The importance of learning a language I definitely think that learning a foreign language is really important for a wide range of subjects. Firstly, it gives you the chance of travelling to the place where that language is spoken, and also to have a better connection and engagement with the locals, since this is a better approach to their culture and they will be eager to share their culture and thoughts with you in a friendly way, since your native language is always the language you use for expressing emotions. On the other hand, once you reach a certain degree of fluency in a language you can get better career prospects, since you could move to other countries and also work for different markets. As a result, this increases your chances of building up a better career or just being promoted in your current job. Finally, I think we shouldn’t forget the fact that a language is not just a tool to improve your career or the quality of your trips, but also the biggest cultural expression of a nation or a population. Through a language we get the change of having a better immersion in a culture and we learn to understand their past, their history and their beliefs.

The EU and why I think that millennial generation will save it 2 years ago, when the UK decided to leave the EU, we all thought that it was going to be a big shock for the rest member states. It was very reasonable to think that. However, the EU has been constructing a new skyline full of possibilities, and we can say today that the EU has a brilliant future ahead. Nonetheless, it seems that the more dangerous threat to the EU are the political situation in some Eastern and Northern Europe countries, like Hungary or Poland, instead of Brexit itself. The EU nowadays is very connected to the "millennial" feeling. But, what's that? Well, to explain this we probably have to take into account that people who belong to the millennial generation, like me, are very frustrated with the political situation in each country, so we try to find solutions travelling, working in other countries and avoiding thinking about the distant future. Instead, we try to enjoy our near future. This is the reason why some people also call us the "Peter Pan generation". Anyway, that's why millennial people feel a deep connection with the EU. Not with the Brussels politicians, not with the EU governments or institutions, but with the idea or freedom for travelling, no borders and, definitely, to the idea itself of having a real EU. It's interesting to think that the EU is going to survive not because of their politicians, but for the young who are tired of them and try to find a better place to live in other European countries, taking advantage of the nomad behaviour that has been reinstalled in the mind of younger generations, instead of sedentary lifestyle. The millennial generation is going to suffer, in economical terms, a bit more than their parents, but the interesting point is that they don't care about it. Most people under 30 don't mind about buying a house or renovating their living rooms. Instead, they prefer to spend more money on travelling or having fun with their friends. However, we don't know if this is a consequence of having less opportunities, or it's just a social behaviour provided by the new lifestyle where Social Media and the idea of being happy with only your smartphone or tablet. Probably both are related. The EU is not perfect, and will never be. However, it seems that it's very useful to those young people who think they don't belong to anywhere. I think that's the real "millennial" feeling.

It's a wonderful life. Watching "It's a Wonderful Life" on the Christmas Day it's such a cliché tradition. This movie represents to me the goodness seasoned with melancholy. The main character starts in a rotten society, without any moral or ethics, but ended up recovering a family man' world that he had always dreamed with. If this movie came up these days, we would see it with a different point of view. But the black and white magic turn the impossible into a challenge.

The Apartment "The Apartment" is a film directed by Billy Wilder that came out on 1960. This film is full of simplicity, because Wilder was a totally master, and he knows how to engage you with only a few things. With an impeccable technique, Wilder dips you completely in the world of two characters, who represent the emerging American middle-class of the 50's. Both of them have reached to the point he wanted: they have a good job, full of upcoming opportunities. Nevertheless, they are sad and they feel unhappy with themselves. The splurge of kindness between Shirley MacClaine and Jack Lemmon is obvious, and it does the rest: a film never needed less to create a really tough romantic tension between two true and honest lovers. The glances that they cross each other tell us everything: love and redemption are possible.

Stereotypes about Spain and Europe (part 2) To give you an answer, I have to explain you a bit more. In Spain, we can’t say “no” (of course, some people say it, but I’m talking in general) because that could be considered something impolite, so we can only say “yes”, but we have two ways to saying it. Our first way means a complete “yes”. That person will go to your party for sure. The other way it’s something like this: “Oh! I would love to go, but unfortunately I have to look after my grandma on that night”. This means that your friend doesn’t want to go to your party. Simple. This way of being have been spreading among us for many years. Sometimes it’s OK, because you don’t want to hurt someone’s feelings, but in other cases… you are damaging these feelings by acting that way. In my case, I was a “victim” of that way of acting a few years ago. When my mum passed-away a few years ago, many people had come to visit me to the funeral. Most of them told me: “You can count with me! I will always be with you! Be strong!”. Once the funeral ended, nobody came to show me their support. Only my family and my friends stayed with me (which is enough), but the other people was like… something unreal. They came only because they had to do it. Most people feel that like an obligation. Even my friends acted like nothing what happened, because… in Spain (and this probably happens in all Western countries) men can’t talk about feelings. We have to be a rock. We only can talk about stupid things and go out for a drink. The other day, I was talking to a friend of mine, who is British. He told me that he used to feel that when he was living in Spain. We look like we’ll always be you friends, but especially to drink a beer and enjoy a party-night. But other serious things… are too deep for us. We just don’t want to think about it. Instead, he told me that for this kind of topics, the Anglo-Saxon culture, which is supposed to be colder than ours (another stereotype), is more supportive. Anyway, don’t change your mind about Spain. We have a great culture and great people. But we usually take a good look about all countries, without counting the whole, but only the part we like. We, as Spaniards, do the same with other European countries.

