International Business Institute The summer after my sophomore year of college I joined 43 other university students on an academic journey around the world. Representing 10 different schools, we spent our time completing four upper division college courses, touring a variety of multinational company headquarters, visiting governmental agencies & embassies, and exploring some of the…
Dominican Republic
Some of the most rewarding travel experiences thus far in my life have been the repeat trips to the Dominican Republic. For two years, at six-month intervals, I flew out to Pennsylvania to join a church volunteer group to travel to Rancho Arriba, a small village tucked into a valley of one of the south-central…
Redeeming the busy life
So far, the twenties decade of life seems to be one of daily self-therapy sessions. It must also be the decade of the sad cycle of the recognition, resolution, and then eventual casting away of good intentions to make positive changes. Recently, I was perched on the kitchen counter, eating a meager dinner of yogurt…
Redefining Enough
I grew up in a home where there was always plenty. Plenty of snacks, games, movies, craft materials, pillows & blankets, love, encouragement, honesty, and trust. That does not mean that money and good temperaments were always in abundance. I certainly did not receive everything I wanted on demand. There were many occasions that my…
Improve. Expand. Grow.
Tedium and repetition are the single-handed killers of my dreams and productivity. There are many times that I have yielded to boredom and let monotony run my life. Call it “The Curse of the Digital Age” or “The Millenial Struggle of Indifference”; there is an epidemic of apathy, especially in modern young adults, to strive…
Kazakhstan | 2013
Kazakhstan was the first of my two study trips during my master’s program. The largest of all the “-stan” countries, Kazakhstan is tucked between Russia, Mongolia, and China and the culture definitely reflects the geographical intersection through the diversity of languages, body characteristics, geo-political orientations, transportation, architecture, and food & drink. As a small group…
Morocco | 2014
Forgoing the opportunity to visit home after seven months abroad, I signed up for another study trip (the first being to Kazakhstan for fall break) for the first week of spring break during my master’s program. On a rainy February day in Paris, twelve students & my program director boarded a plane for a nine-day…
Unconventional productivity
Ever since completing my master’s program, I have more often than not hesitated to reach out to update friends, family, and potential networking connections because I “haven’t made it yet”. There is not a big kid job at the top of my resume to prove that I am a capable and successful adult. There is…
Australia | 2012
If travel pictures aren’t posted on social media sites, does that mean the trip didn’t happen? That is how I sometimes feel about my Australian adventure from a few summer ago. I am not sure why, but I never managed to post any pictures of this particular travel experience. A small group of students from my undergraduate university spent…
Airplane blankets & family photos
I am a natural introvert and I recharge my energy through solitude. Solitude is not necessarily about being lonely; although I freely admit that I spent many hours and many days feeling lonely when I lived in Paris for a yearlong master’s program. To me, solitude is about finding stillness and a sense of peace…
L.M.Beatty 