Things You Can Make in a Rice Cooker

It's pretty much my belief that you can make anything in a rice cooker that you can make over the stove... the only frontier I haven't crossed is trying to make any sort of 'dutch oven' adaptation to bake in it, although I've heard that its pretty easy to use it like a breadmaker. Keep in mind that what I have is a small, 10$ rice cooker from Walgreens with a nonstick interior and a little glass lid, and one single button that switches it from cook to keep warm.

Easy:

- Plain Rice
- Rice Pilafs
- Risottos
- Pasta
- Soups
- Stews
- Oatmeal
- Boiled Eggs
- Ramen Noodles
- Steamed Veggies/Fish

A Little Trickier:

- Scrambled Eggs
- Fried Eggs
- Sauteed Meat/Veggies
- Stir Fries
- Fried Rice
- Popcorn


Note: In order to make some of these items, you will need to tape the temperature switch on the rice cooker down to let it get a little hotter than normal. Some fancy rice cookers have an option to override the temperature switch anyway, but the little ones like I have are designed to shut off when all the water has evaporated from the rice, so they don't get hot enough for some of these things unless you mess with the switch. I have never had problems doing this, but I never leave the rice cooker unattended when it's at hotter-than-rice temperatures, and keep in mind that you void the warranty if you do this.

Music from Junior Year Abroad

I spent all morning downloading music on iTunes... you know, now that I actually have a computer that can play music! :)

I'm overwhelmed again at the power of music to bring back feelings and nostalgia.

From my last year, abroad...

Shakira's Suerte/Wherever Whenever reminds me of the early days in Pamplona
Her Loca Loca Loca and Waka Waka remind me of the party scene, especially dancing with Indre and her friends that one night!
I Could Not Ask for More by Sara Evans was my peace during the worst days
And 21 Guns by Green Day cuts the deepest into my mentality in those days
Stay the Night reminds me of the final days, a sort of wearied acceptance, Spanish Christmas candies and packing
Firework by Katy Perry was INSANELY popular during my break in Florida, I was so full of a sort of renewed hope then...
Just my Imagination reminds me of the blissful craziness of traveling every weekend in Bonn, living the dream!
Wir Feiern die Ganze Nacht reminds me of the party in Heidelberg, and Nadine
Firma Illegal reminds me of driving through the mountains of Slovenia

Back in Missouri

It's good to be back in Missouri, back in the sound of the cicadas and the hot-wet-blanket humidity of summer nights and the impossibly vast blue skies of autumn. The leaves are already changing for the year...  and from here everything seems well with the world.

Norway

So, it looks like I'm going to Norway. For the last year I've been steeling myself against the possibility of something going wrong... but in the last week I've been talking to advisors and parents and such, and things have come together surprisingly easily. The last person who has the potential to mess things up is the Study Abroad Advisor herself, who I see tomorrow. But things look good. :) :) :)

Bad Bad Spanish

I found this article online while looking for the text of a short story in Spanish. Owwwwww... There are really no words to describe how bad it is. It's as if a teacher took all the mistakes a foreigner can make in Spanish and spent hours trying to make an essay that combined it all as densely as possible. My first thought was auto-translator, but I think even an auto translator wouldn't be as consistently terrible. :(

" El artículo de <>, cuál fue escrito por Marco Denevi,  fue muy interesante. El hablé acerca de el fin de la raza de los hombres porque de las máquinas. Técnicamente, el apocalipsis fue el fin libro bíblico de la Revelación. En este cuento, el escritor dijo que el Apocalipsis occuro a el fin del siglo XXXII (17). Qué es muy interesante es que esta centura es en el pasado, cercano el principio de la edad de mecanico. Cuándo la raza de humanas empezó para inventar cosas porque fue muy difícil para vivir  sin estas objectas, la raza también empezó ser perezoso. Con el invención de la coche, la lavadora, la computadora, la microonda, y otras máquinas, nosotros tenimos hacer menos y menos cada día y estas máquinas he hacido más y más. 

      En el cuento, nosotros aprietimos un botón y las máquinas hacen todas cosas y nuestro vidas terminó. Yo creo que las máquinas no tenían un motivo para morir, pero que nuestro conducta perezosa fue el fin de nosotros. La raza de humanas  pensó que las máquinas fueran bueno porque ellos <> (Denevi 76). Las máquinas no quisieron a crear arte y esta fue muy triste para nosotros porque las creaciones de humanas fue desaparezar ( como mesas, sillas, rosas, y discos con musica de Beethoven). La problema grande que yo tengo con las máquinas es que toda la arte de personas famosas no ya  existen. Los vinos de Burdeos, las catedrales góticas, la Piedad de Miguel Angel, las ruines del Foro Tranjano no existen en esta cuento porque la raza de humanas fue perezoso. 

      Qué   yo creo es interesante en la cuenta también es que el final oracion en <> tenia una  verbo que fue conjugue en nosotros. Pienso que las máquinas escribo la cuenta para informar esta generación de personas así  que nosotros no hacemos este error. Pienso que nosotros necesitamos hacer mas para asegurar que vamos a existir para los próximos 10 siglos. Porque de las máquinas en el cuento,  la raza de humana no existe, pero necesitamos máquinas para vivir hoy. En esta es la problema."

First Story! And Comments!

My first ever story has just been published. And thanks to the internet, I can actually tell that people are reading it! :D As of 8 a.m. there are already three comments!

(name removed) August 31, 2011 | 1:33 a.m.

I really like the lighting on Level 8. The blue film matches the window art and gives off a nice vibe that matches that of the "Keys to the City" sculpture at City Hall.

The option of changing the films for special occasions is a great idea that could add to the downtown (city) vibe.

(name removed) August 31, 2011 | 4:28 a.m.

To make sure I understand the proposed solution correctly, nothing is being done to reduce the energy usage of the garage, they are just using films to reduce the lighting? If so, then why was the EEC and the sustainability office involved at all?

(name removed) August 31, 2011 | 6:13 a.m.

One assumes that the purpose of the garage remains as a place to park motor vehicles and not to function primarily as a "light show."

The first one is a great, happy comment that should make the people in my story happy, and it also makes me happy! They did exactly what I'd hoped by reading the story and giving feedback. 

The second one asks a good question, and honestly I think I'd answered it a little bit better in my last draft of the story before the editor helped me with it. So I guess maybe that change wasn't perfect... at least not for this reader. 

The third one is a little funny... heheh... 

