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Last week, a young pair of tourists' holiday took a turn for the horrific when one of them fell into a boiling, acidic pool in Yellowstone National Park and "dissolved."
Colin and Sable Scott, a brother and sister from Oregon, left the authorized area and walked around the Norris Geyser Basin in Wyoming to find a thermal pool to take a dip in. While Colin was leaning down to check the temperature in one hole, he slipped and fell into it.
"In a very short order, there was a significant amount of dissolving," Lorant Veress, a Yellowstone deputy chief ranger, told NBC affiliate KULR 8 last week.
Since 1870, at least 22 people have died from injuries related to thermal pools and geysers in the park. It's alarming that a person can tumble into a pool of water and there to be nothing left but a flip-flop, but there are a few reasons why this can happen.
Firstly, Yellowstone park sits on top of a geologically active supervolcano. With magma bubbling so close to the surface, geysers and hot springs can reach burning temperatures.
The Scotts happened to choose the hottest thermal region in the park, where temperatures can reach 237 degrees Celsius (roughly 456 degrees Fahrenheit). That's hotter than the temperature you cook most food at in an oven.
Most of the water in the park is alkaline, but the water in the Norris Geyser Basin is highly acidic. This is because of hydro-thermal vents under the surface emitting chemicals. Microorganisms also break off pieces of surrounding rocks, which adds sulfuric acid to the pools. This highly acidic water bubbles to the surface where it can burn anyone that is exposed to it.
In 2012, a study published in the journal Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems examined water that came from the Heart Lake Geyser Basin. They found that safe and unsafe water originates from the same underground spot, but they separate as they reach the surface.
Certain microorganisms called extremophiles have evolved to live in extreme conditions such as very high temperatures and acidity. These are what make the water look milky in color.
However, the conditions are deadly for humans, and the water can cause fatal burns and break down human flesh and bone.
"It is wild and it hasn't been overly altered by people to make things a whole lot safer, it's got dangers," Veress said. "And a place like Yellowstone which is set aside because of the incredible geothermal resources that are here, all the more so."
In other words, stick to the trail.
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Inside a warehouse in Moonachie, New Jersey, where gingerbread men and nutcrackers line the walls, live two massive turkeys, a larger-than-life robot, a dragon, Pikachu, and Spongebob Squarepants.
While this isn't Santa's North Pole workshop, it might be the closest thing in the world to it. The Macy's Parade Studio, where a group of workers build the floats, balloons, and costumes that are on display during the Thanksgiving Day Parade, devotes itself to the holiday season 365 days a year. The famed parade, which happens in New York City every year, was started in 1924 by Macy's store employees and is now a Thanksgiving tradition that millions of Americans tune in to NBC to watch.
Macy's does not disclose any of the costs associated with putting on the parade each year. Some sites like Ebates.com have estimated it could be several million dollars, taking into account the presumed cost of float construction, costumes, and studio rent. A representative for Macy's declined to confirm that estimate with Business Insider, however.
We took a tour of the studio at the height of last year's Thanksgiving parade prep. John Piper, VP of the Macy's Parade Studio, showed us how their team helps put the magic together.
SEE ALSO: 4 tricks to making Thanksgiving much easier
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Chase has teamed up with The Players' Tribune and Business Insider to present "Letter to My Younger Self," a series in which athletes reflect on their biggest lessons learned — from finance to relationships to careers. Readers will also discover how to apply specific financial learnings to their own lives.
Many people struggle with the choice between doing good work for society and doing financially well in their career, because they think they can only do one. But that’s not true. It’s possible to achieve financial security, and give back to society — even if we’re not doing both from 9 to 5.
Charitable donations are one way people choose to give back, but we often think about them too simply — a check we write at the end of the year to our favorite organizations. But there are many other ways to give back that won’t compromise your finances.
“People are donating more strategically and less out of a sense of obligation,” says Susan Ingmire, president of Ignite Philanthropy Partners. “In today’s busy, stressed-out world, time and resources are precious.”
Here are a few ways to make a charitable contribution that really counts.
From soup kitchens to after-school programs, there are plenty of opportunities to donate time to an organization in need.
But if you’re looking to combine your work with your passion, consider donating some of your professional skills to an organization that’s close to your heart. If you work in marketing, volunteer to be part of the publicity or fundraising committees. If you’re accountant by day, offer to help oversee the finances.
It’s hard to come up with novel gift ideas after a certain age. How much do any of us really need another gift card to a coffee shop? Instead, consider giving a donation to a friend or family member’s favorite charity in his or her name. It’s a much more thoughtful gift, and one that will be recognized and appreciated past the recipient’s special day.
If you earn enough to live comfortably, it’s likely that you’re living with things that would be more appreciated by those in need. So at the beginning of each season, take stock of your closet and donate clothes to organizations such as The Salvation Army. If you have work-appropriate clothing, consider Dress for Success and Career Gear, which provide clothing for women and men to wear on job interviews.
Earning points is one of the biggest perks of having a credit card, and most of us spend strategically to earn the maximum number possible. While these generally go toward airfares and gift cards, they’re also a great way to give back. Many of the credit card points networks allow you to donate points directly to a nonprofit. You can also use points to purchase cash gift cards, which can be donated to local organizations as gifts during the holidays.
Making charitable donations outside the traditional channels serves as a good reminder of how lucky you are, and that there are people out there who aren’t so fortunate.
And as Ingmire says, “There is no doubt that volunteering gives a ‘return on life.’”
For more tips and resources on mastering your finances, visit chase.com/financialfitness.
This post is sponsored by Chase.
SEE ALSO: More Letter to My Younger Self
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Are you traveling? Is jet lag ruining your sleep schedule? Dr. Brian Crane, professor of chemistry at Cornell University explains what you can do to help your body sleep.
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The business reporting intern will gain exposure to a variety of topics covered by Business Insider including retail, transportation, innovation, and executive life.
If you're interested in all the things people spend money on, you might be the ideal candidate.
From writing about real estate, to covering the newest menu items at McDonald's, to reporting on the best airlines in the world, this internship offers a unique opportunity to work across teams covering a variety of business topics.
As an intern at Business Insider, there's no getting coffee, filing, or making copies.
Our interns are an integral part of our team.
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Sparkling water has been around for decades, but it has recently become trendy as an alternative to sugary soft drinks.
US seltzer sales have grown by 42% over the past five years, according to the research and consulting firm Beverage Marketing Corp. LaCroix Sparkling Water, which has been sold for 35 years, has recently emerged as one of the most popular brands because of its variety of flavors and lack of calories or sugar.
Predictably, as seltzer has become even more popular, some companies have begun to launch alcoholic versions of the beverage. SpikedSeltzer launched in 2013, and new brands like Nauti Seltzer, Truly Spiked And Sparkling, and White Claw Hard Seltzer all debuted this year.
Smirnoff is the most recent brand to jump on this beverage trend, with its Spiked Sparkling Seltzer becoming available across the US in late October.
The new drink comes in three flavors — cranberry lime, watermelon, and orange mango — and contains 4.5% alcohol, about the same as light beer. A six-pack of 12-ounce cans retails for $8.99.
I tried all three kinds — and found them to be subpar. I started with the cranberry lime flavor, which tasted fairly similar to normal seltzer. It turned out to be the best one because it's the most subtle; both the watermelon and the orange mango were overly sweet and left an unpleasant, artificial aftertaste. I wouldn't choose to buy any of them again.
The taste of Smirnoff's spiked seltzers is — despite branding efforts to convince consumers otherwise — actually fairly similar to that of Smirnoff Ice. Both are carbonated, flavored malt beverages, though Ice beverages have stronger, sweeter flavors.
The difference, however, is that Smirnoff is pitching the new seltzer beverage, which contains 90 calories and no added sugar, as a healthier alternative.
