Last Post On My Gap Year!

This post was quite overdue, actually. I've been thinking many times to write it, but probably I didn't want to, 'cause I wanted this gap year to go on ;).
This is probably gonna be the last post of this blog. I'm no longer on a Gap Year and actually my Gap Year lasted a few months (blame on me!).
I wasn't rushing in finding anything at all, but ideas kept coming. Having a free mind and free time is amazing. Ideas really come easily. You see the reality with new point of views and ask yourself quite a few questions and this makes the click on your mind.
At least it did it in mine ;).
With the same spirit I had when starting the Gap Year, I decided to actually start a new venture, and at the same time help out my family venture as well.
I decided to give it a try, with big dreams, passion and fun but aware that in case it doesn't work, it's not the end of the world.
This is actually the best learning I got. If it doesn't work, it's not the end of the world. It's an experience you learn from and your life goes on.
Life is about experiences, people, dreams and about who you are. And what I learnt as well is that this just depends on you. Nobody else. If you blame anybody else for your failures or frustrations, and if you say that other people are just lucky and you are not, you don't really get how lucky you are yourself. We're lucky we've one life. Wasting it would be just stupid.
Thanks to everyone who was part of this journey.
Enjoy life. Always!

Day (I lost count): Why Italian People Just Care About Retirement?

I've a really open question for you: Why is it that Italians just talk and seem to care about retirement?
If you're old, you talk about it, about the reforms, bla bla bla
If you're young, you specify you won't get your retirement when you'll be old
If you're old and talk with a young man you ask the youngster how he/she'll do with the retirement, 'cause it seems he won't get any.

People: STOP IT!
Oldies: you will have your retirement and you fooled all the young generations, so please just shut up or just talk with oldies.
Youngsters: please think about your present and future, build it. Don't think you wanna just get old, 'cause once you'll be there, there's no way back.

This is just in Italy. I never ever had this discussion abroad in any country I lived in. Why? No idea.

What do you think?

Day 128 - Welcome to Italy - Amitrano in Bianco Rosso e Verdone

Today I'm heading south by car and I can't stop thinking about this movie.

It's an evergreen from Verdone!

Day 127 - North & South

North & South do not exist. Or at least, they do exist but they are not absolute. They all depend.

What do I mean?
Well, I was born in the north (of Italy) and always considered myself as from the north (in a good way). Then I discovered I was from the south (of Europe) by living northern.

When I was in the south of Italy I was always perceived as the one from the north. Right, until I was saying that I've been living far southern than they did (in South America). So they were from the north for me.

Well, this is just to say that it all depends on what point of view you're taking, and remember don't just stuck with a definition, because you might be wrong and not knowing it!

Day 126 - Where The Hell Is Napoli? Viral Video By The Jackal

Do you know the video "Where the hell is Matt", the one with 38M views?
Well, if you know it, you'll kinda recognize this is quite inspired from it.
The idea though is good and is virality is actually following the same trend.

The Jackal, a indi production company from Naples, created this video to promote a cleaner image for Naples. There's trash, it's true, but people should fight it all together.

Well, enjoy the video!

Day 125 - MD (Movie Day) Invictus

Nelson Mandela is an iconic figure of this century. Everyone knows his name and his dream. Probably people don't know too much about his story.

This movie gives you a flavor of where Mandela is coming from and what he did, together with his great leadership skills.

Besides this positive story, I didn't like the movie. I found it slow, basic and I wasn't really expecting this from Clint Eastwood. I liked almost all his movies and they always have something great to be remembered of. Not this time unfortunately.

What do you think?

Day 124 - Even In Italy Somebody Talks About Gap Year

Incredible!
The sabbatical, or gap year, has always been a tabu in Italy.

Yes, weird, I know. But if you were born and lived all your life in Italy you would most probably think that if you're on a sabbatical either you're actually fired but you don't dare to say it or you're not willing to work. No matter what, you're bad.

Well, for the first time I see that in my favorite Italian newspaper (www.corriere.it) there was an article talking about it. And yes, in a positive way. It's talking about multinational companies willing to support a gap year for their employees. Having Italian companies to support it would be too exaggerate, so, don't dare! :-/

Anyway, I consider it a positive first step!
Who knows if in 10 years everyone would think that good professional might decide to take time off to do whatever comes to his/her mind to get a better person and then start fresh again.

Whenever this will happen I'll remember of this post, and of my first Gap Year ever, which is the best decision I could actually take.
There's a right time for everything in life. This is my time for my Gap Year.

:)
What do you think?

Day 123 - Gulp - YouTube Viral Video

Do you like stop motion?
As you can see, you can do it with a basic camera, but with a lot of imagination.

See this viral video now.




Official Link from the YouTube Nokia Channel

Day 122 - Why Should You Get Angry?

Anger just make your day worse.
Something went wrong? Well, fix it, ask for help or just sit down, if you can't fix it.
If you get angry for everything that happen, well you don't have enough time to be happy.
And happiness matters.
This is my learning of the day.
Enjoy, agree or disagree.
Happy day everyone ;)

Day 121 - iPad Girl - Viral Video

You can't miss this video ;)

I love technology! What about you?

Have you ever wanted to spend all your day watching your brand new iPad? Well, in this case you'll have 4 :)

Whatch it on YouTube :)

See the news in main newspapers:

English

http://www.cbsnews.com

http://apple.digital.it

http://www.thesun.co.uk

Italian

http://tv.repubblica.it

http://www.marketingcaffe.com

http://www.tmnews.it

Day 120 - Have You Tried Tweet Level?

Are you in Twitter? If yes, you need to try Tweet Level. It'll give you a short analysis on the following variables of you in Twitter:

Popularity score

Influence score

Engagement score

Trust score

Try it out: http://tweetlevel.edelman.com/

My score is 56.4. What's yours?

Day 119 - F&H Fish & Cous Cous "Alla Trapanese"

Guys,

this is a really terrific recipe. Wonderful to eat, extremely rewarding if you've guests: Cous Cous alla trapanese.

I did it a few days ago and was a tremendous success!

I realized I wanted to take a picture but it was too late, it was all gone!!! :)

Here's the recipe.

In English:

http://www.culinate.com/content/2992/Nonna+Giusy*27s+Fish+with+Couscous

In Italian:

http://www.ricettedisicilia.net/primi/cuscus-o-cous-cous-di-pesce-alla-trapanese/

Day 118 - Are You Happy?

Do you ask yourself if you're happy?
I asked this question to a few people, some were smiling so much that made me happy too, some others looked at me like a fool.
I guess they never asked themselves if they were, or they just weren't happy. I don't know.
But I think it's important we ask ourselves from time to time: "Am I happy?"
Happy questioning ;)

Day 117 - MD (Movie Day) Barney's Version

Yesterday I went to a Cine Matinee to watch Barney's Version. I love cine matinee.
At 10.45 watching a Original Version of the movie in Frankfurt, can you imagine how many people were there? Me ;)
The whole cinema just for me. Great !!! :)

I really liked the movie. Acting is great, casting wonderful, music, story, picture.
I really recommend it!

