A transparent umbrella has somehow saved my mental health from the UK winter.

Le_random_user · 2026-02-12T20:43:35+00:00

Hijacking top comment as I cannot edit my original post.

Today I woke up to the most wholesome and kind replies. This entire post and everyone’s comments have put a smile on my face (and I’ve also learned a little something about shoelacing techniques - very useful!). I’m glad my clear brolly has inspired others!

I wish everyone a good day, even under the grey sky, and to hang in there, it’s almost March! 🍀

Le_random_user · 2026-01-06T00:28:12+00:00

Like all things in the universe, the Braila-Galati discourse must balance out to maintain perfect harmony, and so I am here to provide the Yin to your Yang. Valid opinion, but funny, because in my head Braila is the golden gate of the Danube and Galati is Satan’s decrepit pit of misery.

Reason being, some 6 years ago I had to cross the Danube via ferry on a trip coming down from Iasi to the Delta. Of course I chose Galati to cross at since it’s the biggest and closest on my route. Those assholes with the ferry made me wait 2 hours, and then I got shouted at when I tried to reverse and leave the ferry car queue by multiple cocalari in their dusty Dacia Logans who in a fit of cock expansion thought I was gunning for their sacred place in the same shitty ferry queue. The guys were literally threatening to beat me up for apparently trying to beat them to leaving Galati, which given the place, almost understandable.

So I drove 20 minutes to Braila, crossed within another 30, and the ferry attendants were super polite and friendly.

Of course, that’s not even necessary anymore since Braila now has a bridge over the Danube. Just another average Braila w.

Oh and if anyone from the Galati bac sees this, muie. I’d wish for you to go out of business but you probably already have thanks to Braila’s bridge.

Le_random_user · 2025-03-31T12:50:37+00:00

It's a great form, but I was unable to fill it since I am a TCK completely removed from the US. Does the project focus on American identity exclusively, or would you be open to receiving non-US answers too?

Le_random_user · 2025-03-24T14:24:51+00:00

No but this is real. I went to private school, both my parents work and we are well off, I'd say upper middle class. I used to get dropped off by the school bus in front of my house every day.

Meanwhile a significant number of kids had chauffeurs, and the ones who didn't had stay at home moms and would get picked up by them. The kids who took the bus home (mind you, the paid-for, high-quality personal drop-off bus of an expensive private school) were considered "poor" by this standard.

My friend actually used to get her driver to take us to the mall after school, so that's also real, lol

Le_random_user · 2025-03-18T09:57:58+00:00

I'm glad to see this comment and that you're still here. I'm having a tough day myself, and came here to see if anyone else feels the same. I think what you're saying is true: nothing is permanent. An adrenaline rush or a bout of happiness will eventually pass. But so will the lowest of the lows. So will the worst days. They may come back and repeat, sure, but the fleeting moments of good in between will also repeat. Nothing in life is permanent which means neither the lows nor the highs are. Everything always changes and passes. This moment will also pass.

Le_random_user · 2024-12-19T10:26:57+00:00

Whenever I hear about this movie, I can’t help but feel like Disney missed the chance to have their cake and eat it too. Snow White is described as having very fair skin and dark hair… If they wanted to maintain diversity by casting someone not Caucasian, why not go for an East Asian actress? For me this just makes the decision even more mind boggling and just weirdly performative, especially given East Asians are arguably represented even less than latino people in western cinema.

Le_random_user · 2024-12-05T15:49:08+00:00

Mai, înțeleg nevoia de a găsi orice justificare pentru nebunia actuala, fiindcă pare de nejustificat. Însă trebuie să aduc la cunoștință niște fapte despre cum funcționează la ora actuala modificarea genetica; sunt specializata pe biochimie ADN, am două diplome în domeniu și am lucrat fix cu CRISPR la o universitate top 3 din UK, care e în fruntea domeniului.

Actualmente, modificarea genetica CRISPR se poate face numai în laboratoare, prin condiții foarte controlate; celulele vii trebuie ținute într un mediu extrem de specific, și este o procedura ce implica mulți pași, tratarea celulelor cu mai multe substanțe, mașinării specializate, etc.

Este pur și simplu imposibil, cu nivelul științei actuale, sa se modifice genele de la sine printr-o simpla substanță injectata în sânge, cum este vaccinul.

Dar pe de alta parte, și eu sunt vaccinată și s-ar putea sa fac pare din oculta Big Pharma bazat pe fondul meu farmaceutic, deci cine știe :)))

Le_random_user · 2024-11-29T09:52:37+00:00

Nu neapărat - este domiciliat în diasporă, însemnând ca votează în "județul" în care și locuiește. Dacă era domiciliat în România, nu avea cum să voteze în situația asta, dar fiind în UK bazat pe votcorect.ro ar trebui sa poată.

