The beginning of something beautiful

We started with a blank slate. I can't think of many times in life that this happens -- everyone being on the same level, all being equally vulnerable, and having all the power in your control to be the person you want to be with the future you want. I look at my calendar and count the days... Exactly 7 weeks since I walked onto INSEAD's grounds and the doors were opened to a world I had yearned for.

Backtrack to 1-2 weeks earlier. I was scrambling to get all the last minute things done and organized before leaving the wonderful city of Cincinnati, where I had built my personal empire of the life I wanted until then. In Cincinnati, I became a grown up. Here I learned to live on my own, be responsible, get up early enough to make it to work by 8 (usually...), buy my own condo and car, create a business, and proactively make the best friends one could find in this town. And with their amazing help and support, I was able to depart from Cincinnati, albeit in a somewhat disheveled form. I know what you non-Cincinnatians are thinking... "Cincinnati? Really?" Really. I fell in love with my Middle-of-Nowhere City and its people and could not imagine a better past 5 years. Thank you!

Then there was the Trip of Hell. Flying out of Chicago, 7 hour layover in London, flying to Milan, waiting at the bus station for 9 hours, a 15 hour bus ride (with many, many stops) to Paris, and finally the train ride to Fontainebleau. And this all with 100 lbs of luggage. Since joining business school, I've learned about Opportunity Costs. The savings weren't worth it. Neverdoingthatagain. #endfirstworldproblemrant

As for life in Fontainebleau, it's as idyllic as it can get. You know the opening scene to Beauty & the Beast with Belle singing "Little Town"? Sometimes I burst into those lyrics while skipping through the cobblestone streets, passing the bakeries, chocolate shops, butcher, and cheese stores. Men with baguettes, ladies in heels with babystrollers, old people walking their tiny dogs. I live a scenic 35 minute walk away from school. I had considered getting a bike (this is where my old friends will freak out and scream, "HOLY CRAP, NO, NADIA! DON'T DO IT! YOU WILL DIE!"... and you are right. So I decided not to.), but love the walk to remind myself daily of where I'm living and loving it.



School life has been intense. A whole new lifestyle that I've never experienced before. In college, I studied to get by, to pass the test, and the next day I would forget almost everything. I'm here to actually WANT to learn and retain knowledge for a job that I hope I will love. My days are filled with professors with funny accents, trying to find an available Break Out Room to do my homework in (but distracting myself with the internet instead), getting my tea fixes in little paper cups in between classes to help stay awake (I really need to get a reusable bottle...), counting the number of times the German Finance professor says "Hokay!", a spread of class notes I try to organize at my locker, fighting with the printers in the Library, eating delicious cheap cafeteria food (surprisingly, I'm not being sarcastic), becoming loopy after spending hours on homework with my work group, and unwinding at one of the many bars that INSEADers decide to take over.

And then there are the weekends. Time to catch up on work, catch up on sleep, catch up on life outside of INSEAD? Nope. We go to ridiculous parties at chateaus, we go to Oktoberfest in Munich, we go wine tasting in Bordeaux, we go champagne tasting in Champagne, we spend 48 hours at entrepreneurship bootcamps. This life is addictive and I can't stop. And in these 8 weeks, I've been lucky to have had 4 friends come visit me already :)

Only about 9 months of INSEAD are left... I'm already getting sad about that. I feel like I'm on the brink of it all... new friendships, new experiences, new life. Yesterday I committed to going to the Singapore campus for January-July. I know this is what I wanted, but as I was on the application page, I hovered over the "Submit" button for a while. Will my Singapore experience be as great as the one here? It's almost hard to imagine. I've stumbled upon something so beautiful.

Still so many things to do! Lisbon this weekend, exploring more of France, a Social Impact Trek to London, seeing the Northern Lights, maybe a trip to Morocco, Corsica, Egypt, Barcelona... And the homework and tests...

