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 →
The mountains are calling
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 →
A year abroad in 1600 words or less
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 →
Emerald Isle
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 →
Prague and the Bone Chapel of Kutna Hora
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 →
Pisa and the Cinque Terre
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 →
Falling in love with Istanbul
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 →
Cappadocia
By air 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... Continue Reading →
Pamukkale and Hierapolis
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 →
Selcuk
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 →
Differences
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 →
Bodensee
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 →