Sometimes I try to remember what it felt like the first time I made a friend. The furthest back I can remember using the term “best friend” I think was when I told my parents and anybody who asked that a little girl I spent all my time running around and holding hands with in my first pre-school … More Making Friends on the Playground
Over the weekend my roommate was out of town, and for the first time since I’ve lived in this apartment, I was left home alone. When she reminded me last Thursday before she left that she wouldn’t be home until Tuesday, I felt that tiny, horrible bubble that rises in my stomach to signal the … More I’m a Close Friend of Mine
Big Rose is the affectionate (or, at times, not so affectionate) nickname of the backpack I travel with. She’s a violent/rose shade, hence the nickname, and about two and a half feet tall and one foot wide on a good day. On a bad day, when my pockets are empty but my backpack is full of … More Two Weeks, Two Continents, and a Lesson on Sharing
We flew out of Paris around 9:30pm on that Thursday, and were lucky to be on one of the few flights that wasn’t cancelled in the air traffic controllers’ strike going on in France. We booked an airbnb in Södermalm, a young, hip area of the city, and spent the weekend exploring the surrounding slew … More Written from the Ground: Part Two – Sweden
The past week has provided a whirlwind of activity I never even dreamed was possible until it was happening. I write currently from the seat of a Norweigan Airlines flight (which I highly recommend for both cost and convenience) from Stockholm to Paris, after setting foot in 4 different countries in one week. In all … More Written In the Sky: Part One – Montenegro
A good number of French people have a hard time saying my name. I tell them my name is Kate, and they repeat “Kay-tuh,” almost a two syllable name, which sounds funny in comparison to my singular American syllable. The lady at Starbucks spells it “Kathe.” I say it to strangers as I kiss them on … More I Am a French Child
There are a lot of things I’ve been meaning to write about for the past few weeks, but it’s been a very consistent difficulty for me to find time to write about some of the things that have been the most incredible because I get so caught up living in them that I forget to … More An Autumn Stroll
This post has been a long time coming, but it’s from my second day in Iceland, and needs to be published exactly as it was written; from me to you with love. I don’t quite have the words to explain how full of joy, pleasure, contentment, and happiness I am. I have had the most … More Over the Fjord and Through the Lava Field
There are certain things I do wrong while I’m studying abroad. I look at my pocket map while I’m walking, and have been known to stop on a dime when I realize I’m going the wrong way, subsequently causing a train wreck of pissed off Parisians to run into me. I’ve stepped on plenty of … More Your Soul is Showing..
What is one do when offered the world? Should they laugh? Cry? Weep, even? Or just sit, content and pleased, feeling only how rich it is to be so fortunate? This past weekend I felt like doing all of the above. I visited Strasbourg and a small town in Alsace in France, and Freiburg and the … More Experience, “The World,” and Far Too Little Sleep
The Transition Artist 