I hope I can stay afloat :)

Holy motherload of changes

Ack ack ack... I'm way behind on this. One of the purposes of keeping this blog was to help me remember my travels and now as I sit here, I'm already forgetting the travels that have happened since the last entry...

But I don't have time right now! Why? Because I'm a full time student and still figuring out this crazy lifestyle :P And I have a quiz tomorrow that I should  be studying for, so should stop distracting myself (How did I get on this site in the first place?!).

But I'm in France now. Living. And loving it. And was in Bordeaux for fun last weekend. And had a crazy ridiculous travel experience of how I got to France in the first place. And before that, I was in Atlanta at one point visiting Ryan. And maybe other stuff that I can't remember now...

All that has got to wait for now. I'll be back! Au revoir!

A gelato a day...

After my stint in Germany, I had some business to take care of in France aaaaand then just vacationing in Italy, since I'm already on that side of the pond...

*4 Days in Paris & Fontainebleau*

Since I'm moving to Fontainebleau for school in the Fall, wanted to go check out my future living situations and take care of rental contracts and whatnot. After the 12 hour bus ride from Munich (14 hours, actually, with multiple stops and having to change buses in the middle of the night... whaaaat? That's what a 15 Euro bus ticket gets ya. Guess I can't complain), I met up with Kim & Guillaume in Paris. After the start of a romantic affair, Kim moved to Paris to be with her guy for a year. They live in an adorable apartment in the city where I had the honor of gracing their couch while I stayed with them :) After meeting up with some fellow INSEADers starting with me for lunch, we walked around and ate French pastries and sweets (the reasons I'll get fat while I'm studying there...). Didn't really do anything touristy this time around, but was more in the mood to hang out with friends anyway. Also met up with Frederic and went wine tasting on a boat in the canal with his friends before a nyummy Cambodian dinner! 

Headed to the train station to catch a train to Fontainebleau, and after the ticket machines not accepting my money and the ticket office being closed, I was advised to "just go" because they were on a strike anyways and there wouldn't be any attendants. Hmm. Oh Europe and their strikes. Got into Fontainebleau late and after realizing there were NO buses or taxis available, I approached the only person there who gave me a ride to where I needed to be (after negotiating on a price for a bit). I show up at the house of INSEAD students where I would be staying and am greeted with friendly welcomes and wine -- it's "Italian Week" after all... i.e. more excuses to drink wine. In whatever state they were in, they gave me wonderful advice of the do's and don'ts at INSEAD ("DON'T go to THIS bootcamp, but DO go to that one", "DO try to take the class with THIS professor", "DO get a car", "DON'T sleep with the professors"). Ha. Either way, great sneak peak into the life I will be living in about 2 months time. I think I need to prep my liver...

The next morning I headed out to the INSEAD campus to check it out. A little drizzly of a day, but nothing a raincoat couldn't handle. I was impressed by the facilities and the openness of the place. Ran into a few students I had met the night before and felt comfortable roaming these halls -- good feeling :) Afterwards, I headed into the main part of town to go talk to my new bank. Passed the local bakery, butcher, pastry shop, cafes, and got excited about living my life in such an idyllic little French town for a while. After the bank, I strolled into the Palace of Fontainebleau, which was home to many French monarchs (including Napoleon) since the 1600s. Ridiculously impressive, including its gardens and lakes. Living here while going to INSEAD would have been suitable ;) However, I then went to see where I would ACTUALLY be residing -- cute little 2 bedroom apartment and met my lovely landlady, who knows NO English. The place comes furnished, but imagine me trying to ask whether I'd have to bring my own bedsheets (a lot of arm waving, drawing out a bed, enacting being asleep and pulling the covers...). I then waited 2.5 hours at the train station for the train back to Paris (damn strike...). All in all though, I'm glad I got to go see what Fontainebleau was like and cannot wait to move there!

Back in Paris, we got some Mexican food (legit, too!) and ate at the edge of a canal. Preetty sure this was the location of where Amelie was skipping stones, too (anyone?). Watched Marie Antoinette (how fitting) and called it a night. The next day I had a flight out of Beauvais (note: RyanAir, this is NOT in Paris...).

