A Year in Review: What Is Bigger Than Us
March 14, 2025My years are bookended by mountains and cities; I start and end each one among something towering. On a tour in Carthage, Tunisia this past December, the tour guide gestured at the mountains overlooking the ruins: “The balcony of the gods,” she called them. This image hasn’t escaped me since; now, when I look at the mountains, their imposing form against the skyline so much bigger than us, I imagine “the gods,” in whatever form they may take, looking out from the distant ridges. I started my year among the glittering skyscrapers of Chicago, warmed by a flute of champagne…
Walking the Camino Francés: Living in the Present Moment
Time moved differently on the Camino: especially in the beginning, each day felt like five. Upon reaching the albergues in the afternoon, what I’d done only a few hours ago seemed like another day entirely. Even more distant was my…
Connection, Disconnection, and More Reflections from Morocco
What feels like a long time ago, after returning from my first experience abroad, I wanted to create a dedicated space to share my travels and writing. I had been feeling stuck since coming back to the U.S., and writing…
Pandemic Scraps: Fear, Joy, and Grief in a Changing World
Conquering a fear begins with the smallest of steps: first, a row of teeth scraping against a metal spoon. Out my bedroom window, from which I have watched the pandemic unfold, dusk covers Meknes in deep-ocean blue. Outlines of mountain…
International Travel: Lessons on Stereotypes, Perspective, and Mistakes
Other than going to Jamaica on a college service trip and traveling through eastern Canada, I had never traveled internationally until the summer of 2018. That year, I visited my daughter in France. In 2020, right before COVID shut down…
A Year in Review: When You Can’t Write, Read
I can’t get rid of my books. Colorful spines with catchy titles pile upon the carpet in my childhood bedroom as I sort them into haphazard stacks. I have read most of them once; I have read a few an…
A Year in Review: Moments That Made Homes
A Costco photo envelope holds my most cherished memories, the thick stack of pictures traveling with me across country borders. Sometimes they stay in the envelope, other times they make it on the walls in my latest of temporary homes.…
Month One in Morocco: Assumptions Aside
“I want to go to Morocco, but I don’t know if I’d go alone,” said the Australian woman. I sat behind the reception desk of the hostel I worked at, observing the conversation between the two Australian guests. “As a…
Making the Most of My Layovers: 72 Hours in Italy
Only a few minutes after crossing into Italy from the Slovenian border, I felt at home—the stucco rooftops and glimpses of the ocean gave life to the place I had conjured in my mind for years. My great-grandparents grew up…
Unlocked Doors: Trust and Accountability at a Hostel
“Do you want to go to Poland?” I asked in place of a greeting. I walked down the sidewalk toward my rented house in Colorado Springs, the 7-11 sign beaming in the distance. A close friend from home and I…
Making the Most of My Layover: 6 Hours in Toronto
I’m still not entirely sure why my flight from San Jose, Costa Rica to Chicago involved a layover in Toronto, but when I found an AirCanada ticket for $200 less than all the other flight options, I booked it without…
