Escaping City Boundaries
City or country?! Lying back in the sun, eyes closed with the breeze from the lake cooling me and listening to the band of crickets and cicadas, it’s hard to believe that I’m in the centre of Canada’s capital city. Living in Ottawa, we are spoilt for choice of where to escape the noises and heat of the city. Parks, lakes, rivers and beaches spread all over, waiting to be enjoyed and discovered. I love exploring these places, which makes... Read More
Facebook: A Reluctant Love Story
I held out for a long time. Years, even. I resisted MySpace, scoffed at Friendster and was stalwart in my conviction that Facebook was not something I needed in my life. “Why do I need Facebook to tell me what my friends are up to,” I reasoned, “when I talk to them all the time?” Even though my loved ones were scattered around the country, we did a pretty good job of staying in touch. Facebook just seemed like a burden, another thing to keep... Read More
The Road Less Traveled
http://www.joondalup.wa.gov.au/explore/libraries.aspx Somewhere ages and ages hence: Two roads diverged in a wood, and I— I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference. -“The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost (1874–1963) We’ve all heard this famous Robert Frost poem a thousand times, or at least at every school convocation and graduation we attend. Over the last century, this poem has been used symbolically... Read More
Where Were You When…?
Two weeks ago I was in Berkeley visiting a friend when I saw news coverage of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan. It’s amazing, the change that takes place in the two seconds which transfer you from ignorance to knowledge—or to try and say this more clearly: when I woke up that Friday morning, Japan was already experiencing the aftershocks that follow catastrophic natural disaster. Had I turned on the news on the car radio, or checked BBC news... Read More
Past, Present, Future
Four generations gathered for lunch. Two weeks before my seventeenth birthday, my Nana, aunt, and uncle took me on a ten-day trip to Paris. An enthusiastic French student, I was beyond thrilled to have the chance to visit the city’s famous landmarks for the first time, tour the Louvre and see the paintings that we’d studied in my classes, and spend some time abroad. I was also thrilled, of course, to spend some time with my family and... Read More
Kids and Travel
“Miss, when are you going home?” In the usual hustle and bustle of work, surrounded by students of all ages, I missed this question. But the 4th grader was persistent, “MISS, when are YOU going HOME?” I stopped and crouched down to better hear the kid and answer his question. ”Home?” I asked, “Well, I live in Chicago, just like you.” “No!” He said. ”Home to India?” I... Read More
Who Says You Can’t Go Home?
Food with my childhood friend, Liz, in Baltimore. Sometimes it's who you're with that really makes a place "home"... I’m driving from my mom’s house in Hanover, NH to my alma mater, Wellesley College, in Massachusetts after a pretty intense Thanksgiving road trip. The descent to North Carolina begins…again. On the radio– Bon Jovi’s “Who Says You Can’t Go Home”. Wish I could say I had a moment... Read More
Megan’s Top Ten of 2010
As challenging as 2010 was, I experienced some amazing things as a Go Girl. I celebrated one year as a writer for this fantastic online magazine with our year anniversary awhile back and with it a year of remembering all of the amazing places I have been. 2010 has also seen some beautiful adventures for me, so I figured that honoring 20-and-10 with my own top ten list would be just the thing. And so, in no particular order: 10. India- ten days... Read More
Ronda
Ronda was a surprise for all of us. It was a few days after Christmas, 2007, and my family was driving along the coast of Spain to celebrate in Malaga. I was so excited to experience a new part of the country, that I had been living in, with my mom, dad and little brother, that I had hardly researched where we were going at all. In fact, I remember being a little upset that we had to cram into a tiny car and go for a long drive on a curvy... Read More
Discovering the Beauty of Dependence
Dependence in action I had a revelation yesterday. Well, actually it began last Friday. Well, actually I’ve been piecing things together for the past several months, but didn’t begin to articulate it until yesterday. I was taking the subway home after a department dinner with my school when I began reflecting on my life in Korea, and how I may have changed as a person since leaving the States four months back. There are a couple... Read More
