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9 Sun Valley events this summer

HERE’S THE DEAL: Summertime in Sun Valley, Idaho, is beautifully chaotic. The super long sunny days coupled with all the different events going on create a kind of raucous energy that blankets the valley all season long. The problem — and believe me, it’s what you’d call a “champagne problem” — is there’s so much happening in any given week or weekend that deciding what to do can quickly become an exercise in the paradox of choice.

Do you want to play 36 holes of golf and then go to the symphony and an ice show? Or hike to a crystal-clear mountain lake with your dog before a yoga class, then dance your face off at a free outdoor concert in the park? Maybe you want go for a mountain bike ride, swim in the river, and have a beer on an outdoor patio while watching the sunset over the mountains? All totally possible.

Basically, every day in Sun Valley is a choose-your-own-adventure, and there are no wrong choices…so get up, get out there, and get after it!

1. Party beneath the mountains and under the stars with big-name bands like the John Butler Trio and Wilco.

Photo: River Run Lodge Concert Series

The outdoor amphitheater at the River Run Day Lodge is one of the best live music venues out there. Located at the base of Bald Mountain on the banks of the Big Wood River, it has no assigned seating and the laid-back atmosphere encourages concertgoers to bring their own blankets and low-backed chairs. If you plan on sitting at all, that is.

This summer’s lineup features bigger acts than ever before, including the John Butler Trio (June 23rd) and Wilco (August 16th). The relaxed venue, open-style seating, and food tents set up by local restaurants make the whole experience feel like a private party, and the bands can’t help but respond, always putting on a great show and promising to come back.

Local tip: Plan a hike up Baldy on the day of a concert, and enjoy all the music for free as you walk back down the Bald Mountain Trail — it begins and ends at the amphitheater.

2. Get down and dirty at the Ride Sun Valley Bike Festival.

Ride Sun Valley has it all. Starting with the rowdy Sheeptown Drag Race and ending with the Idaho State Pump Track Championships, the four-day festival (June 25th – 28th) is packed with guided rides, world-class races, goofy events, costumes, live music, and nonstop entertainment.

“It’s a bike festival that reflects the character of the local community,” says Ride Sun Valley’s founder Greg Randolph, aka Chopper. “Folks here take their recreation seriously and love a good party.” The racing is definitely for real, but the festival is all about getting people to participate. It’s also really affordable — most of the events are free.

Local tip: Costumes are always encouraged in Sun Valley, especially at a festival like this. Feel free to get weird — we promise the more “out there” you get, the more you’ll blend right in.

3. Put the pedal to the metal and test your car with no speed limit.

Photo: Mo Satarzadeh for Sun Valley Road Rally

Just north of Sun Valley on Highway 75 there’s a long straightaway and gentle slope called Phantom Hill, and it’s pretty much the perfect place for seeing how fast your car can go. For one day a year, the Ketchum Police Department closes off this 3.2-mile stretch of blacktop and throws the speed limit out the window. That’s right, no speed limit. The result is the Sun Valley Road Rally (July 24th – 25th), an event unlike any other in the US.

Drivers come from all over the world, and you’ll see the fastest cars anywhere get their engines pushed to the limit beneath the Sawtooth Mountains. Seriously, just watching a one-of-a-kind Bugatti Veyron Super Sport Pur Blanc roar by at 246mph is a buzz.

Local tip: Unless you’re a high roller with cash and gas to burn, the best way to get a taste of the action is to ride your bike up the Harriman Trail, unpack a picnic, and hoot and holler as the cars roar by. It’s also fun to check out the cars up close and personal when they’re parked at the Sun Valley Lodge.

4. Dance your face off at free weekly outdoor concerts in the park.

Equal parts dance party, family reunion, and tailgate extravaganza, Ketch’em Alive (Tuesdays, June 16th – August 11th) kicks off every summer week in Sun Valley with a bang. The free outdoor concerts are held in the Forest Service park just a block from Main Street, and it brings locals from all walks of life out of the woodwork. Picnic blankets get laid down, wine and cheese plates are unleashed, little kids start to dance, and pretty soon the entire park turns into a giant all-ages mountain-town hoedown.