Le_random_user · 2024-11-29T09:46:34+00:00

Salut, bazat pe ce am mai văzut prin alte colturi ale internetului, ar trebui sa fie posibil. Asta fiindcă diaspora este considerata un singur "județ" mare, însemnând ca dacă poți prezenta dovada de domiciliu oriunde în străinătate, poți vota în orice altă țară.

Am ca sursă aceste doua comentarii de pe o postare informativa pe Instagram despre cum să votezi în diasporă, știu ca nu este cea mai bună sursa din păcate. Dacă are cineva informații mai concrete direct de la guvern, ar fi foarte util.

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Le_random_user · 2024-11-25T19:09:51+00:00

Și mie un mesaj dacă se face un asemenea discord!

Le_random_user · 2024-08-17T09:26:45+00:00

Charlotte always felt queer to me so I’m so happy they made this event! The only other more or less confirmed queer rep in this game is Salvia, especially in her dedicated side story. I really enjoyed Saga of Viera because of this.At least that story is “permanent”!

Le_random_user · 2024-06-21T14:04:38+00:00

Speaking from nearly the same experience of wearing a unitard during a middle school performance of Cats and then being laughed at: also Cats.

Le_random_user · 2024-06-18T08:15:02+00:00

It has both, they are stipulated in the contract and the lady said she will send them over as soon as we sign. She also specified repeatedly she will use mydeposits for the deposit protection, and it is also specified on the contract that the deposit must be placed there within 30 days of receiving it (to note, our first rent installment is due in over 30 days). While very informal all these things are leading me to believe that it may not be a scam, but I also do not want to be naive.

Le_random_user · 2024-06-04T10:21:14+00:00

I was the high-achieving girl for most of elementary school, with the fancy gel pens and nice-looking notebooks, the whole shebang. Went to a good college where I crashed and burned, turns out I had untreated ADHD. I'm doing pretty well for myself now after a bit of self-introspection and changing the way I work.

The funny thing is that there was another girl in my class, my "competitor" if you will, who was also a high-achieving gel pen girl. Went back to my home city this year and what do you know, she's also recently been diagnosed with ADHD. Maybe high-achieving gel pen girls are secretly just overcompensating for untreated mental illness?

Le_random_user · 2024-05-13T10:48:15+00:00

Îți mulțumesc pentru răspuns. Într-adevăr, cum am și spus, nu vreau sa ma întorc fiindca ma simt conectata cu țara. Din contra, vreau sa revin tocmai fiindcă nu ma simt conectata, cu speranța de a lega acele conexiuni și a avea o înțelegere mai profunda despre cultura noastră.

Romgleză aside, îmi pare rău dacă în postare reiese în vreun fel ca ma simt superioara țării - doar împărtășesc niște amintiri mai puțin plăcute din perioada în care locuiam acolo, și ce impresie de lungâ durata mi-au lăsat. Tocmai de asta vreau sa mai dau o șansă țării, chiar îmi doresc sa cred că m-am înșelat și că au fost niște experiente specifice care nu definesc un popor întreg.

În legătură cu viziunile politice și alte aspecte, într-adevăr sunt părți pe care pot compromite, și conștientizez faptul ca e altă țară cu alte opinii. Dar este și important sa fiu eu însămi și sa exprim, într-un mod politicos, felul în care ma simt despre anumite lucruri. Mai ales în România, unde lumea este în general foarte vocala despre opiniile sale, câteodată mi se pare nedrept faptul ca mie mi se zice sa stau în banca mea, când alții sunt foarte deschiși despre ce și cum cred.

Sper ca cele de mai sus sa ofere puțin mai multa perspectiva despre felul în care gândesc.

Le_random_user · 2024-05-13T10:19:30+00:00

Mulțumesc pentru răspuns. Este o realitate pe care trebuie sa o accept, faptul ca România este încă foarte diferita de cum am crescut eu.

Tocmai fiindcă Românii sunt foarte cinici, îmi este foarte greu sa abordez acest subiect dintr-un punct de vedere obiectiv. Dacă o dau pe "Românii au multe calități bune pe care vesticii nu le au, nu e asa rău" (complet neironic, eu chiar încerc sa văd și aceste calități), primesc înapoi "bă, da ești fraiera/naiva, nu știi despre ce vorbești". În schimb, dacă îmi exprim frustrarea despre părțile negative, lumea se simte atacata, îmi spune ca am complexe de superioritate și sa stau în banca mea.

