teja philosophizes

The melancholic nostalgia of a book worm

Posted on July 3, 2017 by Teja Fictional Personal 0

Or 24 books that shaped me before the age of 24

I turned 24 today, despite my objections (it should be known that I’m bothered by the even number, not the age), and I think I have to commemorate this somehow. The original plan of writing down 24 things I learned until now didn’t work out – not because I haven’t learned anything, but because I found out that I just don’t have the desire to deal with introspection on my birthday. Meanwhile, I always feel like thinking about books, especially now in the summer, when I can finally dedicate a lot of my time to two of my favorite activities: reading and writing. Continue reading…

Stress management 101

Posted on May 27, 2017 by Teja Personal 0

Sometimes you just get buried under your to-do list. Under every single thing. Sometimes it’s your fault, sometimes it’s due to a strange set of circumstances, yet other times it’s just for the hell of it, because of Fate, sitting somewhere high up on Triglav with a desire to laugh at you. And then you feel guilty about it and do more harm than good, because if you aren’t working, you’re worrying. And even when you’re working, you’re worrying, because you think that suddenly you should miraculously be able to stretch yourself beyond human limits.

By nature, I am not a procrastinator, I do things on time and I’m rather good at planning my schedule so that I would never run out of time. But still … Continue reading…

Koningsdag and Slovenian national pride

Posted on April 27, 2017 by Teja Personal 0

*Za slovensko verzijo tega teksta kliknite tukaj*

Slovenians don’t have it. National pride, that is. Before anyone attacks me, let me make it clear that I don’t mean it personally: there are individuals, many of us in fact, who are proud of where we come from. But there are also many people who would prefer to hide when someone asks them about their country; who turn their noses up at Slovenian and worship English as their God; who complain about the country – the bureaucracy, mistakes – and don’t see a single good thing. Continue reading…

On my love for musicals

Posted on April 22, 2017 by Teja Personal 0

First of all, I have to admit that I don’t watch a lot of movies or TV shows. I do like going to the cinema, I watch the most popular movies at home, and I open Netflix at dinnertime and watch an episode of Mythbusters or something similar.* But words are the ones that hold my love, because they encourage my imagination a lot more. Words are everything: they can weave new worlds, create characters who are more alive than some people, and form sentences that make your hairs stand on end and give you an incredible amount of motivation. Continue reading…

When things go “Ouch” in the night

Posted on March 24, 2017 by Teja Personal 0

Visiting doctors in a foreign country

*Za slovensko verzijo tega teksta prosim kliknite tukaj*

Unlike in childhood, when my constant colds and fevers caused my parents quite a few gray hairs, I am rather healthy now. (Knock on wood or, since it’s conveniently close, knock on a glass table where my feet are). But no matter how healthy a person is, it’s impossible to avoid occasional pains. When I’m lucky it’s only a cold, during which I spend a couple of days sniffling, complaining and feeling horrible, then I miraculously recover without going anywhere near a doctor.
Continue reading…

Human pink chameleon

Posted on March 24, 2017 by Teja Personal 0

A tribute to femininity

I always loved colours but you wouldn’t know it seeing my wardrobe, where dark colours dominated. And when I say dark, I mean gray, black and (for some diversity) dark red. Meanwhile yesterday, I went to uni dressed like this: Continue reading…

Where are all the women?

Posted on March 21, 2017 by Teja Personal 0

The world has about the same number of men and women. More exactly, in 2015, 49.5 % of the population were women, 50.5 were men (at least that’s what the World Bank’s data claims). But when you watch Hollywood movies, you can easily start thinking that the world is on the brink of extinction, because the male:female ratio is about 70:30. Who will give birth in their male world? We’re doomed, I tell you! Doomed!

Independent research and a culture of encouragement

Posted on March 18, 2017 by Teja Academic Personal 0

Juggling current (open) projects

Today, I was thinking of writing about tulips, which finally started blooming, or about inconveniences with toothaches, which are making me wish that I was in Slovenia and able to complain about it to my dentist. But somehow I lack the inspiration for it. Instead, I’ll write about various research projects that I’m currently juggling and having immense fun with. After all: what good is it to have your own blog if you can’t share you enthusiasm? Still, I’ll begin by sharing this picture of growing tulips that I took today (just so you know that I’m truly in the Netherlands): Continue reading…

How to find a parking spot for your bike

Posted on March 7, 2017 by Teja Personal 0

Or the adventures of living in the Netherlands

You know nothing, Katie Melua. There might be 9 million bicycles in Beijing, but there are 13 million of them in the Netherlands. However, Beijing has 20 million inhabitants and the Netherlands 16 millions, which basically means that nearly every person living here has a bike. If we exclude the people who are too old or too young* to cycle, it actually turns out that some have more than one bike. There, somewhere in the shed, is a spare bike just in case of a flat tire.
Continue reading…

Hogwarts in Utrecht

Posted on February 25, 2017 by Teja Personal 0

Few things marked my childhood as much as Harry Potter. And not only my childhood, also (mostly) my teenage years. This isn’t that unusual for our generation, because we grew up with the heroes of this book and film franchise. In my last year of primary school, the 7th (and last true) Harry Potter book was published, while in the last year of high school, we cried as we said goodbye to the characters once again when the last movie came out. My point is this: when I found out in December that Harry Potter: The Exhibition was coming to the Netherlands, I knew I was going to go. Even though I currently have a slightly bitter opinion towards J. K. Rowling (but about this some other time).