I don't much talk about my research on my blog, but I am a linguist and occasionally give people surveys that make them feel uncomfortable. This is one of those times. Please take my surveys!
Survey 1
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Saturday, October 1, 2011
Sunday, October 17, 2010
I've moved!
Well, at least I've moved my blog it is now here, at WordPress. Come see me there!
Address if clicking above didn't help: http://farfarawayla.wordpress.com/
Address if clicking above didn't help: http://farfarawayla.wordpress.com/
Friday, September 24, 2010
One woman on a mission...
So, a few months ago I promised myself I would post about being a woman traveling by myself in France. Then life happened and I never got back to it... So, here I am, writing about my grand solo adventure. Now, I've stayed in youth hostels before last summer, but it was always with someone else, usually my boyfriend. Instant bodyguard, right? But after a year in grad school and the award money from my senior thesis burning a hole in my pocket, I decided I needed to do something unforgettable. I love France and I always had romantic ideas of biking around the Provencal countryside, baguette in hand.
I first tried to organize something with friends, but seeing as the economy had recently taken a turn for the worse, job prospects were bleak and my once adventurous friends no longer had the financial means to come with. No big deal, I'd done some "backpacking" before, why not on my own. Well, there was the slight fear of having everything stolen from me once more, as happened in Barcelona. But if I could come through that experience, who's to say I couldn't take on more? No one, that's who. As I scoured the interwebs, I kept finding women who had thrown caution to the wind and traveled on their own. Heck, there was a section of couchsurfing.org dedicated to females traveling on their own. And I knew the culture, the language, the food... If there ever was a place to go, France was it, and there's no time like the present. So off I went.
My initial idea was to fly through Paris each way, seeing as it really is the only city in France that you can hop a flight to Philadelphia, much less the US. I would stay in Paris for a few days on either end of the trip and spend most of my time in the south: Montpellier, Arles, Avignon, and Nimes. Those cities were chosen for their culture, abundance of online information, and bounty of youth hostels. And I really did get the kind of adventure I was looking for from these places: history, nightlife, family fun, culture, and time to myself. But first, the best and worst parts of solo travel:
BEST
The most liberating part of traveling on my own was that I could do whatever I wanted. If I got up at the crack of dawn, no waiting around for others; if I wanted a relaxed day, there was no itinerary to spoil. If I made some friends, I could make plans without worrying about my traveling companions' needs. At the same time, I could plan out all the activities I wanted to do, eat when and what I wanted, spend an afternoon reading or go on a 15+ mile bike ride. One day, I even had a lunch of cheese and a baguette in a field of sunflowers. I got myself lost then got myself back, no one to argue with and no one to complain to me.
WORST
But there are downsides to all of these things. If I got lost, I could only depend on myself. If I didn't make friends, I was forced into solitude. And, worst of all, if something bad happened to me (theft, rape, lost passport), no one was there to help me through it. Sure, some days didn't end up ok: one wrong train ticket and I was scrambling for a place to stay in Paris and cancelling my hostel in Nimes. No amount of French language knowledge helped me there. Add to that the added layer of being a woman and you have to watch out for overly friendly advances from men, which unfortunately did happen in Montpellier, Arles, and Paris. I did have one situation in Montpellier where I was at a club with some other backpackers from the youth hostel and two guys skirted the line between friendly and too friendly. But I made sure I was with a large group of people at all times and had couple walking escorts back to the hostel.
Fortunately, what I took away from this experience was not the sense that I could do anything, but that I could survive traveling on my own and, well, really liked it. I couldn't fly by the seat of my pants like the American guy who hitchhiked and camped out on farms, but I could travel on a budget and enjoy it.
Next post, I will detail my housing arrangements and transportation (aka how to take the wrong night train in France)...
