What to do on a Friday night?

There is a slight chance that if you’re reading my post, well, it means that you are asking yourself this question.

The thing is that I lied: I’m not gonna tell you what you should do, but rather I will tell you what I am doing on this Friday night. Long story short, I decided to use this evening as an opportunity to wrap up a lot of thoughts and memories that I have been collecting for the last months (you may – or may not – have noticed that I haven’t been posting to the blog since February).

So, first of all, as I have been doing lately, let’s put some sound on to give some atmosphere to the post. Tonight, I chose to go with Vogelvlucht, from a Dutch guy… If you don’t know him, you should totally check his tunes (note, the real song starts at around 0:30):

 

Here we go… Ready? I will use the numbered list as it is gonna be easier to list all of my points (and otherwise instead of “Friday night”, I will have to switch the title to “What to do on a Saturday morning”):

1. I’ve been doing some awesome stuff at work (and you lots know how much I like to brag about what I do): tired but happy of what’s coming out!
2. I went to Switzerland for the first time in my life. And I ate one of the best pizzas I have ever had the chance to eat in my life. Proof here:
   

   possibly the best pizza in Geneva (and Switzerland)

3. I found my inner peace again because I managed to find good coffee in Germany (it was harder than I thought). Also, Germany has a lot more sunny days than one would think:
   

   Olympiapark Muenchen

   

   Kid Olympiapark Muenchen

   

   Stay Easy Lionel Richie

   

   Olympiapark Muenchen Zucchero

   

   Olympiapark Muenchen

   

   Olympiapark Muenchen

   

   Olympiapark Muenchen

   

   Olympiapark Muenchen

   

   Olympiapark Muenchen
4. I went back home, but first I went through Austria, where the landscape is amazing (but maybe they are not so good with Italian translations):
   

   Austrian landscape

   

   Austrian landscape

   

   Weird translations

   

   Austrian landscape

   

   Austrian landscape

   

   Austrian landscape
5. Once home, I had the infinite pleasure of tasting my dad’s pizza again (don’t ask me why he made it in a square shape):
   

   Homemade pizza

6. On my way back to Germany, I decided to take the long road, so I went to Switzerland for the second time in my life – in less than one month (and in the meanwhile I also participated to the Business Game St. Gallen, where I won one of the competitions – you remember the thing about bragging about it?):

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7. I arrived back at the office and one present was waiting for me:
   

   Pasta gift

8. I finally proved to myself that I can also cook food other than pasta. Here you go, my masterpiece:
   

   my first tiramisu

 

So, I will give you one piece of advice – which was hidden in the pictures I uploaded – regarding what to do on a Friday night: as Lionel Richie would say, STAY EASY!

Wer die Wahl hat, hat die Qual – So many choices, so little time

Exceptionally, I am presenting to you a Saturday Morning Special Post.

This was originally intended to be a Facebook post, but I got carried away reading news and stupid stuff. So, here we go with what I found this morning.

Note: I am awake because it appears that some people around here like to talk really loudly on Saturday morning; in my opinion, there should be a law which makes it unconstitutional to speak loudly in the morning – just like one that should forbid having cappuccino after lunch.

First things first: we need some sound. Among the many choices, I think Parov Stelar goes perfectly with this “soon-to-be-sunny” day in Munich:

 

Let’s start then.

1. Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal got it right with the comic about the history of technology. NB: the brain representing political analysis made me laugh more than I should have.

2. You can finally block those people that send you private messages/requests on LinkedIn. Thanks Mashable for the how-to part.

3. Many people are getting mad at Facebook acquiring WhatsApp because of “privacy issues”. Am I the only happy one? If they manage to integrate them I will just need one app between Facebook Messenger and Whatsapp, which means that I can finally install another app (yeah, I have a really crappy phone with little internal memory). Also, have you ever tried going to the Facebook settings and clicked on the tab “Apps”? You will see how many apps are already connected to your account. Finally, have you already forgotten the NSA scandal? Your data is in somebody else’s hands anyway.

4. Good news everyone: a start-up called Streak will let you know when recipients ready your e-mails. Yeah, I know, this thing is old news, but the pro of this one is that it is free – for the moment. I’m trying it out. Unfortunately, it’s not yet available for Firefox and Android.

5. This is how you pull a prank:

 

Unfortunately, as I read on the article from the Verge about the DHL ad, it was produced by an external company, with no involvement whatsoever from the delivery service.

 

Bonus point – just for Italians though.

6. Superwin di the Jackal, che spaccano di brutto con l’ultimo video su Sanremo. Ecco qua l’epica composizione:

 

Mi sembra superfluo ricordarvi che sono quelli di Lost in Google, Gay Ingenui e millemila altri video spettacolari. Fatevi un giro sul canale Youtube di the Jackal, non ve ne pentirete.

2014 hit me like a train

Here we go again. Writing again after quite some time – if I’m not wrong my last post dates back to the beginning of January.