The can's label says "no artificial sweeteners, no preservatives, only natural flavors" and "zero sugar." The ingredients are not listed on the can, which left me wondering how it still tasted so sweet. Smirnoff later clarified that the label meant "zero sugar added" beyond the sugars created by the fermentation process.
Krista Kiisk, the brand director of flavored malt beverages at Diageo (which owns Smirnoff), told Business Insider the company was trying out seltzer because many customers were concerned about their calorie intake.
"Over half of consumers also don't feel that there are enough low-calorie alcoholic options available to them and typically have to move outside of the malt beverage category to wine or spirits to find the right option," she said.
Kiisk said Smirnoff was not marketing the seltzer toward any particular demographic group. If spiked seltzers become more popular, it will most likely be for the same reason that LaCroix's sales jumped — carbonated water is viewed as a low-calorie alternative to soda, so spiked versions could be seen as low-calorie alternatives to beer or sugary cocktails.
Smirnoff's new product is also designed to satisfy consumers who may not enjoy the taste of beer or alcoholic beverages. But for those of us who don't fall into that category, mixing your alcohol of choice into some normal sparkling water might be a better option.
Correction — An earlier version of this article said SpikedSeltzer launched this year. It actually came out in 2013.
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On some days, the world just feels like it's full of mean people — from the person who screamed at you for accidentally bumping into them on the subway to the coworker who insulted your idea for a new project.
But what if erasing all this pessimism were merely a matter of changing your perspective? According to Dr. Mark Goulston, a psychiatrist at the University of California at Los Angeles, it is.
In his recent book, "Talking to Crazy: How to Deal with the Irrational and Impossible People in Your Life," Goulston charts a simple strategy for dealing with negative people. You can use it on everyone — that random person on the train, or your boss, significant other, or next-door neighbor.
Before you try it, be forewarned: It might bring you to some surprising — and even counterintuitive — conclusions about your own behavior.
First, pick out all the negative qualities in the people around you — the ones that make you want to grind your teeth or ball up your fists. Maybe your coworker consistently nags your boss for praise; perhaps your brother only calls when he's in dire straits.
Then think of what the opposite of these traits would be. In our example, maybe it would be an independent coworker, or a sibling who checks in and displays some interest in your life. Now, start acting as if these people were behaving this way.
Think it's easier said than done? Check out the following example:
Say you were to rank your coworker, Terry, in terms of how "selfish" vs. "generous" she is. You think she's selfish, so you might rank her somewhere on the scale like this:
Now you'd pause and imagine that, instead, her actions were generous. The next time she talks about a project idea, imagine that she's doing so to get your whole team's effort, not just hers, recognized.
You may have heard that "positive thinking"— a school of thought in the psychology world that proposes that viewing the world more optimistically can help you feel more satisfied and less stressed — has some serious limitations.
The psychologist Gabriele Oettingen proposes in her book "Rethinking Positive Thinking," for example, that while thinking optimistically sounds great on paper, in reality it falls short. Daydreaming about a better world, says Oettingen, is a waste of time because people end up merely fantasizing about a reality rather than taking concrete actions to make it happen.
She draws on 20 years of research to back up her argument, including a study she coauthored in the 1990s that found that of women enrolled in a weight-reduction program, those who thought more positively about their future outcomes tended to lose fewer pounds than those who thought more negatively about them.
But Goulston's strategy isn't positive thinking. Why? It's less about thinking positively and more about acting positively.
Take the example above. When it comes to what your coworker is really thinking or doing, you don't know. You probably never will. And it doesn't matter. What matters is that you change your actions toward that person — how you respond to what they say and do.
In other words, it matters less what you think (or daydream) about their behavior and more about how you actively respond to it in the real world.
When you start to do this consistently, here's what will happen, Goulston writes:
"The people who truly are negative may come around, at least a little. And the people who aren't truly negative — the ones you've been undefined — will respond to your new behavior with relief, gratitude, and warmth. And occasionally, you may discover that the irrational person in the relationship was actually you."
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Thanksgiving, for many, is the one time each year to gorge on foods that are part of tradition and family memories.
