-
Walking London
A short stay in London can be overwhelming, due to the sheer volume of sites to see. In our short time, we opted to take optimize the time through taking a series of walks. We didn’t set out with a checklist of sites, but through happy accidents we ended up hitting number of big ticket…
-
Waking Up in London
There’s a reason it’s called a red-eye flight. Flying overnight sounds efficient on paper, but the bleary, bewildered haze it induces is almost always inevitable. Perhaps there’s something of a rite of passage, though, in sleepless stumbling around airports that makes the journey feel like a strange dream, and the waking up upon arrival all…
-
The Bold Beauty of Budapest
Hungary was the first place I’ve ever visited where I didn’t speak one word of the language. The first time I saw a word in Hungarian written out, dauntingly long and heavily consonented, I had a sinking realization that I didn’t know even the most basic of phrases. For months, I had packed as much…
-
Sunset Beach, North Carolina
Most of us east coasters have some memory of rising to greet the sun on a beach trip. Maybe it’s a girls trip with six crammed into an one-bedroom airbnb. The sunrisers stir awake to the stifled tones of the designated alarm clock. It’s so early, and you’ve of course all been up so late.…
-
Raising a Glass in Central Virginia
Winding roads, mountain vistas, yawning vineyard hillsides, sandy stucco buildings with terracotta roofs. Are we in Tuscany? Shockingly, no. Virginia wine country. Just a short drive from Charlottesville and the bustling UVA campus, the scenery transforms so drastically you might imagine yourself transported overseas. The first time I visited this area was after many months…
-
A Moment for Montpelier
I had another destination in mind to write about this week, but after spending the last few days watching flood footage, I can’t stop thinking of Vermont. Where to begin with the Green Mountain State? My grandparent’s mountaintop cabin? The family graveyard that holds centuries’ worth of relatives? The college town where I spent two…
-
In Loving Memory
The text came in somewhere around early morning England time, which was late at night where my family gathered around my grandfather’s deathbed. Just a few days into my third and final term at Oxford, I had spent most of the night laying awake. I think I believed my vigilance could somehow transport me across…
-
Let’s Begin at the Beginning
My first journey to Oxford University from departure to arrival can best be marked by strange men who saw me cry. Man 1. Baggage steward in Dublin. Background: I had spent the entire day delayed in D.C., followed by another delayed layover in Boston. We took off from Boston around 1 a.m. I had just…
-
Past and Present
I first conceived of this space during one of the scariest chapters of my life. Temporarily disabled by Long COVID, unable to drive, barely able to work, I struggled even to stand some days, all while managing a home on my own. I spent many days on my couch those days, grieving the past and…
-
Second Spire to the Right And Straight On ‘Till Morning
Peter Pan taught us that the way to Neverland is “Second Star to the Right and Straight on ‘till morning.” I’ll tell you a secret. I believe Neverland is real. It’s a part of all of us that blossoms and thrives as we’re children and tends to shrink as we age. It remains with us…
Second Spire to the Right 