-
El Paso Trip Part One: The Colonias
It was a small trailer on a square piece of dirt. It certainly wasn’t what she had dreamed of when she had first come to the United States to stay with her mother, a citizen, but Soledad* owned the land and everything on it. Not ideal, but worth being proud of. Soledad had a quiet dignity that I had to admire. Serving us cookies from an old family recipe, she was insistent that she was the host and that we were her guests, reinforcing was Pastor Rosemary had told us before coming: With this service trip, we are here to learn from the people we talk to, not help them.…
-
How to Help a Foreigner Speak Your Language
You’d think, given the amount of people in the U.S. who insist they’re no good at languages, that no one would contest the difficulty of learning a new language. However, as always, there are indeed people who don’t react well to hearing a foreign accent or grammatical errors that seem blatant to them but wouldn’t to someone who is learning the language. I’m lucky enough to have been around plenty of non-native English speakers growing up; my parents have friends all over the world who often stop into our house for dinner, and although the town I live in is small, it’s the headquarters for a Fortune 500 company, making…
-
10 Hacks to Survive Long-Haul Flights
Just a few weeks ago I spend a total of 50 hours, yes **50 HOURS** travelling from the sunny Gold Coast, Australia to the snow and cold of Calgary, Canada. I’m not going to say it was the most fun I’ve ever had… but it definitely wasn’t the worst. So here are a few tips to Surviving Long-Haul Flights. Get that Netflix Account Stocked and Loaded! One of the best things you can do is to download the Netflix app onto your phone/ tablet and download hours worth of your favourite TV shows and movies. It will save you that extra bit of money you might’ve spent for on board…
-
5 Must See Australian Beaches
When I was 9 years old, my parents decided that my family was going to pack up our Gold Coast beach life and travel around Australia in a caravan for a year. Well, this turned into a 3 year adventure and now it is my official duty to report to you my top 5 Must See Australian Beaches (in no particular order).
-
18 Things to do in Boracay
As I sit here at the Singapore airport waiting for my flight home, it’s time to look back at all the wonderful things I’ve had the opportunity to do as yet another adventure comes to a close. Here is my top 18 things to do in Boracay and if brave enough, I challenge you to do the same! 1. Eva’s Fruit Shakes These fruit shakes were absolutely to die for! Eva’s pineapple/mango shakes were well worth the half hour walk from station 3 to station 1 almost every day. Of all the shakes we tried in Boracay, this P100 ($2.50 AUD) shake is definitely #1! (Bonus hint, the locals like…
-
Guanajuato, Santiago, and Widening Perspectives
Last year, around Christmas time, I spent three weeks in Guanajuato, Mexico. I stayed with the family of a close friend of mine who lives there. Fer and I met my senior year of high school, when my family decided to host a foreign exchange student for the academic year. We shared a room, and despite her annoyance at how much messier I am than she, we formed a tight sisterly bond. We often spent late nights discussing everything from drama at school to our feelings on social issues. One memory that particularly stands out is going to get coffee before school. On Mondays, the gas station Kwik Trip had…
