Simona

@wordsbysimona

She/her. Aspiring writer, polyglot, traveller. #BanIsraelFromEurovision Subscribe to my bookish Substack: Read my articles on Vocal Media:

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Simona@wordsbysimona· May 22

Here are some photos from my trip to Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Its blend of different cultures and religions makes it one of the most beautiful cities in Europe. It can feel overwhelming at times, but it's totally worth a visit. #travelsky

A beautiful evening view of Sarajevo from the window of our hotel

The iconic Sebilij fountain in the Baščaršija district, Sarajevo

A calico cat, one of the many cats that you'll meet in Sarajevo

The interior of the Vijećnica, the City Hall of Sarajevo

Simona@wordsbysimona· Apr 9

I spent the Easter weekend in this small and lovely French village named La Brigue, for a chill and (a bit) outdoorsy escape among mountains, ruins and a loot of cats!🐈‍⬛🏞️ #travelsky #travel

Two plastic chairs overlooking the stream in La Brigue. They reminded me of Bad Bunny's album cover for "Debi tirar mas fotos"

A cat sleeping on a stool. In La Brigue there are a lot of cats roaming around

The ruins of Chateau de Lascaris in La Brigue, France

The ruins of an old furnace on the road to Notre Dame des Fontaines in La Brigue

Simona@wordsbysimona· Jan 24

I finished "I hope this finds you well" and gave a first rating on Fable. To my surprise, they have now added the "spiciness" scale, totally not pandering to booktok at all /s #booksky (the setting on the screenshot is the default one, I've skipped this section for this novel)

A screenshot of a "spiciness" rank for books on Fable

Simona@wordsbysimona· Jan 4

My first book of 2026 is "I hope this finds you well" by Natalie Sue, the story of a woman who secretly loathes her office, but once she's confronted by the new HR manager, that's where the story starts unfolding. 📚💖🐌 Have you already started your first book of the year? #booksky #blogger #blogging

The Italian version of Natalie Sue's "I hope this finds you well"

Simona@wordsbysimona· Jan 3

Sometimes the illustrations on Drops are so goofy 💀 #langsky #turkish #languagedrops

An illustration on the app Drops that is supposed to represent an energy bar by showing a granola bar flexing its biceps

Simona@wordsbysimona· Dec 30

Yesterday I completed my 2025 reading goal. One book per month, 12 books in total (the English titles are in the alt text). Needless to say I'm proud of reaching this goal and getting back to reading in the first place, that's just enough to hype me for 2026. Happy New Year! #booksky #blogger #goals

The pile of all the books I read in 2025:
January - Cleopatra and Frankenstein by Coco Mellors
February - Loveless by Alice Oseman
March - The strange stories of Fukiage by Banana Yoshimoto
April - The Burnout by Sophie Kinsella
May - Diez Mujeres by Marcela Serrano
June - Normal People by Sally Rooney
July - A Good Girl's Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson
August - Memoirs of an Unrealistic Woman by Sahar Khalifa
September - Stone Blind by Natalie Haynes
October - L'événement by Annie Ernaux
November - Oran, Langue Morte by Assia Djebar
December - Marzahn, Mon Amour by Katja Oskamp

Simona@wordsbysimona· Nov 7

Just finished practicing Turkish and, despite not having written much, it felt soo intense! The result is indeed messy, but it's part of the process, I guess. By the way, journaling/writing some full texts is really helping me with original thoughts. How's your study going? #langsky #turkish

A page of my notebook with a text in Turkish

Simona@wordsbysimona· Oct 24

Day 7-8: Paphos - Ibrahim Han and flight back home✈️🗺️

The neighbourhood cat in Ibrahim Han in Paphos, Cyprus

A street in Ibrahim Han, a caravanseray which can be found in Paphos, Cyprus

A street mosaic in Paphos, Cyprus, depicting a dove with an olive branch, symbolizing peace

Simona@wordsbysimona· Oct 24

Day 6: Nicosia - Ledra Palace, the Green line and the old town in the South ✈️🗺️

The Liberty Monument, which celebrates the liberation of Cyprus from the Brits, in the garden of Podcatoro Bastion in Nicosia

Omerye Mosque and the Greek-Orthodox Apostle Barnabas Cathedral in Nicosia, Cyprus

The first page of the Sunday Times of 19th October, which was the election day for the new president of the TRNC

Simona@wordsbysimona· Oct 24

Day 5: Kakopetria ✈️🗺️

A sign saying "Kalo Taxidi" (Have a nice trip) in Kakopetria, Cyprus

a street in the old town of Kakopetria, Cyprus

The Church of Agios Sozomenos, one of the UNESCO heritage sites in Kakopetria, Cyprus

the countryside between Kakopetria and Galata, Cyprus, along the path that takes to the most ancient water mill in Cyprus

Simona@wordsbysimona· Oct 24

Day 4: Nicosia - Ledra Street, Shacolas tower and the North ✈️🗺️

A view of Nicosia (Cyprus) from the Shacolas tower at sunset

A cat resting in a cafe in Ledra Street, Nicosia, Cyprus

The "Peace" sign that can be found before the UN checkpoint in Ledra Street in Nicosia, Cyprus

A street in the Northern Side of Nicosia, which is currently being occupied by the Turkish army and is part of the illegal Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. In the picture, you can see a gritty house and the minaret of a mosque

Simona@wordsbysimona· Oct 24

Day 3: Baths of Aphrodite - Akamas peninsula - Polis ✈️🗺️

A very unique spot in the village of Polis, Cyprus: a sort of exhibition showing skulls and bones of animals as well as bottled snakes and insects

A view of the Mediterranean sea from the road to Fontana Amoroza in the Akamas Peninsula, Cyprus

A particular spot in the Beach Canyon in the Akamas peninsula (Cyprus), where the waves penetrate through this small hole in the rock formation, forming cute little ponds

The Baths of Aphrodite in the Akamas peninsula, Cyprus. According to the legend, the goddess bathed here

Simona@wordsbysimona· Oct 24

Day 1-2: Paphos - Kato Paphos, the Tombs of the Kings, the site of Nea Paphos and the market in the old town ✈️🗺️

An arcade of the market in the old town of Paphos (Cyprus) decorated with knitted decorations as part of a bicommunal project for peace and reunification of the island

The lighthouse and some ruins in the archeological site of Nea Paphos in Paphos, Cyprus

One of the Tombs that can be found in the site of the Tombs of the Kings in Paphos, Cyprus

An installation celebrating FC Paphos in Champions League, which can be found in Kennedy Square in Paphos, Cyprus

Simona@wordsbysimona· Oct 24

My 8-days trip to Cyprus: a thread ✈️🗺️

Simona@wordsbysimona· Sep 6

🦄🌈Color-coding appreciation post, I find it so useful when studying agglutinating languages like #Turkish Do you also color-code your notes? #langsky

Some of my notes about reported past tense in Turkish, where I color-coded the suffixes and particles. On the side, you can see my Unicorn pen

Simona@wordsbysimona· Aug 30

I have just finished watching "Pump Up The Healthy Love" and the ending is the most wholesome thing ever, it got me smiling from ear to ear! Have you watched it? #kdrama

A promo image of the K-Drama "Pump Up The Healthy Love", featuring Jung Eunji and Lee Junyoung

Simona@wordsbysimona· Aug 28

Here is the e-mail:

An E-mail from Monica Earle asking me to "correct" my article, here's the text:

Hi Simona,

I’m reaching out to request a correction to your recent article, “The Duolingo AI controversy is much deeper than you think.”
In the first paragraph, the line “the CEO of the owl app has decided to go ‘AI-only’, thus replacing all the human language professionals working for them – translators, linguists, teachers, and so on” is inaccurate. Per Luis von Ahn’s memo, Duolingo is embracing AI, not going “AI-only.” We continue to employ more than 40 full-time learning designers and learning scientists.

In the ninth paragraph, the sentence “the app turns AI-only, replacing all its contractors” is also inaccurate. While we’ve adopted AI to enhance the product, Duolingo is not “AI-only,” and we have not replaced all of our contractors.

