For accommodation, try hostelworld.com, enter a city name and then sort by rating. It's not just hostels, but often also places with private rooms or bnbs. And places with a high rating (89% and above) tend to be awesome and good value, if you can live with shared bathrooms. Or look at airbnb.com! Have fun!

Haha yeah, well as a European in the US I can't say I've never complained about the US either ;) But I think you put it well: expecting a mini-America with cute accents is the thing that annoys me! (The reverse is of course true when Europeans expect all of America to be exactly like Beverly Hills 90210 or Clueless)

excellent gif / movie choice!

Just to point out that a) it happened. The store owner has apologised to Oprah. She talked about it with her salesperson and said it was a misunderstanding, but clearly something happened. b) The whole Oprah dressed in sweats argument is invalid - she says she was wearing Donna Karan or whatever. She's a 50-something…

Yes but in India, public discourse (especially of the intellectual / liberal kind) is actually often held in English. Very unlike the other countries you mention. If you look at any demonstration in a Spanish speaking country, most of the signs would be in Spanish, actually... But yes, if you're protesting against…

I second your point about the Anglophiles who think they know everything! If I meet one more American who won't shut up about how much they love England because Downtown and Dr Who and omg Kate but then freaks out like the UK is a horribly underdeveloped country when their NHS doctor has a different opinion to their…

The reason for the German Cowboys & Indians thing is Karl May... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_May I think younger Germans are coming to realise that it's problematic, but especially for the older generation it's a big part of German culture. (West and East - see http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/c…)

Breathing into each others' faces stops you from falling asleep in the first place.

This. And if, as the shop owner has said, the sales girl is usually in St Moritz rather than Zurich, I wouldn't be surprised if she hasn't dealt with many black customers (I suspect in terms of rich people who go there, mainly Europeans / Russians / Middle Easterners?) and had this 'black people can't be rich'…

I don't think that's true, actually - maybe people in the UK know, but where Oprah isn't on TV, people may have heard of the name (like know there is someone called Oprah Winfrey and she's rich) but probably not know what she looks like.

Yes, THIS. Parents growing up in households where money was scarce / memories of wartime were very real with a never waste food mentality. I feel like in my generation, everyone knows at least one person with an eating disorder, while in the homes my parents' generation grew up in, food was just necessary nourishment…

I was shocked when I went to a friend's house for dinner when I was about 12 and the mother gave her ('rich girl thin') daughters fruit yoghurt as an extra special treat for dessert because there was a friend there, but commented on how unhealthy and sugary it was. These girls would also nibble on a single small…

Raw tomato haters unite!

I love this concept. I want to introduce New Taste Thursdays to my adult life.

I'm also interested in an answer to this one! Have only heard about it in the American context...

I'm not saying the study accuses women of being materialistic, or is encouraging men to club women with a stick, or that it's not a valid study of human behaviour, I'm confused where you got that from? This is the bit I was referring to:

I don't wear much make-up and was a fashion-resistant awkward tomboy as a teenager, but I'm always really confused when I encounter a twenty-something woman who doesn't know how to create a smoky eye look (at least in theory). Did they never look at these magazines?

Ok obviously people need to actually listen to each other in bed and learn to hear what their partner is saying. And I've learnt to make it very clear when something hurts ('ouch, wait, not right there... that's better'). BUT... isn't there a really thin line between pleasure and pain sometimes? Not in the sense of…

I'm a woman and I spent a long time on the subway this morning trying to figure out if the rich-looking teenager who got on the train in a fairly poor area had a real Vuitton purse. I had no way of telling, though I did conclude once again that I find the LV logo ugly.

The most I can read into this study is 'threatened women hide behind status symbols' which sounds like a pretty predictable aspect of a materialistic society, but the specific focus on purses and luxury brands seems a bit stereotypical. It sounds like they measured a bunch of indicators (how much money would you spend…