I first tried to organize something with friends, but seeing as the economy had recently taken a turn for the worse, job prospects were bleak and my once adventurous friends no longer had the financial means to come with. No big deal, I'd done some "backpacking" before, why not on my own. Well, there was the slight fear of having everything stolen from me once more, as happened in Barcelona. But if I could come through that experience, who's to say I couldn't take on more? No one, that's who. As I scoured the interwebs, I kept finding women who had thrown caution to the wind and traveled on their own. Heck, there was a section of couchsurfing.org dedicated to females traveling on their own. And I knew the culture, the language, the food... If there ever was a place to go, France was it, and there's no time like the present. So off I went.
My initial idea was to fly through Paris each way, seeing as it really is the only city in France that you can hop a flight to Philadelphia, much less the US. I would stay in Paris for a few days on either end of the trip and spend most of my time in the south: Montpellier, Arles, Avignon, and Nimes. Those cities were chosen for their culture, abundance of online information, and bounty of youth hostels. And I really did get the kind of adventure I was looking for from these places: history, nightlife, family fun, culture, and time to myself. But first, the best and worst parts of solo travel:
BEST
The most liberating part of traveling on my own was that I could do whatever I wanted. If I got up at the crack of dawn, no waiting around for others; if I wanted a relaxed day, there was no itinerary to spoil. If I made some friends, I could make plans without worrying about my traveling companions' needs. At the same time, I could plan out all the activities I wanted to do, eat when and what I wanted, spend an afternoon reading or go on a 15+ mile bike ride. One day, I even had a lunch of cheese and a baguette in a field of sunflowers. I got myself lost then got myself back, no one to argue with and no one to complain to me.
WORST
But there are downsides to all of these things. If I got lost, I could only depend on myself. If I didn't make friends, I was forced into solitude. And, worst of all, if something bad happened to me (theft, rape, lost passport), no one was there to help me through it. Sure, some days didn't end up ok: one wrong train ticket and I was scrambling for a place to stay in Paris and cancelling my hostel in Nimes. No amount of French language knowledge helped me there. Add to that the added layer of being a woman and you have to watch out for overly friendly advances from men, which unfortunately did happen in Montpellier, Arles, and Paris. I did have one situation in Montpellier where I was at a club with some other backpackers from the youth hostel and two guys skirted the line between friendly and too friendly. But I made sure I was with a large group of people at all times and had couple walking escorts back to the hostel.
Fortunately, what I took away from this experience was not the sense that I could do anything, but that I could survive traveling on my own and, well, really liked it. I couldn't fly by the seat of my pants like the American guy who hitchhiked and camped out on farms, but I could travel on a budget and enjoy it.
Next post, I will detail my housing arrangements and transportation (aka how to take the wrong night train in France)...
Monday, April 5, 2010
Solo travel
I'm not sure why I didn't blog about this, but last summer I went on my first major solo trip to Europe. I was kinda nervous, being a woman in a foreign country and staying in youth hostels for the most part, but it ended up being a fantastic trip. I reaffirmed my love for the city of lights, got to do some awesome things (like dance sur le pont d'Avignon), met some great people (especially in Montpellier), and really got to follow my heart the entire time, seeing where the wind took me.
At the same time, I am thankful for the Palay family, who ended up being a real life-saver when I accidentally messed up my train tickets. I hope I got to show them a good time in my favorite city and they gave me a place to stay and some absolutely amazing meals. The Palays won for best neighbors that month!
Ok, I promise I'll put some retro-posted pictures and such up at a better time (not in the middle of a crazy week of school, oops) of both France and Greece.
EDIT: I'm also going to France in the second half of May, so I'll really have plenty to post after that...
At the same time, I am thankful for the Palay family, who ended up being a real life-saver when I accidentally messed up my train tickets. I hope I got to show them a good time in my favorite city and they gave me a place to stay and some absolutely amazing meals. The Palays won for best neighbors that month!
Ok, I promise I'll put some retro-posted pictures and such up at a better time (not in the middle of a crazy week of school, oops) of both France and Greece.
EDIT: I'm also going to France in the second half of May, so I'll really have plenty to post after that...
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Pictures galore (some even with blue sky)
I haven't been able to update a lot because I've been so busy with school (3-week classes are intense). Anyway, here are a couple of pictures.