But it can also be a time people link with weight gain and stress. If you're looking to enjoy Thanksgiving but also eat healthy, we have some advice. We turned to Lisa Sasson, a New York University nutrition professor who's helped us with healthy eating tips in the past.
Here's your guide to making the healthiest — but still delicious — choices on Thanksgiving Day.
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It may seem like a good idea to save your appetite for the main event, but Sasson says it's important not to show up to the main Thanksgiving meal ravenous. When you're that hungry, your willpower tends to disappear, making it tough to avoid eating whatever's in sight.
Instead, Sasson suggested, eat a satisfying snack before heading over to Thanksgiving festivities. Nuts, cheese, yogurt, a salad with nuts or avocado, or eggs and toast are all good options for the morning before the meal.
To counter getting stuffed on heavy appetizers, go for the lighter fare, such as fresh veggies, salads, chips and fresh salsa, or a vegetable-based soup like butternut squash soup.
A good rule for filling up your plate at a buffet, says Sasson, is to keep it heavy on the vegetables. If you can, try to choose from an array of fresh, grilled, or roasted vegetables like beets, carrots, Brussels sprouts, or cauliflower. Turkey can also be a healthy part of the Thanksgiving meal, but opt for meat with no skin.
The INSIDER Summary:
• During my time as a Yankee Candle employee, I learned proper candle-burning technique.
• The basics: Trim the wick every time, burn until the wax is melted all the way across, and keep the candle away from drafts of air.
When I was a college student, I spent a summer working at a Yankee Candle store.
Few people purchase candles during sweltering New England summers, so I spent most of my shifts picking up ultimately useless skills, like how to smell the difference between Sparkling Cinnamon and Cinnamon Stick.
But I did learn one thing that's stayed with me for years: There is a right way to burn a candle — and most people have no idea what it is.
Heed the following guidelines and you'll get way more mileage out of your favorite candles.
Each time you want to burn your candle, start by trimming the wick to between 1/8 and 1/4 inches long. You can use scissors, nail clippers (that's my personal favorite), or a specialized wick trimmer, but no matter what you do, always trim.
Why? First, trimmed wicks will give you a cleaner, brighter burn. Untrimmed wicks are a lot more likely to take on a weird mushroom-esque shape (see below) that dulls and obscures the flame.
And second, excessively long wicks are a top cause of those nasty smoky stains that end up on your glass jar candles. Trimming the wick keeps the flame in control and prevents those marks from forming in the first place.
Once your candle's lit, don't blow it out until the top layer of wax has melted all the way across. This might take several hours — so don't set out to burn a candle at all unless you've got time to kill.
Whenever you fail to achieve full melt, you're contributing to a process that we Yankee employees called tunnelling. The wick starts to sink lower and lower, like a tunnel is forming right through the center of the candle. Here's a picture of what I'm talking about:
Eventually, the tunnel will grow so deep that it'll be tough to light the wick at all. More importantly, all that unmelted wax on the sides represents hours of lovely fragrance and burn time you bought but won't ever get to utilize.
It takes patience, but if you melt the wax all the way across every time you burn, the surface of the candle will stay flat and the sides of the jar will stay clean, all the way down until the candle is spent.
I know from experience that it's hard to find enough time for a proper burn. The solution? Buy a candle with two or three wicks. More flames means more heat — which leads to a quicker melt.
On that note: Be wary of extra-wide candles that only have one wick. If the candle surface has just one wick and a diameter of more than 3 or 4 inches, don't buy it. One wick will never produce enough heat to melt it all the way across.
Do your best to keep your burning candle away from fans, air conditioners, open windows, or heavily trafficked areas where people walk back and forth a lot. Moving air can disturb the flame, leading to even more unsightly black marks on the glass.
Now: Go forth and burn those candles like the experts do.
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There's nothing inherently terrible about turning 30, for all its bad press. You can still be fun and adventurous and spontaneous.
So if you haven't accomplished everything on the list below by the time you hit the big 3-0, don't panic.
