The Pacific Northwest = Love? Back when I first started this blog I wrote an article titled “Love Is A Bonus.” It was about how there are many different kinds of love and how we tend to put romantic love on a pedestal and expect it to make up for all other deficiencies in our life. I argued that you… Read more →
Tag: travel
AmeriCorps: An Oldish Dog Learns Conservation
As promised, here I am giving you some of the rest of my AmeriCorps experience. To be honest, sitting down to write this was like pulling teeth. It’s like when I get behind on my journal, and the mere thought of back-writing causes me to be productive in nearly every other area of my life in an attempt to avoid… Read more →
AmeriCorps: Leaving the Desert
I never thought I’d say this, but I miss Chicago winters. I miss the snow and biting wind, bundling up and scraping the ice off your car in the morning. I miss the possibility of snow days and the rare Polar Vortex. I’ve only ever lived in cold Midwestern climates, from Chicago to St. Louis, and AmeriCorps has now driven… Read more →
AmeriCorps: A Study in Being Uncomfortable
Imagine driving from Northern California to Louisiana. Imagine driving 10 hours a day for five days. Now imagine you have to do it packed into one van like sardines with 11 other people. If there is a hell on Earth, I suppose it would be something like the experience I just described. It’s just downright uncomfortable. I arrived in Baton… Read more →
AmeriCorps: San Luis Obispo
Before coming to AmeriCorps, I had never been to California for any length of time. However, pretty much all I had seen up until a week ago was campus and the Walmart next to campus. So when they announced that our “mini spike” was in San Luis Obispo, a small town on the coast of central California, I was beyond… Read more →
AmeriCorps: Headed to Baton Rouge
After waiting patiently, or not so patiently, for 6 months to find out my first project location, I finally have some answers. Not all the answers, because that just wouldn’t be the AmeriCorps way. There’s always got to be a little room for ambiguity. Instead of just telling us, most of the AmeriCorps teams had a cute reveal, not unlike… Read more →
AmeriCorps: Routine & A Sense of Purpose
I have arrived. As with most things in my life, this happened less than smoothly. Because of high winds, we were delayed getting into Los Angeles and consequently missed our connection to Sacramento. The next flight wasn’t for another 3.5 hours, but luckily there were four other AmeriCorps members on my flight so it was a good opportunity for bonding.… Read more →
Peru & Machu Picchu
I’m forcing myself to write this post, enticing myself with the promise of a few episodes of 30 Rock on Netflix if I finish. I never have a problem reliving a vacation through my writing. I am usually happy to peruse my mental catalog of the dishes I ate and the views I meticulously photographed. But this trip ended with… Read more →
Study Abroad: And So It Ends
And so it ended where it started…at my kitchen table. I wrote the very first Pre-Departure blog post at my kitchen table, and now 6 months later I’m hovered over it again attempting to put into words everything that I’ve gone through in this time. Surely, I would have had a life changing experience regardless, but my father passing away… Read more →
Madrid VS Barcelona
Before I came to Spain, whenever I told people I was studying abroad in Madrid, they’d say, Oh, you’ll love Barcelona. This was mildly annoying, because I wanted people to tell me that about Madrid, but the fact is that less people visit Madrid since it’s isolated in the middle of the country and is located in what is effectively… Read more →