Who's Happy?

Every year someone does a big world survey to figure out which nation is the happiest. Some countries dear to my heart that made the top 10:
- Colombia is number 3!!!
- Canada not too shaby at 9...way ahead of the americans woohoo!!!
- Ireland is still ranked high at 6...but i think this survey was taken a few months back...real estate is currently in a freefall so they'll most likely be off the top 10 next year.

Poznan - my new home

Time goes by and I've been in Poznan for a month now. I've been living in cozy hostels and for about 2 weeks now couchsurfing with some students i've met here. It's summer so the weather is fantastic, the streets are filled, the outdoor beer gardens are filled and everyone seems to be in great mood. In the past i've spent some time in other polish cities (gdansk, warsaw, cracow, wroclaw) and i really have to say i love poznan. the people seem to be friendlier and there's waaaay less tourists. i've been making lots of new friends, mainly through couchsurfing (the community is really active here) and im in the process of signing up for salsa lessons (really popular in poland for some reason) and spanish lessons. apartment hunting has proved to be a challenge as it seems everyone wants a cool flat in the city center :S luckily though, today i found one! i move in soon, and like always, guests from around the world are welcome :)

Google Mail?

I was in Berlin over the weekend and this is what you get when you type www.gmail.com in a web browser:

We can't provide service under the Gmail name in Germany; we're called Google Mail here instead.

If you're traveling in Germany, you can access your mail at http://mail.google.com.

Oh, and we'd like to link the URL above, but we're not allowed to do that either. Bummer.

I don't know the reason behind this, but I'm guessing that google wasn't allowed to do this as germans would think that the 'G' in Gmail stands for Germany...some kind of nationalistic email program. But then again, the word Germany is Deutschland in german and www.dmail.com is not blocked...hmmm.

North and then East

So Celtic bart is continuing the rollcoast ride called Life. After Colombia, i made a short stop in Miami...spent a few hours being harassed by tough-guy american customs agents...for some reason the following story doesnt sound right "vacation in colombia 2 months, i don't work, i was living in ireland for last 2 years, im going to visit my parents in toronto, i have a polish passport cause my parents are polish, all my visa stamps looks suspicious: colombia, turkey, egypt, etc." Anyway, after sweaty miami i spent a week relaxing in TO with my family and also caught up with some old friends. Next i was in ireland, weather as miserable as i had remembered it to be...but of course good friends, good time. Now im back in the motherland, Poland...to be specific, in Poznan...a city that's underrated in my opinion. Stay tuned.