What's next on your list?
Morocco, Jordan, Egypt and Turkey!
Where have you lived, worked or traveled abroad long-term?
I studied abroad in Santiago, Chile for five months; Havana, Cuba for two months, and I taught in Mérida, Mexico for nine months.
What was one of your most memorable travel experiences?
I hail from frigid Minnesota, so adjusting to the Yucatan’s tropical climate was no easy task. Though I eventually grew to love the sweltering temps and my breezy hamaca bed, the adjustment was certainly a struggle at first. In one of those first few weeks, after a particularly long day of sweating and errand-ing and general running around, I got on a packed bus and immediately knew my stomach wasn’t going to make it. In lieu of vomiting on my fellow bus passengers, I ubered home to get sick by my own sweet self. However, once I arrived, the owner of the house--who I had only just met days ago--took one look at me and beckoned me over to her room.
Bleary-eyed and croaking out incoherent Spanish, I laid down, signed a pair of forms (?) she had handed me, and tried not to question my life choices as she began wiggling my feet and placing heavy, rock-like objects on my legs, stomach, neck, and head. It was only later, once the heat sickness had dissipated and my Spanish was back in business, did I realize I had experienced my very first (and only!) session of magnetic therapy! Maybe it was placebo or the air conditioning or the thoughtful care of a near-stranger, but needless to say it worked like magic and I was up and going in no time!
Describe Your first experience traveling abroad:
My first stint abroad was spent in Chile, where I studied art, film, and Latin American literature in the country’s capital. It was a glorious 5-month experience in which much learning was done and much weight was gained (The avocados! The terremotos! I could not).