Day 116 - Change Is Easier Than We Think! From Matt Cutts Ted's Talk

Change always look impossible and scary. It's not. It might be opening up a new world of nice things, not just bad things. People are scared of change in the same way they are scared of thinking big. Yes, you can fall, but once you fall down, you can stand up again and in a better and easier way, and the next time you won't fall down again for the same thing.

If we think about change, we think about something big. But sometimes it could be much smaller and then lead to something big.

Look at Matt Cutts' speech at the Ted Conference. You're realize that we can change small things in 30 days and this will be our way to discover how far we can go.

Happy changing everyone!

Day 115 - The Right To Take It Easy ;)

Hey guys,

sorry for disappearing.

I took some time off from writing. I think it was worth it, I needed to focus on other things and to think as well :). So, I decided to use my right to take it easy and not to write for a while.

I think that many times we don't consider that we've the right to take it easy. We just run because we've to run. Stopping and rethinking is sometimes complex and we just forget about it.

So, my learning of the day is: we've the right to take it easy. We've been running already and will be running in the future. So, if we wanna stop for a short while, let's just do it!

Ciao

Day 82: In Her Shoes Web Series. To be followed!

Lately, I've been helping out a friend to launch a Web Series: In Her Shoes Web Series

It has been a lot of fun to do it especially for the topic: shoes. Yes, shoes! :)
I'm not a shopaholic, I like nice shoes/clothes but I don't care too much, actually.

Though, I liked the project. It's a Web Series where the foot(age) is only about the shoes, no faces whatsoever.

What I liked is that we've been working on the launch in an extremely adrenalinic timing and now it is in the second phase of the YouTube Next Up contest. This is already a wonderful result.

If it wins, the new series will be produced in English and will be global. And will be even more interesting and fun (i.e. the global online casting....)

So, please, if you like the project, vote for it (ends Saturday 9th July). It's quick and you'll make smile a lot of people soon! You can vote everyday and you can invite your friends to vote as well!
Vote here: youtube.com/YoutubeNextUp

Instructions on how an why to vote: http://www.youtube.com/inhershoeswebseries#p/a/u/0/OkRuJqjy9HU

And here comes the first episode (now in Italian, subtitles coming soon)

Reading a Post and Feeling Free and Happy :)

I was reading my usual Italian newspaper online, particularly a column that I really like, called "la 27esima ora" and I saw a journalist of Corriere della Sera, leaving for a Gap Year (or similar).

I read the post, felt the same emotions and thought I totally did the same. Great job, people, experience. But, despite this, I've chosen some time off just for me. It has been nearly 3 months now. Wow, looks like a lifetime. Feeling yourself, your time, having a whole present and future to think about is just wonderful.

Seing that people are brave (and crazy) enough to think about their life and themselves as individuals before of what the society tells them what to do, this is just wonderful.

Dear Gabriela Jacomella, enjoy your life, whatever you want it to be. And be open to anything that could come unexpected. You're gonna have surprises while living this and they are gonna give you big and wonderful smile. Happy life.

Paola

This is the article

http://27esimaora.corriere.it/author/gabriela-jacomella/

Day ? - I lost track ;)

Hi,

I admit I got lost and missed a few days in the blog. Bad Bad Bad.

I was actually feeling a bit ashamed.

But you know what?
I thought that it is in the rights of a person a Gap Year to turn off the mind as well ;)

And yes I did it.
But I'm back, you can bet I am.

Ciao!

Day 67 -Ciao Ciao Microsoft?

I was reading some stats about my blog. I found extremely interesting this charts on the side.

Some points that really got my attention:

1. Internet explorer is the 3rd browser with a 16% usage ONLY! 16%??? Yeah. I was expecting a >50%.
Ok many of my friends might be geeks, so they left explorer a while ago, but a lot of readers are not geeks at all, so a 16% is extremely low!

2. Chrome wins over Firefox. Wow. Considering that Chrome was launched much later than Firefox, that's a really good result!

3. Operating system. Here windows wins, but that was expected. THough, a 61% is quite low again. This is followed by a 22% of mac and of a sum of other systems, especially from mobile (Adroid wins!!!), iphone, blackberry and so on.

I know that my blog might not be inline with the normal trends, but I was really amazed by this stats. Something is really changing out there and some big companies should really be aware of the shift....

I'm really looking forward to see what's gonna go on in the coming years :)

Do you think the data are completely out of reality?
Do you think that Microsoft has to really worry here?

Share your thoughts!

Day 66 - Being Geek and The "Girls Geek Dinner"

I never defined myself as a geek, but I actually have to admit I am a geek :)
Well, I guess it's important to define what is a geek. See the Wikipedia definitions. As you can see, there are many. The one I see myself in is the following:

"A person who is interested in technology, especially computing and new media".

Yeah, that's me :). And as a good geek, I'm in twitter, facebook and a lot of social media. Yesterday, while I was reading some tweets I discovered the Girls Geek Dinners.

I was curious and read a bit about this in the net and found it really interesting.

So, what is it? It is a dinner for girls who like to listen and to discuss about technology and to network. That's basically it, as simple as it seems.

It did start in the UK in 2005 from Sarah Blow and rapidly spread all over the world. Many cities have local dinners with tech lovers, that are sometimes sponsored.

I just saw there's one in Milan the 1st of July, I might actually try it out!

For more info (global):

http://girlgeekdinners.com/

https://twitter.com/#!/ggdworldwide

You can easily find your local GGD in twitter, Facebook and Google.

Have you ever been to a dinner? What's your opinion on it?

Day 65 - YouTube Next Up, an opportunity not to be missed!

My YouTube past always comes back. Good experiences keep a special place in the back of my mind :).

So, I'm sharing with all my readers this great initiative by YouTube: YouTube Next Up (for Europe)

Growing YouTube Partners can take part to this contest in which creativity will make the difference. By shooting a video with their ideas of content to be created, they can win 20K and take part at the creator camp. This would be a great opportunity to learn, to meet other YouTubers and share ideas. Yeah, share ideas, because YouTube is mainly about cooperation and ideas sharing.

Time is running, the deadline is the 28th of June, hurry up (and read carefully the rules and FAQ). More info are at the YouTube Next Up Channel

See the winner of the US YouTube Next Up: http://www.youtube.com/creators

This is the YouTube Next Up videocall for applicants:

Good luck!

Day 64 - Digital Divide & Ideas

Today I woke up thinking about digital divite. Don't ask me why. I really don't know, but you can't stop ideas, can you?

I remembered a conversation with a few people about the topic and decided I'll do a few posts about it, trying to add some ideas, if any :).

So, Just to get started with the definition from wikipedia:

"The digital divide refers to the gap between individuals, households, businesses and geographic areas at different socio-economic levels with regard both to their opportunities to access information and communications technologies (ICTs) and to their use of the Internet for a wide variety of activities.^[1] It includes the imbalance both in physical access to technology and the resources and skills needed to effectively participate as a digital citizen. Knowledge divide reflects the access of various social groupings to information and knowledge, typically gender, income, race, and by location.^[2] The term global digital divide refers to differences in access between countries in regards to the internet and its means of information flow."