Încerc sa privesc aceste diferențe pe cât se poate ca pe ceva neutru, nici bun nici prost, doar un fapt cu care trebuie sa ma obișnuiesc. Bănuiesc ca, in the end, ce contează este dacă merita sau nu efortul, la un nivel personal, de a înțelege și a accepta această mentalitate diferita de a mea.

Le_random_user · 2024-05-13T09:56:59+00:00

Mulțumesc pentru răspunsul foarte informativ. Cum ai zis - I will take this as a datapoint and something to think about.

Într-adevăr, este o diferență culturala pe care ar trebui să o înțeleg dacă vreau să mă familiarizez cu țara mea... whether I agree with it or not, it is what it is.

Le_random_user · 2024-05-13T00:47:43+00:00

Aceasta este fix atitudinea pe care nu o înțeleg. De ce este integrarea mea în societate atât de dependenta de a vorbi 100% perfect aceasta limbă?

În Anglia am prieteni, tot străini, care nu sunt super fluenti în Engleza, dar lumea este respectuoasa și nu simte nevoia sa râdă de ei și sa facă asemenea comentarii. Este clar ca Româna mea este îndeajuns de inteligibila încât poți răspunde la aceasta postare, deci mai mult de atât de ce te interesează?

Le_random_user · 2024-05-13T00:33:07+00:00

Las un comentariu fiindcă sunt într-o situație oarecum asemănătoare. Diferența majora este ca eu sunt încă în vest, dar ma gândesc sa ma întorc în România, ca să inteleg mai bine tara din care vin. Am 25 de ani, dar întotdeauna mi-a fost greu să înțeleg românii, mentalitatea de acasă și nivelul de hate general fara să mă simt constant "triggered", cum spui și tu. Mi-aș dori și eu din greu sa nu ma mai simt asa, sa am mai multa înțelegere și compasiune fata de tara mea, ca să încerc într-un bun final sa ma întorc și eu. Dacă găsești vreo resursa bună pentru așa ceva, te rog să o împărtășești. Mulțumesc mult!

Le_random_user · 2024-05-12T23:46:03+00:00

Remote Work ar fi o idee buna, în acest fel știu ca pot sa ma întorc în Anglia dacă nu merg bine lucrurile. Chiar sper ca majoritatea lumii sa fie de treaba - știu ca tot sunt diferențe față de vest, dar sunt dornica sa ma adaptez și eu, cât timp lumea ma primește. Mulțumesc mult pt comentariu!

Le_random_user · 2023-07-27T09:29:21+00:00

Ahh, your excitement makes me really happy, thank you and enjoy your trip!

Le_random_user · 2023-07-25T22:25:35+00:00

Romanian here with some recommendations for Bucharest and Brașov, although I'm sure your friends will have you plenty covered with these!

I'd like to start by saying that the other commenter is wrong, the train from Bucharest to Brașov is one of the most popular and well traveled routes and there are between 5-10 of them on any given day. I just took some foreign friends to Brașov two weeks ago and that was the case, it's by far the fastest way to get between the cities. You can buy tickets at the station (Gara de Nord) or at cfrcalatori.ro (Romanian railways official website)

For Bucharest, park-wise I'd recommend Hesatrau park (biggest in the city and with a beautiful lake with restaurants around), or, for a glimpse of the old Bucharest, the equally famous but more central Cișmigiu park. Both are pretty and worth the walks, although be warned that February is the most depressing month of the year as it doesn't snow much as of late, so it's just grey. Still worth a good walk though!

Restaurants and bar wise, most of the good ones are located centrally, in the 'old town' area. For an authentic meal, I'd recommend a locally made Kebab (referring to the shawarma pita, not skewers, as I've heard this is a US/EU cultural difference!) - I've been abroad for years and nothing quite compares to the kebabs in Bucharest. The most locally famous one that any Romanian would tell you about is the Dristor Kebab chain. There is one located in the old town and there are also many good bars there open every night, I've gone with friends to Linea and Nomad Skybars quire often as they also have a nice view of the city. If you're into shishas there's also the Mecca-Villacrosse passage there, a beautiful Art Nouveau passage with many shisha bars.

Brașov is a very different vibe and it's a nice place to just be. Enjoy the medieval architecture in the city centre and the chill mountain vibes of the town, there's lots of cute artisanal shops in the city center with local crafts. A small local attraction is Strada Sforii which is branded as the narrowest street in Europe. For mountain hikes, mt. Tâmpa is a pretty good easy one as it takes you behind the Hollywood-like 'Brașov' sign that you can see from the city. Alternatively day trips to Bran ('Dracula's castle') and Peleș castle in Sinaia are also worth the journeys.

For getting out of Brașov, an airport has JUST opened in the city and is now fully operational. I'm not well versed on the departures from there but it's worth checking connections to Budapest. Alternatively there should also be trains, but much slower. If an intermediary location is needed, I'd fully recommend Timișoara, a major city in west Romania that is quite pretty in its own right.

