Random Travel Updates

Random Law School Update 31

2012-01-30T19:20:00.000-08:00

Current Location: Washington, DC
Arrival Date: January 08, 2011
Departure Date: Undetermined

I have set myself against doing any more schoolwork tonight so I may as well write. The topic of this email is something that makes me unhappy and so I will start by talking about the things I most like about my life.

It has occurred to me that life is wonderful by default. That is, if I just lay quietly somewhere with your eyes closed and endeavor to think about nothing in particular, or about some simple thing, like the color white for example, that sensation is marvelous. Since traveling, I have developed a profound appreciation for just sitting in my temperature controlled room, or any temperature controlled and mosquito-free area really. It is truly incredible to sit somewhere for as long as you care to without being too hot or too cold or constantly bitten by small animals. I really love it. When nothing else is going particularly well, I bask in how happy it makes me. I even giggle to myself when I go to sleep at night when I remember how outrageously lucky it is that there are institutions out there willing to loan me enough money that I can afford to live and go to school in such comfort.

On top of that, there are probably far too many good things to mention. I have very good parents. Much better parents I think than most people have. Then again, I don’t know most people’s parents. But I suspect that not all of them are as good. Mine care about me a lot and they never fail to show it. It is very lucky. I also have an amazing best friend. He has good parents too. I miss them.

The last many days have been difficult. I am upset with my hematologist. My anger is magnified by a bunch of steroids that she had me taking in promise that it would bring my platelets high enough to undergo a procedure to stop my over-abundant bleeding. Five days into the steroids, when my platelets were high enough to perform the procedure, she refused to write a note of approval, stating that it was perfectly okay with her that the procedure be performed but that it was up to the other doctor to decide whether to perform it despite the fact that my counts, though five times as high as normal for me are still less than a quarter as high as normal for someone else. The other doctor, not knowing anything about ITP, hematology, or my specific situation, demanded affirmative approval from my hematologist. I had spent over 20 hours and a lot of emotional energy making and preparing for the necessary appointments, five in total, and the disappointment of being denied care was devastating.

The worst part of the whole experience by far though is the withdrawal. The steroids themselves make me feel awful; they fill me with the sensation of anger and make me prone to outbursts of emotional irrationality and unkindness. They caused me incredible problems my 1L year and I have nothing but sincere hatred for them. Steroids are also one of a few truly physically addictive substances and the process of weaning off of them is incredibly painful. The symptoms are like that of a flu or cold—chills, body aches, congestion, headaches—combined with random outbursts of hellish emotion that leave me shaking and gasping for breath. I have to take sleeping pills to make it go away at night and even then, I do not sleep well. Today is the 10th day since I started them. It feels like it has been forever. I keep hoping that today is the last day of withdrawal. Maybe tomorrow.

Love,

Melissa

Random Law School Update 30

2012-01-22T15:36:00.000-08:00

Last Location: Denver-Boulder-Steamboat-Pagosa Springs, Colorado; Tampa, Florida; Tucson, Arizona
Arrival Date: December 17, 2011
Departure Date: January 08, 2011

Current Location: Washington, DC
Arrival Date: January 08, 2011
Departure Date: Undetermined

This week has been hard medically. I have been inflicted with severe anemia due to an excessive loss of blood. I feel emotional and fatigued, I get winded going up a single flight of stairs, I gasp for air in spin class, and my vision goes black when I stand up too quickly. Not to mention the unsettling amount of bleeding – gentlemen, you don't want to know. My doctors get mad at me, but they don't really have any solutions. They just tell me to find a new hematologist, which is harder than it sounds. Online physician listings offer little more than name and location and I don't come from a family of doctors who would know what to look for in a good physician. And then there is the issue of health insurance, and of travel. I am limited because I don't have a car, or much free time.

One of my general practitioners finally got fed up with it on Thursday and trapped me in the Student Health Office. She called a security guard and made me take an escort to the hospital (I had refused an ambulance for fear that my insurance wouldn't fully cover it). Then I had to wait in the Emergency Room for a bunch of nurses and doctors come in to ask me the same questions over and over again and to take the same panel of blood tests that my doctor got mad at me for ordering just a few days prior – I had come to try to keep the blood in, not to have more taken out! The nurse came in to insert my IV; I turned to look just in time to see dark blood splatter across my arm. And I panicked, for the first time in over a year. The entire wing of the hospital erupted in commotion, the women next to me nearly falling out if her bed to see what is happening. I was mortified. I left several hours later just as lightheaded and groggy as I came in, with even less blood in me, and without any treatment to stop the bleeding. I stopped by the Whole Foods on my way home and picked up an herb know to regulate menstrual cycles. The next morning, for the first time in 12 days, the bleeding was visibly lighter.

Sometimes I get scared. Not the kind of scared-of-death scared that people write about in troubled poetry or confess in their deepest moments of despair. I think that I am pretty secure with my mortality. My scared is more like the type you might get when it occurs to you that there is a chance – however small – that you will fail this next exam, despite your best efforts and despite the fact that you have never failed before. That, mixed with the queasy-sick feeling you get after watching a slasher film where every item of scenery manages to find itself covered in the blood of hapless stock characters.

My biggest fear though, during the hardest weeks, is that I will overburden my closest friends. It happened once, my 1L year, and I have never ceased to regret it. Now, when I am at my most scared, I shut myself in my room alone and lay in bed shaking, until I realize that even at my worst, I am okay. Perhaps I should be embarrassed to write this, but it has occurred to me, at least I think, that most of us have moments like this – even those for whom nothing ever seems to go wrong.

Having a medical condition and being a law student is hard. I tell myself that it is better than, say, had I been a professional mountain-biker or base-jumping instructor – something that I might have to quit outright. This is hard in much more subtle ways. Looking for a job is hard because I am not sure what to tell employers about why I am not graduating with my peers, or why I have decided, after much deliberation, to take a reduced course-load to make time for medical appointments and alternative therapies. It is hard to explain to my peers why I don't go out that often, or why I drink so little when I do. It is hard telling people that I went to Colorado with my parents and didn't ski. It is hard explaining to doctors that, yes, I care about my health, but that I can't submit to treatments that risk making it difficult or impossible to study for weeks on end. And it is hard to admit to myself that my body probably needs more rest than I am willing to give it.

Things are looking up this week. I always hate to end on an awkward, "no I am not better yet" note. You always want to tell these stories in the past tense, like "all of these awful things happened and then after, everything was okay!" Those are the best stories, in part, because you are still around to tell them, but also because they go to show that bad things, by and large, tend to get better and leave our lives richer and more colorful than they were when we began. I have committed to telling my story from the middle though, and with that comes the possibility that things won't end particularly well. Of course that is the brilliance of it all, the suspense. And having an opportunity to care, because you know at any given moment you may be empowered to affect the outcome. One thing I have always hated about reading amazing stories about interesting people who have long since come and gone (or in the case of fiction, never been) is the feeling that I am forever denied an opportunity to be a part of their story. But then I remember that there are interesting people all around me who are right now in the middle of their stories. And I do my best to be a part of them. You all are part of mine now.

Love,

Melissa

Random Law School Update 29

2011-12-12T10:48:00.000-08:00

Current Location: Finals

Next Location: Winter Break

I was trying to learn how to surf once. My friends rented a surfboard from a shop at a remote beach outside of Kenting in the south of Taiwan. We took turns going out with it. See Random Travel Update 5, and surfboard pictures.

The beaches south of Kenting are known by professionals as being remote spots for catching some serious waves. I went out unencumbered by any direction or advice on how to properly manage a surfboard. And without a rash guard, no less. Luckily, it was truly quite remote.

I put the very large board beneath me and swam, and swam, and swam until I was about as far out as the small handful of experienced surfers in the area. Surprisingly far out. And then I would wait, facing shore, laying with my belly on my board. Eventually a wave would come. And I would swim, and swim, and swim and swim. Paddling my legs and arms furiously to keep up with the increasingly monstrous wave. But my efforts would amount to running in place and I would come to notice that the wave was now on top of me rather than beneath me. At which point I would take a split second to think “hmm” and to suck in a deep breath of air before an incredible force took me tumbling down under the water and I found myself suddenly moving quite quickly towards the shore, my board strapped to my leg, smashing into me over and over again. And then rocks. Sharp pointed sea objects all of which had presumably gone through this process before me. Washed up where the ocean meets the shore. And for a moment, I would be happy to just to feel something beneath me, to know that I wasn’t going to be pushed down into a bottomless ocean forever. But then, the force of the ocean would pull me back, and I would tumble again over and over and over again, for what could have been an eternity. Even now, I still remember it as if it had been an eternity.

I would spend the time in reflection. I would imagine that I was any other rock or shell or sea creature who did this every day. I would relax my body and give in to the ocean. It had convinced me that it was greater than me, and I thought it silly to spend much effort disagreeing. I would hold my breath until it was all over. I would think very clearly during this time. I would think about returning to the shore someday, and what it would be like to stand on land again. I would think about how I might get there. And devise strategies. I would keep my arms up in front of my face, to prevent my nose from breaking when my board smashed back into it. It was very painful being tossed onto shore, so after awhile I actually started to point myself away from shore and swam into the wave. I tried to stay under the water as much as possible, in order to prevent new waves from breaking over me. Eventually I found air. And then there I was, just swimming in the ocean again. Close to shore. My friends smiled and waved. I adjusted my top, regained control of my board and paddled slowly into shore. “That was fun,” I said when I got back. I proceeded to repeat the experience several times.

This is what law school is like.

Love,

Melissa

Random Law School Update 28

2011-11-14T12:21:00.000-08:00

Last Location: New York City, NY
Arrival Date: October 8, 2011
Departure Date: October 11, 2011

Current Location: Washington, DC

Something good happened recently in law school. I won an International Arbitration Competition. I am ridiculously excited. The story ran on the front page of the Georgetown Law Weekly. So I get to be mildly famous on campus for awhile. And I get to feel like a winner for once, a very rare feeling in law school.

In other law school news, I am in the process of looking for an internship or summer associate position for the summer. My career center is always imploring us to reach out to our social network for these things. If you know any hiring partners at law firms ideally in either New York City or San Francisco, put me in touch. I am also interested in government positions related to contracts and commercial dispute resolution.

I noticed that this is update twenty-eight (28). Twenty-eight is my mom's favorite number because it is the date on which my birthday, her birthday, and my parents' anniversary falls. I am fond of it as well.

Love,

Melissa

Random Law School Update 27

2011-10-05T22:55:00.000-07:00

Previous Location: Cancun, Mexico
Arrival Date: September 3, 2011
Departure Date: September 8, 2011

Last Location: New York City, NY
Arrival Date: September 9, 2011
Departure Date: September 9, 2011

Current Location: Washington, DC

I feel like I had better write lest I should disappear in your memories. I haven’t come across the words yet to describe August and September. The two months were radically different, but I couldn’t tell you why.

I went on vacation over Labor Day. It was my first break in nearly eight months. When I traveled prior to coming to law school, I had told myself that I was taking all of the vacation for the rest of my career in advance, so that I could focus on law school and my professional ambitions without dreams of adventure and freedom getting in the way. Apparently, it doesn’t work like this. The mind eventually goes numb.

I finished up at the Chancery Court two days before classes started. Mother nature saw to it that I had an earthquake and a hurricane that week to celebrate my departure. The court shut down early my last Friday and I hopped on an Amtrak train to outrun the storm. I spent the weekend moving back into law school. I miss Wilmington some. I would not recommend it as a travel destination, but my life there had grown on me. I had a wonderful time working for the court. It was a special thing to be a part of.

The weather in DC has been delightful. I find myself talking about it more than usual. And then I catch myself using it to make small-chat and I wonder if I have really grown that boring.

I am back in school now. It has been a month. There are no words to describe school this semester, not the usual ones at least. Law school is no longer new, nor is it as exciting or novel or jaw-droppingly difficult as it used to be. It is still challenging, and for this I am grateful. I shutter at the thought of finding myself attached to a life that is not sufficiently challenging.

I decided a few weeks ago that I am getting close to deciphering the code to happiness. It will take a few years of practice and implementation to see if I have it right, but it is worth getting excited about in the meantime.

Steve Jobs died today. In a commencement address to Stanford Graduates in 2005 he articulated some of the sentiments I have shared in my recent updates, "Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything -- all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure -- these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart."

Love,

Melissa

Random Law School Update 26

2011-08-05T09:33:00.000-07:00

Last Location: Wilmington, DE
Arrival Date: May 21, 2011
Departure Date: June 25, 2011

Current Location: Washington, DC
Arrival Date: June 25, 2011
Departure Date: August 14, 2011

Next Location: Wilmington, DE
Arrival Date: August 14, 2011
Departure Date: August 26, 2011

Being hired as a summer associate at a big law firm may be one of the best things that has ever happened to anyone--at least anyone who doesn't mind working.

In the morning I come in through the back entrance. I pass my key fob against a dark grey pad and it makes a soft “beep” confirming that I belong. I enter the main atrium of the building which is enclosed by seven-story high glass walls that keep out the undesirable weather and let in the light. The atrium gracefully connects two buildings; the new building and the old building. The new building is wall-wall glass, even the inside walls are made of glass so that you can’t go anywhere in the building without natural light seeping through. The old building has a grey stone exterior and has its own granite entranceway that has a classic elegance of understated importance. Semi-transparent frosted glass walkways lead between the two buildings and a glass elevator that would be at home in Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory shoots up through the middle of the atrium to the seventh floor. I stand with my toes to the glass and look down as I ride up. It gives me butterflies.

I stop by the heavily subsidized café for breakfast where I can get a bowl of oatmeal or grits with raisins and sunflower seeds for $1. I climb a set of stairs up past a two-story tall waterfall up to my office. I say good morning to the two women who sit right outside of my office and they smile back enthusiastically. My firm has a strict policy about being respectful of every other employee. It feels like I get paid to be be in a good mood all the time and to smile a lot. The last time I got paid for that was when I was a waitress in college. Except then, people were not always in a good mood back.

I am happy in my little office which contains a window, two desks and an empty bookshelf. Between my assignments and firm-sponsored social events I am always busy. I am never bored. My work is interesting and challenging. The firm strives to give summer associates fun projects so that we can convince ourselves that working for a big firm is glamourous. The social events are every bit as extravagant as anyone ever said they would be. We are regularly treated to expensive lunches, open bar events, and upscale dinner parties. We have also taken field trips to the Supreme Court, the National Gallery, the White House, and a National’s baseball game. My firm always provides a vegan, gluten-free, and often macrobiotic, option. It makes me feel welcome.

I work here.You should zoom in to street view in google maps to check out our gorgeous building.

I also work here. Also, a very nice building, possibly the nicest in Wilmington.

After very difficult 1L Spring and 2L Fall semesters, all of my enthusiasm paid off last semester when I was offered jobs at not one, but two, of my dream summer positions. In what was a a flurry of amazing luck and an equally amazing last-minute hustle culminating on May 12th, I managed to split my 2L summer between Jones Day in Washington, DC and The Delaware Court of Chancery. I agreed to spend seven weeks at each. I spent the first five in Delaware, I am currently in DC completing the next seven and I will return to Delaware in ten days to complete the last two. Georgetown offers a fourteen-week long summer. I remind myself that this is why I took a lifetime of vacation before I started law school.

Love,

Melissa

Random Law School Update 25

2011-07-13T00:50:00.000-07:00

Last Location: Wilmington, DE
Arrival Date: May 21, 2011
Departure Date: June 25, 2011

Current Location: Washington, DC
Arrival Date: June 25, 2011
Departure Date: August 14, 2011

Next Location: Wilmington, DE
Arrival Date: August 14, 2011
Departure Date: August 26, 2011

Life has been very fast paced and future-forward lately and I had planned for this update to reflect that. But, nostalgia has a way of hitting at precisely the same moment that I find myself with time to write…

One day, in eighth grade, I realized that I was bored. The boredom permeated my existence and slowly threatened to rot away the things I loved most about life. My inspiration, passion and motivation all teetered on the verge of extinction and I watched any chance of future happiness start to slip through my grasp. I decided then that boredom had to be avoided at all cost, even if it meant taking great risks or working very very hard. Even if it meant forcing myself to do things that would likely cause me great stress or pain.

My law school life has been full of hard work, heartache and happiness, all arising in some way or another out of my efforts to eradicate boredom. I literally started boxing last semester. The gym offered a class and I took it. I’ve been boxing figuratively too. I’ve thrown several knockout punches lately. I pulled two mind-blowingly good summer job offers out of a less-than-hopeful job search. I pulled wins in three out of four of my Spring classes. I pulled off two months of non-stop finals. I quit chocolate—4.5 months ago.

I’ve taken my share of hits as well. Every so often I find myself floored by a hook that takes me off guard in a brief moment of feeling winded. And I am forced to take some unscheduled time to reflect. I used to think that people who engaged in sports that guarantee injury were crazy. But I now know that the adrenaline accompanying the fight far outweighs the pain of the blows incurred. The sensation of pain is nothing compared to the bliss that accompanies it as the body releases a mass of endorphins to cope with the injury. I can’t risk taking a literal punch to the face or gut right now, not with my condition, but I suspect that the whole process is incredibly addictive once the body learns to love the sensation of pain.

I have been training myself to love the sensation of pain, particularly emotional pain. I have wanted to do this for a long time. I remember thinking one day, also around eighth grade, that the key to happiness was to like as many things as one could. That way, all the things that might otherwise bring me dissatisfaction would instead bring me pleasure. In keeping with this I thought, what if one liked the sensation of being hurt? It could be the answer to happiness! When I encounter pleasure, I will be happy. When I encounter pain, I will also be happy—such that nothing, except perhaps boredom, will make me unhappy.

