2 ways to make your travel even more interesting

I believe everyone has traveled before, at least to some aspect. Alone, with family, with your friends. You see new things you have not noticed before. You breathe a different air, meet different people, interact, communicate and have a lot of fun.

But it’s possible that you are traveling and get bored because of no mobile phone battery and no music, dreary roads, or because you hate sitting for a long time without the liberty of action. So the following are basically  two games you can play when on the road.

1. Stalking people

This actually sounds pretty bad, while in fact, it is a super fun way to spend your time. When you are traveling, for example on a bus, most of us simply look around. Possibly at the scenery, maybe at the sky.

Those are interesting of course, at least to sometimes but usually, the people are even more interesting if you try to understand them. Imagine them looking at you, and they might be seeing you as the average bus passenger, but they can’t even imagine where you are going, what you are going to do there and so on.

I started to imagine a story for those people I passed on the street. I looked at their clothes, their bag, their type of transportation. That way a woman with cheap clothes, but expensive jewelry, became the mistress of a rich and married man. Or that rather harmless looking man biking on the sidewalk with the hidden neck tattoo became an extreme sports addict, a hobby he hides from his girlfriend, the skinny lady next to him because he doesn’t want to scare her.

2. Guessing license plates

 

This is a game most likely everyone has played before. You are on a highway and around there is nothing but cars. I started off with auto brands. Then I tried the “harder” stuff. Wikipedia has all the information you will need.

Truth be told, when I started this I couldn’t even tell auto brands apart. Now I’m a lot better.

Also, it is more fun if you play these games with someone else.^^

6 arguments that will convince you that living on a lonely island wouldn’t be all that bad

Modern times aren’t easy. That’s for sure. But is it so bad, that we should consider moving to a lonely island, such as  Elliðaey shown above, the most northeastern of the Vestmannaeyjar (Westman Islands) in the South of Iceland with two houses and behold a population of five inhabitants?

Living in such a way, would of course be interesting for all those of us, that would enjoy their life in solitude, but would it be worth it for the rest of us?

1. You have next to no risk of becoming the victim of a terrorist attack

September 11, 2001 (Twin Towers, NYC, United States of America)

This might sound rather grim but it’s the truth. While the rest of us, especially those that live in the bigger cities, need to face the possibility of an attack, someone living on an island will not be threatened by that. Terrorists want to strike the most people possible, so an island with a very low number of inhabitant will not be their target.

2. You don’t have to deal with all the political crap going on at the moment

Another rather convincing fact is that you won’t be effected with whatever they do in politics. To me it sometimes seems as if people can’t deal with all the crises at the moment. They try to ignore the problems by turning more and more racist. A good example for that circumstance is the Brexit. Great Britain is a country so scared of foreign immigrants that it seceded from the EU, without considering the harm that it might do to their economy as well as reputation.

This also applies to the elections in the US in the future. This, in my opinion, will turn out to be a decision for who is the least bad.

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So why not go live on a lonely island, while everyone else has to deal with this.

3. You own a boat

Let’s leave the unreasonable politics and turn to the cool parts of living on an island.

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You will most likely own a boat! If you don’t, I feel really sorry for you! Living on an island like Elliðaey that is so far away from the next supermarket, will not be fun with no way to reach it!

4. You don’t need to deal with annoying neighbors

Everyone that has neighbors that are super intrusive understand this. They freak at every little thing you do. If your children are a little to loud they threaten you with calling the police. When you mow you lawn they are mad because they want to take a nap. When you don’t trim your trees they scream at you when just one leaf finds its way into their garden and of course you should never play with a ball on your property because if it accidentally lands on their’s, you will never get it back since they will file a complaint should you ever enter their plot of land.

In that case a solitary island will solve all your problems.

5. You always have an excuse why you don’t contact people and they can’t reach you

If you are like me, you sometimes enjoy not being reachable. Not your mom, friends, grandma or boss can just call and tell you things you need to do. Excuses like, that you were in an area without service or your phone battery died usually don’t work. But if you live that far away from society these reasons automatically make sense.

This will have the disadvantage that you will most likely not have a telephone wire nor WiFi access at all, but everything has a dark and a bright side.

