Remember Me
Shoes. Piles of dark, weathered, worn shoes. If they could speak, they would disclose secret tales, too ghastly to imagine. The leather-bound soles might sigh, weep, and hesitate to tell about the arduous...
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Monterrey: The City of Mountains and of My Heart
Even though I travel to Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico every year in the summer, the city never ceases to amaze me and every time I leave, I feel as though...
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How Paris Showed Me the Stars
All the sounds fade away as the doors close and suddenly I am apprehensive, unsure and excited all at once. The elevator is packed with people who have come from all over the world for this moment....
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Rediscovering Nepal
In the summer of 2014, my mother, father, brother, sister, and I traveled to my parents’ homeland: Kathmandu, Nepal. We hadn’t visited Nepal since 2007 to catch up with relatives, but this time...
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Waters of Freedom
Dictators have had a horrible history throughout the world, and although they are not prevalent in the United States, I found my life being controlled, not by a person, but by fear. My fear of doing...
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The Little Things Can Change a Lifetime
Winding cobblestone roads, with walls seemingly growing ever closer, until even the smallest Fiat can barely squeeze through. Frigid stream water, rushing down from the heights of the Alps. Old buildings,...
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A Trip To Ecuador: Finding Beauty in More Than One Form
Sitting there, looking out the window, I was in awe at the beauty that the world had to offer. I was used to the dull brown desert of Las Vegas, where you’d be lucky to find a single patch of green...
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My Adventure in India
Travelling is a mentality. Am I willing to start the adventure? Vulnerable enough to step out the door to learn more about others, and, by application, myself? Not a tourist, but someone...
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Dubai: A “Tale of Two Cities”
When you think of Dubai what’s the first thing that comes to mind? If the first thing you thought of was money, mansions, or even people with monkeys for pets then you were a lot like me in...
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Solving Indonesia
When I visited Indonesia in July 2015, I stayed with my cousins in Jakarta. They were both boys. My older brother easily joined their FIFA battles and Grand Theft Auto missions on the PlayStation...
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Why I Will Always Belong to India
The rancid odor of pollution and cow dung penetrated my lungs as we emerged from the doors of the Delhi international airport, and the usual a crowd of luggage carriers and taxi cab drivers began their...
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The Beauty in Simplicity
The hot sticky humid air hung over the boisterous city of Kollam, Kerala. I gripped the polyester seating of the dilapidated rickshaw as it jackknifed to the right to swerve around another wayward goat....
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Smaller Moments
I have never walked through Roman Catacombs, gazed from above Niagara Falls, or even seen the Grand Canyon. I cannot tell stories of how I trekked the Amazon, share how I navigated Tokyo, or preach...
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The Rising Sun of India
The splash of vibrant fuchsia mixed in with a tinge of twinkling turquoise and a glimmer of iridescent crimson backdropped with lofty mountains was enough to complete my mental photograph of the incredible...
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Our Foundation, Where the Mountains Meet the Water
Standing on a rock, overlooking the fjord with small ships crawling along, he turned to me. Kåre said, “This is where your great, great, grandfather stood and dreamed of America.” Never before...
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From Here to Jerusalem
My grandmother scowled at me as we boarded the airplane. Much to my vexation, my subtle acting had not payed off; she had seen right through my futile smiles and unavailing grins. “Family fun,”...
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It Didn’t Bother Grandpa
When we arrived at the secluded, run-down looking beach house, it was just about the opposite of paradise. The cracked and peeling chalk white paint, the jungle of palm trees and overgrown greenery...
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Love at First Animal Towel
Carnival cruises tend to be known for their exotic destinations, staff aiming to please, and a trip of a lifetime. Yet those weren’t what made my 4 day trip to Cozumel so memorable. That was all because...
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A Change in Me
My favorite Broadway musical is Disney's "Beauty and the Beast." After returning home from being held as the Beast's captive, Belle sings "For now I love the world I see -- no change of heart, a change...
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Quito’s Canines
Where do I go when I want to stand on the equator but don’t want to sweat and definitely don’t like mosquitoes? Quito, Ecuador. The top of the Andes Mountains. South America. An elevation so high...
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Spending a Year in Nigeria
When my parents decided to start their family in America, they instilled their Nigerian values in us children. Every morning, I would wake up to greet my parents with a "Good morning, mom! Good morning,...
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Playing the Right Hand
Flying across the country doesn’t seem like too big of a deal, but for a twelve-year-old who’s never gone past the east coast, traveling out west was bigger than life. Over the course of ten days,...
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Gordonton
My first foray into the North Carolina I was born to was in the late Fall of my sophomore year in High School. Adolescence is a time made for rebellion, and since my whole existence had been a middle...
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A Stroll in Berlin
If I’m honest about it, I was never grabbed by books about history when I was younger. I found it hard to connect personally...
