Category Archives: Thoughts and Musings

What I Learned in Grad School

Posted on by under Dublin, Thoughts and Musings

 

 

Trinity Library

Trinity Library

Last week, I received my MSc from Trinity College Dublin. It was a very civilized affair. There were a few antiquated traditions-men don’t wear caps as their education, historically, wasn’t finished whereas women’s were (excuse me, WHAT!?). But generally, it was throughly enjoyable. It was in Latin (with translations), extremely efficient, and barred obnoxious cheering. And there was a wine reception. So, all in all, pretty good. Plus, we got to sign our names into the Trinity Grad book, adding our names to the same registry as some pretty awesome historical figures. Plus, I think it’s pretty cool to have graduated from such an old University.  Continue reading →

My Shrinking World

Posted on by under Notes on Travel, Thoughts and Musings
Burma, A World Apart, A Short Plane Ride Away

Burma, A World Apart, A Short Plane Ride Away

The world is shrinking, the bounds of the unknown far off places have become not to distant neighbors. Everything is changing. After this month, after graduation, this life I know looks much like a large white space. Bright, unknown, promising.

I flew across the Atlantic again. Twenty-four hours door to door, a third of the way around the world, like it was nothing. Twenty-four hours of relative silence, aside from the hum of the plane engine and the bustling shuffles of travelers headed off to their far corners of the world. The airport is still one of my favorite places, I like to imagine where my fellow travelers are heading. Are they going home like I am? Off on a grand adventure? Business? Are they excited? Happy? Sad? Whatever they are doing, we all share those brief moments on the way to our respective gates, we are all leaving, or coming home. The outside world doesn’t exist here. I can think. And marvel at how small the world is now. How a decade ago even Europe seemed a world away. But that mystery couldn’t stay. When you hop on a plane and travel to the other side of the world, LAX-Kathmandu, Seattle-Tanzania, in just over a day, it’s hard to imagine these places are all that far. To think, I could go to the airport now and wake up in Mongolia, or Australia, or…anywhere really.  Minus, I suppose, the cost of doing so. But still, everything just feels so small. I can sit in this little, metallic tube screaming through the sky and land on the other side of the earth. It’s marvelous. Continue reading →

The 26th Year in Review

Posted on by under Barcelona, Big Sur, Brussels, California, Canary Islands, Denmark, Dublin, Europe, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Munich, New York, Nicaragua, Prague, Slovakia, Sweden, Thoughts and Musings, United States, Vienna
Our New Home.

Dublin City Center, AKA: Home.

In a few days I’ll leave my mid twenties and enter my late. I feel like I just wrote my 25th year post, and the past two years have been an absolute whirlwind. It’s been an incredible year, and so much has happened. So, what did 26 look like for me?

It was a year of new, and firsts, and constant change. And probably far too much time spent in airports.

Continue reading →

A Wine Education

Posted on by under Thoughts and Musings
Wine Pairing at Greenhouse, Dublin.

Wine Pairing at Greenhouse, Dublin.

There’s this little corner store a stone’s throw from our apartment. It’s exactly the sort of place I’d like to open up one day. It’s a neighborhood joint simply adorned where patrons shop the well curated beer,  wine, and provisions and perch themselves on stools to have lunch of a rotating menu of interesting sandwiches and sides.  It’s the sort of place where regulars frequent and you know the owner by name because he’s constantly there chatting up customers. When I think about my future, I see myself here, combining community nutritional aspects with my degree in Public Health.

Continue reading →