I'm just really happy basically!

Tenacity

I want to make one of those motivational posters about this guy.

The word: Tenacity

This is my pet spider. He was living in my car's left side mirror when we got to the Lake House at the end of the summer. Since then, he's come with us to St. Louis and to Springfield and two and from Columbia twice. As of last night he's still living with me here at school. No, I haven't named him. I don't want to get too attached. If he's smart he'll move on to a more supportive and normal spider environment. Or he might starve in the Mizzou parking lot, or get picked off by a bird like my German pet spider in Bonn. He seems to be pretty able to handle my driving, though. When I get on the highway, he crawls up behind the mirror, then he climbs out again when I park for awhile. His web is really strong and if he's caught out on the line while I'm driving around, he hangs on for dear life.

He's awesome.

Macbook Pro

This is my first blog post with my new MacBook Pro. 

I resisted for so long, for so many reasons. 

But now, I love it. ^^

I don't know what kind of witchcraft this is, but on the automatic homepage on Safari, this apple website, the first/more recent news article is about the use of MacBook Pros... in the University of Missouri Journalism School! And this is the main excerpt:

The Mac is now a universal presence in the curriculum, which aims to give Missouri School of Journalism students the skills and tools they need to produce work at the same level as any professional journalist. Students use MacBook Pro for everything from recording classroom lectures to newsgathering, writing, and editing for class projects and for the school’s newspaper, TV station, and affiliated online news service.

"The Mac is now a universal presence."

Yep, because I, the last holdout, have one now. :P Or so it seems...

Things are starting to get busy...

What I did today

8:00 - 9:30 Wake up, call Adobe customer support, eat breakfast, get dressed, walk across campus
9:30 - 10:45 News Reporting Lecture
10:55 Grab a Library Cookie (!!!) in between classes
11:00 - 12:15 History of the Spanish Language Class
12:15-12:30 Final Macbook Shopping
12:30 - 1:45 Spanish Literature Class
1:45 - 2:15 Walk home, change clothes, call dad, walk to my car, drive to the Missourian
2:15 - 3:30 At the Missourian talking to my editor and making phone calls
3:30 - 4:30 Buying groceries and getting customer support at Best Buy
4:30 - 6:00 More story reasearch, interview someone for garage story, cook and eat dinner
6:30 - 9:00 Environment and Energy Commission meeting and questions
9:00 - 10:00 Check out the parking garage again, drive home, talk to mom for awhile, eat, write this blog post.

I'll be up a minimum of two more hours doing assignments and putting this story into a semi-coherent form for my editor tomorrow morning. And I need to squeeze a shower in somewhere.

It has begun.

Two Possibilities

"If it is friendly, I will make friends with it - and if it is not friendly I will fight with it. 

Either course would be a good, manly occupation, something Pwyll understood and knew how to do."

- The Prince of Annwn, Evangeline Walton

In the dust, it's more seductive

“One of the cul-de-sacs that a travel writer has to continually watch out for is the pervasive assumption that poor people are intrinsically nicer than rich ones. It looks silly in print but on the ground, in the dust, it’s more seductive. A fond belief that poverty is synonymous with dignity, that kindness, politeness and humor as shown by the less privileged is somehow quantitatively more valuable because they come tempered by hardship. And there’s the balancing assumption that all those things that come from rich people are consequently worth less because they’re bought and paid for with such ease, that their happiness is less real because it’s sullied with money and possessions. What we end up with is a cartoon version of the Sermon on the Mount. An unhealthy belief that poverty is of itself ennobling because riches are demeaning.”
A.A. Gill, AA Gill is Away (2003)

Home, Sweet Home

It's been wonderful to see Tina and Tabi again. Of my 7 closest friends at Mizzou (I'm excluding friends that only stayed one semester), only those two are here with me this fall. In a way that was hard to face, since when I left I had all seven around me. I was worried that I would miss the other five, and, well, I do. But after packing up and moving to brand new locations twice last year, starting with nothing, I suddenly feel silly for not realizing how good it would feel to have those two, how many more 2 is than 0. I've already been to a party with Tina where we mostly just chilled with the mosquitoes on the porch and talked, and I played scrabble with her and two mutual friends I've met in the last few days (one at that party, one at international orientation). Through the international orientation I've met several new people, and the same goes for the journalism orientation yesterday. And Tabi and I had a nice lunch yesterday and a nice time just sitting around at her place, we're planning a few trips to Rolla during the semester where I'll be able to see both Laura and Kate. And as far as my dear friends abroad go - Allan and I are going to start trying to have an email conversation, even if we fail at meeting up on Skype as often as we'd like, and Zahra and I are going to try to keep a weekly Skype appointment. I want to try to do the same (the latter) with my sister Melissa. And Uni and I chat sometimes, and Liisa and I have as always our email exchange. No, I won't die of loneliness, not just yet. :)

It's strange to be back on campus. People keep asking me how it feels to return from so much time away, but I'm still having trouble putting it into words. I'm still in the process of feeling it out. More than I expected, although I'd predicted it out loud, as soon as I landed here I felt like yes, this is the real life, the other was a dream. But a week later I still have some strange feelings like just having woken from a dream. Every time I go to a different part of campus, it seems funny to see it again, still existing. And the changes freak me out, like the new student center and the new meal plans and the new tobacco free campus. I walked past Peace Park the other day and thought, yes, thats the rock that I sat on with Jorge when we kissed for the first time, yes, that's the pond where the two Laura's and I met one day to throw bread crumbs into the stream on a Jewish holiday, yes that's the tree I climbed during Roots and Blues with Allan and Amy and Esther... this whole place is marked with memories and the trail of a life I feel like I'm picking up again. I feel a strange sort of disconnect with both my memories of here, because they're far away in time, and my memories of Europe, because they're far away in place.

My initial complaints aside, I've settled into my dorm. I use the Brita pitcher for water and I'm already mostly used to the fridge (which doesn't drone ALL the time). I have a sunset view out my window. As soon as I get some groceries I'm going to make a snack, (maybe gimbap?) for my roommates so that we can meet each other properly.

