Traveling plans for this summer!

Hola chicas and chicos!

I am beyond excited for this summer! In June it will be 2 whole years that I have last seen my American friends and family in Michigan. I have been saving up money like crazy to be able to visit them. So, sometime in the following weeks I will book my flight to Saginaw, Michigan. I will probably come there in the middle/end of July and stay until the end of August and maybe even a week or two into September. I have a concert to go to with a friend of mine on July 28th so that will be the latest date I could arrive. So, Michigan is pretty much carved in stone. I have not been out of the country since the school trip to France in September of 2011 (unless you want to count the occasional trip to Germany to visit my grandparents), so needless to say I am MORE THAN EAGER to just get on a plane and see new stuff. I mean I've already lived there for a year before so it's not really "new", but it will be a lot different as I will not be there as a student that has to obey certain rules. I will be staying with my host family as well as with some awesome friends of mine. I hope I will get to go up North (to the U.P. = Upper Peninsula) again too, because the landscape there is so beautiful. I will also celebrate my 20th (when did I become so old?!) birthday there and am pretty stoked about that as well.

Before my America trip, however, my boyfriend and I will participate in a college field trip to Rome in May. I have never been there before so that will be quite interesting. Maybe we'll even have the chance to get a glimpse of the new Pope somewhere. Not that I'm catholic, or even a Christian at all really, but that would be a cool experience anyways! Now that I think of it...I should ask my Italian friend if he can maybe meet us there some time. That would be cool. He was an exchange student at my High School in Michigan as well so we were pretty much partners in crime (or suffering, whichever way you take it) and, along with another friend, probably responsible for half of the money our local McDonald's made each week since that was basically our destined hang-out. I'll definitely check out if that would work.

 

Another trip I had pretty much planned out, but am probably going to not go on is one
 to San Francisco. I have been wanting to go there for the longest time and so I checked the flight prices and discovered that if I went there DURING my stay in Michigan it would be quite cheap. I found out about couch surfing a while ago and thought I'd give it a shot. A couple, living pretty much in the center of the city, responded to my request and said they could take me in for a week or so. Now I'm not so sure anymore if I'm going to go on the trip, because I don't want to risk spending too much money this summer and going into the next semester pretty much broke as can be haha. I'll have to reconsider that trip...if I will go through with it I'll definitely be updating on that.

This is pretty much all I have planned for this summer and I hope all will go well and I will have a lot of stuff to talk about and many pictures to show that I actually took myself after going on these trips!


 Katie Lynn :)


Sources of pictures:
http://www.umich.edu/~jmgroup/
http://www.travelroma.com/en/hotels-city-center-rome/rome-attractions/
http://blog.carneysandoe.com/san-francisco-sites-bites-photo-opps/

What's for dinner?

So, I was completely NOT in the mood for going outside of my room to the dorm kitchen to cook some actual, warm dinner. Also, it's quite late for dinner already so I decided I might as well use those four bananas laying on my fruit table before they go bad haha.

I got my awesome food processor (which my lovely parents gave me for my birthday) out of the storage drawer and put the four bananas and some peanut butter in it. I mixed it all together and got a nice consistency by adding some rice milk too. Then I poured it in the really cool looking (you can't really tell from that picture) bowl my Mom got me (after I kinda...broke my last bowl) and sprinkled some granola on top.

I'm not even sure what to call it really, because it's in a bowl...but I guess it's still considered a smoothie. So, what I used for this one are:

- 4 ripe organic (& Fair Trade) bananas
- 1 table spoon of soft peanut butter (I guess if you wanted more to bite on you could use the crunchy kind)
- some organic rice milk
- organic crunch granola

If I had cinnamon I would have definitely added some of that too to give it a bit of a more spicy flavor.

This was such an improvement considering my previous smoothie failure. I knew from the beginning I shouldn't have added those two tomatoes (don't ask me why I even did that)...but I was a fighter and drank it all. With my nose closed. It was horrible.

I hope to see you again for my next food adventure!

