Miss Euro Blogger - Bursting the Bubble

I don't know what to write about these days. The repeat of the presidential election in Austria? The impending whacky presidential election in the U.S.? The increase of hatred and race-related crime in Europe and the U.S.? Brexit? Each topic seems to be too political to be discussed on what I consider to be a light-hearted blog. From a marketing point of view, I want my readers to feel good after leaving my page. I don't want them to feel down or reminded of how f-ed up the world is at the moment.  Image from Pinterest.com In the midst of all the 'heaviness of life' is the whimsicality of the Euro Cup finale playing on TV as I write this. Who will win? Portugal or France? Do be honest: I don't care. And I am sure a lot of other people also don't care but they dive into the unimportant distraction that is soccer. And why not? Does it make us bad people that we are not glued to the TV thinking of all the injustice that goes on in the world? I don’t think s...

The horrible terror attacks in Paris last Friday took many of us back to that fateful September day in 2001. Most of us were not directly affected by the attacks (luckily) but it became obvious that the world changed that day... --> I moved to the U.S. on September 21st, 2001. Ten days after 9/11. It was an odd feeling to move to a country at war. Growing up in Austria and also living in Germany for a few years, I had a certain ‘idea’ of what war meant. Elderly neighbors and family members had been witnesses of World War II. I grew up in a house that had – as was required by law – a bunker you can go to in case of an air raid. Sure, my parents used it to stock potatoes and it had no door – but what was required was there. What did it mean when America was at war? Not much for the regular citizen who didn’t have a family member in the armed forces. Only when I turned on the news was I reminded of the war. The day I arrived at the Los Angeles airport, LAX, the day I arr...