I feel like an ass every time I use the phrase, but since arriving in Medellín it’s gradually become a normal part of my speech. ‘Digital nomad‘ is the social media trendy way of referring to me and at least a couple hundred other mostly Westerners in Medellín and dozens of…
Bogotá is a city that, two years ago when I first left the Netherlands, I was hell-bent on living in. Colombians, backpackers, and Colombia-based expats all preached to me the gospel of Medellín, but I’d done my research and didn’t wanna hear it: I’d made…
Last week I wrote a post for the Language News blog about how to wake a sleeping language in your head. My inspiration was the fact that about a week and a half before leaving for Bogotá, Colombia, where I’m now drafting this blog post, I…
In October 2014, I left the Netherlands to move to Colombia. That quickly faded into backpacking overland from the US to Colombia, which turned into living in Mexico City for half a year, which turned into a lot of different and confusing things. Now, one…
At a recent family dinner while futily trying to explain to my grandparents what I ‘do’, I told my Papaw that I’m’moving to Colombia in January. He got all excited because he thought that meant I’d gotten a ‘real job’ there, so I let him down…
This isn’t the pretentious ‘global citizen’ that you hear in hostels from hipsters who think their own passport isn’t cool enough to warrant a straight answer when you ask where they’re from. I mean the actual philosophical, civic, and social idea of being a global citizen and…
Color me biased, but I think Florida gets such an undue bad rap these days. When I was a kid growing up outside Jacksonville, my home state was known for its beaches, great college football, awesome Cuban food (and Mexican food, and seafood in general),…
Language immersion is not only the best way to learn a new language, but also sort of the reason this blog exists. When I turned 21, I only spoke English, and one of the reasons was that I thought I’d just never have the time…
If you’ve ever taken a long-term backpacking trip or just been a poor college student in the US, you’re probably familiar with the horror and suffering known as the Greyhound bus. And if you’re a regular rider, the only hope for maintaining your sanity may lie in finding a seat…
I find it really silly and almost cute when people say that the United States has no culture. First of all, just on logical grounds that’s a ridiculous statement — the definition of ‘culture‘ is basically just all the stuff that happens when a group…
