just your average daydreamer

I believe that everyone has "their" city. Even if they've  never actually lived in one but were born and raised in the countryside, they always have a city where they go to cinema at the weekends or where they go to get a new passport at the administrative office. It's usually the nearest city to where they live. For me that city is for sure Wrocław. And although I'm a country girl all the way, I truly love this town. I went to school there for many years, my grandma lives there, I met tons of great people in this city. Today I'd like to tell you about some of my favourite places in Wrocław. Without further ado, let's get started! Cherubinowy Wędrowiec café. Isn't that name amazing? It sounds so unique and romantic! It's my number one go-to place when I want to meet up with my girlfriends for a cup of coffee and a nice chat. They also have delicious cakes there! I'm always struggling to pick just one that I'd like to eat. The ca...

Do you like silence? I thought I did. At least until I've recently realized I never really allow myself to be in a situation when I'm not listening to anything. You think I'm exagerating? Let me give you some examples.  I spend a lot of my time watching movies, videos on YouTube or binging tv series. But even when I'm not in front of my computer I constantly wear my earphones: while washing up the dishes, cleaning, doing the laundry or ironing I usually listen to podcasts or new albums released by my favourite artists. Even when I'm in bed and about to fall asleep I like to put on an audiobook. (I prefer the ones where the voice of the lector is deep and low because then I fall asleep much faster). Also if I go for a walk or for a bike ride, when my goal is to spend some time among nature, I put on my earphones to have "soundtrack" to the landscapes that I pass by. This urge to constantly be listening to something may be caused by FOMO (fe...

I'm not completely sure why but I really enjoy watching crime shows. There's just something so compelling about slowly revealing all the secrets and finding out who is the murderer. Of course, not every crime series is great but I've recently seen two terrific ones and I'd like to tell you a little bit about them. Both of them are based on Harlan Coben's novels. I've never read any of them but Coben is a writer and a producer on both shows, so I guess they are pretty faithful to the original books. One is called The Stranger , the other is called Safe . They are actually very similar to each other and a viewer can find many parallels between the two of them, both plot-wise and characters-wise.  Both stories are set in the same background; in a suburban community of very successful and wealthy people. At first sight it seems like their lives are perfect and there is no place for any kind of darkness or horror there. However, not so far into the shows ...

You know how they say that most people are visual learners and others have more developed sense of hearing? But why do we take into consideration only these two senses and don't talk about the other ones? Some time ago I realised that smells, scents, odours and aromas are a huge part of my reality. They have the power to ease my mind and help me relax. They can trigger memories that I didn't know I still remembered. For example when I start using again a shampoo that I used to wash my hair with some time ago, suddenly my mind is filled with images and memories from that period. Or when my mum makes exactly the same apple pie that she would make when I was a kid and I can smell just a hint od its aroma, I'm immediately taken back to my childhood. So, today let me present you some of my favourite scents. It's such a pity I can't pass them on to you through the screen and only talk about them, but you can always use your imagination or maybe even surround yourself...

I like putting my make-up on. I really do. Just the process itself gives me joy. But I have to admit it's been really freeing not to do it for over a month now of staying in quarantine. Don't get me wrong: during "normal" times I also somedays choose to go out without any make-up on because it just feels better for me at the moment. Although there was a time in high school when I would never even go to the nearest shop without having done my make-up before, right now I don't consider myself a make-up addict. But on the other hand, even if we treat make-up only as a nice but unnecessary addition to our ever-day life, it's always some kind of a mask. Now, when I'm at home 24/7 with my parents and siblings I feel no need at all to use make-up products. I think it's probably because they all have know me forever and I don't need to hide anything from them. It got me thinking that maybe I don't put my make-up on exclusively for myself after all...

Let's face it: we all have our guilty pleasures. Wether it's listening to Tylor Swift's You Belong with Me or watching some oddly satisfying videos of people picking pimples on YouTube. Today I'm gonna oficially embarass myself in front of you and tell you about my number one guilty pleasure which is Riverdale .  It's a teen drama that I started watching almost four years ago. I have to admit that the first season was really amazing. I was immediately sucked into this world of a small american town. The storyline was credible and coherent, the characters were well introduced and multidimensional. The soundtrack was also really cool. And apart from all that, the Riverdale cast is just beautiful and I enjoy watching pretty people so for me it was pure pleasure. But then something went terribly, terribly wrong. Right from the beginning of season 2 I felt like it wasn't the same show anymore. They started to throw in a bunch of new characters but none of t...

