sabato 24 settembre 2011

Smalti Astra Italian romantic colours

Ciao a tutti (forse è meglio dire "tutte")!

Per una volta un post in italiano, anche perché parlerò di qualcosa che non credo sia facile trovare all'estero! E tra l'altro, ecco un argomento un po' frivolo, che di solito non tratto! Ma credo che l'importante sia riuscire a sorprendere e sorprendersi sempre, o no?

Veniamo al dunque: come avrete già capito dal titolo, vorrei parlare di questa bellissima collezione di smalti Astra chiamata "Italian Romantic Colours", che ho scoperto oggi. Probabilmente arrivo un po' tardi, perché credo che siano usciti addirittura la scorsa primavera, ma devo ammettere che io non sono una grande patita di smalti, perciò non è strano che mi sia totalmente persa questa collezione. A dire il vero il mio è un po' un rapporto di amore-odio (o forse è meglio dire "amore-indifferenza") con gli smalti. Questo vuol dire che alterno periodi di disinteresse nei confronti delle mie unghie, a periodi in cui trovo uno o due colori di cui mi innamoro follemente, e allora ecco che si ricomincia ad usare gli smalti!!!

Oggi è successo proprio questo. All'IperSoap della mia città ho trovato questi bellissimi smalti a 2,50 €, il che mi sembra un ottimo prezzo, così ho fatto incetta (anche se è stata dura scegliere)!

Ecco i miei acquisti:

n.07
n. 10





n.35, che vedete anche sulle unghie

Ora sono proprio curiosa di vedere quanto mi durerà sulle unghie!
Chi di voi ha già usato questi smalti? Potete lasciarmi il vostro parere in proposito? O consigliarmi qualche altro colore a cui vi siete affezionate? Magari vado a fare ancora un giretto all'IperSoap uno di questi giorni...   ;)

Volunteering abroad

I know that holidays have just ended, and it might be too early (and melancholic) to think about and plan your next holidays. But anyway, I'd just like to share with you the experience I had this summer and to give you a suggestion for a different (and cheaper!) way to spend your holidays.

As you've probably read in the title, I'm talking about Volunteering.
It means that you can travel to a foreign country (or to your own country, of course!) to take part in a volunteering project. There are different types of projects, as for example working with children, the disabled, old people, poor people, environmental volunteering, wildlife rescue projects and so on. I'm sure you'll find the best project for your own aptitudes and interests!

Of course, you'll have to pay your own flight or trip to the place you chose. But then, volunteering organisations often provide room and board for free or for not much money anyway.

Volunteering means hard work, no doubts about it. But think about all the positive aspects it has got. You have the opportunity to travel low cost, to visit a new place and meet new, great people from other countries and you are aware of the fact that you're doing something useful and very important for somebody else. And believe me,when you see with your own eyes that you're doing good and that your work is producing some results, it's just sooo rewarding and satisfying!

When you volunteer, if the place is well organised, you should normally have some spare hours to rest or go and visit the area every day and you should also get something like one whole free day per week, but of course it all depends on the specific organisation.

Where I went this summer is a center for wildlife rescue called EKPAZ, on Aegina Island, south of Athens (Greece). If you want more info about it, don't hesitate to ask!
Here's the website (but it's not really up to date...!) : EKPAZ

Other interesting websites:
WEP Italia (This one is in Italian. I hope you can find a WEP website in your country as well)
GoAbroad
ProjectsAbroad
International Animal Rescue
WWF
...

Of course, these are just a few links I had checked while I was looking for a project this summer, so I cannot grant for them. Moreover, you can find dozens of other organisations through the search engines on the Net, so I'd be glad if you can let me know about other good projects you know, you've already experienced or you've found while surfing!   Thank you!   :)

venerdì 23 settembre 2011

Photo sharing with Aminus3!

Are you looking for a place where to share your pictures?
I've tried Aminus3, after reading about it on the Internet, and I must say that I'm sooo satisfied with it!

It is a free Photoblog hosting service whose only limitation is that just one of your pictures will be posted per day.  That means that you won't upload loads of photos as you normally do on Facebook, for example, but you'll have to select your best shots instead.
Of course, you can upload as many photos as you want at the same time, but you'll have to assign each of them to a day of the year, by selecting it on the calendar. On that day, your photo will become available to the other members. Of course after that date, the picture will be shown permamently on your photoblog.

