It’s mid-afternoon and you’re exiting Woolsey Hall. Maybe you’ve just had a late lunch at Commons or maybe, like me, you’re coming out of a mandatory student safety lecture on your third day of college. You exit Woolsey the ugly way—away from the libraries and sculptures—and cross the street. Walk a block to your … Continued
Looking down into the crater of an ancient volcano, vast enough to hold a small town, brings a sense of euphoric freedom. My feet perched on the crater rim, it felt as if I could take off like a bird whenever my heart desired. The thin air on Mount Kilimanjaro makes one feel light headed, … Continued
On a recent trip I was forced to wait for paving work partway across the eight-mile bridge connecting my birthplace, Prince Edward Island, to Canada’s mainland. Perhaps the Travel Gods had a purpose. I needed to slow down after driving over the speed limit since crossing the border in Maine three hours earlier. My red-streaked … Continued
There is a quote by St. Francis of Assisi sitting smack dab on the very same page in the journal where I began scribbling the happy and illegible notes for this submission. What I call a “paper sandwich,” my journal has sat before me as a confidante for as long as I can remember, most … Continued
Not enough people know how to think and live for themselves, on their own terms. Perhaps it is the culture we are raised in where we are expected to sit quietly and listen to teachers lecture us on what to do and how to do it. Perhaps it is because parents preach college and … Continued
My eyes scanned words my brain barely managed to process and instantly blurred with tears. I was having a “Miss America” moment. A whirlwind of joy and excitement whipped through my chest because the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office had graciously granted me a scholarship to learn Mandarin in Taiwan, my foreign motherland, even though … Continued
My Journey Back In Time, USA Two rivers meet, and two cultures clash. At the convergence of the Ohio and the Kanawha rivers, lies the small town of Point Pleasant, West Virginia. The history that occurred here belies its size. Called Tu-Endie-Wei by the Shawnee and Point Pleasant by the soon-to-become Americans, the … Continued
I am on a lumbering train, heading north from Belgrade through the desolate Serbian countryside. A tail of thick smoke follows behind. I imagine it is visible from very far away, a guiding beacon for anyone who might be in the game of tracking trains across Serbian fields. Occasionally, the train comes to a halt. … Continued
Futile – the one word which sums up efforts to impart life experience on my ears. Of course I love to listen, but until I experience the utter frustration of a foiled plan, or the crushing realization that I really should have taken that cautionary word a little more seriously, I rarely seem to … Continued
“Nothing is more damaging to the adventurous spirit than a secure future.” The powerful words of Jon Krakauer, author of Into the Wild, have wound their way into my thoughts with every crossroad I reach in recent years. Krakauer tells the compelling true story of Chris McCandless, a disaffected young graduate seeking to break with … Continued