Katie Lynn :)

New semester, new future plans?

Hello peeps!

Since posterous.com is shutting down I transferred my previous blog posts to this new blog and am now looking forward to posting more frequent and more interesting stuff!

The spring semester has begun and with it came quite a few worries. Actually, those worries came a few weeks before the new semester started. When I chose my major to be in Transcultural Communications I did that with the intention to become a book translator after I get my Master Degree. Well, turns out that mostly other authors translate books and the vast majority of translators work as technical translators. What that means? That means I might spend my days translating user manual after user manual for the rest of my working life. Another punch in my face was the fact that most translators are freelancers. So, basically my future would most likely look like this if I continue studying TCC (Transcultural Communications):

- Go to work or work from home
- Translate "Do not swallow; If substance had contact with your eye: wash it out and call your doctor ASAP; ..." over and over and over again
- Go home
- Worry about not getting enough orders for stuff to translate

Sounds pretty awesome huh?! Yeah, didn't think so either. Freelancing might be the right thing to do for some people and might actually fulfill them, but I don't want to constantly have to worry about wether or not I will get enough orders next month to support the family I will hopefully have some day. I want a stable job that I get a salary for each month. And I want it to have to do with languages (preferably English & Spanish). Is that too much to freaking ask?

I am actually contemplating to go into teaching, however, my personality which is rather quiet might be a problem. It might not be the right thing for me to stand in front of a class and instruct them with what to do. On the other hand, I might enjoy being an Elementary School teacher, because I have had similar experiences during a volunteer teacher aid position I had in the past. I enjoyed working with the little kids a whole lot, so maybe I would just be suited to work with littler children but not with high schoolers.

Well, I will have this semester to figure all of this out. Then I will hopefully have decided on something that I will, in the future, call the right choice.
Until then, this is me:  

Katie Lynn :)

About Veganism: Take off those blinders!

 (originally posted on Nov. 1st 2012)

Happy World Vegan Day & Month to everyone!

Due to this occasion this post will be about Veganism. What it actually is, what it means to me/why I am a vegan, what I struggle with as a vegan and whatever else I can get from the top of my head. If you don't want to read this blog post, please at least look at one or two of the links below :) Thank you.
In general what most people view as a vegan is someone who does not consume any animal products whatsoever. No eggs, no milk or milk products, no honey and obviously no meat. There are different kinds of vegans though. There are vegans that are motivated by the aspect of morality, and those also do not buy products made of leather, wool, silk or any other kind of fabric made from animal products. Depending on the person, they might also be against any kind of animal experiments or animals used for entertainment. Other vegans are solely "health-vegans" and only pursue a vegan lifestyle in those areas that benefit their health. Meaning they might still buy leather, etc. Lastly, there are those vegans that are motivated by moral and health aspects in equal measure. I count myself to the last kind, although I must admit that at first I was only morally motivated.

I started out as a vegetarian in 2006 after an endless seeming odyssey of telling my parents that I am serious about it, that I am informed about the health facts, that I am NOT going to be anorexic and the usual things parents that have been “brainwashed” by the omnivore-industry since…ever worry about. There was not a specific event that made me start, but it was rather the constant feeling that it is wrong and disgusting to eat dead bodies. I continued to be very content with being vegetarian and due to lack of knowledge and probably partially lack of motivation to look into it further I never really considered veganism. I thought they were crazy and just going too far with this. Also, from what I was taught in biology classes at school I thought it was unhealthy. You know, because you “need cow’s milk to get strong bones” and such. Well, in July of 2010 I researched more about it and I decided to give it a try. I could only do it for one month though, because I probably was not informed good enough and it was also only one month before I left for my exchange year to the US. Since I barely got a spot in the program being a vegetarian I didn’t dare to be “even more complicated”. Against popular belief the US is probably the most vegetarian friendly place I’ve been to so far. There are so many more options for Veggies over there! You can just go to your city’s grocery store and buy vegan Mac’n’Cheese or Tofurkey

