Author: Marina Mexploring

Ukrainian heart. Norwegian attitude. Spanish passion. I believe in a fusion lifestyle and write about life by design.

What Inspires Me Right Now

Marina Mexploring9 Comments

 

September, my love. I didn’t think I would spend you in Oslo – once again. But here it happens. The autumn has happened and brought a slight melancholy with it. Or, maybe, it is not autumn itself, but the fact that I suddenly found myself in Oslo, and I miss Barcelona. The autumn has brought some days of sickness, and I spend these days browsing blogs and Instagram – to keep me warm on beauty and inspiration.

There is one thing I especially like about autumn: you get the feeling that the seasons change, that pages are turning. It brings this fresh feeling of newness, even though it is not as optimistic as the spring. But still somehow cozy and comforting. I tend to become less energetic and more poetic – but back to the point of this post. Here are things that inspire me this season!

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Oslo Love: Reflections

Marina Mexploring11 Comments

A little post of love for Oslo, or as they do it on Instagram – hashtag oslove 🙂 On a sunny day which luckily falls on Sunday there are so many reasons to love Oslo. For example:

  • you get to see happy faces everywhere
  • people enjoying the last coffee or beer on the cafe terraces
  • lively atmosphere in the park Birkelunden with the flea market, and all around the streets of my hipster neighborhood
  • the wonderful light and shadows’ game on the facades and in the windows
  • guys playing basketball on the open field, with the Oslo skyline in the distance
  • hands holding take away coffee cups
  • every hipster taking their camera out for a walk

And I took mine and went on a short photo walk, high not on alcohol or caffeine – but on this pure joy of luckily catching sun on a careless Sunday afternoon. I did not intend to, but this time I collected reflections. They were just everywhere, popping up in the generous autumn sunshine. Come along with me!

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Coffee Talk: Autumn Mood

Marina Mexploring15 Comments

If we were having coffee, I’d admit that I like autumn. With all my love-hate for it, swinging moods and sudden melancholy – I like it, I feel inspired by it. I like to watch and feel the change of seasons. And my secret pleasure is to watch Norwegian girls in their cozy sweaters, to crawl into cafes, to read a book by the window, a big cup of tea waiting ready on its sill. All the cliches about warm rugs, living candles and hot chocolates – I buy it every time :)) Even if a month later into autumn I will regret it – I still love it (in the start).

If we were having coffee, I would tell you that I am staying in Oslo for September. Why are in Norway, some have asked me. What happened to your Barcelona project?

Barcelona project is still on. But my project is again about fusion – about creating a life between two countries. And so I am working on its Scandinavian part right now 😆

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5 Things of Oslo Summer

Marina Mexploring13 Comments

Summer moved on. There is a song with this name, by A-ha. They know what they are talking about, because these guys are from Norway 🙂

The last two weeks I have had this feeling. That summer moved on. In some places in Europe it is still full summer and beach weather on. While in Norway the august brings mixed feelings and mixed weather. Though it has been warmer than usually, without those freezing mornings when you feel like winter is coming :)) Still the autumn feeling is creeping in. The low grey skies, the numerous rainy days, girls in fluffy cozy sweaters…

While some are pondering if today is the last day of summer or not – we know for sure. That there is no way back. We call this time here “sen sommer/tidlig høst” (late summer, early autumn). Before the real autumn sets it and wipes away the sunny memories, I want to look back with gratitude to the leaving summer – and remember my favorite things which it gave to me :))

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Color Hunt: Italian Blue

Marina Mexploring7 Comments

There are two colors that capture the feeling of Italian Amalfi coast – the yellow, because of the lemon farms, and the blue of the sea. Btw, the wedding which we visited there in June had these two colors as their theme. And all guests arrived in all shades of blues and yellows (except those who didn’t read the event information till the end :)).

While I went browsing through those photos on a rainy day, I remembered one walk with a camera, when I thought: “Blue must be my color theme from here”. Then I forgot it. But now I remember it again! (thanks to the rainy day ;).