I returned to the dining halls, which were smaller than I remembered somehow. And the portions are definitely smaller, that can't be my imagination! I know at the buffet style you can go back and back again, but when lines are long thats a pain, and now we cant even have trays. Although it seems a little bit deceptive for them to argue that all they want is to cut 'waste' when really they want to spend less money on feeding us, I understand some of the initiatives... but this? I'm a tiny girl, and I had to go back three times before I had enough of the shrimp/zucchini/biscuit/fries meal to feel full. The first time I asked for extra shrimp, and I got 6 (and they're small shrimp). When I went back, I got 4. 4. I could have gone back again, I still wasn't feeling that full, but it was starting to get embarassing so I just went and ate ice cream instead. Now, back in the tray days we would often go to two or three different food stops, so smaller portions made more sense... but now that I can only carry one plate I want at least 1/2 a meal on it! And Eva J's, my favourite dining hall, has been turned into a non-all-you-can-eat. On the one hand, its still Asian food, and I'm not going to knock it until I've tried the new offerings. On the other hand, Kung-pao-chicken (probably my favourite CDS meal) isnt on the menu, so I hope its been moved to another dining hall. And when you can't go back for free more, those portion sizes better be reasonable... because the dining halls are to expensive for this crap.

On that note, one surprise for me is how expensive everything is. I'd grossly exaggerated the price differences in my head. In Germany and Spain restaurants can be comparable once taxes and service charges are added to the American bill. Groceries are a bit cheaper here, but the thing is that abroad I have no connection to brand names at all and feel perfectly fine buying the cheapest versions... here the generics sometimes (like with Town House Crackers) taste inferior to me, forcing me to buy the slightly more expensive ones, and again things nearly even out. There's no equivalent here of the 70 euro cent ice cream cone or the 1 euro crepe. And the 90 euro cent main course in the German dining halls? Forget about it. My wallet's feeling a little disillusioned...

BUT. Free water, cold and delicious. Free ketchup, as many fistfuls as I care to grab. Commonly smiling and joking service people. Free bathrooms. My language, my turf. Microcurries. The endless flourescent expanse of Walmart. My books and my movies. Yes, it's good to be home.

Back in the Dorms

I'm about to spend my first night in my new building here in Columbia. It's Suite Style this time, which is new for me and so far I have mixed feelings about it. My suitemates seem nice, but four is just an awkward number to share a bathroom. A bathroom for one, like I had in South? Obviously ideal. A bathroom for a whole floor, cleaned daily by janitors, like I had in Laws? Different, but easy to get used to. In Germany I technically shared the bathroom with eight, but there were four rooms after they split showers from toilets and boys facilities from girls facilities. In Spain, I had to share with Jaime and Gianfranco, but Gianfranco was a guy and didn't use a lot of time or a lot of products, and Jaime and I had different shower schedules and she kept stuff in her room I think. I walked in the bathroom here and there's stuff everywhere. I don't know if I can just throw my stuff in the mix, there dont seem to be defined areas, there are two shelves in the shower which have been taken and another girl has taken one of the corners... if I use a second corner things are going to get really crowded. Later someone had locked the entire bathroom (within there are seperate lockable stalls for toilet and shower, and the sink outside) because they were using the toilet. Is that how it's supposed to work? I don't know anything. And tonight when I got in there was a hair straightener on the counter, plugged in and very hot. Probably has been there since the girls went out earlier. Is it that hard to unplug it? Isn't that a fire hazard? And with the cord it was stretched across half the counter space. No, do not like the bathroom situation. At least my room is nice and dark. :) An improvement over what I had in Laws and South. The noise, though, will take some getting used to. Especially my fridge... it never stops humming. Has it always been that bad? Its an adjustment to all be in one room again, I LOVED having a separate kitchen abroad. Now my sleeping room and my studying room and my eating room are all the same, and will smell like each other. But its a nice dorm, everything's in good condition and the location is not bad, better than Laws/South. I'm sure I'll get used to the drone of the fridge once again...

Fullness to Decay

"But there was no doubt that within the coach something very great was seated; greatness that was passing, hidden, within reach of the common hands that for the first and last time found themselves so close to the majesty of England, the enduring symbol of the state that inquisitive archeaologists would identify in their excavations at the ruins of time, when London was no more than a street covered with grass, and when the people who were strolling ist streets that Wednesday morning were scarcely a heap of bones with a few wedding rings, turned over in their own dust and the fillings of innumerable decayed teeth."

- Mrs. Dalloway

"I realized that a single sentence could contain a cycle of civilization from fullness to decay."

Languages and Peanut Butter Crunch

I used to joke about mixing up languages but I'm having a pretty strong and pretty real attack of it right now. Last night I had dinner with In and Justyna, speaking German the whole time. I came home and had to write a few emails in Spanish. I'm pretty sure they all ended up in the target language, I don't even think I actually /typed/ any words in German, but as I was writing, thinking ahead a few words (because that's what it takes, more actively and more noticeably, with a second language) I realized that my mind kept jumping ahead, thinking of the German words, and then crossing them out and finding the Spanish equivalents. It wasn't a big deal as my German and Spanish are about on the same level (Spanish probably better), so I didn't get stuck in the trap of 'oh dear, I don't know how to say _____ after planning this paragraph around it'. Still, it was weird. Spanish and German usually have a very firm wall between them in my mind. I'm not used to mixing them up like with German-Norwegian, for example. But I had some pretty legit Deutschspañol going on in the Hintergrund of my mind. And huh, you know, I really did not mean to write Hintergrund, just then. It just suddenly seems so natural in English. Yes, I can think of Background in .001 seconds flat, but Hintergrund suddenly doesn't seem to stick out very much anymore. I'm not convinced we don't use it at least in certain, obscure applications in English, as a loan word. Maybe Freudian psychology or something.

Had my Norwegian exam and I feel pretty good about it. I know I did terrible on several sections of grammar, particularly writing dates out (which I might have gotten a decent score on if he's big on partial credit, if he strikes out the whole line for a small mistake, I bombed it for sure) and comparatives/superlatives (ironic because this was one of the first things I learned in Norwegian, at least in the most basic sense). I must not have been there when they talked about these, maybe that was last semester? But still the trouble only amounted to 1/4-1/3 of the grammar section, which was only 1/4 of the whole exam. I owned listening comprehension, reading comprehension, and the free-writing section.

Then I headed to the organic bio supermarket that I finally discovered at the bus station. Yes, it's overpriced, but sometimes its worth it. Like when I suddenly have a craving for milk, and going there over the normal store saves me 20 minutes of transport time, only costs about 30 cents more, and as a bonus I get my milk non-ultra-high-temperature-pasteurized, but all American like, and beautifully refrigerated. I might even care a little more about organic milk than organic other products, what with all the funky feminine hormones floating around. Worth 30 cents, anyway. This one time. I came home and I ate half the liter of milk over peanut butter crunch, brought from home back in February, that's still tolerably fresh. Yeah, I'm gonna go ahead and say that the overdose of preservatives in that puppy have fully negated any feel-good live-good benefits I got from my organic milk. But I needed the grounding, the little taste of home, to gather the strength for the last push through finals...

