SPN Fans : where are you from ?

[warrior_chic]

But jokes aside, Minnesota is known for its lakes, the Mayo clinic, for being home to many big businesses (Target, 3M), and for its pro sports teams that can't do squat once they get into the playoffs...seriously, tune in tomorrow as the Twins try and play the Yankees. It won't be pretty.

Well, I'll be pulling for the Twins. Really don't like the Yanks. But at least you can get to the playoffs. I get the Browns, the Bengals, the Blue Jackets, the Cavs, the Crew, the Reds, and the Indians. That's 7 teams, 5 sports, and maybe 3 championships in the last 20 years.

And we def don't get that much snow mostly because it doesn't get very "wet" around here. One of my past roommates came from southern China. I remember showing her pictures of snow angels, cars covered in snow, and trying to explain "wind chill" to her. But she did survive her first Midwest winter. And her first Black Friday. I won't even do that.

[Crichiel]

Well, I'll be pulling for the Twins. Really don't like the Yanks. But at least you can get to the playoffs. I get the Browns, the Bengals, the Blue Jackets, the Cavs, the Crew, the Reds, and the Indians. That's 7 teams, 5 sports, and maybe 3 championships in the last 20 years.

And we def don't get that much snow mostly because it doesn't get very "wet" around here. One of my past roommates came from southern China. I remember showing her pictures of snow angels, cars covered in snow, and trying to explain "wind chill" to her. But she did survive her first Midwest winter. And her first Black Friday. I won't even do that.

Aw, thanks. The one good thing about the playoffs (and the fact that we ALWAYS seem to go up against the Yankees in the first round) is that the Twins gain a lot of fans for those games...because so many people hate the Yankees!

When I lived in Oregon, I was watching a movie filmed in Minnesota and the lady I was with asked about something in the background. I said, "What, the lake?" She stared at me and then blurt out, "The LAKE freezes?!!" I thought that was hilarious.

[warrior_chic]

Whodda thunk that was such a CRAZY idea? I love watching the international and Southern-state students around campus. They'll pull out the fur-lined parkas here in a couple weeks,and some of 'em will keep wearing them til March or April. Meanwhile, the rest of us are wearing at most sweatshirts until Thanksgiving. It's highly amusing

[starg8fans]

That's 2 seasons more than Minnesota. We just have winter and road construction. And heaven forbid winter hold off a few weeks, or we get the extended road construction season. Last year, we had 3" of snow by the 2nd week of October, and we usually aren't done with it until mid-May. The worst being Mid-January through February where we can go weeks never getting above zero.

But jokes aside, Minnesota is known for its lakes, the Mayo clinic, for being home to many big businesses (Target, 3M), and for its pro sports teams that can't do squat once they get into the playoffs...seriously, tune in tomorrow as the Twins try and play the Yankees. It won't be pretty.

My dad did a lot of business with 3M here in Europe. They had a factory in Ferrania/Italy that produced 35mm film, and his company was one of their biggest customers.

I'm a complete moron when it comes to US sports and their teams. Couldn't even tell if the Twins are a football or baseball (or basketball? LOL) team. Here in Germany soccer is the most popular - pretty much the only - sport, and Munich has the team that holds the record for the most German championships. They've been off to a slow start in the national league this year since seven of their players went to the World Cup in South Africa, so they never got a real break. But internationally they've been kicking butt - again. They almost managed to win the 'triple crown' last year, i.e. the German championship, the German Cup and the European Cup. But they lost the final in the latter. In spite of their successes (or maybe because of them) they're not very well liked. They were the second soccer club in Munich, but now outclass the 'traditional' one. They've also been managed in a professional way for a very long time, so their financial standing is very good - which causes the kind of envy money usually brings with it.

