In Italy clichés can be wonderful
I avoided visiting Italy for a long time. The Italian propaganda lurks from every corner: Italy is one of the most touristy destinations, everyone goes or has been to Italy, ”Italian” pizza is everywhere, there are famous Italian neighborhoods (Little Italy) around the world, literally, everything screams ITALY! in your face. We often eat pizza and pasta at home. Italy is so popular that it has become a kind of a classic. I visited Venice and Verona on a guided trip as a part of a European excursion when I was 16. Since then I avoid guided tours like vampires avoid garlic unless a tour is the only way to see…
Monsters in Bangkok
Bangkok. The airplane window is so sweaty that anything is barely visible outside. The feeling is as in a Turkish bath – steamy and sticky. Perfect conditions for my hard-to-tame hair. A promise for an adventure! We arrive during a dengue fever outbreak. Despite that we religiously apply and reapply a mosquito repellent throughout the day and wear long sleeves in the evening, we get our first bites from gigantic mosquitos. They bite through the clothes! While I wait for the agonizing symptoms, we get bitten a few more times until we stop counting the red skin swellings. It turns out not every mosquito carries the disease and even during…
Everything is love
Oslo Pride is a colorful celebration of queer love and diversity. An event during which the great mood is contagious and everybody is genuinely happy. The 10-day festival is in the form of art exhibitions, movie screenings, parties, concerts, and political debates. The culmination is Oslo Pride Parade where thousands of people gather on the streets of Oslo to show support and have fun. Parade participants give away to the crowd candies, lollipops, condoms, and magazines. This year’s parade topic was family and many of the parade participants wore posters with slogans ”A family is more than a mother, a father, and a kid” and t-shirts declaring proud moms, daughters,…