We’d appreciate it if you could update the article to reflect these clarifications so readers have an accurate understanding of Duolingo’s use of AI and the ongoing role of our human experts.

Best,

Monica

Simona@wordsbysimona· Aug 19

Some moments from my long weekend in and around Ljubljana (Slovenia) that actually felt like two weeks. 🗺️✈️It could have been better in some ways (and I managed to speak Slovene very rarely), but I also got to see many cute places and meet some amazing people. I'll come back for sure! 🐉⛪🏞️

The church of Holy Mary of Visitation in Tivoli Park, Ljubljana

Luwigana, one of the ancient names of Ljubljana. Mural found in the City Museum

Saint Andrew's Church in the village of Srednje Gameline, Slovenia

Simona@wordsbysimona· Aug 9

This morning, I completed all the exercises on this little book, whose goal is to help you learn some vocabulary in #Portuguese. I found this booklet in a small indie library by chance, and it proved to be an effective low-energy, screen-free way to practice even when I was tired 💪📚 #langsky

A copy of "Quaderno d'esercizi per imparare le parole del portoghese... e non dimenticarle più! - vol.2" by Elisa Alberani

Simona@wordsbysimona· Jul 24

Some days ago, I downloaded Slowly app to find some pen pals and practice some of the languages that I am learning (while filtering out men to avoid this one specific scenario), and what do I get? This 40-year-old Italian weirdo (translation in alt text). Mind you, I'm fucking 25! I hate all of this

Hi Simona, I'm Andrea, nice to meet you! I hope I'm not disturbing you. To break the ice I can tell you that I'm 40 and I'm a designer. What do you do in your life?

Letter sent by this creep named lord669

Simona@wordsbysimona· Jul 4

This is what 15 minutes of #Turkish practice looked like today, I would have never expected to fill up a whole page in so little time, and I even made breaks to check my notes. Let's give ourselves a big pat on the back, we got this! #languagelearning

A notebook with sentences handwriten in Turkish

Simona@wordsbysimona· Jul 3

Since yesterday I have had a sudden urge to complete any bureucracy-related thing that I left behind right before going to bed. Still, my #languagelearning journey goes on!

Barbie is laying in bed, asleep, until she wakes up and thinks "Where the fuck is my birth certificate?"

Simona@wordsbysimona· Jun 30

Learning #Slovene is so exhausting, the research of learning materials takes more time than actually revising the concepts. I guess that's what you have to expect if you're learning a lesser popular language #languagelearning

One of the dragon statues on the pillars of the Dragons'Bridge in Ljubljana, Slovenia

Simona@wordsbysimona· Jun 5

I've been on holiday for a couple of days in Zagreb, a city that's all about rebuilding, overcoming adversities (including getting lost while hiking!) and, in the end, getting to enjoy stunning views. 🏗️❤️‍🩹🏵️ I also met the kindest people here. Have you ever been to Zagreb? ✈️🗺️ #Croatia #Zagreb #Travel

Stairway of Stube Ivana Zakmardija in Zagreb

Simona@wordsbysimona· May 18

Here's one of the reasons (@rebelalliance77.bsky.social shared it first in a comment section)

Simona@wordsbysimona· May 12

May's reading choice is "Diez Mujeres" by Chilean author Marcela Serrano. I still have to warm up to it, but I'm finding it interesting so far. #booksky community, what are you reading?

A copy of an Italian version of the book "Diez Mujeres" by Marcela Serrano

Simona@wordsbysimona· Apr 22

I spent the Easter weekend in Interlaken, a lovely town in Switzerland located between two lakes, Brienzersee and Thunersee. Here are some pictures I took! Have you been somewhere special this weekend? #travel #Interlaken #Switzerland

Brienzersee viewed from the Ringgenberg Castle in Ringgenberg, near Interlaken

The Reformierte Kirche Unterseen viewed from Kirchgasse in Interlaken, Switzerland

Simona@wordsbysimona· Mar 30

Yesterday I finished reading "The Strange Tales of Fukiage" by Banana Yoshimoto as my March reading. What I most appreciated about this novel was the theme of sisterhood and the exploration of the social dynamics of small, rural towns. Have you read it? What do you think of it? #booksky