Speaking of plans for the year
Plans for 2022 and the word I chose while I was standing in my kitchen, drinking coffee and thinking about what I want to do this year.
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Favorites of the Year 2021
I was so tired by the end of 2021, but here are the things I really liked
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On the death of Prince Philip and how we don’t like to talk about the dead
Let’s stop putting dead people on imaginary pedestals.
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Disney, little mermaids, and fish that don’t know racism
Boy, was it a scandal when Disney announced that the new Ariel for the remake of the Disney classic The Little Mermaid would be singer and actor Halle Bailey. Because we have a little time on our hands, just a little, let’s talk about the new hot topic.…
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Of Mount Fuji, the Bamboo Princess, and the time I didn’t train to climb a mountain
There’s a Japanese saying that goes like this: “A wise man climbs Mt. Fuji once. Only a fool climbs it twice.” There’s a reason people say that and I got to find out why. I did not really believe René and Vassili the first time they…
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2019: A Balanced Year
Every year I like to look for a quote to write in my notebook. I usually stick to the same three, the first by Alfred Lord Tennyson, the second by T.S. Eliot, and the third, my favorite one, by Ray Bradbury: “Next year’s going to be…
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Literary St. Petersburg: Nevsky Prospect
A walk through St. Petersburg’s most famous avenue: Nevsky Prospect.
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St. Petersburg: Museum City
Город Музей Город Музей, or «gorod muzei» for those who, like me, do not read Russian, museum city, is how some people refer to the city of St. Petersburg. With over 100 museums, one ought to stay there for at least a few months to see every…
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Saint Petersburg in January
«You’re going to Russia in January? Why? It’s so cold!» Those were usually the first words that my friends and family when I told them the news. In July 2017, after coming from work one day, I received a call from my good friend Miriam. She…
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Christmas Markets: Köln
Merry Christmas, my dearest readers! I am writing to you from the living room of one of my best friends, having had dinner and having enjoyed the holiday season. For those of you who, like me, didn’t know this, Germans celebrate Christmas Eve and two days…
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Christmas Markets: Bonn
December’s here! And with it, comes the most wonderful time of the year! Those of you who’ve followed the blog for a little longer, know that every year I like to visit the Christmas Markets from the region. This year I moved to a different state,…
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What? You’re only Mexican?
«Where are you from?» This is usually the first question I’m asked when I’m introduced to someone. Not because people see me and instantly know I’m not German, but because Germany is full of people from everywhere. Particularly in German universities, not everybody is from the…
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Checking in and saying hi!
It is amazing how quickly times goes by. It is already September and here I am, thinking about all the things I have and haven’t done since 2017 started. I think now is a good time to go back and take a look at all the…
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Mexico City: Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo Studio House Museum
So a friend and I decided to go to the Diego Rivera & Frida Kahlo Studio House Museum in the beautiful neighborhood of San Ángel, located in southern Mexico City. Two cousins of mine who live near there joined us in our visit to the Studio.…
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Why I Keep a Journal (And You Should Too!)
How are you today? How is everything going? Today we’re not talking about books, we’re talking about notebooks. The personal kind of notebook: the journal. Keeping a journal was something I shied away for quite a long time. The thought of opening with the line «dear…
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2017: The Year of Disciplined Thinking
Happy New Year! I’ve never been one to make New Year’s Resolutions. In fact, I hate them. To want to do or stop doing something just because the calendar has a different number always seemed a little silly. Perhaps it is because school never started in…
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Madrid, Cervantes, and Musical Theater in Mexico City
Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra (1547-1616) is probably the most important Spanish writer in the history of literature. He played such an important role in shaping Spanish literary culture, that echoes of him can be heard in our common sayings, in contemporary pieces of literature, in theater, movies and…
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Thoughts from a Spanish Bus
The trip from Madrid to Bilbao started at four in the afternoon and wasn’t over until I was at the Airb&b apartment at ten at night. I had flown from Hamburg at eight o’clock in the morning, so I was pretty tired by the time I sat on…
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Next Stop: Spain
I have never been to Spain. In fact, going to Spain was not in my short- and even medium-term plans. Not that I have anything against the land of Cervantes, Picasso, El Cid and paella. It’s just that, going there simply hadn’t really crossed my mind. “The whole world…
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Choices and Changing Leaves
This is the story of how I made a decision that changed everything I had been planning for the last six months. The first two weeks of July were marked by waves of stress, bad moods, and unnecessary anxiety. I was frustrated, unmotivated and I didn’t understand…
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Belgium: Chocolate, Chocolate, Chocolate
Belgium is famous for its chocolate tradition, which dates back to the 17th Century. Of course, they import their cocoa beans, but chocolates are a big, big part of their culture and economy, and the quality standards for chocolate production are higher than in the rest of Europe.…
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Belgium: Books and Monuments
Brussels The last day in Brussels we had breakfast at Le Pain Quotidien, a restaurant-bakery founded in Brussels in 1990 by Alain Coumont, a chef who, upon realizing that he didn’t like the bread available for his restaurant, decided to make his own. He opened a small place in…
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Brussels: of Writers, Squares, and Cathedrals
My friend and I have just returned from our little trip. We spent four days in Belgium, two in Brussels and two in Bruges, and let me tell you that, although Brussels is not that big of a city, two days is not nearly enough time…
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Next Stop: Belgium
How are you today? It’s 19th of February and I finally have a few free days before going back to locking myself in the library. Last week I couldn’t write here on the blog because I had an exam coming. It is now behind me and I…
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Christmas in Oaxaca
In 2015, we decided to spend Christmas in one of my favourite cities in the world: Oaxaca. In Mexico, we have a thing called «Magical Town», which is a title given to the most beautiful towns of the country. Oaxaca is not a town, but a…
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The Notebook in My Pocket says: Thank You!