But it is hard to train oneself to enjoy pain. It takes an incredible amount of practice. And the opportunity to practice enjoying pain requires a multitude of painful experiences, which are hard to commit oneself to unless they are thrust upon you. I have had a lot of opportunities for practice lately. Lucky because I think that someday I will succeed in my goal of eliminating unhappiness by learning to love sadness.

In the meantime I celebrate a life that is, if anything, not boring.

Love,

Melissa

Random Law School Update 24

2011-05-12T17:57:00.000-07:00

Last Location: Richmond, VA
Arrival Date: May 9, 2011
Departure Date: May 10, 2011

Current Location: Washington, DC
Arrival Date: May 10, 2011
Departure Date: May 20, 2011

Next Location: Wilmington, DE
Arrival Date: May 20, 2011
Departure Date: June 25, 2011

This update is just to mark today as the day in which everything went just perfectly.

Random Law School Update 23

2011-04-24T16:13:00.000-07:00

Last Location: Wilmington, DE
Arrival Date: March 9, 2011
Departure Date: March 9, 2011

Current Location: Washington, DC
Arrival Date: March 9, 2011
Departure Date: May 18, 2011

Next Location: Wilmington, DE
Arrival Date: May 18, 2011
Departure Date: unknown

I have had not one or two, but several 24-hour periods in the last three months that could compete with some of the very best in my life. Though, it is a silly game of the mind, trying to compare past happiness to more recent happiness. The memory of past feelings rebels conformation to a scale by which their relative values can be compared. I only pretend to compare in an attempt to wring more delight out of each moment. I think, "Before was good. Now is even better than before. Now is amazing. I must be at the peak of happiness." None of this is necessarily true. Before was also, often amazing. And I have caught myself, in the past, thinking about the future saying, "The future, it is going to be good. Now is better though. Now is amazing. I must be at the peak of happiness." But then it turns out that the future holds its own.

I struggle to remember which things were the best in the moment and which things simply seem to have been the best looking back on them. The human mind has a funny way of remembering things such that some of my most incredible memories derive from some of my most miserable moments. The things discontent inspires in me are often wildly exiting and retrospectively impressive. The memories created in the last few months, however, haven't been fraught by misery. I am developing the capacity to delight in my memories as they are being made.

I have been accused of being cryptic. My intent is not so much to be cryptic as it is to express what I consider to be the important essence of the experiences in my life. Describing my day to day routine is not likely to convey the excitement I feel for it. Not the same as it might have when I was traveling. I spend a lot of time in the library and it is hard to imagine that my comings and goings would inspire the average anyone to think that my life is anything but tedious.

It would sound something like this (please skip the next three paragraphs if you don't want to be bored): I wake up, eat oatmeal. I go to class, 5 minutes late, again, oops. I sit through class, class ends. I make myself lunch. I read for the next class. I go to the next class. I leave that class. I go to the library and study. I go to the gym, I spin or yoga or box or do plyometrics. I go home. I make dinner. I shower. I eat dinner. Sometimes I convince a friend to eat dinner and/or study with me. I put oats on to cook for the next morning.
I study more. I go to bed.

Twice a month or so, I go out, hopefully dancing, sometimes just to make an appearance at a dinner party or special function. Sometimes I go to see a play put on by the Georgetown Gilbert and Sullivan Society. Sometimes I go to an event hosted by a student org on campus. Sometimes I plan student org events to host on campus. Sometimes I run to the Monument or to the Lincoln Memorial with friends. Sometimes I get sick. Sometimes I procure a small cut and watch it bleed more than normal; I take a deep breath and remind myself that mortality was never optional. Sometimes I meditate or take a nap. Sometimes I go to acupuncture. Sometimes I meet a friend in Chinatown for lunch or dinner. Sometimes I go grocery shopping. I occasionally do laundry. I often clean my room. Too often, I check Facebook. I try to reply to emails as much as I can keep up with. Once a month or so, I write a Random Law School Update. Randomly, I'll call the parents or Jon, though I try to avoid talking on the phone. Every so often, I'll challenge myself to correct a flaw, like my near-obsessive addiction to chocolate. I decided that I would quit chocolate for two weeks. Yesterday marked my second month without it.

Every once in awhile something really good will happen. I will find out, for example, that I got my ideal summer internship at the Delaware Chancery Court in Wilmington. Or, be informed, very unexpectedly, that I earned the top grade in a class last semester. But even these things, while relevant details in my current state of happiness, are really only small trivialities, mere inputs into a systemic form, a framework, of happiness that I have been working on building my entire life. A project, the completion of which is steadily coming into reach.

The best factor, currently, is that I am not alone in my appreciation of the intensities of my current lifestyle. I have recently acquired a small group of friends who get it, or at least really seem to get it. I hesitate to write about them for fear that they will, in my attempt to reveal them, show themselves to be imaginary and force me to return to the world in which I lived before them. A world made duller by contrast to the one in which they existed.

My life progresses not so much chronologically as according to overlapping and intertwining themes. These themes define and manipulate my experience and my memory of my experiences more than the temporal construct that I rely on to express them to others. Friendship has been a recent and enduring theme. It has come up many times in my life, starting in grade school when, at one point, the concept of a friend seemed like a sort of holy grail, the quest for which I would be lucky to survive. Many friends have come and gone since and I am left to wonder what it is that makes some friendships last forever and others fade out slowly like the end of a sentimental song on the radio that you expect you will hear again, but never do.

A few months ago, in a bout of manic inspiration triggered by a movie I had just seen, I confided in someone a vision that I have always had for my life. It was a dream to find myself surrounded by individuals on the cutting edge of society. The type of people whose vibrant ambition, manic enthusiasm and creative genius have borne the greatest innovations in art, literature, science and social progress to date. The type of people who defined the past and will define the future.

I envisioned myself up all night surrounded by these people, driven by an ambition to improve the world, having found ourselves unable to come up with a better way to make use of our talent. I envisioned us taking breaks every so often to bask in each other's epiphanies and to gloat in our smallest accomplishments, such as a clever joke, before returning to the task of reconstructing the world with our minds, delightfully shaping the future through the strategic implementation of impossible ideas. I envisioned us skipping in streets for lack of a better way to articulate the energy that binds us together and spending late nights and early mornings on rooftops marveling at the grandness and smallness of the world below. I envisioned this all many years ago. I had almost found it once before, in a certain high school friend, but that escaped me like being woken from a wonderful dream to a pillow soaked in tears. This may escape me as well. But I won't let the fear of a duller future world or a soaked pillow stop me from skipping.

For now, I return to my studies. My first exam is in 12 days and I will be riding a wave of intense through the end of May. Please find me in June.

Love,

Melissa

Random Law School Update 22

2011-03-07T12:34:00.000-08:00

Last Location: Washington, DC
Arrival Date: January 15, 2011
Departure Date: March 6, 2011

Current Location: New York City, NY
Arrival Date: March 6, 2011
Departure Date: March 9, 2011

Next Location: Wilmington, DE
Arrival Date: March 9, 2011
Departure Date: March 9, 2011

A friend and I were discussing life and death just a few days before Bethany passed away. He made the point that death, being the most extreme thing one will ever experience, motivates life because it sheds perspective on the relative lack of extremeness of everything short of death and thus inspires one to take life-enhancing risks. I agreed in part, but countered that death is actually one of the least extreme human experiences. It is the one thing that every person, animal, plant, and living organism is guaranteed to do. The old, the young, the rich, the poor, the genuine, the contrived, the brave, the scared, the risk-takers and the risk-avoiders, they all die. Even the types of living things that are never born will eventually die. It is absolutely ordinary, normal, expected, required. It consumes only one moment massively outnumbered by the many many moments of life that precede it. Death is not extreme. It is quintessentially status quo.

It is this characteristic of death that motivates life because it sheds perspective on the relative extremeness of every moment preceding it. Each and every moment in which we live is at least as significant, as important, as the single moment in which we die. Each moment preceding death is an unknown, an opportunity to learn, love, improve, experience. I take risks because, while my death is inevitable, every other moment of my life is within my power to affect.

Now consider that despite (or perhaps in keeping with) being status quo, death is almost always available as worst-case scenario. Worst, not because it is extreme or necessarily bad, but merely because it is always available. Such that, to the extent that I suffer, it is because I value that suffering, or at least value highly the pleasure that I expect to follow it--that pleasure being all the greater when contrasted with the expectation-resetting pain that preceded it. What matters isn't so much that each moment of life is painless, but that it is more extreme, more interesting, more significant than death. For this reason I wonder if death, as the lowest bar on which to improve, is more a friend than an enemy to life.

Bethany's official DC memorial party was Saturday night. It was held at a wonderfully lavish local called Elizabeth's Gone Raw. I had the pleasure of meeting her mother, father, sister and other members of her close circle. It was comforting, light and optimistic; just like Bethany.

Short of Bethany's passing, the past month has been delightful. Busy, but delightful. I was in a school play. It was magical and mildly reminiscent of my high school theater days, which I remember fondly. I would like to recount the month in more detail, but even the start of Spring Break leaves little time for articulation. In November, I foreshadowed that last semester would be one of the most exciting of my life. This semester is already significantly more exciting and it is less than halfway in. It is as if everything is going according to a perfectly devised plan in which I have maintained just enough uncertainty to keep me on my toes.

Love,

Melissa

Random Law School Update 21

2011-02-03T23:13:00.001-08:00

Dear friends and family-

Another speck of light has stopped shining. I stop to wonder for a moment how it is that millions of lights in this world manage to continue on so ambitiously, as if in defiance to the cruelty of the loss of this particularly important one. One small light that, in its absence, seems to outweigh all the others. My heart continues to beat with a stoic appreciation for the gravity of the night's event and I wonder what to do with myself now that my world is shades dimmer. I can't continue on as if before, because nothing seems so urgent anymore. But stopping will only fill me with emptiness. I let myself appreciate that there are sad stories and happy ones. And realize that I am lucky that my life is filled with both types, in abundance. I think about what it means to miss, and wonder whether I can do it joyously. I strive to achieve new levels of strength with each tragedy, so that these things sting more sweetly when they come and do not leave me crippled in their wake.

Bethany has passed away.

Bethany was a girl with long soft hair, a delicate frame and a pretty face. She moved from Michigan to DC in 2005 to work for PCRM. We were instantly colleagues and friends. I invited her out for food and laughed as she ordered french fries and a coke in lue of the more eclectic vegan options on the menu, for which I had selected the restaurant. She was a lifelong animal advocate and compassionate consumer. Her demeanor was quiet and soft, like her hair. But she was an incredible force for good. She never hesitated when it came to volunteering extra hours to benefit the movement, even after she was employed in it full time, even after she took leave to combat her illness. She organized and inspired other volunteers as well. Everyone who met her loved her instantly. She was the utmost embodiment of a good human being.

In June of 2008, Bethany was diagnosed with a rare form of angiosarcoma blood cancer. When she gave me the news, she suggested that I didn't do too much research on it. Her survival rate was less than 20%. I felt my heart disintegrate. I had no strength then and wondered how I would ever have enough to face today. I can't even imagine how she felt. She did an amazing job of maintaining her composure and optimism and quickly went from being the softest to the strongest person I had ever met.

My love and condolences to those of you blessed with the opportunity to have known her. You are in my thoughts.

Love,

Melissa

Random Law School Update 20

2011-01-11T10:02:00.000-08:00

Last Locations:
The Yucatan: Tulum, Mexico, Isla Mujeres, Mexico
Arrival Date: January 4, 2011
Departure Date: January 8, 2011

Washington, DC
Arrival Date: January 8, 2011
Departure Date: January 10, 2011

Current Location: Salt Lake City, Utah
Arrival Date: January 10, 2011
Departure Date: January 15, 2011

Next Location: Washington, DC
Arrival Date: January 15, 2011
Departure Date: Unknown

I’ve contemplated the concept of home for a long time. At one point, I had to decide whether my answer to the question “Where are you from?” would be Arizona or DC. I could alternatively answer that I am from the United States or, as some backpacker-types do, that I am from the planet earth. I could take the perspective that home is where I started or that it is wherever I ended up…that year, that month, that moment.

Home is more than place. Home includes relationships, material comforts and familiarity. Jon feels like home. Comfortable hotel rooms often feel like home. Doing things I am familiar with, like school, the gym and travel, also provide me with a sense of home.

When I feel empty, lonely, distraught or disconnected, I seek out these homes fervently. I look to my closest friends, or Tucson, the library or, if I’m travelling, a clean bed and warm shower. Sometimes just a clean bathroom with free toilet paper will produce the feeling of home. Sometimes all of these things combined will not.

My sense of home sometimes teeters on the verge of collapse. When I move. When school ends, even just for the semester. When I lose a really good friend, to death or disagreement. When I force myself to confront an unfamiliar and uncomfortable situation.

I think this concept of home is at the root of most, if not all, human journeys, ambitions and struggles. It is what we seek when we look for a life partner, family, best friends, hobbies, community, a good job or a nice house. It is also what those with no such desires seek. There is a way to find home within oneself. To become like a tortoise, carrying it around wherever one goes. That is what the nomad or the hermit seeks. And it is what I now seek. Not to become entirely independent of the other homes in my life, but to be able to produce the feeling of home within myself when my other homes are temporarily unavailable.

I think I have made a step in the direction of that goal on this trip. I found myself taking comfort in my well-practiced ability to transport, feed, entertain and shelter myself on a tight budget. I found home in my backpack, small and containing all of the tools I need to travel, indefinitely. I discovered little pieces of home in each traveler and friend who I met along the way. I found it in the sun and warm sand, which made me feel complete and safe standing alone, barely clothed. I found it in my camera and in my photos. And in the pages of a novel, which reminded me that there are other stories like mine, other characters whose thoughts are not unlike my own.

I left that to return to DC, where I thought I would feel even more at home. I instead found myself momentarily entrapped by cold white dorm room walls and a sharp chill of nostalgia for several months spent immersed in that room pushing my brain to the limits of its competence. I left for Salt Lake City 36 hours later.

The flight into Salt Lake City today was one of the most beautiful things I have ever experienced. The clouds covered the earth below, cut the blue sky like an exaggerated cartoon drawing and then, unexpectedly opened up to reveal how close my plane was to the towering and austere mountains below.

On Saturday, my hometown achieved national attention when Congresswoman Giffords and 18 others were shot at a Safeway across the street from where my aunt works. Six of the 19 victims have been declared dead, including a 9-year-old girl. It is all over the news.

Love,

Melissa

Random Law School Update 19

2011-01-01T10:57:00.000-08:00

Last Locations: Tucson, AZ
Arrival Date: December 24, 2010
Departure Date: December 30, 2010

Current Location: Belize City, Belize; Caye Calker, Belize; San Pedro, Belize
Arrival Date: December 30, 2010
Departure Date: Unknown

Next Location: Unknown

I just got to Belize two nights ago and am not feeling nearly sentimental enough to write all about the resolutions I've achieved in the last year. It is new here and very much unlike anywhere I've been in the last 12 months. I am disinclined to think about the past or to anticipate the future. I just am. Traveling again. Right now feels really good.

I rarely make specific New Years resolutions. I am not sure that I will this year. In the last several months, I have gotten over my debilitating fear of needles, have adopted a near-macrobiotic diet, have cooked every day (except while traveling), have quit my addiction to sugar, and have strengthened many of my human relationships. I am pretty excited about these ones and will continue them in 2011. I regularly come up with other things to improve upon, but it takes almost as much effort to articulate what these things are as it does to just make the improvement. So, here's to that. Happy New Years!

Love,

Melissa

Random Law School Update 18

2010-12-18T21:57:00.000-08:00

Location: Washington, DC

I want to start by shamelessly congratulating myself for getting through finals. I feel pretty badass right now. People rarely describe law school as being badass. But let me tell you. Law school is the epitome of badass. The problem is that law students tend not to sell it right, probably in part because you cant really talk about law school to non-law school people without seeming nerdy or square, the opposite of badass. If you chop a brick with your forehead, you look badass. If you jump a 6-foot ditch, you look badass. If you dive off a cliff with just a squirrel suit on you look badass. If you scale a 12-story building without rope, people will definitely think that you’re badass. Law school is just like all of these things. It is nerve-wracking, adrenaline-pumping, really difficult, scary as f*ck, and a little bit stupid. But no one thinks of writing a 17-page essay response to 8 pages worth of riddle-like fact patterns based on 700 pages of dense readings under intense time constrains as badass. But, it is. And I can tell you, there are people here, at my school, in my classes who write 27 page responses in 3 hours AND get it all right. And yes, those people are badass. And while I am obligated to despise them for their curve-setting ways, I can’t help but appreciate their badassness. Go you.

I’ve mentioned this before. Law school, school in general, inspires me a lot. Something about forcing my brain to absorb a lot of dense subject matter makes it all the more thirsty for the lighter stuff. The more intense law school gets, the more I find myself conducting meta-analyzes of life, being, existing, loving, hating, wanting, growing, searching, finding, and thinking in general. That, and a lot of pleasant pithy things.

In the middle of studying, I thought it would be a nice idea to keep track of all the little things that go through my mind while I study for finals. My note reads:

“Random notes finals Fall 2010: 1. Law school is hard.”

And then I realized that writing random notes is distracting and decided not to write anymore notes until finals ended. Which describes a tragic paradox. The deeper into law school I get, the more crazy, random, brilliant thoughts my brain uncovers. At the same time, the deeper I get into law school, the less time I can justify to spend writing them down. So my most interesting wonderful epiphanic thoughts are left to come and go. Never to be recorded or reflected upon to their full potential. There is always the promise that I will write them all down after finals. But, my post-finals brain is useless for anything. Despite having a list of about 26 things that I had planned to do this week, I woke up this morning (read 12:30pm) wondering what in the world I am supposed to be doing. I proceeded to get on facebook and read status updates. (Turns out that was actually one of the things on my list.)