6. You can throw large partys

This would be my primary reason for moving that far out. Everywhere you live you need to turn the music down since you don’t want somebody to call the police because of noise disturbance. SHOUTOUT to all my neighbors for being such party poopers!

 

8 steps to follow, when creating a new you.

It was the first time, and it wouldn’t be the last. The first time I decided, that being loved and respected isn’t something we get by dissimulating, but rather by portraying who we truly are. It was the first time I invented a new me, since the me before was merely a reflection of other’s exceptions. Well, and of course it wasn’t the last time that I reformed myself – we all change with experience.

1. Where do you see yourself in you dreams?

This is the question you need to ask yourself when starting this journey. This might as well be the hardest point of them all.

As the sun knows; even the sky is not the limit…

― Rasheed Ogunlaru

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Realizing where you want to stand and where you picture yourself in the future, is something really intimate and deep – and nobody can disencumber you from these realizations. If you want to be seen in a certain way by others, you might have to change some of your actions. People will limit you to the things you have confidence in. If you now want to be appreciated for something different, you will have to build confidence in that specific field to make them realize it.

2. Make a plan!

Before the Plan, there is an Idea. Before the Idea, there is a Purpose. Before the Purpose, there is Your Spirit…aching to express Itself

― Paresh Shah

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So you now have your spirit and a goal. To achieve the change you intend, you will need a plan to make it work. Organisation is the core part of success. So you will need to research what is best to be done in your case. Whatever you do, live it with faith in yourself. People make mistakes – it’s human nature. So take other’s oppositions as an incentive and other’s encouragement as a reward.

3. Dress according to your personality and preferences

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What I realized when I created the person I am now, is that you need clothes that fit your character. And when you choose, don’t pick according to what is modern and accepted, but rather by what you like and what you feel good in. If that is colorful or black, baggy or tight. Just dresses and skirts or only jeans and t-shirt. Wear what you feel comfortable in, and not what other’s may like for you to wear. Just a fitting outer appearance can give you so much confidence!

4. Don’t forget about a healthy lifestyle

“Healthy” here can be interpreted in diverse ways. Healthy should be your comfort-zone. If that is no sport or an enormous amount of sport. A balanced diet, a vegan or a “I’ll grab whatever is in the fridge” kind of lifestyle. You have to like the way you live. You will want to create habits, that go well with your personality. Just remember that some changes don’t happen in you comfort-zone.

5. Ask friends about their opinion

When you find yourself surrounded by sane people excited about your idea and lending support, you realize, perhaps, you are not as crazy as you think you are

― Paresh Shah

Your friends and family are your support. They will be there when you rise, as well as when you fall. Make sure to not keep everything to yourself. Some decisions are hard to make. Having people around that love you just for who you are, is a blessing.

6. Have self-confidence

So many people will tell you ”no”, and you need to find something you believe in so hard that you just smile and tell them ”watch me”. Learn to take rejection as motivation to prove people wrong. Be unstoppable. Refuse to give up, no matter what. It’s the best skill you can ever learn.

― Charlotte Eriksson

A brush of confidence by india-davis

If you’ve made a decision to do something – stick with it! Hold your head up high and face your critics head-on. Everyone that doesn’t like the “true” you, might have been a false friend all along.

7. Look back

Sometimes, to get motivated you need to look back and appreciate the way you have come. Nothing is better than realizing the big steps and the gigantic challenges you’ve mastered during this journey. Don’t ever give up and keep working hard, just as you have done in the past.

Remember how far you’ve come, and you won’t have to rely on a destiny for your future. It will come on your own.

― Shannon A. Thompson,

8. Strive for your goals

When one has followed one specific goal for a very long time, it usually is weird to suddenly reach it. Don’t be afraid of the goal! If you think you have then lost your purpose – quest for a new one. This isn’t the first change! You continue changing all you life! So simply enjoy it as the beautiful human being you are!

 

5 reasons why trying to understand others will make your life so much happier

Understanding others. This is a quality that only few of us possess and even fewer actually use to our advantage. And understanding is not meant in that aspect where you have to listen to made up stories or unreasonable excuses, it is rather meant that you observe others and then interpret their actions.