*5 Days in Cinque Terre (and Pisa)*

Cinque Terre had been on my bucket list since I first heard about it from Lynn and Jimmy. "Villages on cliff coasts", "no cars", "breathtaking", "hiking between towns" were all used in describing it to me and adding to its appeal. Flew into Pisa and spent the night there (had some amazing gigantic sized pizza) and caught the train to Corniglia, where our rented apartment was for the next few days. Corniglia is the third of the 5 villages and, in my mind, the perfect one to overnight in -- less touristy: it doesn't have easy access to beaches and isn't as picturesquely scenic as some of the other ones, therefore also quieter and cheaper. It's also located at, what feels like, a bajillion steps up from the train station, so always a nice hike up ;) Bought some pasta, pesto, and prosciutto and ate our dinner on the terrace overlooking the Mediterranean and 2 of the other villages.

The next morning we set out in one direction and hiked to Vernazza and Monterosso. Beautiful hike. Granted, out-of-shape-me had to catch my breath a few times with all the upward hikes and steps, but worth it. Passed some amazing flora, creeks, waterfalls, vineyards. Made our way passed a couple of old time towers and down into the village that lies at a harbor: Vernazza. The colorful boats being docked at the little harbor with the bright painted buildings in the background just added to the magnificence of this picture. First things first, I had to get my gelato fix (not lying in my title...) and then got some delicious seafood prawn for lunch. Next town up was Monterosso, perhaps the busiest of the villages because of its pristine black sand beaches. Here we found ourselves some beach chairs and an umbrella and treated ourselves to some beach as reward for all the hiking. Then ate more gelato... and took the train back to Corniglia. Back there, got some mojitos at a bar where all the locals ended up to unwind.


The next day the plan was to hike the other way, to Manarola and Riomaggiore; however, our path soon got blocked by "no trespassing" signs... which we decided to ignore. And this is where it happened. Since our path was blocked, we went down to the beach area and climbed some boulders to get to the other side. Slippery boulders. And so I slipped and fell into the Mediterranean with my phone in my pocket. Any pictures here on out were taking with Gearoid's iphone... We then ran into a half hanging bridge, which we pulled ourselves across from and were more than halfway to the next town when we finally ran into a construction worker that was fixing up a landslide. A "tsk tsk" and a waving finger indicated we had reached our end and had to turn back around. So close. Went back to the train station and took the train there instead. Manarola is the 2nd smallest of the villages and dazzling as it hangs off the cliffs. Got our lunch and of course some gelato before heading to Riomaggiore, where we relaxed our muscles on the hot stone beach before heading back to Corniglia for the night.

Made our way back to Pisa (slowly) the next day because we had an early flight out of there to Catania in Sicily. On the train back, we passed some mountains with what looked like were covered in snow. That seemed weird... Oh. Salt mines. Makes more sense. 

*4 Days in Sicily*

Rented a car in Catania and made our way to our hostel (I have excellent co-pilot skills ;)). Fun place, right next to the daily fish market and center of town. THIS is where the stereotypical hand-waving-yelling-burly Italians come from! The fish market was a scene to observe -- fish getting tossed around, early vendors bidding on the catch of the day, and every type of edible (and not so edible) fish you could think of. Catania itself was a surprise to me (granted, I'd done NO research on Sicily) -- big town, beautiful old buildings, amphitheaters, ...and excellent gelato. And arancinis! Delicious fried rice balls with different yummy matters inside (meat, or mushroom, or pistachio,...). Since we got in early and are typical tourists, we wanted to squeeze as much as possible into the day, so we headed south to Ragusa, Scicli, and Modica (all recommended by the hostel receptionist for being quaint cute towns... and Modica being famous for chocolate, so obvious stop for me). We arrived in Ragusa during siesta time (is it called 'siesta' in Italy too?) so the city seemed deserted. Good for people-less photo opps though as we wandered by churches, parks, cheese shop (wine infused cheese was delicious!), and ate gelato. Next stop: Scicli, the smallest of the three. Laid in between hills and valleys, there were dwellings IN THE HILLSIDE! BLEW my mind -- the most exciting thing I'd seen all day. I mean, how cool is that?!?! Last and most important stop was Modica... for the chocolate. Checked out L'Antica Dolceria Bonajuto, the oldest chocolatier in the area that has been using the same recipe since the 1800s! Had some of ALL the samples, then bought a bar of the orange peel infused chocolate. Nom. 

