Walking through a college campus, I always smell a hint of cloves. I can't help but be surprised that people still smoke them -- I was similarly surprised to discover people smoked them at all. The first time I encountered clove cigarettes, in the first few furious days of freshman year, I thought they might …
Mr Brightside
Whenever the song by the Killers, 'Mr Brightside,' comes on, I am suddenly 18 again and waking up in my dorm room in Los Angeles as it plays on my radio alarm clock. I am not hungover – I didn't drink my freshman year – but I am exhausted from refusing to turn down any …
Roman Holiday
You know that moment when you revisit something – or somewhere – that you loved as a child only to discover it's not exactly how you remembered it? The first time I watched Roman Holiday was in preparation for my first trip out of the country. I was 11 and my extend family was going to …
Unromantic Paris
Allow me to disabuse you: being broke in Paris is not romantic.When you look at your bank account and the euros in your wallet and realize you cannot make rent and still eat, there is nothing romantic about it. When you wander around the streets for hours on end in search of nowhere in particular, …
The Speech I Gave at My Grandfather’s Funeral Last Week
When I think of my grandfather, I think of his deep, melodic voice, like a chord reverberating on a bass. I can't recall him ever raising it – in my memory, he is a solid presence, a tall, strong man who didn't need to shout to make it clear that he was in charge, that …
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Musings on a Life of Travel
Crisis averted. Welcome to the ups and downs of my life. Now you now what it's really like living the jet-setting life: terrifying. You've been warned. You've tasted the depths of my despair. One day you'll be walking on air, the next day you'll be plummeted into hopelessness so deep you want to disappear under …
