Reflections

When I set out on this particular journey, the world seemed very big. I mean, it is actually very big. But I mean that it seemed vast and foreign, filled with places I hadn't seen, people I hadn't met, and customs I didn't understand. And in part, this all turned out to be true. The …

That Time I Lived in a Castle

I don’t even know where to start. The last week has been both terrible and wonderful. On Friday, I woke up to discover that both of the twins that I had been nannying had come down with a five day long fever and stomach bug combination. My host family assured me it is a disease that …

The Language Barrier

I've been living and working in countries where I don't speak the language for over a month and a half now. This has been challenging to say the least but those of you who know me know that this is actually my favorite thing ever because I LOVE languages. I love that moment when I …

Barcelona

It is very difficult to explain any city using just words but if Barcelona were to be described in one word, that word would be art. Art everywhere. It seems like every metro station is host to a musician making a living off of euros tossed into his guitar case and every train contains musicians collecting …

Three countries, Three Days, and Over Three Million Italian Men

As everybody in the world has heard, the Greek economy is not exactly doing well. In my time there, I saw poverty, unemployment, and heard of many suicides caused because of economic troubles. Despite all this, on Saturday night, these lovely Greek people that I met in Bozika announced that they would take my Austrian …

Feminism Goes to Greece

The other night I was watching the news and there was a piece on a feminist group called FEMEN who are originally Ukrainian but are now based out of Paris. They are considered a radical feminist group and have attracted international attention partly because their protests are usually broken up by police and perhaps more because they protest topless. Watching …

EUROPE ROX

The past month has been the most fast-paced, exciting, and exhausting month of my life. I've been in seven countries, twelve long-distance trains, and countless different beds. An unfortunate side effect of all this European awesomeness going on however is that it's been tough finding time to write blog posts. So here's my attempt to …

Feta Cheese

Hello world!  I am writing to you all today from a small family farm at the end of a dirt road on top of a mountain in Greece. I arrived in Athens on Friday morning and spent the day trying to find my way around the city. This would have been difficult even if all …

Pfeffer

The other night, I was walking to the U-Bahn (the Berlin underground train system) near Viviana's apartment. It was early by Berlin standards (about 11:00 at night) but still dark. I began to realize that I was walking alone at night on a deserted street, which as a woman, I feel I have to be aware of. A …

Tegel Sucks

Jallo! For those of you who haven't heard, Nell's luggage went missing during her flight into Berlin on account of an epic windstorm. Epic is no exaggeration; I was almost blown over a few times. Because of this, the airport was unable to unload any luggage from the airplanes for the entire evening. Upon Nell's arrival, …