Commuting Thoughts #2 My Mornings are Absurd

I stand here, in the Metro, four mornings a week, every week, for an entire school year. Every Monday through Thursday (not including national holidays), from 7:35-9:00am I can be found standing at the same spot, on the same floor tiles, seeing the same rotation of students each week. I’m just here to take attendance,

why am i doing this?

People don’t understand why my roommates and I would voluntarily choose to work full-time jobs without pay. So why am I doing this? Why would I choose to do a year of service? One simple, quick reason is that there’s more to life than building a career, and that there are other things to receive

Commuting thoughts #1: On Gifts from God

A gift is something that we receive and appreciate out of our sheer spiritual and emotional poverty. Consequently, because we know what it is like to be without, we cannot help but feel compelled to share it with others, too. This has been my experience with the Franciscan brothers I have been spending time with.

Life as a Yearlong Volunteer

How do we know that God is good? How do we know that He is trustworthy, that He is a good Father? How can we say with certainty that He loves us and will provide for us? By having a personal relationship with Him. I can proclaim that God is good because I have encountered

In spite of discomfort- on the challenges of being a traveler

My journey to Switzerland began smoothly but quickly became a test of my composure and endurance as a traveler. Last Saturday, I boarded the night train to Zürich and took my seat in the humble sitting cabin (not a sleeping cabin because yours truly is on a budget). The cabins were oppressively hot- the kind

On losing my laundry & giving up control

I woke up this morning and went out to the balcony to check on my laundry I had hung over the rail to dry overnight. To my dismay, two pieces of clothing were missing. I looked down the eight stories and there was my dress and shirt, blown down to the inner square of the

A(n honest) day’s worth of thoughts when solo-traveling

I spent 6 hours in an art museum today. Here’s some of my thoughts from today’s experiences in Vienna, featuring topics such as: dining alone, meeting fellow solo-travelers, dealing with the heat, and feeling self-conscious. I like art more than the average person. But after 6 hours in the Kunsthistorisches Museum of Vienna, it felt

Vienna

Protected: My Guide to Berlin

There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.

Goodbye, Berlin

Friday was my last day at the German language school in Berlin, where I had been attending classes for the past 8 weeks. I had been with some of my classmates and teachers for the entire 2 months and we really bonded. I mean, how could one not foster sympathy for one’s courageous, ambitious, and