U s

Updated: January 18, 2018 Besides buying millions of macarons, my 13-year old sister had one other wish for our French-Spanish vacation- she wanted to go surfing. And she wanted me to come with her. To that, I responded, “Are you crazy, it’s April! The water’s going to be freezing.” To which she responded, “All you care about is eating and speaking other languages!” With the heavy accusation of, “You are seriously at risk of becoming a grandma,” hanging in my face, I booked an hour-long lesson with Pukas Surf School in San Sebastián. Sister (and neoprene) love! The next thing I knew, I was sleepily sitting on a beach at 10 a.m., clad in a skintight wesuit, and getting yelled at by a large Spanish man. I’m not sure if you guys have noticed this yet, but I’m not all that athletically inclined. Yes, I can appreciate a vigorous hike and I played varsity tennis in high school, but extreme sports aren’t really my thing- … [Read more...] about Surf’s Up in San Sebastián

Updated: February 14, 2014 So after two happy and windblown days in Dingle, (which you can read about here and here), it was finally time to leave the peninsula to fly back home. The only problem was I wasn’t sure how to get off of the peninsula, considering most options were fairly pricey. Luckily, the night before I left, I met a local Irish guy named Ross and his group of friends at the pub. Meeting them was as they say, good craic, and after a boozy night out Ross offered to give me a ride across the peninsula. And who am I to turn down a free road trip with an Irish stranger? Our mini road trip in Ireland involved driving across Conor Pass, the highest mountain pass in Ireland and the most scenic road of the peninsula. As usual in Ireland, the weather was misty, rainy and cloudy. (When family and friends back home ask what it’s like in Ireland I tell them it’s basically like sitting on the side of a boat; there’s always drizzle flying in your face.) We … [Read more...] about A Mini Irish Roadtrip

Updated: August 28, 2019 When I remember my 2009 semester in Buenos Aires, too many “nevers” come to mind. I will never be 19 again. I will never drink so much malbec that I jump into a pool fully clothed. I’ll never eat choripán with chimichurri on the street with friends, laughing like crazy. And a small but deeply cynical part of me believes I’ll never see South America again, a continent that shaped me in my teenage years and has more of an emotional hold on me than any other. South America first ensnared me when I was 15. I flew to Ecuador on a group trip, hoping to learn a little Spanish and embark on my first international trip without parents. Honestly, a month in Ecuador was more than I had bargained for: glacially cold showers in the countryside, men staring at me unabashedly and a level of grime and squalor that I had never seen growing up in suburban Michigan. I went completely broke halfway through the trip and could barely afford breakfast. … [Read more...] about Remembering My First Love: South America

Updated: February 14, 2014 When Charles Dickens wrote the line, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times,” he must have been living abroad. In fact, there’s a strong chance he was working in Paris as an au pair. Over the past year I’ve learned that expat life certainly has its ups and downs, which somehow feel stronger than the vicissitudes of life back home. When things go wrong, it’s extra frustrating- the French post lost your box of summer clothes, you can’t figure out how to unlock your phone and your banker doesn’t speak a word of English (who, ironically, is the one person in France who wants to speak to you in French). And all the while your family’s across the ocean and it can take a long time to set up a network of friends and acquaintances. Life abroad can get frustrating and lonely very quickly. (And in those moments, god bless Gchat.) But the highs are also so much higher. Everything’s new and exciting. … [Read more...] about Paris Expat: The Reality of Life in France

Updated: February 14, 2014 Dear Paris, I have a confession. I didn’t love you at first. And I’m not really sure why. Maybe it’s because I associated you with loneliness, as I spent my first three Parisian summers wandering the cobblestone streets by myself. Or maybe it’s because I thought you were cold and uptight, that your citizens were too effortlessly perfect. Maybe it’s because everyone else seems to love you, and I didn’t want to form a part of the swooning, Eiffel Tower-adoring masses. But now, I know that I love you. We’ve been through a lot together, Paris. I’ve watched you move through each season. I’ve seen you without your make-up on, so to speak. I arrived in the fall, when the markets proudly displayed whole mallard ducks and chestnuts fresh from the tree. I was there during the grey, drizzly days of winter, when I tucked into a plate of Japanese curry with kimchi on the Rue Saint-Anne. I was there … [Read more...] about Dear Paris: A Love Letter to the City I Finally Adore