I feel like I really have to post about what I’ve been doing during my spring break. I’ll lose the memories if I don’t. But they are nothing if compared to that of people who travelled to some tourists spots in Europe in this flower-blooming season. BUT (simultaneous ‘but’s, yes, I’m aware of that) I am very well-satisfied with how I spent the days in it.
I guess I will start off by writing briefly about the whereabouts of time I was in. Two weeks before spring break was the easter break. During the easter break, I occupied my time with studying Microbiology after I had Explorace game in Warsaw among other Malaysians here.When school started, I had Microbe exam. The week after, I had Polish exam. Then spring break began!
I actually started my own personal spring break after the polish exam. (Not that I’ve travelled somewhere but you know, when you’re done with some major exams, you feel free. That kind of thing). But looking back to my personal calendar, I started the spring break right after the Microbe exam because I watched a bunch of movies after that, went to Powitaj Puchar etc. Come to think of it, I remember ditching studying Polish because of Powitaj Puchar. Yeah, I didn’t care how long I had to queue to take photo with THE Henri Delaunay Trophy.
Okay, so week 1 Easter break, week 2 Microbe exam, week 3 Polish and week 4 spring break. And like I’ve mentioned, I started my own spring break way earlier, and that was in…week 2, after the Microbe exam.
After the Polish exam (week 3),
- I went for window shopping, and eventually bought 2 good books, The Alchemist and The Hunger Games
- April birthday bash held among my Malaysian batch mate. I received some presents
- and again, watched a bunch of movies online
- started watching Vampire Diaries series and it was really addictive!
About the two good books I bought, I didn’t plan on buying books but as I passed by the American Bookstore in Arkadia, I saw Hunger Games trilogy books being displayed. (This is the first time I saw it in Warsaw, so that made me excited) I made my way into the bookstore and found The Catcher in the Rye! I’ve been googling it for quite some time and I was quite excited to find it in one of Warsaw’s bookstores. That means I don’t have to pay for any shipping fees. I’ve put the book in some virtual ‘basket’ online earlier. Can’t remember though whether it was Amazon or Book Depository.
American Bookstore Arkadia
Anyway, I took hold of The Catcher in The Rye, made one long round in the bookstore but still couldn’t find the Hunger Games trilogy books. Then I saw The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. As expected, I took hold of it. I browsed through other Coelho’s books. Then I found the Hunger Games! It then joined the other two books in my arms. I (luckily) somehow, know how much cash I have in my purse which was only 70 zlotty. I made up my mind on which book to buy, and only paid for The Hunger Games and The Alchemist.
Just three days ago, I bought The Catcher in the Rye and the combination of book 1 and 2 of Vampire Diaries. And by now, I have successfully finished both The Alchemist and The Hunger Games. As I have watched the Hunger Games before reading the book, I felt like the reading was very swift. The reason I bought the first 2 volumes of Vampire Diaries series was because of the TV series. That makes it the second book I bought even though I have watched its movie/TV. The first is The Hunger Games.
Books I recently bought
I don’t really prefer to buy the books after watching the movie/TV series because I feel like it won’t be adventurous anymore knowing how the story will end. I like surprises, in this case. But, since Catching Fire film will be next in line, I thought, why not read the trilogy? And this goes to the Vampire Diaries as well. Its TV series is now in the end of season 3 and by seeing how the story goes, I foresee that there will be season 4 (I’m too lazy to Google this). So this means that I still have the chance to read first before watching the rest of the coming seasons.
Ok, I’m in a dilemma now. After writing all this, I don’t know if I should read or watch first. Because a few years back, I was so disappointed with -if I’m not mistaken- the New Moon film. The novel was good but the movie was bad. I don’t know if it’s the effect of reading first or it’s the movie itself that sucks. Oh no…I don’t want to ruin Vampire Diaries and Hunger Games sequels 
Read first or watch first? Hmm..
You know what, I’ll make the decision at the end of this post. Lets get this over with.
- 26th April- first half of VD season 1 (this is on Thursday, still in school days)
- 27th April- second half of season 1 (Friday, when the spring break really starts)
- 28th April- first half of season 2
- 29th April- second half of season 2
- 30th April- one third of season 3
- 1st May- some episodes of season 3 and started reading the Alchemist
- 2nd May- remaining parts of VD season 3, went shopping, visited a friend’s house and helped her prepare dinner
- 3rd May- went to Wilanow Palace, Old Town and the brand new National Stadium in Warsaw (where the Euro football match will be held this June!)
I think this post is really long! LOL
I’m going to continue anyway.
So, Vampire Diaries. How did I start watching the TV series? Well there’s this site where I watch movies online. I got bored with the movies they published online that are not visually clear. (This is something you have to put up with when watching movies online). Then in some such way, I clicked on the Vampire Diaries. I used to had the thought that VD is another vampire film that is trying to get viewers during Twilight’s popularity. But now, it’s proven otherwise. Even better!
When I watched the first episode, and when I knew that Stephan is one of the main protagonist, I felt like not watching VD at all because his looks reminded me of Edward of Twilight. I sort of hate don’t like Edward. (No offense to any Edward or Stephan fan). But as soon as Damon Salvatore came out (although he seemed to be the antagonist at first), I was determined to watch VD till the end! And as the story develops, I began to like Damon! Who wouldn’t? 
Damon Salvatore
If you haven’t and want to watch the Vampire Diaries online, here’s the link.
To sum up, during the spring break, I spent my time watching 3 seasons of Vampire Diaries TV series, finished 2 good books, The Alchemist and The Hunger Games, went shopping, visited the Wilanow Palace, Old Town and Stadion Narodowy (National Stadium). I will upload the photos in the next post.
And my decision is…to go with the flow. If I have the time, I’ll read it. If I don’t then I’ll end up watching the movie first before reading it. Which is fine by me.
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