Claire in Poland

1. Never turn down the opportunity to travel .  Ever.  Even if you are forced to leave your dog, your boyfriend, your uncle, your mom, or your best friend, I am here to personally promise you that you will not regret it. You may find how lucky you are to have what you have and to have been born into the community you belong. Or, you may find you have been living in false light. You may find that you belong somewhere millions miles away, and you've been missing out. Either way, changing scenery every once in a while helps you discover yourself and open your eyes.   2. There is no reason to worry or even think about things you cannot control. Take a second and think about everything you control. For me when I first did this, I realized how much I cannot control. If you focus on only what you can control, life becomes bearable.  3. Let people finish their sentences before accusing them. You’ll gain much more out of it than interrupting them and ...

“A polite conversation about unimportant or uncontroversial matters, especially as engaged in on social occasions” -Google. It exists in all languages, but there’s something about American small talk that’s different than any other language’s. It seems to be purposely insignificant, purposely shallow. We say everything we don’t feel. We lie for other’s comfort. We’re doing well or good even when our cat died yesterday or we really didn’t want to get out of bed that morning. We say everything that we don’t mean. For example, let’s take the phrase “nice to meet you.” After we shake hands and smile we usually speak this phrase before beginning to converse about the snow storm that may blow over on Thursday or the car accident down on route 122 or any other subject that doesn’t require an opinion.  I was pointed out to this strange saying when I was introduced to someone in Poland. In the process I said “Nice to meet you,” and shook their hand. Quickly though, another person ...