But let's be real: The older you get, the more likely it is that you'll have met The One, started a family, bought your own place, and moved into a management role at your company. Meaning there will be less opportunity to do things like run a Tough Mudder. Again, it won't be impossible — just harder.
To help you figure out how to best take advantage of your 20s, we checked out a bunchofQuorathreads and found some potentially life-changing experiences to put on your bucket list.
Read on, get inspired, and most importantly, start checking things off.
Quora user Dylin Redling says he moved to Manhattan when he was 24 and then to San Francisco when he was 26. "They were the two best moves I ever made," he says. "I highly recommend living in a city with a lot of diversity where you can meet people from all over the world."
If you've never made a move like that before, we've got you covered with these roundups of everything you need to know before moving to New York City and San Francisco.
"While you're young, train for and complete a marathon, a Tough Mudder, a triathlon, or something similar," Redling says. "It'll help you physically and mentally to push through boundaries and go for goals."
As Bernie Michalik writes on 99U, training for a marathon teaches you some key life lessons, like the importance of tracking your efforts and results as you’re working toward a goal.
These skills will help pave the way for your personal and professional success down the line.
Redling recommends starting a meditation practice as a way to manage stress. He writes:
"You're going to experience A LOT of stress over your lifetime, so it's best to learn how to effectively deal with it as soon as possible. One of, if not, the best ways is through meditation. Take a class, read a book, or do some research on the basics, and make it part of your life."
You might want to explore mindfulness meditation, which involves focusing on the intake and outtake of breath.
If you find that this type of meditation helps you stay calm and focused, it’s a practice you can use whenever and wherever.
If you're in your 20s and single, there's little harm in creating a profile on OKCupid, Tinder, or any of the dating sites out there.
As Elarie Mashi writes, "There's nothing to lose if you try, [but] who knows what you might gain?" In other words, you might be momentarily embarrassed about logging on, but you could potentially find your soulmate.
Up your chances of finding that person by setting up your profile according to science. That means you shouldn't post revealing photos and you should describe both your own personality and what you're looking for in an ideal partner.
Becoming totally enamored with someone is intimidating — what if your feelings are unrequited? What if the relationship doesn’t work out in the long run?
Let yourself fall for them anyway.
"Any number of breakups or separations cannot take away the joy and the experience of being in love," writes Mragank Yadav. "It’s all worth it."
Yadav says it’s important that 20-somethings learn how to fail, and more importantly, how to get back up again: "Failing comes naturally. Rising up again is something that needs to be [inculcated]."
Take a tip from now super-successful figures, like Paul Allen and Oprah Winfrey, all of whom learned from multiple professional failures.
Now's the time to pack up and head somewhere solo, especially if you don't yet have kids or a mortgage.
"It will prove to be one of the most useful tool[s] in later stages of life to clear your mind, get away from stuff, or just to see the world for what it truly is," Yadav says.
Ready to go? We put together a list of the 30 best places to travel alone, including Costa Rica, where you can stroll through the Cloud Forest, and the Greek Isles, where you can idle on the beach.
George Everitt recommends devoting one year in your 20s to pursuing a business idea. "It will probably fail," he writes, "but you will learn so much more than if you had taken that time in a corporate job."
And don’t worry too much about roadblocks, like not having a business degree and not wanting to invest thousands of dollars. Danny Marguiles launched an online course without an MBA and with just $100. Later that year, he was earning $30,000 a month.
"Computers are here to stay," Everitt says, "and learning at least one programming language helps you understand so much about how the modern world works."
Pro tip: These eight in-demand programming languages are the ones to have on your resume in 2016.
Josh Fraser says writing is one of the most important and underrated life skills. You can hone that skill by starting a blog — about food, sports, relationships, or simply being a 20-something.
"As with most things," Fraser says, "the best way to improve is to just start doing it."
"You get a really good edge in some countries of the world if you know the native languages," writes Sankalpa Patil. "I would suggest either of German, French, Japanese, Russian."