From reggae to bluegrass and big-city funk, the bands come from all over the West and feed off the unreserved energy of the crowd. Throw in a colorful sunset over Baldy and a cooler full of local beer, and you’ll soon realize why Sun Valley rules in the summertime…and it’s only Tuesday!

Local tip: Buy a six pack and go dance!

5. Throw down at the Northern Rockies Music Festival.

Photo: Northern Rockies Music Festival by David Seelig

No mountain-town summer is complete without the rip-roaring good times of a music festival, and the Northern Rockies Music Festival (July 31st – August 1st) offers that and more. There’s camping right next to the venue and the river, the fest’s just a short walk from downtown Hailey, and the family-friendly weekend is chock-full of amazing bands. Headlining this year’s festival are the Polyrhythmics, Honey Island Swamp Band, Jeff Crosby and the Refugees, Carolyn Wonderland, and several others that’ll keep it rocking all day and night long.

Local tip: The best way to experience this festival is to camp at the venue. Make sure to bring your mountain bike, as the trails you can access from the campground are some of the best around. Keep your eye out for the nearby secret hot springs; if a local offers to show you the way, say yes immediately.

6. Grab a glass of good wine, celebrate the good life, and do it all for a good cause.

For the last 34 years, the Sun Valley Center Wine Auction (July 23rd – 25th) has been the best party of the summer. And in a place like Sun Valley, that’s saying a lot. An intimate but raucous gathering that celebrates wine, food, art, and local culture, the SVC Wine Auction musters a top-tier group of vintners and chefs to support the center and their mission to educate, promote, and enhance arts and culture in the valley and beyond.

Events range from small family-style dinners at private homes with the West’s best winemakers and chefs, to the elegant auction dinner and the often-rowdy wine picnic, and there are lots of different recreational opportunities to fill up the days and help wash away last night’s indulgences.

Local tip: While the event as a whole can be on the pricey side, a ticket to the Wine Auction Picnic is totally affordable. Held on the final day, the picnic is a great way to sample all the delicious food and wine while being surrounded by fun locals partying to live music.

7. Have a picnic on the grass while listening to a 55-piece symphony — for free.

Time for Three, who will be premiering a Sun Valley Summer Symphony commissioned work with the full orchestra on August 4.

After a day exploring the trails, rivers, and peaks of the Sun Valley area, settling down on a blanket and checking out a concert featuring 55 world-class classical musicians, glass of wine in hand, is pretty magical. Even more so when it’s free. Yes, free.

The largest privately funded free-admission orchestra in America, the Sun Valley Symphony represents everything that makes summertime in Sun Valley so special: It’s haute culture served in a casual atmosphere. It’s outdoors. It brings people from all walks of life together to celebrate being in the mountains and life and music. Come and go as you please — there’s nothing stuffy about this event.

Local tip: The Sun Valley Summer Symphony is one of the best places to take a date. Pack a picnic, ride your bikes over, and let the music and sky do the talking.

8. Listen to Pulitzer Prize-winning authors, world-class conflict journalists, and podcast stars.

Now in its 21st year, the Sun Valley Writers’ Conference (July 17th – 20th) celebrates the literary tradition of these mountains in style. This year’s group of speakers includes Anthony Doerr, author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel All the Light We Cannot See; and Sarah Koenig, co-creator and host of the podcast Serial. While the festival is centered around ideas and the speakers, the many recreational pursuits available in Sun Valley — hiking, golfing, whitewater rafting — provide an abundance of attractive distractions.

Local tip: This is one of the summer’s hottest events, and one of the hardest to get tickets for (only 1,000 are available). If you can’t find or can’t afford a pass to the SVWC, no fear — all of the major talks are given at the Sun Valley Pavilion, where it’s easy to sit outside on the grass next to the pavilion and hear every word.