People will also be able to comment your photos, give them a star rating and choose to "follow" your photoblog, if they really like it (and of course you can do the same with all the other members).
The community of Aminus3 is amazing and full of stunning pictures that are renewed everyday.
Moreover, everyday they choose a "Spotlight" and a "Colour Spotlight", that are two pictures posted by two different members which are considered so good to deserve to be shown for some time at the top of the main page of the site. Isn't this challenging?! ;)

Have fun and let me know!  -->  Go to Aminus3 (If you want, you can have a look at the photos even if you're not a member!)

Dedicated to Troy Davis

Another man was killed by the American penalty system. We're talking about Troy Davis, convincted  of murder with aggravating factor and executed at Georgia Diagnostic and Classification State Prison yesterday morning.

I must admit that I'm not well informed about his story, even though his name was pretty popular and I sometimes received emails about him and all the different petitions and demonstrations carried out by people in order to get a commutation of death penalty in life sentence.

Anyway, lots of information can be found on the Net, as for example, here (Wikipedia).

There are just a couple of things I'd like to highlight.
I don't want to be too trite, but first of all we should never stop asking ourselves wheter it is legitimate for a State to decide to execute somebody - and pay death back with death - .
After that, Troy Davis was arrested in 1989, which means 22 long years spent in prison, from his adolescence  to his death, at the age of 42. Is it a human behaviour to torture a man in this way, keeping him alive for all this time, when the most probable end of the story will be "execution"? Moreover, Troy Davis had 3 previous execution dates set, before the fourth, last one. How would you call that? I'd suggest "psychological torture".





'Till the end Davis maintaned his innocence. Of course, I don't know if this is true, and I really don't know wheter I'd wish he was guilty, right now. That will not justify death penalty, of course. But can you imagine the embarrassment and sufferings that will be caused if they find out that an innocent was killed? And that wouldn't be the first -and nor the last - time, I'm afraid.

mercoledì 21 settembre 2011

Organic chemistry...

...is not so much fun. It might be interesting of course, but since I've been spending more than two weeks preparing my exam and studying by heart names, formulae and reactions, I must admit that organic chemistry and I don't get along very well together.

Anyway, while surfing the Net for some help / support / suggestions / an escape from reality probably (!) I've found something very interesting and useful.
It's a program called ChemSketch, devoloped by ACDLABS, that can be downloaded for free from HERE .
With it, you can draw all the different molecules and then it can generate the IUPAC name for them (which is very useful when you have to practice IUPAC names). Of course it can do lots of other amazing things that I don't have the time to learn right now.



Another great help is Jmol, an opensourse java viewer for 3D molecules.

Wow, we're so lucky to leave in an era of technology! ;)

martedì 20 settembre 2011

Leica 24 x 36 photo contest!

Hello everybody!
How are you doing in this end of summer?

Today I'll use my blog to have some "self advertisement", we can say.
In fact, I'm taking part in a photo contest by Leica Italy. Of course I'm just an amateur and I take pictures for fun in my (not much) free time. Moreover I use a Panasonic Lumix camera, which is not bad at all, but of course it's far from being a professional equipment.

Anyway, this contest could be a great opportunity to get known and learn a bit more about the amazing art of Photography, soooo.. what I ask you to do is: if you have a Facebook or Twitter account, please visit this page: My photos for Leica 24 x 36 and if you like my pictures just "Like" or "Tweet" them.

Of course, if you have a little spare time, it will be worth having a look to the pictures of the other participants. There are lots of great works! Just click on the word "GALLERIA".

Thank you so much! I'd really appreciate your support :)

mercoledì 7 settembre 2011

BookCrossing Time!

I released a book on the train this morning!

It was my first time after ages and I'm happy to feel again this sensation of joy and a little bit of anxiety while wating for my book to be registered on the site by his new, lucky owner.

And you?? Have you ever tried Bookcrossing? If not, you really should!!!

What is it?

It's a funny and free way to share your books with other "Bookcrossers". You register your books on the website and you get a code called BCID. Then you can choose to give the book to a person you know, or to leave in "into the wild" ( = "to release" it). But before you do that, don't forget to write a release note on the site and the BCID together with some instructions in your book! In this way the person who finds it, will be able to register the book in the site again, so that you can keep track of its journey.
If you don't like this way of sharing books you can send them to people who wish to read them (in this case we're talking about a "controlled release", since you altready know your book's destination).

