Been here a while now!

Hey everyone. Due to people asking me how I've been, I realized I haven't given an update since my first week here. I know I've been bad at writing in my blog and being on msn and stuff, but I'll try better! Everything's great, I really love my life here. Everyone's been really nice to me here and have made heaps of wonderful friends, most of them are gay guys which is always fun lol. Been having a lot of fun and keeping busy. I work at cafe which is fun, except for the boss. My roommate from Germany who arrived a few weeks after me got me the job, she's good quality. I study Japanese, but the course ends on Friday, it was easy in the beginning then got heaps harder. Let's see, I've been to Sydney, haven't really been to many other places in Australia yet, would love to go up to Queensland and Northern Territory one of these days. Yeah.. it was pretty cold here, but it's getting warmer everyday, yay spring's coming!

I'm going back to the US at the end of November for 3 weeks, it'll be nice to see everyone again though I will miss it here, but it's only for 3 weeks. Will have to go from the Aussie summer to the Buffalo winter, fun... I've been speaking a lot of the slang and my friends told me my accent's been changing, don't think anyone will understand me back home. WIll have to make a translation sheet or something.

Anyway, let me know how/what you all have been up to and such. hugs /Will

Speaking that Aussie slang

Here's an introductory course in the Australian language

*As- used after a word to mean very. Ex- that would be funny as

*Fuck- they say fuck/fucking a lot, it's pretty funny

*Mate- friend, buddy, you can call your computer mate. Ex- that's mate. Hurry up mate! (to a computer)

*Cheers- thanks, first time someone said that to me, I was like 'umm we don't have a drink?', but yeah, it means thanks

*Fuckwit, dickhead, fucktard, wanker- a loser, someone annoying/stupid

*Hey?- means what? When you want someone to repeat something
*No worries- no problem, you're welcome. Ex- cheers mate for doing that. No worries

*Jumper- sweatshirt
*Maccas- McDonald's

*Ciggie- a cigarette

*Reckon- think, guess. Ex- you reckon he's coming?

*Tazzie- someone from Tasmania

*Pommie- someone from the UK

*Sheepshagger- someone from New Zealand

*Yank- an American
* Rubbish- garbage
*Root- to fuck, have sex with someone

*Chips, fries, wedges- two of them are the kind that are served at McDonald's and are baked/fried and served with ketchup (one is thicker than the other so it has a different name?) and the other one is in a bag you get at a store. I don't know which ones are which so yeah...

*Bloke- a guy

*Heaps- a lot, many

*The bush- the outback

*Flat- apartment

Aussie update 1

I've been almost here for a week now so I thought I'd give a little update.

Saturday/Sunday/Monday morning: Said goodbye to my family at the aiport flew from Buffalo-Detroit-LA-Auckland-Melbourne. Altogether it was about 30 hours, yeah, not fun. The flight attendants on the Auckland and Melbourne flights were realllly nice. So I arrived in Melbourne on Monday morning, went through customs, almost left a bad at the airport when I went on the shuttle bus, but the driver was nice enough to let me go get it. I went to my hostel, the walked around the city (very nice by the way) and went to look at flats/houses, aka only one since I got lost

Tuesday: Same thing, walked around the city and went to look at a house. I'm living here now. It's with a guy and a girl who are about 25, they are really nice and friendly. There's a German guy studying at uni here, but I haven't met him yet because he's in Queensland at the moment. I get my own room and it's a little far from the city for me and I don't care much for the house. I'll give it a month, if not, I can get an apartment closer to the city.

Wednesday- walked around some more. Tried Vegemite (very popular here, it's in a jar and is the non alcoholic leftover goo from the beer brewing process). It's the nastiest thing I've ever had in my life and people love it here (well most do anyway). It's illegal in the US, as it should be.

