He and her sunlight...

She strolled around like Nancy was her own home. She has always dreamt of a parisian apartment with high ceilings and huge, white windows that will let the sun rays to wake her up gently. She loved the sun. But this day in Nancy was not the sunniest she could have. She walked around for some minutes and the buildings reminded her some Ionian islands and the summers she had spent there. It was not the sea she missed so much but the sense of carelessness each summer carries with its arrival.

She found a place to sit before the rain and thought a while about her apartment. It would be full of paintings laying on the wooden, dark floor. The books she reads would form a library on their own being spread around just like her ideas, her projects and her drawings. Nothing had his final form yet. Like waiting for a last touch and like this touch is the most important one. Her apartment would be filled with colors but not on the textiles or the walls. The colors would come from the flowers in the vases, Freesias that she liked a lot. And with this thought she ordered a hot coffee until the last drop of rain. 

That day in Nancy when her company arrived became sunnier than she imagined it to be. She had her coffee, they chatted pointlessly for an hour and then they walked again to find what is hidden in the narrow streets of that city. Lorraine had its myths and so did she. 

The day was over and the engine of the car made her realize how fast time can slip through your hands when you are day dreaming. The road was long before getting back home. The music of the unknown french radio station was leaving no space for talking. So she thought again of her apartment and suddenly a question bothered her.

Would he like the sunlight to wake him up as well? 

A.

The need to stand

on your own feet. How can you become the person you want to unless you don't manage to stand on your own two feet? Difficulties will appear, fears will keep you company, many times you will feel lonely but in the end you will be proud of your little self that managed to become independent, fearless and so strong. You will meet people that will hurt you, you will lose friends and you will feel disappointed by others that you have trusted and supported. But it's ok, cause its your own feet you need to stand.

Sometimes you will find the ones that will be willing to stand by you. These will be other independent and fearless people who will not be scared by your freedom, who will share their experiences with you waiting to hear yours as well. These will be amazing people who survived the same disappointment and loneliness. They wont be willing to stand by you, they will be meant to do so. You will keep these people.

You will be forced to stand in front of your fears too. You will not be able to avoid this. It is not as difficult as it sounds. Usually we realize how easy things are when we already try them. And you have to try a lot of exciting things. 

And when the years pass, and you are able to consider yourself an adult, you will need to stand for what you believe in. That's a virtue not many people share. But in the end it is the only thing that you need in order to stand on your feet proudly and with no shame, to stand by the people you love without any guilt or hypocrisy and to stand in front of your fears without feeling threaten or weak. Stand for what you believe. Especially when it makes you extremely happy.     

Enjoy your weekend

A.

Never skip a cup of coffee...

It is sociologically proven that coffee is not only a beverage we enjoy. Besides the benefits (some say the opposite) it is a habit that makes people gather around it's blend and share love stories or professional details. It is a way of communicating, socializing and of course de-stressing. I know, i know..There is nothing like a nice cup of tea to soothe any type of pain! But this is another story, one a true coffee lover would not share at this point.

You know, usually coffee wakes us up but what it really does is to give us a sense of potentiality. The belief that we can do everything and that something amazing is going to happen to us. Each brand new day starts with a coffee. Most of the love affairs start with a coffee date. Friends are meeting upon a coffee mug. We hold up an espresso before opening a newspaper or a book. We post or tweet with a cup of cappuccino next to us. We like it macchiato or corretto or even cortadito for intense flavor!Coffee is a minor habit that brings us together. We wait in cafeterias for our friends, we have coffees and share the news, the secrets, the pain together. 

These minor details can make our greatest relations ever stronger. The need to create a way of communication, the need to have a place full of memories we shape with our people, the desire to have a social presence and participation, the wish to share something from our life and receive a sentiment, a feeling or a smile. All in a sip of coffee. So, never skip a cup!Especially one that is enjoyed with a great friend.

A.

Depictions of a night..(or a pause in Colmar)

Sometimes taking a break is not what we want but what we basically need. Even if we do not realize it. There comes a moment in our life that everything turns into a routine, a common schedule we have to follow in order to be more productive, to be on time, to succeed, in order to fill each minute with a sense of usefulness and importance. And then, there comes a moment when we pause. Unwillingly. There is no inspiration, no creativity, no mood to get off the bed, no will to smile to our beloved ones, no dreams to chase. Exhausted people striving to make the living they had planned.

How can we forget what our inner child used to wish for? Well, i suppose that people tend to neglect anything childish. Living on a pace fed only by anxiety and stress does not really offer space for memories and happy times. Is it worthy? I could strongly support people seeking a career, i would justify people aiming to a promotion rather than creating a family and i could surely understand people who enjoy their jobs. But most of all i do admire people who make their careers based on the things they love. I read about such success stories and feel the need to track my own way doing what i most certainly like to spend my time on. But i also understand how difficult this is and even if those people love their jobs, they still have to work some sleepless nights in order to achieve that.

