Two Years

It has been two years since I left the US to travel the world. In that short amount of time, I have experienced all sorts of wonderful, beautiful, stressful, amazing, crazy, inspiring, frustrating, exciting things - & I treasure every day of it.

My first year out of the country was spent half in south Vietnam & half in Shanghai, China. Click here for that story.

One major change this year was my job. I decided to take a break from teaching English for a while & became an editor for my school. It's been interesting trying to switch from talking to people for a living to sitting in front of a computer all day long. I haven't quite gotten used to it yet, but it's a good challenge to try.

Even though I have been rooted in Shanghai for the last year & a half, my second year abroad was filled with lots of adventures. I went to the World Expo & the Literary Festival, entertained several visitors from home, & had a lovely Thanksgiving dinner with the local vegetarian group.

There were opportunities to travel outside of Shanghai too. I went to Hangzhou to see the vast West Lake, to Beijing to walk on the Great Wall, to Harbin for the annual Ice Festival, & to London on a business trip. I even spent a long weekend at a Buddhist monastary - not your typical vacation destination!

Of course, my favorite trip this past year was home. I was so happy that I could be there to celebrate my dad's 70th birthday, & to celebrate my own birthday surrounded by people I love. It really was nice to be home after being so long away.

With so much yet to see out there, I'm excited to see what my third year abroad will bring. I already have plans to go to the Philippines at the end of this month & to Tibet in September. After that, perhaps I'll head to the southern hemisphere for a while. The great thing about life as a wanderer is that the possibilities are endless.