To counter all the gelato and chocolate, we hiked Mt Etna the next day. I won't lie. I think I'm seriously out of shape with how pathetically exhausted I felt starting to climb that thing. I could blame it on the bad shoes (no traction, not hiking shoes), but in the end... 80% me. Worth it though. Got to the top to see the active crater with sulfur gas spewing out. Oh and on the way up, there were ladybugs EVERYWHERE! Millions! Burrowed in the black volcanic ash. Quite cool. Being covered in volcanic ash, sulfur, and dirt (and my shoes carrying half of the volcano in them), we headed to Taormina -- a popular tourist destination perched on a hill overlooking the ocean (picturesque, naturally). Walked the cobble stone streets lined with fancy retail shops and cafes and then headed back to Catania for the night.

Next day, drove to Palermo. While we hadn't received the best reviews about Palermo from friends and locals (a bigger, more industrious city), it definitely still has character too. While this may represent the tougher, "dirtier" side of Sicily, we got to experience some awesome street food prepared on grills out in the open (stuffed intestines, meat on a stick, etc.), and found out that the cheapest way of getting booze at all hours of the night is not by going to a grocery store, but knocking on an old lady's shutters and getting big bottles of beer for a euro (no tax). The city's got its fill of cultural establishments too: grandiose theaters, palaces, and archways. A fun city to walk around and eat in.

Off the western coast of Sicily, lie 3 small islands, called the Egadi islands. We drove to Trapani, then took a ferry to the biggest of the 3: Favignana. Beautiful coastlines and the limited use of cars made this a relaxing spot for a beach day. Waters were turquoise blue and clear. Afterwards, we made use of the 5 Euro happy hour drink specials that included free snack buffet (uh, free dinner!) and then took the ferry back.

The next morning was a scramble. RyanAir, you can suck it sometimes. And here's why. We both had early morning flights out of "Palermo", but after following airport signs that were taking us to an airport called Falcone-Borsellino, we decided to turn back around towards Palermo. After all, google maps was showing there WAS an airport right next to the city. Turns out it was a private airport. RyanAir, Falcone-Borsellio is NOT Palermo. So we went back that way. Gearoid was cutting it uber close, so he jumped out in time to catch his flight while I looked around for a gas station to fill up the tank for the rental car (my flight was an hour later). In the end, all worked out. But seriously, RyanAir. Stop pretending.

*2 days in Bergamo & Milan*

...On that topic of RyanAir, I flew to "Milan" because my flight back to the US would be from there 2 days later. Didn't fly into Milan. It was Bergamo. An hour north of Milan. However, for once, RyanAir redeemed itself in its surprise of airports-that-aren't-actually-where-they-say-they-are because I fell in love with Bergamo. A couchsurfer from there had invited me to stay (he was hosting 4 other people) and so instead of heading straight to Milan, I decided to stay a day and night. Best decision ever. Wandered into the old town, which was laid out with its cobblestone roads (I have a thing for cobblestone roads) and old buildings and castles with flowers in all colors flowing over its edges. The smell of jasmin was everywhere in that town. Cafes, parks, and the botanical garden were filled with meandering people enjoying the scenery. In the old town center with its churches and palaces, were two museums free and open to the public: the archaeological museum of Bergamo and the natural science museum. I checked out both. Wandered the streets some more, going in and out of various shops -- cheese, chocolate (duh), pizza, gelato (duh again). What a time not to have a camera on me... every 5 seconds I wanted to take a picture, but at least this forced me to breathe in the moment. 