I had a million other things to say, but, I have forgotten most of them and have to go focus on celebrating now anyways. Ah, and I just remembered that I have been looking forward to reading and replying to your emails in response to my last two updates. This I will do very soon.

Love,

Melissa

Random Law School Update 17

2010-11-25T23:12:00.000-08:00

Location: Washington, DC

I ate just the right amount. I floated home from dinner tonight on a cloud of delicious veganfood endorphins and found myself contemplating all the things that I am grateful for in my life. Moments later I thought how contrived it was to think of all the things I am thankful for, on Thanksgiving Day. But the truth is that I contemplate the things I am grateful for quite often. Usually more than once a day. So the fact that this set happened to hit me right after an incredible vegan Thanksgiving meal with friends was just about as natural as can be. I can't say the same thing about writing an email about it, except that I needed to write an email today anyways to remind you all that 1. my birthday is Sunday, and 2. you have not yet bought me a gift, and 3. it is ok because I have a perfect gift idea that requires next to no effort. Go to: http://birthdays.causes.com/wishes/100106 and donate to my birthday wish on behalf of Compassion Over Killing. COK is likely the most effective advocacy group in the world in terms of its cost-to-compassion ratio and is a group very close to my heart. Donate token amounts of $1 to $5 just to let me know that you are thinking of me. Or if you happen to be very wealthy, donate token amounts of $1,000 to $5,000, even if you don't think of me much at all. I promise it is a worthwhile cause.

Ok. Back to the things I am grateful for...

First: My new diet. Tonight's feeling of pure satisfaction unaccompanied by an underlying desire to purge the contents of my stomach and to start again may be a Thanksgiving first. It feels great. Eating macrobiotically has done wonders for my discipline around food. I eat slowly now and realize when I am full before I start to overeat. I approach sugar skeptically and don't pile on salt like I used to. I can eat very large servings of food and I dont have to keep track of calories, or nutritional content for that matter. I don't have to worry about my weight fluctuating, even during finals. I build muscle quicker than ever and my flexibility has increased exponentially. And (drumroll...) I am learning how to cook. I haven't counted but, I have probably cooked myself over 45 meals since the beginning of the semester. I am pretty sure that this is more meals than I have otherwise cooked in the last five years combined. I can't say I like cooking yet, or that I am particularly good at it. But I do it and even my omnivorous friends come back for more. So, thank you macro diet.

Second: Self-growth. About 18 months ago, I remember thinking that I didn't have enough epiphanies in my life. I flew through, across, around the world absorbing infinite amounts of appreciation and perspective, constantly wrapping information and experiences around myself, ever-growing like a rubber-band ball of knowledge. What I didn't do much was to break myself apart at my cracks so that I could locate my weaknesses and put my pieces back together again in a more seamless condition. I approached life as if my identity was a given and my challenge was to help the world to conform to my idiosyncrasies. Law school, losing Meghan, being diagnosed with a serious medical condition, and feeling lost without the ability to communicate myself to a once close friend have violently shaken this perspective. I am reminded that my identity isn't static. It took me a lot of effort to become who I am today. Every so often, I go through phases of self-development during which I task myself with various ways to improve as a human being. The tasks may be as small a thing as not biting my nails, sending random thank you notes to friends, keeping a regular email update, going to the gym every day; or as big as going vegan, developing a logically consistent moral philosophy, or learning to carry myself with confidence - even when I don't feel so confident. I am in one of these phases now. I feel as if I have spent the last few years wrapping myself in a cozy cocoon of personal acceptance, and am now faced with the the task of emerging from it a butterfly. It is at first unpleasant, like getting out of a heated car on a cold ski day. But once you get to the top of the mountain, you recall how good it feels to be fully engaged with your environment. I am grateful, if not for their happening, at least for the effect of certain recent events that have conspired to force me out of my cocoon. I am grateful to be reminded of how amazing it feels to fly.

Third: People, friends. It occurred to me that it is getting late and I won't be able to finish this email because I have dedicated the rest of the weekend to studying diligently and to celebrating various friends' engagements, birthdays, and arrivals. However, you have all been amazing. Thank you for sharing your stories with me and for caring about mine. And I want to thank Jon in particular for being an indescribably incredible friend and for being able to understand the depth of my gratitude despite my inability to articulate it. And my parents for supporting me in every path I've ever sought to pave. And a handful of friends who don't get these updates yet, but who might read this on my blog in the future and realize that I am speaking now about you. Yes you, current-friend, future-blog-reader. Did we hang out around the week of November 21st, 2010? Did you make me smile? If so, I am thankful for you too.

Love,

Melissa

Random Law School Update 16

2010-11-13T13:44:00.000-08:00

Location: Washington, DC

My gratitude to all of you for your kind emails and interest in continuing to receive updates. I was really inspired by the amount of supportive responses. I have always been very self-critical and self-conscious of my writing, but this particular project means more to me than my insecurities. Each day validates the pricelessness of the human connections within my life and the incredible importance of keeping those connections as close to me as possible, which takes an additional effort in the absence of physical proximity. I believe that the best human relationships grow out of an attempt to understand another person and to help them to understand me so that, through each other, we come to understand ourselves and our existance better. This email, and your replies, are part of that process.

I have a theory that my outside reality is a product of my internal imagination. I have another theory that a physical reality exists independent of myself but that my mind retains significant power over it, or at least over my position with respect to it.

My life, as I imagine everyone's, is comprised of an infinite set of what appear to be causal interactions and if-then conditionals. An event leads to a choice which leads to a decision which creates an event that leads to more choice. And we follow these paths that exist only in the present and past, such that we dont really follow paths at all. Rather, we create paths through our reality using the tools we were endowed with or acquired along the way.

Every so often, my world is shattered. Even my most realistic expectations are disappointed, circumstance trumps communication, and I am forced to enter negotiations between my inner and outer realities. Such that, perhaps the two aren't the same at all. But then, it turns out that these world shattering explosions are really fireworks in disguise, and they illuminate the next step which satisfies my present and inspires my future. And somehow, between all the explosions and fireworks, my life continues in the exact direction that I would have had it go in had I been empowered to dictate my path from the beginning. And I again start to wonder whether I dreamed up this reality of mine after all.

This is all to say that, it has been a really exciting semester. In (future) retrospect I suspect that it may be one of the most exciting semesters of my life. Though, in present perspective it is hard to get past the fact that at any given moment I should be spending more time diligently studying for exams and maybe less time indulging in the glorious peaks and vallies of being in my 20s. Then again, I would make an argument, inspired by my tax class, that the time-value-of-youth likely exceeds the opportunity cost of a few hours of missed study time. I suspect that the lessons to be learned from youth will carry at least as much weight for my future as those from my classes. And so I indulge.

Love,

Melissa

Random Law School Update 15

2010-10-06T21:36:00.000-07:00

Location: Washington, DC

I would title this update "hope" but I worry that it sounds too dramatic. Maybe a better noun would be "optimism" or "excitement"... It is possible that we have found a route to remission from my ITP. Thanks to the theories of my mom and Jon's mom, Kathy, I went in for a special breath test for h. pylori, a bacterium that is known to be associated with my condition but was for whatever reason dismissed by my doctor. Turns out that I am positive for it which means that there is a possibility that my condition will improve if I am able to kill the h. pylori through a two-week intensive course of antibiotics and "acid suppressant". As I tend to be emotionally sensitive to new chemicals, Jon has flown to DC to help me cope with any adverse side effects. I feel happy.

The semester is going by amazingly fast. The last few weeks have been packed with excitement, heartbreak, distraction, clarity, happiness and youthful moments. I have been basking in epiphanies and pushing myself in all the right ways. I could go on for days about so many millions of pretty little things I think about, but this email is not the forum, and I must allocate my analytical efforts with law school in mind.

Which leads me to the next note. While my life in law school is as interesting to me as it ever was traveling, it doesn't lend itself as well to dissemination in email. As such, I am going to slenderize the list of people who I continue to update. I will continue to send updates to members of my family, close friends, and to anyone who has expressed interest in, or commented on my updates in the past. I will let the rest go for now. If you aren't sure whether you fall into one of the categories above and don't want to be let go, please send me an email. Otherwise, I will use my best judgement.

As always you can keep up with my updates at: randomtravelupdates.blogspot.com. And my photos on: picasaweb.google.com/a.melissa.meyer.

Love,

Melissa

Random Law School Update 14

2010-09-18T13:33:00.000-07:00

Last Locations:
Mexico City, MX
Arrival Date: August 1, 2010
Departure Date: August 6, 2010

Tucson, AZ
Arrival Date: August 6, 2010
Departure Date: August 17, 2010

Washington, DC
Arrival Date: August 17, 2010
Departure Date: September 2, 2010

Allentown, PA; Bethlehem, PA; Woodbourne, NY; Philadelphia, PA
Arrival Date: September 2, 2010
Departure Date: September 6, 2010

Current Location: Washington, DC
Arrival Date: September 6, 2010
Departure Date: Unknown

Next Location: Unknown

I wanted to start this update weeks ago by expressing my gratitude to my co-workers, friends and strangers in Mexico City who made my summer internship rich and unique and special. Thank you for sharing your lives, intelligence, kindness and enthusiasm with me. I am very lucky.

I wish I had written more updates this past month. I have been feeling inarticulate lately and have been discouraged by the way my words look on paper. I have found myself more inclined to just take photos.

I left Mexico City to fly home to Tucson for what seemed like forever, focusing on my health, my new macrobiotic diet, acupuncture, and family. As much as I love being home, 12 days may be too much time for Tucson. It is a place more for relaxing than for doing, and I am a doer.

Being back in DC has been great. Many of my favorite people live here and I have been making more time to spend with them. Law school is busy as law school tends to be, but I find the challenge of keeping a tight schedule rewarding. I am happy here.

Jon came out over labor day and we drove north for the long weekend. The weekend started with me breaking my month-long sugar fast and indulging in a mini-cake from Vegan Treats at their bakery in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. It ended with me realizing that I am (as anticipated) probably not a big fan of yoga retreats. I am generally tolerant of ego and generally tolerant of spiritual enlightenment, but I draw the line at ego marketed as spiritual enlightenment. The place we went to was called Sivananda. It was in a pretty setting, nestled up in the Catskills of upstate New York. Unfortunately, most of the photos from the weekend were lost with Jon's camera and computer when his bags were stolen out of his rental car the night before he headed back to Salt Lake.

Other recent events have included Early Interview Week (EIW), which is a form of on campus interviewing where law firms form all over the country, and sometimes abroad, come the week before classes start to conduct thousands of 20-minute interviews - in hotel rooms, with beds (awkward). It can best be described as speed dating for a job. Most people hate it, but I found the whole thing highly amusing and pretty fun.

Last weekend was the DC VegFest, which is the best celebration of vegetarian food in DC. It takes place at my alma mater each year and attracts many wonderful vegan vendors, and more importantly, many wonderful vegan friends.

The important and exciting things school-wise this year include: classes, my internship at the Humane Society, and my role as Co-President of the Georgetown Student Animal Legal Defense Fund (SALDF). Other things on my schedule include: gym time, finding a summer internship, preparing macrobiotic meals for myself, and spending more time with my friends. I am, as always, seeking balance between these things.

If you would like to keep up with my updates by blog rather than email, send me a note and I'll remove you from this list. You can always check out new and old Random Updates at: randomtravelupdates.blogspot.com.

Photos from the summer are located at: http://picasaweb.google.com/a.melissa.meyer.

Love,

Melissa

Random Law School Update 13

2010-07-26T13:17:00.000-07:00

Last Location: Washington, DC
Arrival Date: July 22, 2010
Departure Date: July 25, 2010

Current Location: Becket, MA
Arrival Date: July 25, 2010
Departure Date: July 31, 2010

Next Location: Mexico City, MX
Arrival Date: August 1, 2010
Departure Date: August 14, 2010

I still haven’t figured out what clued off the customs agent when he asked if I was a lawyer after I rushed up to the checkpoint and explained that I was in Mexico City visiting friends. I checked all of my luggage and my passport for something that might indicate law school. Nothing.

Thursday was one of my many luckiest days. I woke up early with nothing to do but to wait for my 1pm flight out of Mexico. Instead, my friend Conrad offered to drive me to a taxi sitio where I caught a cab at 7:50am to the airport. Despite impending rush hour, my cabbie delivered me to my terminal in less than 20 minutes. I explained the American Airlines agent that I would like to standby for the 9:51am flight that had sold out on me the day I bought my 1pm flight.

After a more complicated than necessary immigration ritual, which involved running back and forth between the police station and the immigration office, I was given two standby tickets through to DC, arriving at 5:45pm instead of the originally dreaded 11pm arrival I had purchased. Not only did I make both flights, I ended up with window seats on both :)

As many flights as I have taken, I am still absolutely in awe of being among the clouds. As a child, I used to daydream of spending the day at cloud level. Of course, in these dreams I could suspend myself in the air without the burden of an airplane. But considering my distaste for humidity, flying is probably as good as it gets.

Growing up, I would have never imagined that I would ever travel as much as I have. I grew up with the understanding that plane flights were luxury goods for the wealthy. For the middle class, we could take a plane on very special occasions once every several years. When I found out that China was halfway around the world, I remember thinking that I’d have a better chance of digging my way there than of ever having the opportunity to visit by plane.

Things have changed. Air travel is no longer treated as a luxury good in the United States. It has become much more like taking a bus with a lot of extra hassles and a lot less leg room. And depending on your destination, it can be cheaper than driving, not to mention, statistically safer.

In other countries, however, flying is still very much a luxury activity reserved for the privileged classes. In fact, many things that most classes of US Americans (Estadounidenses) enjoy are luxury products in other countries. In Mexico City, the contrast between the privileged and non-privileged is particularly stark. From the air, the city looks typically third-worldly with simple box shaped houses practically stacked up on top of each other, colorfully painted and perfectly scattered as if a giant had gown tired of playing with them.

I wouldn’t have guessed that Mexico City was home to some of the world’s most expensive shopping areas, or that it has some of the nicest malls I have ever seen with “VIP” movie theaters with reclining sofa seats and servers to bring you sushi and cocktails while you enjoy your movie. I wouldn’t have contemplated the number of luxury vehicles and the number of secure parking garages to store them. I certainly didn’t foresee the amount of restaurants that serve meals starting at $20 or luxury gyms with memberships starting at $160/month.

One thing that I have experienced a lot during my travels, but perhaps don’t write about enough, is classism. Class divisions certainly exit in the United States, but are nowhere near as extreme as they are in nearly every other country I have visited.

In Mexico, the class divisions are blaring. I am, by virtue of my affiliates (not my spending habits), a participant of the upper class there. I, and I think most US Americans, have a hard time identifying as upper class. I feel like an outsider taking a glimpse into a world that I had previously only heard about in the media.

Working abroad is even better than merely traveling abroad and I am reveling in the new perspectives. I am particularly interested in continuing to explore the mentality that perpetuates classism, particularly race-correlated classism. I am curious as to whether those who are the most educated, empowered, and morally inclined to resolve race-correlated classism are those who are also, perhaps unwittingly, perpetuating it most. I am interested in others’ thoughts on this topic.

I arrived in DC Thursday night to briefly attend HSUS’s Taking Action for Animals Conference and to focus on some law school related efforts. My mom flew in on Saturday and yesterday we drove the eight hours to The Kushi Institute in Becket, Massachusetts for a macrobiotic lifestyle and cooking course. I tend to agree that there is a strong placebo effect at work in maintaining good health. The more you believe something will work, the more likely it is to work. My Mexico City roommate suggested that I may not having enough faith for things like biomagnitism to work. It occurred to me that I don’t put much faith in Western medicine either, especially after Meghan’s death. If there is anything I do have faith in, it is food. So instead of trying to fake faith, I have decided that I’ll have a better chance if I commit to something that I am already inclined to believe in: good food.

We don’t have internet in our room here and our days are pretty packed so I may not be responding as promptly as I’d like. Please continue to write and to send me your updates, pictures, random thoughts, etc. I really enjoy the emails I get.

Love,

Melissa

Random Law School Update 12

2010-07-09T11:56:00.000-07:00

Current location: Mexico City, MX
Arrival Date: June 27, 2010
Departure Date: Unknown

Next location: Unknown

I am loving it here in Mexico City. It is possibly better than what I had looked forward to. My job is great. I am given substantive projects that allow me to learn about various areas of law, practice my analytical skills and read Spanish. My coworkers are wonderful and are treating me very well. Almost like family. The business culture here is very different than in the United States and I am enjoying being immersed in it. On Tuesday we went out to lunch to watch the fútball game. After the game ended, it started to downpour, so my boss ordered a game of Dominoes and we played until the rain stopped. It was idyllic.

The weather is also wonderful. A lot of rain, but it keeps the temperatures cool and the air clean. I have been lucky so far. The rain generally doesn't start until the late afternoon. It has yet to rain during my mile-and-a-half long walk to work. Today the downpour subsided just in time for me to leave the house.

Last week I got to experience a 6.2 Richter earthquake. It lasted a few solid minutes as our top-floor penthouse apartment swayed back and forth like a leaf in the wind. It was a calm and enjoyable sway unlike other small earthquakes that rattle the walls and cause trinkets to fall off of shelves.

My apartment is in the best possible location, on the same street as my gym and close enough to work to walk. We have huge windows which we use instead of air-conditioning. My roommate has a little cat, Sasha, who I am starting to endear myself to. The secret is rubs behind the ears. My roommate also, is wonderful. He is an artist and lives a romantic and creative lifestyle just like in the movies. There is always music playing in French, Arabic, Spanish or English. There are parties and art exhibits and concerts to attend, wine to drink, and people to meet. Sometimes friends come over to exchange ideas about literature and to edit eachother´s writing. It is a very inspired and intelligent environment.

