Colombia and Road Trip… yes, I’m back. Traveling this summer certainly has shed some new light on my context in this world and myself. I traveled to Colombia (no, not South Carolina) for a month and simply toured my way around the country. I landed in Medellin (which I believe to be the most populous city after Bogota), traveled south to Manizales (a thriving thinking college town), stayed a while in Salento (part of the coffee triangle), and then spent time in Cali (salsa capitol of the world). The trip, while impromptu and open ended at times was a great experience. I improved my Spanish and was reminded that I better be happy for the things that I take for granted in this country of ours. It’s easy to lose yourself in your privilege. The Colombians who I met and who opened their home to me and Maizy were incredibly warm and caring people. They gave without expecting anything back. That’s rare to encounter. There’s multiple reasons that I came back. I didn’t necessarily have a plan down there. I couldn’t fix myself just by changing my location. I missed being in a close knit community where I felt supported. However, the primary reason was for a dude. Months later, I’m still happy with the decision that I made.

I was confronted often by the superior feeling European (okay it was one Belgian guy) about how little Americans travel. He chided me for not even having seen my own country. Long story short, I came home from Colombia, but I still wanted to be traveling. There’s something humbling about traveling. You don’t get to be an expert on the area; you have to do work to find the good spots to hang out. So Ben (the dude from above and now my best friend) and I decided to travel on a road trip to the Grand Canyon. We stayed with friends and family all the way across the country. We started with New Orleans, then Houston, then Austin, then Marfa, then Tucson, then LA, then Las Vegas, then Denver, then on the way to Iowa (the last stop before coming home) I hit a raccoon and put the car in the shop for a month. The entire road trip had passed with no car trouble. Ben had just traded in his Four Runner for a little scooty Mazda 3 that just carted us across the country like a trusty little race car. Then a big daddy king coon decided that he would end his life by throwing his humongous lumpy heavy body in the path of a Mazda 3 in the middle of the night. So it goes, right. Luckily, we were merely two hours from our destination in Iowa, where my little brother recently moved to work for the King of Midwest Machines, John Deere. Ben flew home to get ready for school to start and I stayed in Dubuque, Iowa, where all I had was time to do some serious thinking. Bright side, I had the opportunity to stay with my brother, David, with whom I had not lived with since high school. Let’s just say, I seriously considered just staying in Dubuque and living as my little brother’s housekeeper. Eventually, the car was fixed and ready to be driven back home to Georgia. That was a long drive. I stopped briefly in a McDonalds parking lot after eating ChikFilA to pass out and stopped in Nashville to see my friend Jaidam. I drove into Georgia long after sundown and was home. When I arrived in Athens and found myself in safe and secure in Ben’s arms, the 14 hour drive was worth it. Silently, I worked my way back into the life I was living when I left and here I am. The “OMG, you’re back!”s are becoming less and less frequent and I am (somewhat awkwardly) back in the swing of things.

Athens… I’d like to call myself an Athenian. I’ve lived here longer than anywhere else and have the most ties to this tiny town. I consider myself a graduate of the University of Athens because that’s where I actually learned the most relevant truths. The city in growing in encouraging cultural ways. One of these encouraging ways is the formation of The Broad Collective, a life and culture blog about the city of Athens. The masterminds behind this website/group are a lively, lovely couple named Josh and Alex Brown. So far, I’ve written one article for the website about Bloody Marys around town, but it’s a start!

So here I am, back where I started… thinking, drinking, writing, and talking — all the things I do best.