9. Get stuck in traffic — Idaho-style.

Photo: Michael Edminster

Even after summer’s luster has long faded, Sun Valley doesn’t slow down. Every fall, thousands of sheep come down from their summertime pastures high in the mountains and funnel through Main Street in Ketchum, shutting down the roads. It’s a sight to behold that’s grown into a fun weekend-long festival celebrating the Basque and Peruvian heritage of many of the shepherds with dancing, live music, and great ethnic food.

Local tip: Closed-toed shoes!

This post is proudly produced in partnership with Visit Sun Valley.

Why you don't want to be a yachtie

YACHTING HAS CREATED A NAME FOR ITSELF as a way of escaping a boring job, stagnant lifestyle, and getting to make a ton of money while traveling.

But as someone who’s been there, done that, let me bluntly state why putting your notice in, giving up your cat, and leaving your winter parka behind is a seriously bad idea.

1. Your morals will be seriously challenged.

We all experience different levels of debauchery throughout our lives. However, your crew agent never mentioned that it would be brought to a whole new level if you want the job. If you can’t handle service-with-a-smile to old men naked in a hot tub, seeing fellatio on the fly bridge, or casually handing a hooker a glass of champagne, I suggest you rethink your decision.

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2. You will become OCD. Guaranteed.

…And it will piss off everybody back home.

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3. Some of the greatest horizon views may end up being untouchable.

You may get to see the Caribbean, Mediterranean, maybe even Asia and Alaska… The unsaid loophole is called a porthole. Scratch off your bucket list all you’d like, but unless you have a great captain and guests that insist on your involvement, you may only get to see those travel destinations from a window the size of a plate.

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4. You’ll have to conform.

Love that old leather jacket you wear all the time that gives you your special identity? Some lucky bloke at Goodwill would love it too. In your declared dream job, we’re rocking polos all day, every day. Join the club and be ready to conform.

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5. One word: Seasickness.

Never experienced it before? Lucky you. When the ship hits heavy seas, the boat will become a never-ending carnival ride. At first there will be hot flashes, then cold clammy sweats, then hours of puking. Your stationary office desk is looking pretty nice right now.

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6. The concept of “weekend” will become a thing of the past.

Every day is a Monday here on club superyacht for the crew. We inherited the Monday vibes, because our guests steal the groovy Friday juju every damn day on board.

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7. You’re basically becoming a modern-day gypsy.

Perhaps a minor detail, but your mother will find it suspicious when you sell everything you own to opt for a basically homeless, constantly-in-motion lifestyle with foreign grown men and women caravanning around getting drunk.

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8. Your feet will get pounded.

Spider veins, calluses, and sore feet will be daily ailments, as you’ll be on your feet for 18 hours a day when your guests are on board. Your feet will love sitting in the bathroom… that’s about it for their rest period. Bring a magazine.

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9. There’s a lot of competition.

Since the TV show Below Deck, there has been a 300% increase in ‘green’ yachties looking for work. The average Joes are flocking in, so be ready to compete against a busload of others who have also given up everything for this new life, and even they haven’t been able to get work for months now. Once you lose your status of being funemployed, you’ll be given the dirtiest, most obnoxious jobs on the boat until someone decides you’re not green anymore.

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10. No one back home will understand what you do.

So you gave up your old life and have seen some crazy $%*# now. Others response? “Oh that’s nice hunny… I went on a cruise once.”

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11. You’ll have to grin and bear strange, sometimes demeaning requests.

A Russian billionaire may demand you bow before him as you hand him something, or Arabian royalty might request you walk out of the room backwards, never turning your back to them, or a guest poops on the teak and wants you to clean it up (I wish that was a joke)… that would be all you buddy, it’d be your job to oblige.

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12. Your glorious “escape from reality” = gnarly chores.