Thursday- moved into the house and did some stuff

Friday- Met Mitch, he's was an exchange student in Switzerland and he became my first friend here. We walked around the city and had me try Oporto's. It's kind of like a fast food restaurant, it's really good actually. We bought some booze (chocolate vodka and cappucino vodka) The guy let us try it and he didn't even ask for ID, yay. Yeah, I got sick off the chocolate one, barely wanted to eat anything the next day, it tasted good when I tried it though. Then we went out to a gay club. It was a lot of fun, even though they played old Aussie techno, really wanted some songs I'm used to. The night consited of guys telling me I'm hot, some guy dancing all over me on the dance floor, and practically getting raped by the 'omfg' girl. Yeah, a lot of strange things happened last night, but it was fun

Saturday- a little hungover, mostly hung out with my roomates and watched the footie and saladfingers on youtube (if you're in the mood for getting creeped out, then watch it)

Food- the food is really good here (except vegemite). There are heaps of Asians here so there are a lot of Asian restaurants, yay.

Money- things are more or less the same I think, maybe a little more expensive here

Aussies- they really are a very nice and friendly group of people. Kind of crazy, but that's good. Really forward and direct too.

Job- I haven't got one yet, that's because I haven't really looked. I'm going to make a resumé soon and go out and see what's up

Weather- it's winter here now so it's cold, I should have brought a jacket like my mom had told me, but I didn't think it would be this cold in Australia, but it'll warm up (hopefully) soon

Animals/nature- no, I haven't seen any koalas, kangaroos, dingos or platypuses yet, they're all in the bush. I wanna see some!

Housing-I like my roomates, but don't care much for the house. When I get a job, I'll look for an apartment closer to the city.

Melbourne- it's a nice city. Cool architecture. Different than I expected (the houses and thought it would be a little more fast paced). In a few months I might go try Sydney out, just to see what another part of Australia's like

Pictures- so far I've only taken like two, I need to take some more of the city and the outback and all the fun animals there when I see them. So be patient :P

Keeping in touch- I've been ok at it. I've got to talk to a few. It's hard though, there's a 14 hour time difference from NY and I don't really have internet on my computer (I have to connect a wire because there's a password for getting a wireless connection and my roomate doesn't know it so she has to call her friend). I really want to call my family, but again, it's hard. I miss you guys and I want to know I haven't forgotten yooooouuu

Homesick- The first time in my life I'm homesick. Sometimes I just sit here and want to cry and think 'why am I here!?'. It's not Australia, it's the fact that I'm living by myself. I wasn't homesick in Sweden so I guess it's because I have to worry about buying/making my own food, doing everything on my own, paying for everything. I know it would be like this if I went to college and dormed. So it's hard for me right now, but I'm sure I'll get over it. Oh I miss my family.

Finally moving

So, I'm finally moving after several months debating where I wanted to go. I'm going to Melbourne, Australia on June 6th. I am really excited and looking forward to it. I really need to move on and go to a place where things happen and there's culture and excitement.
Of course, I am scared. Unlike exchange, I'll be living on my own, no family to go live with and no school. I'll be working and having my own place. Those two things seem pretty daunting to me, since I'll have to pay my own bills and such and then being in a different country and city tops the cake. But all that is part of the adventure. The first week or so will be hard while I look for a job, a place to live, get to know the city and get my life started there. I think it'll be best to get a roomate/s. That way I'll have someone to talk to and help me when I get lost (which is going to happen A LOT :P)
I am sad about leaving my family, friends and pets again, I know I'm going to miss them since I've learned to appreciate them more after being gone for so long, but everything will turn out just fine in the end.
I'm really looking forward to going (but not the 25 hours it's going to take to travel there!) and I'm sure I'll have a good time.

Puerto Rico!!

I came back from Puerto Rico last night and it was wondeful. I was there for 10 days with my parents and sister. We arrived at the airport on a Thursday with some old guys playing some salsa music and that was cool.
Things I did:
*Went to the rainforest (El Yunque), hiked around and went swimming in a little lake with a waterfall with really cold, but refreshing water. I saw some lizards, that was it, no other animals =(
*Went to the beach
*Went to Old San Juan a few times. Walked around, ate street food, went to the old forts, shopped, visited some old churches
*Went to Guayama where my mom's family lives. My mom wasn't sure if they lived in the same place, but they did and they were surprised.
*Ate
*went to a mall called Plaza las Américas, it was a cool and big place

Things I didn't like
*a lot of traffic jams
*a lot of stray animals. Well it was nice there were a lot of cats and dogs you could pet on the street, but sad they were hungry and stuff.