From this starting point, I'll add some empiric evidence from my own experience, and will try to learn a lesson :)

Have you ever felt the digital divide on its negative side?

Follow the coming posts!

Day 63 - F&H (Food&Happiness) Octopus Salad Recipe

This is an easy, lovely, tasty, healthy recipe from Italy: Octopus Salad.

This is a typical summer dish that you might enjoy as it is shown here or together with boiled potatoes as well.

Enjoy it.

Day 62 - O rap 'i Tano

If you've seen Tano da Morire from Roberta Torre you might have this music stuck in your mind as well. The movie review will come soon :)

O Rap i Tano.....

Day 61 - Videos For Real Men: EpicMealTime

I love cooking and I love good ideas.

Well, the guys of EpicMealTime have both.

They are real guys cooking fatty food for real men. This is genius. Most of the guys who like fat food would not admit it or watch healthy recipes on the web.

This channel is putting together the fat food that everybody likes (but that sometimes we would not admit ;) with real guys "chefs" with the kinda communication the real guys would use (when among them, no fiancees around ;). Genius.

Enjoy a video from them. You might wanna do it in the weekend heheheh

Happy cooking!

Day 60 - Second Month Gone: Ideas Ideas Ideas...

2 months have gone by.

Wow. It seems another era already. Now I can say I started relaxing and thinking. Oh yeah. Thinking.

Ideas keep coming and I can't stop them at all. I keep talking with many people, just wondering about things, reading on the net, books, twitter, whatever I come across. The effect of it?

I need to keep my mind calm, otherwise, if I do all I'm thinking about, I'll need 135181765 lives ;).

So, the main learning of the second month of my gap year is: keep talking and listening to the people. Don't expect anything. Keep the flow. Share positive energy.
The result? You'll be surprised of how many things will come to your mind.

Looking forward to the learning of the 3rd month of gap year...

and you?

Day 59 - Working on my next Movie Days ;)

I just got a new delivery from amazon.it and here are my new DVDs.

Let's list them (in English :)

12 Angry Men - by Sydney Lumet

Tano da Morire - by Roberta Torre (I already watched it, but it's so nice I wanna watch it again!)

The Fugitive Kind - by Sydney Lumet with Marlon Brando and Anna Magnani

Saturday Night Fever - by John Badham. I've never watched it, can you believe it?

The Godfather trilogy - by Francis Ford Coppola with Marlon Brando, Al Pacino an Robert Duvall. I watched the first one only... I need to watch it! :)

Fitzcarraldo: by Werner Herzog. I've never seen his movies and apparently it is a must!

Where eagles dare: with Clint Eastwood

The Young Lions: with Marlon Brando

The outlaw Josey Wales: by and with Clint Eastwood

Day 58 - MD (MovieDay): Habemus Papam "We Have Pope"

I know, I said I was not going to talk about recent movies in this column. But I feel like talking about "Habemus Papam" directed by Nanni Moretti (English title "We have Pope")

Here are my thoughts on the movie:

The Man that become Pope: The main character is absolutely wonderful. It shows the fragility of man, of all of us and especially on the Pope. His humanity was brilliant.

Michael Piccoli: he totally deserved the Cannes Award for best actor. He was amazing. He's worthy the movie.

Nanni Moretti: I actually like Nanni Moretti, but sometimes I wonder how big is his ego and if he plays the role of the egocentric or really is. I didn't like his character in the movie, I think it was too much. I didn't like the scene in which they were playing volleyball, it wasn't that necessary, was it?

Todo Cambia by Mercedes Sosa: wonderful, just a great addition to the movie.

Have you watched it? What did you like/dislike?

Here comes the trailer:

Day 57 - FH (Food&Happiness) Fried Stuffed Zucchini Flowers

If you see my post of yesterday, you noticed the row Zucchini Flowers. Well, I had to cook them, obviously, and I want to share with you this easy and lovely recipe. This recipe is so tasty that every year I wait the summer just for having this delicious food!!!

Ingredients

Fresh Zucchini flowers

Fontina cheese (or any other tasty and melting cheese)

sparkling water

white flour

corn flour

salt

oil

- cut away the pistil of the flower

- wash the flowers with water (be gentle!)

- cut some small slices of fontina cheese and fill the flowers with some of it (not too stuffed, just to add some taste)

- prepare a bowl with a cup of sparkling water and half cup of white flour and another half of corn flour. Mix it well

- dip the stuffed flower in the liquid you just prepared, make sure they are all covered by this everywhere in the outside, no need in the inside

- put the flower to fry in hot oil for a few minutes (make sure the oil is really hot!). Make sure you turn it once, to fry it on both sides. Wait a few minutes until they become stiff and crunchy

- put them on a dish covered by some paper to absorb the excess of oil

- put some salt

ENJOY!

Day 56 - Would You Eat Flowers?

Would you eat this?

Do you know what it is?

Day 55 - Apple next big thing?

After many years as a PC user I moved to mac around 1 year ago. I actually like mac, though I'm not a Mac fanatic. I try to be objective and see the good and the bad in the market.

Yesterday I watched the keynote from the WWDC 10 event. First thing, I was happy to see Steve Job's back. That's already a good thing! But, talking about the big things they presented, I was having many open questions, I would have asked. Here I'm listing them :)

1. why are they lowering prices? Apple always had a high prices policy because their products where excellent and different. Now, giving mobileme for free when people where buying it for 99$...or Lion for 29$. Well, good for me and other customers, but from a strategic point of view, I'd like to understand the reason

2. iCloud: calendar, documents and so on. Isn't it really similar to iGoogle (Calendar, docs and spreadsheet)?

3. Mobile system operator usage: ios 44%, far more than android. Right, but with historical data. I'd like to see the updated data about 2010 or the first quarter of 2011. The game is much more open...

Besides these doubts I had I was thinking: ok, cool presentation, some good stuffs, but...where's the Apple next big thing?

What did you think?

Well, if you like to see the whole presentation, find here the link:

http://events.apple.com.edgesuite.net/11piubpwiqubf06/event/

Day 54 - No electricity no life?

Yesterday I woke up and there was no electricity. Suddenly I realized how many things I couldn't do without it. I had to rethink the whole morning. After 1h I actually realized it's good from time to time not to have something we're so used to. We just rediscover our time, how to rethink what we're doing and how we're doing it.

Well...today there's electricity, and I felt good as well hehe :)

Day 53 - FH (Food&Happiness) Bretzel Time!

Yesterday I had a lovely fresh bretzel. I obviously looked up for the recipe as soon as I was outside the bar :)
It actually seem really really simple and tasty! And it's also great for a picnic outside with friends and family!
I'll be trying ro cook them really soon, in the meanwhile let me know if you tried as well or if you have any other recipe for it!

Credits for the recipe goes to HungryNation, a really cool YouTube channel!

