Curated Fernweh
“Hold out the back of your hand, like this” the portly produce man tells me, showing me his fist with his fingers curled under. He picks up a small passionfruit with its top cut off: a tiny natural bowl filled to the brim with gelatinous seeds. He takes an appropriately tiny spoon and fishes out... Continue Reading →
Waiting in line to board the plane from Basel to Funchal, I suddenly found myself engulfed in a sea of Germans in peak physical condition. Their feet were clad in hiking boots and their were bodies covered in Jack Wolfskin adventure gear (which is Germany’s answer to Columbia or Carhartt). While “Wolfskin Germans” are something... Continue Reading →
Spectators dressed as pirates and Mickey Mouse line the sidewalks, waiting with nervous energy for the parade to start. A gang of children stands warily in the street, staring ahead at something I can’t see; their stances suggest they’re set to flee at the slightest hint of danger. They stand motionless for so long that... Continue Reading →
“The world is a book, and those who don’t travel read only one page.” -St Augustine You may recognize this quote; it’s become ubiquitous in the travel world. I think there is a certain wonderful truth to it, but there are also many delicate caveats to its truth. The important thing is to restrict the... Continue Reading →
I stick a hand in my pocket and find a medium-sized coin, and I can tell which nation it’s from without even looking at it. The metal of it feels wrong somehow; the face that kisses the pad of my thumb is a little denser and softer than what I’m used to now. American…not Canadian. ... Continue Reading →
I broke up with Germany a little over a month ago. This sounds terribly dramatic, but that was how it felt at the time. I was unwillingly wrenched away from my former love and immediately snatched up by a new burly, flannel-clad suitor - Canada - without so much as a solicitation of my opinion... Continue Reading →
I’ve always been a runner. Not in the actual foot-on-pavement way (who has time for that crap?), but in the sense that I always need to be moving. Whenever I get bored with a place, or if life takes an unexpected turn, or even just if I’ve been in the same place for too long,... Continue Reading →
I’m not convinced this place is real. I thought this so many times during this trip, it became my unofficial motto. There’s an untamed and ancient magic here that bleeds from every landscape we come across, an enchantment that seeps into the air and fills our lungs. “The Emerald Isle” is a nickname as fanciful... Continue Reading →
How the hell did I end up here?! I’m standing in the bowels of the Earth surrounded by the ancient remains of 40,000 humans, and suddenly I'm questioning every decision I’ve ever made. I’d always been that person who heard stories about the catacombs in Paris and thought Nope, not for me. I’ve walked through... Continue Reading →
Our graffiti'd train is swallowed by a long tunnel almost immediately after we leave the platform in Pisa. I keep staring at the blackness outside the window anyways, hoping for something more interesting to look at than the featureless back of the gray seat in front of me. Within a few minutes I’m rewarded with... Continue Reading →
Big cities and I have a complicated relationship. Despite my desire to like them, we’ve never gotten along. I know many people who love cities and are drawn to their vibrancy, centering entire vacations around thriving metropolises and then encouraging me to do the same. I always try desperately to make it work: eating the... Continue Reading →
It was dark and frigid when I woke up, a winning combination that would send most rational people scurrying back to bed. However, the promise of surreal adventure drove me out of my warm room and out into the night. The sky was just beginning to brighten from gray to pale lilac when our van... Continue Reading →
In the morning we took a packed train from Selcuk to Denizli, a three-hour ride through surprisingly verdant fields framed by towering cliffs and snow-capped mountains. Every seat was filled and it was boiling inside the car, but we were inexplicably the only ones sweating. A man walked down the aisle, carrying a tray piled... Continue Reading →
We’re driving down a narrow two-track, windows cracked to let in the warm air that’s spiced with a foreign scent I can’t quite place. The road is parenthesized by life, the silver-green of olive leaves on one side and carefully spaced rows of stunted peach trees dripping pink flowers on the other. Conversation in the... Continue Reading →
Once upon a time, I dove headfirst into a graduate program in a foreign country with no idea what to expect. Even though I’m now in the sixth and last class of my first semester, I still feel a bit like I was tossed overboard during a voyage across the Sea of the Unknown. Luckily,... Continue Reading →
When you’re stranded in a foreign country for the holidays and surrounded by people you’ve only known for a few months, there are only three real solutions: fly back to your family, get out of Dodge and travel around, or band together with your fellow expats and make the best of it. Just for something... Continue Reading →
An in-progress list of cultural differences between Germans and Americans, three months later: Goodbye! I’m not sure if Americans are just not very formal or what have you, but saying “bye” to each other is something we rarely do unless we are conversing with someone we know or we’re hanging up the phone. I’ve lost... Continue Reading →
When the sun sets on Freiburg - or really any city - its entire persona changes. The shops close and the sidewalks empty. Most nights, the city just rolls over and goes to sleep until dawn. But as the week comes to a close, sunset brings with it a whole other meaning. The shops still... Continue Reading →
There are countless travel destinations in the world - sprawling cities, adorable villages, stunning national parks, brilliant white beaches, etc. etc. I can't find the statistics to support this statement because Google doesn't know either, but it's a fair assumption that you could travel every day for your entire life and still not see even... Continue Reading →
[I've been in Freiburg for over a month now, and have yet to make a post about my new home city. I finally decided that my problem was that I was focusing solely on the city itself. Instead, I chose to write instead about my personal insights since moving here and intersperse it with pictures... Continue Reading →
Everyone sounds the same when they scream. This creepy thought hit me with a jolt as I watched twenty terrified trachten-clad* Germans freefall towards the ground on a rainbow-lit carnival ride. Although I probably wouldn’t be able to hold a conversation with most of these people, their primal screeches of fear didn’t sound any different... Continue Reading →
Three days, three adventures 1.... Waking up early on a Saturday morning is one of those unfortunate ideas that never seem to work out. It sounds so grandiose the night before: ah, yes, I shall sit upon my porch and watch the sun rise over the mist-clad Black Forest hills, but the reality the next... Continue Reading →
One of my favorite things about the Freiburg region is its incredible public transportation system. Coming from America, where public transportation is an unreliable and pathetic joke almost everywhere, I am floored by this [largely] punctual, clean, efficient, available, and wide-spread system that is actually used by the majority of residents. Even more fantastic is... Continue Reading →
Surprise, surprise: I've been in Germany less than a week and have already taken a trip outside of Freiburg. Twas a well-deserved vacation, I believe, because there's this tiny detail that no one tells you about moving overseas: it is exhausting. Finding edible foods in grocery stores, weathering DMV-esque government agencies, checking something off your... Continue Reading →
Let's set something straight: we have already invented time travel, only we call it flying overseas. Two days ago I raced east as the sun headed west, and by the time we met again high above the frigid seas of the north Atlantic, I had lost several hours of my September 1, 2015 down some... Continue Reading →
Window Seat Odyssey 