Also keep in mind that what is perfect for one person is not perfect for another, and we change from day to day. Some days we have energy to do a bunch of stuff, other days we just want to take it easy.

I think the most important part of successful travelling with a partner is to be considerate of each others: Pay attention to what the other person wants, perhaps especially if they need a little break. This does not align well with planning everything in detail. You have to be able to improvise, and to take into account each others needs throughout the travels. :)

I think American women might have something similar going on. Some of them use their voice differently from what we’re used to in Europe. But yeah, solid observation.

I think Brits and Americans are also badly perceived because people understand the stupid stuff they’re saying. People speaking more obscure languages might have the benefit of doubt.

I am guessing from context you’re an American going to Europe.

The US is big; distances in Europe is more manageable. However, we’ve packed a bunch of stuff into every square kilometre. Just because you can do Paris, Venice, Florence, Rome, and Naples all in a week doesn’t mean you should. I lived a while in Florence, and I always overheard American tourists talking about how they “saw” all these great European cities in just a day before moving on. They didn’t see shit other than the Eiffel tower and the Ponte Vecchio.

Find a place you want to experience, and try to actually experience it. Go to museums. Eat their food. Visit small unknown places. Walk around. Learn about the place.

Europeans don’t generally love Americans. We mostly tolerate them. We kind of like their culture, but our favourite Western movies are Italian.

This is not an attack, but a fair warning. Don’t parade how American you are expecting people to treat you better - the best you can hope for is that they’ll expect you to leave a fat tip. Try to mimic social codes around you. Don’t be the loudest person around - and if the loudest people around you are Americans, they’re either being obnoxious or you’re in a tourist trap.

Don’t ever brag.

Investigate when you can eat and what you can eat when. Lunch and dinner times vary from country to country and sometimes city to city. If you’re hungry between 14 and 18 in France or Italy you’ll be lucky if you can settle with a sandwich. Restaurant closing times vary a lot too - a Pizzeria in Italy will open at 19, in Denmark it will close at 20.

When in Rome and all that. Macdonald’s might do in a pinch, but Europe is a continent of cheese, wine, beer, and regional specialties. Find out what people eat in the city where you are. You probably don’t want to order a paella in Andalucia; only Americans order bolognese in Naples.

Especially in France, don’t expect everyone to speak English. They might not be very comfortable with it, and starting a conversation in English an awful start. Learn a few phrases. In France, always start any interaction with a bonjour or bonsoir. At the very least learn how to ask people if they speak English in their own language. In many countries their response will be “of course I do”, but chances are they’ll still appreciate the effort.

And good luck!! It’s a wonderful continent, especially if you’re interested in art, food, or history.

Edit: Also, if you’re in a touristic city looking very American or talking loudly in American English, you need to keep a tighter watch on your personal belongings than anyone else around you. You’re being targeted by pickpockets.

The French embassy in Wellington denied involvement, stating that “the French Government does not deal with its opponents in such ways”.

The poor ambassador must have been so fucking annoyed to learn that this is, in fact, how the French government deals with its opponents.

He would perhaps have been less surprised had he ever been randomly arrested or beaten up by cops at a political protest.

Maybe that’s the time when it is time to contemplate
why we’re getting so much love
from all these people
who are famous
for their ability
to incinerate
and say

thank you
Madame Le Pen […]
but no thank you.

Also finding it through contracts is a good sign.

If it’s not 100% cozy, remember you could spend $500 per month making it cozier and you’d still be in the green.

Good luck!

Investing $900 per month makes such a gigantic difference for anyone who doesn’t have an unlimited budget. That’s $10800 per year even before counting interest.

A shared flat is no dream situation, but this sounds like a potentially life changing difference.

I don’t think unfinished floorboards necessarily makes rodents so much more welcome.

I’d say go for the cheaper one. You save 50 minutes every day, you probably don’t have to deal with rats any more, you can invest $1000 per month for savings, and you get rid of your creepy landlady. Flatmates might be a blessing and they might be a curse, but a good first impression is a start.

Yeah, the irony is not lost on me!

Early on in the life of software I think a faster pace of development makes sense, when the software is less complex and there are fewer affected users. I think most Piefed users accept that they are very much using software that is still in active development.

Mastodon, on the other hand, is used by people who consider it to already be mature. A large number of people and organizations depend on it. Personally I trust it with the only actively maintained social media account I have in my real name. Moving too fast and making mistakes could have pretty fatal consequences there.

There are features I would like to see implemented as well - I think proper quote posts will be nothing but a huge improvement - but I appreciate that the developers are taking their sweet time making sure to get it right. And if Piefed reaches a million active users I expect its developer(s) to do the same.

I’ve been using Linux half my life, I have my own Email server, I avoid centralized social media and I hate Outlook with a passion.

I have two active accounts there.

If I recall correctly it just doesn’t scale well, and starts performing poorly as the user count goes up.

Personally I prefer Mastodon. In the end there’s only three dimensions: Security, performance, and personal preference.

I’m happy with how Mastodon is being run. Move fast and break things kan kiss my ass. Move slowly and don’t suck.

It takes time to build friendships. If you meet people for an activity that’s a start, but if you don’t feel like any of them are friend material (or they’re too busy) you need to branch out. Try finding a larger/different group that does that activity, or better yet, try out something else.

Volunteering tends to be a great starting point.

Friendships often start with a leap of faith of sorts - you hang out in a given context, and at some point somebody takes the next step (wanna grab a beer/grab lunch/come for dinner/go to the game/whatever)

You kind of do things that are a bit ahead of your current level of friendship, and then if it works out you’ve managed to upgrade.

We all know Trump is Putin’s man in America. We all witnessed his presidency, we all saw their cozy little press conference with their secret little meeting.

It boggles my mind how dishonest or plain stupid one has to be, as a serious journalist, to frame MAGA Putin supporters as something intellectually surprising or out of the ordinary. Trumpism has been Putin’s project since day one, and there’s no way the journalist is not aware of that.

Journalists are so fucking hungry for a spin they obscure reality in the process.

I hate that I’m surprised by the clarity of this answer. Hopefully Netanyahu is too.

I’d consider Bolzano. You’d get by with German, and you get to live in a beautiful part of the arguably most beautiful country of Europe.

In Germany? You’ll be fine, they’re very aware of the threat of antisemitism but it’s not any worse than elsewhere.

Now, whether German culture is enjoyable is another question.

Israeli politics have been fucked for a long time. Netanyahu has always been a dangerous extremist, and the fact that people repeatedly voted for him speaks volumes for the political culture.

If by Eastern Europe you mean Belarus and Hungary, maybe.

I think, like so many other realities of American politics, it needs to be understood as a sad reflection of America itself.

RFK Jr. caters to a specific branch of the mentally ill, but in a country with severe social problems and unavailable mental health care services this is not such a tiny niche. COVID sent a lot of people over the edge, and an anti-vaccine candidate in it’s wake is bound to do well.

Combine this with the fact that conspiratorially minded Americans are obsessed with the Kennedys, and you have yourself a candidate who appeals strongly to a non-negligible part of the population.

You’ll never be anything less than what you are, but that’s a strength. Just speaking two languages well already puts you at an advantage. The experiences you have of seeing the cultures in relation to each other also gives you an edge.

Sometimes it’s nice to be able to just blend in, but life is all about learning and gathering experiences and impressions, and you have a head start. It might not always be easy, but you’ll learn to appreciate it.

And as long as Poland is in the EU I’d much rather have a Polish passport than an English one.