US & Canada
When I was in college and already feeling the wanderlust, I joined my grandpa and fifty other retirees from China on to a Chinese tour bus and visited many of the national parks in the US. Yes. One of those tour buses. The ones filled with obnoxious, throwin’ up their
US & Canada
For spring break, my boyfriend and I took a road trip to Colorado. We visited Crestone, Valley View, and Colorado Springs. We also stopped at Zapata Falls and Great Sand Dunes National Park. For this trip, I created a journal that we could both write in. This journal alternated between
Asia
Busan, Korea is where I found myself in 2015 after living one year in Russia. I backpacked through Siberia and the Far East and left the country on the day my visa expired. Going to an Asian country was almost like a well-deserved homecoming. There was Western food. There
Asia
Samara drops below 40 degrees starting January. I decided that it would be a good idea to go to Siberia… because, why not? Siberia turned out to be awesome! I returned later in the year to visit the Kyzyl, Ulan-Ude, Abakan, and Krasnoyarsk. On my first taste of Siberia,
Asia
I spent a whole year in Western Russia, in Samara working as a university lecturer. Samara is a mid-sized Russian city. I got to know every part of it, as I worked in a major university but also weekly taught at an elementary school, private language academy, and even
California
Long Beach is one of my favorite places in LA. I love the colorful horticulture and the perpetual ocean breeze. It embodies every idea of the concept of California. With the perfect temperature year-round and the low-key vibe of the entire city – makes it a perfect place to
Europe
Soviet-era birthday postcards and a matroshka doll from Izmailovsky market in Moscow When I was a freshman in college, I spent a summer studying at International University in Moscow. It was my first time alone abroad and my first time in Russia. I studied Russian in college, a brave
Central/South America
Something I’ve always liked about scrapbooking is that you can make one entirely out of found materials. When I think of scrapbooking, I typically associate it with going to a craft store, picking out sheets of 12″ x 12″ patterned paper from the scrapbooking aisle of a craft store,
Mun Guey means stationery in Cantonese. I believe I sort of have an ancestral memory for all things written on paper. My paternal grandfather traveled all around the world with his friends when he was in his twenties and thirties. He’s been to practically every country in Europe and
Asia
The first thing I do on every trip is buy a notebook. I used to take a journal with me from home, but now I always pick a journal while in the actual destination. I’ve found that there is way too much oh-my-gosh-why-didn’t-I-
US & Canada
One of the best parts of traveling, for me, at least, is all the paper memorabilia that I encounter on the way to the destination. A business card written in French for a French company and a flyer for a French cafe actually in France are things so peculiar and