Stereotypes about Spain and Europe (part 1) Most people from other countries are in love with the Spanish way of living. I don’t blame them. I would probably be in love with our culture the way it’s been introduced in those countries. To other people, Spaniards look like a sort of very friendly people, open to the world, nice and full of hospitality, in contrast with the rest of Europe. Stereotypes also have been stronger with the Spanish culture: bull-fighting, paella, flamenco, siesta and tapas. That’s all. Almost. There’s a part of truth about this. Usually, Spanish people are friendly with most people, it’s our way of being. We have grown up in this kind of culture, and even if you aren’t a friendly person in Spain, you will probably look friendlier to other people from Europe. When we talk about Spain, we always mention the bright side: food, fiesta, enjoying… But, what about the other side? Have you heard anytime about how Spanish people face their problems? No, right? Why? I’m going to try to give an appropriate answer, as a Spaniard. First of all, you have to know that I was born and raised in Galicia. Galicia is North Western Spain. When you heard about Spain, you automatically think about Sevilla, Madrid or Barcelona. But there’s much more to discover. Because of my region, I’m a bit less friendly than other Spaniards, especially if I compare me with the South people. Once I told you about this, let’s go to explore the well-known friendly and supportive Spanish people. Imagine that you are talking to your Spanish friend, and you want to invite him to a party that you are going to throw in your new apartment. What could happen? Normally, you have two options: yes and no. What would your Spanish friend choose?

Human touch Please, feel free to correct me: We all know that technology is changing our human behaviour and, perhaps, our tune about everything. There's no doubt that life's easier now than just a few years ago. We did away with our past and we've changed into an adaptable and alternative human being. In a society where Silicon Valley guys are leading the world, perhaps we are forgetting about us: we are leaving out the human touch. Although we are provided with all modern cons, some people still complain about innovations, claiming that we are losing our human interactions in order to not be social humans anymore. Is this right? Certainly, our behaviour didn't remain in the same status as several years ago, and have turned into a modern and dynamic evolutionary attitude, which show us a great capability of adaptation. Nevertheless, it's kind of true that we're losing a real human touch. We know our smartphones inside out, and it's very common to see groups of teenagers going out together, but they don't talk to each other. They're using their phones and posting photos to be fancy, but they just don't enjoy that moment of spending time with their friends. This is very unusual and particular for our way of being as humans. We are more connected than ever, but we're becoming less socialized and more isolated than ever. Weird. However, it could be more complex than that. Our generation has no roots. We just don't have strong patriot feelings, in general. It's the globalization generation, so we're not worried about buying a home, having kids or keeping a permanent job for longer, because we want to travel with only a few friends and simply... share our moments together. Maybe it's a way to escape from reality... or to face up to in a very different way, serving to a new and different purpose and breaking with our old habits and traditions. A kind of "European feeling" has been hitting hard during recent years, helped by the economic crisis. Anyway, we're not in an uniformed society, so we have to wait to know if this will be for the better or for the worse.

Changing and revolution Please, feel free to correct me: Is our economy changing for better or for worse? A lot of people are complaining nowadays about the possibility that machines substitute most of our jobs. But... wasn't that a part of the deal? I mean, the purpose of developing technology and machines is about to make our life easier, without too much physical effort. This is the idea that has been breaking the mould since the last century. Although many people think that our society will turn into a less developed economy, the fact is that this isn't something new. In the past, when other innovations appeared, many economists used to think that this would be the end of our human society. But nothing happened. Humanity saved its potential and changed it into different and more modern jobs. Finally, the apocalypses didn't come and we have been sustaining our work demand since then. The process of modern economy is transforming our lives. Every five years, our society turns into something radically different from what it used to be. The 2007 society has nothing to do with 2017 society. We didn't have smartphones then, and now they have become into a basic resource for us. But then.... what will happen with our next economic changes, like artificial intelligence or robots that will be everywhere? The answer is a big... it depends. It's going to depend on our capability for change and adaptation. Some people, like Marc Zuckerberg, are suggesting that we will have lost most of our jobs by 2040, so we'll need a new income provided by our governments, called the basic income. The basic income is the idea that the government will pay you a little amount of money only for existing, whether you have a job or not. At this moment, Finland is testing a basic income out. But we don't have an influential research about its results yet. The main problem will be how we're going to pay this income, if we don't have enough money because the workers will be replaced by robots. Elon Musk, the Tesla CEO, suggests that robots will have to pay taxes for working. This sounds crazy and ridiculous at this time, but we'll have to wait to figure out if it makes sense. Because in our current world... everything can happen.

Starting a new life I assume that I won't have a good job after finishing my degree, but it would be too optimistic (and maybe arrogant) to have the pressumption of starting with a good and well paid job. It's not plaussible, because I don't have enough experience to apply for a better job. Probably in the future, when I have been some experience. Because of that, some people say that I'm a pessimistic, though I prefer to say that I usually put the facts into perspective, facing up to real world. I'm not a naïve person. Why do I have this vision about the world? Well, 4 years ago my mum past away, and I began to get a bit depressed. Since then, I have become very skeptical about our world, and I had the false impression that my life wasn't going to be better. But everything changed. I met a girl. We started dating together. And there I was... Beginning to mull over my point of view about life. Life as a concept. And I realised that I wasn't seeing the wood for the trees, because the most important fact about life (and here comes a cliché) it's that we only live once, so we have to spend every minute on something that worth it for us. And that's why I'm going to move to another country next year. It's what I want for now. And this is the reason of my intensive English sessions as well. Fortunately, my girlfriend will come with me. My intuition says that everything will makes sense by the end of next year, and maybe, some day, we'll be able to figure out the real meaning of life together.