The first is my street (Chungfu Lu) on a sunny day:
Starbucks! It's called "Shing ba kuh" in Chinese, although I always pronounce it wrong because they have a sound we don't have in English (a voiceless alveopalatal fricative).
I also got a picture published on the BBC. See it here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_pictures/7494999.stm
(picture 8 is mine, it's of a bunch of people on stairs with umbrellas).
The weather has definitely improved recently (and by weather I mean smog), so I'm not too worried about my health yet. Anyway, I'll try to post again soon!
Edit: In case the BBC ever takes my picture down, here's a screen shot:
The first is my street (Chungfu Lu) on a sunny day:
Starbucks! It's called "Shing ba kuh" in Chinese, although I always pronounce it wrong because they have a sound we don't have in English (a voiceless alveopalatal fricative).
I also got a picture published on the BBC. See it here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_
(picture 8 is mine, it's of a bunch of people on stairs with umbrellas).
The weather has definitely improved recently (and by weather I mean smog), so I'm not too worried about my health yet. Anyway, I'll try to post again soon!
Edit: In case the BBC ever takes my picture down, here's a screen shot:
Monday, July 7, 2008
A truly beautiful day in Beijing + Bookworm
This weekend I was starting to become resigned to the fact that I would not directly see the sun nor blue sky for the entire month, except maybe when I left the city. However, I was pleasantly surprised when Sunday ended up being a simply gorgeous day! As soon as I can, I will upload a picture (and one with the regular sky color to contrast them). The sun was out, there was blue sky and definition between cloud and sky. I don't know what happened to make it so wonderful, but thank goodness for whatever the Chinese are doing to prepare for the games because I can only attribute it to that.
In other news, me and Kathryn went to a really cute bookshop/cafe/restaurant called Bookworm on Saturday to study. We splurged on a really nice lunch (my first fish in a long time) and spent the day there alternately reading for class and browsing their lending library of books. I've read that you need to donate 3 books to participate in the lending library aspect, which is kind of cool. We've decided that we need to get out of our district at least on the weekends and will be spending at least one of those days there.
Well, until next time...
In other news, me and Kathryn went to a really cute bookshop/cafe/restaurant called Bookworm on Saturday to study. We splurged on a really nice lunch (my first fish in a long time) and spent the day there alternately reading for class and browsing their lending library of books. I've read that you need to donate 3 books to participate in the lending library aspect, which is kind of cool. We've decided that we need to get out of our district at least on the weekends and will be spending at least one of those days there.
Well, until next time...
Friday, July 4, 2008
Old Summer Palace
The newest pictures are from the Old Summer Palace, where I wandered around one afternoon. It is a very large place and I got lost a couple of times on the way there and on the way back (thank goodness a taxi ride back was only $1.50).
This picture is from a zig-zag bridge. It was really long and slippery, but I managed to get across it without any mishaps.
This second picture I took after following some ooo's and ahh's from the crowd. Right off of a dock where they were taking people around in boats (you can see one in the background) were two beautiful birds. I could have asked someone what kind of bird it was, but I would probably either have gotten another Chinese word or a blank stare. But they were gorgeous.
This was another interesting bridge. It was the tallest one I saw by far.
And that concludes the Old Summer Palace. This blog took me a little under an hour to completely upload, so there won't be very many pictures in the future... But plenty of stories! Until next time.
This picture is from a zig-zag bridge. It was really long and slippery, but I managed to get across it without any mishaps.
This second picture I took after following some ooo's and ahh's from the crowd. Right off of a dock where they were taking people around in boats (you can see one in the background) were two beautiful birds. I could have asked someone what kind of bird it was, but I would probably either have gotten another Chinese word or a blank stare. But they were gorgeous.
This was another interesting bridge. It was the tallest one I saw by far.And that concludes the Old Summer Palace. This blog took me a little under an hour to completely upload, so there won't be very many pictures in the future... But plenty of stories! Until next time.
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