Seagulls in Paris - Galebi v Parizu

Despite the summer time, I don't really have holidays. Well, I had a month off in May, which is not too bad, right, but I have been working since June. And to be honest, I don't complain. I still have evenings and weekends to enjoy, and in August, I will have some longer weekends for shorter trips.

I miss the sea though. The Paris Beach has just opened last week along the Seine, but despite the sand and the palm trees it is not the same. I miss the smell of the salt and the infinite view of the sea. Strangely enough for some people, I am excited about the presence of seagulls in Paris. When I heard them for the same time, I thought I was dreaming. Seagulls in Paris?? An old lady later on told me that they sometimes follow the ships on the Seine and finally stay in Paris given that there is a lot of food they can find. Apparently they are very urban seagulls, I hear :D I probably wouldn't be able to distinguish between the sea and the urban seagull, but I simply adore the sound they are making when they fly above the rooftops of parisian houses. It almost makes me feel like I am somewhere at the seaside too.

Ne glede na poletni čas sama nimam počitnic. No, imela sem počitniški maj, kar tudi ni slabo, ampak od junija naprej delam. In iskreno rečeno se ne pritožujem. Še vedno mi ostane čas za poletno uživanje v večerih in med vikendi, v avgustu bom imela pa še par daljših vikendov za krajše izlete.

Pogrešam pa morje. Pariška plaža se je odprla prejšnji teden vzdolž Sene, ampak kljub pesku in palmam ni isto. Pogrešam vonj soli in pogled na neskončno morje. Nekaterim se zdi izredno čudno, ampak jaz sem navdušena nad galebi v Parizu. Ko sem jih prvič slišala, se mi je zdelo, da sanjam. Galebi v Parizu?? Starejša gospa mi je enkrat kasneje povedala, da galebi včasih sledijo ladjam, ki plujejo po Seni, vse do Pariza, potem pa kar ostanejo v Parizu, saj tu očitno najdejo dovolj hrane. Pravijo, da so ti galebi precej meščanski, hehe. Sam najbrž ne bi razločila morskih in meščanskih galebov, ampak jaz enostavno obožujem zvok, ki ga slišim, ko preletavajo pariške strehe. Skoraj se mi zazdi, da sem tudi sama nekje na obali.

Oslo, part 2

A nice part of visiting Oslo is that its city centre is relatively small and you can walk everywhere. Nevertheless, despite its smallness, the diversity of districts allows you to enjoy the part of the city you like most and experience various atmospheres to enrich your impressions about the city. What is great is that the city offers an excellent transportation within the city centre as well as the suburbs, so I could say that living outside the city centre is almost the norm there.

Kar je simpatično ob potovanju v Oslo, je to, da je center mesta relativno majhen in se je po mestu prijetno sprehajati. Ne glede na svojo majhnost pa se predeli mesta precej razlikujejo in tako vsak lahko najde del mesta, ki mu je najbolj všeč, hkrati pa začuti različna vzdušja in tako obogati svojo izkušnjo in vtis o mestu. Super pa je sicer, da ima Oslo res odlično urejen mestni promet tako znotraj mesta kot v predmestju, zaradi česar je življenje v predmestju res enostavno.

There is no particular architectural style in Oslo, I would say. If I was to draw a typical building of Oslo, I would be confused. I would probably go for little wooden coloured houses you can find on the outskirts of town. You can, however, find some common architectural points in the city centre too, just not in a very particular or logic order.

There are some very interesting buildings in a modern architectural style, such as Opera House and the “Barcode” multi-purpose high-rise buildings. Interesting indeed. The Opera house is an icon in itself, which stands out with its remarkable architecture, on the outside as well as on the inside. I had the opportunity to see the incredible director of Wagner’s The Flying Dutchman, performing at the time, in a two-hour interpretation of the opera. I really enjoyed the outstanding private performance and I could almost claim that the interpretation was even better than the opera itself. It definitely made my stay in Oslo even more special.

Rekla bi, da Oslo nima nekega posebnega reprezentativnega arhitekturnega stila. Če bi morala narisati tipično stavbo iz Osla, v resnici ne bi vedela, kaj narisati. Najbrž bi narisala male lesene barvite hiške, ki jih lahko najdemo v predmestju Osla in na podeželju. Kljub vsemu pa je vseeno tudi v centru par ponavljajočih se arkitekturnih vzorcev, samo v nobenem posebnem ali logičnem redu.

V mestu je par res zanimivih stavb, zgrajenih v modernem arhitekturnem stilu. Najslavnejša je najbrž Opera, precej sveži pa je “Barcode”, kompleks večnamenskih visokih stavb. Opera je res prava arhitekturna ikona Osla, ki izstopa s svojo neverjetno podobo, tako zunanjo kot notranjo. Imela sem priložnost videti neverjetnega dirigenta in ustvarjalca priredbe Wagnerjevega Letečega Holandca, ki je z orkestrom gostoval v Oslu, v okviru dvourne interpretacije opere. Res sem uživala v izjemni predstavi v ozkem krogu ljudi in skoraj bi lahko trdila, da je dirigentova interpretacija boljša od same opere. Vsekakor je bil moj obisk Osla zaradi te predstave še bolj poseben.