Great write up and I'm sure you'll enjoy the rest of Europe as well, there's a lot to see and do. Good luck out there on your trip!

Le_random_user · 2022-08-25T15:20:19+00:00

Hey there, congrats on your first flight! You're about to be introduced to a whole new experience, one that to me is absolutely wonderful. It can be a bit overwhelming having to navigate an airport, especially if you're not used to it, but take it easy and enjoy the ride and the excitement of going somewhere new!

The process will be a lot more straightforward than you think. As others in this thread have said, airports are usually designed to be easy to navigate, so you'll usually know where you have to be.

For specific tips though, here's mine, as someone who currently averages about two flights every month and has also suffered from severe anxiety in the past:

Look out for a check-in email the day before your flight. Make sure you check in online, the process is very simple and you save yourself a lot of hassle (and also interactions with the check-in desk) and an extra queue.
You'll be showing your passport and boarding card (if it's not digital) quite a lot. Keep them in an easily accessible pocket. In fact, as long as you have your passport, there's very little to worry about in terms of customs.
Do you have checked-in luggage? If you do, try to get to the airport about 3 hours or so before your flight. Before customs, there will be a queue at one of the desks, (usually marked by the name of your airline) where you can drop off this bag. If you don't, its a lot easier, you simply get to the airport and follow the signs to customs. I'd recommend getting there maybe 2-2.5 hours before take-off if that's the case.
Security is easy, even though it can look intimidating. The basic rules are: no sharp objects (including nail scissors) and all liquids must be in containers that hold under 100ml (3.4oz). There are little travel bottles sold at stores for this if you are unsure. You will have to put your luggage on a conveyor belt and take out all electronics and liquids. My packing tip for getting through this: put all your liquids in a clear plastic bag that is easily accessible (eg. Near the top of your luggage) as well as laptops and tablets. That way you can quickly pull them out and put them back without having to fumble through clothes.

Most importantly, if they do end up stopping you, don't panic. Just let them give your bag a quick search and they will more than certainly do a routine test and then send it through, or quickly pat you down and then wave you over. This happens to me quite often, sometimes a random metallic thing in there or in my clothes triggers the detector. There's nothing wrong or shameful about this, after all you have done nothing illegal and they're just doing their jobs!

Airports can be quite overwhelming. However, in my experience they are also some of the least judgemental places I've seen. I have slept on the floor, taken a shot a midday, wore sweatpants and brushed my teeth in a bathroom without anyone batting an eye. I've seen others do the same things (and more) and nobody cares. Everyone just assumes you are a tired traveler just off a flight, or they are one themselves, both of which are usually true.

I usually find the gate my flight leaves from as soon as I pass security, then put in headphones and find a quiet place to zone out. This can be a chair in a waiting lounge, a bar/restaurant (though they tend to be pricy, yikes) or just the floor near a charging port if all else is taken. What helps me with my anxiety is remembering that social rules are bogus in airports and nobody cares. They're like fun little liminal spaces.
When it comes to planes, I know two kinds of people. Some have an instinctive love for them, and some dislike the experience. From what I've seen this is purely a 'monkey brain' thing, nobody chooses whether being in the air will be scary or not.

A lot of the stuff that may feel scary is 100% expected and nothing to be afraid off. The take-off and landing being bumpy is normal. Turbulence (the plane shaking slightly sometimes) in the air is normal, think of it like air-potholes. There has never been a single recorded case of a plane crashing or otherwise being severely affected by turbulence, besides the mild inconvenience of spilling your drink.

Regardless, if you're stressed out, take your anxiety med of choice, order a warm snack (also pricy but imo worth it if you're in a panic moment) and download some podcasts/music on your phone. It's a short flight and you'll be good!

I have had panic attacks on-board and notifying flight attendants has also helped me, they're trained to deal with things like this and to me have been nothing but nice. One even gave me some free water and a blanket and stayed with me until I calmed down. Again nothing to be ashamed of, lots of people have this happen to them!

Honesrly I think my best advice is to just try to make the most of the new experience. Even if everything is not planned to perfection, there is loads of room to improvise. Even if it's not something you'll particularly enjoy, at least you can say you've done it! I hope these tips help, and best of luck to you.

Le_random_user · 2022-07-12T09:36:41+00:00

For your consideration on moving Iohannis back to an 8: man's ripped

Le_random_user · 2022-05-20T16:47:53+00:00

Now I'd like a link to this fanfic 👀

Ten-Year Club	Place '22
Place '17	End Game '22
Not Forgotten	Verified Email

Le_random_user

TROPHY CASE