You are more beautiful than you think!

How often do you check yourself out in the mirror and are not satisfied with what you see?

Every morning the same old story. You wake up and go to the bathroom. It’s time to get ready for the day. You look into the mirror and don’t like what you see. You don’t like the length of your hair and the color of your eyes. You have chubby cheeks and your lips are too thin. Those few extra pounds seem like the end of the world to you. You try not to think about your flaws and get ready. Throughout the day you stop at every mirror on your way to check yourself out again, for the hundredth time this day, just to make sure you look the best you can.

This is how millions of women feel every day around the globe. All of them are struggling with their looks. Women are their own worst beauty critics. According to a recent survey only 4% of women around the world consider themselves beautiful. Isn’t this sad? 

The fashion industry sets bad examples for women, especially young girls. We are faced with top models having measurements 90-60-90. According to famous fashion designers and fashion magazines all women should have those measurements. All we see in runway shows are super thin women with no curves whatsoever. While watching “Germany’s next top model” on Wednesday I got very disappointed. In one scene Heidi Klum came to a young candidate with a measure tape. Note that the girl is only 16 years old! According to Heidi she had 98 cm around her hips when she came into the show and they wanted to see if she had lost those extra 8 cm. Even though she was working out very hard and watched what she was eating she managed to get 3 cm. Of course the jury wasn’t thrilled about it. But my point is, can you imagine something like that being aired on Wednesday evening in a show like that?  How must have girls felt after watching this show? They probably thought how fat they were. All this leads to anorexia and bulimia, two very serious illnesses that literally take lives of young girls. Do we really want our daughters to be growing up in a society like this one?

Dove posted on Monday a three-minute ad on YouTube that teaches a vital lesson about how we view ourselves compared to how others see us.  A former forensic artist met a series of women and asked each to describe the way they look. He had no way of seeing them behind a curtain. He prompted them to detail everything: hair length, facial structure, and their most prominent features. He then sketched each participant from their self-description. Each woman was asked before the study to get to know one of the other participants. The forensic artist then prompted each woman to describe the other's face. At the end of the video, the artist reveals two sketches — one from the participant itself, one from their partner. The differences are remarkable.

I don’t want to spoil the video for you so that’s why I am going to stop writing now. I think it’s a great video, one that has a very strong message. Take a look at it, trust me; it’s worth your time. :)

XOXO A. 

British vs. American

As a kid I thought that English is being spoken the same in the whole world. But soon, during one of my English classes, I learned that that is not true. English is not spoken the same in America, Great Britain, Australia or New Zealand. There are a lot of differences. So as I was researching those differences on the internet I came across this interesting picture. Take a look at it J

XOXO A.

20 quick questions about food!

We were going in class through food questions. Some were general questions about food, some were about breakfast and restaurants or simply about eggs. Our task was to choose one set of questions and blog about them. I chose to answer the general questions about food because they seemed the most interesting to me. Let’s go. :D

1) What comes to mind when you hear the word ‘food’?

2) How often do you think about food?

- All day every day.

3) Can you eat anything?

-Almost anything. I don’t think I could ever eat fried cockroaches, ants or anything similar to that. Oh and the intestines of animals. Or the liver or heart or, I better stop now because I am getting sick.

4)Can you go without food for a whole day?

-I can but the question is why would I want to?

5)Do you have to watch what you eat?

-Unfortunately I do. It’s not so much about what I eat but how much I eat.

6)What is your favourite breakfast, lunch and dinner?

-I don’t eat breakfast. Not only am I not a morning person but I also can’t eat anything in the morning.

-For lunch I LOVE to eat pasta. Pasta is my favorite dish ever!

-For dinner I usually eat a salad. Not only is a salad carb-free but it is also very delicious especially if you shred cheese on it or put cherry tomatoes in it, or maybe tuna.

7)Do you think your country’s food is the best?

- My country’s food is definitely among the best!

8)Do you think “you are what you eat”?

9)What do you think about canned, frozen and processed food?

-I can’t really say that I am a big fan of those but they can come in handy and they don’t even taste bad so I say why not?

10)What kinds of international cuisine do you like?

-I have a lot of fun trying out new cuisines. I love Thai food, Chinese food, Mexican food and Italian food. :D

11) Are you fussy or particular about the food you eat?

-No, I eat pretty much everything.

12)Have your favorite kinds of food changed over the years?

-Not really. I have just been adding more and more favorite dishes to my list. ^^

13)Do you like fast food and slow food?

-I like both. :D

14)What do you think about food additives?

-I don’t like them. If they can be avoided in food then yes please!

15)Do you care where the food you eat comes from?

-I do. I hate seeing that my onion came to Europe all the way from China. Come on, you can’t tell me that we can’t plant onions here in Europe. -.-

16)What national dishes from your country would you recommend to the world?

-Probably „paprenjaci“, „pašticada“, „pršut“, „panceta“, „purica i mlinci“, „sir i vrhnje“, „burek“ and many more!

17)Do you worry about the rising cost of food?

-Of course I do because if this continues people won’t be able to afford their food anymore and what are they supposed to eat then? Sand?

18)Do you think the world’s food will ever run out?

-No, I don’t think that. Even if meat would run out we would still have fruit and vegetables.

19)What do you think of genetically-modified (GM) food?

-I despite it. It tastes awful and it’s not good for our health.

20)Is your food bill big?

-It depends on my mood. :D

XOXO A.

Hello everyone and welcome back! :D

A new semester has started and blogging is one of our tasks again! Some of you may know me from SUK1 but for others, that don’t know me, here’s a short info about me.

Name: Anita

Home town: Zagreb, Croatia

Living in: Graz, Austria

Birth date: 24.12.1993.

College: Karl-Franzens University of Graz (transcultural communication)

What else is there to know about me? Well nothing special, honestly said. I am just an ordinary girl that dreams big and works hard on achieving her dreams.

I enjoy travelling and spending time with my family and friends. Since I moved back to Austria in October I came to realize how lucky I am to have such a great family and wonderful friends. Both my family and friends have been a great support to me since I left Zagreb. I am very thankful on every single member of my family and on my friends. They make me happy. J

I also enjoying shopping (what can I do, I am a typical girl :D), reading, drinking coffee (typically Croatian, I know), listening to music and watching TV.

Another great passion of mine is volunteering. Back when I lived in Zagreb, I volunteered for half a year in an orphanage. The kids there were aged 7-14. My actual task was to help them with their German and English homework but we would always end up playing soccer or dodge ball. Now, that I am not living at home anymore I only volunteer from time to time when I get back to visit. I think that volunteering gave me another perspective on life and the people around me. I realized how blessed I am and also how volunteering is not just about giving but also taking. I don’t care how much time I “lose” on playing with the kids and not being paid for it, the smile on their face when do something together is priceless to me.

My biggest dream is to work as an interpreter for the UN or EU. I am working hard on getting there and who knows, I might really end up there one day. J

Last semester I would end every post with a quote and this semester I am continuing with this tradition. :D

XOXO A. :)