Whodda thunk that was such a CRAZY idea? I love watching the international and Southern-state students around campus. They'll pull out the fur-lined parkas here in a couple weeks,and some of 'em will keep wearing them til March or April. Meanwhile, the rest of us are wearing at most sweatshirts until Thanksgiving. It's highly amusing

LOL, our winters vary from 'chilly falls' with no snow to up to two feet of snow for five months. Actually, I'm gonna have my snow tires put on next week. And they won't come off until May 1st. That's why I was really surprised when I studied in North Carolina to find the school closed after a snowfall of less than half an inch. We once got 20" in one night in Munich, and that gave you an excuse to be late for school. But you still had to get there.

[warrior_chic]

In spite of their successes (or maybe because of them) they're not very well liked. They were the second soccer club in Munich, but now outclass the 'traditional' one. They've also been managed in a professional way for a very long time, so their financial standing is very good - which causes the kind of envy money usually brings with it.

In my opinion, that's why not many people like the Yankees (baseball btw). Their owner, who just recently died, built them into a financial giant. They've had something of a dynasty since Babe Ruth played in the 1920's. But they have a tendency to buy and sell players left and right, and not develop them very well. My local minor league team used to be a Yankee team, and none of them ever got called up or got to play for the Yankees in the majors. I prefer the teams that develop players.

And as for the snow, it all depends on the area. My old school district had a superintendent who was from Northern Ohio, so he was used to snow and we only got maybe 3 snow days the 4 years I was there, with the exception of one really bad week. We had so much snow that when the plows came through they blocked all the driveways with like 3 feet of snow. We do get a lot of ice (and black ice) which causes most of our traffic problems.

[Crichiel]

The Twins are baseball, stars, but don't feel badly, I am clueless about soccer. As for the Yankees, it's pretty much like wc said. Many people feel like they basically buy their championships. No one else can compete with them financially. So any time another team raises a great player, the Yankees swoop in and offer them too much money for them to refuse.

In Oregon, they would also close schools and businesses at the first trace of snow. I can't even think of the last official snow day that was declared here. They get 1-2 hour delays, but the kids don't get it off. And usually, if there's a delay, it's because of the cold, not the snow. Also in Oregon, they couldn't believed we drove around in winter without chains on our tires (required for them when driving through the mountains). 1) we don't have mountains and 2) why do you think our second season is Road Construction? The hard winter destroys the roads each year, can you imagine if you added chains to everyone's tires on top of that?

Now on the flip side of this, I am a complete wuss in the heat! I love 55-75 degrees. Once you hit 85, I don't even want to move! Add humidity and I'm not leaving the air conditioning.

[warrior_chic]

In Oregon, they would also close schools and businesses at the first trace of snow. I can't even think of the last official snow day that was declared here. They get 1-2 hour delays, but the kids don't get it off. And usually, if there's a delay, it's because of the cold, not the snow. Also in Oregon, they couldn't believed we drove around in winter without chains on our tires (required for them when driving through the mountains). 1) we don't have mountains and 2) why do you think our second season is Road Construction? The hard winter destroys the roads each year, can you imagine if you added chains to everyone's tires on top of that?

Now on the flip side of this, I am a complete wuss in the heat! I love 55-75 degrees. Once you hit 85, I don't even want to move! Add humidity and I'm not leaving the air conditioning.

Snow chains are actually illegal here. The plows are perfectly capable of tearing up the curbs and sidewalks by themselves.

And we get VERY humid here in the summer. This year alone, we had nearly 30 90+ degree days. Maybe half of those had at least 75% humidity. I swear, if I described Ohio's weather to a complete stranger that didn't know where the state was, they'd never be able to find it. The winter says North, the summer says Sub-tropic.

[iolanda]

In spite of their successes (or maybe because of them) they're not very well liked. They were the second soccer club in Munich, but now outclass the 'traditional' one. They've also been managed in a professional way for a very long time, so their financial standing is very good - which causes the kind of envy money usually brings with it.