 During one of our Eanglish online classes, we've had a discussion about our childhood. We all shared our memories from that period of our lives and some of us even showed some photos of themselves when they were kids. I didn't do that because I have so many favourite childhood photos that I couldn't decide which one to pick and upload to our forum. But I thought it would be a good idea to create a post here with all the photos I'd like to show you and to describe each of them in a few words. Let's get started! The day of mine and my twin sister's sixth birtday. As you can see, we were trying really hard to blow out those candles. And don't you think it's so cool to share your birthday with your sister, because you get to have TWO birthday cakes! Our dad would always make them for us. That's little me. Can you see the resemblance? I've always been an "outdoorsy" kid. Well, without the Internet and Disney Channel what else c...

Today I'm gonna talk about...weather! Again! Yaaaay! Seems to be my favourite topic, deosn't it? I know I'm getting really boring with it but I simply have to tell you about this morning. I woke up at about 7 a. m. and saw a message from my friend saying something about winter coming in the spring time. I immediately jumped out of bed, ran to the window, pulled the curtins back and...it was all white! For the first time this year (it's March 31st today) we saw real snow here! And a lot of it! Every time when it's snowing for the first time in a year, I'm a little kid again and I get really excited. Instead of eating breakfast first thing after getting up, as I always do, I grabbed my camera and went outside to capture this beautiful but supposedly fleeting moment.  I felt as if I had been magically transported to Narnia in the era of the White Witch. I was taking photos like crazy. Then, when my little sister finally woke up we were able to build a snow...

I heard about the benefits of practicing gratitude already a while ago, but I think it has even more importance now, during the hard times that we live in.  I feel like I've always had this natural tendency to be grateful. I am a person who finds great joy in really small things, like beautiful colours of the sky or a chocolate ice-cream. And so I was very pleasantly surprised when I saw an interview with a psychologist who said that gratitude not only improves are mental well-being, but also has a major impact on our physical health. It's been proved, for example that people who intentionally look for things they can be greatful for, age better and they have significantly less wrinkles than others. Until now I've been practicing my gratitude almost unconciously, without actually thinking about it. But now I've decided I should be more intentional. I've downloaded an app called Presently that is basically a diary of gratitude. Every evening it reminds you t...

I've been really on the fence these past few days about wether to write here about the coronavirus pandemic that we're in the middle of right now. But I guess I don't have a choice. It's pretty much the only thing I can think about.  I don't know if I'm afraid. I would rather say that this thing that I'm feeling is not fear but just uncertainty. Here, in Poland, we still seem to have the situation under control. But nobody knows what will happen next. And because it isn't as bad here as, for example in Italy, people tend to underestimate the danger. And that's what really is dangerous.  Anyway, I'm not able to control the others and their behavoiur. But I can control myself. At least in theory, because even though my university is closed, we still have online classes and the teachers (most of them) still think their subject is the only one we attend. So I spend most of my "free" time trying to catch up with all the assignments,...

One of my favorite things to do is talking about names. I know it might seem like a weird hobby to have but I truly enjoy it. I'm pretty sure that the name given to us after we were born (or even before that) has an impact on our life and to some extent determines our personality. First thing to know about your name is its meaning and the language it originates from. For example my name, Jaśmina , comes from Persian and means a gift from God . Ever since I found out about that, I've been thinking every now and then what does it really mean for me and my life. I feel like I need to be a gift to others, to show them kindness, compassion and respect everywhere I go. Of course I often fail miserably at doing that, but it's my name that constantly reminds me to keep striving to be a gift. Another thing you can say about a name is wether it is very common or rather rare. A friend of mine once told me that in her opinion people with weird names are a bit weird themsel...

You may or may not know this, but we're already over a week into Lent. I wrote here before that for me the best time to make resolutions is usually the early fall season. However, Lent is also a time when I feel the urge to make my life better, even in the slightest bit.  Of course it's never easy. I've failed many times and for sure will fail again in keeping my Lent resolutions. But it's really encouraging to know that a lot of other people are in it with me. It's also really important not to give up when you fall down, but to start all over again. Despite my previous failures though, I have to say, this year I've been doing pretty well so far. I decided not to take up a milion challenges at one time but instead to focus on one, specific thing.  Knowing that I spend way too much time on my phone, I didn't just throw it away at once because it was obvious that I would have picked it up again in no time. Instead, I decided to get rid of one of t...