Whatever your work is before yachting, be ready to accept these new talents: scrubbing toilet bowls with toothbrushes, varnishing wood on the decks, getting down and dirty in the bilges to wipe away God knows what, and pumping out tampons from day heads. Welcome to your glorious escape from reality!

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13. You’ll have to scratch off all events and celebrations from your personal calendar.

Happy birthday, Merry Christmas, and Happy New Years! Hello ungrateful rich folk, hosting impromptu sleepless parties, and spending your birthday in a dark crew mess with complete strangers. Your calendar is no longer yours to discuss or look forward to; someone else decides your work schedule, duties, and general location in the world.

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14. You’ll have to redefine your concept of personal space.

If you’re a real average Joe, I bet you have a cozy little abode where you can escape the world of work and jerks on the street. Maybe you have your toothbrush in the holder of your bathroom, and your shoes at the front door of your quiet, clean personal space. Well on a yacht, your space is my space, and my space is 15 other people’s space, which happens to be a small, dark space, that turns out to be none of these people’s space in the first place. Home sweet home!

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15. Hungry for lunch? Too bad.

The missus on board wants her gluten-free starfruit muffin while having her feet massaged and fanned with a freshly-picked banana leaf. Right now.

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16. Hopelessly romantic, and helplessly at sea.

You’re human right? You know what it’s like to be in love. It’s a blend of selfless affection and attachment to a special someone that gives you hope and a warm tingly feeling. Trying to pursue that person in yachting is a lot like what a toddler must feel like being dragged away from its favorite toy. Except you’re on a boat halfway across the world, being dragged away by a billionaire with a mistress, and you have to keep your kicking and screaming a big secret.

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17. There’s no loyalty.

Your company has had you for 10 years, and you’ve been paying your dues and climbing the ladder of success. It’s secure, and you can count on the consistency. A yacht, however, may seem secure at times, but if the captain wakes up one morning and decides he doesn’t like you, the boat sells to a new owner who wants a fresh start, or the budget is tight… BOOM. You find yourself after years of loyalty to that yacht on a dock in the Bahamas in the pouring rain on your birthday with 4 pieces of luggage and a one-way flight. I hope you’re tough.

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18. It’s risky business.

A ship is a funny thing. It floats and stuff. And sinks. It also has complex electrical connections and combustible fuel pumps to avoid catching on fire, very large winches and metal cleats to try not to trip and break your toes on, and lots of rough weather to not fall off the boat in. Storms and fires are just a few things to give worrywarts anxiety, and for those Joes who are accident prone this is a no-go zone.

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19. Work hard play hard. Forever.

Your boss in your office says you have great work ethics. That’s nice. How do you think your happy, smiley, productive self would fare after 5 months of the same chores every single day with no evenings or weekends off? Choose your youth wisely my friend.

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20. Sharing (your cabin) is caring.

You love your bed. You can sit upright and read your book at night, spread out, maybe even invite a partner over to share it with. Flat on your back in your new dream job bunk, all you’ll have room for is to lift your head slightly and maybe enough space for your shoulders lengthwise. The bunk above yours is occupied by Gilbert: The handy-dandy, grump bucket of an engineer whose questionable old man grunts keep you up every night, inspiring dreams about large mattresses, puppies, swiveling desk chairs, and spacious meadows of motionless terra firma.

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Are you living in one of the top 10 US ‘couch potato’ states?

Americans have got a pretty bad rep as being “a bit on the heavy end” when compared to other international travelers abroad. And sure, we’d like to espouse that this reputation stems from a mostly-false stereotype (informed by our love of cheap and ubiquitous fast food which, let’s be honest, barely counts as food to begin with). But we can’t exactly deny that roughly one in three men and women in this country are obese, planting us firmly in the highest echelon of chubby nations around the world.

Yesterday, real estate search engine Estately published a series of US maps chronicling the top 10 US “couch potato” states. Yes, their findings may be riddled with excessive judgement and questionable statistics, but (taken with a grain of salt) the trends Estately found do offer some interesting insight into the general habits of the good ol’ US of A.