Or as my sisters husband put it: "Should my kid become a Bayern fan, I gonna put it for adoption." But that was before he became a father

We don't get that much of snow here, it is just too warm in a city with two rivers which lies deep between hills, but we got some very cold winters with a lot of snow where I grew up. But people are used to drive under difficult conditions there, so some snow isn't a reason to not go to school. I remember just one day when there was so much snow that the busses weren't able to go to my school and I could go right back home because there wasn't anybody but me in my class, but that was it.

[warrior_chic]

I think around here part of the reason they delay or close schools and businesses is because we have a lot of transplants from warmer places who can't drive worth crap in even the smallest amount of snow. So they don't go anywhere near the speed limit or they can't handle a little bit of traction loss. So it can sometimes just be safer to keep them off the roads. That's why I'm kinda glad I learned to drive in the snow before I got my liscense.

[Crichiel]

We just have the first snowfall each year where everyone has to 'remember' how to drive in the snow. And yeah, the chains are illegal here, too. The snow plows don't rip up the streets so much as the constant thaw/freeze cycle does.

We also had something like 25 days 90+ with high humidity this year. Yuck.

Germany sounds milder than I thought it was. I thought you guys had winters like we do. I would love to visit sometime. My sister and her husband lived there for a couple years, they were both German majors in college and went there to have 'experience' in the culture for their teaching degrees. My first nephew was even born there.

iolanda and stars, I have to say again that both of you absolutely stun me with how good your English is. I forget all the time that it isn't your native language!

[iolanda]

Thank you for the compliment

Germany has a pretty versatile climate and lots of micro climates. I am in the Western part and we are just about 160 miles apart from the shore of the north sea which leads to a mild climate due to the gulf stream. If you are around Berlin or so you have a much more continental climate with pretty tough winters, and if you are in the north you will have a lot of rain in winter but not too much snow (unlike last year, when they did have a lot of snow and weren't prepared for it).

[starg8fans]

Yeah, thanks Crichiel.

Bavaria is close to the Alps and therefore has the harshest climate in Germany. But we also get a southerly fall wind can bring wonderful, balmy weather any time of year.

In general, Europe's climate is a lot more temperate than the States because apart from the sea and the Gulf Stream iolanda pointed out, our mountains run West-East and form a sort of natural barrier against the cold weather from the North. Your Rockies run North-South, sow the weather systems can march through pretty much unhindered. For example, New York and Naples/Italy are on the same latitude, but while New York has very serious winters Naples rarely gets temperatures below the 40s, and hardly ever snow.

[RodneyIsGodney]

OK, so now that we're all starting to learn where each other are (is that grammatically any where close to correct?), is there something that makes your area special?

Well, we have haunted houses. Or at least, houses that are purported to be haunted. There's a movie called The Haunting in Connecticut that's based on true events. Then there's Dudleytown one of CT's most haunted locations.


Oh, and on the weather front...right now Sam would say, "It's positively Canadian." Cold and rainy.

[warrior_chic]

Yeah, iolanda and stars, I'm very impressed with your english. And especially writing it. I'm a native speaker and I can't even manage to follow grammatical rules a good chunk of the time. We actually had a couple brothers from Puerto Rico in my spanish class one year to help them transition. They almost failed the class because they couldn't write correctly. And here I am second guessing my english as I write this I'm also curios: do they teach, or require, english in schools over there? I know they do in some Asian countries, like Japan and China.

[starg8fans]

English is mandatory in Germany for any level of schooling, so everybody's had at least 4 years of English. Still many people have problems speaking English, which is probably because we get all English language movies or TV shows dubbed, i.e. with a German voice over. In other European countries like the Netherlands or Scandinavia they get the original version with subtitles. So they're immersed in the language all the time.

Translating English into German is pretty awkward, which is why I've read nothing but English books since I was about 15 because all my favorite authors wrote in English, and I just couldn't bear read them in the translation. Hence the proficiency. And the colloquial stuff I picked up when I studied in the States for two years. That's also where I lost my British accent for good. Hey, it was North Carolina, what more can I say?