Little hints that can mean many different things but all point to one trait of character, that help you understand why a person acts the way he or she does, even though it might be impossible to recognize at first glance. Little things you can find out about them, that they might not even know themselves or would never tell anyone (while sober).

1. You are never taken by surprise

Wouldn’t that be great? Not having to always be surprised by the actions of other. If you pay attention to them beforehand, you will most likely be able to predict something long before it will happen. And in case it is threatening you or the acting person, you will be able to do something about it. A really good way to observe others, is by reading body language.

But not only body language will give clues on other people’s feelings. The way they dress, their hobbies, their favorite music genre, their list of priorities, etc. all of this gives a great deal of information on the other person. As long as you are observant and process the information they accidentally give you, you will never be taken by surprise.

2. You don’t get overwhelmed by feelings such as hatred

“I think that hate is a feeling that can only exist where there is no understanding.”
― Tennessee Williams

So negative emotions are something nobody likes. Whether it is hatred, envy, frustration, doubt or sadness, they usually only cause confusion and unnecessary conflicts. If you try to understand somebody through observing them, you might get your answers much faster than by simply asking and in the end being served a lie. Communication always has to do with empathy. If you put yourself in the same position and think about what you would do if you had the limited point of view the other person has, then you will find yourself coming to conclusions you might have overlooked previously.

3. You learn to forgive others because you see a little bit of yourself in them

In case you should encounter someone that is bullying you/ treating you badly, you might recognize that they usually have the same problems you do, but process them differently. Take a homosexual individual for example. There are still people out there that don’t know how to deal with their own sexuality, maybe because of badmouthing in the family, maybe because of other factors. If such a person encounters another homosexual individual that might be more open or simply normal about it, he/she might feel challenged by that normality and act abusive in conclusion. The person sees the other as their “bad” part, that they want to hide from others, which leads to the violence.

I’m not trying to say, that we should all forgive our bullies. But knowing this perspective will give us the chance to understand them and later maybe even forgive them.

4. You are never called skin-deep

Since you always think ahead and don’t just judge people depending on their outer appearance, it is impossible to call you skin-deep. You try to dig deeper than the average person, resulting in a better understanding for humanity.

5. You can avoid mistakes because you have seen others make them

It is possible that this is a rather selfish  reason but what can we do but learn from the mistakes others made. Since you have two different viewpoints on a person through careful observance, you have a better understanding of a problematic. Two viewpoints as in the way you see that person and the way the person sees him/herself. If you now should find yourself in a similar situation you can recall the feeling and perspectives and then conclude what to do next. There might be a back door that you can only see with some distance, and that you only use when you know about it.

Please tell me if you agree with this list. (^_~)

 

10 reasons why adventurous people are the happiest

Adventuresomeness comes in many different shapes and sizes. It can be a road trip, a hook up with a total stranger, the food of a different culture or maybe just the courage to do the thing one truly wants. So if you are adventurous you might relate to the following.

1. You have so much more self-confidence

During your adventures you most likely had to face the person you are. You have most likely gotten to know you weaknesses as well as you strengths. You have learned to accept them and because of that you have confidence in the person you are. Others that have always just lived comfortably and safe, never had the need to fight with themselves like that.

2. People always call you mature while you are actually the biggest child of them all

Because of that uncommon self-confidence you might exude, people might think you are older or just very mature for your age. The funny thing in this aspect is, that adventurous people aren’t mature at all. An adventure is like a game that we are addicted to. We are just really good at hiding that inner child because we always need rational reasons to justify the things we do!

3. You smile a lot

Well true! You indeed do smile a lot which makes you a likable acquaintance. Because of the natural happiness that comes with adventures, you have no other choice but to smile it out and make the entire globe see it.

4. You see the world with different eyes

Because of your adventures that might seem rather unusual for an observer, you see things in a different light. You might know about the fragile line between life and death and how easy it can be overstepped. You might have experienced things that have completely changed the way you look at an aspect and this might have made you a more open-minded and fair human being.

5. Nobody ever tells you that you’re boring

Well, of course not! Who would dare. You always have a story to tell or another adventure to plan. You pull others into your world of weird fantasies that they might have never even considered.

