Mostar (Cyrillic: Мостар) is a city in southern Bosnia & Herzegovina. The city is famous for Stari Most (Old Bridge), a reconstruction of a 16th century Ottoman bridge. It stood for 427 years before it was destroyed in November 1993 by Croatian forces during the Croat-Bosniak War. It was fully reconstructed in the years proceeding and the rebuilt bridge opened on 23rd July 2004. The magnificent structure connects two parts of the city over the turquoise waters of the river Neretva.
I found out about Mostar through Australian comedians Hamish Blake and Andy Lee. In Hamish and Andy’s Euro Gap Year (2012), they accepted the challenge to jump off the 21-metre high bridge in the very first episode! The scenery was just stunning, and I fell in love with it.
So, consider Mostar the first place on my ‘The Travel Wishlist’ series! I hope to update this one quite often.
So, this is my first post in this personal blog/journal thingymajig. I wasn’t sure what I should be writing for my first post. Something like the entries I write into my diary? A thoughtful piece about a particular subject? I have no idea if anybody apart from myself is going to be reading this.
And I’m not really sure what to do about the structure. Whether I should stick to a particular pattern, or wing it each time? For example, a sudden idea occurred to me – I could finish each post with a song I’m listening to, either one that fits the mood of the post, or one that I just enjoy and want to share. Whilst I don’t play any instruments, listening to music is one of my biggest loves. I get so involved in the lyrics of a song, the music (particularly piano/keyboard, violin and acoustic guitar, or a combination of those) and the mood that it gives me. I listen to music every day if I can. It is a great motivator and it can calm me down if I’m feeling frustrated or anxious.
I read about a study some scientists did that indicated listening to music can make people more intelligent. Sounds a bit crazy, right? To sum it up, one group of people listened to classical music like Mozart for a certain amount of time, and were then given a Maths problem. The people who listened to Mozart solved the problem more quickly than the ones who hadn’t listened to Mozart. Not that I’m doing any Maths tests anytime soon, and I’m not a fan of classical music (modern classical artist Ludovico Einaudi aside), but it really does make you wonder. Can music really open up neurons in your brain that help you solve problems, or make decisions more effectively?
Anyway, back to my initial statement about ending each post with a song, I think I might try and start with a lyric from a song as you can see above, and then post a link to listen to said song at the end. When I used to post on Livejournal, each post I made was very music-influenced. I made all these little sub-headings and they weren’t things like, “SCHOOL”, “WORK” etc… they were all song lyrics from the particular song I was listening to at the time, or the one I felt fit the mood of my post.
We’ll see how it goes, anyway! Sorry this post isn’t particularly interesting. I’m probably going to write down a list of things I’d like to write about (apart from happenings in my daily life) and go from there.
Now I will post this and try and get motivated to tidy up my spare/computer room – it’s an absolute pigsty and I keep procrastinating!
~Jess
P.S. (perhaps this could mean Post-song rather than Post-script?!)
Listen to “Look Up” by Canadian indie/alternative band Stars, from their album Heart.