Last blog

Hey guys!=)

For my last blog, I wanted to share with you guys my homework. It's about "The most _____ place I have ever been to is ____."
I hope you can get a picture in your head on how beautiful (I think) this place is.

The most fascinating place I have ever been to is Comino, an island of the Maltese archipelago. My class and I spent 10 days as a language trip in Malta. All of us were enchanted because of the landscape, the beautiful beaches and the other islands we visited. We stayed at different host families houses in San Ġiljan and had a trip every day. I was mostly excited to see Comino, the little island, because I saw and heard how pretty it should look like. Honestly it really looks like on the pictures. On our way with two power boats, there were cliffs everywhere and deep blue water. I was fascinated, but the best is yet to come. As we finally arrived, I saw the little island in all its beauty. The water is turquoise blue and becomes deep blue the deeper one goes. The sand is white brown and everything looks like you have taken a picture and edited it. I have never seen something like this. Our leader told us that we could walk around the island in one hour and that there are some cliffs we can jump off. We were also told that they call it "Blue Lagoon" and in my opinion the island deserves this name. I lay on the beach and enjoyed the sun and the warm weather. The silence was amazing and they also offer some rides with small boats and other things. After a few hours we drove back to Malta with the power boats, taking one last glance back at Comino in the sunlight. I will never forget how magical and picturesque Comino looked like.

That was it - my last blog for now - see you soon (I think :b)

Steffi =)

Smartphone in everday life – time thief or useful aid?

Hello everybody :D

Did you ever think about how many times you look at your phone per day?

I never exactly thought about it, but I think it can be addictive.

You can do so many things with the new phones on the market. Call someone, write a text message, write emails, download apps, and search for things on the internet and so on. It is really helpful, but also time consuming.

What did people to before they invented phones? Right – they talked to each other and met each other personally. It was never a problem and they never missed anything.

In my opinion in some way phones are time thieves.

Since I have my new Android phone, I spend so much time writing and browsing through Facebook or the internet. Honestly it could be worse, but I check my Facebook and WhatsApp all the time. In this time I could watch TV or take a walk, which would be better.

Even though the new mobile phones are great and have so many new things you can do with them, I think we should focus on real life. Communication with a person, face to face, is so much better than messaging. With the phone you shorten every word or write just the letters of the word and the language gets shortened, which is not good. It could also be disturbing, when somebody talks really loud or uses the phone all the time. Another thing is that it could be a debts trap, because everyone needs the newest of the newest and doesn't think about money and how many contracts he has opened.

Everyone should think how many times he/she uses the phone and should have some phone free times. There are so many other opportunities what you can do. 

Greetings 

Steffi =)

Hiking holiday of lying on the beach?

 Hello everybody!

What do you prefer? Going hiking for one week or enjoying the sun and lying on the beach? I bet that most of you prefer the second one.

Well I think differently.

My family and I went on holiday since I can remember. It has always been Jesolo, a town in the province of Venice, Italy. I love it there, it's beautiful and great because we know many people and know our way around the town.

But it has changed when I first travelled to Osttirol with my family. I was six years old and had no idea how it was going to be.

Since the first time I have been to Osttirol, I absolutely love it. We have a holiday flat at a farm and it's beautiful. The silence in Niedermauern is amazing and the people are so welcoming and friendly. I was never the sporty type, but hiking is one of my favorite things to do. It is wonderful when you look at the whole town from the mountain, the blue sky and how quiet it is. You can lie on the grass, enjoy the sun and you hear nothing but the birds and some other hikers.

It is not just about hiking, it's a family holiday. In the evening we play cards, watch TV and have fun. One or two days in the week we go shopping in Lienz and take a look around the town to what has changed over the year. If we don't feel like driving to go hiking in the mountains, my family and I just take a walk around Niedermauern and enjoy the countryside.

In my opinion going hiking and having a nice family holiday is great. I could never imagine enjoying silence while lying on the beach. Even though I like hot weather and beaches, I prefer Osttirol, because it is like home to me. You feel so welcome there and I think the landscape is picturesque and the way people live there is awesome. I could go on and on about Osttirol, but that's it for now. =)

That was it for now - see you soon ;)

Steffi

P.S.: That's a picture I have taken from the "Großglockner", when we were on the "Luckner Hütte" in "Kals". It's absolutely beautiful there! =)

About me! =)

Well since I have started this blog, I have never really introduced myself to you guys.

My name is Steffi and I am a 19-year-old student living in Graz. Originally I am from upper Styria, but because of my studies I moved to Graz. At the moment I am studying translation studies at the University of Graz, but I am thinking of changing my study. At first I thought that this would be awesome, new town, new people, an own flat with my friend and studying languages. But as time passed by I realized that it is not what I thought it would be. Nevertheless moving on about me:

My hobbies include listening to music, meeting friends, spending time with my boyfriend, my family and my cat, going out, reading books and watching TV. Since I wrote about spending time with my cat, yes I have a cat called "Smokey". I love her so much and I couldn't imagine life without her. "Smokey" was my Christmas "present" 7 years ago and I was so happy, because I always loved animals and we got another family member. ;)

I also play the guitar, but unfortunately I haven't had the time to do it since I moved to Graz and I have played the fiddle for 6 years.

When I was in 10th grade, my friend and I decided to take dancing lessons and it was the best time of our lives. We met so many different people and had a blast every time.

What else to write? Well I am a shy person and therefore it is a little bit hard for me to speak to everyone, I was always more the quiet girl in class and the one who didn't want to be the focus of attention. I am more of a "country bumpkin". I know that there are more opportunities in a town, I have heard it all, but I love my hometown. Even though I like to be at home, I would like to travel in the future. Maybe not now, maybe not in one year, but one day. There is no rush and I am patient.

Well, that's everything I can think of for now. I hope you got to know me better in this blog post.

~ Steffi ~

Accents and dialects!

Hey guys!

Did you ever think of how many different styles and sounds there are of English? How people speak differently and that an accent can tell you a lot about a person?

Since culture is a part of our PC3 as well, I decided to write a blog about accents and dialects of English.

First of all we need to know what the difference between an accent and a dialect is.

A dialect is a kind of version of a language. It might be used by a particular group of people. These people use different vocabulary, sentence structure and form of a language. Nearly every region has a dialect.

An accent is the sound someone uses and the ways of different pronunciation. There is not just one accent of English; there are a lot, because many countries speak English.

For example the UK, USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa etc. Every country has different accents and a unique sounding.

In this blog I’m going to focus on the accents in the UK.

Even though the UK is a small country, it has many different accents. There is not just the “British accent”, there are about 10 to 15 (!) different accents at least. You can group accents to British, because they have the same features and are all from Britain. The accents are linked closely to the regions and cultures. The standard accent is RP (received pronunciation) or the BBC English. It’s the standard form and a non-region specific accent. Nearly everyone knows how to speak it.

One example on how different the accents in England are, are Liverpool and Manchester. Even though they are only an hour away from each other, the accents are very, very different. It's really interesting and I think it's amazing how different accents can be, although it is just one small country.

I think that’s the most important information on accents and dialects. I got this information from a podcast and think that it’s really interesting and that you can learn a lot from it.

See you next time =)

Greetings

Steffi