Last night I got the tragic news that a good friend of mine who I moved to the Netherlands with 5 years ago, committed suicide by jumping off the highest floor of our old appartment building we all lived in when we arrived in Groningen. He was a softspoken, calm and charasmatic friend and my heart goes out to his family, especially his mother who lost her only child. I am grateful to have known you for the last 5 years, my friend and I hope your soul finds peac...

My aunt is the best! I've received various gifts from her since I arrived in America. I've gotten a few cards, money, giftcards from Amazon etc. Today I got an actual rum-cake and 12 cupcakes so I can share with my friends. She also sent giftcards from Pizza Hut, Wendy's and store credit for Wallgreen so I can get my toiletries etc. and some other stuff I usually get from there. I can't wait to fly to Oklahoma and visit my family. I'm off to spread some cheer a...

Last night we went to 2 house parties, as one does on a friday night when studying at an American college. Managed to get out before the party got busted by the police as they always do. We drug ourselves to the local 24 hour diner and had massive amounts of french fries and cheeseburgers. So yeah.. about that healthy lifestyle! I'll compensate by going to Subway today (I'm just kidding, I'm too lazy to go anywhere else to get food). I have to stay in the rest o...

Right now I'm enjoying a cup of caramel machiatto at Coffee Hound (my favorite coffee place in Normal) and I just wanted to share something that I've had on my mind since I got here in America. Most Americans are genuinely interested in knowing where they come from and also where others are from. I've lost count of how many times I've had to explain exactly where I'm from, where I was born, what languages I can speak etc. Telling other of my background and upbri...

So for the course Cross-Cultural Issues in Tesol we need to listen in on people's conversation. That means I'll be following random conversations, writing them down and comparing them in order to do research on speech acts as my final assignment for this class. It's really interesting but it takes a lot of work to gather all of the data. In other news, my aunt & uncle just bought me a ticket to Oklahoma so I can go and visit them when the semester is done i...