Miss Euro Blogger - Bursting the Bubble

For those who have read my book 'LAlien', you know how much my time at the University of California-Los Angeles, better known as UCLA, meant to me. Those were my formative years, which for others often happen in their teen years. I started attending UCLA in 2004 after transferring from Santa Monica college. I was already in my mid-20s and therefore much older than most Bachelor students. I absolutely loved my time at UCLA. The campus is spectacular. I never felt more at peace than when I sat on those lush, green fields of the campus. This memory of a peaceful sheltered place was shattered this week when a gunman shot a UCLA professor in one of the engineering buildings. The years at university are supposed to be fun and careless - with the exception of caring about getting good grades. We meet new people, learn to deal with life on our own, have sleepless nights over exams (and parties), make friends for life and, most important of all, we get to know ourselves. On...

 On January 4th, I posted my New Year's resolutions for 2016: Here is a quick update on the status of those resolutions: 1) I plan on losing 6 pounds and about 1 inch around the waist by the time I have my first bridal gown fitting in the spring. STATUS : I lost 4 of those 6 pounds. The last 2 pounds just don't want to go away! Argh! I have less than a month until my fitting!!! 2) I want to hang on to the lost weight and inches until I acutally get married. :) STATUS : See 1) 3) I want to publish my first book before the summer! STATUS : I got my book prototype a few weeks ago and I am ready to give the go-ahead for the final print!!! The excitement is building!!! I hope my book will be on the bookstore shelves and online by the end of April! 4) I want to eat less chocolate. I can't get really specific about this goal. Anything less than the current amount is a success. STATUS : I think I can say I have been successful here. However, not due to my strong w...

--> One thing that I have always admired about the American spirit was the encouragement to dream and to try out things. There was no fear of failing. Failing is a part of learning and growing. You want to participate in a marathon or start your own business? The common answer in America will be “Good for you! That’s so cool!” Whereas in Europe the reaction to a dream often was “Why? Why would you burden yourself with that? That will never work anyway.” A dream was crushed at the very mention of it. So why this difference in how dreams are perceived? I can’t say for certain. I can only guess. In Europe, people are very concerned with the fear of failure. Once you fail, no one is likely to believe in you anymore. No one wants to give you a job if you failed with your own business. So it’s better not to try anything rather than not making it because ‘what will people think!’ Dreaming is for people who are lazy and loners. America, on the other hand, is a fairly young...