Whatever tongue you try to master, it could be easier than you think. Take a tip from Gabriel Wyner, who achieved fluency in four languages in a few years through the use of strategies like spaced repetition. Or, you could use the free Google Chrome extension that replicates the experience of language immersion by translating random words from whatever you're reading to the foreign language.
That's a tip from Emily Hunt. The tickets might be pricey, but certain artists might not be touring as often in years to come, so take advantage of their popularity now.
Have you ever truly figured out how to cook?" asks Sachin Shubham.
As in, maybe you can feed yourself with spaghetti and omelets, but what would you serve at a fancy dinner party? Sign up for a course and learn at least one dish so you can impress guests with your culinary expertise.
SEE ALSO: 10 things you'll regret doing in your 20s
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Great music can be found all across these United States. And every state has a famous band that hails from it.
To determine the most famous band from every state, Business Insider looked at reputation, record sales, and awards, considering each band within its own era, so just because a band is popular now doesn't mean it's nudged out the biggest band from another decade.
We stuck to bands only — no solo artists here — but used the term "band" loosely, including any musical act consisting of more than one person. We focused mostly on the state where each band originally formed, but also considered where their music was popularized, as well as artists' hometowns.
Check out which band is making your state proud.
Christi Danner contributed to a previous version of this article.
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One of the most successful bands of all time, Alabama has sold over 73 million records and has seven multiplatinum albums and two Grammys. The band sold more records during the '80s than any other band. Not only is their success impressive by any measure, but they also did a lot to make country music popular in the mainstream.
Portugal. The Man released their debut album, "Waiter: You Vultures!" in 2006 and booked their first headlining tour the next year. The rock band released three more albums — including breakout record "The Satanic Satanist" — before signing with Atlantic Records in 2009. Danger Mouse, known for working with artists like Beck and The Black Keys, produced Portugal. The Man's 2013 album, "Evil Friends."
The first of the many shock-rock bands of the '70s, Alice Cooper kept fans entranced with their gender-bending outfits and dark onstage theatrics — concert-goers could expect performances to include stunts like Cooper's faux-beheading via guillotine. But it's the music that kept fans coming back for more, and their riff-heavy brand of hard rock produced a string of hits including "School's Out" and "Be My Lover." Alice Cooper was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2011.
We don't always make the right choices when we're young.
It's especially true with our money, since we probably don't think about how our split-second decisions can impact our lives later on.
I am guilty of these kinds of mistakes myself — wasting money on things I had no use for, not taking advantage of all the "free" stuff my school offered, and ultimately not thinking about life after college — which led to some poor habits that kept me from building wealth in the year I've spent post-grad.
But, I'm not alone.
I reached out to my friends to see if they had any money mistakes they wanted to share, and what they would have done differently. Just like me, many of peers weren't always as financially savvy as they wanted to be in the years after college, and have also made some poor money decisions.
Looking back, here's some advice they would have given their younger selves about money before they entered the real world:
SEE ALSO: 7 things I wish I had known about money before I graduated from college
"I wish I took an intro to economics course or a class to familiarize myself with the money market instead of those easy A's in sociology class. Learn about investments, especially retirement, so when you get your first job you know where/how to allocate your money when you're offered a 403b or 401k. You'll get a head start." — Jenny Ha
"Don't let material things, or the lavish lifestyle your peers seem to have, blind you from your ultimate goal.
"Your responsibility right now is to prepare yourself to find a job to make the money that will allow you to enjoy the kind of lifestyle that you want for yourself, not to live it while studying." — Derek Wong
"I REALLY wish I had told myself to stay away from credit cards. At the time I thought it was so great ... four years later I still can't get rid of the damn credit balance because I kept paying the minimum for so long.
"And then when I paid some down finally, I had to charge more on the card, so I was back to being super in debt." — Krysten Massa
Chef and "Appetites" author Anthony Bourdain explains what goes into the perfect burger and when to add additional toppings.
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But last Christmas Eve, Huang got to sample what might be the most luxurious private airline cabin: Singapore Airlines' doubled-sized private bed, which combines two adjoining suites, and is usually reserved for couples.