And the year is over, my dear readers! First I want to thank you for reading The Notebook in My Pocket these past months. Thank you for staying despite my inconsistencies and my crooked photos, thank you for commenting and sharing the posts; thank you for reading, eating…
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Christmas Markets: Goslar
Goslar is a beautiful historic town in Lower Saxony located at the skirts of the Harz mountains. It’s one of the places I love the most in Germany, not only because it’s pretty, but also because it’s where I spent many weekends when I was 16…
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Christmas Markets: Bremen
Yesterday I spent the whole day sitting inside an airplane, with numb legs, an uncomfortable back and too many cups of coffee, but thank God this year I get to spend Christmas with my family again. The best part is that we’ll spend it in one of…
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Edinburgh: Sir Walter Scott
Good afternoon, my dearest readers! How are you today? How was your weekend? Well, here it is! The last post about my literary trip through Edinburgh. You may notice that Sir Walter Scott is in today’s title. Scott is probably the most renowned author in all of…
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Edinburgh: Eat, Drink, Read
Good morning, my dearest readers! How are you today? How was your weekend? So I’m home for the semester holidays, which means I’ve been busy eating tacos and getting in touch with old friends. However, I’m not quite done with university stuff; I still have to write…
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Edinburgh: Detectives and Pirates
Here are some of the things I learned about Edinburgh, Scotland: Arthur Conan Doyle, Robert Louis Stevenson, and company George Square 23 is the house where Sir Arthur Conan Doyle lived from 1876 to 1880. The good news: the house is in front of the university;…
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Next Stop: Edinburgh
Good evening, my dear readers How are you today? How’s the week going? I’ve been super busy (again) with quite a lot of stuff to read, but it’s all because next Monday I’ll be in another country on a summer school program. So last December, I attended…
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Discovering Germany: Hamelin
Here is the last part of our little weekend-trip through Lower Saxony. Our last place is a little town known for one of the darkest Grimm fairy tales. There’s also a poem written by Robert Browning (1812-1889) that tells the unfortunate story of a certain piper, a plague of…
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Discovering Germany: Bremen
Welcome, June! Welcome good weather! The sun has finally graced us with his constant presence and we couldn’t be happier. Sadly, finals are coming, but at least I’ll be able to study in the garden. But that’s a problem for another day. For now, let us focus on…
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Discovering Germany: Hannover & Oldenburg
About a month ago, a friend called me telling me she wanted to go out for a weekend. A holiday was coming up and she wanted to take the opportunity. It couldn’t be somewhere far from home because last month we were in Paris and we could not afford…
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Paris: The Cortazar Route, pt. 4
Saint Michel Subway Station “To me, the subway was always a transition place. I only need to go down to the subway to enter a completely different logical category… logical categories where time awareness is transformed. One makes this wild discovery that, when distracted, one experiences…
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Paris: The Cortazar Route, pt. 3
Café Old Navy Address: 150 Boulevard Saint-Germain, 75006 “Somebody told me in Paris that he used to write in the Old Navy Café, in the Saint Germain boulevard, and there I waited for him for a few weeks until I saw him enter like a hallucination. He…
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Paris: The Cortázar Route, pt. 2
Julio Cortázar was a writer. He wrote novels, short stories, translations and letters. Lots and lots of letters. He never wanted to write an autobiography, but he left so many letters behind, that we don’t actually need an autobiography. He also made clear that he did…
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Paris: The Cortazar Route, pt. 1
So I went to Paris. As I sit here with my cup of coffee, I can’t help but think that the Cortazar route was one of the best travel ideas that I’ve had. It allowed me to see Paris from a whole different perspective and to…
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Looking for Julio in Paris
Recently, I found myself in a constant hurry because I had an exam coming and it occurred to me to also take an intensive French course. Today I can tell you I learned three important things: Having finished my semester successfully, I can now allow myself…
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Chestnuts roasting on an open fire: The Christmas Market
I’m super excited because December is practically here and I absolutely love everything that revolves around Christmas. The decorations, the food, the music, everything! But the best part of December in Germany is definitely the Christmas market (Weihnachtsmarkt or Christkindlmarkt). The Christmas market lasts the four…
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Recalculating Route
Those who have GPS know that when you hear those words, it usually means you did something wrong and the GPS is finding a new way to get you to your destination. That’s what these four months have been all about. Recalculating my route. If you…
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Paola NV 