Jetset Linguist

As to be expected, I'm not always the greatest at writing these posts immediately. Especially when my November was a bit scattered and December is always a bit hectic as well. At least I'm finally getting around to writing down my trips to Montreal and New York City. My trip to Montreal was mostly business/school related. The main purpose was for me to go and visit labs at two universities that are on my list as potential places for me to go and do a lot of hard work for a few years, and hopefully get a fancy sheet of paper and a few more letters after my name out of it. The details of these visits are probably a bit boring for anyone who's not gone through this same process themselves, so I'll just say that I'm glad that I went and was able to meet the professors in person (Family members I'll be seeing over the holidays: Yes, I've submitted all my applications - four of them. No, I don't have a top choice. I'll pretty much go wherever accepts me ...

Last weekend I took my quickest trip to Europe ever. In less than 110 hours I made the round trip to Utrecht for my graduation. It was so great to be back in good ol' Nederland. It partly felt like I had never left, and partly like a million things were different. I arrived Saturday morning, and the afternoon was spent playing a bit of tour guide and window shopping. And also grocery shopping. I obviously had to stock up on all the Dutch goodies I missed. Now I have enough pepernoten, stroopwafels, speculaas, and hagelslag to last me until the end of this week. Nah, I'm kidding. Maybe the end of the month if I can exhibit any sort of self control. Maybe... That evening I got to meet up with some classmates for dinner. It's always nice to catch up with fat friends (this is a Dutch phrase, I promise, of course they're all rather fit from all that biking) in person instead of over WhatsApp. Unfortunately, I was sorely jetlagged and had to cut the evening short before pas...

Before I really dive into it, just be warned that this post will contain significantly fewer pictures than pretty much any other post I've done (actually none, you'll see why), so my apologies if that's your favorite part of this thing. So I've been in State College, PA for just over a month now (5 weeks and a day if you want to be exact), and I figured it was time to catch everyone up on the move, the job, the apartment, etc, so we might as well get started. The Move It was quite a long drive (in my opinion) down here from Michigan. My mom was kind enough to lug me and all my stuff here in her mini-van. We drove over the course of two days, spending the night in Ohio (GO BLUE) , and arriving to my apartment early afternoon. Being the absolute champs that we are, we managed to get all of my stuff unloaded from the car and up 4 flights of stairs before a torrential downpour. And me being me, I was sent into a flurry of unpacking and organizing, and would've gon...

The past couple months has been a weird mix of doing a lot, doing nothing, traveling, and staying home. So what exactly has been going on? Mostly thesising. I can't tell you how many times I've read through the same 60 or so pages, trying to find every way possible to make it even a bit better (hello, perfectionism), and I'm still not done!  Granted, I have to finish in the next few days, and there was a slight delay due to my supervisor deciding a vacation in Greece was more important than a random master's student's thesis. It's been such a long process, and I am so ready to be done with it. Don't get me wrong, I've enjoyed parts of it, but it's really been the only thing I've been focusing on for over 5 months, and it's time to occupy my thoughts with something else... A while back I wrote a short description of what my project was, and I bet you're all dying to know what the results are, right? Well, basically, I found that monol...

The past month and a half has been a lot of staring at a computer screen, stowed away in a basement, occasionally getting some fresh air if the weather decided to cooperate. My thesis is progressing slowly, but surely. I have one week left of testing, and then it's a sprint to the finish by the end of June. As I've been editing the same 20 page document for the past 5 weeks, I've also had some visitors! A friend from high school who I hadn't seen in 4+ years was doing a bit of a Euro-tour, and stopped by Utrecht for a day, and a week later my Canadian friend who I met in Nepal, but currently works in London came for the weekend. It was lovely to see both of these ladies, and pull out all of the stops when it came to giving them a truly Dutch experience - any excuse to eat a pancake, right? But the excitement of having visitors couldn't completely distract me from a larger life development. Several weeks ago I received a job offer for a lab manager posi...

Saturday, January 21, 2017 I believe will be written about for years to come. Whether it be in op-ed pieces or academic research, the Women's March on Washington and its subsequent global movement was too vast to ignore. Looking at all of the posts on social media and several news articles, I can't help but be moved by the incredible outcome, and support for the cause. I have gone through several different versions of this post, but none quite capture everything that is in my head. I've come to accept that no matter how I write this, I won't be able to perfectly represent all my thoughts, feelings, and opinions on this movement - please, bear with me as I try to do my best. -------------------- Why I Marched I marched, not because I was against our current president, the man, but because I am against the divisive rhetoric of his campaign. build bridges, not walls I marched, because decisions about my body should not be made by people who do not know me or my...

Another Christmas/holiday/winter break come and (nearly) gone. This year, my break started with the metro, a train, a plane, a bus, another plane, a car, and nearly 22 hours to get from door to door. The three days I had before Christmas were filled with baking, decorating, and wrapping presents. I also managed to see friends from high school over those few days as well. The real celebrations kicked off on the 23rd with one side of the family; continued into Christmas Eve with the traditional lunch with my mom, and going to see the children's pageant; and concluded on Christmas day, which was filled with maple-glazed cinnamon rolls, a new camera, and dinner with the other side of the family. Not too shabby I'd say. The family also went up north for a few days. My original intention was to enjoy the snow, and my only chance for what I consider to be a "real" winter this year, except Northern Michigan was hit with a thaw a couple of days before we arrived, and the...