The only thing that does not live up to expectations is the mass transit system here. While there is a large metro system, it leaves significant areas of town unserviced. The metro station closest to my apartment doesn't seem to go anywhere useful and there are no stations within a mile of where I work. I have yet to come up with an excuse to go anywhere by bus or metro. Furthermore, despite being the third largest city in the world, it seems that most people own and use cars to get around. Most apartments and businesses have parking garages attached. This may reflect a negative feedback loop between the insufficiency of the mass transit system and the status symbol mentality that is prevalent here, as in most big cities.

Cabs are reasonably priced but I have been warned that they are dangerous. A system of secure cabs has been established but it requires going to a designated "sitio" and often waiting in a long line. I am not a big fan of taxis as it is, so I take my chances walking. The neighborhood I live in is supposed to be very safe, while the neighborhood I work in is said to be less so. It doesn´t appear dangerous to me, but my luck in having never yet been robbed (with the exception of one unsuccessful purse slash in Bolivia) is running out. I am taking precautions to minimize my loss if/when this happens.

The only other difficulty here is figuring out what to do about my ITP. My test in Berkeley showed a jump in my platelet levels from 16 to 30 but the most recent test shows my levels back at 19. As traditional therapies have not been working, I must become more creative and try to implement lifestyle changes in addition to alternative therapies like acupuncture and biomagnetism. The most significant of these will be trying to adopt a macrobiotic diet. I am more than happy to eat macrobiotic food, however, I have no interest in its preparation which can apparently take multiple hours per day. Most of what I prepare for food is canned, frozen or dried. If it is going to take more then 15 minutes to make, I generally choose to eat out. This is all in violation of macrobiotic principles which demand that everything be prepared fresh. I have yet to wrap my head around how I am going to pull this off short of hiring a personal chef.

Last weekend I went to Salon Tenampa to sample tequila and watch the mariachis of Garibaldi Plaza play. I also checked out el centro (downtown) and took a daytrip to the Aztec pyramids at Teotihuacán. I will post photos soon.

Love,

Melissa

Random Law School Update 11

2010-06-29T21:33:00.000-07:00

Last Locations: Washington, DC
Arrival Date: January 10, 2010
Departure Date: June 7, 2010

Sedona, AZ
Arrival Date: June 7, 2010
Departure Date: June 12, 2010

Berkeley, CA
Arrival Date: June 12, 2010
Departure Date: June 22, 2010

Salt Lake City, UT
Arrival Date: June 22, 2010
Departure Date: June 25, 2010

Las Vegas, NV
Arrival Date: June 25, 2010
Departure Date: June 27, 2010

Current location: Mexico City, MX
Arrival Date: June 27, 2010
Departure Date: Unknown

Next location: Unknown

This update goes out to all the people who noticed that I haven't written an update in two months. The longer it gets between updates, the less inclined I am to write because I hate long updates. But I am in Mexico with one more day before I start my internship and very few friends to keep me busy. So I will do my best to cover the last two months in reasonable length. Reverse chronological...

Mexico City

I arrived in Mexico Sunday night. My cab ride from the airport to my residence reminded me a bit of Cairo but with nicer taxis and cleaner air (apparently I arrived after a recent rainstorm). Everything has gone seemlessly. I was delivered directly to my residence which is the penthouse apartment on the ninth floor of a building only two blocks from the metro in the nicest neighborhood in Mexico City (so I've been told, I have yet to explore enough to make the judgment for myself). The apartment has wall to wall sliding glass windows and my flatmate is an artist who has designed the common space with great taste. It also turns out that I am less than half a block from the nicest gym in Mexico City, which serendipitously turns out to be a Gold's, my home gym in Tucson. It is a very nice gym and I will be able to practice my Spanish comprehension in the group classes.

I begin my internship at PEMEX tomorrow. PEMEX is a government-owned oil monopoly here in Mexico. I was excited to be offered the job which involves international business and contract law and will allow me to explore perspectives different than my own. I am a fan neither of oil companies nor big government, but I have a feeling that I am going to very much like my internship. I tend to be most engaged when my values are challenged. This internship is perfect in that it will allow me to gain skills in the areas I am most interested (business and contract law) while keeping me on my toes ideologically. I know that a few friends are concerned that this is the beginning of the end of my moral character, but I can assure you that a six week long internship will not undue 20 years of moral conviction. If anything, I expect that the experience will improve my advocacy skills.

Las Vegas

My flight to Mexico was direct from Las Vegas where Jon and I attended a conference on Idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP), the blood disease I was diagnosed with in April. The treatments I have tried so far (steroids, IVIG and Rituximab) have failed to produce results. The steroids were the most offensive of the treatments, impairing my cognition, memory and mood. They made it very difficult to study for exams and I was given the option to retake the semester. As much as I love law school, I was not so thrilled about re-taking a semester and increasing my debt. So I patiently powered through four of my five classes in between my weekly hospital treatments.

I am now off of the steroids and treating myself with herbal supplements. The conference seemed to confirm that western medicine is as of yet under-equipped to treat ITP. Many of the success stories were of people, who, after trying all of the traditional treatments, gave up and treated themselves with diet and alternative therapies. I would like to try a macrobiotic diet, but am intimidated by the effort and cost involved. If anyone has tips to offer to make it affordable and efficient, please share.

The conference was probably helpful, but wasn't engaging enough for me to stay awake through all of the the presentations. I forgot how much having internet helps to keep me awake in class. I was tired from all of the previous week's travel and activity so I didn't do much outside of the conference. Jon, however, kept busy at the craps table and walked away with $275 more than he started with. He showed me how to play. It is a generally enjoyable game, though I am unable to develop a taste for gambling. The most lucky thing was that my roommate, Sharona, was in town at the same time staying in the hotel next door. After Jon finished showing me how to play craps at the Bellagio we walked over to meet up with her and one of her friends at the Mandalay Bay. It was perfect.

Las Vegas food suggestions include Go Raw Cafe, Miko's Izakaya Sushi which has a vegan menu, Veggie Delight which has the best vegan thai iced bubble tea in addition to great vegan offerings, and of course Ronald's donuts.

Salt Lake City

I flew from San Francisco to meet Jon in Salt Lake for the weekend in order to join him on the drive down to Vegas. I was looking forward to seeing his family again and to experiencing Utah's glorious Summer weather. The short trip was well worth it. We went to the Utah Art's Festival, went hiking at the gorgeous Solitude Resort, and indulged in Jon's mom's glorious vegan chia seed "crack" cookies. The weather, sky, grass, food, air, water, meadow, clouds, conversations and mountain critters were complete and wonderful.

Food suggestion: Omar's Rawtopia for world class raw cuisine.

San Francisco

This is where I hope to live someday. I came to visit my best law school friend, Brendan, and my two very good friends of six years, Ben and Haiete. It is a toss up as to whether I like San Francisco or Salt Lake more. Both cities are wonderful. Salt Lake wins on the outdoor activity front and San Fran on the urban front, but each has a good mix of both. Both also have great vegan food. Salt Lake has four beautiful seasons and San Fran has mild weather year round.

Brendan works in Berkeley which is almost nicer than San Francisco. It is small but complete with it's own shopping areas, vegan cuisine and metro station. It is quiet and patient and sunny and a little bit cheaper than its neighboring city. It is also close enough by metro. Unfortunately, the Bart only runs until midnight, which makes going out on the weekend difficult unless you arrange a place to crash. People in San Fran are socialites of the best kind. I don't go out much, but when I do, I prefer for it to be in San Francisco. People throw laid-back themed parties that involve barbecuing, random field games like the viking Kube, vegan cake, faux proms, costumes, handstands, lots of style and generous quantities of beer and wine. At least that was Brendan's birthday.

Other activities throughout the week included randomly joining a community dance party outside the California State Capital, hipster-watching with Ben and Brendan's friends at Dolores park on Sunday, going for a hiking adventure at what turned out to be a very popular nude beach on a foggy day, riding from Berkeley to the Embarcadero boardwalk on Brendan's motorcycle, lunch with my cousin, Matt, from Sacramento, a trip to the Berkeley Rose Garden and Codornices Park‎ with another friend named Matt, a clothing exchange with Haiete, and a movie in one of Haiete's co-worker's home theater with plush couches, surrond sound and a very large screen. The rest of the 15-person group house, created out of what was originally a mechanic shop, was equally impressive with a full bar, upstair office space, suspended net on which to play and random decor.

While in Berkeley, I tried acupuncture for the third, fourth and fifth times at the innovative Berkeley Acupuncture Project (BAP). For $15-$40 sliding scale fee, you can have needles place in your shins, feet, arms, hands, head, ears and forehead. To keep the costs low, they treat patients on reclining chairs instead on tables. There are several chairs placed in a circle and multiple patients are treated at once in a community environment. Each acupuncturist can treat as many as six patients an hour, which impressively doesn't degrade the quality of service (other than the limited needle points since everyone stays fully clothed). Patients can stay for as long or as short as they like. The needles are about two inches long and flutter like a butterfly's wing when stirred. Being diagnosed with ITP has forced me to accept needles, which were once my most irrational fear. Now I am trying to build a positive relationship with needles. Acupuncture helps.

Food recommendations include Herbivore (as always), Cha Ya for vegan Japanese, Cafe Gratitude for their impressive raw menu, Lanesplitter for their deep-dish vegan pizza, The Little Chihuahua for Mexican food that is as good as the best in Tucson, and Gather for their innovative and fresh (though pricey) vegan offerings.

Sedona

I arrived in San Fran on a direct flight from Phoenix after several days spent vacationing with the parents and Jon in Sedona. Sedona was the perfect post-law school, post-moving, mid-ITP destination. We stayed at a resort which had daily yoga, a massage and acupuncture center and a resident quail who came to work with one of the gift shop attendants. We hiked, ate well, and relaxed. I had my second experience with acupuncture which seemed to be temporarily helpful in treating my lower back pain.

Food recommendations include Chocola Tree for their incredible raw desserts, D'Lish for their excellent and generous vegan offerings, and Casa Bonita for their friendly service and lard-free Mexican food (plus sopapillas!).

Washington DC

It was an incredible semester. I learned a lot on so many levels and, facing tragedy, was able to test some of the perspective I gained during my travels. People often project that it was a bad semester for me, but this is not how I see it. Coping with law school, ITP and Meghan's death was difficult and sad, but not negative. There were many epiphanies that I am still working to articulate. Perhaps the simplest way to describe the semester is to compare it to watching a sad movie. Just because you leave the theater in tears, doesn't mean that it was a bad movie or that you had a bad experience. Some of the most beautiful and inspiring stories are tragedies. That is what the last semester was like for me. A beautiful and inspiring sad story.

Meghan's husband, and my good friend, Adam Warner, is keeping Meghan's story alive. To keep up with his efforts visit www.fortheloveofmeghan.org, ms-mae.blogspot.com, www.facebook.com/ForTheLoveOfMeghan, http://www.iamthenarwhal.com/2010/03/for-love-of-meghan.html, and http://www.thestar.com/article/829909--unfinished-business-how-one-man-keeps-his-late-wife-s-memory-alive.

Photos are in the process of being uploaded to picasaweb.google.com/a.melissa.meyer.

As always, you can read archives of my updates at randomtravelupdates.blogspot.com.

Love,

Melissa

Random Law School Update 10

2010-04-28T20:10:00.000-07:00

Exams start next week but today is not a day for studying. Though, I do open my law books every once in awhile when I realize that I really have nothing better to be doing with myself.

When I first awoke this morning I thought I was awakening from the end of a bad dream. The type that leaves your pillow soaked and your eyes dry. Later I realized that it was not a dream at all, but that I had yesterday become a character in a very sad story. The story was originally about a girl named Meghan Baker who was pretty much perfect in every way and who I had the best fortune to meet in the best kind of way during one of the best times of my life.

Meghan wasn't supposed to die because she was to me, the model of everything a human being ought to be. She was compassionate, considerate, thoughtful, honest, patient, open-minded, strong, smart, kind, and had just the right balance of confidence and humility. She was a traveler and a friend, a good cook and a vegetarian. She was also incredibly pretty.

On the last day of my first trip to Korea, I got incredibly sick. Everyone else was busy, but Meghan walked over in the rain to Adam's house where I was staying. She brought a pot and ingredients and made me an amazing going-away/getting-well soup feast. She wasn't scared that I might get her sick, or put off by the rain, or stressed because she had to work the next day. She was only concerned with being my friend. I hoped that we would be friends forever.

During my second trip to Korea we were having tofu basil sandwiches at one of my favorite cafes in Itaewon when she told me that she had found a lump in her breast. I remember feeling scared but thinking that it had to be okay, because my story would not be written such that someone like Meghan would get cancer.

I find faith to be a fleeting thing.

Meghan died yesterday after fighting cancer for 18 months. She had a painful but beautiful struggle. And being touched by it, I remind myself that my story, though currently sad, is pretty too. Prettier definitely as a result of Meghan having been a part of it. There is no music, but my heart feels as if it is playing the soundtrack to the end of Meghan's life. I listen to it as I take a break from turning pages of law school texts, to instead just letting the pages of my life turn over me.

Meghan's story is written here: http://ms-mae.blogspot.com. I recommend reading from the beginning. It is really an inspiring, beautiful thing that she wrote: http://ms-mae.blogspot.com/2008_07_01_archive.html

For her fanpage, and to pay tribute, visit: http://www.facebook.com/pages/For-the-love-of-Meghan/275219697466. Thank you to those of you who, though you may not have known her personally, were supportive and present during her last few months here.

To donate in lieu of flowers, contact Kelly Shires Breast Cancer Foundation at 1-877-436-6467.

Love,

Melissa

Random Law School Update 9

2010-04-16T09:30:00.000-07:00

Current Location: Desk, Washington DC

I want to keep writing semi-regular emails, but also realize that my life here in law school, as fascinating as it is to me, likely bores the better portion of everyone else in society. All I can try to do is to convince you of how great it really is. Today I will explain why I love the library. The library is like a fairytale castle filled with coded tomes that seem plain to the ordinary eye, but are each filled with nuggets of truth that become gems of clarity and light as one learns to wield their powers. Sometimes I sit in the library just to bask in the essence of all the gems glowing warmly around me. On some days, the sensation is no less grand than sumitting a tall mountain, or frolicking through a grassy meadow. In some ways, I don't feel like my travels have stopped at all. I am exploring my world now as much as ever.

The hospital is not so easily glorified. I have been going regularly since being diagnosed with ITP last week. I do not like hospitals, or needles, or blood, or waiting rooms. I do not like imagining myself as a composition of independently fallible pieces, every one of which I am not in total control. I do not like, but I also do not like not liking. So I try to be patient.

The administration of medicine is unlike the administration of law. In law one can often find a loophole, an out, a way of articulating something just a little bit differently that changes it altogether. In medicine, there are no semantic outs. You have disease A or you don't. If you have disease A, you must choose available option 1, 2, or 3 to proceed. You cannot make up an option 4 or negotiate with disease A to create a win-win situation. You must take disease A as a given, and often the solution is a given as well. There is no room for argument, you can only say "ok."

So I have been saying "ok" a lot this week to the things that bother me most. I am learning to calmly float down streams that I can only hope are headed in a good direction. And there is something pretty to that sensation too. Like watching the sky move around me as I lazily float down the nile on a felucca. Every once in awhile, it is just perfect to submit to the fact that you aren't in control, and that no one expects you to be. Though, I find that it helps to look up and not to think about rocks and waterfalls.

I know that at least a few of you are going over waterfalls right now, or have in the past. When I was a kid, and still today, I would find the confidence to jump off of the tops of waterfalls or cliffs into ponds after I had seen a few other equally qualified people do it. Until then, it was hard for me to imagine that it was possible to summon the courage. Thank you to those who have been an inspiration.

Love,

Melissa

Random Law School Update 8

2010-03-26T14:59:00.000-07:00

Location: Law School

Law school is hard. I can see why many people don’t like it. It reminds me of Jon’s passion for mountain climbing. Like most people, I have no interest in investing several months and a ton of money in training myself to be able to reach the top of a very high, very cold, and very dangerous peak. But I can see why climbers enjoy it. It is thrilling, challenging, invigorating, epiphany-inspiring and the view is amazing. Not to mention the deeply personal connections you make with your team along the way.

Law school is like mountain climbing for the brain. Expensive and time-consuming, it starts with a steady onslaught of never-ending reading and you learn to pace yourself at the beginning. Various technical challenges emerge along the way, where you have to operate at double capacity for a few days at a time writing briefs, working on extracurricular projects, competing for jobs, teams, accolades, etc. There are a few breaks for recovery (Thanksgiving, MLK Day, etc.) and a final rush to summit where strategy becomes crucial, time is infinitely limited and you start gasping for air. Spurts of intense clarity and understanding are followed by moments of indescribable haze and confusion. You are inspired, then tired, then excited, then utterly bored. Step follows step follows step, up the mountain. It becomes all you know, and eventually you stop concerning yourself about what life was like before.

I love it. Every moment, high and low. It is a rush and an opportunity that I may never get to experience again. I am going to miss it when it is gone. Maybe someday after I graduate, I will climb a real mountain just to get the sense of it again.

This is going to be one of the recovery weekends. Tomorrow is Barrister’s Ball, otherwise known as law school prom. Unlike high school prom, however, 98% of the people there will be able to carry a conversation. And we don’t have to sneak alcohol in since there will be an open bar (as at every law school event), which will result in more dancing and more conversation. And, Jon will be there. So I am looking forward to it.

