I love Paris. I love the way it looks, the way it sounds, the way it smells. I love the bakeries and the brasseries, the cafés and the culture. And I love the AirBnB apartment that Elizabeth and Sebastian and I are sharing, which is in the middle of a neighborhood filled with delightful cafes …
This morning I’m sitting on my balcony, sipping coffee and browsing AirBnB listings for various cities in Italy. Rome, Florence, and Venice are all on our “definite” list, but we’re considering a night somewhere in Tuscany between Rome and Florence–maybe Pisa, maybe Cinque Terre, maybe Volterre. Alex is mostly uninterested in the pre-trip planning process, …
How did it get to be mid-April already?! Time’s slipping away so quickly. In a month Alex and I will be off to Italy for our vacation trip, and then we’ll be headed back home. Last week the rain finally eased off, and spring seems to have truly sprung here in Dubrovnik. The temperatures are …
On Sunday, I joined the RIT study abroad students for their day trip to the Pelješac Peninsula (the primary wine-producing region in this area), and Korčula Island, which is just off the end of the peninsula. Unfortunately, the weather wasn’t particularly cooperative; we had gray skies, wind, and cool, damp air all day. (I’m beginning …
In an email this week, my wise friend Molly said “Don’t underestimate the difficulties of living in a foreign place: culture shock and acclimation make the days all the more intense: hard days harder and good days better.” I’m connecting with lots of interesting and wonderful people here in Dubrovnik–ex-pats and locals alike. But I …
It’s been a tough week. Rain that seemed like it wouldn’t end, temperatures that were too cold to be comfortable but too warm to justify turning on our not-very-efficient room heaters. Too much to grade, too many deadlines I’d missed, too few people I love nearby. But tonight, just as I was starting to seriously …
[Fair warning: This post has nearly nothing to do with Dubrovnik; it’s a purely personal meditation.] I’m realizing this week that for too long now I’ve been feeling intellectually stuck. Too much time working on and thinking about too many of the same things. Familiarity has bred discontent, and an unrelenting focus on the things …
People in Rochester are complaining (and rightly so) about their April snow. Here in Dubrovnik, however, the rain has felt unrelenting. We’ve had some breaks where the sun shone through, and even a few sustained periods where it wasn’t actively raining. But for the most part over the past week we’ve had gray skies, cool …