Online consumer bahavior

As I was browsing the Internet today, I came across this interesting statistics that caught my attention. According to it, the number of online population and therefore the number of online consumers is growing each year. In 2011 the global online population numbered 2 071 million people and three years later, in 2014, the number amounted to 2 321 while the biggest growth was chalked up in Asia, Asia Pacific and Oceania with the difference of 111 million people.

Speaking about the online shopper demographics, women are in the lead which I was expecting. What I was not expecting was the slight difference of only 2 percent between men and women.

The reasons why online shoppers shop on the Internet are in my opinion very reasonable and I can identify myself with the most of them - the items 'low prices', 'shopping convenience' and 'easy to buy' and 'time saving' would be my top four. On the other hand, here are the reasons why people would rather go to the actual shop than buy anything online: 33% men and 38% women feel the need to touch the real product before they make a purchase. Shipping costs and privacy concerns put off up to 30% men and 33% women. Worries caused by possible refund or returning of a product discourage 27% men and 25% women of all the online shoppers.

Finally, there is a section that came as quite a surprise to me and that is online retail spending shares. Women shoppers lead in the most of goods categories out of which the most surprising for me is definitely 'video games and console' whereas men outnumber women in purchases of electronics and events and movie tickets. 

Here is the statistics, take a look :)

What a girl wants...

My priorities in life have changed many times as I grew up. When I was a little girl I don't think I even had a ladder of priorities. Lately I've been thinking mostly about the things I would not want my future partner/husband to lack.
Apart from the obvious qualities such as loyalty, faithfulness and honesty there is a great sense of humor and mutual interests. I know a few couples where there is a husband and he is such a crosspatch(!).ughh..I'm sure that I would not be able to put up with that! On the other hand, funny at all costs is not a win either. I'm sure I will need a person by my side who can be serious and able to talk about important stuff as well as have fun.
Mutual interests is definitely a very important element in partnership. They can involve sports, games or just going for a walk once in a while. Not only does it help bond the mates but also it is a great way of relaxation. I have this idea that my future partner and I will be sitting on a couch, sipping coffee and watching films that we will have watched so many times that we will know all the lines by heart but it won't matter to us because it will just feel so great! I can't wait!!!
I would rather not mention my requirements about the looks haha.. I know that I'm not perfect myself so I'm not waiting for some dreamy prince that does no wrong. How could I ever feel equal to him?!

JAC3 under review

JAC3 has been one of a few courses that I really looked forward to this semester. Given that I've always considered JAC the most difficult and hardest subject to pass, it is surprising how much I enjoyed it! For this I have Mr. Vít to thank. I do not really have much to criticize about his part of the course since his classes are both interesting and fun and on the other hand educational and requiring self-study.
The only thing that comes to my mind is the textbook we've been using. For some reason I cannot see what is so great about it that makes it the main source for our studies. It think there are many other much better textbooks out there that could be used instead of Objective. Of course I realize this is something that is not fully up to the teacher to decide and one student's opinion cannot outweigh others' but.. e.g. in my opinion Destination is a much better textbook in terms of grammar, vocabulary and helpful exercises.
What I like the best about Mr. Vít teaching style is that it never gets boring. Even though there is a lot grammar stuff that nobody likes to learn, he managed to make it interesting and truly encouraged us to try harder and somehow radiated the right teaching spirit:)

English party.. sorf of

I was at my very first English party. Well.. it was not as much of a party as it was a get-together with a friend of mine for a coffee. However, we were planning on having this "party" with other friends but they did not show up at school at the day the date was set and since we both commute to school from quite far we decided to have a party without them.
As it said, we went for a coffee. For those who don't know, the whole point of having a English party is to have a conversation with your friends in English. So, we did spend the whole time together speaking English with each other in order to improve and hone our speaking skills and train our critical thinking. To achieve that, not only did we have a small talk and gossip as we usually do (jk haha) but we tried having a serious discussion about current events, problems and other serious stuff that we usually don't have a chance to talk about.
Surprisingly, that turned out to be even more fun than we could have hoped for! Even though in most cases we did not agree with each other and people sitting at the tables around us must have thought that we were fighting, we pointed out some really interested facts and exchanged ideas so I think it was a real asset to my English skills.
After a while of sitting and sipping coffee we both forgot that were speaking other than our mother tongue and it just felt natural ever since. I am so going to bring this up next time I see my friends and hopefully we will do it again sometime soon!

Mini-saga: Don't do drugs

"Hey, you know what? Let me have a puff!"

"Are sure you can handle it?"

"What do you take me for?! I've smoked tons of weed before!"

"I don't know man..."

"Oh, common!"

"You took a puff an hour ago and we've already had this conversation ten times in a row."

...

"Hey, let me have a puff!"

Thanksgiving

Speaking about Thanksgiving, this year was very different for me. It was the first year I've celebrated this originally american holiday. I was invited to a thanksgiving dinner with a group of my dear  Czech and American friends.

The celebration started by a prayer and giving thanks. As we were sitting at the beautifully decorated table we- each one at the time- said what we were grateful and thankful for. It was a great reminder of how lucky we are that we can be sitting there surrounded by people we love. The dinner itself was delicious although for me kind of too much:) I mean it truly got me have the appreciation for what I've been studying at school about Thanksgiving and the alleged amount of food that Americans eat! For dinner it was served stuffed turkey with cranberry sauce and mashed potatoes as well as sweet yams. For a dessert I had a pecan pie and an exquisite cheesecake. 

I was so full after the dinner I can't even say haha. So funny that almost all the Americans helped themselves to some more while the Czechs were full, not able to move after finishing their food. Well, it was obvious that Americans are used to this tradition from back home.

After dinner there were a few activities and games that our American friends had prepared for us. One of my friends from the States had even prepared a sketch that included magic tricks and it was real fun. Afterwards there was time for chatting with friends and of course new people we were meeting for the first time. I got to know many incredible people and that is one of the things I am grateful for this year.

I must...

I must study hard!!! Such a cliche, right?! It is so true though... Every New Year's Eve I find myself promising myself that this year all is going to be different, especially school related stuff. And the way it goes is always the same. A week later I end up being that lazy unreliable doing-everything-at-the-last-minute person who I hate so much!
I think that there are many aspects associated with this problem. For me one of them is certainly TV shows. If it weren't for them I bet I would not be having this problem at all. I simply watch too many of them. There is at least one show for every day when a new episode comes out and I tend to put this event first and forget all about the preparation and readying for school. Now you probably think that it is no problem, I can just do all the stuff later when I am finished watching..well it is not so easy. I cannot just stop watching and go studying. Firstly, I am not a person blessed with a strong will as you have probably already noticed, and secondly, TV shows are so catchy that it is just physically impossible for me not to continue watching.
I think this may be a problem for many students (maybe not only them) but in my opinion there are a few suggestions that we can try. For example by promising ourselves some sort of reward for every bit of studying we do. Also the help of other people is appreciated because they can help us stay strong and resist the temptation of being disturbed.