UK Return Part 4: Hay-on-Wye to Bath to Stonehenge We left Hay-on-Wye with trepredation. To make it to Bath today we were going to need to understand the public transit systems and for it to to be reliable. Getting on the first bus to Brecon was pretty easy, but after…

UK Return Part 3: Hay-on-Wye the “world’s first book town” — Trust in the process. To better self and learn. Not my business, how long I live, just live. En transit to Cymru By the time we were headed to Wales (Cymru in Welsh), I had figured out how to travel abroad again. I had gotten in touch with some long…

UK Return Part 2: Visiting old study abroad haunts and remembering I’m still the same person — We left Joe and Lauren’s place in Manchester and took the rail down to the main station. We were on the commuter rail with people going to work, and I felt so bulky with my big through-hiking backpack in the tight spaces onboard. Carp and I got separated on the…

UK Return Part 1: Return trip across the pond — Joe and Lauren were waiting for us at the Manchester train station with coffee cups in hand. It was so surreal seeing them and feeling like no time had passed at all (I met them when I studied abroad in England 12 years ago). We took the railway down to…

It’s been 12 years since I reimagined myself during a year abroad in England — My initial impressions upon return to England after 12 years in America: “I’m so fucking proud of myself for getting on a plane. It was as easy as just doing that… who knew? It simultaneously feels huge and small. World bending and revolutionary. I will be reflecting on this for…

AKA, how I continually learn to stare down my fears as a person with OCD through ERP — This girl on the right is me, right before taking off on a flight for the first time in 4 years. The expression on my face is smiling in the face of horror, something that I do when I haven’t quite reached panic level yet, but I’m not particularly pleased…

I mean, I always have OCD but this is about my time in the desert mountain town — Yesterday was a whole day of rollercoasters between OCD panic and travel glee and confidence. …

End of AmeriCorps NCCC year, Circa 2015 — I come back for a nap, get under the covers, and M and J run in two minutes later. “Do you have any antibac soap? I always use boiling water on the needle first, but I don’t have any of that. So I think it will be fine,” M tells…

Trigger Warning: Death and suicide Hey friend, just wanted to detail in one place the different ways I want to celebrate you, and tell you thank you for being in my life. Apologies for the details I might get wrong. I miss you and I wish you were here to…