Hobbies: The Best Ways to Fill Your Time While Living Abroad

As an expat living abroad, have you ever found yourself with a lot of additional free time and no idea what to do to fill your day? Perhaps there’s an international virus pandemic which closed down the business where you work and now you have extra hours each day aching to be filled by something […]

Looking Past the Mundane Filter

It’s a shame how often the “mundane” is so disregarded from how extraordinary it really is. I keep finding myself lost in thought, sitting at the umpteenth coffee shop tucked away in the millionth alley of Ho Chi Minh City. After having lived here for seven months, it’s all too easy to forget exactly where […]

The Thing About Cultures is…

The thing about cultures is that they are glorious. They are beautiful. They are unique. I’ve come to the realization that there are some aspects of cultures that one simply can’t comprehend without having been born and raised within them. There are subtle norms etched into the very souls of those who grew and developed […]

The Power of Saying YES!

At the start of 2019 I made myself a vow. It would be the year of “saying yes”, of challenging myself and the fears that had dictated my years prior. I recognized that I had let so many amazing opportunities slither away from between my fingers. Blown as sand amongst the winds of change. Fear […]

The Idea of Being Me: What I’ve Learned While Traveling

In all my travels thus far in life, I have met countless individuals and have learned so much. One of the truly extraordinary lessons I repeatedly come face to face with is the necessity to answer the call of authenticity. I have witnessed on a global scale the struggle we all face with casting out […]

The Best Decision of my Life: A Reflection

Leaving to live and travel abroad was the best decision of my life. It has also become, quite possibly, the most painful decision of my life. No one told me how badly I would miss my life back home. Not that it would have changed anything except, perhaps, I could have spent more time preparing […]

What Makes an Experience “Authentic”?

*Notice: Rant in Session* Today in my Teaching ESL Program I was fuming. A classmate and I were engaged in a conversation where we discussed our experiences while in Vietnam. She and I had both been living in Ho Chi Minh City for about three weeks prior to meeting in our program. During our discussion, […]

Long-Distance Relationships: How to Make Them Last?

Love is pain when it’s flown away. Many say that long-distance relationships will never work: “One of you will inevitably get lonely and, in a horny moment of weakness, someone is going to cheat.” “You can’t spend your life waiting on someone else.” “If you really loved them, you wouldn’t have left.” It’s commonly believed […]

A Shifting Perspective: Falling in Love with Ho Chi Minh City

Day One: A squatty potty. That will always remain my first distinctive memory of Vietnam. After landing at the Ho Chi Minh City Airport, my first destination was a visit to the restroom. Upon opening the stall door, I was greeted by a solidifying reminder that I was no longer in “Westernized Society”. Dazed and […]

Traveling Mementos: The Magic Within a Memory

“You’d better not forget me on your trip, JoshuaAlvin. I’m so happy for you! This will be such an amazing experience. I just wish that I could go with you.” – Words from a good friend Have you ever shared this bittersweet moment with someone you love? Curtains about to close on the stage you’ve […]