(turkey made of tofu). Austrian grocery stores aren’t quite there yet, but they are on the way. My favorites here are vegan Bratz (Bratwürste)

and definitely oat or hazelnut “milks”. Also, you can buy vegan cheese in online shops. Since I have never done that yet I can’t recommend any specific cheese. When I am back in the US I will, however, definitely try “Daiya Cheese”. It is said to be the cheese most similar to cow’s cheese concerning the melting ability and also taste. Anyways, back to the original topic. Finally, in February 2012 I started looking into it again and I also chose it as the topic for my final exam paper in Biology. I ordered the book “The China Study” which is often called the “Vegan Bible”, at least concerning the health aspects of veganism. It obviously convinced me completely and I totally recommend EVERYONE to read it! It will open your eyes. The struggles I have with veganism are by far not as bad as I imagined them to be when I started. It for sure is inconvenient at times but once you are in it with all of your heart AND brain you will not give it up again for the momentary pleasure of a muffin that yells at you to eat it. What is most important to me when talking about veganism is that it is not at all about being perfect. Nobody will ever be perfect, as much as one might try. The important step is the “trying”. The only real struggles that veganism brought into my life are the people that can’t deal with it. It is very hard for me to explain why I am vegan to people when they ask me, because most people won’t understand no matter how well I explain it. Some won’t understand, because they don’t want to and some try to understand but eventually keep running against this wall that has been created in their heads by school, parents and media over the years. I get really frustrated when people make these nonsense comments like “vegans eat my food’s food” or “plants have feelings too”. It offends me in a way that I can’t even begin to explain. It is just so rude to joke over a topic like this. After all, this topic is about killing and abusing innocent beings, so I really cannot see how anyone can talk about it as if we were talking about our different opinions on the new Twilight movie. The worst thing for me about being vegan is being with people that make jokes like this. Being friends or even family with people like this is hard, because at some point I will eventually lose my respect for them the same way they have lost any respect for suffering beings.
I don’t even really know where I am going with this blog post anymore. I really suck at organizing my thoughts. Must be the lacking nutrients (haha). Well, I’m just hoping that slowly more and more people will open their eyes and really see and comprehend what is going on. I wish I could put all my thoughts down the way they are in my head. But I can’t, also because there are waaaaaaay too many thoughts. This is why I am going to put a few links below this post for the ones that might want to look into the matter further. And don’t worry, they are not PETA videos of any kind of animal abuse. Although, I highly recommend you to watch videos like that if you are one of the people that pay others to kill animals in order for you to get your tasty steak.
Thank you so very much for reading this post! I know that you are an amazing person as it is, why not be even more amazing by not supporting any sort of animal cruelty anymore?

Links:
The China Study: http://www.thechinastudy.com/
Shell123ey's Youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=RK-_xmM4Hbs 

Gary Yourofsky “The Best Speech You Will Ever Hear” (he will also answer emails if you have questions for him!) http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=es6U00LMmC4
The Vegan Zombie (cooking show): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0YIRF-9_Lc

Ellen DeGeneres about being vegan http://www.ellentv.com/categories/going-vegan-with-ellen/

Katie Lynn :)

Language learning websites

Today's blog will be about language learning websites since that is the topic my professor assigned us for this post. I have a feeling he is very much into using the computer and internet for his classes which I think is a very good idea. He gave us the following links to check out:

1. breakingnewsenglish.com
This is a website that is maintained by a teacher called Sean Banville. There is a wide range of possible learning games and practices that are based on free lesson plans one can download from his site. It works like this: you click on a topic, read the text about it and then choose from about 8 or 9 activities to test your knowledge. I love these different options one has to practice, from hangman to gap filling. However, I don't particularly like the layout of the website as it seems to be all over the place and also Google Ads add more links which makes it even more confusing to find your way around.

2. eslnotes
This website I couldn't open even though I tried more than one browser. It has language learning activities for movies, so you can rent a movie (or watch it online if you're a badass) and do these activities. So, I can't tell you about my experience, but it might work for you, so go ahead and check it out!