And keep your eyes open!!! Who knows, maybe you'll meet a released book to take with you soon!

To learn more:  click here

ENJOY!

lunedì 5 settembre 2011

Back to Reality

Hello surfers!

I'm sorry I haven't updated this blog in a while.
Actually nothing too interesting happened during my exams season and then I left for holidays. Lack of visitors to the blog is not a fillip for me, but I'm aware of the fact that if I don't post anything, things won't get better for sure. Do you have any tips to increase the number of visitors to a blog?

My holidays were great. I had a volunteering experience in EKPAZ, which is the Hellenic Wildlife Hospital, on the Island of Aegina, south of Athens. There, injured and poisoned wild animals are sent and can find a shelter where they are treated and fed in order to be released once they're better. It was a "real life experience", we can say. Hard work and not much food. Unfortunately something very bad happened 3 days after my departure and the bad news put a shade on the memories I'll have of this holiday.
Anyway, volunteering with animals was such a great experience! I would like to repeat it soon.
it's not easy to get back to my books and my daily routine right now. Once you try what's beyond your normal life of student, it's not painless trying to fit again into something that feels too tight for you.


venerdì 10 giugno 2011

Travelling Journal Project and random stuff

Hello Surfers!

What are you up to these days?
First of all, I'm sorry to tell you that I decided to remove the chat tool from the blog, since it was full of spam and no other comments :( That's sad!

Then, Travelling Journal Project time: I've just found out that it arrived safely to Ukraine yesterday! Sooo happy! There's still a long way to go; anyway, once the first copybook is full, I think I'll ask for it to be headed back to me, while a new copybook will be used by the next participant. In this way, we'll reduce the possibility of the first part of the TJ to get lost in the mail, and I'll also start to scan it and share itwith you! I'm so excited!!!

Alright, change of topic! Daily life :) Exams are coming!!! I'm a bit nervous... So many things to learn and time is never enough! But I'm not alone right? :D
And then this weekend is going to be very important for my country: we're voting for some important decisions about nuclear energy, private water and parlimentary privilege.
So please, I'd like to understand what is your personal opinion about nuclear energy. What do foreign countries do about that? Do you think that it is more usufeul than dangerous? let me know!







This is it! Back to work!

martedì 10 maggio 2011

General Updates

Hello Surfers :)

I know that it's been a while since I wrote my last post, but actually nothing really new or exciting has happened recently.

I know I had promised to let you know about the Loud and Proud Festival and that's what I'm going to do right now. It was simply... GREAT, AMAZING, FANTASTIC, EXCITING... but most of all... LOUD AND PROUD!!! ;) Ahah, well I think that's the way people normally feel after a concert of their favourite singer/band, so I'm pretty sure there's no need to describe this sensation any further. But you have to know that I'm not really used to go to concerts, so it was something pretty new to me. And beside that, well... Dropkick Murphys are not exactly the same as a classical music concert (with due respect to classical music of course!!!), if you get what I mean...! Sooo... we can say I really loved that. Moreover their new album is so good and I liked the way they mingled new songs with the older ones during the concert.
Unfortunately it was too crowded and... messy! so the few pictures I took in there were really bad :/

Alright. As for the rest, I'm pretty happy these days. The sun is shining almost everyday and there's light until 9 p.m.!!! Thank God, everything's fine, even if approaching exams are staring to smell bad!!! But I feel lucky, so long as my biggest problem is exams :)

Change of topic! My  "Lyrics TN" has started!!! ( http://seequando.blogspot.com/2011/03/new-lyrics-travelling-notebook.html ). So I'm waiting for your sheets, Postcrossers!!! (well, of course, if other surfers would like to participate, just leave a comment under this post!).

That's it!

Please, drop a line in the chat box if you visit this blog (not just for spam, as somebody's doing)! That would be very welcome :)

Good night!

giovedì 21 aprile 2011

Hello Bloggers!

How are you? Are you finally on holiday? :) Easter is approaching.. how are you going to celebrate it?

Here it's time to take some rest and study a little bit! But during holidays there will be space for some good music as well! Indeed, I'm going to the Sing Loud, Sing Proud festival in Milan on Tuesday! I can't wait!!!