Today I want to tell you a little bit about the topic I've got really obsessed with recently. You probably already know that I love wandering in the mountains because I talked about it in one of my previous posts. Up until now I was totally satisfied with our beautiful Polish Tatras. I've been there countless times and they never stop astonishing me. I'm sure they will forever remain one of my favorite holiday destinations. However, a couple of months ago I came upon this book called Kukuczka. Opowieść o nasłynniejszym polskim himalaiście. And this story just fascinated me. I finished the book in two days and started digging deeper. I searched for books about other Himalaya climbers and watched films based on mountain tragedies that really happened in the past (like Touching the Void or Everest ). Because of that personal research of mine I actually got to fully celebrate an important anniversary that took place a few days ago. On February 17th 1980 two Po...

It's undeniable that winter is not as "wintery" as it used to be. We are now almost half way into February and I still haven't seen a single snow flake! Of course there are some exceptions. I remember two years ago there were two or three weeks of really low temperatures, like minus twenty degrees. It was so freezing that the lake that's in the forest near my house was covered with really thic ice and we skated on it! So I think it's safe to say that we still can have some real winter weather during the winter, just as it's supposed to be. On the other hand however, my Mom says she remembers one winter, about thirty years ago, when in  February the temperature was over twenty degrees. She says she remembers it very vividly because it was the day when some friends from Germany arrived to my grandparents' house to pay them a visit, and my Mom went outside to greet them. And although she was only wearing a shirt she didn't feel cold! So it seems ...

It's undeniable that I don't read as much as I used to or as much as I'd like to. I think It's also a little bit alarming that I would read more in primary school than I do now. But it's true! I was that kid who would hide under the blankets late at night with a torch in one hand and a fascinating book in the other. (My mum would get mad at me for doing that but at least I wasn't staying up late to play video games, right?).  Now, that I think about that time, I feel like reading was similar to breathing for me. I just couldn't stop doing it even if I'd wanted to. As soon as I finished one book I would pick up another one from my shelf or run to my local library which, by the way, is still one of my favourite places on Earth. I love libraries in general because they're so cozy and calm and quiet. You feel like you need to show some respect surrounded by the Literature. (In fact, my dream job has always been to become a librarian so I'm not r...

In today's post I'd like to share with you some of my experience of being the oldest of five children. Well, first I need to clarify something. I have a twin sister but she's five minutes younger and she's the crazy and the messy one while I'm the one who's more responsible and neat. (Don't worry, she won't be offended because she knows it's true, we've talked about that many times).  So I'm 23 years old and I'm the oldest. Then there's my twin sister, Martyna, five minutes younger than me. Then we have a 20-year-old brother who's name is Gabriel (but we still call him Gabryś, because he will always be our little brother although he's much taller than us and he wears a beard). Next there is Mikołaj (also known as Mikuś), who's 15 years old . And last but not least is our little one, Agnieszka who will soon turn 7 years old.  We are all very different from one another. Gabriel is a math genius, while I've been ...

I really like watching tv series. I particulary enjoy binge-watching them because I feel like I'm able to connect and identify with the characters on a deeper level when I get to know their whole story at once, rather than watching only one episode every week.  For a long time this kind of tv productions was very much underestimated. Series were considered inferior to full-length movies screened in movie theatres. But let's face the facts: even only one season of a tv series is a lot longer than an average movie. And having this additional time, the creators of the show are able to develop the characters in a much more complex way and to present their story to the audience from many diffrent points of view. That's why I love watching good series and today I will tell you a little bit about one of them that I've recently seen.  It's called The Chosen and it's a series that talks about the life of...Jesus! I know, you probably think that there have a...

Do you cultivate the habit of making New Year's resolutions? I'm sure that even if you don't do it now, there must have been at least one year when you thought it was a good idea. I know because I've been there too. The beginning of the new year seems the perfect time to finally change your life for better, to start jogging, going to the gym or reading at least one chapter of a book a day. But here's the shocking news: this period is actually one of the worst moments for taking up new activities. We are all sluggish and sleepy after the Chistmas and the New Year's Eve. It's all a little bit overwhelming and we need some time to process the fact that one more year of our life has passed.  I read somewhere that actually the best time to make resolutions is the beginning of autumn - yet another reason to love this beautiful season! In Semptember and October our brain is rested and recharged after the summer, we are ready to undertake new challenges and mak...