If you want to keep up with my updates by blog or check out past updates while I study instead of writing new ones, visit: http://randomtravelupdates.blogspot.com/

Love,

Melissa

Random Law School Update 7

2010-02-06T15:12:00.000-08:00

Location: DC Snowpocalypse 2010

I am sitting here, in the midst of an epic snowpocalypse, super sick, with multitudes of law school studying that may never get done, and I decided that today is a good day to write an update about perspective.

Start by watching this touching public service announcement from the UK: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-8PBx7isoM. I have watched it six times now and it still gives me tingles. In part because it is beautifully performed, in part because it sums up an innate human desire to protect the ones we care about. When it comes to death, we are often so helpless, and the thought that we might be empowered to change the course of an otherwise tragic outcome creates an indescribably unique and fantastic emotional sensation.

Two of the most beautiful, intelligent and compassionate human beings I know are currently battling cancer. I know that many, if not most, of you have watched loved ones struggle with cancer and still, I have not been able to find anyone who can tell me what to tell them to make it all better.

I want more than anything to be their seatbelt.

If you don’t mind taking a moment out of your busy day, I would like to enlist your help in trying to provide them as much support as I can. Please post a comment to Meghan’s fanpage at: http://www.facebook.com/pages/For-the-love-of-Meghan/275219697466?ref=ts. Beth doesn’t have a fanpage yet, but if you send me an uplifting message I will compile them and send them to her as a batch.

For more perspective on life and courage, read Meghan’s blog. I suggest reading from the beginning: http://ms-mae.blogspot.com/.

Love,

Melissa

Random Law School Update 6

2010-01-25T16:28:00.000-08:00

Last Location: Law School

Current location: Law School

Next location: Law School

The registrar did something borderline cruel and decided to trickle our grades out to us one by one. The first grade came out before I left Tucson, but was removed shortly thereafter and reposted last week with our second final grade. The last three midterm grades were supposed to be mailed this weekend. But this seems to have been little more than a scheme to finally teach those of us living on campus how to use our mildly complicated combination code mailboxes that we usually just leave to get full of ads and coupons until the mailman can't fit anymore in and the people at residence life have to send out a mass email begging people to check their mailbox, by which point the people concerned have forgotten their combination.

This weekend however, I saw several students check their boxes upwards of four times a day. I only checked once a day, mostly because I am not in such a rush to see my grades, which are now apparently waiting for us at the registrar office. I also made it easier on myself by not checking my grades as they came out on the internet. So I am at this moment, blissfully ignorant of my quantitative value as a law school student. I am still not sure that I want to see my grades at all. If it weren’t for the purpose of gauging the results of my study habits from last semester to adjust them for this semester, I probably wouldn’t.

Before my law school experience becomes temporarily quantified by grades, I wanted to write down a few things that I do to make it qualitatively good. This is mostly the sort of thing I write to remind myself how to stay on track, but it may be helpful to those of you in school, thinking about going to school or at a tough job:

How to love being a Law Student
1. Put the gym on par with classes. I schedule an hour a day of gym time into my schedule and make it a commitment. Even if I haven’t done my reading, I always go to class. I take my gym schedule equally seriously. Going to the gym boosts my energy levels, keep my metabolism pumping and improves my mood and focus so that the time I spend studying is more effective. My improved efficiency throughout the day, week and semester more than makes up for the time I spend at the gym.

2. Eat awesomely and go vegan. Going vegan is pretty much the secret to all of my successes in life, but in law school nutrition plays a particularly important role in keeping me in shape and energetic. I have devised a bunch of meals that are super quick to prep, pretty inexpensive and super nutritionally balanced: www.15minutemeals.blogspot.com. I focus on protein and fiber and exclude excess caffeine, alcohol, and sugars. I have replaced coffee and sugar with unsweetened cocoa powder, which I mix in hot water like hot chocolate but without milk or sugar. When I need a quick snack, I turn to protein shakes and builder bars.

3. Keep your room clean and super organized. An organized room leads to an organized brain.

4. Live close. I live on campus so that I waste almost no time ever on transportation. This saves me upwards of five hours a week which is almost a full week worth of workouts, two classes worth of reading, or a night out with friends. I also saves me the stress associated with trying to get from point A to point B in Y minutes. I am also in the same building as my gym so I don’t have to bundle up to workout, which probably saves another 20 minutes a day.

5. Be friendly but make friends slowly. One of the best things I did was to move in at the last possible moment before orientation. This limited the amount of people I met before the semester started and allowed me to spend more energy getting to slowly know the people in my section. That said, one of the things that makes tuition worth it is the people you meet in law school, so do get to know them. The people I go to school with are smart, ambitious, and thoughtful people who largely think about things the same way that I do. It’s no wonder I like it here so much.

6. Streamline your life. Every minute counts. Use short breaks between classes to do a few pages of reading, edit your resume, call home, pay bills, or eat meals. Sometimes I can get more done in several short blocks of time then in long undefined periods during which I am tempted to distract myself. Double task, use your downtime, laundry time, metro time, waiting room time to read. We have internet in class. I use lulls in lecture when I would probably otherwise doze off to check mail and plan my schedule.

7. Don't read everything. You may be able to read everything, but chances are you'll only remember 20% anyways. I have decided to focus my reading around taking really good reading notes so that I will have the important elements of each reading when I go back to prepare for exams.

8. Love what you read. Look up terms you don’t know, research the background stories of juicy cases and post any innuendo you stumble across on facebook. This keeps things interesting.

9. Take time off before you start. I don’t think it is necessary to take time off between undergrad and grad school but I have to admit that, after going vegan, it is one of the best decisions I have ever made. I am rarely if ever distracted by regrets or “what ifs” and when I start to feel cramped I look at my pictures and feel free and happy again. Also, the year I spent working as a legal assistant helped. Not because I learned so much about law in theory, but because I have an understanding of what law looks like in practice (two very different things). Also, talking to real lawyers about the highs and lows of their lives since law school is part of what convinced me to take two more years off to travel.

10. Attach the correct amount of worth to grades. While good grades are super valuable and will do a lot of the work for you when you go to interview for jobs, falling anywhere in the midst of a group of individuals who have been meticulously selected based on their statistical ability to do well in law school isn’t a bad thing. Also, unlike some graduate programs, the stuff you learn in law school is often directly relevant to your future career. That means that you aren’t just paying to get a pretty transcript from a prestigious institution. The education itself is worth a lot.

Love,

Melissa

Random Law School Update 5

2010-01-11T22:26:00.001-08:00

Last Locations: Washington, DC to Dallas, TX to Boulder City, NV to Tucson, AZ to Midway, UT to Las Vegas, NV to San Francisco, CA to Tucson, AZ to Washington, DC
Arrival Date: December 21, 2009
Departure Date: January 9, 2010

Current location: Washington, DC
Arrival Date: January 10, 2010
Departure Date: Unknown

Next location: Law School Spring Semester

Finals were beautiful. As much as I was enjoying law school up until that point, I enjoyed most the process of synthesizing the multitudes of detailed concepts we had studied over the semester into grandiose, interconnected patterns of understanding. I had meant to write an update the day after my last test, but I fell into the trap of writing least when I have the most to write about. I plan to write more about the law school experience in a future email. Grades are supposed to come out in February. Apparently, one grade was posted early but I refuse to look. I want my subjectively good feeling about the experience to last as long as possible before it is burst by an objective breakdown of my performance relative to my brilliant classmates.

My hard drive crashed last weekend while I was in San Francisco, which is ok because I had almost everything backed up on my time capsule in DC and Apple replaced it under warranty without question as Apple is apt to do. I am very grateful that it chose to crash over my break and not a few weeks earlier. Thanks to Haiete for convincing me to go to the Apple store right away and for backing up my photos from Utah for me. If it weren't for her, I would have lost them!

With a reinvigorated appreciation for the importance of uploading my photos regularly, I was super productive and posted all of winter break online before I left Tucson: http://picasaweb.google.com/a.melissa.meyer. Look at the pictures for a more detailed story of my recent adventures. The quickish breakdown is:

Washington, DC to Tucson, Arizona: Dec 20-21. My plane was delayed due to the storm the day before, and I arrived in Dallas for my layover almost four hours late. Amazingly, American Airlines put me up in a hotel and shuttled me back to the airport the next morning where I got lucky and was the last called off the standby list to make the first booked-out flight to Tucson. I arrived in Tucson only 12 hours behind schedule.

Tucson, Arizona to Midway, Utah: Dec 22-23. Despite having had my fill of travel the day before, I got ready in time to depart for the 16 hour drive to Utah with my parents early the following morning. We stopped along the way to sleep in a small town outside of Las Vegas to wait for Ronald's Donuts to open the next morning. Well worth it as always.

Midway, Utah: Dec 23-30. We stayed in a residential neighborhood nearish to Park City on the opposite side of the valley from where we normally stay. I took my snowboard out for a day in Park City and spent the rest of the time on skis at The Canyons, Brighton and Snowbird. I am officially naming Brighton as my favorite resort for it's diversity of terrain, multitude of tree runs, sparse lift lines, and good snow conditions. I took two days off skiing this year to work on my resume for my summer internship and to take a biathlon lesson (see photos). We spent Christmas evening at Jon's parents' home in Farmington where Jon's mom had gone above and beyond to prepare us an impressive vegan feast.

Midway, Utah to San Francisco, California: Dec 30-31. Getting to San Francisco on the cheap required that I drive half way back to Tucson with my parents to take a flight out of Las Vegas. Flights into and out of Salt Lake City become very expensive during peak ski season. So I made it an excuse to pick up 12 more apple fritters for my friends in San Fran. Have I mentioned Ronald's Donuts before? Really, go there.

San Francisco, California: Dec 31-Jan 4. New Years Eve in San Francisco was predictably fantastic. I have decided that I never have a bad time in San Francisco. It seems that everyone is always in a good mood. Plus forest and ocean and fog and vegan food and Exploratoriums and Christmas tree bonfires on the beach. It just feels right.

San Francisco, California to Tucson, Arizona: Jan 4. Tucson is the perfect city to have parents in. It has fantastic weather year round, isn't too busy and is cheap to fly into. Though this time I saved a layover by flying into Phoenix and taking the shuttle down. My parents picked me up at the shuttle stop and we went directly to our favorite burrito joint, Mexican F. Mexican F has no website but you can see it on google maps if you type in or click 1508 W St Marys Rd, Tucson, AZ. Nico's used to be my favorite, but Mexican F has surpassed it on price, taste, convenience and service. And the women who run it are super great.

Tucson, Arizona: Jan 4-9. I spent the last few days of vacation relaxing, hiking in the desert, having dinner with my friend Jahan's family from Mexico and Iran, having dinner with my family in Tucson, touring the Davis Monthan Air Force base with my fighter pilot friend, practicing my fighter pilot skills on the A-10 simulator (super cool), and making multiple visits to the Apple store. On my last visit, I acquired what I think may be the most impressive product ever created for the general public.

iPhone: (*swoon*) This product is so good that I think it would have been a failure to capitalism and market competition had I not supported it. I do love Google and am curious about their move to break into the hardware market with the newly announced and unlocked Nexus One, but my heart, mind and brand loyalty have been captured by Apple and the iPhone. Apple products embody functionality, beauty, simplicity, reliability, efficiency, usability, honesty, cutting edge technology, amazing customer service and pretty much everything that is right with America and capitalism. Most importantly, they are incredibly compatible with my brain.

I remember the day Ben sent me a link to the first iPhone tutorial when it was announced in January 2007. I was in nothing short of awe and dreamed of having one someday. I have admittedly and unapologetically hyped this product ridiculous amounts over the last three years, and still, it manages to be better in real life than I could have imagined.

I wrote my iPhone a poem...

Dearest iPhone I <3 you so
I take you with me where ever I go
You understand me, what I mean
Even when I don't type it perfectly
You are there when I need to confide
And am missing a pen and paper to write
When I am lost you tell me where I am
And plot the route to my next destination
You've got my back, when I forget
A name, a birthday or a statistic
You entertain me when I'm bored
With games and visual apps galore
And when I'm waiting and have some free time
I can look up random wiki pages online
If I need to set a date while I'm on the go
You are there with Open Table and Fandango
And when I feel down about the system
You reinstore my faith in capitalism
Alone I am good but with you I'm better
I hope we can be good friends forever

Tucson, Arizona to Washington, DC: Another one of my dreams came true when two of my friends from law school offered to pick me up and take me back to school in their single engine aircraft. There is a feeling you get every so often in life when you see the world and life from a new perspective. These epiphanic moments are possibly the most sought after and coveted of all human experiences and I theorize that they are a category of happiness in and of themselves. It takes a huge amount of faith to ride a human made machine thousands of feet into the air. Actively exercising that faith for 14 hours while contemplating the existence of the natural and civilized world 10,000 feet below you produces a beautiful depth of presence. It's different than being in a commercial aircraft where you are so far above the ground and detached from your surroundings that it's difficult to see the world as you pass it. We left Tucson (MST) at 1:20pm and arrived in College Park at 5:30am (EST). I didn't sleep the whole ride out.

Law school started today. More on that later.

Love,

Melissa

Random Law School Update 4

2009-12-07T20:17:00.000-08:00

Last Location: Pre First Law School Memo
Arrival Date: August 31, 2009
Departure Date: November 20, 2009

Current location: Pre First Law School Finals
Arrival Date: November 20, 2009
Departure Date: December 8, 2009

Next location: Post First Law School Finals (Winter Break)
Arrival Date: December 17, 2009
Departure Date: January 11, 2010

My first real law school exam is tomorrow. I'm not counting the writing exam and memo as "real" since they were very different in nature than what will be my next four tests. I am doing really well so far. Law school has turned out to be everything I had hoped for, and my life here is one of clarity and light, not of doom and despair. I say "so far" since I have very little idea what to expect in the next ten days of exam-taking and very little idea how I will do relative to my peers. But I am not worried. My peers are brilliant. Even if I were to fall below the median, I will still feel privileged just to have been in their company throughout the exam process.

I will write more on the stakes of the game later. There is a lot to say about the process that is interesting. One of the most important things to know is that law school exams account for pretty much 100% of the grade for a class. There are no graded assignments and only a few classes weigh participation at all, even though participation via the socratic method is a major theme in first year law classes. This stresses a lot of people out, but I think it is great. It takes a lot of the pressure off throughout the semester which makes it easier to actually learn the material in time for the exam. All of the exam grades come out together; I imagine sometime in January. Thus, there is no way for me to actually know how I am doing in law school from a quantitative perspective, which leaves me more room to feel like I'm doing well from a qualitative perspective.

In other events, I was in Tucson last week for Thanksgiving, stuffing myself with vegan goodness and Mexican F (my decidedly favorite burrito joint in the world). And Saturday was Compassion Over Killing's annual Holiday party, which was decadently catered and well-attended by the best and brightest animal advocates in the DC metro area (and, probably, the world). If you are feeling generous this time of year, please send them your love (aka donation) at: http://www.cok.net/feat/decspecial/.

Love,

Melissa

Random Law School Update 2

2009-11-06T08:00:00.000-08:00

Last Location: New York, NY
Arrival Date: October 23, 2009
Departure Date: October 24, 2009

Current location: Washington, DC
Arrival Date: October 24, 2009
Departure Date: November 21, 2009

Next location: Tucson, AZ
Arrival Date: November 21, 2009
Departure Date: November 29, 2009

Just finished up week nine of the law school experience. Three more weeks until Thanksgiving, five more weeks until finals begin and seven more weeks until winter break and the end of semester one. But who's counting?

My only complaint is that the days here in DC are getting increasingly gloomy, despite the fact that the temps are currently hovering in the 60s. The inevitability of winter reminds me that I am going to be spending a lot of time indoors the next seven weeks and that the opportunity for hiking, camping, climbing, backpacking (if I could make the time) is quickly passing. This realization illuminates the dramatic lifestyle change I am embarking on as contrasted with the last few years, a feeling for which I will coin the term "Sudden Lifestyle Shift Syndrome" (SLSS). My SLSS is marked by a shift from educating myself by constantly moving to locations of new empirical information and stimulus to the opposite where I stay put and theoretical information is delivered to me to be absorbed and applied. I love the shift from empirical to theoretical but lament the newfound efficiency in my staying put to acquire it.

Jon was sweet to come visit me last week, which was fantastic, but was also a reality check on how little free time I have compared to the last two years. When he isn't here, I don't feel any busier than I've ever been. I have always kept myself occupied and I enjoy my studies similarly to the way I enjoyed working, volunteering and traveling between school. But now I have a vested interest in maintaining my enjoyment of my studies which is, to some extent, dependent on my not coming up with things that I'd rather be doing. Before law school, we were always seeking out bigger and better adventures and making grandiose day plans. Now such plans are relegated to the category of "distractions" on my "things to avoid in law school" list. Yet another illustration of SLSS.

That said, I have gotten out a little since starting school. I made it to the annual Poplar Spring Animal Sanctuary Open House with a few other Gtowners last month. And Jon and I have been to New York City twice this fall, first to attend our friends' wedding and a second time to visit the same friends at their new apartment in Queens. Both trips were a lot of fun. Our friends are both animal advocates and the wedding reception was a vegan fantasy with unlimited quantities of brilliantly prepared vegan delicacies. Staying with them last weekend was even better since we were really able to spend time catching up. I was also able to tag along on a flight to Ocean City with a few of my pilot co-students and woke up at 4:30am one morning to get a seat for the US v. Stevens Supreme Court hearing. Pictures are up at: http://picasaweb.google.com/a.melissa.meyer/DCFall2009#.