You can feel a completely different atmosphere in the part of the city called Grünerløkka, a trendy hipster area with plenty of cafés, bars and boutiques on every corner. Blå is one of such parts in Grünerløkka, where art, flea markets and culture join in a particular blend of ambiances.

Popolnoma drugačno vzdušje kot v centru mesta se začuti v Grünerløkki, trendovskem hipsterskem predelu mesta s številnimi kavarnami, bari in butiki na vsakem ovinku. Blå je en tak del Grünerløkke, kjer se zanimivo mešajo umetnost, boljšji trgi in kultura.

Grønland offers yet another experience. You can feel the different atmosphere right away when you leave the T-Bane station. This part of the city is well known for its diverse multiethnic population and as far as I heard, its reputation is not the best. Yet, I went there with some friends who knew the area well enough to make me discover it in a nice way, which I guess is always the case with such parts of the city. All in all I can say I felt really safe in Oslo, whereas I started reconsidering this after I had talked to a lady in a café who pointed out that the city might be less safe than the tourists think at first. Well, we need to be careful about our belongings everywhere, right?

Aker Brygge is the part of the city I really liked, and this for several reasons. It is the part next to the sea with a beautiful view of the fjord, joining the modern and sustainable aspects of the city. It is rather posh and business like, but there is no cold touch to it. Astrup Fearnley Museum, museum of modern art, designed by the famous architect Renzo Piano, makes the very tip of the peninsula even more special, finishing with a little beach where you can enjoy on a sunny day. The whole neighborhood Tjuvholmen is something special, and this is even more so given the fact that the district was once home to criminals, which is still represented in the name – “tjuv” means “thief” and “holme” is a “small island”.

Grønland je spet drugačen predel. Takoj ko prideš ven iz podzemne T-Bane postaje, začutiš drugačno vzdušje. Ta del mesta je znan po svoji medkulturni raznolikosti prebivalcev in, vsaj tako je slišati, nima najboljšega slovesa. Ne glede na to sem šla tja s priajtelji, ki so ta del mesta poznali dovolj dobro, da sem ga tudi sama odkrila na simpatičen način. S takšnimi deli mesta je pogosto tako. Sicer pa lahko na splošno rečem, da sem se v Oslu počutila zelo varno, čeprav sem o tem začela malo dvomiti, ko sem se z gospo iz Osla v kavarni pogovarjala o tem, da turisti Oslo pogosto dojemajo bolj varno, kot je v resnici. No, vsekakor moramo skoraj povsod paziti na svoje stvari, ane?

Aker Brygge je del mesta, ki mi je bil res res všeč, in to iz več razlogov. Je del mesta v neposredni bližina morja in s čudovitim pogledom na fjord, kjer se moderni in trajnostni elementi prepletajo. Je sicer precej ugleden in posloven del mesta, vendar brez hladnega in strogega pridiha. Astrup Fearnley Museum, muzej moderne umetnosti, ki ga je dizajniral priznani arhitekt Renzo Piano, je na sami konici tega polotoka, kar celoten predel mesta naredi še bolj poseben, saj se konča z majhno plažo, kjer lahko uživaš v sončnem vremenu. Pravzaprav je celotna soseska Tjuvholmen nekaj posebnega, prav tako posebno pa je to, da je bila ta soseska včasih soseska tatov in razbojnikov, kar je še danes skrito v imenu – “tjuv” pomeni “tat,” “holme” pa “mali otok.”

There is much more to Oslo than the upper highlighted places. For instance, I simply loved the Vigeland Park, which is the world's largest sculpture park made by a single artist. Maybe I write "Oslo, Part 3" at some point:)

Oslo je še mnogo več kot zgoraj izpostavljeni kotički. Zelo všeč mi je bil na primer Vigelandov park, ki je največji park skulptur enega samega umetnika na svetu. Mogoče bom pa napisala "Oslo, Part 3" enkrat :)

Beautiful Paris

“We'll always have Paris.” (Howard Koch)

Summer in Paris is incredibly beautiful. Days got longer, sunny days give me great energy and the sunsets are just breathtaking. Sometimes it really feels like a paradise.

Poletje v Parizu je neverjetno lepo. Dnevi so postali daljši, sončni dnevi mi dajejo res fino energijo in sončni zahodi jemljejo dih. Včasih se mi res zazdi, kot bi bila v raju.

