If I could have crossed the border near Mae Hong Son, I would have left this country with a tempered view and an admiration for its aesthetical attributes as well as its friendly locals, but alas - frosting and sprinkles alone aren’t enough to make a bland cake into an award-winning recipe. My first stop after Sukhothai was the border town of Mae Sot, which turned out to have little to see other than gem dealers and buckets of wriggling eels at the market, but was interesting for the mix of people. Burmese men in their longgyi (long skirts tied at [View Full Entry]

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Though I had already waited out an eleven hour layover after a very short last night in Germany, I could scarcely think of sleeping on the equally long flight out of sheer excitement at FINALLY being on my way to Southeast Asia. Five years ago I had heard of the Freeman Foundation’s scholarships to study in Asia and had started this lovely obsession with the region, which continued long after my university nixed my plan to spend yet another semester abroad in Malaysia. After two failed holiday attempts to Southeast Asia, however, I was finally on board a Bangkok-bound plane and [View Full Entry]

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Ten years ago I first set foot in this tiny place wondering how I could survive a week, let alone an entire year. My request to be placed with a family in the former DDR for my exchange year had been granted, but the old proverb of “Be careful what you wish for…” was running through my head as we rolled down one of only five streets in town to my new home. Forget looking for this place on any but the most detailed maps of Brandenburg; the village of Brunow’s two hundred some inhabitants generally don’t warrant mention among cartographers. [View Full Entry]

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Whatever her sister Croatia was lacking in personality, Bosnia made up for tenfold. The sayings that “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger,” and that conflict breeds character serve to explain why this last of my Balkan sisters was not only the most controversial, but also the most interesting as well. Though I had been easily mesmerized by the physical beauty of Croatia, it was about on par with Tijuana or Cancun in offering any sort of memorable cultural insight and I was thirsting for real inspiration. In addition, my EU area tourist visa was due to expire soon and [View Full Entry]

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I pulled my hood over my head and huddled inside my sweatshirt for warmth as the train rolled through misty Ljubljana. I dozed off to the sight of colourful cathedrals and castle turrets peeking out of the fog-covered hills as the sun fought to break through the clouds. A late night prior to departure ensured that I slept straight through to my destination point of Rijeka, Croatia. But when I opened my eyes a mere two and a half hours later, I was quite disoriented. In just two and a half hours my surroundings had drastically changed, from 18° to 30°, [View Full Entry]

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For seventeen days I wandered between three of the ex-Yugoslav republics, with Slovenia as both the first and the last stop on my trip. Like part of a family, they all share certain common elements of history, language, cuisine, and culture…but just like any one of three sisters who is constantly admired for her similarities to the other two; each would be quick to highlight what differentiates her so drastically as well. Admittedly, I set out from Rome in a frame of mind completely inconducive to appreciating these differences…and perhaps even to travel in general. Due to a [View Full Entry]

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While flipping through some cultural magazine, I once read, “If you really want to know a country, work there.” And I must admit, there is a lot of truth to that statement. For even though I had lived in Rome for 8 months prior to my current sojourn here, I feel that I know the city in a completely different way due to my experience in the last 10 weeks. As a student I may have wrapped up in the quilt of the neighborhood and the community, but as a worker I became woven into its fabric. My day naturally starts [View Full Entry]

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Those of you on my email lists probably could have seen this blog coming, but even had I not been fanatical about getting everyone I know to sign the One or Live 8 petitions, I would still have to write about this concert. Because this day stands out as the single greatest event I have ever participated in, and just as I remember when the Berlin Wall fell and where I was on September 11, 2001, I will remember this day as one of the greatest historical events of my time. For those of you who somehow missed the media coverage [View Full Entry]

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To live in Rome -- to revel in the age of its monuments, to marvel at what man’s hands can create, to reflect on how history has shaped and been shaped by its peoples, to passively participate in admiring the plunder and booty of an empire, and to breathe in and internalize the timeless appeal of a city that has dazzled onlookers for millenia -- this task could easily take up the time and dedication of an entire lifetime. In fact, it is actually an Italian saying, “Roma - non basta una vita!” (Rome - one life is not enough!) And [View Full Entry]

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Change of plans...and continents. As Paolo Coelho writes in The Alchemist, when you are following your dreams and pursuing your own personal legend, the whole universe conspires to help you achieve it. As such, it is hard not to recognize that certain opportunities which fall right into your lap are most likely signs of which road to take next on your journey of life. It was only a few short weeks ago that I was settling into a life reminiscent of my early high school days - with no car and no real job, I spent my days helping around the [View Full Entry]

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