Day 52 - Crativity Keeps You Alive

If you think that everything was already invented, thought, created and so on, you are damn wrong!
If it would have been that way, it would mean that life is boring. But if it's boring it's our own fault because we're not using our creativity and innovation skills. We all are innovative and creative, but some of us recognize it, some other just forget about it. There are thousands of examples, but this came to my mind when I saw this video. This is really creative and I really liked it!
What do you think?

Day 51 - TT (TravelTips) Valsesia: Ski, Water Sports and great wines

You might not have heard of Valsesia before. But if you love skiing you might have heard of Monterosa (literally Pink Mountain). Well the Valsesia might be a great discovery for you, in both winter or summer.

It's a valley not too far from the Malpensa Airport (Milan Airport), more or less 1h and you could find something to do in every season. In winter you might enjoy Skiing in Alagna. In the summer you can go to do water sports (Canoying, rafting, kayak, hydrospeed).

There also a lovely town called Varallo Sesia where there's the Sacro Monte, 45 Chapels on the top of a mountain, with a lovely walk in between them. So nice that is now a World Heritage by Unesco. Varallo Sesia itself is also really nice for a walk.

Then you can go to Gattinara and by lovely wine: Gattinara (yeah, same name of the city :). My favourite one is produced by Travaglini.

Well...enjoy!

Day 50 - Twitter & Me

One year ago I opened a Twitter Account and tried it out. I read on a newspaper that 20% of the users who open an account actually use it, I was wondering if I was in the 20% or in the 80%.

Obviously I was in the 80% :). I didn't get how to use it, I initially understood it was kinda Facebook, but later I got that has nothing to do with it :).

After a year, now that I've lovely free time in my Gap Year, I decided I wanted to understand how it works properly. I actually got amazed. It's not easy to get at first, but it's really interesting as a source of timely information and to get the trends. It's a pity that it's not used so much in all the countries (i.e. Italy...)

Anyway, I did some research and there are also cool news about it I wanna share.

The first one is about what you shouldn't tweet, otherwise you get fired :). It's from the Huffington Post and the title of the article is Fired over tweet: 13 tweets that got people canned. Please read it, you see how people might use it thinking they are in their own sitting room with a few friends, but you're in the internet....Lol

The second one is wondering if Twitter is a waste of time. This one is from problogger.net. This second article is about who uses twitter, how it is used and how to use it properly. Really interesting!
Well....I'd be happy to know if you use Twitter and what you think about it !

Day 49 - Where You Come From Is Where You Go?

Here I come with another open question. Is where you come from (not literally but culturally) strongly impacting where you go?

Does this mean that your future is kinda written and depends on what you were before, and your family and your first environment?
When I was at high school I was reading a book that was kinda talking about it "I malavoglia" (Verga) and I hated it. It felt to me that my life was written and basically I couldn't change it.

Then I grew up, changed my life many times and it has nothing to do with what was written.

But still, I'm asking myself if this is true or not.

What do you think?

Day 48 - My Favourite Viral Video Ever....Baby Monkey!

A friend of mine just wrote me and remind me of this video. I love it. It's so funny and the music is real genius.

So, I wanna share it with you guys!

Enjoy the Baby Monkey (Riding Backwards on a Pig)

Thanks Mister Winner for reminding me of this!

Day 47 - MD (MovieDay) Caramel

I already mentioned that I'm feeling quite mediterranean lately, and I've to say also quite close to middle east. Don't ask me why. I just feel inspired.

So, the movie of today is Caramel.

Why I liked it:

Lifestyle: the story is in Beirut and is about 4 girlfriends who meet/work in a beauty saloon. The beauty saloon is not western style at all and this is something I really liked. Something curious, I hadn't any idea that caramel was used instead of wax. I found it interesting.

Friendship: the movie is about the relationship and the daybyday life of these women. It's about both big choices in life or small everyday things. But, at the end of the day it's all about sharing and feeling part of something. And friendship is really important for the characters (like it is for me :).

Kindness: the movie is really kind and not extreme. Compared with western movies, it is really livable without excess. Sometimes it might remind you of "sex and the city", for the friendship among the characters, but in a much lighter and real life way.

I wouldn't call the movie a masterpiece, but it's surely a good movie for a easy going night.

Well, let me know what you think!

As usual, here's the trailer

Day 46 - High heels for kids??!!!???

I was in the train station today and I saw 3 kids (probably 4 and 6 yo) wearing shoes with hills.

Yes, hills!

Since this is not the first time I see kids to wear heels, I started wondering why people would do this to their children. Do we really want kids to mock adults? Do we treat them as peers? Why do you do this to your kids?

From the Vips, we also see Suri Cruise wearing heels, she has also been appointed as one of the most influential female in fashion. Right....yeah...

Personally I find it extremely bad. Kids are kids and don't have to mock adults. They will have their adulthood to be adult.

What do you think? Have you seen also kids wearing heels?

Day 45 - FH (Food&Happiness): Cous Cous Stuffed Peppers & Vegetables

I feel really mediterranean lately. So, I wanna share with you a recipe with Cous Cous and mediterranean vegetables that I prepared yesterday with some good old friends of mine.

Ingredients for 4 people:

1 aubergine

2 courgettes

4 peppers (different colors, it's nicer :)

4 carrots

4 potatoes

250g cherry tomatoes

1 pack of precooked cous cous

Herbs: oregano, rosemary, chilli, capers

Salt

Olive oil

Optional: natural yogurt

Wash, peel & cut the vegetables in medium-small cubes, just save 4 half peppers. Put all the chopped vegetables together in a bowl and add a bit of olive oil, the herbs, the salt. Mix it all with a spoon.

On a pan, put some of this vegetables (3/4 spoons) to pan fry. After 10 minutes, add the cous cous and the hot water (follow the instructions in the packaging of the cous cous). Leave it dry.

Get the whole cous cous mix and stuff the peppers.

Put the vegetable in the bowl for the oven, on the top of them, put the stuffed peppers.

Cook them for 60 minutes at 180 degrees in the oven.

When serving, you can put also natural yogurt. It's really good!

Enjoy!

Day 44 - What If....

Life is full of options and most of the time we've to decide what's the best option for us at a certain moment and situation.
Some people choose with rationality,others with the feeling or a mix of those. Some people don't choose at all.
Personally I never regretted taking strong decisions in life. For me it always paid off. So probably I'll keep doing it.
But, there's always a but. Do you ever look back and ask yourselves....What If.....?

Day 43 - Quotes Of The Day for The Gap Year

I love quotes. Especially Winston Churchill's ones. When I need inspiration I always look for his quotes.

Here are a few of them that I've been thinking of lately:

"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."

"I am an optimist. It does not seem too much use being anything else."
"Difficulties mastered are opportunities won."

"Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference."

Well, it looks to me that they are all linked and I totally believe they are right.

Being on My Gap Year I can say that optimism helps, together with attitude. Pessimism wouldn't help going anywhere outside the main road.

Taking time off for you and being able to be just You in the world needs quite a bit of courage and I guess deserves great results. The big thing is that you don't know what the results will be, but I'm sure they'll be a great surprise :)

Credits for the quotes goes to: www.brainyquote.com

Day 42 - Where Is Home?