Estately used Facebook trends, Yellow pages listings, Google and Gallup analytics, and American Time User Surveys to assess the ‘states based on the following parameters:

Hours per day spent watching TV.

(via)

Okay, I don’t think anyone could argue that this might be a fairly legit metric for studying a state’s couch-potato-ness.

Laz-E-Boy retailers per capita.

(via)

Though this map doesn’t illustrate whether or not people actually shop at those Lay-Z-Boys around the country.

Fast food restaurants per capita.

(via)

“Nevada had the most (1 for every 881 people).” Yikes.

Frequency of exercise.

(via)

West Virginia is also the “second poorest state in the US,” so it’s only fair to say that “paying for a gym membership” is probably not a priority there.

State obesity rate.

(via)

Taken with the previous map, it’s hard to deny that there’s a bit of a problem in those darker states. Though this is certainly a “chicken or egg” scenario.

Fewest hours of work per day.

(via)

Really? Frankly, I think all of those folks in Maine are livin’ the dream.

“Expressing interest in daytime soap operas.”

(via)

There’s a bizarrely strong correlation between “daytime soaps” and obesity rate/lack of exercise.

Video game rental-related Google searches.

(via)

Nevada: apparently the land of the most fast food and video games per-capita. Having grown up there myself, I could definitely see that as being the case.

Bonus: Google searches related to “frozen pizza.”

(via)

There’s a reason why this statistic wasn’t included in the rankings. My guess is Estately couldn’t really conclude anything based on the fact that Wisconsin seems to be obsessed with Googling “frozen pizza.”

So, which were the top 10 “couch potato” states based on these metrics?

(via)

10. Delaware, 9. Missouri, 8. Tennessee, 7. Oklahoma, 6. Kentucky, 5. Louisiana, 4. Arkansas, 3. West Virginina, 2. Alabama, 1. Ohio

Find out how your state stacks up in the complete chart of all 50 states:

(via)

Dang, way to go Hawaii.

h/t: someecards, Estately 

Were you a Connecticut rich kid?

Photo: Eaglebrook School

1. Your driveway was so long that the police never busted your parties.

Driveways were long enough to hide the parade of cars with college stickers and neighbors were too far away to complain about the Rage Against the Machine blasting from the stereo. Epic parties were held in some of the most beautiful homes in the country. Private tennis courts graced backyards and saunas stood at attention in basements. You probably threw up in more than a few of them and cleaned it up with your own shirt.

2. Summers were spent at “The Club.”

At times you hit up the snack bar at the Weeburn Beach Club, took the neighbors’ kids to the Wilton Riding Club, or sometimes simply lounged by the pool ordering black and white milkshakes off your parents’ tab at the Lake Club. You developed a crush on the lifeguard from the next town over and thought it was a very racy “wrong side of the tracks” attraction. Nothing ever transpired.

3. You felt a little left behind that one time you didn’t “holiday in Nantucket” with the rest of the crowd.

Instead, you spent spring break wearing khakis and working at Hay Day where you rang up overpriced organic groceries for Gene Wilder and Tom Cruise on the same day. You were appalled by your first paycheck and vowed to never work another job that required you to wear a name tag while actually serving others.

4. You went to summer camp with a decidedly “Native American” theme.

Here, you were forced to swim in the frigid lake and sing songs about how much you loved Camp Sloane. When algae and weeds tickled your feet you were convinced it was Jason Voorhees. It was at camp that you developed your excellent archer’s grip and fencing riposte (because of course the Native Americans fence?). And that cool basket you wove? It found its way into the trash the second you left for college and your parents redecorated the entire house so they could sell it and move to the estate down south.

5. “Back to School” meant trips to Bloomingdale’s and Saks Fifth Avenue in NYC for tailored plaid.

