A Goodbye Letter to All of My Friends

As many of my friends go off to college, the military, or wherever else their life may take them, I wanted to take a moment to share with them a bit of advice, or rather my feelings on the bittersweet moment that is saying goodbye to someone. Of course, no post would be complete without referencing something German…

Biking Around the United States

One of my best friends, a fellow CBYX 2015-2016 Alumnus and a buddy of his are currently biking up to Niagara Falls. They started out in Washington D.C. and took rail trails up to Pittsburgh, where they stopped to visit for the night. The following interview catalogs their experiences along the trails so far.

Leo Babauta and the 44 Training Program

One of my favorite authors of all time, Leo Babauta, the author of Zen Habits, recently created a video training program on "Turning Uncertainty to Find Mindful Openness" as a birthday gift to his readers. But, I'm sure he can explain it better than I can. I will be following along for the next 44 days of life, starting tomorrow. I'd love it if you would consider joining us :)

A Nice Walk in the Rain

A few days ago, I was lucky enough to drive up from Seattle to Mount Rainier. When we left, it looked like it was going to be the only sunny day we had all trip, so we wanted to take advantage of it and get a close up view of the oft hidden peak. As someone who traditionally adores the sun, and will do anything possible to avoid getting wet in the rain, the chance to get out in the uncharacteristically pleasant weather was too much to pass up.

The Importance of the Books We Read

Last year while catching up on some of my favorite blogs from the US, I stumbled across the site Wait But Why. While reading over this new blog, I came across a post called The Tail End. This post opened my eyes to the briefness of many things we take for granted in life.

Traveling Lightly

Over the past year, I have become somewhat obsessed with the notion of travelling lightly. It all started when I read Tynan's 2016 Gear Post. The idea that someone could travel the world with nothing more than a 20L backpack was shocking to me. As someone who just brought multiple suitcases worth of stuff to study in Germany, the notion of only having to carry a single small backpack on my future travels seemed quite appealing.

From Trenches to Bridges

Last year I had the honor of starting off my November at an international youth affairs conference in Strasbourg, France. The conference, From Trenches to Bridges brought together over 200 students of 43 nationalities to draft a Peace Charter for the European Parliament. The words of the charter are below: