36 Things Every Single Girl Must Do Before She Settles Down

Erin Meanley, a dating blogger at Glamour, created a list of "key experiences every singleton should savor before they couple up." List is below. I've checked off stuff I've already done and there's still lots to tick off; looking forward to doing it all — whether single or dating.

To Build Your Confidence...

1. Go to a movie alone.

2. Lift weights.

3. Try surfing, water-skiing, or some activity you don't already know how to do. Could be riding a bicycle.

4. Take out the trash, set a mousetrap, do your taxes, build a bookcase.

5. Live alone, or at least move apartments in NYC without the help of family.

6. Train for (and finish) a huge physical test like a half-marathon.

7. Go to a scary doctor's appointment by yourself.

8. Quit your job.

9. Fly to a foreign country by yourself.

10. Learn to stand up for yourself.

To Be Able to Look Back and Say "I Had Fun"...

11. Witness something once-in-a-lifetime, like Jokulsarlon, a lake next to a melting glacier in Iceland.

12. Revel in being able to watch all the reality TV you want.

13. Get drunk during the day, just because you can. Attend Santacon, the convention for Santas, or something similar. [Living in Europe and/or being a soccer fan also granted the freedom to do this.]

14. Go on a date with someone who actually makes you nervous.

15. Go out with an older man who takes you somewhere nice and makes you feel like a million bucks.

16. Go out with a guy who makes you laugh 'til it hurts.

To Get Perspective...

17. Be a good wing-woman. It's not always about you.

18. Chill with your widowed and single grandma. She knows "alone"!

19. Volunteer.

To Make You Appreciate the Next Guy...

20. Do at least one Valentine's Day alone. [Oh, I was supposed to do only ONE??? ;)]

21. Attend a wedding (or 15) alone.

22. Date the creeps. You'll really value the nice guys afterward.

To Make You Feel Sexy and Attractive... 
23. Buy yourself some flowers.

24. Invest in a LBD (little black dress) and some sexy stilettos.

25. Sit at a bar by yourself and drink a martini.

26. Buy something frivolous and expensive that you LOVE wearing.

To Make the Most of Your Free Time...

27. Finish all your schooling if you can.

28. Throw yourself into something time-consuming, like learning a foreign language.

To Make Yourself a Better Partner in the Future...

29. Make a list of all your faults.

30. Learn to cook well.

31. Get some hobbies. [Film, art, soccer, travel, politics, etc.]

32. Let your married friends edit your online dating profile.

33. Get your finances in order.

To Appreciate Being Single...

34. Babysit someone's baby for an hour.

35. Help a friend through her divorce or a bad break-up.

36. Host a girls-only night. I think some coupled-up women forget how much we need each other.

21 February: International Mother Language Day

International Mother Language Day is an observance held annually on 21 February worldwide to promote awareness of linguistic and cultural diversity and multilingualism. It was first announced by UNESCO on 17 November 1999. Its observance was also formally recognized by the United Nations General Assembly in its resolution establishing 2008 as the International Year of Languages.

International Mother Language Day originated as the international recognition of Language Movement Day, which has been commemorated in Bangladesh (formerly East Pakistan) since 1952, when a number of students including the students of the University of Dhaka were killed by the Pakistani police in Dhaka during Bengali Language Movement protests.

Languages are the most powerful instruments of preserving and developing our tangible and intangible heritage. All moves to promote the dissemination of mother tongues will serve not only to encourage linguistic diversity and multilingual education but also to develop fuller awareness of linguistic and cultural traditions throughout the world and to inspire solidarity based on understanding, tolerance and dialogue.

"Information and communication technologies can be especially useful in promoting mother languages. We must harness the power of progress to protect diverse visions of the world and to promote all sources of knowledge and forms of expression. These are the threads that weave the tapestry of humanity’s story. "

Irina Bokova, Director-General of UNESCO
Message for International Mother Language Day 2011

Did you know that Irina Bokova is a Bulgarian? Proud to be Bulgarian!

European Day of Languages, 26 September 2010

At the initiative of the Council of Europe, Strasbourg, the European Day of Languages has been celebrated every year since 2001 on 26 September.

Throughout Europe, 800 million Europeans represented in the Council of Europe's 47 member states are encouraged to learn more languages, at any age, in and out of school. Being convinced that linguistic diversity is a tool for achieving greater intercultural understanding and a key element in the rich cultural heritage of our continent, the Council of Europe promotes plurilingualism in the whole of Europe.

Language Facts

Did you know that...

01 There are between 6000 and 7000 languages in the world - spoken by six billion people divided into 189 independent states.

02 There are about 225 indigenous languages in Europe - roughly 3% of the world’s total.
 

03 Most of the world’s languages are spoken in Asia and Africa.
 

04 At least half of the world’s population are bilingual or plurilingual, i.e. they speak two or more languages.

05 In their daily lives Europeans increasingly come across foreign languages. There is a need to generate a greater interest in languages among European citizens.

06 Many languages have 50,000 words or more, but individual speakers normally know and use only a fraction of the total vocabulary: in everyday conversation people use the same few hundred words.

07 Languages are constantly in contact with each other and affect each other in many ways: English borrowed words and expressions from many other languages in the past, European languages are now borrowing many words from English.

08 In its first year a baby utters a wide range of vocal sounds; at around one year the first understandable words are uttered; at around three years complex sentences are formed; at five years a child possesses several thousand words.

09 The mother tongue is usually the language one knows best and uses most. But there can be “perfect bilinguals” who speak two languages equally well. Normally, however, bilinguals display no perfect balance between their two languages.

10 Bilingualism brings with it many benefits: it makes the learning of additional languages easier, enhances the thinking process and fosters contacts with other people and their cultures.

11 Bilingualism and plurilingualism entail economic advantages, too: jobs are more easily available to those who speak several languages, and multilingual companies have a better competitive edge than monolingual ones.

12 Languages are related to each other like the members of a family. Most European languages belong to the large Indo-European family.

13 Most European languages belong to three broad groups: Germanic, Romance and Slavic.
 

14 The Germanic family of languages includes Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, Icelandic, German, Dutch, English and Yiddish, among others.

15 The Romance languages include Italian, French, Spanish, Portuguese and Romanian, among others.
 

16 The Slavic languages include Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian, Polish, Czech, Slovak, Slovenian, Serbian, Croatian, Macedonian, Bulgarian and others.

17 Most European languages use the Latin alphabet. Some Slavic languages use the Cyrillic alphabet. Greek, Armenian, Georgian and Yiddish have their own alphabet.

18 Most countries in Europe have a number of regional or minority languages – some of these have obtained official status.

19 The non-European languages most widely used on European territory are Arabic, Chinese and Hindi, each with its own writing system.

20 Russia (148 million inhabitants) has by far the highest number of languages spoken on its territory: from 130 to 200 depending on the criteria.

21 Due to the influx of migrants and refugees, Europe has become largely multilingual. In London alone some 300 languages are spoken (Arabic, Turkish, Kurdish, Berber, Hindi, Punjabi, etc.).