Randoms
*The drinking age was 18 there, people didn't even ask me for ID, it was niiice.
*I love mofongo, it's so good! It's made from mashed fried green plantaines filled with meat or fish stewed in like a pepper and onion sauce mmm
*Puerto Ricans don't know how to make donuts...
*the boys were hot mhm
*The people are so friendly and fun there. Really laid-back too. They hardly ever rush and do things at their own pace.
*Even though traffic's bad and people do u-turns all the time, the drivers are pretty friendly and the roads are safe
*The weather was so nice, hot and sunny everyday. The day I came back was cold and rainy ugh
*When we were on the beach, my parents recognized someone from our city, he was friends with my mom's brothers and sisters. He was there with his wife and mother-in-law. He gave me some malta which is a drink made from sugarcane.
*Speaking Spanish again was pretty weird, it had been more than a year since I learned it. Surprisingly I remembered quite a lot and was able to speak it to an extent. Puerto Rican Spanish is weird. They don't say their s's, so 'qué buscas? (what are you looking for) becomes 'qué buca?'. I even started doing that... I was definitely speaking Spwenglish when I was there, saying stuff 'dame un påse por favor- give me a bag please, or yo vänto på minas padres- I'm waiting for my parents' I felt like Matilda and Gunn :P
*People thought I was Puerto Rican (really, not American Puerto Rican), people came up to me speaking Spanish and some tourists asked me if I spoke English and then asked me for directions haha.

Fun with Andrea
I met Andrea a few years ago on msn, we talked on there and became good friends. When I was in Puerto Rico, I told her I was there and she came to see me with her mom and brother and her brother's friend. It was soo nice to see her and we had so much fun! We walked around, talked, laughed, had a perchuga (sno-cone, but much better), and maví (a drink made from root). We had sushi at a Japanese restaurant and got drunk on sake. Ahh, we did some random stuff and had a lot of fun. I was so mad though- we couldn't take pictures together because my camera had broken the day before =( Te amo amiga!

PICTURES:
http://www.photobucket.com/will_parucki

RIP

Yes, someone I know died. I was watching the news today (a few minutes ago actually) and someone from my work (a fellow cashier) got hit by a school bus and died. It's so sad. It's so weird knowing someone died after seeing them a few days earlier. God...

Colors/Discrimination/Censorship/Magazines/Kings

Ok, so I have a few social topics and two random topics to complain about today. Ready?

Colors:
Boys wear blue, girls wear pink. Why? Why is it like that? Today at work a little boy asked for a pink balloon, but his mom said 'why do you want a pink balloon? Pink is a girl color' Not really, it's just a color, it's just society who have it in their minds that colors belong to a certain gender. I think I'm going to have a son and make him wear pink just to piss people off.

Discrimination:
We all know that it's illegal or taboo to discrimate people based on sex, skin color, ethnic origin, sexual orientation, religion, etc. But what about age? Pretty much everyone I know has, I'm guilty too, said something bad about old people 'I don't want to talk to him, he's an old man!' Or, when they're walking behind an old person who's walking slow, people will say 'move grandma!' You never hear anyone say 'Move n*gger!' Being old is something you can help and is noticeable like all the other stuff I mentioned, so isn't discriminating against them the same thing?

Censorship:
Censorship is something that really annoys me. In US there's censorship all over the media, but hardly ever in Europe. Sex scenes are covered up/shortened, swear words are beaped out, and body parts are covered. I've watched some of the same stuff in Europe and saw/heard the real stuff, they even show boobs on commerials. Why? We already know what's being said/shown and boobs/butts/penises, they're just body parts aren't they?

Magazines:
So, I was in line at a store and saw one of those magazines that always have captions on the front page that say 'have great sex with your man!' and stuff like that. I've seen covers of gay/lesbian magazines and never seen stuff like that. My theory is that since a guy/girl know someone of the same sex's body so they don't need magazines to tell them to have good sex :P

Kings:
I just finished watching the premier of a new show. It seems pretty interesting. It's called kings, it's about a king and his kingdom and people and stuff, but it takes place in the modern world. In other words, imagine today's US, France, UK but ruled by an absolute monarchy. Hmm. Anyway, the fictional country's at war and there's a soldier who saved the king's son who was a hostage and the soldier gets famous and the king eventually uses him. The soldier and the king's son are hooooot. The soldier so was looking at the prince like 'I want that bitch'. I think they should have sex. There needs to be more random gay characters in tv shows and in books. Just think 'he put a gun to the guy's head and then they had sex' Now wouldn't that be a good book? :P

Flaunting (and other random stuff)

Some things that have happened made me think today during a boring shift at work about gay pride. Many (close-minded) heterosexuals especially in the US complain how gays and lesbians flaunt their sexuality with rainbow stickers and gay-related shirts, gay pride parades, and other items. They claim that we're looking for sex and that if we want equality we shouldn't do this. Right... well the point of this is to show we have pride for who we are and to tell other people they're not alone.

'Why do gay people feel the need to flaunt their sexuality when you never see straight people do that?' Oh really? You never see straight people doing this? Whenever I go out here, you see guys holding hands with their girlfriends, kissing in public, showing off their wedding rings, have straight-targeted advertisements/commercials, have shirts like 'remember my name because you'll be screaming it later', and pretty much fucking each other in public while if an average joe sees two guys holding hands all hell breaks lose. I know this 'straight flaunting' isn't intentional, but they're still flaunting it. I really hate when people say 'I don't care if you're gay as long as you don't show it in public' Does it seriously fucking matter at the end of the day that we're gay? Does it effect your life in the smallest bit?

Another reason for some by wearing lgbt related stuff is to let other people know they're gay/bi. Some of us get really sick of the opposite coming up and flirting with us :P If a gay guy goes up to a straight guy and flirts with him, he'll get upset and will probably punch him... That makes me think of something else. Why are guys so much more uptight about gay guys than straight girls are with lesbians? By that I mean, girls don't mind if another girl flirts with them or even are more willing to experiment with another girl. Two straight girls hold hands in public, hug each other, sit on each other's lap. Guys, nooooo. If I go up to a guy and flirt with him, he'll probably say 'I'm not gay, fuck you, you're sick, walks away'. Guys barely make physical contact with each other. Are most of them uncomfortable with their sexuality and are secretly gay but are too afraid to let others know by being close with another guy? From my experience, if a guy at work finds out that I'm gay he'll probably quit or tease me by saying that I want him (it's really disgusting when the guy is terribly ugly and just gross, yes this has happened!). Ummm, don't flatter yourself, I can get better guys than you. Maybe they feel their masculinity is threatened by gay guys?

And another thing! Why do people say 'You're not gay, you just haven't found the right girl yet (or guy if directed to a lesbian)'? UGHGHHGHHH. You can just say 'well maybe just you haven't found the right guy/girl yet' 'I'm not attracted to the same sex' *shoots self up with heroin*
Even more annoying, especially for lesbians, when a guy tells them they can convert them. Or when they say 'you're lesbian because you haven't found me yet' 'Ooooh you sex god, make me straight!'


A thing that made me sad today.
I was at my lgbt club today and one of the girls in their said that her gay friend and his husband who were married in California might be forced to get a divorce and get their sons taken away from the government (I don't know if the details are 100% correct, but it was something like this). Ughhh, I hate the Right.

Sorry, if this might have come out heterophobic, I was just mad about certain stuff*

Reswedishfied

So, I'm back home after many hours of travelling back to Buffalo. Tomorrow I have to go back to work aka boredom. Everyone's going to ask
'Will!! Where have you been!
In my other country
Oooh, how was it??
Not long enough

Well there's really more that I would say, but jag hinner inte säga allt.
So, I'll try to shorten it down a little bit
I left on Feb. 18th Buffalo-DC-Brussels-Stockholm. Everything went well, but fun stuff at the airport in Brussels. My breakfast consisted of a chocolate roll, which is probably the best thing I've ever eaten and a beer (yes for breakfast! you just grab it there and they don't ask you for ID or anything!). Then there were two really hot guys working at a smoothie station so I had to get a smoothie. God they were hot, some other hotties too... I certainly wouldn't mind moving to Belgium! I got to speak some French too.
I spent two nights in Stockholm. It was nice, bigger than I thought it was. I was alone, so it wasn't that fun. I pretty much just walked around/got lost, shopped, and ate.

Then I took a tåg to Linköping. Karin and Tim surprised me at the station. It felt pretty weird being back at first, but after a few seconds it felt like I was just gone on vacation for a few weeks. We then went to Matilda's birthday party and I stayed over there for the rest of my trip with her nice family.
The weird thing is, after being back/speaking Swedish a few hours, my English got bad again! Surprisingly I remembered quite a lot of Swedish, yay.
I'm tired and jetlagged so I'll just give a brief thing on what I did in Linköping
-had fun with friends
- had dinner/lunch/fika with other people
- visited my old school and my teachers/other friends. They were like 'hej, HEEEEJ!!' They were so surprised
-Fikade a lot
-Shopped
-Bought champange truffels with Karin
-Danced in stores
-Walked around
-Went to uni with Matilda, she had Chinese and couldn't understand anything
-Saw/talked with random people from school in town/on the bus
-Bought alcohol legally, that felt nice
Overall it was a really nice trip and it was so fun to be back. I really missed everyone/everything and was happy to see everyone even though I didn't get to see everyone. I did see Gunn and Ingrid on webcam, if that counts as seeing them.
You know who else I saw? Hot guys, really hot ones and a lot of them, especially at Matilda's school, dammmmn. Now I'm back here and I'm going to start crying any minute because there aren't as many really hot guys which makes me feel asexual at times hehe. Hot guy deprived, faaaan =(
Being back made me realized how much I missed Europe and the lifestyl and stuff. I'm going to söka some universities in some countries over there. Wish me luck!


The journey back was alright, just long. Stockholm-Frankfurt-Chicago-Buffalo. On the flights to Frankfurt and Chicago there were crying babies on board. That was annoying. Good thing they stopped otherwise I would have given them something to cry about.

KRAM

Oh my god.....

I really can't believe that on Wednesday I'll be leaving for Sweden. It doesn't seem real, I've been waiting for this day since June 30th. Ever since I came back, I've been having days where I just don't feel any emotion, but now I can again. I feel good inside, realizing how much I miss everyone. I'm so excited. Everytime I think about it (which is every other minute), I either cry (out of happiness), smile, or have a seizure, yes even during work. My English is back to the Sweden days, meaning I'm messing up and have an urge to speak Swedish with everyone, strange.
I'm so excited and happy about going back that I can't describe it. I get to have Swedish food, see Swedish boys, and most importantly see all my wonderful friends again (ok not all, but a good deal of them, shame on the rest for not being in Sweden :P). It's going to be so nice to get away from everything, family, work, this town and be back in my 'other country' for a while.

Valentine's Day...

So tomorrow's Valentine's Day and yet again I'm single, I have been for the past 19 years =P Since I work at a supemarket I have to see people buy roses, cards, chocolate, cake, whatever for their boyfriend/girlfriend and heart ballons hanging all over the store so I'm pretty pissed off right about now :P But I did get myself some chocolate for Valentine's Day, I mean my 'imaginary boyfriend' did, yeah, that makes me feel better. I got a strawberry cake too!
I think some guy was flirting with me today. After work I walked out of the store and one of my fellow workers was selling tickets and whoever wins gets a free night out at a restaurant. And he said 'do you want to try to win a free night out so you can take me?' I was like ok. I was talking about random stuff like my schedule for next week, I have off since I'm going to Sweden and the schedule says 'child care'. I was like 'I don't have a child?' Maybe I adopted one while I was drunk, who knows...
Anyway back to Valentine's Day, I have to work all day tomorrow so I won't have to feel sad for being alone since I'll be working.
I hope all my friends who are in a relationship have a nice Valentine's Day with their boyfriend/girlfriend and those who are single, better luck next year!

Finalizing

So I really need to make up my mind on moving. I know, you all are probably thinking 'not another one of these' But I've come to the conclusion and have to options and yet another pro/con list.
I decided not to stay in the US, it isn't for me even though there are some really cool places, but the laws of the country as a whole I can't coexist with (and some other stuff it has to do with my other post Sicko). Canada is a cool place, but I'm sick of winter and the places that I'd be interested in going is most likely the same or even worse.
So, that leaves Europe and Australia (where did that come from?) I've done a lot of research and here's my pro/con list (I just love doing these if you can tell :P)

Australia:
PROS
-not expensive, the exchange rate is 1USD = 1.50 AUD
- nature and has cool animals (koalas ^^)
- Likable weather
- Really friendly people
- very laid-back
-Melbournes sounds like a fantastic city
- they speak English there, have a cool accent and slang
-very mutilcultural
- the US and Australia set up an agreement where Americans and Australians can get a visa easier and go to the other country to work for up to 12 months.
- A lot of jobs and not enough people, so pretty easy to get a job heeeeeey

CONS
- far away from everything (the biggest drawback for me), though I guess Indonesia and New Zealand are pretty close? If I wanted to go back home to visit it would be about a 20 hour flight, my ass hurts after being on a plane for just 2 hours...
-homophobia and racism- I'm not sure about this one, I've heard stories that they're very accepting or hate it. I don't see how can they be homophobic since their founders were all sex-deprived imprisoned males with no women in Australia =P
-Weather, I guess it can get really hot over there and droughts are pretty frequent. Where I live it gets to about 85F (3oC) in the summer, but very very humid and makes me want to die, but when I was in Vegas, it was hotter but not humid at all and I enjoyed it.

EUROPE (aka the places I'm interested in that I know the language- UK, Ireland, Sweden and France). I've done my research and unfortunately it's pretty much impossible for a non-EU citizen who doesn't have a degree to go to Europe and work there for a few months. So, my only options are either being an au-pair (but I hate kids!) or waiting until the fall and try to apply for uni there, that is if I get accepted and if I can wait that long to escape my town.

Or maybe go to Australia in April and work there and see if I get accepted to some uni in Europe and go there in August/September?
Or maybe I should just stop thinking so much and just do move? =P

Sicko

No, this doesn't have anything to do with my last post titled 'Sick of it' rather by the documentary by Michael Moore. I finally got to watch it two days ago. It was really interesting. The movie's about the American healthcare system and how crappy it is and goes to France, Canada, UK and Cuba and checks out their healthcare systems. He goes around the US and hears people's stories: a -lady whose husband died because their healthcare company said that a certain medicine wouldn't help even though the doctor said it would pretty much get rid of his disease
-many people who were kicked out of a hospital (even when they were in bed) because they couldn't pay for being there
-an American lady and her two kids who moved to Canada to get healthcare
-Nurses and firemen who helped out when the World Trade Centers fell, they unfortunately got some diseases but weren't covered by their healthcare companies because they were volunteering. So Michael Moore took them to Cuba and they got treated and got the right medicine for free even though they weren't tax paying citizens.
He goes to UK, Canada and France and is amazed that people don't have to pay for anything there and how much they get. He asked one couple at a hospital in the UK 'how much did it cost you to have your baby? Because in the US is costs you to have a baby' They gave him the weirdest look and replied 'ummm...nothing?...?'

I don't feel like talking about the whole film since it talked about other stuff. If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it.

Seeing this made me even more scared. Since December I don't have health insurance anymore because I had decided to wait one more year to go to college. But I still have dental insurance, who cares if I die or anything, my teeth are way more fucking important.
How can the US, a modern, rich country, the 'best country in the world' who claims to have a ton of freedom and takes care of its citizens be the only first-world country who doesn't have universal healthcare? They have money to kill people in wars but none to help its citizens...

Sick of it

I'm really getting sick of my town and everthing about it.
It's been pretty much been snowing nonstop, it's so cold and there's so much snow on the ground you barely want to step outside. I wouldn't even leave the house for free chocolate, yes that's how bad it is. Last year, I really missed the snow, but now hell no! I hate it even more since I'm driving and driving in the snow is hard and scary, plus you have to clean all that snow and ice on your car, not fun!
I'm starting to feel normal here. The people here are so blah, boring and normal here, the only thing most people know how to talk about is 'the game on Sunday'. Yeah, I'm sure each town/city has their own share of these people, but I'm pretty sure that Lancaster a much larger share than most places. I don't feel like being wierd anymore, I need some drugs or something to keep my insanity =P You know what, I haven't even been as chocolate obsessed, that must say something, a wake-up-call or something...
Nothing exciting happens here! Well pretty much nothing at all. Everytime I turn on the news it's either about the crappy weather or about someone getting shot in Buffalo, that's all. How about something happy for a change, like a new building being built or some kind of charity work? Oh wait, nothing happens here...
WNY is too strict and uptight for me. Why the hell do I need to ask a 100 year old man for identification when he buys beer!? Clearly he's over 21... Yeah, supposedly asking everyone for ID reduces underage drinking (huh?). Well if you don't want to have underage drinking don't have such stupid drinking laws, people under 21 are going to find away to drink anyway be it by going to Canada or Mexico or getting someone older to get alcohol for them.
Then there are ton of people here who think badly about someone just because they're different or the kind of people who kill people fighting at a store over some toy during Christmas- chill out!

Ok, I'm done complaining, well not really =P

This is about people in general.
At work, we are to ask every customer if they are willing to donate $2,$3, or $5 to help hungry families in the area. There is a chance of them winning $1000 in groceries. Can you believe how many people say no? If there weren't a prize I doubt there would be many people donating money. There are hungry people out there, but it's ok, because you're fat-ass family is content after spending $200 on food. Some people are really nice though and don't mind at all donating some money. But there are some who are so rude. One of my fellow workers told me the other day that a customer said to her 'Why should I donate anything? These people should learn how to work for their food' Well if these people are hungry then your taxes will probably be increased by the government to pay for their welfare checks. If everyone helped at least a little bit then this country would be a better place. Fucking greedy people.

OK, now I'm done!

My advice

Yesterday I had to work 6.30pm-12.30am (18.30-00.30). No one comes in the store after 10.00 so I was bored. I decided to read some of the many celebrity gossip magazines. One article caught my eye on my boyfriend, Robert Pattinson (Edward from Twilight, Cedric from Harry Potter 4). The article was talking about how this London hottie can't get any girls because they don't want to go out with him and he doesn't have much self-confidence when it comes to girls. His co-workers say that he's a very nice and sweet guy, so why does he have girl problems? Do you know what my advice to him is? Try guys =P If he has problems with girls maybe he's attracted to guys and doesn't know due to the fact that if actors/actresses come out their fans wouldn't be happy. I would go with him, he seems nice, he's funny (saw him on a talk show), hot, he has a sexy accent, and he's rich. So....
DITCH THE BITCH
MAKE THE SWITCH

Homosexuality in the media.

This is something I've been thinking about. You rarely see anything dealing with gays or with anyone else in the LGBT community on TV or in the movies. What I mean by that is, you won't have a main character who's gay/lesbian/bi/transexual or even the main character's friend without it being a gay movie. Why can't one of the girls in Heroes be a lesbian? Or the main guy in an action movie be gay? Another thing is commercials. You see those commericals when a girl tries a new shampoo and she gets all the guys, well why can't see get all the girls instead =P Or the other type of commerical when a guy has a problem with his health and then there's an advertisement for some medicine (then they name all the side-affects that are probably more dangerous than the disease itself) and they show him happy with his wife/girlfriend. So, what I'm asking, when are we going to see the opposite? Back in the day you would rarely see Blacks or Asians in the media, now it's not like that at all. Then they started putting phycially handicapped children in children's books and shows to get children to see they're humans too. How long does the LGBT community have to wait?

Prayers For Bobby

Ok there was a new movie that just finished on tv. It was called Prayers for Bobby. It's a true story that takes place in the 1970/80's It's about a boy who's gay and his strict Christian family *coughs* his mother who doesn't approve of it at all. She tries to 'cure' him and says all this stuff. He jumps off a bridge and kill himself. The mother grieves and looks up all this stuff on homosexuality. She then becomes a gay rights activist and the movie ended with her and her family in a gay and lesbian pride parade in San Francisco. It was a really sad movie and good, I just wished it was longer! My mom ended up watching it in her room; I wonder if she suspects something...

Colds

I have a cold right now. In the past five months I've gotten sick 3 times, in the 10 months I was in Sweden I only got sick once. Strange :S
With all the technological, medical, and scientific advancements we have made as human, you would think we would have a cure for the common cold, right? We can put man in space, perform open-heart surgery, and reconstruct a person's face, but we can't stop coughing and running noses?

SWEEEEDEN!

