Before this year, most people were surprised to hear that an avid traveler like myself didn’t know too much about my own country. When I was teaching English in Madrid, students would ask me what life in America was like. They were curious about the United Four States They Knew Existed: New York, California, Florida,…
“You’re so lucky! How do you do it?!” It’s a question I get a lot from friends and family who want to know how I travel so frequently and for longer periods of time than most. Traveling can be daunting and seem expensive (and the way most people do it, yes it is), but it…
Creative Writing / Europe / Galicia / Personal / Spain
She is an old stone house, set in a small town in green Galicia, Spain. Far from any large, glamorous cities, bustling streets and excitement, the unassuming little house has stood quietly for hundreds of years, across from a tiny whitewashed church, surrounded by cornfields. An old wooden table out stands front, bleached and weathered…
Europe / Photo essays / Photography / Turkey
14.1 million people. 14.1 million stories being made every second. That’s İstanbul, the fifth biggest city in the world by density with the richest history I’ve encountered yet in a city. Everywhere traces of its history as capital of four empires (Roman, Byzantine, Latin, Ottoman) can be seen. Between the chaotic history and streets that ignite all…
It was the middle of the night and we were standing on a platform in Middle-of-Nowhere, England, being drenched by cold rain instead of snuggling cozily into our beds in London. We wondered how we got here, and how we were going to get home. We had had no food or water for hours, and…
I could sit here for hours trying to write something that would capture the essence and rhythm of the Camino, the duality found everyday: the mixture of routine with adventure, conversations on the road both philosophical and nonsensical, equal elation at stunning views and a simple centrifuge, the adrenaline and the exhaustion; even the days…
And I’m leaving tomorrow. Yeah, I keep getting thoughts that I’ve lost my mind. But doing the Camino de Santiago (The Way to St. James) is something I vowed to do before I left Spain, and the time has finally come to do it! What is it? Originally, and still, the Camino de Santiago was/is a…
Besides seeing all my friends and family for the first time in two-thirds of a year, I was looking forward to seeing the differences that I noticed in my home country. Everyone talks about ‘reverse culture shock’, saying that sometimes it can be even more jarring because home no longer feels like home and things…
It was a Wednesday afternoon in Córdoba, Andalucía as I pushed my way through crowded streets, the hot sun beating down, and everyone in sight drinking already warm cans of Cruzcampo, spitting sunflower seeds into the growing scattered piles on the cobblestone streets. There is a lazy feeling of anticipation in the air, everyone waiting…
Yes, fellow Tolkienites, you read right. There exists a city in this world called Bilbo, and it’s as awesome as the name. Located in the north of Spain in El pais vasco (Basque Country), it’s known more widely as Bilbao, but Bilbo is the name in Basque, the local language. I don’t even know where to…
Full disclaimer: I’m a huge Anglophile. I watch mainly British television (sometimes so much that I accidentally say some words with a British accent – I’ve been called out on it before by English friends, I’m not lying), listen to a shit ton of British music (just saw the Arctic Monkeys for the first time…
So I know it seems like the holidays are over, but in Spain the holiday season stretches until January 6th, so I’m not late with this post! Read on to learn more about the interesting holiday traditions around this time of year. The Basics December 24th & 25th: Nochebuena, (Christmas Eve) and Navidad (Christmas Day)…
I have to be honest in prefacing this post; I haven’t been feeling the Christmas spirit too much this year. Maybe it’s because it’s my first time away from home during the holidays (gotta admit, Thanksgiving was kinda sad, though we did have a successful turkey dinner to make up for it), or maybe it’s…
So I posted a little while back about wanting to write more about Madrid. I had in my mind ‘Madrid Mondays’ to write about Madrid every week! Although I have a decent amount of free time, last month I was writing every day for National Novel Writing Month, and although I managed to complete the…
That was pretty much the reaction I got from everyone when I announced I was going to the ultimate summer destination…in the winter. While I explained that I had found a 30 Euro round trip flight (my first Ryanair flight – went off without a hitch!) and was visiting a friend who I had met…