After being away from my hometown many years. I always have this question in mind, now more than ever: where is home?

Is it where you are now?
Is it your hometown, although you won't come back?
Is it you're next destination?

This question might come to the mind of anybody who changed cities. I've been living in 6 cities in 5 different countries and I can't find an answer. Can you?

Please share your experience :)

Day 41 - F&H (Food&Happiness) Chocolate and Pears Cake

Not too many words have to be added to this recipe. Just Food & Happiness. Believe me :)

This cake reminds me of Milan, where they do it quite often and is delicious.

Don't miss it!
Credits for the recipes goes to this YouTube Channel: youtube.com/yellowsaffron

Day 40 - MD (MovieDay) Nueve Reinas (Nine Queens)

As I've already spoken about Ricardo Darin for Son of the Bride, I think that Nueve Reinas (Nine Queens) is a total must.

Here's why I'm reccomending it:

The plot: it's a thriller that includes thieves, cops, common people and it's really human. It keeps you asking yourself what's happening next and trying to understand the end. It does remind me another great movie like The Usual Suspects, but with a Latin American touch (and without special effects)

Buenos Aires: while watching the movie you totally feel you are in Buenos Aires. You can totally get the feeling of it and it's amazing.

The Italianity of the Porteños: you'll see how much Italian blood runs in the Argentinian people. Why? If you know a bit of how Italians are, you'll get why :)

Check the movie out and let me know what you think. I totally loved it!

Day 39 - F&H (Food&Happiness): Chicken & Vegetable Cartoccio

An easy, healthy, tasty and recipe for you!
My Grandma was really happy with it (what a result!)

Ingredients for 4 people:
1 medium or 2 small chickens

2 small courgettes

10/15 cherry tomatoes

2/3 big potatoes

1 lemon

Rosemary

Salt

Pepper

Any other Mediterranean spices you like :)

How to do it?
Wash, peal and cut all the vegetables in small/medium pieces and mix all of them with the herbs and some salt.

Wash the chicken, put some rosemary and salt in its belly. Put the chicken in a pan for a few minutes, when it gets some color, you can stop. While the chicken is in the pan, prepare a layer of foil and lay down all the vegetables. Then you'll put the chicken(s) on the top. Put some (I said some...do not exaggerate!) extra virgin olive oil and half a lemon on the top of it.

Close the foil carefully.

Put everything in the preheated oven at 230/240° for 1h.

Once you open the foil, see if it's ready. If not, leave it open, put it back in the oven with the grill on. Leave it there 5/10 minutes. It will add some crispy and color.

It will be DELICIOUS! :)
Enjoy it and tell me what you think of it!

Day 38 - The Greatest Marriage Proposal Ever!!!! (not mine, no worries! :)

Working at YouTube for a while, makes me keep a close eye on videos :). Some of them are just amazing. What I like is that people use their own creativity to use the video for different purposes. Like this one. Would you ever think about proposing like the guy did?
It is really the greatest Marriage Proposal EVER!!!
Enjoy it and tell me what you think!

Day 37 - Do You Live in a Broadbrand Developed Country?

Thanks to a twitter account I'm following, I discovered that Google launched a cool tool: http://www.google.com/publicdata/home. There are many things I like of it. First of all the title: ​Data visualizations for a changing world.

The second one, is how I actually read the title in the first instance: "Data visualizations for changing the world". Probably I'm biased :). Anyway. Have a look at it.
The first data set I had a look at is broadband penetration rate overtime in Europe. If you click the play button you'll see it. It's cool. I've chosen 3 countries to stress in it: the best ranked, Italy and the worst ranked. Bulgaria is quite different from Italy and Denmark, so I won't discuss this. But, the difference between the 2 is huge and overtime keeps growing.

This is BAD!
Why?
Because Internet is a development engine. Business wise, service wise and could improve the quality of the life of the people. Of everyone everywhere. Governments that are not supporting it are basically shutting down huge opportunities of development for the countries and for all generations. And yes, it's said to see Italy so badly ranked and thatnot only is bad, but is getting worse. Unbelievable

What do you think? Do you like the tool?

Day 36 - Bovine Bingo? Play this Game!

Have you ever playied Bovine Bingo?
I just love it :)
Watch the video and keep playing! It's a YouTube interactive video :)

Here is is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QD19LABJnUA

Did you like it?

Day 35 - Countryside Vs City

I see many people from the city saying they would love to have some decent and relaxed life in the countryside. I always wondered if they really meant it. I actually guessed they just meant they wanna go on holidays. I also found out this website with tips and tips for who this people, really funny.

On the other side, I see people from the countryside who says they would never ever live in the city. And they really mean it!

How do you see yourselves?

Day 34 - Women Leaders?

This is a never ending debate and discussion. The reality is that there are not enough woman leaders in the world. For sure not in Italy where I am from. While working in Ireland/Brazil/Argentina, I never thought of myself as a gender minority but as a professional, not even a young professional. Just a professional. That was a good feeling, just was I was doing was going to be judged, nothing else.

I guess that to keep getting a better working environment and opportunities both the society and the women have to evolve. Here's a great talk by Sheryl Sandberg. Worth it!

What do you think?

Day 33 - F&H (Food&Happiness): Focaccia Bread. How To Win Friends Forever

Do you wanna win friends? This is the recipe for you. It works (and it's proved!) :)

Focaccia Bread is easy and amazingly good. The only thing you relly need is time. Do it on a Saturday or Sunday, not in a hurry. It's great for occasions in which you're with many friends, not in a formal occasion. Think about inviting friends at home to watch a movie, play boardgames or poker. This is perfect and a sure success.

Also, note that you can personalize the basic recipe with what you want and like the most. I do focaccia with cherry tomatoes, olives, tomatoes & ricotta cheese, plain, with basil, with rosemary.

Credits to this recipe (which I always follow!) goes to GialloZafferano. Subscribe to theirEnglish , Spanish or Italian channel, it's highly recommended!

Day 32 - MD (MovieDay:) Son Of The Bride

Do you know Ricardo Darin? If you don't, I think it's good. Because it means there's something good you're gonna discover.

I discovered the Argentinian movies of Ricardo Darin while watching "Nine Queens" which I totally loved, then I started watching all of his movies. Outside Argentina you can find them. Not that easy, but still you can find some. I haven't watched all of them yet, but I keep an eye on him :).

Well, let's get back on the topic. The movie Son of the Bride. I totally recomend it!

Why?

- Ricardo Darin: alone he could do a movie. He's really a good actor. It's like with Toni Servillo, himself alone makes the movie.

- Questions about life: that's what the son of the bride does. Sometimes we need life to wake us up and asking ourselves what is really worth it and where we are in life.

- Growing up: it is showing what growing up means. Either you want it or not.

- Love: in a really nice and light way it's a movie about love in life. All the kind of love we do feel.

Let me know your feedback on it!

Here comes the trailer (ENG subtitles)

Day 31 - First Month of My Gap Year is Gone! First Impression

Yes, it has been already one month since I started my Gap Year and this adventure of the Gap Year Blog. So, I think it's good to look back and write down some first impressions and thoughts.

