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.

Ich finde es schon ziemlich extrem dass der Durchschnitt bei 16% liegt. Ich kann mir beim besten Willen nicht vorstellen dass 16% der von Ärzten verschriebenen Maßnahmen sinnlos wären. Wobei es in den USA auch nicht verwunderlich wäre wenn Ärzte mittlerweile mehr Behandlungen empfehlen weil sie eben wissen dass nur ein Teil davon genehmigt wird. Kein Wunder dass niemand dem CEO dessen Versicherung diese Statistik anführt, nachtrauert.

Especially in the US where people drive everywhere more often than not. Keep a small trash bag in your car, empty it when you get home.

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

Haha, I took this post as motivation to finally use up those frozen bananas I had. Now I have banana bread muffins in my freezer instead. It’s a good upgrade if you ask me.

Make banana bread for friends or neighbors?

The orange cat stereotype is just too true.

His comment would be just as weird if he had made it towards girls or young women…

In the same vein, Sea of Stars.

Ich wohne in Holland, hier sind Spekulatius das ganze Jahr lang erhältlich. Einer der Gründe warum sich das auswandern gelohnt hat.

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.

Alrighty then 👍

Not to be pedantic, but cats are mesopredators.

Yeah sure. Maybe you could make the argument that humans should leave stuff like that for other scavengers who need the nutrients to survive, and instead opt for plant foods. But at those edge scenarios you would then also have to take into account the impact that plant agriculture has on wildlife. It’s quite possible that scavenging and gathering is the most vegan option, but seeing how it’s neither viable for a lot of people nor something that often comes up in daily life, it’s easier to just generalize vegan food as plant based.

I think that may have been a joke.

This is the stuff that SCP’s are made of.

I’m not gonna dox myself here bg linking my adress, but rest assured: I have been living in apartments all my adult life, and it’s been fine. The problems you describe are not inherent to apartments but rather the way landlords handle things. With better regulations and organizations that help renters assert their rights, it can be a good way to house people.

Yes, occasionally hearing your neighbors is just as inhumane as having no shelter, water and heating.

Just write off the day and start again tomorrow. Maybe set a bit lower calorie goals for the next couple of weeks.

Imagine someone who has his mouth wide open, tongue sticking up toward the roof of jis mouth, with his head tilted back as I screaming to the sky. You see the tongue and mouth from below due to perspective, as well as head tilt.