BLOGMAS - A Letter to Autumn

Dear Autumn,

You've come and gone again this year and you're still my favourite season.
I want to apologize to you, first of all, if I was too busy to live you as fully as I wanted. Sometimes my mind seems to become so foggy that I only see my to-do list and not the beautiful colours of the leaves.

Thank you, Autumn. Thank you for making the trees so beautiful that, whenever I'm in the car with my parents or my friend Rita, I point at them and say "Look at the beautiful trees!". Thank you for the man who sells chestnuts at the door of the Hospital, the smoke and the smell completing the beautiful setting of the red and orange trees.

Thank you for the beautiful pink, orange, red sunsets. Thank you for making them so beautiful that I have to stop whatever I'm doing to look at them. And, if that makes me a crazy person, I'm so glad that I'm crazy enough to look closely at beautiful things.

Thank you for warm drinks, shared with friends at coffee shop tables, along with deep conversations. Thank you for those friends and those conversations that fill my soul.

Thank you for Halloween, that weekend when I was feeling anxious beyond measure, but getting to celebrate Halloween, my sister's birthday and Ana's birthday took my mind off things and made me feel sane enough to make it through the rest of the semester.

Thank you for the beginning of the Christmas season. For the lights in the street, for the beautiful Christmas tree I made with my family, for the Christmas shopping that I'm proud to have completed before today, the day you leave.

Thank you for amazing movies, beautiful books, trips to the library, study afternoons, acoustic music, walks with a camera in my hand.

Thank you, Autumn. See you next year!

BLOGMAS - I am really, really thankful.

As a medical student, I live a stressful life. There are lectures to attend, books to study, deadlines to make. This stressful lifestyle is so glorified that sometimes I feel like there's some kind of competition, on who feels more stress and who suffers more because of it.

My life made me a very optimistic person and someone who looks for peace even if everything seems to be falling apart. When my anxiety comes by to say hello, I know that I have to do something to not let it win. And one of those things, for me, is practising thankfulness. I thank God for a lot of stuff daily, especially when I'm not feeling that good.

I'm thankful for:

the financial means to study something I love

my perseverance to keep doing it no matter how hard it gets

my true friendships

Christmas season, Secret Santa dinners and choosing gifts for people I love

the financial means to be able to give presents to those I love most

my loving family

cats

the existence of music to keep me sane

books

having access to a huge library where I can get more books

coffee and tea

cakes, muffins, pancakes, crepes, scones and chocolate

being able to watch football matches

having my driver's license and being able to drive my mum's car

but also riding the bus

Facebook conversations with my friends

Pilates classes

my health

being able to afford clothes I feel comfortable and good-looking in

my ability to sing decently

my positivity

I could go on and on, but then you people would get tired, so that's it for now!

lots of love,

Mariana

BLOGMAS - It's Christmas Time in the City

Today I went downtown to see the Christmas lights and it filled my heart with joy!

I live in such a beautiful city, and today the weather was not too cold, so the streets were filled with people. I could feel the Christmas spirit in the air!

Here are some pics of it:

lots of love,

Mariana

BLOGMAS - Nico the Cat

In this post I'm going to talk about my favourite feline, Nico!

Nico is my neighbour's cat. This lady has a lot of pets, and she allows her cats to wander around the neighbourhood as they like. They know where their home is and they always come back 😊

Nico is known by pretty much everyone, because he's a really nice cat. He loves to get cuddles from pretty much everyone, and, besides, he's SO CUTE!

He has been "visiting" us for about 4 years now, but he only began to spend more time with us last summer, when we started letting him inside our house.

Nico loves:

- sleeping on the sofa

- food (especially chasing food he's not supposed to eat)

- cuddling with people, even strangers

- lying on the floor so that people can rub his belly

- sitting on my notebooks/laptop/whatever I'm doing so that I can pay attention to him instead

- chasing bugs or little things that move

- trying to get inside people's beds or under blankets

- scratching the sofa

Nico doesn't like:

- other cats (he screams at them)

- he's not very fond of children

- loud noises

- the Christmas tree (it scares him)

He's pretty much the joy of this house right now! I'm so happy that we get to play with him, because I've never had a pet (except canaries) and he's so cute and funny!

lots of love,

Mariana

BLOGMAS - November Throwback

Hey lovely folks!
I know I'm a bit late to the party, but I've decided to blog as much as I can in this lovely month of December.
It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas (cue Michael Bublé song in the background) and that makes me feel so very happy, despite the proximity of exams!

To begin with, I'm going to do a small throwback to the month of November, which seemed like a really long month because so much has happened!

November was a month of sunset-watching. I am that person who looks at the sky in awe of the lovely colours and, this past month, I watched really beautiful sunsets + the lovely supermoon, staring at me as I walked home.

It was a month of new friendships and of strengthening ties with people around me. I gained a really close friend in November and I'm really thankful for that. I also reunited with old friends, got to know updates on their lifes and to reminisce about our past, which was lovely! Overall, I'm so glad I have such amazing friendships in my life and I'm thankful that I'm someone who loves people, as it brings me so much joy.

I watched Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them with friends and I loved it so much, I'm dying to watch it again. I love how JK Rowling didn't try to make it the new Harry Potter, but created a whole new universe with clever references to the HP one. Newt Scamander is now one of my favourite characters of all time, I love how sweet and caring he is! And I loved the fantastic beasts 😍

I struggled with anxiety and watched my friends go through it too, but I'm learning how to cope with it and how to practice self-care so that I'll feel better, and I try to help my friends do the same.

I worked a lot for college, but I'm so happy that I'm studying to do what I love. I went to a Medical Students Conference and it helped reminding me why I get through months of studying, writing projects and doing exams.

I also spent time with my family and Nico the cat. There's nothing like the comfort of my own home, and I'm thankful that I have somewhere I can feel so warm and cosy.

Good food + good friends make a great life!

lots of love,

Mariana