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Last summer I worked a job picking a niche berry called “camerise”, or haskap in English. They are a faded blue when still plumply attached to its branch, but turn a deep purple once touched (or pink to light purple, if they are not yet ripe). Sometimes, after hours of picking, they begin to remind
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I turn 26 years old with grimy hands, the fresh earthly soil still caught at the rim of my fingernails. A wide meadow is spread out around me, blooming with wildflowers that carry names I have yet to learn, and buzzing with the soft hum of bees and bumblebees who have no use for the
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To give you an idea, here is how the first day of owning a bike went. It started off well when, on my first proper travel day from New Orleans to Birmingham, I almost lost my bike completely. I had arrived at the station 30 minutes in advance, instead of the 60 minutes recommended on
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Getting a bike has perhaps been one of the most impulsive things I have done during my travels. Within the span of two full days, I went from marinating the vague and far-off idea of hypothetically getting my own two-wheeled steed, to stepping into a Walmart and acquiring the cheapest one. The very next day,
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Going into Austin, all I knew about it was that it was not like the rest of Texas. Going into Texas, most of what I knew was that it was a deeply-rooted red state where people love their guns more than anything, wear cowboy hats, fashion leather boots and drive large pick-up trucks (a sweeping
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When someone tries to tell me that Americans have no culture, I can’t help but laugh. “What do you mean?” I ask, deeply perplexed by their statement. I have personally found that there is tons of culture here, after all. In fact, it is at all times everywhere around me, with some 283 million cultural
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Once I decided to return to the United States (a questionable decision on its own, I am aware), I knew exactly what I wanted to do: take only Greyhound buses from West to East. I figured that this way I would be able to see more of the country, experience first hand its infamous ‘open
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The one thing that will keep pulling me back to the United States time and time again is definitely not its politics. Nor is it its cities, whose tall buildings reach up against our limitless sky into worlds that aren’t quite ours to own. Instead, it is my love and admiration for its diverse landscapes;
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Today, I’m attempting to dive into the world of gas stations. By foot, of course. At the first one, right around the corner from where I’m staying, I buy a donut, extra large and glazed. The most American of all breakfasts. Just cheap enough to justify buying it, but not cheap enough to overindulge (for
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As depressing as it is to say, I have sensed that a very large group of people in the United States have lost faith in the future of their country and politics overall. This is not an exclusive feeling to Americans, and even in the Netherlands these are sentiments that we are growing more familiar