6. You’re the weird one

And weirdness doesn’t necessarily have to be bad. You life is exiting. Normality is the poison that causes unhappiness and indifference. Let’s all be everything but ordinarily.

7. You know where your limits are

Because of you constantly trying new things, you know exactly where to stopp. You still have a lot of things to do in the future, so you don’t want to cross the line.

8. You’re passionate and love yourself

If you do something – you go all in. You have a passion for what you do. This passion also includes yourself. The primary goal of your life choices is to achieve happiness and that is only possible with you accepting yourself for who you are. At the same time this also gives you the chance of loving somebody else, because without loving and respecting yourself you can’t love somebody else as well. Furthermore you should be your first fan, don’t expect someone else to love you, when you can’t even do it yourself.

9. You’re closer to you dreams than anybody else

Your dreams are just another adventure to you. Fulfilling them is something you are not scared of doing. Moving forward is the only direction you go and you just look back to avoid making the same mistakes you did in the past. Dreams are reality to you and you intend to live them tomorrow as soon as the sun is up.

10. You show everybody your true character

Others usually try to fit in and are scared of people talking behind their back. But you’re different. Other people’s opinions don’t mean much to you and you continue displaying exactly you inner appearance on the outside. You really love the people around you and tell those, you don’t like, your thoughts to the face. You speak the truth which makes you a trustworthy friend and somebody that is comfortable in your own skin.

So when will you going to start your next adventure?

If you have any other ideas please feel free to leave a comment. (^_~)

 

10 ways in which singing will benefit you

Singing is something beautiful. Especially when someone with a wonderful voice does it. But even if you are an individual with next to none singing talent (like me) you might still conciser singing more!

1. DANGER! Singing might cause chronic happiness

Singing releases endorphins, hormones that are set free within the brain and tell it to “feel good”.  Trough doing that, singing increases the feeling of wellbeing, enhances mood and produces positive thoughts.

It also helps with stress reduction and can cure snoring which will make your partner really happy.

The tune of happiness by TsubasaFairy

2. It will improve you health

Singing has many physical and mental benefits. It stretches and helps control the muscles of the lungs which results in healthier breathing. It is said that it also improves sleep. Furthermore it tones the face muscles that are usually not in use.

Singing functions as an antidepressant and helps reduce anger and anxiety. People that have a severe illness find their inner balance trough singing and get an energy boost to continue fighting.

3. You can get your feelings out there

Singing can help you say the feelings, that you keep hidden inside your heart, out aloud. If you are lonely, angry, sad, in love, heartbroken or hopeless, somebody has most likely written a song about it. When singing that song you can then utter these feelings or actually realize them. Sometimes it is hard to say what you truly feel. Singing might take some weight of your shoulders.

4. You become part of a community

Singing opens the way into a new community. If you join a choir or a band you will realize how rewarding it is to sing in a group. Doing the same thing, producing a wonderful sound as one voice that is able to fill an entire hall and just having the same passion, will give you a hobby that will have a positive effect on the way you look at life.

5. It will make your memory better

Memorizing lyrics and melodies trains your brain. Memorizing things trough singing them is also really effective since a melody has better grip in your mind.

6. It gives you a better control over your voice

Do you get scared of delivering a speech in front of a crowd because your voice then does funny things like disappear or slip off to a really high pitch? Well, then you might want to consider training your voice trough singing since that strengthens the vocal chords.

7. It makes you more confident (posture)

Standing in front of a crowd, in a group or alone, does wonders to your confidence.

To sing properly you also need to learn the singing posture which will ultimately result in you walking around in it all day, making you seem more confident and self-assured.

8. You are tricked into exercising

I get this a lot when I am not motivated to exercise at all and just lay around in bed. I turn on the music and eventually start singing along. Not after too long im dancing around in my room and play the air guitar while headbanging like crazy. In the end I’m super energetic and have so much motivation that I even go exercise afterwards. Crazy, tricky singing!

9. It increases the empathy and understanding between cultures

Music and singing bring people together and are some kind of universal language. That’s why you should definitely bring along some music when traveling!

