Moya Brennan

As the winter exam session is getting closer, it is high time I got back to listening Irish folk music. My brain needs it whenever I need to learn something by heart, especially when there is snow outside, because it helps me to concentrate. Besides, I strongly believe that this kind of music has a positive influence on my results, considering that last year, I was literally obsessed with Enya's songs and I passed all of my exams :)

This year, apart from all possible forms of relaxing music, which I wrote about some time ago and which is absolutely my number 1 when it comes to studying, I've decided to listen to Moya( Máire) Brennan, Enya's older and no less talented sister.

I have no intention to write her biography here, you can find it on Wikipedia or anywhere on the Internet. I just want to mention that she was a member  of the family band, Clannad, before starting her solo career 23 years ago and that she is called “The First Lady of Celtic Music”. Her songs were included in the soundtracks for many films, like “King Arthur”.  She is not only a singer, but also a harpist.

What I love about her songs, is the harmonic, beautiful melody, due to instruments such as violin or harp (thanks to Moya Brennan it has become my favourite instrument), but also her voice, which seems to come from other dimension, like the echo in the mountains.  Despite the fact that the majority of her songs is calm, they are very emotional. I do not know why, but whatever the lyrics are about, they make me think of nature: a calm sea, a forest with rustling leaves, the raindrops on a window…  they are truly magical.

So…I have to go back to studying and I hope Moya Brennan’s music will help me to memorize everything J

Christmas spirit?

Our long (but still too short) winter break is still not over, even Christmas is still not over, but somehow I'm sad and  I've got a strange feeling of missing something intangible. I'm not in the mood of listening Christmas songs, I don't feel this joy which should accompany me these days. At the beginning I thought it was because of the tiredness, hurry, preparations or constant necessity to learn something, but later I realised that even when I have everything done, I still feel frustrated. Christmas time is said to be the time for reflexion, so I've been reflecting and I eventually came to a conclusion that it's me who is responsible for this situation. My lack of self-confidence, my self-loathing at times, the fact that I'm never satisfied with my successes; I always want something more, I want to be better, smarter, prettier, etc. 

I'm aware of the fact I'm not perfect and I will never be, but lately I've decided to change my attitude towards myself. I know it won't be easy, but at least I want to try as we have only one life and a right to be happy. It's my New Year's resolution :)

Countdown...

no, not to Christmas :) Despite the fact that it's my favourite festival and every year I'm glad when it finally comes, for me it's too early to think about right now; I mean, how is it possible to feel this very special atmosphere of Christimas in the third week of November?
No, what I'm really looking forward to at the moment, is something much more mundane- the premieres of some movies which have caught my attention.
The first to come is "Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies"-(sadly) the last part of Bilbo Baggins adventures, which I'm going to see during this extremely long Christmas break. I'm so excited! And I promise to share my impressions on the film; after watching the trailer, I'm almost sure they'll be positive.
Another must-see for me is "The Imitation Game", stars Benedict Cumberbatch and Keira Knightely. This movie presents a story of Alan Turing, a British mathematician who helped to break the Enigma code during the Second World War.
And of course, new, special Christmas episode of "Sherlock"- 90 minutes with the genius in a funny hat, his loyal friend John Watson and their enthralling adventures- which is premiered in 2 months
Did I mention patience is definitely not one of my strengths? I think I should probably study more to occupy my mind with something, because this waiting is killing me :)

Music vs. studying

When I was younger, in primary shool and later in junior high, I  just couldn't stand music playing in the background while I was preparing for a test or writing an essay; all I needed was absolute silence. However, later my attitude has changed; in fact, I'm not able to focus on what I'm reading or writing when all I hear is the sound of my clock (signum temporis, I would say :) We're used to sounds literally attacking us everyhere so the silence makes us feel strange and uneasy). 

The question is, what kind of music is the best to listen to while studying? I can only answer on my own behalf; for me, it's relaxing music, which I 'discovered' last year. 

'Relaxing music' is a vast genre, which contains instrumental music, nature sounds, traditional music (e.g.Chinese, Indian, Irish), etc. It's great, because every time I can choose something new, depending on my mood. It helps me to focus on the task or the book I read, because there are no lyrics, just pure, harmonic sounds. This kind of music also help me to calm down and relax after 4 days spent at university. 

I strongly recommend it to everyone. Of course, I like different music genres too, I would be bored to death or fall asleep otherwise, because honestly, relaxing music is not very lively, just the opposite. When it comes to studying, though, I belive there is nothing better:) 

Hello again :)

Maybe it'a a cliché but time really passes so fast. After wonderful 3 months it's time to start my second year at the university and despite all of the exams I'm going to take in a few months and a heap of books at my desk after just 2 days I must admit that I am excited.

 It will be a very challenging year for me because in January I'm going to France as an Erasmus student. I wonder what it will be like to study abroad.  For sure, I'll have an exceptional opportunity to improve my language skills (or, speaking straight from the shoulder, I'll be forced to communicate in French to survive) which is the main reason I can't wait to go. But for now, I should focus on my exams here, in Poland, which I have to take earlier(because of my depart). Wish me luck :)

TV- entertaining or not?

Today, I want to share with you some reflections on TV and its entertaining role.

As a child, I used to spend several hours in front of a screen, which was nothing exceptional that time, I think. There were so many cartoons and tales worth watching then! My favourite ones were those produced  in the Czech Republic, simple, with basic graphics, which stimulated my imagination. Nowadays,although the variety of tales for children on TV is even greater, they're so detailed and colourful that the youngest are just passive viewers; well, I don't want to say these programmes are void of educational values, but I've got an impression they're not as stimulating&thought-provoking as in the past.

The quality of TV programmes is getting lower and lower in general. At home, I have quite a lot of channels, but there's nothing interesting to watch, really. Maybe I'm a demanding viewer, but come on, who wants to watch some stupid TV series repeating again and again or films which might not be so stupid, but you can't stand even thinking about them as they have been on so many times before... Honestly, I rarely watch TV (I don't have a TV set in Poznań) and when I need some entertainment on Friday evening, I can choose : never-ending commercials/serials for idiots/some weird films I do not want to watch. What do we pay for?!

To sum up: Thanks God I have acces to the Internet.

Looking forward to holidays(or not)

I've been so busy recently, because, as every student know, the exam session is getting closer and closer. I don't know whose idea it was to make poor young people to cram in May and June, when the weather outside enourages us to do just the opposite, but, to be honest, I can't come up with any better solution, so just ignore my complaining :) I just want to add that I  WANT to study, inasmuch as we have quite a lot to learn, including literature and history of France; I really do. Just give me some more time, please... I'm fed up with all homeworks, tests, ect. It may seem that it doesn't take a lot of time to prepare for the courses, but surprisingly I always have something to do. At the moment I'm a frustrated, tired, desponded person; when my dad told me yesterday that in a month there are holidays, I said I wasn't able to think about such distant future. I hope you're more optimistic than me ;)