The blue sums up the summer in a very cheerful but also peaceful way. The sea, the cloudless sky, the shadows of the mountains in the distance… Here is my color hunt of blue, made in Italy 🙂

into the blue

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Italian Memories

Marina Mexploring13 Comments

What to do on a rainy weekend in Oslo? I feel a slight inclination to fall into an early autumn depression – but let’s find something more positive to do :)) Though the rain doesn’t promise to stop, and this weekend seems like a copy of the previous one. We live now in a quiet area, just outside of the city. Between fields, forests and fjords. Which is all lovely but… But I don’t have all those rain clothes needed to go walking in such weather.

So I sit inside, sip coffee and go through my photos from our short vacation in Italy. Where we went in June to visit the friends’ wedding on the Amalfi coast. It was the most beautiful wedding ever. So if you want to have something special for a wedding, I give you this advice for free :)) Amalfi coast.

The wedding was in a little fisher village Erchie, and we stayed in a neighbor village Cetara (pronounced Che-tara, oh how I love the sound of it! :)) It was just a couple km away, and looked like a short walk. Little did we now about the only road on Amalfi coast, on the cliff, with cars, scooters, buses and pedestrians all together on one narrow street… But that would make another story 🙂

Cetara and the harbour

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What Inspires Me Right Now

Marina Mexploring10 Comments

This is my favorite theme for a post! What inspires me right now. Though I have a whirlwind of thoughts, caused by this transfer from Barcelona back to Oslo, I don’t really find the time and energy to write them all down in texts and posts. The photos however – they are always easy to share.

So let me speak from my heart through photos – and several words. Btw, what do you prefer in a blog post – pictures or words? (I used to be a word person)

Processed with VSCOcam with q1 preset
Pretending we are on the French Riviera

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One Day in Palamos

Marina Mexploring5 Comments

Palamos is a small and colorful town on the Costa Brava, the northern coast of Catalonia. It is a bit more classy and less touristic than other towns. It is not easy to access it from Barcelona, there is no train, only buses along the curvy roads – so the tourist masses choose another destinations, while Palamos enjoys some peace 🙂

While I am still enjoying Norwegian summer in Oslo, I wanted to share some colorful images from Catalonia. Partly, due to the lack of up-to-date photos 🙂 I forgot for a while about photowalks – though I relived my Instagram. I stopped using it last summer and was pretty happy without it. But now I felt like opening it again. Maybe, because the life in Oslo is much quiter than in Barcelona, and I miss the daily dose of being bombarded by impressions :))

Or maybe, because sitting down and writing a thoughtful post feels like more work than sharing a photo with almost no text to it. I like to use Instagram as my visual journal, though not daily and without getting too obsessed this time (@marina.exploring is my name there, if you feel like visiting). And since I’ve started teaching again (I teach the language course of Norwegian in my old school), I have so much of self-expression during the day, that there is no need left to express myself in pictures and words. I do it every day, in pictures, words and exaggerated body language :))

So, let me take you to this colorful and peaceful paradise on the Mediterranean coast!

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Oslo Summer To-Do List

Marina Mexploring11 Comments
While the summer happens (as it is not something given here in Scandinavia, but can only happen once in a while), there are always many things to do. We all rush to experience and enjoy.
Then this idea popped up in my mind: to write a list of things I like doing on a summer day. Maybe, when it suddenly happens, I am better prepared 🙂 Or just to express my love for Oslo in summer.
So here is a simple to-do list. This can be done another place too, of course.

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5 Things – Summer Amore

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I landed in Oslo physically a week ago – but it took me some time to land here emotionally and mentally. As I get used to my new surroundings, opening my eyes for their beauty, I still don’t feel for blogging about it.

Sometimes I wonder if I should be writing a book, not a blog :)) Because I have this literature attitude: you have first to live through, to work through, to digest and process – and only then to express in letters. To get the best out of it, not just taking everything on the page. This is a writers’ attitude, I have heard. To write about the past, once it is been processed, not about the present.

The blogger attitude, however, is to document the present, to capture what’s going on right now and share it. Sometimes I do it, sharing my emotion of the moment – but I prefer to wait. So even though I am in Oslo already, finding the pretty patterns in the new mix of life – I will go on with some posts about my life in Barcelona. Where it also took some time (a lot of time) to settle down and start seeing the pretty patterns.

Today is a simple little post about things I like. Five, as I usually count.

lemon memories
summer feeling
fresh press
new mood
wall of fame

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