Okay USA

I have spent the last 3 years in America studying for a degree in Business. At 18 I was naive enough to think that I would not experience any significant 'culture shocks', to my dismay I was wrong. It has been a while now since such 'shocks' have affected me but there are some considerable differences between the USA and England.

• Religion is so much more prominent in society stateside. I was surprised by the number of involved religious members compared to the decreased following in England. I saw a show last week called Jesus Camp based in Missouri which could only be described as 'scary.' I am in no way against religion, but was just made much more aware of it while I was in America.
• The price of everything was so much cheaper than in the UK, it made me resent spending my money in England for a while.....I got over it....but only because I had to!
• Food portions in the USA are huge! In fact, scrap that....everything is bigger over there! The customer service in most places was generally at a higher standard too and free drink refills, salads and bread will be greatly missed when I return to England for good!
  
• When dressing up for any formal occasion American guys love (and I mean love) to wear a blue shirt and khaki trousers. Khakis in general are regarded in high esteem by the Americans I found!
• Comedy in America is on a different level to that of England, more slapstick and less clever usually, however there are exceptions. More Americans understood my sense of humoUr **than I initially anticipated, they had to get to know me first though.
• **American spellings are annoying!!!!
  

With just one semester remaining in America I will most definitely miss the place and the people, I learned so much there about myself and others. I hope that experiences in the future can have as much of an impact on my life.

Places to go...

I am not as well traveled as I would like to be, but hopefully in the next few years that will change. There are some places I want to visit in the near future, they include:

• Paris - I must to go...just for confirmation that my self proclaimed French speaking skills are in fact awful.
• New York - I love cities but hate them at the same time, their dense populations and often self centred occupants anger me in most instances but this doesn't stop me from loving them.
  
• Japan - Before I am 30 I will go with a good friend of mine :)
• Rome - After great reviews I want to see Italy for myself with the possibility of meeting my year 7 pen pal Matteo Frivoli!
  

Jobby Job Job

As scary as it is, I turn 21 soon, far too young to be making major life changing decisions in my opinion! Having got through life so far without too much responsibility, the prospect of selecting a career path and actually getting a job can be quite daunting. Is 20 too old to be deciding what to do? All I have on my list of requirements so far is....

• To enjoy what I do
• Be creative in what I do
• To earn enough money to live comfortably

I would like to think that getting a job won't be too difficult for me when I graduate, my main concern is getting the right job for me. It feels like the people around me are so driven and decided in what they want to do, where I am still at somewhat of a loss. I'm sure something will come to me, interest me unsuspectingly, until then I will spend the next 6 months looking and waiting.

Bloggy Blog Blog

Blogging has always intrigued me, wanted to give it a try, not necessarily for others to read but more for use as a personal online diary. I don't for one minute believe that people care too much about what I think but I do enjoy writing, collecting my thoughts in a more organized manner was quite appealing to me. Until I stop and think it scares me how little I do stop to think, there are many things I wish I allocated more time to do...hopefully this blog will allow me to think and reflect on what I am doing and where I am going.