Culture shock absorbing, filling with energy
Today, the countdown until home is single-digit. Tomorrow, I make my way onto the ten day weather forecast; in case you were wondering about the forecast at hand, I can anticipate highs around 70, with 0% chance of rain and… READ MORE →
August: The Month of Nostalgia
When I was in Russia, I would pass through the Горьковская metro station at least twice each day. The Petersburg metro fascinated me. Watching the crowds rush into and out of the station offered me a constant case study of… READ MORE →
travelling is not a brutality, but a beauty
After week 3 at Yonsei, I, along with students from the University of California campuses, took a road trip to Kyeongju and Busan. We stopped at Kyeongju to eat a big and satisfying lunch and then visited the Bulguksa temple.… READ MORE →
A Foreigner of a Different Color
If I could describe what I felt in the week leading up to my journey to India in one word, it would simply be terror. I had so many questions about the life I would be leading in the next… READ MORE →
The evolution of the Magic Zone
During one of our first lectures, a brief Nepali history and culture, we had the pleasure of reawakening our newly shocked selves with the most inspirational man. Our instructor was an enthusiastic man who made us consider the millennia of… READ MORE →
Anticipating a Conflicted Departure
As the end of my program approaches, I have begun to feel strangely torn between two very extreme feelings. Having lived in Russia for over a month and a half, I feel as if I’ve gotten past the point of… READ MORE →
What is Nepal?
After being on the road (trekking in the Himalaya, and working our way back east to Kathmandu) for almost a month, I am finally resettled. It is almost difficult to remember the first anxieties of coming to Nepal, but being… READ MORE →
Russia: A Palatial History
Generally speaking, it seems logical that the Soviet period of Russian history has had the longest lasting effect on the stereotypical American perspective of the current Russian Federation, purely because it represents, for many Americans, the most recent characterization of… READ MORE →
White Nights
In Petersburg, June is the month of white nights (or as Russians call them “Белые Ночи”). One of the most unexpected transitions I’ve had to make on this trip is figuring out how to comfortably sleep with light seeping through… READ MORE →
St. Petersburg: Worthy Struggles
“Traveling is a brutality. It forces you to trust strangers and to lose sight of all that familiar comfort of home and friends. You are constantly off balance. Nothing is yours except the essential things – air, sleep, dreams, the… READ MORE →