moving on out

Hi all (or those who are left),

So I guess writing about my life at Brown wasn't as exciting as writing about my life in Europe. But I have big news: I'm going to be bicycling from Jacksonville to San Francisco this summer with Bike & Build, a great organization which raised money and awareness for affordable housing causes.

You can check out my route here.
There's more information about the Bike & Build organization here.

And, my new blog for all biking related thoughts (and anything else that happens along the way) is here

As for me, my semester was good but busy. The dark and cold has put me into hibernation mode -- i feel like all I do is study and nap. In two weeks I'm going to Southern Spain with my parents and then back to Edinburgh for a few days (and London too).

Thanks for reading,
Em

update!

Hi,

I'm sorry I haven't posted in such a long time. Things in my life started happening very quickly in Germany and much of it was too personal for a public blog. But, I survived Germany and made it back to the US. I spent a week at home in Santa Monica and then took a roadtrip up north to San Francisco including a few days of camping in a beautiful place called Henry Coe State Park south of San Jose. Then I flew to Providence, stopping in Chicago for a few days to visit another friend. I guess I've turned into a travel addict. Adapting back to the US was fairly simple; adapting back to Brown has been harder. So I bought myself a bike to pedal around campus as if I was in Germany and I rejoined the Capoeira club to bring back a bit of Scotland.

And I have good news:

I submitted a cleaned up version my entry 'Getting to Taormina' to an advanced 'lifewriting' class and I got in! I've never taken a writing class at Brown before so I'm really excited. I might post some of my work for the course here, so keep tuned in.

Scotland in the news

Not to neglect my other adopted country:

Terror in Glasgow? Scots are Perplexed

Cologne in the News

I'm sure most of you have already read this article but here it is:

Germans Split Over a Mosque

The mosque will be built in Ehrenfeld, the neighborhood in between where I live and the center city. As I take the ubahn towards the institute, more and more women in headscarves get on. I often see groups of women, some with headscarves and conservative dress and others without scarves wearing more revealing clothing, chatting away as if they were no difference between them. I think it's funny that some in the article complain that a mosque would be a problem because it shows that the muslim immigrants have not integrated in German society. Do they expect all immigrants to convert to Christianity just because they are in Germany? I was also surprised that one of the main critics interviewed is Jewish.

I went to Dusseldorf this weekend so I should have some pictures up soon.