The next day I headed to Milan and, besides the grand central train station and church in the center, I wasn't all too impressed. Big city, less character. Still a good way to wind down the trip though. Ate gelato ;)

The hostel I stayed in was a clusterfuck. They charged me 4 Euros extra for bed linens. When I said I could sleep in my sleeping bag, they said that wasn't an option. Mold in the bedrooms, paper-thin walls (yay for hearing the couple in the room next to us all night long), bathrooms were the epitome of disgusting, and since I didn't have a phone, I had to rely on the front desk guy to wake me up at 6am. That didn't happen. Thankfully I barely slept, so I got up at 5:30am and when I left at 6:05, he was still hard asleep and snoring at his desk. Ha. Oh well, we all need those experiences to tell good stories later ;)

When I got back home, I weighed myself. I weighed the exact same as when I had left. Either I hiked too much or I didn't eat enough gelato...

Family, friends, and fun in Munich

My awesome cousin Anne was getting married to an equally awesome Sebastian in Munich and that's more than reason enough to go there. The initial plan was then to stick around Europe afterwards until school started in August, but mini anxiety attacks were telling me I needed to go back to Cincy first and enjoy the summer there before I left :) Of course once in Europe, it'd be a shame to not travel around a little...

*5 Days in Munich*

My first time in Munich and had always wanted to go. For my first night here, Anne had insisted I stay with them even though they were in the midst of planning a wedding <3. I got in around 10 and since Anne wouldn't be finished with work til 4:30, I took one of those Free Walking Tours to get my tourism on. 3 1/2 hours of cool information and walking around the city, as well as making friends with Mandisa, a fun South African :) Churches, monk history, Nazi history, brewery history, we got it all.

Met up with Anne and after dropping off my baggage and enjoying drinks on her terrace, met up with their friends for dinner (had the most giant schnitzel ever) and went to a concert. Of course wonderful people have wonderful friends ;) Having flown in that day after 13 hours of travel, I felt a little wobbly at the concert and my eyes kept wanting to close despite the good show. We came home around midnight and I crashed hard.

As true Bavarian style, Anne and Sebastian made sure to have Weisswurst and pretzels for breakfast. Nom. Bring on the high caloric food. I'm on vacation.

Headed to my CS host (Patrick)'s place, who showed me a fantastic time in Munich with his friends. First day we lounged at the English Gardens, met up again with Anne and co. at a biergarten, then headed to a bar and a student party. ..it was a 5 am kinda night. Haven't done one of those in a while.

...Except then again the next night: Anne and Sebastian's wedding celebration (they had gotten officially married on the Zugspitze, the highest point in Germany). Got to see and catch up with my family that I hadn't seen in a while, meet cool people, and danced the night away until, you guessed it, 5 am. When I headed back to Patrick's, it was already surprisingly super light out. Helped me not getting lost.

For the friends and family that were still around the next day (and weren't still recovering), brunch was held at noon. I felt half alive at that point. Headed back for a much needed nap before meeting up with people again for dinner, the last of the wedding related festivities :) After another typical Bavarian meal (Schweinsbraten with sauerkraut and knoedel), we topped it off with a couple of beers and called it a night.

The next morning I was able to meet up with Michael, my brother, who I hadn't seen in a couple of years! Every other weekend he flies back home to Hamburg after working in Augsburg and taking the train to Munich, so we met at the train station and caught up over breakfast and drinks.

This was definitely a family-filled vacation and I loved that I got to see so many of my relatives in such a short time. I don't get that opportunity a lot (yay for weddings). Hopefully once I'm in France, I'll be able to visit them more, and likewise, hope they'll come visit me.