10. Party would be boring without it

If you go out to party and don’t sing along with the music, it’s going to be boring! Trust me!

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Please tell me what you think about this list and whether you have any experience with singing and its positive effects.

5 reasons why ideology doesn’t flourish in isolation

A North Korean missile unit takes part in a military parade to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the founding of the Korean People's Army in Pyongyang in this picture taken April 25, 2007. North Korea fired several short-range missiles towards the Sea of Japan on Friday morning, Kyodo news agency said, quoting Japanese and U.S. Officials. REUTERS/Korea News Service (NORTH KOREA) JAPAN OUT

There are so many historical examples where a human’s ideology wilted while its country was in isolation. Nowadays there are just as many countries doing horribly because of isolation as well. So exactly why doesn’t isolation work and why does ideology wither?

1. There is nothing to compare to

When countries isolate themselves from others, they can’t compare themselves to each other anymore. If you take the market for example. If the fair competition between two enterprises with the same products isn’t given, then the only competitor can decide on the prices. This might rather disadvantage the country than benefit it.

But comparison isn’t only important in economy. If you have never seen another culture, religion and way of life and you have never known another country you can never put yourself in the other persons position and come to humane conclusions. And humane actions are extremely important when it comes to politics.

2. Humanity was designed to live in communion – import, export

No country can survive alone. No matter how grand a country is, there will most likely be supplies that are needed for daily life, that that country can’t produce by itself. To relinquish something that important, might not be the best choice. Especially if the isolation was chosen to protect the country and its people.

3. You’ll get brainwashed

If you take Germany as an example for a brainwashed country, during the period from the first to the second world war, you will realize that the reason Germany was so run down and easy to manipulate, was because of the economical and political isolation it was in. When you are isolated, it is the most likely that you will collapse because of a problem that you can’t deal with by yourself.

4. No growth – no flourishing ideology

A country needs to see development to flourish. Why work if nothing moves forward. Growth is really limited in an isolated country. (An example for limited development would be Japan, which was isolated before the american invasion and then introduced to modern spirit.)

5. Dreams die

Isolation takes away you freedom, even if it is chosen voluntarily. If you want to build a worldwide business or simply travel to foreign lands, have an internet connection or immigrate into another country, it might all be limited and controlled by the government.

Remember, what’s supposed to keep the danger out, might also lock you in as well.

List of temporary isolated countries here.

Please tell me if you agree or disagree with my list and leave a comment.

 

 

The best way to learn a language

There are two different types of people learning languages. “The Will-Study-Till-Death” and”The Won’t-Study-Ever-and-Figure-Stuff-Out-By-Doing”.

All by themselves, both of these aren’t as efficient as they could be in combination.

The Will-Study-Till-Death

You learn languages for fun and most likely by studying through grammar books and reading? Then you are this type of person. People that study this way are mostly better with reading and writing than listening and speaking.

The good thing about this way to study is that the language concepts are understood. It is also the only way to learn writing systems that are different from the romance alphabet.

Steps to help you improve:

1. Even though it might be hard for you, try to get a buddy to study with.

The best choice, would of course be a person that is better than you in the language that you are studying – the best would be a native speaker. If you don’t know anybody that you can talk to, try the platforms lang-8 and italki. There are also others out there, that work in a similar way. If you don’t want to pay the fee to get a professional teacher you can still connect to people that learn your native language and help them with that in compensation for their help.

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2. This tip only works for you, if you live in a big city. These kind of cities – especially capitals have a gigantic multicultural and multilingual community. If you don’t know where to find people that speak your target language, try restaurants that sell traditional food of the country that language comes from.

This tactic doesn’t work 100% of the time, but you still have a good chance that the people making the food actually come from that country. Some times they belong to immigrant families or have just moved to your country out of interest. In any way just try speaking their language to them. What I realized while traveling is that natives usually aren’t that fixated on you speaking perfectly pronounced with the correct grammar. As long as the things you are trying to say are understood, your attempt will most likely be welcome.

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3. A great way to meet natives is to be a host on couchsurfing. This gives you the chance to be in your familiar environment while getting to know something new. Also travelers are most likely the best kind of people to meet, since they are usually open for everything, have great stories to tell and will bring the big, wide world in your home. On Couchsurfing people also host meet ups where you also meet people from all over the world.