You may want to start this song while reading the post. You will thank me when the sax starts (if you already know it and are looking for the lyrics, scroll down to the bonus section):

 

So, as the title says, 2014 hit me like a train. Also, I have plenty of very plausible excuses to use in my defense, as I haven’t yet compiled the list of the Dottor Milione’s top 20 Youtube videos of 2013.

Reason number 1: I am working. Yes, it seems shocking, but somebody finally believed in me.

Reason number 2: I am trying to find a subject for my Master’s Thesis. Maybe I found it. Maybe not. Maybe yes again. Ah, I also need to find 2 supervisors – 1 from Copenhagen and 1 from Milan. CHALLENGE ACCEPTED. Again, 2014 hit me like a train.

Reason number 3: I started reading the “A Song of Ice and Fire” series. I have to confess that I watched the Game of Thrones TV show first, and then decided to start reading the books – hoping to finish reading them before the 4th season starts.

A Game of Thrones – Book 1

Reason number 4: I decided to take a huge step forward in my ever-losing battle against the German language. I am following the free classes in my company and at the same time I created an account on Duolingo, hoping to practice it a little bit. The good bit: I can ask for a Kebab without any problems.

Reason number 5: The Six Nations has started. 2014 hit Italy like a train.

Reason number 6: Munich is an astonishing city. Especially on sunny days. Sorry for the few and repetitive pictures I took, but I’m not much of a photographer. I get so much into the moment that I forget to take pictures.

Amazing Munich – 1

Amazing Munich – 2

Amazing Munich – 3

Amazing Munich – 4

Amazing Munich – 5

Amazing Munich – 6

 

Reason number 7: THIS

 

 

So, to sum up, 2014 hit me like a train. A nice hit, though.

 

Bonus section

if you’re looking for the lyrics of “Happy Endings” by FAUL, here you go:

“I know things have been a little strange around here lately
because of all the stuff that’s going on outside the house…
you know the pressure, the job, all those things that get way you down…
you know sometimes, just sometimes, you bring that home with you
and I understand, but you know, I want you to stop for a minute
and think about how much we have together”

2014

DISCLAIMER: this is not the “Dottor Milione top 20 Youtube videos of 2013, but I will do that in the following days, so stay tuned!

DISCLAIMER P.S.: If you don’t know what I’m talking about, check the 2012 list.

 

So, the time for the usual yearly wrap-up has finally come.

2013 has been a pretty amazing year and, as it is usually happening recently, always better than the previous.

Easy to say, the most important thing that happened to me was my actual New Year – the 25th of August – when I moved to Copenhagen to start another amazing and interesting year abroad. I met some wonderful people, a new family, and the most amazing house I’ve ever lived in.

Another major win was the fact that I successfully made it throughout the year at Bocconi without dying or surrendering to the dark side (my exam sweatpants are the tangible proof).

And goats have finally taken over the Internet:

 

Also, it was a year of re-discovery: I travelled back to London after 6 years and to Dublin after 2 years. I finally had the chance to drink a Guinness again (I made a promise to myself that I would never drink Guinness outside Ireland – experts know that they are two completely different beers). It was breathtaking.

I also had the chance to meet again and talk to some old friends that I thought they were lost forever.

Finally, but this happened in 2014, I saw my beloved Xbox again. And it is also the reason why this post ends here. Sorry, I’ll be back shortly with the top videos of 2013.

Happy New Year everybody!

 

A series of fortunate events

It happened again. I lost my regularity in keeping this blog updated.

So, here it comes another wrap up of the main events from October 13 until today:

1) Went to London, Nottingham, back to London, Eindhoven (setting a second-highest record of being awake for 44 hours straight), Amsterdam, Rotterdam, back to Copenhagen (yes, a hell of a trip including a 16-hour bus ride):

p.s.: more pictures to come!

2) Casually met Ban Ki-Moon while studying in the library… He was really focused in talking about Syria though:

3) Participated in a whole lot of events I could never think my body was able to attend

4) Fell in love with FlicFlac and Klingande (Youtube crashed, but it seems to be back online now):

 

5) Witnessed a storm first-hand

6) I love goats even more, and you will too, after this picture:

7) Found the first of my 6 doppelgangers

8) I got Assassin’s Creed IV (now I just need to fly back home to be able to play with it):

9) The 5th season of Misfits started, and

10) I’m going back to Dublin, 3 years after my Erasmus experience started.

 

“The man who said “I’d rather be lucky than good” saw deeply into life. People are afraid to face how great a part of life is dependent on luck. It’s scary to think so much is out of one’s control. There are moments in a match when the ball hits the top of the net, and for a split second, it can either go forward or fall back. With a little luck, it goes forward, and you win. Or maybe it doesn’t, and you lose.” – Match Point

 

11) Finally, I may have found my purpose in life…

… but for the moment enjoy this compilation of animals that will make you suffocate from laughter: