After leaving Houston to go to college in North Carolina, I realized how deep and vast the misconceptions about my hometown were. When people imagined Houston, they pictured a desert with cacti and tumbleweeds. At best, they pictured a town flooded with cowboys spitting tobacco and making their way to markets on horseback. Until Hurricane…
Category: Travel
Should you hike Angels Landing?
The Zion National Park trail Angels Landing received its name in 1916 when a passing group commented that it was so high that only angels could land there. This trail has gained massive popularity over the years and thousands of hikers take on the challenge every season. Those who want to hike Angels Landing have…
Places I go near Chapel Hill when I want to get away
Chapel Hill, North Carolina is a lovely college town often graced with beautiful weather and scenery. After spending nearly four years here, I have found countless tasty bites, reading nooks, and relaxing natural areas. I feel lucky to spend a bit of my life here. But that doesn’t mean I don’t want to get away…
My first glance at Berlin, Germany
From the moment I stepped into SFX, the international airport located in the southern outskirts of Berlin, I knew Germans had a unique relationship with their electronics. There were cafes selling croissants with apricot jams, mall-like areas glowing with chocolates wrapped in gold foils and “I heart Berlin” refrigerator magnets, and baristas with hair back…
From EMT School to Polo Fields — Why all your experiences matter
I often hear classmates and co-workers grieving their “wasted time” at internships or in classes that don’t align with their current dream job and ambitions. It’s frustrating to think about what could have been done with that time, and what doors those “more useful” experiences could have opened. It’s even worse for students who are…
The problem with scratch-off maps
I know you’ve seen them — those world maps advertised on Instagram and Facebook that can be scratched with coins to indicate which countries a person has visited. They come in a variety of colors, some featuring flags or stereotypical symbols of the region. Many are advertised in frames to suggest that a well-scratched map…