Hands up if you like celtic rock and Dropkick Murphys especially! I hope I can take some good pics there. I'll let you know!   SING LOUD, SING PROUD!

http://www.dropkickmurphys.com/


venerdì 1 aprile 2011

Chinese Atmosphere

Hello Bloggers!
This is a post to share with you the Chinese atmosphere that flooded into my house the other day, when I received a package from a very kind penpal of mine: Vincent, from China!
This was a great surprise that really brightened my day. Thanks again Vincent!

ENJOY!








 










 

lunedì 28 marzo 2011

NEW! Lyrics Travelling Notebook!

Hello everybody!

This is a post to promote my new Travelling Notebook.
Here's the description I wrote for Postcrossing forum:

I'm pretty sure that all of you like listening to music, but I think that lots of people often don't care too much about the lyrics of the songs they're listening to, while trying to understand the lyrics of my favourite songs is something very important to me. Do you feel in the same way?So come on! Join this Travelling Notebook! 
What we are supposed to do is just write the lyrics of our favourite song(s) on it! It can be just one or more, if you can't choose among too many good ones! ;)Of course, it can be in your own language, but if so, please try to translate it in English so that everybody can understand.
I'm very curious to discover what people listen around the world and, why not, know new bands and singers thanks to this TN! :D And the final aim is having a sort of "collection" of great songs whose lyrics are important to us for different reasons.
What do you think about that? :question:
I was thinking about a sheet TN this time. If there are enough participants, I'll let you know how the sheets should be. If we are just a few participants, then I'll consider the possibility of a "real" TN. 
I've got 5 participants so far:


- zam_akira - Malaysia
- Noeline - Ukraine
- Hedgehog in a fog - Belarus
- yan.k.a - Russia
- creative_art - Washington (USA)
- laventeli - Finland


Please, leave  a comment under this post if you'd like to join.
I'll update this post every time new participants join the TN.
If I decide to make a sheet TN, I promise I'll scan all the sheets I'll receive and make a PDF Document to be shared with you, alright?


Enjoy!  ;)

giovedì 17 marzo 2011

Buon Compleanno, Italia!!!

Today, Italy is celebrating its 150th Birthday. Indeed, the Unification of Italy was declared on 17th march 1861 . Giuseppe Garibaldi and his men were the leading actors of this great event and Vittorio Emanuele II di Savoia was the first king of the new Kingdom of Italy.

Here's a link to Wikipedia, if you are curious: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian_unification.

Here is the speech of our President Giorgio Napolitano: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9wtGrynzCs . (I'm sorry, it's in Italian)

Turin was the first capital of Italy and that's the reason why lots of celebrations are taking place there.
Despite the rain, yesterday evening I was in Turin like loads of other people and it was great! Here are some pictures I took there:

Palazzo Madama in Piazza Castello
The Royal Palace in Piazza Castello
The Murazzi and the Po river (high level of the water!)
Piazza San Carlo
The Mole Antonelliana with the Italian colours!
Chiesa della Gran Madre
Monte dei Cappuccini




Fireworks from the Vittorio Emanuele bridge


Unfortunately, Italian people are a bit odd. Abroad, it may look like we have a strong sense of unity and homeland. We are those who were forced to emigrate in the past, but never forgetting their roots and traditions. Anyway, this is not what I feel here. Lots of people don't feel proud to be Italian, or even worse, somebody would prefer not to be a part of Italy, spurning our symbols, flag and anthem. That's really sad, but hopefully this is just a small minority of the population.
We should be proud of our history and thankful to those who lost their lives fighting to give us freedom and unity; and this conscience should be the basis to cooperate and work together to solve the too many problems that we have right now.

Buon Compleanno Italia! 

lunedì 14 marzo 2011

What's up?! - Random thoughts -

Hello Bloggers!

How are you? What have you been up to these days?

I know I haven't been very active recently, but I always check my blog for comments and new followers. Actually, I haven't had anything exciting to talk (or write?) about..    :)
Exams are over and I'm back to regular lessons. The new subjects are very interesting, especially Geography. I'm also reading a great book which I suggest to you all. Its Italian title is "Intervista con la Terra", by Brahic, Tapponnier, Brown and Girardon and it explains in an easy way how our solar system was born and how our planet works.

By the way, have you any other essays like this to suggest me? I'm pretty keen on that kind of topics.




It's also a good way to better understand what's happening in Japan right now. By the way, I wanted to spend a few  words for all those people who lost their lives, or their relatives and anyway who are in danger and have nothing left. Unfortunately, the power of Earth is something we cannot resist. We are small bricks of a too much bigger building. I know it's useless, but I want to say that I really feel close to all those people. Is there anybody from Japan who's reading this post?


Please, leave a comment or a short message in the ChatBox, when you visit this blog! Let me know who you are! I'd like this Blog to become a virtual place where to exchange opinions, thoughts, points of view. 

lunedì 28 febbraio 2011

My sand collection is getting bigger!

Thanks to my parents, who's just come back from a trip to Senegal and to nisnoopy3, a very kind Postcrosser from Malaysia!


Red sand from Jerantut, Malaysia
Sand from Cap Manuel, Senegal

Sand from Langue de Barbarie, Senegal
Sand from Isle de Gorée, Senegal




giovedì 24 febbraio 2011

Lonely Days

Hello Surfers,

I'm writing this post just because I'm at home all alone, relaxing a little bit after a hard day of study.
My last exam is approaching and I'm really looking forward to being done with all this stuff and start again with new subjects and lessons!

My "postal activity" is doing great. The Travelling Journal is in the UK right now.
Some Postcrossers have already mailed some sand for my collection and I'm so excited because of that! In change I'm preparing some sets of postcards to send to those kind people and I'm so proud of that.

I'm also going to send a very beautiful postcard to China tomorrow; in fact, a Chinese Postcrosser had seen this beautiful card showing the Vittorio Emanuele bridge in Torino at night and asked me to buy another one for him, so I'm very glad to help in this way!

And... last but not least... I downloaded an amazing photo editing program from the Internet a couple of days ago. It's called Paint.net; have you ever heard of/used it? I'm trying to understand how it works but I must say that I really like it! I' hope I'll learn how to use it soon. Have you got any tips?

Here is my first experiment:





Bed time... Goodnight!  =)

giovedì 17 febbraio 2011

New Tool: We've got a Chat Box!

Hello again!

I've installed a new tool to make our communication easier!

It's a chat box! Look for it at the bottom of the sidebar on the right.

 I hope you'll like it and leave a sign of your passage before you go!  :)

Amazing Postcrossing

Can You believe that???



Yes... I received the same postcard from Minsk from two different Postcrossers!
Unbelievable!


lunedì 14 febbraio 2011

Difficult relationship with my set of pen-nibs!

Hello everybody!

This is a post written for countrydirt, to show him the very beautiful set of pen-nibs I received in 2009 from my aunt as a present at the end of High School, which I like sooo much, but I'm totally ineffective to use!

I don't know the difference (if there's any) among all those beautiful nibs; I don't know what's the right position of the pen on the paper, I don't know how the use the ink properly, nor what's the best paper to use.

I don't know anything, but my nibs are fed up of being left on a shelf gathering dust! :)




giovedì 10 febbraio 2011

Restyling!

Restyling time!

I abandoned the autumn background for a new, fresh one! Spring is coming and with it lots of colorful flowers. I hope you'll like the new features of "Se & Quando" blog!

enjoy :)

Hard students' life!

Ohh... finally one day of rest in this hard period that every student on Earth knows very well: Exams break! You haven't got lessons but you have to set the alarm clock in any case, since you have loads of books, notes and slides to work out, like a miner with his pickax and his lantern.

But two exams out of three are gone so far, so... I feel justified to take a day of rest after such a hard brain work. And of course I've got a nice flu which is helping me a lot during this nice period! :D
But I don't want to complain, things are going great! I like my new University, after the bad last year; Spring is coming!!! Days are sunny and pretty warm. I can't wait to wear all my beloved T-shirts again! Thanks to the Postcrossing froum I've got loads of new worldwide penfriends and... my Travelling Journal didn't get lost! It's safe in its new temporary home in Holland.

And I've recently discovered the site called "SharedTalk", where you can contact foreign people who are learning your language or who speak the languages you're learning. A nice way to improve your skills together with other people in a safe place. I love it! I'm going to add a link on the blog right now.

Time for a shower!

                      HAPPY LIFE TO YOU!  :)