YOUPOST 3

Without exaggeration I would say I am fond of travelling. I already started to travel the world when I was pretty young. Brasil, England, U.S.A, South Africa, Greece, India, Thailand and Egypt are only a few countries I have already been to. If I could choose going to any of these countries again I would go to the United States, because my trip there was by far the best.

I prefer to do a 14-days tour, because I think that is the minimum of time you should spend to have a relaxing trip. I would like to go in a semester break when I am free from university, as I am studying English and sign language at the ITAT in Graz. Before planning a trip, the most important aspect is to know how many budget you have. As I am a student and as I am not having a regularly income, I would save my money wisely and would work in the summer holidays before the trip. As America is one of the most expensive countries in the world, I would try to go there as a “low budget” traveler. My trip will cover the West coast and I will take a cheap flight, costing a maximum of 550€. The US spends less on food than any country in the world. I am sure I will not have a problem to find inexpensive food. Though many Americans eat very fatty I will try to avoid Fast Food restaurants like Mc Donald´s. As I have already been to the United States I know that almost everywhere in the U.S. is a great range of international food that they offer.

The start of my trip will be in San Francisco. I will choose a small, cheap hostel and will not hesitate to share the room with other travelers, as I want to save my money. I will definitely see attractions such as bustling Fisherman's Wharf or the stately Golden Gate Bridge. I will ride the famous cable car and relax at Pier 39.

To come further to my next destination I will borrow the car from my acquaintances, who live in “Frisco” and will drive until my next stop - the Grand Canyon National Park. There I have the great opportunity to sleep in a tent which I will definitely do. The next couple of days I will spend with hikes around the Grand Canyon. I can hardly wait to have this spectacular view, especially when the sun goes down and when the mountains will shine beautifully red.

My next and last stop will be Los Angeles. There are many attractions and sights to keep me busy while visiting Los Angeles, starting from Downtown LA to the neighboring beaches of Malibu, Beverly Hills, Venice Beach, Santa Monica, Rodeo Drive, and more.  The Studio Tour at Universal Studios is something that I cannot afford to miss. After that I take a walk down to Hollywood Boulevard's Hollywood Walk of Fame. From that place my flight is going back to Austria. I hope to have a wonderful trip and to obtain some new, great traveler experiences.

YOUPOST 4

                                                             BANGKOK

One of the most interesting places I have ever been to is the famous tourist attraction and capital city Bangkok in Thailand. I visited this place last April and I would love to go there again soon. If you plan a trip to this city you should be careful with the people who live there. Many are very corrupt and try to fool somebody out of his money. They know that Europeans are most wealthy and so they charge the double prize for tourists in comparison to what they charge from citizens. 

If you want to go to Bangkok you need to spend 2-3 days there to get to see the best parts of Bangkok. You should try to get your accommodation in the famous one kilometers long Khao San Road, which is located in the central part of this city. From there it is pretty easy to reach all the attractions you should really see. Very close to this road you can visit the Grand Palace or the Wat Pho temple, where you can see the world´s biggest Buddha statue in the world which is made out of gold. Another entertainment activity you can do is to visit the floating market, where goods are sold from boats.

If you are a passionate foodie, you should go and search for the delicious Tom Yum Goong, which is a spicy shrimp soup. Another must try are the Pad Thai (Thai style Fried Noodles), which you get at almost every street corner to a reasonable price.

Bangkok is full of surprises. So go and visit this city- it is worth it!!

YOUPOST 2

              General information about stereotypes


Where do stereotypes come from?

·         Some are created by direct experiences with people from the “other” group

·         Some stem from the experience with only one or two people from this group

·          Others are based on second-hand information and opinions

·         Others are formed without any direct experience with individuals – they learn their                        information from mass media or internet..

·         They are created automatically and unconsciously

 Are they true?

·        
 Actually they are not true – you generalize people to find differences and to categorize

·         You put yourself and everyone who shares your beliefs, traditions, language into   category of “we” and “us”

·         When you meet a person who is different from you (language, accent, color of skin) you identify this person as “other” and put him/her into your outgroup category (“they”)

·         You start analyzing the “other”. Which differences exist between the “us” and the “other”

·         Some stereotypes are positive (“Women are multitasking”), some are negative (“Women are not as intelligent as men”)

Stereotypes in the U.S.A

"All Americans are fat"!

“That´s not true”! This sentence you will hear from few Americans. But in fact each day, 1 in 4 Americans visits a fast food restaurant. Though Americans eat Fast Food regularly, they have a thinner population than the Mexicans. In Mexico 70 percent of the population is too fat, in America there are only 35%. Of course, all this fast-food has led to a problem -obesity. In 2004, the National Center for Health published a study on obesity in the United States. Between 1962 and 2000, the percentage of obese Americans swelled from 13 percent to 31 percent.

French fries are the most eaten vegetable in America .You would have to walk for seven hours straight to burn off a Super Sized Coke, fry and Big Mac . In the U.S., they eat more than 1,000,000 animals an hour. The main problem why people in the U.S. eat so much Fast Food, is that many people realize that they can get a value meal at numerous fast-food restaurants for far less money than it takes to purchase foods to make a healthy meal for their family. As a result, this stereotype is not true. There are Americans who are obese, but not all of them!!!

SUPER SIZE ME - an experiment from an American!

While examining the influence of the fast food industry, Morgan Spurlock personally explores the consequences on his health of a diet of solely McDonald's food for one month.

YOUPOST 1

                                             

                                           Most spooky time of the year --> HALLOWEEN!

Nowadays most people celebrate Halloween, but they do not know where it actually comes from or what the actual meaning is. The festival originates from a Celtic festival called "Samhain", which means „summers end“.  People believe that in the night before Samhain, 31st of October, the dead are returning as ghosts.. To keep roaming spirits away people leave food and wine on their doorsteps. The Christian church changed Samhain to All Hallowe´s Eve. Later it was shortened to Halloween, as it´s name remains until today. Personally I didn´t know much about the spooky festival of the year and there is a lot of new information that really surprised me. I knew Halloween is a very famous festivity, especially in the United States. A sister of mine lives in Ohio, and she told me that Halloween today is more about costumes and traditions like trick or treating than the literal meaning. I know that costumes have a huge impact and an important role in times of modern Halloween. More than 120 Americans dress up in costumes, for example as witches, pirates and vampires. All in all it means that Halloween is a huge business for companies. People spend 2.5 Billion Dollars for costumes every year and 6 Billion Dollars for candy, which is quite much. One thing I found out is how the traditions changed from the past to the present. In the mid 19th century the Irish came across the Atlantic and through that a lot of changes happened. Bonfires shrank to lanterns and disguising became to costumes. One important part about Halloween is the healthy pumpkin, where one of them contains more than 500 seeds and which peers out from doorsteps in many parts of the world in October. Irish immigrants brought the tradition to America and it should reflect the story of “jack-o´-lanterns”, which I also just figured out and found it very helpful and interesting for the historical meaning and traditions of Halloween. Another surprising information is, that a big part of the English society stopped celebrating Halloween when Martin Luther's Protestant Reformation began to spread. Although Halloween sounds very interesting I never celebrated it before, but now I understand more about the famous day of death and maybe I will also dress up at October 31st or just join the Halloween party, which is organized by the ITAT.