Me and the Blogosphere:"May the Patience be with you!"

a map of the Blogosphere by Matthew Hurst

In these last weeks I entered in a completely new world: the Blogosphere. Before the beginning of this English year, I'd never looked for blogs and I had just an approximate idea of what they are. Now, after 2 weeks exploring this unknown zone of the Net, I'm beginning to have a bit more precise idea.
I discovered that there are many kinds of blogs which can be also very different from each other: some are just personal spaces where people express themselves and their opinions in general; others are dedicated to specific topics which the blog's "owner" is expert at, or simply keen on; some other are related to more famous people or organization ( for example those of Beppe Grillo and Greenpeace). In sum, the blogosphere is an extremely wide and variegated universe in which, true, there are many interesting and important information, but there are also many useless or just curious things, and searching on it can be very exhausting. In effect, to find what you're looking for, you need a lot of Patience!

Exploring the Blogosphere

Photo by AlpenaMi

I spend more than 3 hours searching on Technorati because I really didn't know what topic I could look for. Then, thinking looking around in my room I saw my Harry Potter books, so I decided to search something about him. I found this interesting blog : here people signal and comment news and articles about him, in particular about the next movie (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince) whose filming is starting in these days at Lacock, in the UK. Then there are also many links to other blogs or websites related to this subject.
The site defines itself "Complete Harry Potter coverage from top official and fan sources. One of JK Rowling's favourite sites!", so if you are, like me, a fan of the little whizz, visit it and you'll discover lots of curiosities.

Then I searched the word sport and I found this blog of "The Guardian". In it one can find articles and information about any sport: football, rugby, F1, cricket, volley, etc. There are also many links to other blogs, to "the highlights of the day", to the more recent news and to more else...

Observations
In the blogs I visited, language was informal and often abbreviations and slam terms were used, and I have to admit that sometimes I didn't understand very well what they were saying :-(. Then I noticed that, usually, posts are longer and more formal than the comments people leave, which contain much more colloquial expression ( Oh my gosh., Cool!, Wicked!).

Welcome!

photo by Madame Trapo

Hi Everybody, I've chosen this photo because it reminds me the long and relaxing "tea parties" I often have with my friends. During these afternoons, we speak of everything ( and also of averybody :-P), we tell our problems with university, we confide our secrets and, above all, we laugh a lot! I really love these moments when I have a break from study, I feel myself and...I eat lots of delicious cookies!

http://www.le.ac.uk/external/
One of the sites I recently visit most frequently is that of the University of Leicester, because I'm going to spend there the second semester thanks to the Erasmus project. I have to confess that I'm a bit worried because this will be the first time I stay far from home for a so long period (5 months). But I am also very excited and I'm looking forward to leave. I hope I can really improve my English and meet many new friends from all over the world.

Another web site I visit quite often is this: http://www.tuttoscout.org/
As you can imagine, I am a scout leader, so in this site I can find many ideas for the activities I do with my "lupetti"(children between 8 and 11). Following "the Jungle Book"( by Rudyard Kipling) story we play with them and we live lots of adventures which are very useful in children's physical and psychological growth. I know that among you there is at least one who is Scout and I'm wondering if there is anybody else... Bye! Sara