Oslo, part 1

Oslo sem si že nekaj časa želela obiskati, pa se je vedno izšlo tako, da sem na koncu potovala kam drugam. Enkrat nekam, kjer je bilo bolj toplo, spet drugič nekam, kjer je bilo ceneje – nekako sem vedno našla izgovor in odločitve nikoli nisem obžalovala, je pa Oslo vedno pri meni zbujalo neko posebno zanimanje, in to še toliko bolj v času, ko sem eno leto živela v Kopenhagnu.

Oslo in Kopenhagen sta se mi vedno zdela skandinavska brata. Norveška in Danska sta bili več stoletij del istega kraljestva, iz česar sledi, da je njun jezik zelo podoben (če berem norveščino, s pomočjo danščine kar dobro razumem kontekst), kultura prav tako, obe državi za plačilo uporabljata krone, krona pa je tudi simbol kraljevih družin, ki še danes obstajata v obeh državah. Seveda pa sta se državi kasneje razvijali ločeno in tudi danes je, na primer, Danska del Evropske unije, medtem ko Norveška več prednosti vidi v tem, da je sama svoj mojster.

Ko sem potovala v Oslo, sem bila torej nekako po svoje prepričana, da potujem v drugi Kopenhagen, ki je eno izmed mojih ljubših mest. Malo sem se uštela pri tem prepričanju. Oslo se od Kopenhagna precej razlikuje, kakor se tudi Norveška od Danske. Narava in površje sta precej drugačna pa tudi arhitektura mestoma res ni skupna, kar pomeni, da je bil moj prvi vtis precej čuden. Zdelo se mi je, da so edine skupne točke krone, bližina morja in simpatične kavarne. Še jezik se mi je zdel precej manj simpatičen od danščine, ko sem ga slišala na ulicah.

Oslo ni najboljše mesto za kolesarjenje. Medtem ko je Kopenhagen ravno mesto (kakor je tudi cela država) in torej zelo prijazno za kolesarjenje, je Oslo valovito mesto. Po hribu gor, po hribu dol, pa spet gor in potem dol. In to včasih na zelo kratki razdalji. Oslo ima poleg metroja še tramvaj, kar da mestu posebno podobo. Hiške na obrobju Osla so bolj podobne tistim, ki sem jih videla na švedskem podeželju in spominjajo na vilo Čira Čara od Pike Nogavičke kot pa kopenhagenskim. Mesto diha drugače.

I have wished to visit Oslo for a while now, but it always somehow turned out I travelled somewhere else. Once somewhere warmer, another time somewhere cheaper – somehow I always found a reason to go somewhere else and I’ve never regretted such decision. Oslo has, nevertheless, always attracted me, and this was even more so during my year in Copenhagen.

I’ve always seen Oslo and Copenhagen as Scandinavian brothers. Norway and Denmark used to be part of the same kingdom for several centuries, and hence their languages are similar (if I read Norwegian, I can actually pretty well understand the context with the help of my Danish skills), as is the culture, both countries use crowns as their currency and the crown is also a symbol of the two royal families that still exist in both countries. The countries have, of course, evolved separately later on and even today, for instance, Denmark is part of the EU whereas Norway prefers to be on its own.

When I traveling to Oslo, I was therefore somehow sure I was traveling to a second Copenhagen, which is one of my favourite cities. I was a bit wrong however. Oslo is quite different from Copenhagen, and so is Norway from Denmark. The nature and landscape are pretty different and so is architecture, which means that my first impressions were quite strange. The only common points seemed to be crowns, the presence of the sea and the nice cafés. Even the language seemed less nice than Danish.

Oslo is not the best city for cyclers neither. While Copenhagen is a flat city (and so is Denmark as such) and therefore nice for cycling, is Oslo a complete opposite. Up the hill, down the hill, and up again and then down. And this sometimes on a very short distance. Apart from the metro, Oslo also has a tramway, which gives the city even another atmosphere. The little houses in the suburbs of Oslo are more similar to those I saw on the Swedish countryside and remind me more of the villa of Pippi Longstocking than anything Copenhagen-like. The city breathes differently.

Po prvem stiku z vsemi temi čisto nepričakovanimi zadevami pa sem Oslu dala novo priložnost. Prisilila sem se, da sem mesto nehala primerjati s Kopenhagnom in ga doživljati kot novo mesto. Takrat sem začela uživati.

Vreme je bilo čudovito, dnevi so postajali čedalje daljši in zemljevida kmalu nisem več potrebovala. Hej, Oslo!

After this first experience, nevertheless, I gave Oslo a second chance. I forced myself to stop comparing it to Copenhagen and experience it as another city. That was the point when I started enjoying it.

The weather was beautiful, the days were getting longer and longer, and soon I didn’t need the map anymore. Hej, Oslo!

Oslo!

