A word on mosquito bites and family as a way to sum up the Mayan Empire
By Karla

Four days into my trip to my father’s homeland, Guatemala, we go to the most beautiful terrain I have ever seen. A mix between jungle and forest, parrots flying past me, butterfly’s the size of your hand, and the buzzing of insects. At some point we stop in what can only be described as a Lychee forest, huge lychee everywhere in tons of different colors, lots of yellows, reds, red with green …

When the going gets tough…
By Erica
End of April, 2007: the end of the shittiest semester of my life. In the past four months, I’ve practically given myself Generalized Anxiety Disorder, lost one of my best friends, jeopardized my relationship with my partner, cried myself to sleep in the evenings, been unable to sleep through the night, and dealt with the seemingly constant onslaught of questions. Where will I go after graduation in a year? What do I want to do with my life? Where will I be this summer? What …

Comfort Zone
By Steph
I had always considered myself an avid traveler, taking courageous leaps and bounds traveling to countries other members of my family had never been to before. South America, Central America, the United Kingdom! All glorious places sharing one advantageous factor in common: I could speak the native language.  How easy it for ignorance to turn in to arrogance when the language barrier is not an issue. I could hear the proverbial breaks screeching in my head as I stepped off the train at the city I would now …

What A Trip!
Aeroflot to Russia: Where Time Flies and Anything Goes
By Linda Smolkin, Guest Contributor
When I was planning my first trip to the former Soviet Union, I needed the advice of an Eastern European specialist. “What’s more important – cost or comfort?” the travel agent asked. When I told her cost, she quickly answered, “Aeroflot is the way to go. It’s much cheaper than flying with other airlines.”
For no good reason, I wasn’t crazy about flying the Russian airline. But, as long as I didn’t have to stand up or …

…Just Looking For Love
By Beth
It was raining.
I remember the rain the most, because I had been determined to go even despite the foul weather. It had stopped everyone but me.
That’s right: me, it would not stop. So I went on my adventure alone.
The town was called Montemor-o-Velho, roughly translated to something that what was derived from “The Old Mountain and Wall.” And that’s what it was, a few houses skirting a hill with a castle on top. The stone wall on the old mountain. A speck in the distance from …

Lost in Paris
By Emily
I was in Paris for the first time ever, staying with a host family in a little suburb called Le Vesinet. Each day I was to take a train to Paris where I would attend classes and visit cultural sites. Our host families were instructed to walk us to the train station our first morning in France so we’d know the correct path, but my host mother was in a rush,  so she drove me and my roommate instead, verbally explaining how the path would be a …

WWOOFing in Catalunya
By Megan
Señor Cufi and I were not on good terms the summer morning I hiked away from his farm in Comàs, Spain.  He had refused to give me a ride into town to catch the morning bus from Banyoles, a twenty-minute drive, after spending a week living and working with him.  The six-mile hike down the mountain paths took a little under two hours and, regardless of the 5.30am wake-up and rude host, was actually quite beautiful.  In fact the entire week was filled with gorgeous vistas, naps taken …

Half-Naked Up a Mountain
By Lillie
Catch more of her adventures at http://lmarshallworld.blogspot.com
Tuesday, September 8, 2009

For the first time in my entire life (excluding wee, wee infancy), I am NOT starting school today, this Tuesday after Labor Day. Wow. Today, for the first time, I am NOT a student, and NOT a teacher. Rather, I am just me, sitting on the porch of my $7 bungalow on a Thai beach, blasting Toto’s 80’s ballad, “Winds Down in Africa” to ease the aches of my ridiculous misadventure today.

Pause: HUGE SHOUT-OUT TO BOSTON …

WE DID IT!!
Welcome to our first-ever OFFICIAL Go Girl post!!
We’re starting today off with a pretty unique series of postings, all to hit you throughout the day. They are our “stories of woe and whoa“, or rather, some of the most juicy, exciting, crazy, scary adventures that each of us writers have come across. Get to know us, revel (in either excitement or in fear) in our independent womanhood and feel our experiences as if they were your own.
Whether it’s being attacked by wild monkeys, finding yourself lost in Paris …