Photo Fun in Landschaftspark Duisburg

Today was my last fun for a WHOLE WEEK. Can you imagine? I'm actually being expected to do something not fun. A few exams, a handful of projects, and a LOT of goodbyes.

But today was fun. :) I went to Duisburg, the world's largest inland port and one of the big cities of the industrial Ruhrgebiet. There's an enormous former factory there that's been converted into a sort of park. I love the concept and I knew I had to see it during my time here, and I finally made it this afternoon.

I found these funny looking holes in one section of the factory. They were begging for some fun photos.

Productive Day!

Feeling good.

Today was super productive - got up at a reasonable hour, wrote a blog post for MU Study Abroad, showered, cleaned (threw away a huge garbage bag of papers and stuff), ate lunch, recycled, went to class, talked to the professor about the credits, went to the dentist, called my mom, searched for a couchsurfing host in Poland, accepted a couchsurfer for tomorrow, figured out how to borrow a DVD-playing laptop for my Referat and a one-language dictionary for the DSH, went and bought a new suitcase, studied German vocabulary in the Hofgarten for awhile, and now I'm back home fully intending to get a tiny bit more cleaning done, and finish my Protocol for Latin American Literature.

I'm feeling good because I pretty much have everything planned between now and going home - two weeks of exams and saying goodbye to friends/Bonn, moving out, two weeks in East Europe with In, quick visits to Cynthia and Damaris, and a week in Scotland with Allan and Lucia, here I come! I finally know what I'm going to do for all of my classes, and it's not too bad. I'm actually only taking two exams through the main University that actually scare me - the Norwegian ones don't really matter for my grade, and I'll pass the DSH class even if I fail the exam. Even in the classes that scare me I've got certain safeguards in place - it's much better for me if I pass, but it shouldn't show up as an F at Mizzou if I don't. So things are pretty good there.

I decided to go for Option #2 in my Bag Delimma. Tina helped steer me away from buying my shiny backpack now (it deserves a bigger budget and more time than I can give it now), and my quick trip to Heidelberg and Frankfurt confirmed for the thousandth time that I do not want to take another real trip with just my overloaded backpack. So, a roller it was. I ended up paying 40 euros for it, not quite the 20 euro pipe dream, but although there was a bag that was 30, it felt a lot cheaper and, while smaller overall, it was actually too big to be 'cabin luggage' because it was thick in one area. Even this one is 22 cm thick, whereas the official limit is 20 cm, but I practiced cramming it in the size-checker and it will go as long as I don't overpack it/put anything really in the front pockets. It's well under the dimensions in the other directions, though. It feels so small, light, and new! :D I love it!

(Major Geek P.S. - It's this lovely dark blue colour. My BIG suitcase here is a lovely burgundy. If only I had a nice forest green backpack, my bags would be colour-coded to Link's Tunics in Ocarina of Time!! :D :D And yes, seriously, that's what I thought when I saw my two suitcases together.)

It's funny how I feel so good when I have a productive day, I feel so much less stressed out once I actually start tackling the to-do list. Why do I let so many days go by where I just hide from the problems, instead? This is something I really need to work on, and remembering how good and fresh I feel on days like this should help with that.

I Need a New Bag

The backpack I have now, yeah, I bought it for 30$ practically on the way to Japan. I had been thinking about getting a 'real' backpack, but in the end the low price tag convinced me. And the backpacks been good in that it has a lot of space in it, and as long as I pack it lightly (in Japan no problem, I put all the heavy things in the roller) it's pretty fine. But I never intended it to become a permanent part of my travel gear - it sticks straight out, is terrible for my back and shoulders when heavy (Scotland and Belgium are great examples of suffering), and it's unwieldy on public transportation. The best I can say for it is that it makes a handy seat, and its exactly the right size to be a carry-on for Ryan-air etc.

But I'm thinking about the upcoming Eastern Europe trip, and about a possible change. Here are the options:

1.) Do Nothing

I've struggled through vacations with this backpack before, what's another one? And In will have her roller, meaning that we'll be working our days around leaving stuff in the hostel anyway.

Pros: Don't have to find or pay for a new bag right now
Cons: I'll have to pack really light, and pray that the backpack has another trip in it (it's developing a few little holes, but it'll be okay... I think

2.) Get a Cheap Roller

I've seen some cheap rollers for as little as 20 euros that should serve.

Pros: I'd match In, which is always good, my shoulders would feel free and happy, and I could bring a lot more stuff, maybe even eliminating the need to do laundry at some point.
Cons: I have a roller back home, so this would basically be a one-use thing.

3.) Get the real Backpack, at last

Pros: I'd look cool, I'm going to get one sometime in the next year anyway
Cons: I can probably get one cheaper in the U.S., I'm not sure I have the time to do it right, if In has her roller there's not that much of a point to me being extra-mobile.

Star Wars Virginity

Tonight's the night. I'm going to lose my Star Wars Virginity.

That's right, I've never seen Star Wars. I, who lived on the internet in Middle School and still spend a sizeable amount of time in the geek-o-sphere, have never seen what amounts to one of its most sacred pillars.

I never planned not to see Star Wars. I mean, it didn't appeal to me as much as Lord of the Rings, but I never made a promise not to see it or anything like that. It simply... never happened. It's become so weird it's that it's become a part of my identity, a conversational asset. People I've been friends with for years have freaked out multiple times when it's come up (they keep mentally blocking it out, I guess it's just that hard to believe.)

And I'll miss my little joke about it: "No, I haven't seen Star Wars, but I know all about it, just like scientists know about Black Holes" - I've seen the way everything reacts to it, the void has a clear outline, but is a void nonetheless. Until tonight. O.O

A Little Bit of Guilt

Too much travel has made this semester seem disjointed, and my connection to Bonn less clear than it was with Pamplona. Sometimes I'm standing on a corner and suddenly things are familiar - its a corner I haven't stood on since the time of first arriving, say, when things were new and the air was colder and the Karneval Spirit was going around. It seems as distant as my months in Pamplona and as distant as Mizzou. I saw a lot of Bonn in those early days, and when Spring erupted I had more happy days here - wandering through Rheinaue and riding my bike down Poppelsdorfer Allee. But while Bonn has been nice enough and certainly convenient and comfortable, I don't have a love affair with it like I did with Pamplona.

