I’m borrowing a phrase from an Instagram post I saw years ago: a girl learns unconditional love from the cat she gets in her twenties. I was nineteen when I got Boo—when Boo came to me—as I was doing college online from my childhood bedroom in Texas. Those were the days when we disinfected our groceries and left them to boil in the garage for two days before we brought them inside. Boo and her sister, Roo, were fosters at first. A friend had connected me with a waitress a

note: I did pay all of the street musicians I photographed here What makes somebody decide to become a street musician? That question makes it sound like “street musician” is a career choice. And maybe for some people it is. But I don’t mean it like that here; I mean, what makes somebody take their instrument out and plant themselves somewhere in public and start to play? There were a lot of street musicians in Riga, more than I’ve seen in any other city this trip. Part o

For someone who finds a lot of joy in solitude, I am terrified of loneliness. I’ve always enjoyed time alone. As a little girl, I spent hours entertaining myself in my room, and an as adult, I love a day by myself, going for walks and reading in coffee shops. I obviously love to travel alone, exploring new places with just me, myself, and I. But I would be lying if I said that I never used solitude as a shield to protect myself from loneliness. Loneliness comes, not from phys

Twelve years ago, I went to the doctor and my life changed forever. Here’s the summary: I started getting thirsty and hungry all the time, and I was peeing constantly and losing weight. My mom finally took me to the pediatrician, who tested my blood sugar and cried as she told me that I had type 1 diabetes, that I needed to go to the emergency room. I have good memories of the ER. Mostly I remember the nurses telling me I had pretty hair. It was only once I was settled in a

I’ve been gone for three and a half weeks now, and on some days homesickness creeps in like condensation on the windows of the ferry...

Farsi shirin ast. فارسی شیرین است. In my first week of Persian 101, my professor told us that this is what Farsi speakers in Iran say of...

I am really proud of the title of this post, because it's funny, but it's also painfully true. I'm not glamorous in the slightest. I...

I switched my second major from Psychology to Religious Studies about six months ago for a few different reasons. First, RELI classes are...

Before coming to Denmark, the only alcohol I’d ever consumed was a sip of my dad’s cabernet sauvignon at Christmas. It was disgusting. I...