I’ve been an exchange student in high school, and my family hosted two of them. Im from Germany, and the exchange was with US students. My personal experience was interesting, I stayed with a mormon family in Utah, and it was a very different life than I was used to from my rather liberal upbringing. Not necessarily in a way that bothered me as most of the people at school also were Mormon and had more or less strict Mormon parents. But yeah, it was just very different. Going to church every Sunday, praying together with family and reading their religious texts, small acts of community service under the umbrella of the church. Their lives were very much defined by their religion and the social circle they built at church. I wouldn’t necessarily say that I kept any of their habits or beliefs long-term, although some stuck with me for a couple of months after I returned home. I do believe that the experience made me more open-minded and inclined to understand others rather than judge them.

The first student we hosted actually stayed with us in the year before I went to the US. He was kind and sociable, and we could tell he was having a good time during his year. I think he also realized some things about himself that he hadn’t known before, so that’s great. That’s the biggest advantage, you go through so much personal growth during that year, which can really help you get ahead of your peers if you can utilize it.

The other student we hosted had a rougher time, and I think it came down to not really finding connection at school. But he did end up staying the year with us and visited again a couple of years later, so I’d say it was overall still a positive experience for him and our family.

And where car manufacturers literally buy up public transportation companies and run them into the ground.

Europe is going down the drain copying all the worst parts of US culture: anti-woke culture war bullshit, voting for increasingly fascist parties, obsession with individual wealth and status symbols (I.e. big trucks)… I wish there was a way to stop it, but it seems everyone is either participating or just shrugging their shoulders. At this point, I’m just glad I don’t have kids who will have to live in this reality.

It’s nice when you’re wearing tight pants/ trousers. With a thong, there’s less chance of underwear bunching up and causing extra wrinkles and lines on the outer layer.

I can even imagine that some household chores can be done while “actively” working, like when you’re in a call and just listening to the other parties.

I think exercise is helpful to everyone who experiences stressful or frustrating situations regularly. Our bodies are still built for fight or flight responses, and physical exertion helps get rid of that stress response.

I thought that it was the opposite even, and that walking barefoot from time to time strengthens certain parts of your feet and legs that would otherwise be underused.

The design of the bars is borrowed from the European energy efficiency labels for electronics. On those labels, longer bars mean higher energy consumption. So it’s probably meant to reptesent either fuel use or general environmental impact here.

I play heroes of the storm vs AI. It’s pretty fun.

You can also own an apartment and live in it. The problem in the US, as far as I know, is that many cities make it very hard to actually build apartments or rowhouses or really anything other than a single family house on a big lawn.

Yes, absolutely. You can also combine both proposals, and have apartment blocks near those neighborhood shopping centers. The people who want their yards and lawns can have them, there’s room for more people who don’t mind living in an apartment, and the businesses that open in those town/neighborhood centers have more customers living close by. I live in a city in the Netherlands that has put this concept into practice, and it’s really great.

Ugh this thread makes me upset. I have a contract for 18 hrs per week and you bet your ass I’m really working 99% of the time that I’m clocked in. And then people ask me why I don’t work more hours, but looking at these comments it seems I’m actually right on par with other people who get paid for 30-40 hours per week, when it comes to productive time spent.

Opening a beer bottle with a lighter, a second beer bottle, your teeth (not recommended), the corner of a table (don’t actually do this unless you know the table can be scratched up or chipped), or other random objects.

No, I don’t think it’s a good idea to get a donkey if you plan on leaving it alone for days on end. For one, you should check up on animals daily just to make sure they don’t have injuries, tipped over their waterbucket, broke the fence etc. Also, donkeys get lonely without other animals around.

Yeah in that case I would go back to the doctor who first diagnosed you. Sometimes the brain just needs a bit of help to regulate itself properly, just like any other organ.

Not to diagnose you, but have you considered that this may actually be due to bipolar disorder? Burnout and depression share a lot of symptoms, after all.

Some diet tracking apps let you do just that, you can create recipes and then add a serving from that recipe. I know I did that with Cronometer for a while. It’s free too, and has a good amount of information.

Any way to dissolve the paint in the keyhole chemically?