Patrick took me to the bus station and just as the bus was about to take off, Anne shows up on the bus! She had come to deliver shot glasses that they had engraved for the wedding that not all the guests had gotten. Super sweet of her, I can't believe she did that <3

So now I'm on my way to Paris on a 13 hour bus ride (ooy). Get to see Kim again and take care of some business for school while I'm there. Then it's off to Italy for 9 days! More updates to come :)

Mom & I go Country, Rock, and Soul

A few years ago, my mom and I started a tradition of marking things off her bucket list for her birthday each year. This year's item was: Experience the Music in Nashville & Memphis.

Mom flew into Nashville on a Tuesday, where I picked her up after my drive down from Cincy and dropped off our stuff at Ralph's, who we'd be staying with for our time there. Ralph was my neighbor my last 2 years in Austin, who ventured to Nashville (with a pitstop in Cincy at one point ;)) for bigger and better things :) Then first things first: BBQ time. Headed to Wild Horse Saloon for some brisket and pulled pork buns and thankfully left just before they were going to start making us do two-step on stage ;) Went back home, met Ralph's wonderful roommie Jim, and then they took us out to 5 Points for some great live music and cheap beers!

The next day before we headed out to do our touristy sightings, our musical trip became even more complete with Ralph's drumming lessons. Note: I can't multitask. Apparently. Then headed to the Grand Ole Opry... whiiiich, honestly, kinda a disappointment. 1) New mall-like building (there's actually a mall next to it), 2) You're not even allowed to go inside without a ticket to a 'spensive show or a $30 "tour ticket", and 3) tours were cancelled that day for a private event anyway. Pshh. So the highlight was rummaging around their gift shop. Dissatisfied with THIS Grand Ole Opry, we realized what we were looking and hoping for was the Ryman Auditorium, where the Grand Ole Opry radio show FIRST debuted in this once-congregation-hall. Bam. Way more impressive. THIS was where all the country stars became famous and it became known as the "Mother Church of Country Music". 

We hit up Broadway st, and after getting ice cream and shakes at Diana's Old Time Sundae Parlor, deciding not to spend more money at the Country Hall of Music Museum (we only had half an hour left anyway), we plopped ourselves down at Tootsie's, got some beers, and listened to a red-headed country singin' gal and some impressive fiddle music. Too bad I forgot my country boots.

We had promised the boys dinner for their hospitality, so we hit up Kroger, and mom made her famous chilli dinner for them (enough to feed 8). Another night of good quality late night chats, then we hit the sack.

Our last day in Nashville, the boys joined us to the Belle Meade Plantation, which is known for owning horses that spawned many of the famous Derby winners. We toured the mansion and its grounds, tasted their wines at the winery, then headed out to Memphis. Crazy rain storms hit us while we were driving, where I think I was drifting more than my wheels were on the ground. Eek. Got to our hotel in Downtown Memphis and thankfully we had bought a bottle of champagne prior in order to toast to mom's birthday at midnight :)

The next morning we make our way to see the Peabody ducks. Cutest. thing. ever. For the past 50+ years, there's been a "duckmaster" that leads the ducks from their "penthouse" to the elevator to the fountain in the lobby. Adorbs. We then make our way to the Rock n Soul Museum, which besides all the information and history on the music, had a collection of old time jukeboxes since the 1930s. Neat!

Then... it's Graceland time. What my mom's been waiting for ;) The mansion itself is pretty modest (compared to today's lavish mansions) and you get a good feel of what Elvis was like at home. In the end, he was just a small town boy who wanted the best for his momma. Well... and then owning over 40 cars later. And 2 planes. After Graceland (and its many many exhibits -- kinda has that Disney feel to it), we hit up Sun Studios -- where it all started for Elvis, BB King, and so many others. This was my favorite part of the day. It's riveting to be in the same space where prior "nobodies" recorded their first songs. So cool.

For dinner, we ate at a Chinese restaurant where our waiter was Balinese and mom got to practice her Indonesian (and I got to understand about 50% of it!), and then headed to Beale st for some more live music. However, we didn't stick around too long... being a tourist is exhausting, so we called it a night ;)

On our way back to Cincy, we spent a night with mom's old childhood friend in Clarksville, IN, and were spoiled by them. More birthday celebrations and then the next day headed home!