Today I wandered around town for a long while, looking at all the different shops, taking an ice cream cone, sitting beneath the Star Gate. I do like Bonn, and it was a pleasant walk. But there was nothing that was tearing me up inside when I thought about leaving it. And here I was just thinking that I love Couchsurfing because it allows you to make a cool relationship that stops just short of getting weepy at the end of it. I open my heart up for too much separation with my style of living. Still, when I think that I'm leaving Bonn soon, I don't feel nostalgic especially. I feel nervous remembering that I have some food still to eat up, exams still ahead, packing to do, arrangements to make. I feel guilt that I don't know every corner of the city as I knew Pamplona, that I didn't try all that hard to make friends here... maybe because I already had German friends scattered around the world, maybe because it was simply so much easier here - I mean, I do have some friends, even new ones: Max, for example, Ansgar and the other Norwegian students, my roommates, etc.

But mostly it's silly. I HAVE spent some quality time in Bonn. I have loved the green spaces and long, summery-spring and the crepe stands and the gelato parlours. I've thought every day about how lucky I was to go to classes in an old palace. I walked down Poppelsdorfer Allee instead of taking the bus several times, so that I could take in the atmosphere. I've hiked to Kloster Heisterbach and Drachenfels and Bad Godesberg. I've given Nordrhein-Westfalen more time than almost anyone else on my program. And I /do/ like Bonn, I really do. And I've loved my semester in Germany every bit as much as my Semester in Spain, different as they have been. I guess my time here has just been too broken up, and I feel guilt that I haven't loved Bonn as much as Pamplona.

And a lot of this is probably simple stress at the end of a semester (and, possibly, my entire study abroad career). In a month and a half, back home again, I'll probably have nothing but rosy thoughts left. :)

What I Learned Today

Today I learned from In that in Korea it's considered very awkward/rude/inappropriate to lay down in front of a member of the opposite sex. Like, unless you are really good friends. Or in some special circumstance like a foreign hostel (and when sleeping it's not quite as bad). And it's worse for a girl in front of a boy.

And I learned that there's a frozen yogurt place in Bonn and that the Indian restaurant on Clement-August Strasse IS open sometimes after-all.  

I learned from my roommates that in Palestine vigilante revenge killings are still normal, that Persian and Arabic share an alphabet but interpret it quite differently, that in Iran they say 'merci' for thank you, generally, and that the word for frog in Farsi uses the weird 'q' letter twice, and the sound for a croak of a frog uses it, too.

And I didn't learn a thing in my classes. Five hours of class and all we did was watch two movies, one was a hot mess of sparse German narration, mostly Guarani dialogue without subtitles, and a bit of French and Portuguese thrown in for good measure. The other was probably a good movie but we had to stop it and leave right before it got to the point (about illegal immigration in Spain). Pretty much par for the course here, though. The International Office classes may be rediculously easy, but I understand the system and I can point to what I've learned. The other classes are just... weird. Too abstract. Too theoretical. Too many weird movies.

What Have You Done Lately?

So Lucia asked what I'd been up to lately, said we hadn't spoken since I went to the Netherlands or then-abouts.

Well.

I went to the Black Forest and picture-perfect Alsace-Lorraine for Easter
I went to Finland for May Day (that's Vappu to you!) and slept in a bird tower in the forest
Dad visited me and we went to Drachenfels and Rhine in Flames
Liisa visited me and we hit up Maastricht and took a castle cruise on the Rhine
I toured the grubby Ruhr-gebiet, Wuppertal, Dusseldorf, and some of the rural area around Münster
I went to Belgium, couchsurfed in Ghent and saw Oostende, Brugge, Brussels, Antwerp and Mechelen
I went to Niedersachsen, celebrated Abitur, saw Bremen and went for a walk on water in Cuxhaven
I flew to Venice for 20 euros and spent hours hopping from island to island
I swam in Lago di Garda and played in Verona and took the best train ride of my life to Innsbruck, Austria
I loved Liechtenstein, small as it was, then had a miserable time in Switzerland and a worse time getting home
I went to Berlin for a week and saw clubs and palaces and the Reichstag and the Stasi Headquarters and a concentration camp and the remains of 'the wall' and three major museums

And you know, just sort of lived in Germany. Went to classes and did my thing.

In other words, not much. How about you?

That Time

Three weeks to go. It's still awhile, but not that long, really. Two more weekends, and I'm spending this one to visit Nadine in Heidelberg and Esther in Frankfurt. But it's That Time, when I have to start wrapping things up. To try to use up the honey and the cocoa powder.To start trying to keep things tidier, looking ahead to pack.To start studying for exams and working on projects.To do laundry, wondering if I will do it once more, or twice more again. To make my exit strategy (and I'm going to go out with a bang) To make sure I have the presents and the photos I need. To make a plan to see each of my friends at least once more. To find a home for my bike and my rice cooker. To start saying a slow goodbye to Bonn.

Sunday

Beautiful weather. But it's too late and I lack the energy to climb any hills, and I have a hard time wandering around without a goal. Xenia and In are both studying, and I should be too, but it seems a crime to stay in when its so nice, and I'm terrible at studying outdoors. Thinking about trying anyway. Normally the wind and the flies and all the little things get on my nerves, but it probably can't be any worse than my wohnheim.

Got home yesterday from the 'okay' trip to Berlin. I should be in Dresden today but I can't be too sad it didn't work out - the extra time has felt good. I did my laundry (a HUGE load of it, and accidentally bought a dryer when I meant to buy a washer, and someone else stole my paid-for-dryer (no one ever uses the dryers here) before my clothes were clean. I bought a very few groceries (crawdads, garlic bread, a few packets of ramen), and gave my shelves a good cleaning. Surprisingly after being gone for two weeks the potatoes from the very beginning of the semester were STILL good, as were the lemons from a few weeks ago, etc. BUT, I found moths and their nasty larvae and eggs in my rice, so I made one last batch (washing very well, and confirming that the rice was very thoroughly infested with little baby moths) and then tossed the rest along with the crisp-breads and the Smacks breakfast cereal. Then I checked the cocoa and the spices and the seaweed, which were all fine, and the sesame seeds, which were a little infested but I just poured it all out into a shallow bowl and picked the little bits of web out. I warned all of my roommates to be on the lookout for nasty little creepy crawlies as well, but so far everyone else seems to be safe. I wiped down my cabinets and washed the outsides of the spice jars etc just because I felt vaguely dirty. I sort of feel sick about how much food I just threw out, but you don't want to mess around with these moth infestations, especially when you live with 7 roommates.

