June 1, 2019 Copacetic Clare Tapping my foot against the tile floor, I checked the clock adjacent to the door. 2:58. Despite the exciting video that Mrs. Namira had put on during psychology, time was moving slower than sloths. And the more the narrator droned on about Sigmund Freud, the sleepier I got.
April 14, 2019 Kymopoleia’s Assignment This night, like every other, was exactly the same. I stood idly on the edge of the sand, watching the waves as they connected with the shoreline. Each crash comforted me, encouraging me. Don’t leave. Not yet. Another wave lapped upon around my ankles, shooting chills up and down my tired body. More reassurance. It’s nearly time.
January 16, 2019 Taking on Taiwan: My Lizzie Moment Growing up as a late 90s to early 2000s kid, Lizzie McGuire and Disney were all the craze. Honestly, I think everyone wanted to be Lizzie McGuire at some point in their childhood. She had Gordo and Miranda, and then she even got a movie where she met a handsome Italian pop singer (who turned out to be terrible in the end, unfortunately) and she sang in front of thousands of people, and still got Gordo in the end. But mostly, I wanted to be Lizzie McGuire for one solid reason: that Vespa ride in The Lizzie McGuire Movie.
November 25, 2018 Travels from the Time Vault: Sweden Twelve years ago, my father received an email from a local hockey coach. We’d barely been in the Chicagoland area a year at this point, but the coach presented an idea worthy of consideration. In the spring, coincidentally during spring break, he was taking a team to Stockholm, Sweden, and he asked if we would be willing to participate. I’d be the only girl on an all boys team (and the first girl to every participate in the tournament), which to me, was just a small detail included in the entire offer. I’d stay with a host family and we’d be there for a whole week, taking in the Swedish culture, playing against Swedes and some Finnish players, and exploring the city. In my mind, it was a no brainer: we had to go. Luckily, everything checked out. Five months later, we gathered at the airport with the team and embarked for Arlanda International Airport.
November 21, 2018 Travels from the Time Vault: Greece When I was sixth grade, my history teacher introduced us about ancient civilizations. We learned about the rich ancient history in Africa, India, China, Aztec society, Incan society, and then we came to the Romans and the Greeks. I’ve always been fascinated by mythology, and Greek mythology is without a doubt my favorite. It was also around the same time that Rick Riordan released the first of his Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, which I still love to this day. I could open up one of those books now and feel the same amount of joy reading it as I did the first time I found them. Sixth grade was also the year that I traveled to Greece.
November 14, 2018 Travels from the Time Vault: London I don’t remember the first time I traveled to London, mostly because I was only an infant when my parents first took me. My father used to travel a lot with his business, so we went there frequently, as well as other places in Europe. We continued to go there when I was younger, until our family grew a little bit more and things busied up enough where we didn’t have the time. But we had our fair share of family adventures, most of the time accompanied by our favorite cab driver, Charles. It wasn’t until I was eleven that I ventured there on my own with a student group.
September 16, 2018 Crazy Girls Racing In the Rain A few weekends ago, the city of Taichung was informed that we would be having no work or classes. That meant for the first time in my entire time here, I had a three day weekend that wasn’t a scheduled holiday. Businesses and malls would be open, but I would not have anywhere or anyone to see. No classes to teach. Nothing. And ironically, it also happened to be the same week I finished my latest manuscript and had given myself a proper break from writing my books. I decided there was only one thing to do: reevaluate.
September 12, 2018 That Time We Stood On A Fortress About a year and a half ago, one of my best friends and I traveled by train down to Kaohsiung. We were going away for the weekend to the hottest city in Taiwan. It was, admittedly, the first time I had ever booked a hotel in my life without my mom or dad assisting. Aside from the moment I stepped away from my family at the airport two years ago, I like to think of that weekend in Kaohsiung as one of the first times I really felt like a responsible adult.
September 4, 2018 That Time I Helped Steal Santa Claus College in America tends to have this reputation for being quite scandalous: raging parties, crazy stories, plenty of laughs and ample tears, and the…
August 11, 2018 The #NoFilter Truth About Life Abroad I consider myself a rare breed of eccentric, seeing as I knew from a young age that somehow and in some way, I was…
