Just before I left New York to study abroad for a full semester in Florence, Caryn introduced me to Girl in Florence - American expat ( & immigrant, as she often points out) who wound up in Florence and has become guru for all things Italian. I scoured through her blog, soaking up all of the recommendations … Continue reading Escaping Crowds: Going off the Beaten Path while Traveling
I've been applying to jobs semi-regularly lately and after I get a rejection letter from a job I didn't even really want in the first place/after an especially trying round of applications, I say "wait why don't I just teach in Italy? What's stopping me again?" Then, I remember............. The Visa (dun dun dun). So … Continue reading What’s a Girl Got to Do to Get a Visa Around Here?
I wish the title of this blog post could end with "from Mindy Kaling" period, as in I actually met her and didn't just read her second book "Why Not Me?" But sadly that dream is not crossed off my bucket list yet. I devoured her book in two days when I desperately needed a … Continue reading 4 Lessons from Mindy Kaling’s Memoir
Drunk and on my way home from my friend's house in Oltrarno to my house in Santa Croce, I stopped to sit on the bridge and look at the Ponte Vecchio while I FaceTimed my friend. A man on a bike rode by and we greeted each other and then he stopped. I hung up … Continue reading “You are not like other American girls; You are not scared.”
I watched Paper Towns, an American film adapted from a book. I've overheard arguments about this book among my friends years ago. Is it worth reading? Are the characters developed? Is it like all other John Greene books? This post is not any of those questions. This is an existential look at tourism and experience. … Continue reading Paper Towns and The Edge of Experience
I keep running list of titles of chapters for my memoir in the Notes section of my phone. However since a memoir seems too premature and too intensive than I'm really prepared to take on right now, they shall become blog posts. Here's the first. I had been thinking about taking a TEFL course for … Continue reading Crying Outside the Visa Office
I wish I could say that studying abroad in Florence was the best semester of my life -- that every moment was a dream and that I was never sad. However, I was in the process of losing my friend group, I was away from my parents for the longest time of my life and … Continue reading Beating the Blues Abroad
Hi friends! I have exactly one week left in Italy as of the time of writing this. How crazy. This month has gone by so so so quickly and I caught myself so many different times looking up at the buildings / sky / whatever in tears thinking "I am so grateful to be in … Continue reading Update From The Elusive/Distracted Nik