"Good Lord, one can't do anything better than to play in this blessed world." (Henrik Ibsen)

Oslo has been on my to-visit list for a while now. During my year in Copenhagen I only visited Sweden among Scandinavian countries, but it is never too late and here I am, in the country of Ibsen, fjords and beautiful nature. Can't wait to explore it further!

Oslo sem si že nekaj časa želela obiskati. Tekom leta v Kopenhagnu sem med skandinavskimi državami obiskala samo Švedsko, a nikoli ni prepozno in zdaj sem tu, v deželi Ibsna, fjordov in čudovite narave. Komaj čakam, da raziščem vse kotičke mesta!

Spring = Stress? - Pomlad = Stres?

happy |ˈhapē|
adjective (happier, happiest)
feeling or showing pleasure or contentment

If I was to sum up my past month with one word, it would be “happy”. It was busy, at times stressful, with lots of deadlines, but all in all I kept the smile on my face and enjoyed almost every moment of it. Almost like the little boy crocodile on the photo above I finally managed to capture on a sunny day in Strasbourg.

At the end of March, the conference we have been working on for more than 10 months, finally happened. I spent a really nice but intense week in Strasbourg (I don’t exaggerate if I say that I spent almost all my days in the European Parliament, like literally), surrounded by motivated young Europeans and the best organisers team, wearing high heels, lipstick and dresses 24/7. As the Head of layout and design, the printer and my computer were never far from me, but apart from that I was passing the security check every morning, listening to German interpreter interpreting, running around and making sure everything went smoothly, laughing, not sleeping enough, and having the feeling of great satisfaction and happiness.

sréčen -čna -o
prid., sréčnejši tudi srečnéjši (ẹ́ ẹ̄)
ki je v razmeroma trajnem stanju velikega duševnega ugodja

Če bi morala svoj pretekli mesec povzeti z eno besedo, bi bil moj mesec srečen. Bil je zelo zaposlen, včasih stresen, z veliko roki, ampak ves čas sem uspela obdržati nasmeh na obrazu in uživati skoraj vsak trenutek. Skoraj tako kot mali fantek krokodil na zgornji fotki, ki mi jo je končno uspelo posneti na sončen dan v Strasbourgu.

Konec marca se je končno odvila konferenca, ki smo jo pripravljali več kot 10 mesecev. Preživela sem res simpatičen, a intenziven teden v Strasbourgu (ne pretiravam, če rečem, da sem skoraj vse svoje dneve preživela v Evropskem parlamentu, in to dobesedno), obkrožena z navdušenimi in motiviranimi mladimi Evropejci in najboljšo organizacijsko ekipo, v visokih petah, šminko in formalnih oblekah 24/7. Kot se spodobi za vodjo layout and design ekipe, sta bila tiskalnik in moj računalnik vedno v moji bližini, ampak poleg tega sem se vsako jutro počekirala na security checku, poslušala nemškega tolmača nemško tolmačenje v dvorani, skakala z enega konca na drugega in skrbela za to, da bo vse teklo, kot je treba, se smejala, premalo spala in imela ves čas občutek velikega zadovoljstva in sreče.

Coming back to Paris afterwards and catching up on everything I have missed at the university was also intense, but with great organisation and a bit of luck everything went smoothly.

Easter celebration turned out to be a double celebration this year – it was my birthday a week or so ago. Yey :) And then another big and motivating Zumba France event, another Creative Morning, another dose of happiness.

Intenziven je bil tudi prihod nazaj v Pariz, v kratkem času sem morala nadoknaditi vse, kar sem zamudila na faksu, ampak z dobro organizacijo in kančkom sreče se je vse izteklo super.

Velikonočno praznovanje je bilo letos dvojno praznovanje - teden dni nazaj sem imela rojstni dan. Jej :) Potem pa še en velik in motivacijski Zumba France dogodek, še en Creative Morning, še ena doza sreče.

And then final classes, final papers, final quizzes – my semester is almost done and I have been a busy bee those past weeks, but somehow I still manage to attend great events, spend some wonderful days with people I love, and enjoy my days, despite the rain and cold.

I am writing two last papers now and finish my exams in a week, and then I go to the North for a short while. Given the current Parisian weather I can’t say I need to cool down, but I will definitely spend some cool days there! :)

Potem pa še zadnja predavanja, zadnje seminarske, zadnji kolokviji - moj semester je skoraj pri koncu in te zadnje tedne sem bila busy bee, pa vendar mi še vendo uspeva iti na odlične dogodke, preživeti luštne dneve z ljudmi, ki jih cenim, ter hkrati uživati dneve kljub dežju in hladu.

Trenutno končujem zadnji dve seminarski nalogi in prihodnji teden končam z izpiti. Potem grem pa za kratek čas na Sever. Zaradi trenutnega kislega pariškega vremena se mi ni treba ohladiti, ampak severni zrak mi bo vsekakor super del! :)