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  • Berlins and Outs

    Thoughts on One Month of Living Abroad

    May 1, 2018

    When I backpacked Europe, almost six years ago now (yeesh), I wrote a post about my thoughts on one month of travel, so, when E and I realized we’d been in Berlin for a month, we decided to write this post as a bit of a callback. Here’s the good, the bad, and the ugly from one month of living abroad in Germany. Plus, if you scroll all the way down, a little video of what we’ve been up to. The Good The Weather: We arrived right at the tail end of winter and, while our friends and family back home suffered through April snowstorms, we enjoyed days in the…

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    Emma 6 Comments

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  • The Great European Adventure,  Travel Tips

    Solo Travel and Self Care in Budapest

    May 20, 2013

    Budapest would be the end of my solo travels, at least for a few weeks. It was my last stop before meeting up with my friend, Katie, and I had big plans for my last few days alone. But, by the time I arrived, I was tired. I’d been on the road for 6 weeks, and I hadn’t been sleeping well the last few nights. Other travelers told me that caving was the thing to do in Budapest, and exploring the underground cave system beneath the city sounded awesome! But… the tour I was hoping to enjoy included climbing and crawling through narrow passageways, and I wondered if I had…

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    Emma 4 Comments

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    What I Learned in Amsterdam

    January 6, 2013

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    June 11, 2013

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    November 5, 2013
  • The Great European Adventure

    Saying “Yes” in Prague

    April 22, 2013

    My mother is a self-proclaimed “new experience junkie,” and, for better or worse, I am too. We like seeing new places and trying new things — we are jacks of all trades, and masters of none. We have varied interests, but we also keep trying things to see what fits, and we return regularly to the metaphorical dressing room because something new may fit better. How will I know if I like solo travel unless I try it? (Turns out, I like traveling solo because it makes me feel confident and self-reliant more often than it makes me feel lonely.) How will my mother know if veganism is right for…

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    Emma 3 Comments

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    I LOVED Sarajevo

    November 18, 2013

    The Harrowing Ferry Adventure

    October 3, 2013

    Weekly Travel Inspiration: Exhausted Edition

    November 16, 2012
  • Feeeeelings

    Travel is a bit like acting

    March 21, 2013

    Throughout high school and college, I did theater. I loved being on stage with an audience watching, but unlike many of my friends, I didn’t want to pursue acting as a career. For me, acting has always been a fun hobby. I think one reason I like traveling is because it’s a little bit like acting. When I travel, I assume a travel persona, and this persona is different depending on where I am and how I’m traveling. I noticed this most obviously while living in Hana, Hawai’i for the last two months. Hana is located on the Eastern end of Maui, and is only accessible by plane or driving…

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    Emma 6 Comments

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  • The Great European Adventure

    Krakow was a turning point

    February 25, 2013

    I didn’t want to leave Berlin. Berlin was big and interesting, and there was so much to see — this was why I had left my plans open, why my travel dates were all tentative, so I could stay longer in places I loved. But I didn’t love Berlin. It was beautiful, and historical, and tasty, and I hadn’t even gone to any art museums yet! But that wasn’t why I wanted to stay. I wanted to stay because Berlin was safe. There’s nothing wrong with feeling safe; in fact, I hope that you feel safe while traveling. But I didn’t go to Europe to hide. I went to see…

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    Emma 7 Comments

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  • Hawaiian Summer Camp

    One Month in “Paradise”

    February 22, 2013

    Thursday marked one month that E and I have been living and working on Maui. He works at the farm stand selling banana bread that’s baked fresh every morning. I work in the kitchen making candy and hot sauces that we also sell at the stand. We both work in the vegetable garden and around the rest of the property, pulling weeds, clearing space for more beds, spreading mulch. We sleep and store our things in a cabin without electricity. One of the farm cats likes to hang around the cabin, and sneaks in to sleep by our feet at night; her name is Munchkin. I’m not much of a…

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    Emma 2 Comments

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    March 11, 2013

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  • The Great European Adventure

    On having a friend in Berlin

    February 11, 2013

    Normally, when I start blogging about a new place, I write a post of my first impressions. However, my first impressions upon arriving in Berlin were colored by the fact that I was meeting up with a friend I hadn’t seen in four years. In my reflection on one month of travel I wrote about, among other things, feeling lonely traveling by myself and how seeing my friend Brittney was a welcome respite from solo travel. When I visited Berlin, I had a German-speaking local showing me around. She took me to her favorite restaurant, introduced me to her friends, and we spent hours walking around the city, good company…

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    Emma No Comments

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    July 31, 2012

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  • Feeeeelings,  The Great European Adventure

    Thoughts on One Month of Travel

    October 13, 2012

    Wednesday was October 10th, which means I’ve officially been traveling for one month, and traveling alone for two weeks. So this seems as good a time as any to do a little reflecting. Here’s the good, the bad, and the ugly from one month of travel. The Good AKA The easier than I thought it was going to be In case you need convincing, here is one big argument in favor of traveling–it’s not that difficult technically. By which I mean, I have found the technical aspects of travel easy. Booking flights and hostels and finding your way around a foreign city don’t need to be intimidating. Almost everything can…

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    Emma 10 Comments

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    Righteous Fury: Thoughts on Politics and Religion

    October 30, 2018

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    November 21, 2019

    And then I got published in a newspaper

    August 9, 2013
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