Last week I talked about the limits of my American smile. Immediately after posting I received a FaceTime call from my family and messages came sprinkling in from Roman, Alex, and other family and friends from all over. Writing last week’s blog, letting myself open up about emotions I kept bottled inside for a couple …
Continue reading "The Many Wonders of a Mental Reboot…and a Polish Holiday"
One of my favorite spots in Prague, Charles Bridge. When I went climbing for the first time in Slovakia, I used the experience as a metaphor for my first month of many firsts, a month of excitement, challenge, and new memories. Now, I am going to use my blog to share the authenticity of a …
Continue reading "The Limits of My American Smile"
London?! Over the course of three days, I took two planes, two trains, a few cars and vans, an underground subway system and countless buses, across the eastern side of the Czech Republic, into Poland, and then finally to the United Kingdom. And then vice versa (starting at 2:30 in the morning…big mistake thanks to …
Continue reading "No More Intros: A Week of Déjà vu, Rediscovered Memories & New Realities"
One of many new outdoor adventures. Here, I am climbing up a boulder in Slovakia. “I don’t know who I want to be but I want a job that feels like my hobby.” During one of my lessons last week, a student concluded his introduction presentation about himself with this line. He then capped off …
All U.S. Fulbright Grantees for the Czech Republic. One month. 30 days. 730 hours. 43,800 minutes. A whole lot of seconds. Now I know in my last post I talked about how much I dislike math and numbers. But, I think it is fascinating and even a bit wild to break down my first month …
Me with Courtney Kobos, fellow Fulbrighter and friend, at a local pizza place in our hometown. All math problems, whether they be algebra, geometry, probability, quadratics, or even simple computations, have always been an ordeal for me to solve. Numbers and letters blend together and my brain struggles to piece everything together. Additionally, I often …
Continue reading "Pauza, Reflect, Learn, and…. Zkus to Znovu (Try Again)"
An image of the boats that my students and I used for our paddling trip. When I was a first-year at Bates, I was terrified to participate in our freshman orientation, or AESOP, trip. I was supposed to go base-camping with a group of five other members of my class. I knew nobody in my …
Continue reading "Early Mornings, Hours of Travel, Cold Nights, No Native English?: Always Ano"
Contemplative pose, overlooking the beauties of my new home. My walk to school has always only been under 10 minutes. Sometimes I could even cut the distance in half because I knew a shorter path. When I went to Sanborn Elementary, I walked right across the street and then ran over to school to chase …
Continue reading "The Infamous First Day of School: Infinite Stares, Laughs, and My Own Questions"
This is me in Cieszyn, the Polish border of Cesky Tesin. Every day growing up, I always ate a peanut butter sandwich – simply two slices of any type of bread my parents bought at our grocery store with smooth, never chunky, peanut butter in between. I would make my sandwich the night before school …
Continue reading "Planes, Trains, Buses, and Trams: Navigating an Unrooted Life"
Four years ago, I was emotionally broken, exhausted, and scared. I was bouncing back and forth between two places I refused to call “home” – my childhood “home” in Andover, MA and my Bates “home” two hours away in Lewiston, ME. Both places terrified me for the same reason – they were unfamiliar and I …
Redefining Escape