"From a Christmas-themed lobster and champagne dinner in an exclusive private room, to a surprise mid-air present of sleeping solo on a double bed at 40,000 feet, chasing Santa has never been so fun." Huang wrote on his travel-deals blog, TopMiles.
Huang's first-class trip from Los Angeles to Sydney (with two multi-day destination stops) would have normally retailed for $16,000 if booked as separate flights, but Huang says he got it for $480 and 119,000 KrisFlyer miles. The trick was booking them all as one flight, which allowed him to visit Tokyo and Singapore without paying for individual flights. Business Insider has previously confirmed with airlines that Huang's booking methods are legitimate.
Join Huang on one leg of his journey, from Singapore to Sydney, as he sips champagne and stretches out his legs.
Note: All photos and text are used with permission.
There are innumerable ways to prepare your turkey for Thanksgiving dinner. But if you want something simple, delicious, and most importantly fast, this dry rub turkey recipe will get your bird on the table in 90 minutes.
The full recipe can be found here.
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For the past few years, I've been rather frequently attending car races, and I've discovered that an indispensable piece of equipment is a set of earplugs.
As a member of the media, I usually have some sort of access to the pit stops, where the race cars pull in to get tire changes and to be refueled. The noise they make, up close, it literally eardrum-obliterating.
But even if you don't get down close to the action, the type of intense racket that race cars generate can be very bad for your hearing.
In the past, I've usually made do with disposable foam earplug, which dampen the wail of screaming engines, but also muffle everything else.
Then a company called Etymotic, which makes a range of earphones and hearing-protection devices, offered to let me sample a pair of ER-20 XS high-definition earplugs designed specifically for motorsports.
I had a great test in mind for the product: the 24 Hours of Le Mans auto race, held every June southwest of Paris in the French countryside.
How'd they do? Read on to find out:
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The 2016 presidential election has caused enormous strains on relationships of all sorts, from friendships to families to marriages.
According to a Monmouth University poll, 7% of voters report having lost or ended a friendship because of this year's divisive presidential race. Despite party affiliations, one thing most voters could agree on was that this election brought out the worst in people.
As The New York Times and The Atlantic both reported, for the first time in US election history, the 2016 presidential race even divided married couples, who, in elections past, tended to band together when it came to voting.
"Part of the problem is not just preference," Republican pollster Whit Ayers explained to The Atlantic. "It's that if you're not for Trump, you have a hard time understanding how any rational human being could be. And the same is true for Clinton."
Reports on social media of people being uninvited from Thanksgiving festivities this year because of their presidential picks seem to bear this deep division out.
But while we know this vitriolic election will have a number of long-term effects, will your bruised and battered relationships be one of them?
Making peace with close friends and family who backed the other candidate is possible according to the experts, but it won't be easy.
"Reconciling with those you sparred with and continuing the discussion feel more complicated because so much uncertainty surrounds life after the presidential election," Dr. Michael McNulty, a master trainer from The Gottman Institute and founder of the Chicago Relationship Center, tells Business Insider.
He says that, since few thought Donald Trump would be elected president, no one really knows what a Trump presidency will look like and we face an uncertain future.
"Uncertainty is very stressful," he says, which can cause people to lash out and have much more impassioned, sometimes hurtful, debates.
The road to recovering relationships after hurtful things were said shouldn't be all that unfamiliar, but that doesn't make it any easier to navigate.
"If conversations got heated and you were out of line, apologize," McNulty says.
"If someone apologizes to you, accept the apology," he says. It's as simple as that.
It's also helpful to know when to have these discussions. Perhaps waiting until everyone is sat down to the dinner table to eat is not the most tactful approach. Instead, try blocking out some time or even setting up an appointment so that the problem can be handled with much more care.
"This year, a lot was at stake," McNulty says. "This left people extremely passionate about the issues and candidates. If you or your family member crossed a line beyond debating into poor behavior, try to repair and set a more positive tone. Competitive athletes do this every day."
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