�Welcome to you here with me� � Yes, it does sound a lot better in Arabic.
This is the place where I�d like to introduce myself a little. I hope you aren�t too bored.
As you might have found out already, I am Desidera. This is a self-composed name with Latin origin. I made it up when I was about fourteen and fed up with nicknames that were connected to my favourite books or movies. The roots are Latin �sidera�, which means �stars, luminaries� and the Latin preposition �de�, which is �from� or �down from�. �de� goes with ablative but fortunately the ablative of �sidera� is no different from the nominative. Thus, �de sidera� is supposed to mean �down from the stars�. (You can tell I�m very proud of my composition�five years of Latin at school and I think I remember more of it than I remember of French�)
My real name is Katharina. This is of Greek origin, was believed to be derived from �kataros�, �pure, clean�, but seems to rather be connected with �hekateros�, �both� or the Greek goddess Hekate.
I am from Austria (that little country in Europe, mind you, not Australia), from a rather small town in the North. We don�t have large mountains up there, but farmland and in between lots of forests, some lakes, meadows,�
My mother tongue is German.
An dieser Stelle auch ein herzliches Willkommen an alle deutschsprachigen Besucher meiner Website! Es freut mich sehr euch hier zu sehn, ich hoffe ihr nehmt mir nicht �bel dass ich unsere sch�ne Sprache so sehr vernachl�ssige und stattdessen meine ganze Website auf Englisch verfasse. ;)
I do not claim to really speak French or Spanish, I hardly know more than the basics. In my hometown I went to a grammar school (in Austria we call this �Gymnasium�) where I studied English and, naturally, German for 8 years, Latin for 5 years, French for 4 years and Spanish for 3 years.
I am currently studying Arabic at the University of Vienna. www.univie.ac.at
Why Arabic? Well, I have always wanted to study a language and I figured I�d like one less common than French and Spanish. (I do have to admit those two didn�t really impress me that much). Further, through numerous holidays spent in countries of the Middle East with my family, I have come to admire their culture. I want to know more, I want to be able to understand those people better � and I do firmly believe that understanding of and respect for each other will bring us closer to peace.
My second course of studies is singing, currently at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna. www.mdw.ac.at
I love music, always have. It�s kind of a family heirloom. I have been playing the violin for twelve years, have stopped only one year ago because I moved to Vienna. Singing is something I have been doing all my life, in choirs, with my family, taking lessons from the age of 13.
I have been to summer courses in Eisenstadt. (f�r alle deutschsprachigen Musikinteressierten: Die Kurse dort sind zu einem gro�en Teil wirklich toll, ich war vier Mal dort und hatte jedes Mal ein tolles Erlebnis! Ihr k�nnt mich nat�rlich kontaktieren wenn ihr Fragen habt, oder schaut mal auf die Website www.vokalsommerakademie.at)
I also joined the World Youth Choir last summer and will do so again this year. This was one of the best musical experiences in my entire life. If you are a talented singer, do try to audition! It�s awesome! www.worldyouthchoir.org
My favourite types of music? That�s hard to tell�I love Classical music (my favourite composers are Brahms, Schubert, Bach, Verdi, Dvorak, Wolf, Barber, Berg, Mahler, Britten,�), but also folk music (there�s a folk festival every summer in my hometown held by our folk club, www.folkclub.at). I love Jazz, I love the old Pop and Rock stuff, I love some of the bands my brother listens to (Red Hot Chili Peppers, Puddle of Mudd,�lots more there) and Nightwish, I adore some movie soundtracks, I love musicals.
My favourite movies are The Lord of the Rings, Hero, Le fabuleux destin d�Am�lie Poulain, various Disney stuff (Mulan, Lion King, Aristocats, �). I also admit to liking Moulin Rouge, Miss Congeniality, V for Vendetta and Star Wars.