Yes, I'm going back. I'm leaving my city on February 18th, first to DC, then to Brussels and then finally to Stockholm (I'll be arriving in Stockholm on the 19th). I'm going to spend two days in Stockholm and then go to Linköping on the 21st and then I'll be there until March third (Stockholm-Frankfurt-Chicago-Buffalo). If anyone wants to hang out with Stockholm, that will be fun and that way I won't get lost :P

I think I should have waited until the summer when everyone's not busy with school and stuff, but I think it would be nice to be back. I'm really looking forward to it, speaking Swedish, seeing everyone again, eating Swedish stuff. But it'll be weird since some of my friends won't be there and neither will the other exchange students, but it will still be fun!

So, I guess about one more month till I'm back in Sweden!

The worst book I've ever read

Is The Road by Cormac McCarthy.

I bought this book a few weeks ago, I read the back and it sounded interesting.
-A man and his son who try to survive in a dystopia. Something happened and the world is now crazy and rotten. They're always hungry and cannibals are on the loose. They start up north and make their way down south-
The book got good reviews and the cashier said it was good, so I was like 'ok! can't wait to read it!
The book was really depressing, seriously it makes you want to kill yourself and you wish the characters were dead. You don't know anything about the man or the son (they don't even have names), what happened, why they're going south, nothing! The same stuff happens over and over again- they're hungry, they find food, the dad kills someone, that's it. Here the only dialogue in the book
I'm hungry
I know
I'm cold
I know
Are we going to die
I don't know

Imagine reading that for 300 pages...
In fact, they don't use question marks and one sentence, the author writes don't and the next dont. I was like 'is this guy French or what?'

The story was so bad, I didn't finish the book , that never happens, I always finish a book. I skipped to the end and found out what happened and thought 'ok...'

I highly regret buying his book and don't recommend reading it.

With more thought....

Everyone's probably getting really tired about me deciding where to move to well, that's life :P
I've narrowed down my choices... Portland/ Chicago, Montreal, Paris/Lyon, Amsterdam, Stockholm/Göteborg. They all sound like amazing and crazy cities, so that's why I want to move to one of them.

My heart tells me different things, one second I want to go there, the next nowhere. I have to consider a lot of things, since I pretty much plan on staying in that city (or close to it) for a while. Let's take Paris as an example, it seems like a cool city, I've heard a lot about it in movies and such, looks beautiful, sure it would be fun to live there for a few months, but what about studying there or paying for uni? Or living there for a few years?
If I do decide to move to Europe or Canada I would be an immigrant, not an exchange student again. How easy would I be able to assimilate? Would I feel at home after years of living there? If Obama doesn't fix up the US, do I still want to live here?

I have to consider this too, would it be better to live in a place where I feel I belong socially, but not culturally? (if that made sense :P) Like I like the social systems of Europe and Canada (healthcare, education, human rights, laid-back laws, public transportation etc), but I feel like I belong more to the culture of the US (would be able to understand certain jokes, no language barrier, no cultual differences (which are fun, but sometimes hard), holidays, being able to understand certain issues in the US)

All this is making me confused, wish I could see in the future and see what would be best for me.

At least if I go to one of the cities in Europe I would know people who can help me/each other along the way. I really do miss Europe, but I just can't stop thinking how easier it would be just staying in the US or going to Canada.

How does one even start the process of moving to another country? If I go to Portland or Chicago, I could just move. But if I go to Canada or Europe, I need a visa, get a job before, and have to move all my junk too :P Does anyone know any useful information?

Please counsel me so I can finally decide and you won't have to listen to me anymore :P
Aww my head hurts.

Nederland or Deutsch?

I don't have school anymore (my French course ended last semester) and now I'm starting to feel lazy and stupid. So, I was thinking, hmm what about learning a new language? I've always wanted to learn Dutch and German, I tried in the past, but was too busy with school and stuff. But which should I start learning first?

-Dutch is easier, but not as useful as German
- If I don't go to France, then I would probably go to the Netherlands so obviously Dutch would be useful.
- Even though Dutch grammar is easier, there are more resources for German
- Dutch people are the coolest, so speaking to them in their own language would give me some motivation :P


I need to get my French better too. I feel that I know all or most of the grammar, but have problems with speaking and actually using the grammar in sentences. I need a really good grammar book.