After all, not everyone can pull of a chambray button down with madras J Crew shorts. Some of us needed a bit more tailoring. And where else could we find satisfactory plaid shirts to wrap around our waists but in NYC? But let’s get something straight — for anything other than shopping and the occasional jaunt to the ballet at Lincoln Center, Manhattan was a dirty, no-go zone. There were homeless people there!

6. Even if you didn’t play lacrosse in school, you at least had a stick.

“Connecticut” is a Native American word meaning something like “place of the long river.” Lacrosse also has its origins in Native American tribal games. Why Thursten and Whitney Lilywhite were playing this sport is puzzling, nevertheless you had a strong association with the sport in high school. Your world crumbled ever so slightly when you met someone in college who didn’t know what it was.

7. You loved seeing what cars everyone would get Sophomore year.

Classic Mustangs, Jeep Wranglers, VW Cabriolets, and BMW 3 series were definitely in vogue. At least a few kids got hand-me-down Saabs and there was always a Porsche 944 or two in your high school student parking lot.

8. You felt very “urban” every time you drove to the next town to pick up alcohol without an ID.

You also paid three times the regular price, but that didn’t matter. You and the rest of the braided belt brigade were drinking Bush Light out of cans. Zima made an appearance, but was summarily dismissed as “lame.” You wondered when your parents will notice their Finlandia vodka has been slowly siphoned off and dreadfully diluted with water.

9. Icehouse keg parties were a regular occurrence.

Who bought these kegs and why they were always full of Icehouse beer will remain a mystery. Though some of you had car phones, they were for emergencies only. You relied upon a series of known points that you would drive to in order to gather information on whose parents were away skiing in Colorado or shopping in London. Large, centrally located parking lots were good for this. You then formed a “party train” with the one person who knew the address of the house leading the way. Everyone would drink and drive.

10. You thought state schools were for poor people.

UConn?! No thanks. You and most of your friends attended private schools, preferably in the New England area. Pennsylvania was acceptable provided it was either Bucknell, Lehigh, Lafayette, or the University of Pennsylvania. A large portion of your class attended Boston College. An even larger portion of your class developed alcohol and substance abuse problems, but never really got in trouble for it. Such is the life of privilege.

14 signs you don't know Buenos Aires

Photo: Suedeheadl

Hacé clic para leer este artículo en español. Tambien podés darnos un “me gusta” en Facebook!
1. You have to be careful not to get hit by a car.

Especially if you’ve been living in Europe where every driver slows down as soon as they see your foot on the road.

2. Food will be even better than you remembered.

You may have forgotten the real taste of meat, the amazing stuffed pasta of La Juvenil, Daniel’s ice-cream, the alfajores, the pancakes with dulce de leche, the chocotorta, the empanadas, the gnocchi… but as soon as you eat all those things one more time, you won’t want to leave.

3. The price of public transport will horrify you.

No way you’ll get used to putting all those coins inside the machine for the driver to let you pass. In the end, you’ll buy a sube card for public transportation… which you’ll probably lose when you leave again.

4. It will seem that you’re spending the whole day trying to get somewhere.

And you won’t believe that a simple bus trip to your grandmother’s house may take you two hours.

5. Argentine slang will fascinate you.

Even if you never cared for it previously, now you’re going to love the sound of those words you didn’t realize how much you’ve missed. And you will incorporate so much lunfardo vocabulary that you will be saying things like ¡Bancá, nene! ¡Pará, flaco! ¡Bajá un cambio, boludo! Che, gil… every second.

6. You’ll discover that your once-perfect Argentine accent has been defiled.

Yes, you will have probably absorbed a little of the accent from the land where you have been living. And you’ll have to tolerate your friends’ and family’s laughs when you speak.

7. You’ll notice new fast food chains on every corner.

Almost every year a new one arrives, and if it succeeds, there will be nothing that stops it from spreading.

8. Some new crazy law will astonish you.

My last big discovery was the dubbing law, which, given what I was told, forbade (!!!) Argentine channels from having too much programming in VO. Therefore everybody had to put their TV on SAP to evade that horrible dubbing.