Anyhow, it is a personal pursue and this is always the challenge;never to set aside the things one has hoped for, cried for, struggled for. Between the months of endless work, among the days of stressful meetings or in between the hours of boring or uncertain meetings one should always search for a pause of happiness. If you have been spending hours in front of a computer or memorizing pages of academic books, if you have missed your friends or your partner, if you have forgotten when was the last time you played with your pet or if you just want to catch up with your favorite sit com then do so. I know, you have heard it before. I did so. But i came to a point in my life where i found myself far from my dreams. And it was not a pleasant discovery. Instead of a break though i preferred to shut down for a while. Then eventually, since i was always multitasking and with a bit of life-exploring curiosity, i filled my program so much that i could barely have a coffee with those who matter. That was a solution. The things i' ve learnt during this period are a treasure i will always keep inside me. It was a much needed period in order to find new interests, to re-find my rhythms, to throw away the social vampires i came across, to talk and mostly to listen.

As i was listening, i realized that i had found things that could make me happy but there were also things i had to do before embracing those. You know, there are nights when you feel helpless, when you try to find solutions but instead you end up watching another episode on replay. There are these nights when you stare the ceiling and you think of all the moonlight you never saw, when you recall moments of your life and you change some with the ones you really wanted to live, when you are too tired of sleeping because waking up is taking you away from your dreams.

It is like always living in your hometown and reading travel guides that remind you places you have never been. But if you finally find a ticket for your dream destination? You would go, that's the plan. But before that you have to stop somewhere else. You have to let everything linger, your old habits, the people that you leave behind, the memories..There is the need to let it all behind, to make room for the new ones to come.

That's a pause. A period during which you will not erase a single thing but you will just turn some blank pages. And then you will be ready for the next chapter. The in between time that will take away all your worries. It might be more than a year or just a single night where your ideal life comes into bits and pieces and forms depictions of your blissful time.    

Life is made out of sparkles, let's twinkle.

A.

A month away..

 Apparently, a month away from your friends, your routine and your home is a month that passes either extremely exciting or exhaustively boring. It depends on several parameters but i can definitely  say that company is the most important one. Even if you live in an amazing, culturally alive city. Those are the cities that demand the proper company to stroll around. There are so many beautiful cafes, too many deliciously smelling bistros and restaurants, eye-catching patisseries and so many bars where international students or local couples enjoy their drinks under the still sunny Strasbourg's sky.

If you find yourself alone in a cosmopolitan city of small population but full of great traditions and many various visitors, one thing you should do to mingle or socialize. Follow the locals, they know better and they are usually kind enough to share secret places in the city.

That's what i did during the last weeks. Following the river that runs the city is also another key-point. I managed to get lost in this small city a few times and each time i search for the river and find my way back home. Architecture and artistic expressions are more than obvious and breathtaking. Walking around or cycling allows you to enjoy each little detail in a cocktail of materials and an endless blending of rhythms.     

 You can feed yourself after hours of walking in the city at numerous places, offering a wide variety of tastes. Even if you are a vegetarian or vegan or you prefer to try different cuisines of the world you will have no troubles finding many alternatives.

 Once you feed your belly, you can visit some of the many museums in the city to feed also eyes and soul. Contemporary art, history, archaeology, beaux arts, everything is available depending on your preferences. This weekend is devoted in the European Patrimony so most of the museums and cultural spaces are free to enter. It was the first time i saw a crowd in the city. 

 A crowd is also seen in the city's most famous bakeries and the mouthwatering specialties are a good way to end a Saturday evening, don't you think so?

 The city has also many religious monuments like the Cathedral that offers panoramic view of the whole city if you have the stamina to climb up the 330 narrow stairs.  

 Bridges and flowers are another romantic feature of the Alsatian city. Wherever you look your eyes can rest. Colorful and full of life, this city urges you to take your loneliness out for a walk.

At least, i have to be ready to welcome my friends and show them my new discoveries.  

Enjoy your weekend,

A.

She could easily get lost...

Her name was not Alice and she had not found her Wonderland yet. But one thing was always there in her mind, adventure. She was always planning her next trip, imagined the places where she could be photographed and the minor details she could capture in her lens. She thought of the seas and the sand. She thought of the air. Sometimes it smelled like tea from China, or spices from India, coffee from Italy or just the smell of an old sweaters which reminded her of something. Something that she used to love a lot. 

No one could read the maps she had filled in with so many plans, notes and places to visit. No one could read her need to disappear, to get lost for a while, to see what else this world is hiding. It was not the need to have fun or visit some monuments. No. It was a new breath she wanted to gasp for. 