I've been eating at home since returning to DC in an effort to save on budget, diet and travel time. This last two weeks I went crazy though and hit Asylum, Sticky Fingers, Ella's Pizzeria, Asia Bistro, Washington Deli, and Java Green. We also ordered several new soy cheese pizzas at Duccini's in Adam Morgan and went to the Chipotle in Dupont Circle to check out their new "Garden Blend: The other other white (not) meat burritos." It's a good time to be vegan in DC.

Hope all is well in the lives of you at home and on the road. Keep sending your pictures and updates. It is my turn to live vicariously through you.

Love,

Melissa

Random Law School Update 1

2009-09-07T20:56:00.000-07:00

Last Location: Washington, DC
Arrival Date: August 25, 2009
Departure Date: Undetermined

Current location: Washington, DC
Arrival Date: August 25, 2009
Departure Date: Undetermined

Next location: Washington, DC
Arrival Date: August 25, 2009
Departure Date: Undetermined

I spent some time debating whether or not to change the name of my updates. I have not, nor have any intention, of committing to the idea that my travels are over. To the contrary, I must admit to having spent some oh-so-precious moments of my free time over the last week planning trips that will never happen. And I like to think that I will partake in grandiose adventures over my winter and summer breaks.

That said, two thoughts have prevailed my decision to start writing Random Law School Updates rather than Random Travel Updates. Firstly, any travel that I do accomplish from here on out will be done in the context of my being a law student in law school. And secondly, I imagine that months down the line, as I am spending my dozenth straight night pouring over legal topics at the library, the concept of writing a “travel update” will seem painfully far from the truth.

So here begins my newest and perhaps grandest adventure yet. Law School: Year 1.

I have, for the most part, left the details of this undertaking out of my previous communications. But it should be noted that this past week is actually far from the beginning of my Law School experience. It started three years ago when I first began studying for the LSAT. Two years ago, when I spent several days in Adam’s apartment in Korea submitting applications. And a bit over a year ago when I accepted and deferred entry into Georgetown’s class of 2012.

Why Georgetown? I had three major considerations in choosing a school: prestige, location, and gym facilities. Georgetown is good on all three points (particularly the gym facilities) but what really earned Georgetown my vote was their innovative alternative curriculum for first year students. This “Curriculum B” proclaims to teach law in the context of to its economic, social and philosophical framework. All of the things that I wish I had had more time to study in undergrad. I was sold.

The first week has been exactly what I would have expected had I envisioned a precise middle ground between my two law school vision extremes. My optimistic extreme was that law school would be a fun, happy and constantly inspiring place with idyllic surroundings and some free time to pursue personal ambitions not related to practicing law. Less optimistically, I speculated that law school would be a narrow pit of reading and despair that I would fall deeper and deeper into as the year progressed.

I have yet to confirm or deny the later vision, but a strong work ethic and strict discipline will definitely be required if I am to prevent it from coming to fruition. The optimistic view may still prevail; I love my apartment, my campus and the proximity of everything to everything else. But if my first week is any indicator, it looks like my free time will be pretty severely limited. Also, as much as we are using a broader social framework to evaluate the law, the readings aren’t always as interesting as they would be if I were to study philosophy, sociology or economics independently.

More importantly than my prior expectations, is that I do not feel in the least bit unprepared or under-prepared for law school. My travels have in no way detached me from my foundation in academia and have indeed given me valuable insight to the practical consequences of policy making and incentive structures. The experience that I can best compare to law school, was learning a foreign language abroad in an immersion setting. At first everything sounds like gibberish, but the more you read and hear, the more you truly start to understand. You aren’t expected to know everything right away, you must trust that you will figure it out as you go. I have faith that I will.

Most importantly, as one of my friends made me put it the other day, I am happy.

Love,

Melissa

Random Travel Review

2009-08-27T23:50:00.000-07:00

Current Location: Washington,DC
Arrival Date: August 25, 2009
Departure Date: undetermined

Thanks for all of the excellent questions! There were enough that I didn’t include any of my own. Hope you enjoy!

In which location did you learn the most? How/why?
• I wouldn’t know how to quantify my education abroad in order to select only one place. But Korea, India, Costa Rica, and Israel/Palestine definitely make the top of the list:
• Korea for a million reasons of friendship, art, language, food, and randomness. But most notably because I had the unique opportunity to immerse myself in their culture of business and to experience a very different perspective on work.
• Half of what I learned in India I learned within an hour of getting off the plane. It is otherworldly poor and this fact is reflected in everything about the country. But there is a magic there, and hidden in all of the smog and dirt are some of the most spectacular scenes I have seen or will ever see in my life. What I learned in indescribable, some places you just have to visit on your own.
• Costa Rica because it is where I first started to pick up Spanish and to really understand Salsa. Also, visiting the rainforest is like taking an ecology seminar.
• Israel and Palestine are at the forefront of world politics at the moment and visiting really helped me to make sense of that fact. There is a dichotomy between the two nations whereby one possesses a strip of land that they have beautified and maintained richly and another possesses a generous and welcoming, but modest, culture that rivals others in the region. Neither posses what the other has. Witnessing this illuminated the conflict for me.
• I should also give some credit to Mexico, my first third world destination as a child where I learned that there are other places much less wealthy than the US. And France, my first independent international experience when I was 17, where I learned that there are likely few other countries as wealthy as the US.

Which was the most beautiful beach?
• Samara, Costa Rica.

What foreign event/attitude/idea should Americans be more aware of?
• Globalization. Our country is a leader on this front, but our citizenry’s understanding of it varies. The world is very interconnected now, people all over the globe have grown up listening to the same music as I have, seen most of the same movies, and are up on many of the same fashions. When the American markets faltered, so did most of the rest of the world’s. As we rebuild our economy, we should keep in mind the structure of the global economy and consider to what extent we want to focus on ourselves and to what extent we want to participate globally. I believe that there is a lot to be gained, financially, in global markets and that the United States already has a huge leg up on competition. Investments in education will be key to keeping us on par with rapidly advancing Asian countries.

We'd love to follow in your footsteps so how did you pay for all that? I know, none of my business, but gee whiz!
• If you had asked that question a year ago, I would say minimize or eliminate your monthly payments (cars, mortgages, debt, cable, etc.), live simply, and use the few hundred/thousand dollars you save each month to plan a big trip at the end of the year. To make it a big trip, pick a cheap country, find cheap airfare at kayak.com or STA Travel (works for teachers now too!), and stay with friends or find new friends to stay with on couchsurfing.com. That of course assumes that you have a job, which you may have to quit in order to take your big trip. (Unless you just happen to have one of the only US jobs that grants you three months of vacation a year.) I saved money for my travels initially by minimizing my living expenses for a year and continuing to work when I could as a teacher in both Salt Lake and Seoul. I have not had a job now for long enough that it is apparent that I could in no way continue to finance my travels on my own. But Jon has. Which is why I owe him a really big trip after I pay off my law school debt.

How much did you spend?
• About $12,000USD. But I relied a lot on the hospitality of friends. If you want to include what Jon spent it would be significantly more.

What prompted you to do so much traveling at this point in your life?
• Some of you may have already heard this story. I was preparing to apply to law school and the first piece of advice I got from any lawyer I talked to was, “Don’t go.” Legal careers have one of the lowest job satisfaction rates in the country. So I started asking around to find out what lawyers felt like they were missing and I heard a lot regret for not having been able to travel more when they were young. A career after law school tends to start fast and may require an 80-hour workweek with no time for vacation. Serious lawyers get sucked in to their work, and may not emerge for decades. So, with my usual enthusiasm for getting things out of the way, I thought I would take a career-worth of vacation in advance.

How was traveling with a significant other?
• Traveling with Jon was great. We have everything important in common, the same philosophies regarding food, culture, adventure and travel. But spending 24/7 with anyone for six months at a time can get drab. Mostly because when you spend that much time with someone, you stop growing independently of each other and have less to share with and learn from one another. I treasure also my time apart from him and my travels with old friends and new friends who I met along the way.

Did you ever have to handle illness or injury while abroad? How'd that go? I seem to remember something about a concussion.
• Plenty! Planters fasciitis, multiple ankle sprains, that mini-concussion I got skiing in Park City, poison ivy, a few colds, other respertory problems caused by air pollution, rashes, food poisoning, anemia (years ago in France), and a few cases of traveler’s diarrhea. I bring along Imodium AD, antibiotics and pain medication in case of emergencies and it has really been a blessing at times. Jon too, is a blessing, because he carries me around when my ankle is messed up. I try to slow everything down a bit when I get sick or injured, but it isn’t always possible. Luckily, the doctors that I have encountered abroad in China, Korea, Australia, and India have been worlds more helpful and efficient than any I've seen in the US.

Did you ever eat non-vegan? If so, when and why?
• Yes. I am fairly lenient on my diet when I am abroad. Language and cultural barriers sometimes make it difficult to make certain that every dish I consume is animal-product free, especially from a purist’s standard. But I am not a purist, and certainly don’t recommend that people drive themselves crazy with it when they travel. It is far better from an ethical (and sanity) perspective to support the most vegan food options in each country than to boycott the local cuisine in totality. Potato chips and beer are safe vegan staples but do not constitute an acceptable diet and will not help to promote vegetarian cuisine abroad. It is better to work with local restaurants to develop vegan or near-vegan options. If enough people request it, they are likely to add it to their regular menu. You can see this happening already throughout heavily touristed parts of the world such as South America. I have a blog in the works about eating vegan abroad, check it out at http://veganamerican.blogspot.com/.

What was your favorite airport?
• Cool question. Having taken over 50 flights in the last two years, I have definitely come to value good airports. Minneapolis is huge and has tons of dining and shopping options, also seemingly friendlier staff. The Incheon airport outside of Seoul, Korea deserves major credit for being big, beautiful, and having a built-in Jimjilbong. It wins the prize structurally, but I have to go with SLC for character because they have a Squatters Pub, which sells not only a world-class veggie burger and other great vegan eats, but also 8% beer. That, and the airport is equipped with free wi-fi. Invaluable.

In all your journey's and visiting far off lands and meeting all the different people groups with their own beautiful and unique traits and customs, what have you learned about "people" and how will that impact your future, especially as it relates to law?
• Beautifully worded question. Yes, I have definitely learned a lot about people. But most of what I’ve learned is the kind of stuff that you just come to understand. I can’t imagine trying to explain it short of writing a book. One of the deeper things I have observed is that there is a trend of respect for the United States abroad. Not necessarily for our international political ambitions, but very much so for our accomplishments in business and entertainment. And also, I like to think, for our constitutional freedoms. Our justice system needs to live up our global role model status. I hope to contribute to this throughout my career.

And finally, do you find that all people, regardless of their environment, level of development, degree of dependency or any other factory such as race, color or religion have intrinsic value and are worthy of life, or have you found that you believe there are some, maybe because of the above reasons or maybe because of particular views that they hold do not have intrinsic value or are not worthy of life?
• One of my favorite moments while traveling came while watching a legless Indian “kick” a soccer ball to his teammates across the beach in Goa with his fist. I smiled at him and he smiled back. We were different in almost every way imaginable, but I remember feeling more respect for that person in that moment than I have had for many of the people I grew up with. I believe, and have believed since long before I started to travel, that all sentient beings regardless of religion, race or species are intrinsically deserving of respect for that sentience. That includes a respect for life, particularly an individual’s right to autonomy of life. However, that isn’t to say that there aren’t bad individuals. If someone causes others enough suffering, they could presumably outweigh their intrinsic worth and it might be in a society’s interest to destroy them. Or if an individual threatens another directly, I believe that gives the individual being attacked a right to defense. As for environment, level of development, degree of dependency and factors such as race, color and religion, these things may affect a person’s worth in terms of lifetime earning potential but are unlikely to alter their degree of sentience.

Which group of people that you encountered while traveling seemed the most uniquely and consistently happy, and what do you think is the source of their happiness?
• This question delves at one of the greatest points of education throughout my travel. Having stayed in few countries much longer than a month, I can’t say with authority who the happiest were, though I do have my guesses. What I can say with confidence, however, is that wealth and happiness are not necessarily interconnected. Being able to feed yourself and your family, however, is important. Some of the least happy populations I have encountered are in the United States, South Korea, and India. The most uniquely and consistently happy? Costa Rica definitely makes the list, along with Bolivia, and perhaps The Netherlands. I think a cultural value for good health is a key factor, as are strong family connections and an illusion of equality, such that people feel like they aren’t so much worse off than everyone around them.

What country had the best food? The worst?
• Best: India and USA
• Worst: Taiwan and France

Where were the people friendliest? Meanest/rudest?
• Friendliest: Costa Rica, Bolivia and parts of the US
• Least friendly: Israel, France and parts of the US

Which country would you most like to live (permanently) if you were to leave the U.S?
• Permanently? Never! The United States is hands down my favorite country in the world. Though I could see myself living for a small while in Argentina, Chile, Bolivia, Costa Rica and The Netherlands.

Love,

Melissa

Random Travel Update 49

2009-08-24T16:34:00.001-07:00

Last Location: Petrolia, Barrie, Toronto and Niagra Falls, Ontario
Arrival Date: August 20, 2009
Departure Date: August 24, 2009

Current location: Croswell, MI
Arrival Date: August 24, 2009
Departure Date: August 25, 2009

Next Locations: Washington, DC
Arrival Date: August 25, 2009
Departure Date: undetermined

I met Adam in Michigan and together we drove across the border to Canada to unite with Meghan in her small hometown of Petrolia, which is named after the black gold that the area is known for drilling. The US-Canada border crossing was one of the most difficult of my travels complete with attitude and a thorough search of Adam’s car and our personal belongings.

We decided on a road trip east to visit Meghan’s brother and school friend in the city of Barrie, an hour north of Toronto. We spent the first day there relaxing, building a deck, playing a game of zombies, shopping for patio furniture and barbequing on the newly made deck.

The following day we set off for Toronto to play with farm animals, stroll along the beach at Lake Ontario and eat some veg food next to a dead squirrel in Chinatown. In the afternoon we took an impromptu journey to Niagara Falls, which was both incredibly touristed and incredibly magnificent.

On the way home, Meghan was craving sushi, so we stopped at a small Japanese Korean restaurant in Hamilton, which to our glee and amazement had my favorite Korean dish, tteokpoki. If you haven’t been following me into every Korean restaurant I’ve passed around the world inquiring as to whether they have tteokpoki, than you may not understand the significance of this find. It was truly a great moment.

Today, we drove back across Ontario to Adam’s home in Croswell. Tomorrow I fly to DC.

Love,

Melissa

Random Travel Update 48

2009-08-16T01:41:00.000-07:00

Last Location: Farmington, Utah
Arrival Date: August 7, 2009
Departure Date: August 14, 2009

Current location: San Francisco, CA
Arrival Date: August 14, 2009
Departure Date: August 19, 2009

Next Locations: Flint, MI
Arrival Date: August 19, 2009
Departure Date: August 25, 2009

Last week marked the two-year anniversary since I originally moved out of DC. In ten days, I will move back. In the meantime, I am spending time with some of the most important people in my life: my family and friends in Arizona, Jon’s family and friends in Utah, Ben and Haiete in California and, soon, Adam and Meghan in Michigan and Ontario.

Jon and I kept ourselves busy in Utah rock climbing in Big Cottonwood Canyon; running a charity 5k for the local farm animal sanctuary, Ching Farm; working at Ching Farm; visiting with friends and driving down to the Bonneville Salt Flats to watch world automobile speed records being broken at the annual Speed Week. Photos to come.

Yesterday, Jon and I drove up to San Francisco to spend time with Ben and Haiete, and for me to attend a weekend law seminar. I have one more stop before I reach DC, but I can’t help but feel a sense of closure coming back to the city that I essentially began my travels in. From here, I will fly straight to Michigan to visit Adam and Meghan, who were my first and most beloved friends in Korea. My travels have come full circle.

Thanks to everyone who submitted questions for the Random Travel Review. They are quite excellent questions and I am still working on the answers, coming soon.

New photos from Hawaii are up on Picasa, as are renovated Peru and Uruguay albums complete with captions. I plan to add captions to the rest of the South America photo albums eventually.

Love,

Melissa

Random Travel Update 47

2009-07-30T02:13:00.000-07:00

Last locations: Kauai, Hawaii

Arrival Date: July 15, 2009
Departure Date: July 29, 2009

Current location: SLC, Utah (layover)
Arrival Date: July 30, 2009
Departure Date: July 30, 2009

Next Locations: Tucson, Arizona

Arrival Date: July 30, 2009
Departure Date: unknown

If you do one thing in Kauai, make it the Napali Coast Trail. Conflicting interests made the total 22 mile round trip a no go for me this time around but I did succeed in getting Jon and my mom to accompany me on an 8 mile round trip section of the trail on our final day. It was, in my opinion, absolutely magical with dramatic terrain and even more dramatic views. I saw the rest of the trail looking inland from a catamaran, and I am confident that it is impressive in its entirety.

Every other worthwhile activity on the US island, with the exception of trail and beach activities, will cost you. The activities I enjoyed, but am not necessarily advocating because of the price, included a one hour helicopter ride over the island, a five hour catamaran trip down the Napali Coast in good weather (dolphins!), a four hour kayak and hike to a waterfall that was very much overrun with tourists, and a luau.

Equally good and free or next to free activities include, hiking to one (or several) of the many waterfalls on the island, boogie boarding ($6 per day or $20 per week rental fee), picking through smooth glass and chasing crabs on the glass beach on the southern coast, and snorkeling with sea turtles, eels, sting rays and fish at one of the many reefs.

We did some diving on the North and South shores which was quite enjoyable, but I saw near as much diversity of wildlife snorkeling the shallower reefs, and the price of diving on Kauai is very high. Sea turtles and eels are plentiful but visibility is mediocre. Unless this is your only opportunity to dive for awhile, I recommend saving it for another vacation.

