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Archive for September, 2011

Sep 22

Taman Ujung Karangasem: A Palace in a Pond

Taman Ujung Karangasem, or Karangasem Water Palace, is a short drive from the villa near Amlapura.  This palace was built in 1919 by the king of Karangasem.  He and his family used this ornate palace as a place of relaxation.  Unfortunately for us, the majority of the palace was destroyed in an earthquake in the 1970s and today only a few buildings remain.  In spite of this, visitors are still able to enjoy the grounds and can wander through the ponds, ruins and buildings that are still standing today. Read more

Sep 20

11 Comments

Why I Quit My Job to Teach Abroad and Travel

One year ago today I quit my job in telesales with no real plan for the future. I spent the majority of the time in my cubicle wanting to cry, yelling at people on the phone, or browsing BootsnAll forums and looking at pictures of places I wanted to visit.  I was wildly unhappy.  After suffering through nine months I decided, with the support of my fabulous parents, to leave the corporate world.  A year later I’m halfway done with my teaching contract in Seoul and 161 days away from beginning my backpacking trip around Southeast Asia. Read more

Sep 19

The Best Brunch in Seoul

In my opinion, a weekend isn’t truly great until you’ve sat down to recap the events of the last night over great food.  Enter brunch.  Brunch is the meal that allows for the perfect fusion of eating and socializing.  A great breakfast, or brunch, can be hard to find in a city where seafood stew is a traditional breakfast eat, but the Flying Pan in Itaewon manages to create a meal that will satisfy even the most critical of diners looking for brunch in Seoul. Read more

Sep 13

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Friends, Living Abroad, and Traveling

You may have noticed that the blog has been quiet the majority of the past two weeks and for this I apologize.  Going silent isn’t the best way to build an audience and while I don’t have any truly great excuse as to why I haven’t been writing, the honest answer is that I just haven’t felt compelled.  Two weeks ago was the end of the semester at my school and with that came changes, people coming and friends leaving.  I started to become extremely jaded with the whole idea of living abroad and traveling with no permanent home base.  And while 95 percent of the time I enjoy my lifestyle and would choose it over a cubicle job in the same city for the next 20 years, living abroad and long term travel comes with its downsides.  The one that causes me the most pain?  Friendships. Read more

Sep 2

1 Comment

Flashback Friday: Fall in Michigan

This Friday I won’t be flashing back to a specific trip I’ve taken, but rather to a time and place that makes me truly happy.  I grew up in metro Detroit and for the first 20 something years that I lived there, I hated it.  I didn’t see any positives, only things holding me back.  It wasn’t until I moved away for the first time, when I studied in Rome in 2009, that I became a proud Michigander.  Now that the days are getting shorter and I’m thousands of miles away, I am starting to yearn for my home state.  What are the things I miss most about fall in Michigan?  Take a look. Read more