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4. Go travel yourself!!!

Travel throws you right into the unknown, so you’ll learn so much faster than in your comfort zone. You will meet tons of people, learn about different cultures and a whole new lifestyle. In case you are still considering – GO, it will be the best choice you have ever made!

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5. Don’t stop studying. Get that grammar down, there is no way around that.

 

The Won’t-Study-Ever-and-Figure-Stuff-Out-By-Doing

You are very social and love talking to and meeting new people? This is also the way you learn languages? You hate studying to death? Well, then you are this type. You will most likely be good at listening and speaking while you still have to improve reading and writing.

Steps to help you improve:

1.Keep up the communication and interaction. Since you are basically learning your language the same way as you did learn you mother tongue, you are doing it in a very natural way. Sadly your brain sort of adjusts to thinking in the language(s) we learned first. Because of that, grammar is usually hard to grasp. Since you learn a language mostly trough listening you will have a much faster understanding and feeling for the new language than the previous type though.

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2. Spelling!!! Reading and writing is a very important part of a language. Just as you learned it for your first language(s) you will have to learn it for your next as well. In modern society you need it everywhere: to read the menu at a restaurant, for orientation, to read the news, because you want to apply for a job – whatever it is, you’ll need to know it.

If you really hate studying, try watching YouTube videos. You’ll might also consider reading a book or comic you like in that language.Like that learning how words are written might be less of a chore.

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3. GRAMMAR! Please, even though natives might still understand you even though your grammar isn’t perfect, they are still happier (and more impressed) by good grammar. This shows that you have dealt with the language thoughtfully. A website I really love is lingolia (for the languages German, English, French, Spanish and Esperanto.

As you can see what one type lacks, he can compensate with what the other is good at. In case your interested in the topic check out my other posts on the 4 main parts of language learning,  what’s so good about multilingualism anyway and if language learning is for just anybody.

Please leave a comment and tell me whether you agree or disagree with my points.

5 advantages of “chaotic” travel

Everyone that loves to travel does it in a different way. Some fly from hotel to hotel, while others camp in the wild and hitchhike or bike from one place to another. Both of these ways to travel are at times advantageous and disadvantageous.

I really love the “wild” and “close to the people” type of travel and I hope the following points will make you think the same way.

1. It gives you the chance to get to know the actual country

Do you know that feeling? You visit a country but when you leave again, you don’t feel like you have actually been there. That is most likely because you have stayed at a hotel. Maybe you have visited a few sights, but have never talked to the people living there. You have not seen how the people in that country live, but have rather continued to live the lifestyle you know from home?

Well that kind of travel might be really comfortable and relaxing, but you could have saved the money for the flight and just stayed at a hotel in your home country.

But if you travel in a more chaotic way, a way close to the people, you will find out that when visiting a new country it isn’t wellness and comfort you want, but rather adventure. You want memories of the people and not of the money you’ve spent.

2. It is cheap

A plus point, in a lot of peoples eyes, is that it is a really cheap way to travel. Depending on where and how you travel you might just need 10€/$ per day. Hitchhiking or biking might be pretty slow but you don’t have to pay for it. While plane tickets will make you go bankrupt.

3. You will remember it for the rest of your life

Did you know that memories are replaceable – at least some of them. You will never be able to forget an adventure though. Adventures are these kinds of memories that you will tell you grand- and great-grandchildren without forgetting about a single detail. When you are old you will only regret the things you didn’t do.

4. You are active (No getting fat!)

Okay, the exercising part of traveling is beneficial to all those of us that tend to gain weight during a wellness vacation since all you do is eat and sleep. When you are walking or biking all day long, you can eat as much as you want to, since it is very unlikely for you to put on weight. So get on that bike!

5. You meet yourself

When you are on the road in the middle of nowhere and you might face some hardships. Those are the times at which you find out who you truly are or could be. You will grow more confident and stronger than you could have ever imagined.

Lou Holtz

“Du wirst niemanden überholen solange du versuchst dich zu rächen.”