Getting ready to head to the airport this afternoon to go to on a family trip to Amsterdam and Africa. We'll be in the Netherlands for 5 days, fly to Tanzania, and then go on safari for 2 more weeks. I'm so psyched about this trip! I've never been to Amsterdam and not stayed in very shady hostels, so at the very least it'll be nice not to have to sleep with my valuables under my pillow. And in Tanzania it's calving season which means lots of cute little baby animals, and lots of big predators ready to eat them.
My trip to NYC last week was a lot of fun, and a little surreal- it's a strange feeling being around Columbia with no work to do. It's like what I imagine going to state school would be like- getting up at 1, doing nothing till 4, and going out with friends every night. It did get old after, oh, a day, but it gave me time to see friends, relax, and soak up one last bit of Columbia before heading off for 7 months.
Home has been really boring (another reason why I can't wait to leave). I've been sick, which hasn't helped motivate me to do much, but still there's been nothing to do. My high school friends are back at school, the weather's been dreary, and all the shopping I needed to get done I did before going to NYC. A change of scenery will give me a kick in the ass to get stuff done.
Be back in 2 weeks, hopefully with some pictures and stories about fending off animal attacks.
Saturday, January 27, 2007
Thursday, January 18, 2007
Kicking things off
Welcome! I'm excited to finally join the 21st century and start my own blog. I can't promise any flashy graphics or cool add-ons (like "widgets," as the technorati calls them), but I'll do my best to keep it up-to-date, interesting, and readable.
My motivation to start this blog (other than being an exhibitionist) was to keep in touch with friends and family while studying abroad in Chile spring semester of 2007. Mass update emails are cool and all, but between collecting email addresses, remembering everything that I did and including those things in the email, actually writing the email, and dealing with the hurt feelings of people I forget to send it out to, it seemed a little much. Now I can post quick informal notes and pictures and let you guys drop in whenever it works for you. Convenient and fun for all, no?
I'm hoping that this blog lives past my time in Chile and becomes a general travel blog. I don't really plan to stop traveling after August, and I enjoy sharing what I see and experience with my friends and family (and, in the case of this blog, complete strangers, too), so hopefully this blog can be a place where I can post my travel pictures and stories for a long time to come. Not just international, exotic travel, either, but anything that takes me outside my element and into new surroundings- a subway adventure, for instance, or a stop at a roadside diner on a car ride. Don't count on me posting pictures from a 2 AM trip to Duane Reade for toothpaste, but don't be surprised if notes pop up about trips around NYC. I'm not entirely sure where the dividing lines between travel and the mundane lie, but maybe I'll be able to explore that in this blog.
Finally, the name. I gotta admit, I got kinda excited when I came up with it today (not coincidentally, after a trip on the subway). First off, it's a take-off of a song that I sang in high school and that I auditioned for Nonseq with. The "Stranger" part refers to that outsider feeling you get traveling around new and different places, when you're a stranger to local customs, geography, food, sleeping patterns, etc. Finally, I love riding the subways, especially on aimless trips around the city. Five points to whoever can find the subway-related inference in the name.
Anyways, I hope you guys find this blog interesting, readable, and a good way to keep in touch. If you have any comments or questions, please post them, and I'll try to respond as soon as I can. I'm not totally sure how often I'll be able to update while I'm in Chile, but I'll try to post something at least once a day. Of course, I write that as I'm sitting in a nice computer lab with reliable internet access, and I'm aware that things might not be the same down south, but bear with me.
Happy travels!
My motivation to start this blog (other than being an exhibitionist) was to keep in touch with friends and family while studying abroad in Chile spring semester of 2007. Mass update emails are cool and all, but between collecting email addresses, remembering everything that I did and including those things in the email, actually writing the email, and dealing with the hurt feelings of people I forget to send it out to, it seemed a little much. Now I can post quick informal notes and pictures and let you guys drop in whenever it works for you. Convenient and fun for all, no?
I'm hoping that this blog lives past my time in Chile and becomes a general travel blog. I don't really plan to stop traveling after August, and I enjoy sharing what I see and experience with my friends and family (and, in the case of this blog, complete strangers, too), so hopefully this blog can be a place where I can post my travel pictures and stories for a long time to come. Not just international, exotic travel, either, but anything that takes me outside my element and into new surroundings- a subway adventure, for instance, or a stop at a roadside diner on a car ride. Don't count on me posting pictures from a 2 AM trip to Duane Reade for toothpaste, but don't be surprised if notes pop up about trips around NYC. I'm not entirely sure where the dividing lines between travel and the mundane lie, but maybe I'll be able to explore that in this blog.
Finally, the name. I gotta admit, I got kinda excited when I came up with it today (not coincidentally, after a trip on the subway). First off, it's a take-off of a song that I sang in high school and that I auditioned for Nonseq with. The "Stranger" part refers to that outsider feeling you get traveling around new and different places, when you're a stranger to local customs, geography, food, sleeping patterns, etc. Finally, I love riding the subways, especially on aimless trips around the city. Five points to whoever can find the subway-related inference in the name.
Anyways, I hope you guys find this blog interesting, readable, and a good way to keep in touch. If you have any comments or questions, please post them, and I'll try to respond as soon as I can. I'm not totally sure how often I'll be able to update while I'm in Chile, but I'll try to post something at least once a day. Of course, I write that as I'm sitting in a nice computer lab with reliable internet access, and I'm aware that things might not be the same down south, but bear with me.
Happy travels!
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