9. Your instinto porteño will need to be sharpened.

You’ll probably no longer be able to predict where you’re going to find a protest, at which corner there’ll be a kiosco to buy something at the last minute, on which avenue you’ll find more stationery shops, which alleys you’ll have to avoid and which ones are perfectly safe, which subway line will stop in midstream and leave you in the middle of the urban jungle, or whether the bus will change its route among many other vicissitudes that are a daily occurrence in our dear Buenos Aires.

10. You’ll want to keep your foreign habits… when it’s convenient.

What do you mean I can’t go to the 24-hour store to buy a coke just because it’s 3am? So what? What do you mean “dangerous”? I go out in the middle of the night all the time! And also, how come I can’t take the books from the library to my house? And why are they here, then? And let’s not forget, WHAT DO YOU MEAN you won’t take the last coins of my euros/dollars/pounds/rubles/yens? AND WHAT THE HELL I’m supposed to do with them?

11. The beauty of the city will captivate you.

And you’ll feel the inevitable temptation of walking any of the next big avenues: Corrientes, Santa Fe, Florida, Callao, Pueyrredón, Libertador… at least until you don’t know where you are anymore.

12. Everything will be ten times more expensive than the last time you were here.

The worst part is that you knew it would happen, but you’re still going to be horrified.

13. Those dear old corners that used to be as familiar to you as your own home are now a source of fright.

Indeed, those areas of the city that seemed so safe before you left that you even waved hello to their night marauders, now like some creepy scene from Gotham City where masked criminals hide under the sewers and where you’re not going to go, not even for money.

14. Anything you say will be taken as the opinion of a foreigner.

The funny thing is that the same thing happens in the other country where you’ve been living. Welcome to the land of the stateless.

Rowing in the Grand Canyon

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Amber Shannon is 27 years old and what she really wants to do with her life is “rowing little wooden boats down big rapids with big canyon walls”.

Shannon has been rowing a baggage boat for O.A.R.S (a business which organizes Grand Canyon Colorado River trips by dory) down the Grand Canyon’s current for nine years, but many others had to wait much longer to get their hands on a dory. She’ll have to prove herself first.

John shocklee, veteran boatman, had to wait twenty years to get a dory on Arizona’s Colorado River. He explains: “It’s definitely easier to get a PhD than it is to get a dory here on the Grand Canyon”.

Watch Amber Shannon nail her rite of passage and earn her oars in this awesome video.

Where life sucks the least

WE ALL WANT TO SEE THE WORLD AS much as possible, but there are plenty of us who wouldn’t want to live everywhere in the world. The best measure for what life is like from country to country is the Quality of Life index, which combines factors such pollution, safety, healthcare, property price to income ratio, purchasing power, and consumer prices into a single measurement. Movehub, an international moving company, put together this giant comparison of Quality of Life index from country to country around the world.

If you want to get more in-depth, you can visit this site to compare two specific countries on the different measurements.

Courtesy of MoveHub: Quality of Life Around the World

h/t: Serge from Movehub. Follow him on Twitter here.

What city do you belong to?

Featured image by Hans eric.

I was born in Argentina where...

Photo: Ramiro Ramirez

1. A good friend is un boludo.

2. El mate — and our germs — are for sharing.

3. Friendship is a religion.

4. Kisses and hugs are not a scarce commodity.

5. Smiles and rage are as true as the tango Cambalache.

6. “Middle ground” is a faraway kingdom we have only heard of in Norwegian fairytales.

7. Children talk about politics the same way they talk about Legos or Barbies.

8. And bedtime is some foreign custom that’s never really clicked with us.

9. We’ve mastered the art of la sobremesa and any other art that implies going to bed in the early morning.

10. Politicians say things like “All we politicians need to do is to quit stealing for two years.”

11. And, more than twenty years later, we are still waiting for that miracle to happen…Because, after all and partly thanks to our Pope, we’re a nation of faith!