My favourite books (and I hope I do not forget any�) are The Lord of the Rings (J.R.R. Tolkien), Harry Potter (J.K.Rowling), The Silmarillion (J.R.R.Tolkien), Wolfsaga (K�the Recheis), Middlesex (Jeffrey Eugenides), The Time of Our Singing (Richard Powers), Die Unendliche Geschichte (Michael Ende), Sunrise (Michael K�hlmeier), Astrid Lindgren�s fairytales, Ronja R�ubertochter (Astrid Lindgren), Le Petit Prince (Antoine de Saint-Exup�ry), Othello (William Shakespeare), A Midsummer Night�s Dream (William Shakespeare), Mutter Courage und ihre Kinder (Bert Brecht), Immensee (Theodor Storm), The Picture of Dorian Gray (Oscar Wilde), The Happy Prince (Oscar Wilde), The Importance of Being Earnest (Oscar Wilde), Veronika beschlie�t zu sterben (Paul Coelho), Mara and Dann (Doris Lessing), Unterm Rad (Hermann Hesse), L�Alouette (Jean Anouilh), El amor en los tiempos del c�lera (Gabriel Garc�a M�rquez), La casa de Bernarda Alba (Federico Garc�a Lorca).
I use the computer a lot, mostly to contact friends all over the world, to read fanfiction and to write. I will explain this further, though.
The first online friends I made were through my infatuation with Harry Potter when I was twelve. I have always loved reading, during my childhood and early youth I devoured books like sweets and even when I became older and had less time to spare for it, reading remained one of my favourite pastimes.
Next was my obsession with The Lord of the Rings, which is still one of my favourite books and movies and which, I have to admit, has changed my life. Through this wonderful tale by J.R.R. Tolkien and the movie by Peter Jackson I got to know so many great friends in Austria, Germany and Switzerland.
http://forum.herr-der-ringe-film.de
LotR was a constant part of my everyday life for almost four years. I once could recite by heart the entire company of dwarves travelling with Bilbo in �The Hobbit�, the elvish prayer to Elbereth from �The Lord of the Rings�, the seven sons of Feanor or the location of the palantiri from �The Silmarillion�. I mingled with Austrians of like mind at a fanclub meeting in the castle of Aggstein, dressed up as a hobbit. And I met the Frolijahs, the Frodo/Elijah Wood fanclub, who have been wonderful friends to me for a long time � and some of them still are.
With the Frolijahs I also got introduced to fanfiction.
Now, what is fanfiction?
That�s simple � �Borrowing� your favourite characters from books, movies, comics, anime and writing your own stories with them, either with a completely different setting (AU = alternative universe) or continuing, expanding, changing the original storylines.
Sounds pretty illegal, hm? Well, it�s close to the borderline � that�s why all fanfiction authors and authoresses (and I think there are a majority of authoresses) add a disclaimer to their stories, stating that the characters do not belong to them in any way and that they do not make money from those stories.
My favourite kind of fanfiction is Yaoi (= term used for anime) or Slash (= term used for books and films). Both mean the same � homoerotic fanfiction, pairing two male characters.
Over the years I have become a devoted (make that obsessed) authoress, my fanfiction pages on this website speak for themselves. If you go there, you now know what you�re getting yourself into, so don�t come complaining if you don�t like it.
By the way, fanfiction is also where I improved my school English to its current state (which still isn�t good enough�)
My Fanfiction pages
I like creative work. One of my favourites is silk painting. I also like drawing and painting as such, I like to do handicrafts, though I�m not much at knitting or crocheting.
I have been playing amateur theatre in our town for quite some time, occasionally I still do it now. www.tam.at
I love dancing, though I�m not doing anything professional, just small courses (the only one I�ve pursued for a longer period of time is belly dancing)
As for sports, my favourite is volleyball, but I also love skiing, ice skating and swimming.
I love nature, and I also have a little obsession with the stars, hence my nickname. If I didn�t suck at math (never could stand it), I think I would have considered doing astronomy.
Alright, I think that�s enough about me for now. Thanks for listening! Hope I got you inspired :)
Desidera
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