3. lyricstraining
This website I liked very much. It has a music video & lyric database for you to choose a song and while listening to it you simultaneously fill in gaps in the lyrics. A plus for this website is definitely the fact that when you can't keep up with filling in the gaps anymore the music stops and waits for you to be done with one line before skipping to the next one. A slight minus I have to give for the fact that their music database doesn't have all kinds of music and to upload a music video you have to sign up first. Although, as far as I could see that would be free. When you are signed up you have the opportunity to have your scores added to the high score board, so for the competitive ones under you that might be a reason to sign up. Another big plus in my opinion are the quite numerous music videos is various languages. So, if you like popular music, want to have fun while learning language and are not only keen on learning English, but also other languages, this website might appeal to you as much as it appealed to me! I'll go and sing along to "Call Me Maybe" some more ;)


Katie Lynn :)

Of presidents and unicorns

(originally posted in Fall of 2012 on posterous.com)

Hola people!
I'll quickly introduce myself before I move on to writing that first real blog post of mine.
The name you will know me by is Katie Lynn, I am 19 years old right now and live in the little country of Austria, however I was born in Germany. I'm studying transcultural communications with the languages English and Spanish. As you can also see from my blog name, I am a vegan and I will write one or two (probably more haha) blog posts about this lifestyle and why I chose it and choose it again every day. I might also write about the occasional school/college related topic as I "had" to start this blog for my English course.

Since I am a college student now I guess what is expected of us is to be smart and informed about political stuff. For those who don't know yet, I am definitely not one of those super genius and informed people. Especially about Austrian politics, mainly because I'm not allowed to vote here anyways. I do get interested in American politics (at least a bit) about every 4 years when the presidential elections come around. Okay, actually I first got interested in it in 2008/09 when Obama ran for president. My parents did a pretty great job in raising a child that hates every form of discrimination which is probably why I found it so amazing that there might finally be a black president in the USA.
I had the amazing opportunity to spend an exchange year abroad in the state of Michigan. While I was there I had a friend that had problems with his teeth. He needed to have a root canal done, but he just couldn't afford it. Before I got to the US I knew that their health system was bad but when I heard about this I realized it was pretty much non-existent. Obamacare sure has its' mistakes, just like Obama himself. Just like you and I do as well. Of course he is the president and we (/Americans) can and MUST expect him to do great things. However, he is human and every human fails from time to time. So, make sure you to remember that he is a human like you and I and adjust your expectations while considering that fact.
While watching the second debate I noticed that every other statement of either Obama or Romney was followed of a "No, that is not true. This is how it really is..." of the according opponent. This totally threw me off and eventually made me really mad. Why can't they just be honest? Which especially applies to Romney by the way, who totally changed his tax plan in the course of the election. I am not sure how other people reacted to this but I do not really understand all this political crap as it is. Now if he comes and says THIS the one day and then turns around to say the complete opposite the next day, I totally lose track. He never even gave an explanation for his change of mind either. Not as far as I know at least. If anyone knows more, please let me know.
I may not understand every detail about American politics (or any country's politics really), but I know an arrogant, slimy, ultra-conservative, sexist, egoistic creep when I see one. Mitt Romney is probably the most dislikable candidate that I have seen so far. He is such a bad actor too. He seems to not even be able to act like the regular nice guy next door.
Alright, I don't even know where I am planning to go with this anymore now. Well, I guess I just wanted to express my opinion about the elections right now and also I figured out that I am definitely not going to be a political blogger. And this is basically what my blog will look like for quite a while now. Me having an idea, writing some paragraphs about it and then realizing it basically sucks & makes no real point. I hope that in between those awkward political-/food-/sports-/whatever-posts I will be able to throw in a couple of real posts that actually make sense.
Until then, I will leave you with this: http://leftaction.com/action/ask-kansas-mitt-romney-unicorn

XOXO Gossip Girl
LOL I've always wanted to write that underneath a blog post!

Katie Lynn :)