12. But there are also tons of people like Mónica Carranza, who have created comedores populares to feed children who otherwise won’t eat anything all day.

13. “See you at at 9pm” means: “Well, I’ll try to be there by 11, but you know how this bondi de mierda works…”

14. “Barbarian” (bárbaro) means “amazing” and an amazing woman is “a big barbarian mine” (un minón bárbaro).

15. We keep it simple when it comes to having a feast: asado, vino and panqueques de dulce de leche are how angels celebrate in heaven, didn’t you know that?

16. Oh, you didn’t know either that Dios es argentino? (Well, at least one of his hands is…).

17. Churches ring their bells when Argentina wins a game in the World Cup.

18. Honks are for honking! And honking and yelling and jumping and dancing and forgetting about politicians’ BS and having orgasms is what we do when Argentina wins the World Cup (Damn it! We were so close…).

19. We don’t need to listen to tango all the time, because no matter where we are, we are tango. “I carry the South like a destiny of my heart…Vuelvo al Sur, llevo el Sur, ¡te quiero Sur!”.

20. Having un cafecito means having the most meaningful, acidic and hilarious conversations of your life.

21. Cook pots are for banging on during protests.

22. A plastic bottle on a car’s roof means “For sale.”

23. Che is a first name…

24. Making out is a public spectacle.

25. And you sleep when you’re dead!

27 signs you learned to drink in Finland

27 signs you learned to drink in Finland

1. You plan your Saturdays around the fact that Alko closes at 6 pm.


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2. All nights out must start with a salmarishotti (or 10).


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3. All public holidays are just reasons to gulp down another bottle of bisse, kossu or leiska.

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4. Kossu mixed with anything that you find in your fridge is still your favorite cocktail, even milk works just fine.

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5. Kalsarikännit with friends are forever your favorite party memories.

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6. The weekend is not enough for getting boozed up, so you need your pikkulauantai (little Saturday) on Wednesday nights to get smash-faced.

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7. ‘OPM’ means you bring your own bottle to all parties and you don’t even consider sharing with someone. Because sharing isn’t caring.

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8. You only consume alcohol for the purpose of getting fully wasted, there’s no in-between that you’re going for.

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9. You only talk about your feelings when you’re drunk and you usually forget everything you shared the next day anyway.

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10. When the sun finally shines and the weather is above freezing, it’s mandatory to go get bashed outdoors — terdekeli!

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11. You have the supernatural skill of being able to speak fluent Swedish after 5 beers.

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12. Saunakalja is the only way to relax after a long week at the office.

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13. Alcohol is your solution to all life’s problems – elämä vituiks ja keittoo.

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14. You believe that the people who enjoy a glass of fine wine with every meal are alcoholics — alcohol should be consumed in high volume but on rare occasions.

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15. Your dagen efter always starts with a glass of tasottava to get you through the next day.

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16. ‘Uuteen nousuun’ is your first sentence on a Saturday morning.

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17. You can remember crying after your sixth pear cider as a teenager because ‘nobody loves you.’

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18. Drinking itself is reason enough to host a party.

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19. You know that those who don’t drink are either sick or pregnant — whatever the case may be, nobody likes party poopers.

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20. Alcohol is one of the most important political issues to discuss — kielletään vittu kaikki.

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21. When you turned 18, you started stealing vodka from your parents. You had already been stealing beer from them for years.

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22. The only good thing that ever entered Finland from Russia is vodka.

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23. Meille vai teille?’ (My place or yours?) is the pick-up line that makes your knees go weak.

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24. As the summer gets closer, you take the ferry to Estonia to purchase enough cheap booze to last you through the warmer months.

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25. You are fully aware of the Finnish KKK — kebabin kautta kotiin.

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26. When the above is not enough, it’s time to indulge in some proper darramättö.

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27. If you’re not having a hangover, that party doesn’t count!

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8 things you miss when you leave the US to settle in France