delicious times in Budapest.

Every time I am travelling, my love for Italian cuisine blossoms. Maybe it is because some pasta is always a safe choice, therefore perhaps I am boring like that. I am so happy that we managed to get away for a little dinner on our first day. "Most" bistro was an accidental found, and only after our return to Poland we actually realized that this place is pretty popular in Budapest. Three course meal for a pretty fair price and the most delicious gazpacho ever. Now I am pretty motivated to finally do a proper gazpacho by myself. Maybe the other meals were nothing too fancy, but I found the amount of food to be perfectly measured to meet my needs at that point. Ferrania Solaris really suprised me and produced some cool, warm colored tones. Too bad I don't seem to be able to find it anywhere online :(
 

We of course made a stop at Starbucks and had a big frappe with whipped cream topping, totally and overwhelmingly sweet. We made stops for coffees and drinks, finding some unique places where the service level varied from nice to awful.

Ferrania Solaris 200

Fuji Pro 400H expired

Another stop that deserved a couple of photographs was Gelateria Lavanda close to St Stephen's basilica. As we visited it on the first day, I was still in the "let's save as much as I can, so I do not end up starving" mode which always leaves me with 50% of my money on the last day of the trip, so my order included only a nice freezing cold coffee.

Fuji Superia 200

And of course, I couldn't forget about our little breakfast at Muvesz, with coffee, orange juice and omelettes with bacon and cheese. Sorry for totally blurring those pictures :)

Fuji Pro 400H

mornings

One of the things that stole my heart in January was having breakfasts outside of my apartment. Friday, a day with a few lectures and a philosophy class. Definitely the highlight of the week, long anticipated, finally arriving. I definitely loved January Fridays. One I spent in Gdansk, second, (almost the whole day) in bed, third- started with a little walk in this chilly weather to get my dose of American pancakes and some fresh perspective on what this town has to offer. ;)

thirteen going on fourteen

May 2014 be kind and even better than 2013 was! In every possible way. It's not like I only started taking pictures after midnight, when half of the people had fled, and I had no idea how to act with a fisheye in my hand, which was shaking by the way. I'm going to brace myself, get some 400 iso films and be ready for Gdansk on the 10th. And what's most important, I will stay gold. To be quite honest, last year left me wanting more. I found myself counting fireworks, wishing myself as many chocolate bars, dirty messages, and patients as I could count at that point. I also wish myself more luck in multichotomous questions, which may be a pretty nice metaphor for always picking the best alternative, oh and a good person beside me, by the time 2015 comes.

Coming back to 2013 once more, it made me happy, more or less. And it flew by really fast. I was happy to be around people when it ended, even if I actually spent a lot of time locked away. I want to be a better person this year, to myself and to others. I should also drink less, care less and be a reasonable young woman that I am supposed to be. Right, like I will succeed anyway. Rumour has it, we can never change, therefore 2014 is more likely to be messy, crazy, and to add at least two more people into my diary stories. All because integrity and stability are not exactly my piece of cake. :) After '13 I do know more. I'm B RH negative, whiskey with sprite rocks my socks, it is about a person, not their gender, and pain is truly inevitable, yet suffering is optional. Sucks to say, but I'm turning 21 this year, which makes me legal everywhere in the whole world. Scary. Frustrating as well. My world is shrinking, when it's supposed to be expanding rapidly. I really hope you had a blast at your NYE parties wherever you were. Let's just stay positive about those forthcoming 365 days. And take more pictures, they last longer. ♫ 

It would be stupid to make any new year's resolutions. Sure, I could try to gain some kgs, go on a journey of a lifetime, fall in love, blah blah. Life is unpredictable. If you had listed things 2013 brought, back when it only started for me, I would laugh in your face. And I guess it'd had been hard to stop laughing, and in the end I'd just say some snarky comment about you being delusional or just shake my head mindlessly. But those were all my choices, only mine. If it says anything about me, maybe it means that I'm not that predictable after all?

worry less. do more.

I'm back home for Christmas time. Almost with a clean slate at my school. I was never too religious, so I'd rather use this time to rebuild myself and to think. I'd done an awful lot of thinking even before I left Białystok, but in a way thinking between getting one pass and another was not the healthiest kind of thinking. Done at 3am, brainwashed, tired.

Highlights of the week. I finally ordered myself some poetry that I'd longed for. Yes, I finally bought Love & Misadventure. Yays to reading under the sheets, with coffee and marshmallows. I'm somehow really curious about it. Not that the misadventure part is much more familiar to me, I remember how I could relate to Lang, the first time I read her works. But I do plan to write a separate post on the lovely time I spend with Miss Leav. I am finally getting the sleep that I needed and it feels bloody marvellous. It's hard not to stay up until early morning hours, especially when the topics of conversations get fiery, but I do enjoy my waking up at noon. I was never a big fan of Christmas time, but I do enjoy a party once in awhile, so my New Year's Eve options are still open. Surely you don't know, but a year ago, right after a new year began, I made myself a happy jar. A jar where I'd put mentions of things that made me happy in 2013. I am picky when it comes to officially labelling things as "happy makers". I forgot to bring it back home with me, but I do remember most of them, so even if I end up drinking champagne with my friend somewhere close to neither Białystok nor my hometown, I know I will be able to recall them all. 

I bought myself a used Lomo Fisheye. Why a Fisheye? I was never into such pictures so much, but when I saw a girl I know from high school times, selling her lomo on facebook, I just couldn't pass on such opportunity to try something new. Yes, I do enjoy new things in my life. It's beautiful, gold and to be quite honest it feels like a plastic toy in my hands. I got used to tank-like cameras, and being absolutely and utterly in love with my Praktica, which will stay in my heart forever, I'm just happy that I finally got something lighter, with a flash, which might be a fit for the life of the party that I lead from time to time. I am going to give it a try with a regular 200 iso roll (though I know what they recommend is actually 400, so we will see) and see for myself whether I get that vibe or using a toy-like camera is not for me.  As per usual, I plan to have a lot of fun while doing so. Gdańsk, here I come. I've never been to the sea in the winter before. Oh the joy of the first times.  Do you have any tips for me, as a beginning Fisheye user?

“There are a million ways to bleed. But you are by far my favorite.” 

(One of "I wrote this for you" little paragraphs that make me want to scream inside. There will be a post on those books and my favourite quotes, containing about a million of words, since I love each and every sentence that this book carries inside. Damn me, my feelings and those pages.)

I will speak to you soon! Have a merry one, guys! Thank you for sticking around. I know 2014 will be exquisite. There is just no other way, you know. Thank you Erin, for this beautiful Christmas card that you've sent me. You're the loveliest! Thank you for making my Christmas brighter with all those glitter little Christmas trees! Thank you, Katie, for ever introducing me to the idea of lomography. Your blog was what pushed me towards making my own. Thank you everyone for being such a great inspiration in 2013.