We took a one-day break, then headed to Berlin, OH with Kris & Maria for Amish country. Turns out it's not so Amish after all. Amish women driving cars, cheese factory with electricity and machines, and hardly any buggies. Whaat the hell. *Disappointed in the unfulfilled stereotypes*. Oh but still a fun time with friends. ...And we stopped at a vineyard on the way home, so that helped ;) 

My Destination's "Biggest Baddest Bucket List" Travel Competition

Here's where I make a complete fool out of myself. Vote for me please! :D

                               

Retirement Trip Close-out

Tonight marks 2 weeks since I've been back from my trip. It always fascinates me how fast everything goes back to "normal" and I just cue in to this rotating wheel of society that's of course been running without me :) Hello freezing weather. There's some faint memory of me being on a beach not too long ago ;)

So quick recap of the end of my trip, and well, everything... 

Bali. The honeymoon destination. I feared it would be too commercial. Too many foreigners. Ruined culture.

Wrong.

One reason probably being that we steered clear of the very touristy areas (Kuta, Nusa Dua) and got the amazing opportunity to stay at my mom's friends' vacation home a little off the beaten path in Pecatu. Kelly joined us after a day (3 countries total of Kelly time!) and we all fell in love with the island... the abundance of green rice fields, the coffee plantations, the artists' shops, the Hindu influence and temples, the monkey forest, the various types of beaches, the food...

We also pampered ourselves by taking mom's friend's advice on a hotel called Abalone Resort. Pa.ra.dise. Located on a black sand beach with scattered fishing boats and Nusa Penida in the distance, we were given the "apartment" with 2 pristine bedrooms, bathrooms, living room, and kitchen. And there's an infinity pool with cabanas. Oh, and we were welcomed with "Abalone Special" drinks. We had booked for 1 night. We ended up staying for 2.

All in all, a perfect way to end the 2.5 month trip. Relaxing. On the 25th, Kyle and I took a flight to Jakarta and then parted ways. She traveled with me for 2 months in Asia... and I gotta say, the best travel buddy I could have asked for :) Thanks for being awesome. (I miss you!)

So now that I'm back, people have been asking me, "What was your favorite thing?" A near-impossible question to answer ;) But I'll try to simplify it as much as possible to what my favorite thing was about each country...

• Ireland -- The vibe (Er, maybe I should say "craic"). These people know how to have a good time.

• Netherlands -- Family & friends (no brainer here ;))

• Istanbul -- The sights. One city has so much history and amazing things to see.

• India -- The colors. There's color everywhere... the houses, the clothes, the food...

• Cambodia -- The people. They're friendly and honest (something you don't find in a lot of developing countries. Scratch. Any country.)

• Thailand -- The beaches. The most beautiful ones I've seen, ever.

• Indonesia -- The food. Mostly for nostalgic reasons, but I also think I got the most variety here. 

And, of course, over all... all the amazing wonderful friends, new and old, along the way...

I miss it all though. I want to go back. And not in a "Oh, it'd be nice to visit again one day" kind of way. No, I wanna go BACK... be there, live there. Mission Get-My-Ass-to-Live-in-SE-Asia has started. 

School starts in August. They recommend being there a month beforehand. My cousin gets married in Germany in June... I'm thinking (if it's both financially feasible and NOM-business feasible), to just hang out in Europe after the wedding til school starts. That gives me 2.5 months to absorb as much of Cincy and its wonderful people as possible, sell/lease my condo, sell my car, figure out visa crap and housing stuff in France, get a loan (freakin' A, B-school is expensive!), and try to squeeze in some US last-minute trips if possible. Impossible, you say? Maybe. And maybe the cause of why I'm feeling sliiiightly overwhelmed. It'll all work out.

It always does :)