1. Relax: I finally started to relax. It does take a lot of time until we do start relaxing properly. Think about your holidays. You start feeling better when it's time to go back to work. And yes, after 2/3 weeks I had the same feeling. But the good news was that I still have time in front of me, so I won't stop the cycle of relaxation :)

2. Work: I do not miss work at all. For a kinda workaholic, this is a great result. Really. I thought I was going to miss it somehow. I don't. Nothing at all. I liked what I did before, the job, the place, the people. But now, I just feel good in what I am and what I'm doing. I guess that's the result of a lot of thinking behind it.

3. Thinking: I did a lot of thinking. That's really good and interesting. I kept reading a lot, questioning myself, started learning a lot of things about Internet that I didn't know. Basically my curiosity is leading me and not the other way around :)

4. What's next: I'm still not asking myself this question. it's too early heeh

Well, happy to see what you felt if you did the Gap Year too...

Day 30 - TT (TravelTips): Redentore Feast in Venice (July)

You wanna feel a real venetian? without tourists around? Well, the Redentore is the festivity you're looking for. It's every year on the third weekend of July. Even if you ask to most Italians, they don't know it. So, it's truly for real venetian and people living in that region.

In this weekend, get ready to drink like hell, because they are masters in this :). Don't miss to go to the "Giudecca" the former popular island in front of Venice. People put tables all around the walkspaths and have dinner there. People are extremely friendly and will offer you wine. In the canal in front of the Giudecca, you'll see so many boats that won't make you see the water. They also do incredible fireworks that will really surprise you!

More infos in here (in English): http://www.veniceconnected.com/node/1597

When: 3rd weekend of July

Where: Venice, mainly in the Giudecca

Why: for the feeling, the real people, the wine, the fireworks.

Who: eveyone! Young & old, and babies (but don't make the babies drink :)

Totally reccomended. Let me know if you've experienced it and your feedback.

Day 29 - Kicking off Food&Happiness Column: Risotto with Saffron

Today I'm kicking off a new weekly column: Food&Happiness

It's obviously about food and it will include recipes from all around the world.

This time, I'll start with an Italian recipe that truly represents me: Risotto with Saffron.

Why it represents me? Because I grew up in risottoland and because this recipe is from Milan where I lived 8 years. So it's just me :)

Well, here it is. Special thanks to GialloZafferano channel on YouTube (in English!). Subscribe their channel, it's great!

Let me know what you think as soon as you try it out!

Day 28 - Is Time Shrinkable & Expandable?

This questions always kept coming back to my mind. It did, everytime I change my routine (if I ever had a proper one :).

Time is supposed to be fixed, objective, not changing. But, there's a but, in these days that I'm taking it easy, I feel like time is changing its weight. I look back and I see myself multitasking among various projects, meetings, work travels, trips for leisure, movies, calls, social life and so on.

Now, for this first month, my first objective is to rest and take back some good energy and vibes. While taking it easy, I realized how the concept of time differs so much from its own objective run time. Time doesn't change, but we do change our view on it.

It seemed to me that time is expandable (meaning we can do more things in a certain timeframe) or shrinkable (if we're more relaxed). Weird.

What do you think?

Day 27 - Is it True that after the 2nd foreign language they become easier?

I've always heard this rumour, but I'm really wondering if this is true.
Is it easier to learn a language after you already learnt 2 others?
I'm going to approach my 4th one now, but 2 of them where Latin languages, so they are easier for me, and the other one is English. But I've been living 5 years in an English speaking country.

So, what's your experience here?

And...will I ever learn German? Would you bet on it? :)

Day 26 - TT (TravelTips): Santo Antonio Lisboa - for true party & real popular tradition lovers

Today I'm kicking off the weekly TT - Travel Tips column.

Unmissable corners of the world that give you great feelings and that you'll love. 100% guaranteed!

I'll start with something I really love and I hope to get back soon to it (maybe really soon :).

Santo Antonio's party in Lisbon (Portugal)
Where: Lisbon, Alfama district

When: night between 12/13th June for the big party, but the whole June for the atmosphere and smaller parties
Why: The party during the night is just crazy everywhere in Lisbon in Alfama (as well in Bairro Alto but it's more for youngsters). People would go there for dinner, having grilled sardines (sardinhas), you can get them anywhere in the streets. Then it's party in the streets and it's damn crowded with people willing to party hard! Go to the Alfama for a walk in the afternoon and you'll see people preparing for the party, it's a nice spot for taking great pictures. Also enjoy the whole month of June in Lisbon and Alfama, there are a lot of small squares having smaller parties and obviously grilled sardines and live music. Please note: if you're passionate about weddings, you can go to the cathedral (Se' Patriarcal) in Alfama in the day of Santo Antonio and you'll see the "Brides of Santo Antonio". A huge wedding with 10 or 20 brides, it's another good spot for pictures and to see the people on the street (but go there early enough!)

Who: everyone, but if you're not a party person, get there during the whole month of June and avoid the crowd. If you've children, avoid the crowd for sure, everyday but the 12/13th is great, the feeling is good anyway but it's calmer. If you love partying hard, get all the energy you need, you'll use all of it! Start in Alfama, get dinner there than start walking around, there'll be music and drinks everywhere. Go to Bairro Alto and again go on all streets, but decide before where to meet with friends. It's so crowded that it's tough to walk and find people!

Here's are some local info and pics

Guys, Lisbon in June is just great, don't miss it and please tell me what you felt!

Day 25 - MD (Movie Day) reccomends Dog Day Afternoon

Hi Guys,

I'm trying to have a weekly post on movies not to miss and calling it "MD - Movie Day". This will probably not mention any new realises at all. There are so many great movies we've never seen that were shot in the past. Some of them are really famous and I just discovered them, some other won't be so famous and will be from around the world ;). I'm not a professional journalist about cinema, but I do love movies, so I'll put all my understanding and passion in talking about them. And most of all, I love to discuss about movies, so please keep sending your opinions!
I start with Dog Day Afternoon by Sydney Lumet. I actually bought a few of his movies recently, never seen any of them and I am totally impressed.

What impressed me?
1. The faces: the characters have really expressive faces that talk on their own. Great choice!
2. The TV impact. Like in the Network, TV is everywhere, and obviously in front of the bank just robbed. It's extremely interesting how the robbers and their family members are proud and happy of being on TV while everything was happening. Scaring.
3.(ATTN SPOILER!) Al Pacino is in my imaginary always an Italian/American gangster or something similar. Having him acting as a gay was totally a brilliant idea. You would not expect that at all. Genius.
4. The wife of Al Pacino is amazing. I mean, anybody would try to escape somebody like her :)
5. The mother of Al Pacino: wow, it seems that women did a lot wrong with him! But, the women inside the bank, instead, are strong and totally human. Strange contrast.
5. Desperation & Humanity: Sonny (Al Pacino) is a good guy, a desperate good guy that did something extremely wrong. While doing something so wrong he's actually keeping his human touch. That's because he's not a bad guy. Nice.

Here comes the trailer:

What's your opinion on this movie?