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A New World in Guatemala
My head pressed on cool glass that vibrated my brain within my skull. I took a sip of my water, struggling to avoid biting my tongue as the jolting of the bus bounced...
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A Tale of Two Worlds
I glance behind me, checking that my little sister is asleep on the bed as I slip out onto the balcony of our rented villa. It’s early evening in Denpasar, Bali, Indonesia, right after the heat of...
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The Fiction of Chicago: The City Behind The News
Bullets were as common as fireworks on the weekend of July 4th, 2016 in Chicago. More than 60 people were shot over the course of the weekend, and all anyone could talk about on my social media was...
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Expresso Shots, Butterfly Kisses and Sticky Hugs
Expresso shots, butterfly kisses, and sticky hugs are what I found in the small village of Villa Clara, Cuba. Culture shock began seeping in quickly, as I walked down the dirt streets littered by garbage...
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Go to Hell
The greatest piece of advice that I’ve ever been given that relates to learning about myself and making a palpable difference in the world was basically to “go to hell.”...
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A Scenic Stroll to 1975
Four hours, three airports, two flights, one bus ride; we were here. A sanctuary with greenery and decadent coloring, the aroma of Blackeyed Susans captivated my lungs; I felt at home, but more...
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Zorita de Las Gente
He was probably in his late twenties when he died. He was a Christian monk and a member of the Knights Templars of the order of Calatrava. He slept in his armor and he rarely bathed. Let’s call him...
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Strata of Wonders
My sandaled feet splashed the fine grains of sand and trampled across patches of tumbleweed. After two excruciating days during a heat wave at Las Vegas, with its dazzling “around the world” displays...
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Blue Skies and Sunsets
Every summer or Christmas since my third birthday, we’ve left the comforts of town life - the 2am donut runs or running out of milk and needing 15 minutes to buy a new gallon - to visit my grandparents...
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Sunrise Serenade — Hiking Navaho Peak, Washington
Some ideas are the product of meticulous planning and deliberate thinking, while others just seem to happen. When three friends and I decided to climb a 7,000 foot mountain at 3:00 AM to herald the sunrise...
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A 250 km/Hour Discovery
Fluttering skirts, rhythmic tapping of pointe shoes, dense air- the kind that is formed from hundreds of people holding their breaths in anticipation and admiration, gentle and perfectly apt music....
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My Soul for Santa Maria: Life Lessons Learned from a Volcano
4:00 a.m. is too early to be climbing volcanoes. I’m still dreaming as I wake up, crawling out of bed and into shorts, fumbling with shoelaces and hair ties. Everyone in in our little town of Xela is...
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I Got My LIFE at Junkanoo Beach!
My Grandmother is retired and travels extensively all the time. Typically, my younger brother and I are the beneficiaries of souvenirs that tell stories of cultures and civilizations all over the world....
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Weird Flocks Together
From the beginning of my memory, I have never had a typical mom. Never has she dyed her peppered hair, hid behind layers of make-up, and don’t even try to coax her into a pair of heels. Not only does...
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Swiss Sweets
Swiss cheese, Swiss chocolates, Swiss Alps, and Edelweiss must ring a few bells for everybody. Switzerland is known...
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Seeing All in Seattle
I lean my head against the cool window of the Link Light Rail, watching rain droplets race one another down the expanse of the glass; if I squint they look like tiny men in the foreground of Washington’s...
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A Trip to the Magical Town
Around thanksgiving of 2015, my family and I traveled to Zacatecas, Mexico. I’ve been to Mexico before however, this time I learned to enjoy another liestyle. After five hours in a cold plane flight...
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First Travels
In the Spring of 2015 I had the amazing opportunity to travel to France for a week. After my first international travel experience, I came to the realization that I have a strong passion to explore...
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Timeless Nonetheless
The black, bead-like eyes of hundreds of startled crabs seemed to twinkle as they caught the yellow glow streaming from my flashlight. Gazing
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Face to Face with a Foreign Bull
One summer vacation, my family and I spent it in, Colombia, where my parents were born and raised. I'd been once previously, but, now that I was older, I felt I could really take in the diverse beautiful...
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Where Humans and Wildlife Collide
The miniature howler monkey clung to its mother’s back as the older monkey undulated through the branches of the twisted tree. With one movement, the mother pushed off the bowing bough and transferred...
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More Than a Memory
I have admired this city in countless stock photos and numerous travel blogs. I draw a deep breath as a futile attempt to calm myself. The van jumps around the cobblestone road and I clumsily juggle...
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A Land of Juxtapositions
The air is heavy with humidity, but we are fortunate that the rainforest canopy shields us from the scorching rays of sunlight that beam down on this hot summer day. The trees surrounding us stretch...
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