read new one's that I haven't read before. Personaly I don't enjoy rereading, because there are so many new book to read that I don't like reading one that I have already read and loved, when I can read and love new books. I just reread when I need to, like when for work and projects or just when I didn't really get the book and have to read it again to make up my opinions about it.

8. Kind of a hard question. Well, it is a win win situation, because both of the jobs you are able to work with books... so I would choose bookseller. Because you can get new books ahead of time and help people in stores with their book choices. I really like the ideia of it.

9. Every genre except my favorite. This one is kind of easy because I don't really have a favorite genre, kind of cheating too, but I would prefer having a variety of book to choose from than just one.

10. Physical of course. I not the type of person that likes to read from of a screen, it just tires my eyes and I can't get focused in my reading. And physical books are just heaven, the smell, the feeling when you hold on to it...it's priceless. 

I hope you are having a great day and that you enjoyed this post.

Have a awesome weekend,

Ana 

School Trip Pictures | Curitiba

Last week I went to Curitiba, a city in a neighbor state, to visit some museums as a school subject complement. I love this city, it is filled of cultural activities, the museums are incredible. First thing we did was to visit the botanical garden, it was just beautiful and amazing. And gigantic! We thought we had walked around the entire park, but there was a lot more to see than we thought there was. We just couldn't see everything because of our lack of time.

Then we went to the Expeditionary Museum. This museum is about WWII, specially the participation of Brazil in the war. It is filled with items that belonged to soldiers, not just from Brazil, but from the other countries too, like germany.

After having luch at the mall, we went to the holocaust museum. I couldn't take pictures of it because we weren't allowed to, but still the experience was incredible. They gave us a little identification booklet, where in it was the history of someone who lived during the holocaust, survived and imigrated to Brazil. It was a thrilling experience. The museum is very interactive, there were telephones in the wall that you could pick up and hear a story from someone who experienced the holocaust. If you have the chance to visit Curitiba, you should totaly go to this museum.

Our last museum was the the Oscar Niemeyer Museum. It is a modern art museum, very beautiful. It is knowed for its eye shape, being called here in Brazil as "Museu do Olho", that literary means Eye Museum.

Hope you all enjoyed this post. Have a great weekend,

Ana

Book Review : The Diary of a Young Girl

I have finally finished Anne Frank's diary, it took a couple months to finish due to my lack of time. I just had so many tests and projects that I couldn't end a single book, but now it is all done (actually my tests started again last week), I am now devoting at least an hour to read every single day and I promise that I will try to write a review at least every month.

My thoughts ...

I found the book just amazing, she was such a talented young girl and it makes me really sad to remember that she died so young with a whole future ahead of her. I related to her so much, we are so similar. She liked the same things as me, like history of art, languages, books, greek mythology and she felt ununderstood by her family (and I can totaly relate with that sometimes). 

One of the things that got me by surprised was the fact that she was very open minded, I didn't expect that from a girl that lived in the 1940s. I really loved her personality, she was very intelligent and a very opinionated person.

While reading the diary I couldn't think of anything else but " I just wished I could talk to her, she's so relatable. We could totaly be friends". And I felt this way until the end, until her last words. 

She was just so hopeful, she had hope that everything was going to be ok and that the germans were going to loose the war, and that she could live a normal life again with her family. I got hopeful too, but I knew the ending already and that it wasn't going to end as happy as she predicted. 

Turning to the last page was agonizing. I stared at the page for a few minutes and I new that that was it, she was gone. I don't know what happend after she wrote the last word. Anne and her family were probably discovered and taken to a concentration camp. 

I will never forget the way this book impacted me, I'll not forget the girl that after all she had suffered ( famine, loneliness, insecurities, fear), still never gave up on herself and in humanity.

I can't have enough of this book, I've already recommended to everybody I know. If you are reading this and are debating if you should read it or not, totaly do read it. It is not just a book/diary about the war, it is a diary of a girl growing up. And this book is perfect for kids that are in their preteen years, like 13, because they can grow up with Anne and rely on someone that is going through the same phase as they are ( of course in different circunstances).

I hope you all enjoyed the review, and thank you for 140 followers on Bloglovin. Have a great weekend, 

Ana

Weekend Trip | Nova Veneza

I'm so sorry I've been away for almost a week. I wanted to write a post about my trip, but I didn't have internet connection since Sunday afternoon. But now I am here and I want to tell you guys all about my weekend trip. I went to Nova Veneza, it is a small city in the south of Brazil, more specifically in the state of Santa Catarina. It's a city that received a lot of Italian immigration in the 19th centuary so it has a lot of Italian culture, that is probably the strongest feature of the city.  

It's a lovely city. It has this peaceful atmosphere about it that is kind of unexplainable. The first thing we did there was to visit the local immigration museum. The place was very beautiful, very old too. It's architecture was amazing. In the musuem there were things that belonged to Italians that once lived in the city and other things that had an importance to the city's history.

After the musuem, we went to the local shops. We entered a local and small craft bakery, it had delicious treats like cookies, breads, chocolate and some typical italian stuff too. But the best shop I went in was the Gelateria, it had amazing original italian gelato ( gelato means ice cream in italian), It was just so delicious. And the most surprising part was that they had lactose free ice creams. I got a natural kiwi flavored gelato.

After eating a lot, my family and I went to a tradicional italian winery. Like every other thing in this trip, the winery was beautiful as well. We could taste some wine and grape juice (don't worry people I only drunk grape juice), and there were some other treats too. In the end we could buy some wine and other grape products if we wanted, like jam. When we went outside the winery we found these two Araras ( a lovely and beautiful bird that can be found here in Brazil, but it is an endangered species), and I took a picture of them because it is rare to see an Arara.

It was a quick trip, we spent just a day in Nova Veneza. The actual trip was a city near there, where we spent 3 days. Hope you all enjoyed this post and Nova Veneza too. If you have the opportunity to visit it one day, you totaly should, it is the most Italian city of Brazil.

Hope you are having a great Friday,

Ana