I rescued my bike. Two weeks ago the lock got jammed outside of the International Office and I didn't really know who to go to or what to buy to fix it, was wondering if it was even worth the effort with so little time in the semester but I couldn't just abandon it after everything we've been through, so I decided to go get it today, if it was still there, and carry it home at the very least - from there I could ask the dorm bicycle mentor for help, or take it by bus to a bike shop, or... well, I'd have options. It was still there, and I tried the lock again - still stuck. But for some reason I'd decided to bring a solution of 2 parts warm water to 1 part laundry soap along, and I poured it over the lock and tried again. This time, it worked like a charm. ^^ I'm pretty much a bike expert now, between this and wrestling the chain back on after someone wrecked my bike up pretty good trying to steal it from the wohnheim.

It bothers me that my roommates and their friends smoke in the kitchen, that my nextdoor neighbors doorbell is always ringing and ringing and sometimes they're accidentally calling me instead, that there always seems to be some huge dish in the oven all day at 200 degrees, so that if I just want to cook a bit of pizza or bread it's awkward, that the sound of Arabic music throughout the wohnheim can be oppressive at times, that Nezhla's mother has moved in to Hanenah's old room for the remainder of the semester, semi-illegally. A weekend visit, a week, even? Great, I'd be happy for them! But three months is way too long, even if I'm only here for one of them. I don't know how I feel about a grown woman who doesn't speak English or German sharing my shower and bathroom and kitchen with me... it just seems vaguely inappropriate. It bothers me that most of my roommates are here longer than me and therefore have their own fridges and freezers in their room, but still take the best parts of the shared fridge and freezer and are always spilling over their sections into mine. I can't even open the freezer without bulk meat and ice creams falling out on my head, and I have to take 100 things out to get my little bag of peas out of the back, and then place it all gingerly back in.

I was so happy to get home from Berlin yesterday, really felt like coming back to Bonn was coming home, love having my things around me, the privacy of my room, the familiar smells etc. But it occurs to me that I'm starting to feel ready to take things to the next level. I've still got a full year left of dorm living. Two if I work in Reslife my senior year, which I'm strongly considering (it's just such good money, and it's not really that bad, and I'm decently good at it). But I'm starting to see the appeal of an apartment of one's own, just as I could never ever go back to Freshman year and sharing my ROOM.

Sleepy

I got a whole seven hours of sleep last night, six the night before and PLENTY the two nights before that. So I shouldn't be this exhausted, looking at random blogs and links in an attempt to clear my mind and continuing to bargain with the air for rights to go back to sleep instead of heading to Norwegian German Translation Class.

Two Nostalgias

"One winter night while the soup was boiling in the fireplace, he missed the heat of
the back of his store, the buzzing of the sun on the dusty almond trees, the
whistle of the train during the lethargy of siesta time, just as in Macondo he
had missed the winter soup in the fireplace, the cries of the coffee vendor, and
the fleeting larks of springtime. Upset by two nostalgias facing each other like
two mirrors, he lost his marvelous sense of unreality and he ended up
recommending to all of them that they leave Macondo, that they forget everything
he had taught them about the world and the human heart, that they shit on
Horace, and that wherever they might be they always remember that the past was
a lie, that memory has no return, that every spring gone by could never be
recovered, and that the wildest and most tenacious love was an ephemeral truth
in the end."

- One Hundred Years of Solitude

Nordrhein Westfalen

 I spent this weekend exploring Nordrhein Westfalen, my home state here in Germany. I did it because it seemed like it would be more relaxing, and it was cheaper, and In's tentative Romantische Strasse plans fell through. I'm so glad I did. We saw Essen and Dusseldorf and Wuppertal and Munster, abandoned coal mines and fields of new green wheat. I think I associate with this part of Germany in a strange way. I'm from Missouri. We've got the Arch and they've got the Cologne Cathedral. Otherwise it's a lot of agriculture and industry that might have passed it's heydey. A surprising amount of nice nature and a few really good universities. The Rhine and the Mississippi.

I find myself defending it with surprising vigor. And then, I'm not sure if there's any connection, I read a month's worth of back issues of my friend Tina's blog. Missouri is part of me. But it's a long long way away now. I don't know how it's going to feel to go home...

Thin Walls

My Arabic roommates music sounds like it would be great in like... a soundtrack. But hearing it coming through the walls, devoid of context, when I just want some relaxation or concentration... it just stresses me out. >.>

Addendum

I'm putting the last touches on a blog post about Finland. On the official MU Study Abroad blog I couldn't find a natural way to fit it in, but basically among all my fond memories and lists of things I like about Finland, this shouldn't be forgotten - that Finland ranks so highly in my heart first and foremost because of Liisa. If it wasn't for her, I'd mostly likely have never even been to Finland. And the most important reasons why both of my visits there have been wonderful is also because of her. It's as my mom always says, "It's who you're with, not where you are." Sometimes a place doesn't need a thousand lakes and islands to be beautiful (even if it has them) if you can find there one true friend.

Inspiring?

In today: "Miranda, I feel like you inspire me so much. Not only to travel and eat a lot, but also just to be free... and brave."

<3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3

The Bird and the Spider

The spider outside my window was eaten suddenly by a bird, that flew by while my window was open. Quick as a flash, but I remember thinking, "what's he doing here? Is he here for the spider?" And suddenly the spider was there in his mouth, for a single frame... and then both were gone.

Random

To Do:

- Skype with Liisa about visit
- Email Spanish professors about exams
- Email Ansgar re: auditing
- Book Venice hostel
- Plan game for the kids tomorrow
- Do German homework

An Evening

Climbing down five flights of stairs down to the courtyard, every floor has its own unique scent. The distinct aromas of middle eastern, Balkan, and German cuisine, among others, mingle. Once outside there's a sort of hazy barbecue smell and the sky is grey like smoke. It's warm and damp and very still. It makes me nostalgic for Missouri summers. But I'm in Germany and soon enough I'll be in Missouri feeling nostalgic about Bonn.