As for vegan food. The world renowned vegan restaurant Blossoming Lotus, one of my expected trip highlights, closed its doors shortly before our arrival and moved to Portland. Tragic. Now the options include a multitude of Thai restaurants, some Mexican, a few good health food stores, a bakery with vegan cheese pizza, and Taco Bell.

I am not sure whether I've mentioned it before, but if you have any say in the matter, never ever fly Delta. The whole operation is a joke and an embarrassment to The United States. They keep their prices low by cutting everything including legroom, personal entertainment, air-conditioning, meals, windows on window seats(!), and most noticeably customer service. We have yet to have a positive experience with them. American Airlines is also pretty awful.

Salt Lake City is fantastic. Even the airport.

Love,

Melissa

Random Travel Update 46

2009-07-15T06:26:00.001-07:00

Last locations: Amman, Jordan; Petra, Jordan
Arrival Date: June 30, 2009
Departure Date: July 2, 2009

Current location: Tucson, Arizona
Arrival Date: July 2, 2009
Departure Date: July 15, 2009

Next Locations: Kauai, Hawaii
Arrival Date: July 15, 2009
Departure Date: July 30, 2009

This update is mostly to inform you that I have three newly edited and fully captioned photo albums up on Picasa from the Middle East, that we are currently in Tucson, and that we are leaving today for Hawaii.

Our short stay in Jordan was really fantastic. Petra was spectacular and very deserving of its spot on the New Seven Wonders of the World list. We stayed late our first day and arrived early on our second to enjoy the whole site to ourselves. Having a site as grand as Petra to ourselves was an experience unmatched by any other, and the absence of other tourists was a welcome change from what we had come to expect in South America.

Amman, too, was more than worth the short time we spent there. My favorite thing about the city is prayer. Muslim prayer is a regular occurrence, happening five times a day in every populated area in the Middle East (with the exception of Israel). But it is particularly wonderful in Amman, where the prayer, always spoken in song, reverberates off Amman’s many hills creating the echo effect similar to that of an organ in a Cathedral. Except that in this case, the whole city is the Cathedral. The effect is magical.

You can find my photos at: http://picasaweb.google.com/a.melissa.meyer
Visit old and new blogs at: http://randomtravelupdates.blogspot.com
Or check out Jon’s take on things at: http://elfanoos.blogspot.com

Love,

Melissa

Random Travel Update 45

2009-06-30T11:51:00.000-07:00

Last locations: Eilat, Israel; Jerusalem, Israel; Bethlehem, Palestine; Tel Aviv, Israel; Jericho, Palestine; Siesta Beach, The Dead Sea
Arrival Date: June 21, 2009
Departure Date: June 29, 2009

Current location: Amman, Jordan
Arrival Date: June 29, 2009
Departure Date: June 30, 2009

Next Locations: Petra, Jordan
Arrival Date: June 30, 2009
Departure Date: July 2, 2009

Our goal was to avoid the incredibly expensive ferry directly from Nuweiba, Egypt to Aqaba, Jordan by crossing into Jordan by land via Israel. We were going to head north through Jordan and cross back into Israel via the Allenby/King Hussein crossing through the West Bank. Upon arriving at the Israeli border of Jordan however, we were informed that there is an incredibly high departure tax when leaving Israel. So, we quickly changed plans and got a bus out of Eilat the next day to Jerusalem where we enjoyed the hospitality of one of Jon's old friends, Dan, from their days in The Sierra Club.

It's hard to write about Israel and Palestine without getting into politics and religion. It is easy to want to pick sides in the matter. On one hand you have an elite class of wealthy occupiers severely oppressing the less prosperous former land tenants, on the other, you have a nation of individuals whose land has, since the beginning of time, been disputed. As our cab driver in Bethlehem put it, "All I wonder is, after the Israelis, who's next?"

It is impossible to deny that the Israelis have done amazing things with their little strip of the Mediterranean desert, turning it into a no-holds-barred first world resort destination. There is air conditioning, well-serviced public bathrooms and superior infrastructure. For this, you pay about five times as much for everything and have to put up with the Israelis. I am not convinced that it is worth it.

Despite being multitudes richer per capita than their neighbors to the South and East, the Israelis won't hesitate to add a little extra to your bill, whether it be for going three minutes over time at the internet cafe to adding "too much" salad at a salad bar. Transgressions that wouldn't even garner a baksheesh request in one of Israel's poorer Arab neighbors. Racism, as in most countries, is alive and well here, which isn't so much surprising as it is ironic.

On a suspicion that I would like it more, we planned two mini-trips to the WestBank. We spent the first day touring Bethlehem and reminiscing over all of the sitesthat made for the basis of much of my Christian education growing up. We saw the places where Jesus was born, cradled, crucified and buried. And I did like it. The people who we met, from a group of little girls to a convoy of soldiers, were all marvelously friendly, warm and welcoming.

The second trip, on our way from Jerusalem to the Israeli-Palestinian border with Jordan was to Jericho where we spent the evening floating on the Dead Sea and coating ourselves in the mineral rich and addictively squishy Dead Sea mud. We spent the night in the city and woke up the next morning to see Hashim's Palace, a gorgeous ruin where we were the only visitors. In fact, we didn't run into a single other tourist in Jericho. Despite it's vast share of Holy Land sites and historical religious significance, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has near annihilated tourism in the West Bank. The only trouble we ran into was when we befriended a local youth living next door to us in our budget hotel. He turned out to be crazy, and spent the better part of the late night banging on our hotel room door and picking at the lock pleading for us to hide him from the Israeli Police.

The border crossing the next day was a disaster. After spending two hours and our last 100 shekels to get to the Jordanian border, we were told, for the first time, that we were at the only border crossing with Israel that could not issue a foreign visa. Two more hours of waiting confirmed that we would have to go back to Israel and re-enter from the northernmost crossing, 60 kilometers away.

Getting back into Israel was a whole new nightmare which required passing through an infinite number of checkpoints all bottle-necked with Palestinians impatient to get home. Another two hours got us through this mess and to a pull-off where we waited patiently for a bus that would take us north an hour later. We hitched the final few kilometers from the bus drop off to the required border crossing and eight hours from our departure from Jericho, we arrived in time to watch the sun set on the beautiful northern Israeli countryside and passed effortlessly through the deserted checkpoint.

And that is how we arrived in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.

Love,

Melissa

Random Travel Update 44

2009-06-20T07:50:00.000-07:00

Last locations: Cairo, Luxor, Aswan, Alexandria, Sharm El-Sheikh Egypt
Arrival Date: June 2, 2009
Departure Date: June 13, 2009

Current location: Dahab, Egypt
Arrival Date: June 13, 2009
Departure Date: June 21, 2009

Next Locations: Jordan
Arrival Date: June 21, 2009
Departure Date: Undetermined

My favorite thing about Egypt is the ubiquitous reply to being American: "Obama! Number one!", sometimes repeated many times in a row in order to make sure that we know that they know that Obama is in fact "number one". It was particularly nice that Obama decided to come to Cairo the day after we arrived, presumably to thank us for all of our hard work on his primary campaign. I am going to return the favor by visiting him in DC this August.

With the exception of Dahab, Egypt is a chaotic place with an overwhelming presence of ancient and contemporary historical value. A recent resurgence of Islamic conservatism has many women walking the streets in black niqabs which revel only the eyes of the wearer and only a handful of local women choose to go bear-headed. The vast majority wear a hijab, and despite the near oppressive heat, no female goes anywhere wearing short sleeves.

The male culture is like that of undersexed adolescent boys and men have a difficult time vocalizing their appreciation of the opposite sex in an appropriate manner, an unfortunate phenomenon that even Islam and five prayers a day is apparently unable to remedy. Otherwise, Islam has done wonders here. Despite a high poverty rate, theft is almost unheard of and you can get out of most tourist scams and heckling by making an appeal to religion (helps if you speak Arabic). Though worlds dirtier, hotter, and louder than anywhere we visited in South America, Egypt is also worlds more interesting.

The cheapest flight out of Tucson was, unusually, a Sunday flight on the 31st of May which, to my delight, makes the dates of our trip very neat to work with. Day 1, June 1st, was spent on a long layover in Amsterdam which allowed us to arrive in Cairo on Tuesday June 2nd, exactly six weeks prior to our departure date from Istanbul on Tuesday July 14th.

I had meant to write this two weeks into our trip, but that goal has been delayed due to my inability to spend much more than 15 minutes at a time in the internet cafes which, like most places in Egypt, blatently encourage cigarette smoking by hiring only chain smokers to work the counter.

Our first week was packed with us getting out of the way all of the things that one must see when on a visit to Egypt. We spent three days in Cairo, couchsurfed in Maadi, checked out the famous Khan El Khalili market, killed time at the Ahwahs (traditional Egyptian coffee houses) playing backgammon and reminiscing over Jon's old Egypt days, and of course hung out with Barack Obama during his visit to the Pyramids of Giza.

On the night of day three, we hopped on an overnight train south along the Nile to Luxor where we saw all sorts of impressive Egyptian sites before heading further south to 47 degree Celsius Aswan where we floated along the Nile on lazy Feluccas, rode Camels to ancient Christian establishments and perused the Nubia Museum which was surprisingly worthwhile (and air conditioned). From Aswan, we took the uncomfortable 15 hour train back up to Cairo where we spent the morning before connecting with our afternoon train up to Alexandria.

We spent another afternoon in Cairo, where I visited the overpriced and under air conditioned Egypt Museum while waiting to catch the eight hour overnight bus to Sharm El-Sheikh, our first stop on the Sinai. We spent US$100 on a hotel room, $15 on lunch, $30 on dinner, $15 at the coffee shops, $30 to go dancing and left the next day to avoid blowing through the rest of our Middle East budget in a single weekend. Best thing about Sharm: The Hard Rock Cafe in Naama Bay which serves up a delicious Veg Burger and almost equally delicious frozen drinks in an air conditioned non-smoking section. Extra bonus: there is toilet paper in the bathroom. Truly incredible.

Better than Sharm, is the smaller and more authentic-feeling Dahab, just an hour up the East coast. It is a budget divers paradise, where you can strap on your gear and head straight to the ocean from your hotel at $25 per dive, gear, guide and tank included. An air conditioned room for two costs less than $10 and a candlelit waterfront meal adds up to $5 per person. It is about as idyllic as it gets.

Tomorrow we leave for the ancient city of Petra in Jordan and from there head north to the Dead Sea, Amman and Jeresh before crossing into Israel and the Palestinian Territories.

I was able to post the first set of Egypt photos to Picasa which I will attempt to edit and caption when I am reunited with my Macbook. For Jon's take on Egypt, visit elfanoos.blogspot.com sometime next week. I have been going through my emails to make sure that I haven't left any unanswered, often the consequence of my leaving the internet cafe abruptly due to cigarette smoke or computer failure. Please help by resending any emails that I may have missed.

Love,

Melissa

Random Travel Update 43

2009-05-31T20:01:00.000-07:00

Last locations: Quito, Ecuador
Arrival Date: May 25, 2009
Departure Date: May 27, 2009

Current location: Tucson, AZ
Arrival Date: May 27, 2009
Departure Date: May 31, 2009

Next Locations: Amsterdam The Netherlands, Cairo Egypt
Arrival Date: June 1, 2009
Departure Date: Undetermined

While Jon and I were enjoying some falafel and baba ghanoush at a Lebanese café in La Paz, it occurred to me that being in South America was, for me at that moment, like sitting through a movie just after seeing a trailer for another movie that I would much rather be watching.

If you read the back cover of the Lonely Planet’s guide to South America, you will get the following review, “Challenging? Check. Rewarding? Beyond your wildest dreams. South America is made for travel—the griping, spine-tingling, adrenaline-charged type of travel you live for.”

In reality, the most challenging part of travel in South America is remembering not to flush your toilet paper down the toilet. Or, moreso, trying to get off of the gringo trail…a near impossible feat. And as for rewarding, sure, but so is every destination if you arrive with the right mindset.

South America is definitely made for travel. It is as if the whole continent were taken up by the tourism industry, thoroughly chewed and regurgitated for the travel-hungry masses to enjoy. And there are masses. While Americans are at home working hard at their careers and enjoying their annual two-week holiday, the English, Israelis, Germans, Dutch, Swiss and Aussies seem to have sent the majority of their youth out to go “discover themselves” for months at a time on the beaches and bars of every country with a good beer-to-euro ratio.

As for griping, spine-tingling, adrenaline-charged, in reality, South America is pretty laid back. And while you can adventure sport to your heart’s (or budget’s) content, the truth is that adventure sports tend to be griping, spine-tingling, and adrenaline-charged regardless of what continent you do them in.

That being said, do go to South America, just maybe don’t do it the way we did. There are many destinations that would be worth spending two-to-four weeks in and getting to know the local community and environment. Better even would be to study or work there. Cities and towns that I could really see myself staying for several months or more include: Buenos Aires, Santiago, Valparaiso, San Pedro de Atacama, Sucre, Samaipata, and La Paz.

I don’t have much time to finish this. In just over two hours Jon and I will get on a plane headed to Egypt by way of Minneapolis and Amsterdam the latter of which we will be for ten hours.
New photos of Bolivia are up and Jon has several new blogs in the works. Visit http://picasaweb.google.com/a.melissa.meyer and http://elfanoos.blogspot.com/.

Love,

Melissa

Random Travel Update 42

2009-05-20T06:27:00.000-07:00

Last locations: Tiwanaku BL, Lake Titicaca BL, Machu Picchu PE, Nazca Lines PE
Arrival Date: May 10, 2009
Departure Date: May 19, 2009

Current location: Lima, Peru
Arrival Date: May 19, 2009
Departure Date: May 20, 2009

Next Locations: Mancora, Peru
Arrival Date: May 21, 2009
Departure Date: May 22, 2009

Machu Picchu: √ (check). Like Disneyland but with less rides and real stones, Machu Picchu is one of those magical places that I'd be happy to never visit again. In an effort to salvage at least part of the experience, we opted for an alternative trek to the Inca Trail, which is littered with 200 tourists and 300 porters a day, few of whom care significantly about their immediate environment or the act of trekking in general.

Still, paying hundreds of dollars to trek with guides, pack mules and eight other foreigners at half the pace we would otherwise choose, is pretty distant from my idea of fun and adventure. The scenery, however, was breathtaking (as was the altitude at times), we met local indigenous people along the way, and the food, though it took the cooks hours to prepare, wasn’t half bad.

As for Maccu Picchu, it was every bit as incredible as people make it out to be and almost every bit as crowded. The photos taken cannot do it justice, and I don’t blame the hundreds to thousands of tourists who arrive each day to marvel in person at what must be one of the world’s most spectacular archeological sites.

Another cool archeological site in Peru is the Nazca Lines. We saw those today via a sobrevuelo (overflight) in a four-passenger private aircraft. They were impressive, but the three of us (me, Jon and Jon’s friend Aaron) agreed that they are much smaller than we were expecting.

Backing up a bit, our last few days in Bolivia, before our miserable overnight bus ride from Copacabana to Cuzco, were some of our best. The ruins at Tiwanaku were surprisingly calm with few tourist groups. While the city itself needs a lot of rebuilding since the Spanish plundered it in the 1500s, the stone-carved artifacts that have been found on the site are very impressive. The Tiwanaku civilization is thought to have predated the Incas by thousands of years and is perhaps the longest continuous societies in the history of the Americas. The surviving ancestors of the Tiwanaku are today called Aymara, while the descendants of the Incas are Quechua. Also present in Bolivia are the descendants of the Amazonia people, today known as Guarani.

We spent our last night in Bolivia on the Isla del Sol where the sun is said to have been born in local Aymaran folklore. We supported the local economy by taking a private boat to the northern shore which allowed us to see all of the archeological sites virtually untouristed since most visitors have to hike two to three hours up to the north shore and either spend the night or hike back down the same day. We were able to see all the north shore sites that evening, eat dinner, spend the night and wake up before sunrise the next morning to hike down to the south shore and explore our hearts out before the others were even awake. It was one of the highlights of our trip and very much somewhere that we hope to return to someday.

And return we will. In the meantime, Jon and I have decided to save the rest of our South America tour for the future. Instead of going on to Colombia and Venezuela next month as planned, we will be taking a flight out of Ecuador next week, spending a few days in Arizona to repack and upload photos (my hard drive is full again), and then catching a plane to the Middle East from where my Random Travel Update will be based for the following six weeks.
Keep keeping in touch.

Love,

Melissa

Random Travel Update 41

2009-05-05T18:59:00.000-07:00

Last locations: Santa Cruz BL, Asunción de Guarayos BL, Samaipata BL, Cochabamba BL, Torotoro BL, Yungas Road BL
Arrival Date: April 10, 2009
Departure Date: May 1, 2009

Current location: La Paz, Bolivia
Arrival Date: May 2, 2009
Departure Date: May 9, 2009

Next Locations: Tiwanaku BL, Lake Titicaca BL, Cuzco, Peru
Arrival Date: May 10, 2009
Departure Date: undetermined

First, in regards to Swine Flu: Please, stop supporting confined animal agriculture. As complicated as the media tries to make the issue, it is no mystery as to how these epidemics come about. Anyone who has ever witnessed a modern day animal processing facility will attest to the filthy, overcrowded warehouse environments that breed such disease. The contemporary method of raising pigs, cows and birds for slaughter is not only cruel and environmentally degrading; it also poses a serious threat to public health.

To learn more factory farming and the current epidemic visit: http://www.hsus.org/farm/news/ournews/qa_on_swine_flu_050209.html

CNN also ran a news story highlighting this threat: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j10SQpCO9Wc.

