The first time I ever saw Oprah on TV, the subject was "Single men in America seeking the women of their dreams". Of course I was immediately sucked in by this - I've always been drawn to talk shows, and even though they weren't broadcasted in Sweden until just a few years ago, we had a satellite dish that brought Sally Jessy Raphaels' show, and The Joan Rivers Show straight to our TV. As I began watching though, I quickly realized that it wasn't how usual talkshows are - where were the fights, where were the wacky topics (things like "My boyfriend is really a girl" comes to mind when thinking about talkshows), and how come the audience looked like regular people, and didn't chant the hosts name obsessively before and after commercial breaks? There I was, expecting scary bodybuilding type of guys to rip of their shirts off and gross me out, but instead I found myself watching 5 normal looking men calmly sitting down as the host, Oprah, asked them about their life and what was important to them. That wasn't the most amazing thing though - it was the fact that I didn't even flip channels in the commercial breaks to find something saner to watch, because I didn't want to miss anything of the show.

The next day I found myself watching the show again, and soon the shows gathered up to weeks, and I realized I was^Ćaddicted. (Much to my friends dismay, I must admit, as neither of them could get the channel that showed it. They got quite sick of hearing what Oprah or a guest had said yesterday that was so funny, and no, they didn't need to know what to do in case a twister was approaching...twisters just aren't that common in Sweden... )

Ever since I started watching the show, it's been a major inspiration both in my personal development, and in everyday life. Numerous times I've been inspired by a topic, and transformed it into a paper for this or that class, and if nothing else, it's made me want to learn more things about different people and opinions. It was also through this show that I was introduced to the two people who've made me take that big step of coming to America to be an English major in college: Toni Morrison and Maya Angelou.

Before the Oprah show, the only thing I knew about Toni Morrison was that she had won the Nobel prize in literature, and that she had amazing hair. The first spoke for her being an obscure author we normal human beings never read, and the second simply said the Nobel prize dinner is a very boring thing televised, where the only notable thing is people's appearance. Seeing her on the Oprah show made me run directly to our local library and borrow everything they had by her. I read all four books in three days. Never have I felt so high spirited, so inspired and confident in myself. I took a week off to think about what I had just read, then I did the whole thing all over again, only this time with the works of Maya Angelou. Oh be still, my beating heart - could words really do this to people? Don't get me wrong now, I've always been an avid reader, but I've only seen myself as just that, a reader. I know it sounds corny, but these women's words made me want to write, think, feel and share. Most importantly, they made me feel like I had something to add to the world just by living.

It's been a year now, and I find myself in a country across the world from my own, struggling to get my degree in english, so that I can achieve my goal of translating books to make a living while writing on my own. Who knows if I ever do get an opportunity to share my stories with an audience --I might end up working in a paper tissue factory. I do know how I got here though. It was thanks to the Oprah Winfrey Show.