The sky is a little orange. When I told the Askatasuna kids that a green sky meant a coming tornado back home, they exchanged a look and a comment in Basque that I just understood - that in the Pyrenees the sky turns orange just before it snows. Back inside after a slow bike-ride to Lidl that seemed to go outside of time, the leaves are rustling and the spiderweb woven into my window-frame is lighting up at far-off lightning.

It suddenly starts to rain. Gently. Such a subtle phenomenon - invisible, for example, on film - that you wonder how it is exactly that you see it. There is thunder. The air is fresh. The spiderweb starts to unravel in the wind. I'll close the window soon. Not yet.

Reflections on Osama

From my Facebook Feed:

• Go USA! That only took ten years!
  
• 
  
• 
  
• ...................................................................................................................
  
  
• Yesterday, the world did not find out that a man was killed. Rather, a monster was slain and the world SHOULD rejoice at the fact. Osama bin Laden had lost every shred of decency, every ounce of humanity that could possibly be contained inside a person. Somewhere, there is a line between human and less-than-human. bin Laden, the physical embodiment of evil that has plagued the world since at least 1998, was so far over this line that it almost disgusts me that people are upset at others for being overcome with joy. It's impossible for me to celebrate the death of another human being. bin Laden was no human. Humans feel remorse, regret, decency. Osama had none of these. So I, for one, choose to celebrate the death of such great evil and hatred, and the renewal of the common phrase "justice for all," and I will do so proudly.
  
  9/11 has now come full circle, and it's about damn time. Mission, motherfucking, accomplished.
   
  

  • Hmmmmm, I would love to discuss this further, but would prefer in person. But I will say a few things.
    
    1) Evil has plagued the world for centuries. I'm not sure what the 1998 bit is about.
    
    2) As evil as he was, he was still human. There are... hundreds, thousands of evil people in this world. That's the reality of humanity, but it doesn't make them inhuman. They can do inhumane things, but they are still people.
    
    3) We cannot and will not ever know if Osama felt remorse or regret over what he has done -- anymore than anyone else can vouch for or verify the thoughts of any human being.
    
    4) I understand completely the emotional response many people had of relief and a feeling of "justice" (whatever that really complex and difficult concept means). I don't, however, understand some of what I saw. Some of what I saw is exactly what we condemn in the Middle East -- the jeering and cheering over the death of their professed "enemies". It didn't sit well with me last night, didn't all today, and probably never will.
    
    5) My comments are not meant to condemn or chastize those who did celebrate, but I think reflection on why we celebrated, and how we celebrated is reasonable. After all, aren't feelings of remorse, regret, and decency human, as you said?
  • Dude, he is dead... so be it, life carries on. I don't see the point in celebrating the death of anybody. If that "may" turn the world into a better place, cool, but lets not turn that into a party... afterall, who knows... I think my life..., the lives of the people in the US and the lives of the majority of the people in the Planet would have been the same despite Osama is dead or alive. Besides that, I don't think Al-Qaeda is death or anything with his death... in fact, it may become worse. I know a lot of people lost loved ones in 9-11, Irak and Afghanistan, and their desire of "justice"... but at least I will never consider an "eye for an eye" real justice. Death will remain death. That is my humble opinion, peace.See more
  • Osama was a monster; he ruthlessly murdered thousands of people from different countries, religions, etc. That said, he was a human. He believed that what he was doing was right, and that it would change the world for the better. He saw the... murder of thousands as a religious movement, so he wouldn't feel any kind of remorse or regret. In no way am I justifying his acts, but in order to fully comprehend this, we have to look at his mindset and understand that our views cannot be the only views in the world.
    Think of it this way: Osama hated western imperialism, the imposition of our ways upon their world. He probably thought that we should have some kind of remorse or regret about how we go about our lives and how we push our culture onto others, much like we believe that he should feel remorse about the ruthless murder of thousands of people. The push of western civilization by no means is on the same scale as the death of innocent civilians, but it is analogous to some degree.
    Personally, I am glad that he is dead, and it gives me some kind of closure, but I believe that his death should bring in a time of remembrance rather than a time of celebration.
    
    There should be candlelight vigils at Ground Zero, the White House/Pentagon, Shanksville PA, rather than parties that, like Alana said, make us look like what we so often criticize about other countries in that region (take for example the jubilant reaction in Afghanistan to the 9/11 attacks and how we hated that with every fiber of our collective being). I do NOT believe that we should be rejoicing about his death, but rather we should use it as a stepping stone to further peace in the Middle East as much as we can (which can involve us backing out of the region altogether).
    I believe that there are just better ways to handle and comprehend his death. Furthermore, I don't think it's fair to demonize people who choose not to rejoice (which you're not), just like you don't think it's fair for people to get upset at others for rejoicing. I'm not un-American or unpatriotic for not rejoicing, I just think we should go about his death in a different way.
    
    Finally, I don't agree that 9/11 has come full circle. Yes, the organizer of the attacks is dead, but Al Qaeda still exists, and outside of that, there are still scores of terrorist attacks in the Middle East and elsewhere all the time. The death of bin Laden is going to have significant ramifications in the world, because there are others that believe what he did. Until all the unrest ends over there (probably never), 9/11 and all that it represents will not be full circle. Our mission to kill Osama bin Laden may be accomplished, but there is a far greater mission that needs to be accomplished before our true safety can be assured.See more
  • Unfortunately I do not have the time to formulate a response that this deserves at the moment so I am just going to leave this hoping that it brings additional light to the topic: http://www.npr.org/2011/05/02/135927693/is-it-wrong-to-celebrate-bin-ladens-death
  • It's times like these when Margaret Thatcher quotes are appropriate:
    
    "Gentlemen, there is nothing sweeter than success, and you boys have got it!" - Speaking to SAS commandos following their rescue of hostages in the Iranian embassy, 1980
    
    "Ou...r necks have been protected by a military personnel who were more rugged than slave-man boots." - On the liberation of South Georgia from the Argentine military, 1982
    
