Writing exercise Befana is a traditional character in popular Italian folklore. The Befana is usually portrayed as a bad-looking old woman riding a broomstick. She delivers candy and sweets to children if they are good, on the day of Ephifany ( 6th of January). The children who didn't behave and were bad receive coal instead of sweets! Actually, children won't receive real coal but black candies made of sugar which looks like a piece of coal. When I was a child, I used to wait for Befana with great anticipation, because it meant to finally receive a lot of candies. I used to find a sock full of candy on Epiphany's morning which meant that Befana had delivered them on the night before. It was always a joyful day despite the fact that we were a little bit scared of this ugly old woman. Nowadays I keep this tradition going every year, by bringing a sock full of candy to my little niece and telling her that it was delivered by Befana. Thanks in advance to those who will correct it for me :-)

Writing exercise: Current Events I like to be on top of the news. Every morning, while I'm drinking my coffee at breakfast, I watch the news on the TV before going to work. I like listening not only to the current events of my country but also what's happening in the world. Sometimes I follow how some news unfolds by checking it on the internet during the day. I've always found interesting knowing what is going on in the world: it's like watching the history happening now and, at the same time, it make you quite knowledgeable. Furthermore, since I've been learning English, I've been practicing the language by talking with people from foreign countries. Therefore I acknowledge how useful it is to be well informed about the situation in their homeland to keep the conversation going on smoothly. Needless to say, it also a way to demonstrate that I care about the situation in their country.

writing exercise: First impressions In my opinion, first impressions are crucial. Every person judges other people from the first look at them. What they wear, how they greet, how they behave and talk tell a lot about them from the very first minutes. I think I'm quite good at understanding if one person is my kind of person. I'm also good at reading people minds. Thus it makes me easier to chose a person who may become a friend. Obviously, sometimes I'm wrong. It happened that the first impression was not the right one, particularly when the person is shy or introvert. That kind of person tends to hide and protect themselves by being quiet, not talkative. Only later in time, by hanging out with them, I got to know who they truly are: their opinions, their character, their values. Being an introvert myself makes it easier to recognize that kind of people. On the other side, the shyness and being an introvert has made me lose some opportunity to get deeper in a relationship. So many times I avoided to put myself in situations where I could have feel embarrassed, and it was because either of the fear of being too intrusive or the lack of confidence. In hindsight, I regret my behavior. If only I could turn back the hands of time, I would make different choices. I would try to be more open to new experiences and less scared of making mistakes and being misjudged by people.

writing exercise: Books I love reading books! I spend at least from 15 to 30 minutes a day reading books. I usually read more than one book at a time. I choose the book I want to read in a particular day according to the mood at that moment. That's why I always have more books at disposal to read. In that way, It happens that I'm reading a not fictional book, a novel and a comic book together. Thus if for example, I'm sad, I'll probably choose to read the latter one. Recently I've started to read books using an eReader. To be honest, I still prefer reading paper books, but since I've been reading books in English, using an eReader makes it much easier. The device has an integrated dictionary: I just have to tap on the word that I don't know to check its meaning. I've also signed up for an App called Goodreads, which helps me to keep track of all the books I've read. Furthermore, on this app, I can read the reviews written by others readers, and find out if a book is considered a good one. The users can write a full review of a book or simply rate it. In this case, the rate goes from 1 to 5 stars. It also provides me suggestions for new books to read.