October 5, 2019 Redefining What Homesick Means A year ago, I sat in my apartment in Taiwan, staring out at the concrete jungle. Part of me felt completely at ease eating my Bento boxes, writing every morning before work, teaching kids English, but another part of me felt this pull back to America. Like I knew I needed to come back for my next chapter. Truthfully, I was homesick.
September 14, 2019 How to Prepare for Hurricanes Now that winter has arrived and many Floridians are putting on their sweaters, jeans, and other long articles of clothing, so, too, has hurricane season come and gone. The word “hurricane” to anyone outside of Florida or new Florida residents sparks a bit of fear and worry. People google it, see the terrifying images of storms like Katrina or Irma and they begin to assume the worst. But I’m here to tell you that despite hurricanes being incredibly terrifying, unless you have a direct hit or you are close to the center of the storm, it’s more likely that you will experience intense winds, lots of rain, and if you’re a surfer, some gnarly waves leading up to the hurricane’s arrival.
September 7, 2019 Raise Your Flag Back in high school, there was a girl, we’ll just call her Melanie. She was a bright student, quiet, shy, but she always did the work that she was supposed to do. She completed tasks, helped her friends, and never said no to people. She was the resident “yes” girl and yes, that got her into trouble. Unfortunately, it didn’t take much to throw Melanie off her A-game. Take her Pre-Calc class for example.
August 31, 2019 What is it REALLY Like Living in Florida? A little more than a year ago, when I first made the decision to move to Florida, I got a lot of the same sorts of questions from people: What are you going to do there? I’m going to work. Why Florida? I went to Florida because honestly, after living in Taiwan and experiencing absolutely not one snowflake of snow in nearly three years, I was not too keen on jumping back into the Chicago frozen tundras again.
August 24, 2019 Which Road Will You Take? As a kid, and even as a young 20-something year old, we get asked the same question: Who do you want to DO when you grow up?
August 3, 2019 A Simple Choice Every morning, Ted rises at six in the morning. He grabs his cup of coffee, makes some breakfast, and sits in front of the TV to see the news. It’s the same themes, different faces and locations. But Ted enjoys it. It fills his empty home.
July 27, 2019 Why Convenience Isn’t All That Great Once upon a time in a not so far away land and time, I was living in Taiwan. Or as I like to call it, the land of convenience stores, amazing food, and Pokemon Go everywhere you go. But mostly convenience. I used to think that America was the Convenience King, but I was proven wrong. Taiwan is the King of Convenience.
July 20, 2019 Clean Eyes A couple of months ago, there was this ten year challenge going around on various social media, mostly Instagram and Facebook. I remember looking through photos (and yes, I did post one just for fun) and thinking to myself that I literally look the exact same. My hair was more or less the same length, color, and I was more or less happy to the same extent, at least upon first glance at the image. But if you dug beneath the surface, Marie of 2009 and Marie of 2019 are very different.
June 29, 2019 Twenty-Five Tips for Twenty-Five Years Recently, I celebrated my twenty-fifth birthday, and coincidentally, my first birthday in the states in three years. It was weird to say the least, realizing all that had happened in the last three hundred and sixty-five days. My twenty-fourth year was jam packed: living abroad, visiting home, traveling around the island of Taiwan, my first Chinese New Year, moving home, and so much more in between all of the aforementioned.
June 8, 2019 New Mental Push-Ups It’s Friday, April 26th. My alarm goes off at 4:30 AM, and I rise out of bed rather easily because this isn’t my first time getting up before the sun peaks above the horizon. I throw on my Aldi work t-shirt, a pair of beat up black jeans, and make sure my hair is tied back and I am relatively alert. Then I put on a podcast and go to make breakfast.