    "Don't allow tyrants and aggressors to get away with it And when you fight -- fight to win."See more
  • Americans were not just celebrating the death of Osama, but the huge weight that he and 9/11 has put on this country for the past decade. We have been forced into living in fear and our country has forever been change because of September 1...1. I understand that at first glance some of the celebration seems much like what they do in the middle east to celebrate a successful killing of American's, but those are innocent lives they are celebrating the death of. We are celebrating the end of an era of terror that has weighed heavy on our country for the past 10 years and the death of Osama marks the beginning of that end.
  • I also don't see how the celebrations that happened were much different than the celebrations of the end of WWI and WWII. People ran through the streets, set off fireworks, held parades. It is what you do when a war is over. I know killing ...Osama does not mark the end of the war, but it is the closest thing that we have had to an end in 10 years and probably for 10 more. Finally there is a sense that all the fighting we have been doing for the past decade has not been for naught.
  • Osama's death hardly marks the "beginning of the end" of terrorism...
  • no the end our war in the middle east (hopefully) and the culture of fear that our country has been living in for the past 10 years
  • I personally didn't feel the need to run through the streets and celebrate, but I understand why people did. And the way things are today there has been very little for Americans to be happy about lately so I support the need a release and go a little crazy when something does come along.
  • But that's ridiculous. Osama dying isn't going to end the war in the middle east, or the culture of fear in our country. The culture of fear in our country has not been exclusively tied to terrorism in the first place. We have created a cul...ture of fear in this country over a lot of things, and I doubt that changes anytime soon.
    
    To me, the scene at Ground Zero of somber reflection and a sort of cathartic release seemed more appropriate than drunken raging on the streets as if our favorite team just won the Superbowl. Remembering the people we lost, and the tragedy of that day. Those two things are very different in my mind. I fully believe Osama needed to die: I'm not sad he was killed. But partying in the streets? I was old enough to know about September 11th just like everyone else; I had family members, a teacher, and a classmate in New York on that day. I understand the emotional aspect of wanting him dead. But I don't understand what I saw as over-the-top, blood-thirsty cheering and jeering. I felt awkward about it all day yesterday, and I'm glad to find out that I was not alone in being embarrassed, or feeling that it was somehow "un-American" to not understand.See more
  • And along with that, do you really believe that people are no longer going to be terrified of Muslims, or that all of Islam is out to kill all Americans just because he is gone? That's a pipe dream yo.

    
    
  • http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/03/world/asia/03terror.html
  • I never said it ends the war, al queda, or terrorism. I am just say that he personally put a lot of pressure on this county with 9/11 and his death in a way is a release of that pressure. It marks an end of an era that has not been good for america and I think many people feel that this can be a turning point for us to go on to a more positive future.
  • You have officially confused me, because that's exactly what you said...but then you flipped back and forth.
    
    "We are celebrating the end of an era of terror..."
    
    "It is what you do when a war is over."
    ...
    But then you said,
    
    "I know killing Osama does not mark the end of the war, but it is the closest thing that we have had to an end in 10 years and probably for 10 more."
    
    And then you flipped back again,
    
    "No the end our war in the middle east (hopefully) and the culture of fear that our country has been living in for the past 10 years".
    
    Soooo...??
  • And I'm not saying his death isn't a release of a sort of "pressure" (although it may be short-lived). My issue was the way that release was expressed...
  • the era of terror being centered around Osama... it is what you do when a war is over in reference to WWI and WWII ceelbrations and then I followed with saying that quote on I know it doesn't end the war...and I said I hoped it marked a begenning of the end of the war in the middle east. Osama has been a huge focus and is a huge milestone which I think won't be surpassed for the rest of our occupation there.
  • I see. I don't doubt the gravity of his death as a milestone in the "war on terrorism" (while I don't believe it will have such significant implications that al queda will disband). Again, my issue isn't with Osama being killed, or whether ...it was necessary, etc. My issue was with what I perceive as excessive and strange celebration after his death. I think this discussion has divulged into an argument over something I wasn't really debating.

Mizzou burning Osama at the stake (crutch)

toshcommunity.comedycentral.com

MU students raged on the streets of the school's greek town to celebrate the death of Osama with American flags, fireworks, blow horns, booze, toilet paper, a poster of Osama, a crutch used as a stake, and a deathly lighter.... sorry we party Osama

• •  I feel sorry for them.
    

    
    

    
    
  • lol I wonder if they finally know where Pakistan and Afghanistan are on the map!
    

    
    

    
    
  • Just like Steve Colbert said these students weren't even teenagers during 9/11....
    

    I don't think they realize what it means to kill or to be killed.
    

    
    
  • 
    
    

    Roya I was in my second year of undegrad. when 9/11 happened and I clearly remember that day because I left the university since I feared that some moron would attack me. Never underestimate someone when they are angry. Anyway, it's been almost 10 years and I still feel the same, this feeling of being considered second class even though I was born here.
    

    
    
  • 
    

    Sigh...although I was very young, (I wasn't even in high school!) when 9/11 happened, but I still remember the fear of dying under the possible American attack, and eventually living through it. Do you know how horrible it was to live minut...e by minute thinking it will be the last minute of your life? Do you know how frightening the noise of American bombs were? I could never understand why me, and my family had to go through all those frightening attacks? What was our fault? But now looking back I know that it changed me and the way I think about war and killing forever. And I am happy that at least I don't rejoice when someone is killed. I am happy it changed me.

    
    

    
    

    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    A little historical comparison: This photo was taken directly after the Japanese surrendered to the U.S. thus ending WWII. Americans celebrated and rejoiced at the victory prompting this couple to kiss, giving us this iconic photo.

    

    
    

    
    

    • 
      

      4 people like this.
    • • However, the celebrations arose out the distruction of Nagasaki and Hiroshima by the atomic bomb. Hundreds of thousands of innocent Japanese were killed in an nightmarish, apocoloyptic, wave of fire and radition the world had not previously seen.
      • So, was it wrong for Americans to celebrate such massacre? Yes and no. If someone was celebrating the mass death of the Japanese, that would be morally wrong. However, Americans weren't celebrating that. They would in fact go on to spend millions of dollars to help the Japanese rebuild their country in an attempt for forgiveness.
      • Americans were celebrating an end of a war, a chapter. Of course the surrender of the Japanese didn't mean an end of war in general or that our responsibilites of WWII were over, but it meant that we could move on.
      • So when we saw Americans rejoicing in the streets after the news that Osama bin Laden was dead, I would argue that they were not rejoicing because of the death of a man, but for the same reasons that the couple above were rejoicing and cele...brating. Whether we had capture bin Laden alive or dead, would have still brought about the same feelings. The last ten years have been long, confusing, and turmoilous and now tt singles an end of a chapter, a mission accomplished. We still have much to do and the wars aren't over, but now Americans can focus on moving on and how we are going to go forward in our military missions abroad.