Confessions of a Solo Woman Traveller

When I told my family and friends that I was going on a trip on my own, a short pause of silence always followed my statement. They would look at me with a mixture of suspicion and alarm. ‘Like, completely on your own?’, they would ask.

To put this in context (as translators and linguists often feel the need to do), I come from a culture where mundane instances of everyday life are often turned into opportunities for socialising and doing things on your own is usually looked down at as some sign that your social life (or mental health) is suffering. Didn’t I have a friend that would like to go with me? If I couldn’t find company why was I going in the first place?

Truth is sometimes the stars (along with friends’ schedules and budgets) do not align and one is faced with the following life-or-death question: How badly did you want to visit Copenhagen?

Processed with VSCO with f2 preset Read more

Share Button

Book Review: The Royal We

book-review-the-royal-we

Author: Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan

Summary:

Sporty, carefree American college exchange Rebecca, aka Bex, lands in Oxford, UK, living across the hall from the royal heir, aka Nick. Even though they start out as pals, they cannot help falling in love with each other (surprise, surprise) whilst bonding over trashy TV and Twinkies,  but decide to keep their romance a secret from the royal family and the hungry – almost carnivore – public eye.  Read more

Share Button

The Translated Files: The Starfish Position

With this post I would like to introduce a new ‘column’ in this blog!

Every now and then I come across an article that resonates with me or prompts me to think but is written in Greek. So I decided to do what I do best, thinking about food  translating in order to make it accessible to more, non-Greek speaking people, channeling one of my initial motivations for creating this blog about 1,000,000 years ago:

Sharing all the good stuff I discover with others. Because sharing is caring. (And there’s always more to talk about afterwards.)

This translated abstract originates from the Greek Cosmopolitan’s column Sex and The Single Girl, which was originally penned by Alexandra K. and published in the September 2016 issue.

 kate-flaneur-translated-article-being-single

Read more

Share Button

The Athens Diaries

Despite an ongoing, torrid love affair with Manchester and flirting with the idea of moving to either Berlin, Brussels or Barcelona (the alliteration is purely coincidental), Athens has always been and will continue to be my one and only true love.

athens-baby

Read more

Share Button

A Sunday Afternoon in Chorlton

chorlton-manchester-flaneur

What should one do on a sunny Sunday afternoon in Manchester? When you’ve almost completed a PhD on the independent coffee shops and brunch spots of the Northern Quarter you know it’s time for a change of scenery.

My fabulous French Instagram wife C. had already suggested about a million times that she shows me around Chorlton, a neat suburban area of Manchester which she adores, so that’s where we went.

Read more

Share Button

Instagram: Wanna Be Real-Life Friends?

Are you on Instagram? No? You should be. Yes? Then you’re probably more likely to understand what I will talk about.

flaneur-instagram-friends

Read more

Share Button

3 Things I Learned From My Brother

One of my favorite Earthlings is my brother, who is mentioned – or photographed – very rarely in this blog. Picture my brother, Dimitris, as a taller, smarter, wiser and – ironically – 4,5 years younger version of me.

3 Things I Learned From My Brother

No, I’m taking this last sentence back. My brother and I are not versions of each other. On the contrary, we have very different characters, which gives me the opportunity to constantly learn and draw inspiration from him.

Every day I spend around him is a valuable lesson, but I tried to pick out only three of the things that I’ve learned from by brother:

Read more

Share Button

#instalove: Favorite Instagram Accounts

Instagram was love at first sight. To some extent, I even like it better that facebook, my all-time favorite social media network. Not a week passes by without me following a couple new accounts.

#instalove: Favorite Instagram Accounts Read more

Share Button

Who’s Afraid of First Dates?

Hands down, who’s afraid of first dates?

Well, you have every reason not to be. I love first dates. Even though the thought of first dates might be intimidating, they can be a great deal of fun. If you have one (or many) lined up and cannot shake that sneaky queasy feeling, here are a couple nuggets of wisdom on how not to go bananas over your next first date.

Who's Afraid of First Dates? Read more

Share Button

The One About Growing Up

About a month ago I turned 23. Twenty effin three. Still cannot believe it. Graduating from high school still feels like yesterday. How come the years passed so quickly? Where did they go?

Where is my life taking me?

Or, more importantly, where am I taking my life?

tumblr_o0nko8tj291qh24n6o1_1280

Read more

Share Button