Intent

Over the last few years, I have been traveling A LOT.  And a lot of people have told me they’ve been interested in following my journey to see where I’ve been and what I’ve learned.

I had a blog, but let’s just say I wasn’t too inspired by it.  WordPress themes are ugly and I just wasn’t in the mood to keep it up-to-date.  But lately I’ve come to realize how many people value following the journey. If you’re one of those people, welcome to this blog!

It’s for people who want to see the world, understand how to travel smarter, live a light, yet meaningful life, and take a closer look at language and culture along the way.

Why Travel?

Travel has always been an interest of mine.  Starting in high school, I began traveling overseas on summer student trips.  In college I studied abroad in two different countries and two different continents.  When I started working, travel got put on the back-burner due to lack of funds and time.  While I had some interesting jobs and hobbies, I couldn’t ignore my itchy feet anymore. So, in August 2014 I left my startup-turned-corporate job in Chicago and headed for a city, country, and continent where I had never been: Seoul, South Korea.  I have been on the road ever since and I have so many things to say about it.

Why Language?

Language is a curious thing.  In college I had to take linguistic anthropology classes and then suddenly the whole world started making sense to me.  I realized that when I analyze language, things just “click” and become so clear to me versus other methods I've tried.  So much information is embedded in language: what we say, how we say it, what we say often, what we don’t say. I could go on and on- and I will- in later posts.  But the point is, it’s deeply revealing.

Why Culture?

So much of why people are the way they are is because of culture.  You could psychoanalyze someone from birth to death and learn a lot, but how many of those behaviors are actually a statement about their culture and not the actual person?  Your culture makes you who you are more than you realize. How cultures are organized and how they function tell us a lot about people, and each place and part of each place can reveal something new.  There’s endless unpacking.

Why Unpack?

I use “unpack” here in two senses:

-Unpack: to take your stuff out of your suitcase.  Here, I use it to mean you’ve arrived in a new place.  Let’s get settled and see what there is.

-Unpack: to analyze a concept or idea.  I have an analytical mind and love to figure out the deeper mean of what people say and do.  I studied sociocultural linguistics and anthropology- I need an outlet!

I tend to talk a lot, as you’ll see.  So I hope that if these topics appeal to you, you feel welcome to join me in unpacking them!