Welcome!
I'm not sure when I started saying it, but definitely at least by 7th grade. "I'm going to be a writer!" was my claim, which my teachers much more enthusiastically supported compared to my "I'm going to be a comedian!" statement in 2nd grade. To be fair, I wasn't that funny.
Unfortunately, getting older dulls your creativity. I took creative writing classes in college, and I still write a lot - but mostly stilted, scientific writing that values consistency, predictability, and a rigid format over any sort of fun.
And then there was junior year of college. I studied abroad in Utrecht, the Netherlands, and all of a sudden the world opened up. Stroopwafel, the kind that's freshly pressed at the local market, changed my life. Biking around scenic canals and down cobblestone streets in a janky kids bike (because I was too short to buy an adult-sized Dutch bike) with a 10 pound chain-link lock hung around my neck like a giant mafioso necklace (because bike theft in the Netherlands is real) to find the best turkish pizza in town - was discovering a latent part of my person.
Now I find myself on the outskirts of Seattle, living the most boring suburban life coupled by frequent journeys across the world. Mostly for work, sometimes for fun. Along the way, I've picked up some tips for traveling as a young, sometimes solo, female, and some definite faves I would visit over and over again. So here's my effort to catalogue the adventures, but also save myself time when someone writes me, "I'm going to _________! Do you have any recommendations?"
Unfortunately, getting older dulls your creativity. I took creative writing classes in college, and I still write a lot - but mostly stilted, scientific writing that values consistency, predictability, and a rigid format over any sort of fun.
And then there was junior year of college. I studied abroad in Utrecht, the Netherlands, and all of a sudden the world opened up. Stroopwafel, the kind that's freshly pressed at the local market, changed my life. Biking around scenic canals and down cobblestone streets in a janky kids bike (because I was too short to buy an adult-sized Dutch bike) with a 10 pound chain-link lock hung around my neck like a giant mafioso necklace (because bike theft in the Netherlands is real) to find the best turkish pizza in town - was discovering a latent part of my person.
Now I find myself on the outskirts of Seattle, living the most boring suburban life coupled by frequent journeys across the world. Mostly for work, sometimes for fun. Along the way, I've picked up some tips for traveling as a young, sometimes solo, female, and some definite faves I would visit over and over again. So here's my effort to catalogue the adventures, but also save myself time when someone writes me, "I'm going to _________! Do you have any recommendations?"
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