She packed her things enough times as to be able to say that she has seen part of the world. But it was not her thing to settle down and browse nostalgically into memories. Whatever kept her static so long, eventually became her inner motivational voice. And she packed for one more time. Not anything could fit in her small bag, but everything she had added was fitting perfectly to her new life. 

The walking was endless and her home started to fade away with all the people and the things she left behind. There was no time in the places she has been, there were no worries and no familiar faces. It was a layover between her lives. 

But she couldn't stay for more. Change became her main habit and her eyes were still searching for a new sky beyond her own window. She started thinking of herself and her inability to stop wandering. Could this mean that she was erratic and unreliable or maybe a free spirit seeking for a soul to match with? She could not find her answer and her spirit missed a beat.

One day, she found herself close to some coordinates she never visited before and then it hit her. It was not the adventure she was really looking for, but the Wonderland. A place where she could have all she ever asked for. A place where she could settle, or a pair of arms, or even some eyes that she could stare at and count stars popping out them. A wonderland with no borders and tickets, where one could be free and happy. 

After all, she knew that she could easily get lost if it wasn't for those stars popping out of some eyes..  

A.    

Soulless attachments.

Sometimes it is hard for us to let things go. Sometimes it is inevitable. Other times it is just an inner power that forces us to do so. Most things in life are meaningless. I mean, most of the things one can buy; objects and soulless things around us. The ones that have materialized our existence and give a new purpose everyday on our way to work.

The things that have a value, a "worthy" value during our personal pursue of happiness depend on our needs but one can summarize them in few words. The love we feel when people hug us, the sense of belonging we experience while surrounded by the walls that shape our first shelter, the dignity that completes each self-accomplishment, accepting ourselves and trusting people around us. 

It is the period during which we lose our faith in humans that makes us more attached to material things. Is it a distorted vision of how problems can be solved?Or maybe it is just a process we have to pass through in order to realize what really counts?

I've read somewhere, earlier today:

"When you fully trust someone without any doubt, 

you finally get one of two results: 

a person for life 

or

 a lesson for life."   

Time is our little assistant when we need to figure out how we want our life to or when we are wondering if we are making the right choice. But, as i see it now, a choice can be neither wrong, nor right. It is what it's definition announces, an action based on our will, our sentiments, our needs. And it represents part of our character. Even if we end up following some "lessons for life". 

The soulless attachments are all the things that we keep inside our heart and mind. Such an attachment is not really an object or a thing we possess. It is the way we felt when we acquired it, it is the memories of happiness and laughter that we have lived in its walls, the fears we managed to get rid of, the sadness and the sleepless nights, the hopes and the wishes that we expressed. It is not the object that we are attached to.

It is "ourself" that we are afraid of losing. And (usually) there is too much soul that needs to be protected inside.

Protected from the choices and the wrong attachments..
A. 

Rebonjour..

It has been kind of a longish period of time since my last post here. In fact it has been a long time since my last post anywhere i used to write for. But most of you really know how tricky life can be and how strangely it changes. This happened to me as well. Now i'm back in another language, from another country and with many new stories and experiences to share with you. First things first though! Let's have a brief summary of how things have been lately...

I come from a country that nowadays faces a severe financial problem and incredible political instability. This has affected significantly any aspect of our everyday life there. Young people have been migrating to other countries searching for a job that would suit their academic qualifications and criteria, and believe me when i say that most of the Greeks are highly qualified and skilled (pretty sure you have heard it before). I have not yet become one of these, since i will be living abroad for a short period of time, but the truth is that if someone gets a real job back home it's considered to be a miracle.

So, while i was searching for a job -you know, a paid one- i came up with a fantastic Master's program which i really enjoyed and offered me a new perspective on arts and humanities. I had the chance to study a region that has been full of archaeological monuments and important historical events. Studying the past really changes your way of thinking. At the same time i got the chance to meet interesting people from all over the world, people who i really miss now but still consider them friends.

In the meantime i had to move out, not from one but from 3 different apartments, and finally got one that really feels like home. In this home which seems far away now i have a small creature waiting for me full of joy and love in his little heart. That's a story you will hear a lot about in these posts. It's the story of how i loved animals (even more than i thought it's possible). We have the little bulldog for 2 years now and it has totally changed my life. I turned vegetarian again and have a new sense of what patience really is and how cruel our society can become.

#argos_frenchbulldog

I always believed that living abroad, even for a couple of years, is an open-minding and rich experience each person should seek for. I was a "late bloomer" as this is concerned so now i have the time to explore France. As much as i enjoyed travelling before, this is totally another kind of adventure; being on my own, with no friends and a bad accent in my never-used-before- French. 

But, as they say, if you don't chase your dreams, one day they will chase you.

Enjoy your Saturday!

A.