<p>My grandparents don’t have a computer, and computers are (big surprise here) less common in other countries. I don’t think it’s really a secret that Croatia has a lower standard of living than the US does.</p>
<p>I have so many things to say but I will let DVR answer his own questions. I’m not his mother. lololol.</p>
<p>Umm okay so the comforter I ordered isn’t the right color. It’s not minty, it’s sagey. Sigh. Will the disappointments ever stop?</p>
<p>Sage is a much better color than mint. Your peers at Whitman will like it better anyway.</p>
<p>Because Pineapple Express will be awesome, silly girl.</p>
<p>I totally went there.</p>
<p>It’s going to suck. That guy with the silly, doofy voice and the curly hair, and that wannabe James Dean character omgnthx. </p>
<p>I’m taking MIA off the soundtrack. She can do better.</p>
<p>PS: My new comforter is the softest, cushiest, fluffiest thing of all time. I’m keeping it.</p>
<p>I hate to double-post, but I have to get this out.</p>
<p>I hate the fact that Christina regrets recording Stripped. I think it’s her best album. That’s all.</p>
<p>And yes, I am an Xtina fan over Britney. Always and forever.</p>
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<p>Rofl. You would.</p>
<p>She can sing. Britney is just a name. </p>
<p>Also, I like the fact that she publicly talks about “Naked Sundays” with her uglyass husband, ahahahaha.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t complain if Xtina came to my house on Sundays.</p>
<p>I almost said idk today. Almost. </p>
<p>I scare myself sometimes.</p>
<p>Mike always crosses the line.</p>
<p>I love late night workouts. I think it’s my new way of training myself to be able to stay up late like a “real” college student.</p>
<p>Pshaw. That comment was PG-rated.</p>
<p>Yeah, yeah. Do you really like that dark brown leather and bleach blonde contrast?</p>
<p>I like her voice, but her looks deteriorated after Genie In A Bottle. Just sayin’.</p>
<p>I’m happy to say that Xtina passes my stringently high standards.</p>
<p>My grandfather is an architect, a US-certified civil engineer, and a court expert. He does, in fact, own a computer, and he does all of his work on it. </p>
<p>Believe it or not, libraries do exist in Croatia. And guess what. People here can read. Many Americans seem to think that the second you cross the border, civilization ends. Yes, Croatia was a communist country until the early ‘90s, but 20 years is ample time for a country to develop. I would even go so far as to say that the standard of living here is similar to the one in Canada (or in the US). Also, Croatia’s HDI is 0.85, whereas the US’ is 0.95. Though it has some of the qualities of a liberal democracy (an economy dominated by the service sector, etc.) while lacking others (multiple political parties represented in government, etc.), Croatia can hardly be considered an undeveloped country. </p>
<p>Even as a communist country in the '60s and '70s, Croatia (then part of Yugoslavia) was fairly developed in comparison to other, similar countries. In fact, in the '70s, Croatia began to seek independence because its economy was much better than those of the other Yugoslavian republics. Even at the height of political tension, communism in Croatia and the rest of Yugoslavia had never begun to resemble Russian Marxism-Leninism.</p>
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<p>I am going out on a very important date. Lololololololol.</p>
<p>That’s cool. Thanks for informing me. When I was in Spain, I concluded that the standard of living in Spain was lower than in the US, since people drive cheaper cars and live in small spaces. The average salary in Spain is only about 20.000€ per year, which isn’t much, considering the high cost of living. And the library thing was actually based on China. I read somewhere in a local paper about these Chinese students visiting my area. They said that in China, they don’t have public libraries; only bookstores.</p>
<p>You’ll be happy to know that I have added Croatia to my list of places to visit. I hear the bread is amazing. I have a friend who’s going to Croatia next summer. It’s too bad I can’t come along.</p>
<p>See how touchy he got? I warned you, JB, I warned you.</p>
<p>But isn’t he adorable? He should write Wikipedia pages.</p>
<p>PS: You’re so smooth, DVR.</p>
<p>^ You’re so ridiculous.</p>
<p>I think the Chinese library thing is a result of censorship and overpopulation, but I’m not completely sure. The libraries here aren’t public, though, but they still exist, hahaha.</p>
<p>Everything here is relatively cheap. Someone could probably live here, though not extremely comfortable, for a whole month with about $200. Croatia’s entering the European Union in 2010 (or was it 2009?), and everything will be more expensive when it does. </p>
<p>People here are kind of weird about bread. They eat it with basically everything, and a meal without it is “incomplete.” Just the other day, my grandparents were telling me about how they don’t respect people who “don’t respect bread.” Hahahaha. It’s ridiculous, I know.</p>
<p>My grandma is the same way about rice. She came over and we were having hot dogs and hamburgers, and she made a pot of rice. The next day, we were having lasagna and she took the leftover rice and made fried rice. She can’t understand a meal without it.</p>
<p>As far as I know, Croatia is keeping its currency though, since that’s a harder switch than just joining the EU. So it won’t be as expensive as countries that use the euro, but I can see how it might become expensive if other Europeans can come there more easily.</p>
<p>Bread is good. Rice is also good. Potatoes are the traditional American diet staple, but bread and rice can go in with those. I don’t consider it a meal if it doesn’t have one of those three, but that’s not quite as extreme as limiting it to just rice or just bread.</p>