Day 24 - Being on a Gap Year Means Being Unemployed?

When somebody asks me what I do, I do answer I'm on a Gap Year. Most people don't know what I mean. So I explain I got a sabbatical. Then they tend to understand somehow and answer to me: "so you are unemployed". I try to explain that it's not exactly the same thing...so here's the definition of unemploied from a economic dictionary:

Unemployed definition

Being involuntarily out of work. The government defines unemployed as people who are jobless, looking for jobs, and available for work.

A person on a Gap Year is voluntarily out of work. This means, it's not unemployed :)

Do you agree?

Day 23 - Why is Food = Happiness? Part 2

Well, my easy answer is: look at my favourite food channel on YouTube (in English): http://www.youtube.com/yellowsaffron#g/u

Just looking at the pictures I would start smiling. Looking at the video would make me curious, cooking it and eating it would make me happy.

Would this have the same effect to you?

An example? Just try to look at the Fresh Strawberry Tart and tell me what you think.

Day 22 - Being Wrong? A great talk from Ted Talks

Do you always think you're always right? Well, somehow we kinda do it. Myself included. But we all might be wrong from time to time. A perfect life is soooo boring (and impossible :).
What do you think of the talk?

Day 21 - The "Freaks the Series" Effect: Does Young Mean Resourceful or inexperienced?

Following another post on the young generation, here's a new post :).
While working at YouTube for the last 2 years, I was honored to meet a lot of talented, joyful and resourceful young filmakers.
In particular, there's a group of YouTubers that created the first Italian webseries ever. They did it low budget but high quality, whit a really good script and with powerful ideas and a strong commitment, not mentioning the hard work.
So, based on the point of view of the older generation, my question is: does young means resourceful or inexperienced?

Enjoy the series freakstheseries (in Italian only, sorry!) and the first episode down here!

Day 20 - The Network and "Appearing on TV means existing?"

I watched for the first time "The Network" by Sidney Lumet, which I totally loved and made me think a lot. I'm not a TV lover at all. I watch some TV series online and use the TV set just for DVDs, that's it.
When I was watching the movie I admired how it showed how important it is to appear somewhere to actually being considered as existing or successful.
There's the extreme political commando that agrees on having own shows on TV and the manager (great caracter btw) deciding to end a program in an "original" way (I won't spoil the movie, no worries :).
The movie is obviously exagerated, but it's truly representing what happens in TV everyday. Showing off tragedies, useless shows, boobs everywhere anything to capture audience and sell it to advertisers at a premium price.
I don't have anything against any medium, but I guess that most of the people watching TV are not aware of this and therefore they are passively believing that the reality shown on TV is real life. My bet is that it is not.
What do you think?

Here's the trailer of the movie, in case you haven't seen it before (like me! :)

Day 19 - Who is the Young Generation?

I'm Italian. I came back to Italy after 5 years abroad. I did a lecture in an event in Rome a few weeks ago and said "we are young, we can do it" or something like that. The young crowd looked at me with big open eyes. I realized there was something wrong in my sentence and joked "Right, right, YOU are young, you get to do it!".
This was weird. Not because I felt older then them, that was actually right! I'm in my thirties and they were in their twenties or the and of their teenagerhood.
This surprised me because in Italy people think of themselves as young until they are maybe 50 when they are considered adults and responsible. This is wrong. Not the look of the guys in the crowd. The problem is with the old generation, not with the young one. I'm in my thirties and I am an adult, that's it. Then, I looked at the TV (something I never do, I don't like TV). They always talk in a negative way about the young generation: protests, unemployement rate (which by the way in Italy is around 30% for young people!), not flexible, not willing to start a family, not interested in commitments and so on.
I started thinking that it's not just the youngster's fault, it's the parent's generation fault as well. If the young people don't have space, resources, responsibility is their own problem but they are not the only cause. Ok, I stop here, this is a longer post than usual, but I thought it was worth it.
How's the situation in your own country? Would you agree that responsibilities should be shared between youngsters and older generations?
The discussion is open...

Day 18 - Does Food Help Happiness?

This is a question that keeps coming back to me. I love cooking, I love sharing recipes, I love eating, I love doing all the above with friends and family. Ok, I'm Italian and this could be cultural in a way.
The other day I was playing with my nephiew and nice and we decided to cook together, We did 3kg of pizzas and focaccia bread. We were preparing the dough, playing with it, following the recipes and sometimes adding some exceptions to make it more original. Then we cooked it and shared it with the all family. Everyone was happy.
Do you think that food helps happyness? I truly believe in it, but I'm wondering if you do think the same...

Day 17 - It's My Life (by Bon Jovi). When Music Matches Your Feelings!

A few days ago I was coming back from the airport. I was driving my car with the radio on. Suddenly the song "It's my life" from Bon Jovi started playing. I so remembered how much I used to like Bon Jovi as a teenager (I know, this says it all about my age and I'm totally fine with it :).
The song starts saying, or better Bon Jovi starts shouting "It's my life....it's now or never..."
I started smiling, a lot. And yes, this was totally representing my feeling at this time!

It's my life
It's now or never
I ain't gonna live forever
I just want to live while I'm alive
(It's my life)
My heart is like an open highway
Like Frankie said
I did it my way
I just wanna live while I'm alive
It's my life

Thank you Bon Jovi! You made my day :)
Enjoy the video!

Day 16 - How Big is the Generation Gap, Technologically Speaking?

Lately I've been discussing with my nephiew (13) and niece (9) about a crazy idea: spending the summer together and studying how to write mobile applications for android. Obviously the idea is to study and practice and then to start offering them to the android market for free. I totally loved the idea and they also did (my niece already started writing her ideas on her own diary, btw, she's the creative director).
This makes us closer than what we are in other circumstances where I'm the adult and they are the kids. In this challenge, we're all at the same level (meaning zero :) and technology actually makes the generation gap quite insignificant, or at least, this is my impression.
Do you think that technology make the generation gap smaller or bigger?

Day 15 - Reading Eat, Pray, Love while in Rome. Did you like the book?

A few weeks ago I bought a book in the Frankfurt airport: eat, pray, love.
I didn't know anything about it, I just heard there was a movie with the same title. I started reading it while I was still working, 15 days before starting my gap year. I kept reading it quite slowly, just when travelling and I found myself reading it while landing in Rome and heading to Naples afterwards.
I felt the same freedom of Liz (the writer and main character of the book-movie) while in Rome and Naples. The book is probably a bit superficial, but on the other hand, is more on the feelings you might have when you're free and experiencing time with yourself and what you learn and are, and especially what you want to be, if known. I liked it and felt the same way. This also reminded me when I was working and living in Argentina. I kept asking questions "why this", "what does this mean". A good friend of mine told me: "why are you keeping asking questions like you were a child?". I loved it and I felt it's just a good way to learn, like being a child and discover. It's all about being open and asking yourself and others questions on both basic and complicated topics.
Have you read the book? Have you liked it?

