The Liebster Award

September 2, 2015 / Anna / 1 Comment

Thank you so so much to Caitlin at Caitlinfmc, for nominating me for The Liebster Award! Being very new to this whole blogging thing, I am really very grateful! Check out her blog, she is a film student and writes about all sorts of things, including films, music, book reviews and advice for University students! It’s fab!

These awards only have a few rules:

Thank the blogger who nominated you with a link back to his/her blog
Answer the questions asked by the nominator
Nominate 5 – 10 bloggers with under 500 followers
Create 10 questions for the nominees to answer.

First I have to answer these questions:

1.) What inspired you to start blogging?

I finally started my blog this year, as I missed spending time writing and researching. I wanted to set myself a challenge and also share my random thoughts and ramblings!

2.) If you had a super power what would it be?

I would be able to fly…..no more airports, I could go home whenever I wanted!

3.) Where in the world do you want to travel to most?

I think probably Africa! I would love to go on a Safari…maybe even a horseback one!

4.) What’s your dream career?

My dream career would probably be to be a film actress or to work in musical theatre!

5.) What was the last song you listened to?

The last song I listened to was ‘Volare’ by Gipsy Kings.

6.) What was the last film you watched?

The last film I watched was ‘Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation’ at the cinema with my family.

7.) What is your biggest goal to succeed in life?

This is a hard question, but I would probably say my biggest goal is to be happy and content….and maybe to write a novel!

8.) List three things that make you happy?

Three things which make me happy are my family and friends, music and my dog!

9.) Which would you rather be, able to read minds or fly?

Fly of course – but then I wouldn’t be able to use ‘Oh the bus was late!’ as an excuse!! Haha!

10.) What is your life motto?

This is another difficult question…but I would probably say to try and always see the positive in everything! It is something my Grandma always taught us and I believe in strongly!

Thanks again to Caitlin and here are my questions…

What do you enjoy most about blogging?
What is your favourite book?
If you were throwing a dinner party and could invite five famous people (dead or alive) who would you invite?
What is the most precious thing you own?
What can you not live without?
Would you rather swim in a lake or the sea?
What is your favourite song?
Puppies or kittens?
If you could play any musical instrument, what would you choose?
If you could speak any language (other than English) which would you choose?

And the nominees are..

Anna

Sun, Sea and Sand!

July 14, 2015July 15, 2015 / Anna / 3 Comments

It’s that time of year again, when the majority of Italians head to the coast for weeks of relaxation and sun worshipping! Of course at the first sign of the sun they instantly transform into beautiful sun-kissed people with flawless tans! You rarely see an Italian with dodgy tan lines or streaky fake tan! For the rest of us mere mortals (i.e. English rose complexion) we have to put in some serious effort, so my best friend and I headed to the beach for a week of sun, sea and sand! It also marked the end of the school year and for both of us our first year in business – so the perfect excuse for a little break!

We headed to Viareggio in Northern Tuscany, a small but rather charming little town on the coast of the Tyrrhenian Sea. We had little else on our agenda except for spending the day on the beach and going for long dinners in the evenings and walks on the beach (a perfect romantic week really – except with my best friend rather than a boy! haha!!)

We stayed in a lovely little hotel right on the beach front, with very friendly and helpful staff and managed to move rooms on the second night so we had a beach view! The beach mainly consists of private beaches, but it is worth paying for their facilities, as they have bathrooms, hot showers and some have swimming pools and bars! Plus you get an umbrella and sun loungers! Somehow we managed to convince them to give us two sun loungers whilst everyone else on our beach only had one (including families!) so we were feeling rather lucky and slightly smug! Taking turns to lie on one, would not have been fun!

There were lots of great restaurants in the town, serving of course fresh seafood, so every evening we had a feast of sword fish, crab, prawns, tuna and all sorts of delicious food!

The sea was beautiful to swim in and very refreshing, however, it was teeming with jelly fish and so we had to constantly be on jelly fish watch! Also there were numerous crabs on the seabed and on the last morning, one nipped me right on my big toe! I was not impressed!

We returned to Milan tanned (and a little sunburnt), relaxed and ready for the summer! However we are in a sort of heat wave in the city at the moment and I would do anything to be back at the beach, but alas work is calling me! Three more weeks though and I will be on holiday back in sunny (haha) England!

Anna

Piano City 2015

June 6, 2015July 14, 2015 / Anna / 2 Comments

For those of you who follow me on Instagram, you will know that a couple of weeks ago on another sunny Sunday afternoon, I went to the last day of Piano City Milano. This is a a three day event held every year with all types of piano concerts spread across the city! There are concerts held in parks, trams, houses, gardens, Piazza’s and museums to name just a few locations! There is something for everyone with everything from classical, jazz and pop music to baroque and electronic! Not only is the music fantastic and all concerts are free, it is a great way to explore the city and discover new places!

For example last year, my friend and I went to a concert in the beautiful gardens of Villa Reale, which is the heart of the event and known as Piano Giardino (Piano Garden). So naturally this year, I took my friends who were visiting there, to listen to some light Jazz and take a well needed break from all the walking we had been doing that weekend!

The beautiful Villa Reale

We listened to pianist Alberto Tafuri play homage to Neapolitan musician Pino Daniele. A large crowd had gathered (luckily we found space on the grass to sit!) and we spent an idyllic hour listening to him play some beautiful pieces! You can hear a short clip of one on my Instagram page.