This is the movie trailer, just as a reminder :)

Day 14 - Feeling Freedom and Follow the Flow

A few days ago, I was on a plane to Rome. I had just a hand luggage and was pretty light (and I was actually proud of it!). As in EasyJet they allow you just one piece of hand luggage, I put my purse inside the trolley before the boarding. I was ready to go in the plane with just a book, a bottle of water and my passport in my hand, nothing more. Once I boarded I was told that there was no space for the trolley and that it was to be shipped. I said "ok, no problem" and took a whatever sit in the plane.
During the flight I realized that I just had a bottle of water and a book with me and my trolley could actually get lost, stolen or forgotten in Milan or wherever by the carriers. I suddenly thought: how can I do if I don't get it back? The second thought was: I'll manage, who cares. I've my water, book and passport, I will survive :). I smiled at this. I'm usually a quite calm person and solution driven, but in the past I would have been a bit worried about this. I would have found a solution, for sure, but on a tight schedule loosing something at the airport means a lot of troubles. Especially if there's your phone/wallet/everything else inside the bag. But this time I didn't care at all. And it was a really nice feeling....

Day 13 - What is Success?

This is a question I like: what exactly is success?
I looked in an online dictionary and found the following:

success [səkˈsɛs]
n
1. the favourable outcome of something attempted
2. the attainment of wealth, fame, etc.


I really liked the definition N.1, tough I think we always refer as in N.2.
If I think of success I immediately think of somebody with a great career, money, fame.
I always thought it was cool. Now that I stopped a bit, I actually changed a bit my mind. In my opinion it all depends on our objectives, whatever they are. If you have small/big objectives and you reach them, then you're successful in what you do. This could or couldn't bring wealth, fame and so on. This is a plus, not the only objective itself.
That's my new vision of it, what is yours?

Day 12 - Is writing a book still an option in this era?

In your Gap Year, you're supposed to have a lot of free time (well, so far I didn't really experienced it...). So one idea I had was: why not to write a book.
But just after I had this idea I questioned myself: "is it so impactful to write books not in the internet era?"
Is there any other better way to communicate and impact other than a book?
What do you think?

Day 11 - The Power of the Network

The world is extremely small. Yes it is. I've just spoken to a friend who I met in Brazil, who's now in Switzerland and will be in London soon, he'll be having the MBA with another person I know, same class.
What does it mean? Besides being happy that friends meet friends and create new versions of the network, it means that there's a powerful energy you should totally care about in the network.
First of all, you're never alone. The network you created will help you thinking, share ideas and give you feedback. It doesn't work on its own, it all starts from you. You first create a network and feed it and then you can start asking opinions. I just think it is great. I wasn't aware of it when I started creating a great international network of friends and professionals. But I really think it's amazing!
What do you think, is the network so important for life and work?

Day 10 - Gap Year and Social Network, does it mean we always look back?

I have been away from my previous life, that I like to call Paola 2.0, from 10 days now. I kept quite active in Facebook, YouTube and I'm now thinking to reactivate my old Twitter account. And yes, I've been writing everyday in this Gap Year blog. My question is: is it valuable to use all these social networks and communicate so much? Is it positive and forward looking or it is just looking back at the past?
What do you think?

Day 9 - Do We Exist Because of What We Do or Because of What We Are?

I know, this is again about work, but I can not stop thinking about this question.
Do we think of people because of what they do or because of what they are?
It happened to me that people changed dramatically their mind about me when I changed job in the past. First I was in the non profit sector and people weren't that impressed of my work (although I had a lot of responsibilities and impact), then I joined Google and YouTube and apparently I become a genius and everyone was kinda judging me differently. I am the same person, but the perception was different. I'm curious to see how it goes now that I'm in a gap year, meaning no labels could be attached to me. It's just me :).
So, the question is: do we exist because of what we do or because of what we are?

Day 8 - When to start thinking about work?

I have been in my Gap year since a week and somebody already asked me: so what are you going to do next?
Well, in my opinion that question is always in the back of my mind, but ideally I'll give it some space later on.
My opinion is that you need a fresh mind to get started again and get great ideas. If you just keep focused on job opportunities, what's the point of having a Gap Year?
When do you think a gapyearer should start thinking about work?

Day 7 - Internet resources for Year Gappers

While checking on the internet I found a cool website for Gap Yearers: http://www.gapyear.com/
There are quite a lot of useful info for who has taken or is planning to take a Gap Year :)
Do you reccomend any other website?

Day 6 - The "Julie & Julia" effect

I saw the movie "Julie & Julia" on a plane from Lima to Frankfurt last February.
As soon as I started my Gap Year a week ago, I kept asking myself if I need a challenge like the one Julie had. Or better, should I just find my way as Julia did? Or, should I just follow the flow?
What do you fellow reader suggest?

Here comes the trailer of the movie, in case you haven't seen it (btw: Meryl Streep is amazing, as always ;)

Day 5 - Blog, Vlog or Flog?

I've been trying to understand what's the best way to communicate during this Gap Year, but at the end I haven't decided yet.
Is it better a blog, vlog or flog? Or a mix of the 3 of them? I know, blog is quite the past, but the question keeps being: is a vlog or flog better?
Any ideas?

Day 4 - 1x10 is the Golden Rule

1 gap year every 10 years of work should be a golden rule.
Now, think how many years you work in your life: 30 or 40. Right. Think how many days off for holidays you get in a year. From 10 to 30 days off a year, depending on the country. Right. Now, how many days of holidays do you really enjoy a year? You might take some days off for some burocratic staffs, to help your family or friends or to visit family and friends. Now, the question is: how many days are you really able to enjoy without any external influence? 50% of them?
Well, if you can enjoy 50% of them, this means that it's from 5 to 15 days off a year.
Right, this becomes quite little if you consider that you work the rest of the year.
While doing this calculation and considering that everyone of us will be working 30/40 years, I decided that I'm really worth it to have a gap year every 10 of work ;)

Day 3 - Gap year doesn't mean pure relax

It's true. I haven't stopped a single hour in these 3 days. The plan ahead of me seems already quite busy.
Today I'll be doing some sruffs in Frankfurt and then I'll go by car to Italy.

Day 2 - The Head Hunter Call

9.15am the phone rings. It's a head hunter. She mentions that it's a great opportunity. Before she starts, I tell her "thank you, this is really cool, but I started yesterday my gap year, and my free time has the highest priority now". I felt so good :)

Day 1 - The Taxi Driver greatings

I was going to the airport. Said goodbye to everyone. Prepared my luggage. A couple of last second hugs to close friends. Then on the taxi. I arrive to the airport and the taxi drivers says: "have a good weekend of travel". I didn't answer, but smiled at him and thanked. It's going to be much more than that. But it was good to hear that as a goodbye from a total stranger. Bye Ireland, Bye Dublin, Bye Google and goodbye my lovely friends.

Wecome to MyGapYearLive

Hi to you!
I just started my gap year and I want to share this with you, yes you! But not only. I would like for MyGapYearLive to be a place for everyone on their GapYear to share experiences and tips. And for the ones thinking about a GapYear, this should be a good place for inspiration and to gather information.

Welcome to this MyGapYearLive!