The most effective thing that you can do as a concerned citizen is to boycott the meat industry. For tips on eating vegan visit: http://pcrm.org/health/veginfo/vsk/index.html.

We really like Bolivia. It is rugged, moderately undeveloped, colorful and cheap. Taking a bus is still an adventure here. Our first bus ride from Uyuni to Sucre included 10 hours of unpaved, unmaintained road, five river/wash crossings, countless sharp turns on narrow roads bordered by steep drops and passing vehicles, a guy who threw up two times, a three hour wait in near freezing weather at 2am for a transfer bus with no bathroom access. Following that, we learned that planes are actually quite a good deal in Bolivia, costing less than the same distance in Argentina by bus in cama or super-cama class.

The Bolivians may be some of the cutest people in the world. On Sunday we went to something called “Cholita Wrestling” which involves cholitas (the diminutive form of “chola” which refers to indigenous Bolivianas who live in cities rather than in rural indigenous villages) wrestling cholos (masculine form) in a boxing ring. Though not specifically about Bolivia, the movie “Nacho Libre” would provide you with a very good idea of the nature of the event. Or you can watch a match on youtube. The Cholitas tolerate getting beat up pretty bad before they come back to win the match. If your interest is spiked regarding all things Cholita, the Travel Channel has an episode dedicated to them.

Today we did a super-touristy thing and biked the ¨World´s Most Dangerous Road¨ proclaimed as such in 1995 by the Inter-American Development Bank in reaction to its record annual death toll of 200 to 300 passengers. A few days ago, we rented a car (Jon´s idea) and headed out from Cochabamba to the very rural town of Torotoro to explore caves, canyons and dinosaur prints. Previous to arriving in the desert college city of Cochabamba (not unlike Tucson), we spent ten days in the beautiful town of Samaipata where we spent our time taking Spanish lessons, meeting with locals, and volunteering at an animal refuge. Before that, we attended the Biennial
International Theater Festival in Santa Cruz, during which we learned acrobatics (pictures to come). And, previous to Santa Cruz, we stayed in the charming city of Sucre after the completion of our 3-day tour by jeep of The Reserva National de Fauna Andina Eduardo Avaroa and the Salar de Uyuni; the highest, largest and most impressive salt flat in the world.

There is more to say. I think Jon plans to elaborate on each activity in his next blog post. Look out for it next week at elfanoos.blogspot.com. For about half of the Bolivia pictures, check out http://picasaweb.google.com/a.melissa.meyer/Bolivia#. Check again next week for more.

Love,

Melissa

Random Travel Update 40

2009-04-08T13:07:00.000-07:00

Last locations: Santiago CL, Viña del Mar CL, Valparaiso CL, La Serena CL, San Pedro de Atacama CL, Uyuni BL
Arrival Date: March 17, 2009
Departure Date: April 6, 2009

Current location: Sucre, Bolivia
Arrival Date: April 7, 2009
Departure Date: April 10, 2009

Next Location: Santa Cruz, Bolivia
Arrival Date: April 10, 2009
Departure Date: April 12, 2009

Long email synopsis: Chile is a very awesome country, diverse both in geography and demography. Check out the new “Thanks!” column at http://randomtravelupdates.blogspot.com and photos coming soon to http://picasaweb.google.com/a.melissa.meyer. Jon's blog is being very well maintained at http://elfanoos.blogspot.com.

Santiago, Los Andes, Viña del Mar, Valparaiso, La Serena, San Pedro de Atacama. City, mountains, beach, port, beach and desert. Chile has a privileged geography, encompassing the greater part of the western coast of South America. It is as tall, North to South, as the United States is wide but thinner across than the state of California. Bordered on one side by the Andes and on the other by the Pacific, it is in a good position for self defense and since its liberation from Spain has successfully defeated both Peru and Bolivia to reach its current size.

Chile is a beautiful country. Every bit of it, from the Punk-ridden streets of Santiago to the unapologetic street art in Valparaiso, the rolling valleys flanked by beaches in La Serena and the desolate but serene desert landscape in Atacama. And that isn’t even half of it. The South is said to have some of the best scenery.

And Chile, like Argentina, isn’t poor. Some call it the most European country in South America, but Jon and I both found it distinctively more American than Argentina. In line with Buenos Aires over the top Europeanism, I would venture to call Santiago one of the most American countries in the world. Gargantuan shopping malls occupy more than several strips of land, containing familiar names such as Ruby Tuesdays, Taco Bell, and Roxy/Quicksilver. The music scene is alive and well and the style-Punk, Goth, Hippy and Emo-rivals (if not outright beats) that of New York City of LA.

Thanks to Chile’s liberal immigration policies, the population is diverse and the food scene is cosmopolitan. Capitalism seems to reign, but public dissent is common and, as in Uruguay and Argentina, is often expressed in spray paint. In Santiago, we finally got to see the vast street markets that we get a small taste of in DC, where vendors sell everything from stockings, to fruit juice, sunglasses, used clothes, empanadas and brand name knock-off goods.

Despite comments from fellow travelers that Santiago was only worth a passing day on the way to more worthwhile Chilean spots, we adored it and ended up staying for four. Though, perhaps it was in part due to our luck in having Jon’s childhood neighbor, Joel, from Farmington and his beautiful Chilean bride, Paulina, there to show us around.

We got bored in Viña del Mar but ate up the scenery in Valparaiso, which wins the award for coolest, or at least most art inspired, city in America. The pictures say more than I can. With art, it seems, comes good veg food. We ate our share of vegan hamburgers, soy carne empanadas, seiten-lasagna, banana-soymilk liquados (smoothies) and vegan churros. Perhaps it was too easy. For me, negotiating “beans instead of meat” and “avocado for cheese” has very much added to the uniqueness of my travel experience.

That being said, our best food was by far in La Serena where Nichole, one of my friends from Tucson’s, family resides. They generously offered to host us for three nights on our way from Viña to San Pedro, and the stop turned out to be more than worthwhile. More than gracious, they went out of their way to serve us vegan versions of Chilean delights such as pastel de choclo, fresh bean soup, and sautéed veggie lasagna. Ricisimo! Makes me wonder why don’t we have more Chilean food in the US. On top of it, Nicole’s dad, who is an astronomer and pilot, took Jon, me and Nicole’s cousin, Christian, on a private flight in a Cessna 182 to view the local scenery from an advantaged position.

It is impossible to thank our many hosts enough for their generosity and for what they contribute to our travel experience and global education. As a small token of our appreciation, I have added a “Thanks!” column to the left-hand side of my blog. Check it out at: http://randomtravelupdates.blogspot.com.

A 17-hour overnight bus took us from La Serena to San Pedro, a small, but heavily touristed pueblo on the Northwestern edge of Chile. There we realized that not all Chileans are as patient with our gringo-ness as our friends in Santiago and La Serena. But we loved it all the same. Being in the desert was like home for me and the surrounding mountains like home for Jon. The town, however, was in many ways cooler than home.

Despite a huge influx of tourism in the last few years, San Pedro has managed to hang on to its all-adobe structures and dirt streets. Cars are rare and necessary only for travel outside the town as the pueblo encompasses maybe four square blocks. The highlight was stargazing at a French astronomer’s house a few kilometers outside of San Pedro. Nichole’s dad had told us that San Pedro is the world’s foremost location for astronomy due to its classification as the world’s driest desert (no clouds or rain). We were thankful for the insider advice.

Another great experience was sandboarding, which I found works much better with real snowboards, functional Velcro bindings and wax (my sandboarding experience in UAE was useless). After sandboarding, I managed to re-sprain my left ankle in The Valley of the Moon and had to take a few days off laying in bed with ice reading the book that Jon’s Kiwi friend from his Aconcagua summit gave us. It is the first book I have read for pleasure since my book sabbatical, which began right after I graduated from college. I was reminded about how much I like to read and also that my imagination may be a bit too overactive for Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood. I spent several nights up into the early hours analyzing the perfectly detailed psychology of the crime. Perhaps I should stick to Spanish-language children’s books.

We are now in Bolivia and it feels like our South American adventure has just begun. Cheap food, dirty buses, unpaved roads, cutting edge indigenous fashion and breathtaking scenery is key. We’ve been here four days and already I am in love with the experience. Jon calls Bolivia “the land of my dreams” since several scenes have evoked deep memories of past sleepful experiences.

More on Bolivia later. My hard drive is full and space (and time) must be made for photos. Look for Chile pics later this week or next at: http://picasaweb.google.com/a.melissa.meyer.

Love,

Melissa

Random Travel Update 39

2009-03-30T11:44:00.000-07:00

Last locations: Santiago CL, Vina del Mar CL, Valparaiso CL
Arrival Date: March 17, 2009
Departure Date: March 27, 2009

Current location: La Serena, Chile
Arrival Date: March 28, 2009
Departure Date: March 30, 2009

Next Location: San Pedro de Atacama, Chile
Arrival Date: March 31, 2009
Departure Date: April 2, 2009

We are three countries into our South American itinerary. It helps not to plan a trip if you want to be truly surprised when you arrive. When I read in the Lonely Planet that Argentina’s economy had crashed in the early aughts, I had imagined rampant unemployment, abandoned storefronts and dingy supermarkets. It doesn’t help that my worldview of Latin America has been decidedly shaped by my earliest trips to the grubby streets of Nogales and litter-strewn beaches of Puerto Peñasco in Mexico as a child.

Argentina is not a poor country. In fact, in the early 1900s, it possessed one of the world’s richest economies. The gorgeous architecture, efficiently wide street design and abundance of monuments, parks and urban forestry in both Buenos Aires and Mendoza is a testament to Argentina’s history of wealth. Since its heyday, Argentina has had significant political turbulence and economic instability. The 80s and 90s were a dark period and in late 2001/early 2002, the country officially defaulted on its $93 billion debt and plummeted into economic turmoil. You wouldn’t know it visiting though.

While locals complain about things not being the same since the collapse-for example certain products are no longer regularly stocked on supermarket shelves and the sidewalks aren’t always repaired- Argentina itself is still distinguished. The supermarkets are supermarkets just like those in the US with sorted isles, air-conditioning, grocery carts and automated registers; the highways are developed, lit and paved; the tap water is potable, even for visitors; hot water is ubiquitous and the service establishments are clean and comfortable. The Argentinians themselves are proud, well dressed, well spoken and generally relaxed. The architecture, population demographic, and cultural ambiance is very European. So much so that a fellow traveler called Buenos Aires the “most European city in the world”. When asked to clarify that is was the most European city outside of Europe. He said, “No, the most European city including Europe!”

It is very European. Except perhaps cleaner and more modern. Not to mention, a much better value travel-wise. Consider it when you go to book that next trip to Paris or Rome.

Uruguay is also incredibly European with charming architecture, inspiring street art and a pasta/pizza eating population. The three cities we visited: Montevideo, Punta del Este and Colonia del Sacramento each had their own distinct vibe. Montevideo is a quite, picturesque city along the coast. The city’s working population appears around 6pm to drink mate out of handcrafted gourds, replenishing each cup from their mobile thermos. Punta del Este is a ritzy beach resort city with strings of expensive high rise apartments and upscale restaurants crowded along the boardwalk overlooking modest strips of sand overrun by Uruguayan and Argentinean ajumas and their brightly colored umbrellas. It is expensive. Colonia is a small colonial-style town with cobblestone streets, willows and an atmosphere that feels like letting out a long sigh, ahhhhhhhh. And from there you can take a ferry to Buenos Aires.

Chile deserves it’s own update. We are currently in La Serena, heading to north to San Pedro de Atacama this evening. I will try to send out another update before we reach Bolivia.

There are new photos from Mendoza at: http://picasaweb.google.com/a.melissa.meyer/Argentina.
Jon's blog and some sweet pictures from his Aconcagua summit are at: http://elfanoos.blogspot.com.

Love,

Melissa

Random Travel Update 38

2009-03-12T13:53:00.000-07:00

Last locations: Montevideo, UR; Punta del Este, UR; Colonia del Sacramento, UR; Buenos Aires, AR; Iguazu Falls, AR; Mendoza, AR; Penitentes, AR; Parque Aconcagua, AR
Arrival Date: February 18, 2009
Departure Date: March 10, 2009

Current location: Mendoza, Argentina
Arrival Date: March 10, 2009
Departure Date: March 17, 2009

Next Location: Santiago de Chile
Arrival Date: March 17, 2009
Departure Date: Undetermined

Photos at: http://picasaweb.google.com/a.melissa.meyer
Blog at: http://randomtravelupdates.blogspot.com/

I waited too long again to write an update and now the events of the last three weeks swizzle in my head like sweet sugar candy memories. The pictures will say more than I can. Bright graffiti in the streets on Montevideo, colorful umbrellas on the beaches of Punte del Este, cobblestone corners in Colonia del Sacramento, tango dancing on the streets of Buenos Aires, breathtaking drops at Iguazu Falls National Park, Spanish classes and wine in Mendoza…and the Andes.

The Andes hang on my mind like an ex boyfriend that I just can’t forget. Jagged rocks tower above like colossuses and rugged terrain makes it hard to keep your feet on the ground, your head gets light, your heart races and you feel as though you might as well be in the clouds. I spend every moment wanting to return to them.

And Jon. I left him in the first camp on his way up to scale Cerro Aconcagua, the highest peak in the Andes, the Americas, the Western Hemisphere and the Southern Hemisphere. At 6,962 meters (22,841 ft) it is higher than any mountain outside of the Himalayas. It sits just a few kilometers east of the Chilean border, four hours by bus (and six more by foot) Northwest of Mendoza. Though, Jon is scaling the farther end of the mountain, which is a 35 kilometer walk to the base from the park entry and, from there, 8,000 vertical feet to the top. The season ends on March 15th, which gives Jon half the normal amount of time allotted to acclimatize and ascend. Being the end of the season also means less predictable weather, colder temps and stronger winds.

While I was at the first camp with Jon, a group of guides and film crew came by to film a segment about mountain rescue operations. There is a lot of controversy surrounding an only partially successful rescue operation in January that the Argentinean press is apparently covering with a bias against the rescuers. The ABC story takes a more impartial approach. It seems to be big news here, having come up in several separate conversations even after I returned to the city. I get the impression that fatal accidents aren’t so common.

In other news, I survived my first earthquake yesterday morning, which gave me the opportunity to learn that Mendoza province is the most seismically active in Argentina. The whole city was leveled in 1861 and hit again in 1985 and 2006 by medium intensity quakes. Apparently, mini quakes and earth tremors like the one I experienced are very common.

When Jon returns, we will depart for Santiago and from there up the Chilean coast to Bolivia where we’re likely to stay for a month.

Keep the emails coming. Bandwidth comes and goes, but I’ll definitely read them even if I don’t respond immediately. If you want a postcard, send me your address.

Love,

Melissa

Random Travel Update 37

2009-02-15T19:41:00.000-08:00

Last location: Farmington, UT

Arrival Date: January 19, 2009

Departure Date: February 05, 2009

Current location: Tucson, AZ
Arrival Date: February 05, 2009
Departure Date: February 17, 2009

Next Location: Montevideo, Uruguay
Arrival Date: February 18, 2009
Departure Date: February 19, 2009

I have spent the better part of this month in a chocolate/sugar coma. And then, last Monday I was riding switch on my snowboard at The Canyons and I caught an edge throwing my head onto the ground which hurt and maybe gave me a mini concussion which I would know for sure if I went to the doctor but I won't because the test necessary for diagnosis costs too much money. So, perhaps this explains why I haven't written, called, texted or skyped you this month. I have barely researched our trip to South America. We leave Tuesday. I made Jon watch The Motorcycle Diaries to get psyched up. It turns out that the itinerary that Che and his friend Alberto took, is very similar to ours. Same time frame, same countries, same order. I don't foresee us turning into communist revolutionaries upon our return, though perhaps slightly softened, Spanish-speaking, Salsa-dancing capitalists…

Now, like I said, we have only scraped the surface in terms of pre-trip planning so this itinerary, beyond the next few weeks, is incredibly tentative, but good enough to give you a modest idea of where we'll be:

February
Montevideo, Uraguay
Punta del Este, Uruguay
Buenos Aires, Argentina
Cordoba, Argentina

March
Mendoza, Argentina
Santiago, Chile
Chilean Coast
Uyuni, Bolivia

April
Villa Tunari, Bolivia
La Paz, Bolivia/Lake Titicaca
Cuzco, Peru/ Machu Picchu

May
Lima, Peru
Undetermined, Venezuela

June
Undetermined, Colombia
Undetermined, Ecuador

July
Undetermined, Ecuador

Send me your recommendations and definitely let us know if you plan to be in any of those places around the proposed times. New pics from Arizona and Utah are at: http://picasaweb.google.com/a.melissa.meyer. In addition, you can now view all past and present Random Travel Updates at http://randomtravelupdates.blogspot.com/.

Love,

Melissa

Random Travel Update 36

2009-01-19T16:31:00.001-08:00

Last location: Tucson, AZ
Arrival Date: January 4, 2009
Departure Date: January 19, 2009

Current location: Phoenix, AZ (layover)
Arrival Date: January 19, 2009
Departure Date: January 19, 2009

Next Location: Farmington, UT
Arrival Date: January 19, 2009
Departure Date: TBD

I think it was my uncle who asked me the other day what I liked most about Tucson. So, being one that is prone to making lists, I decided to jot a few things down…

Why I like Tucson:

Not having ants/termites/mosquitoes in my bed/room/kitchen.
Going for a hike in the middle of January and having to shed my sweater because it's hot out.
Family dinners.
Not having to drive anywhere to go on a hike.
Cruising in the Prius and rolling down the windows for AC in December.
Lovin' Spoonfuls, Yoshimatsu, Karuna's, and The Casbah.
Burritos. Everywhere.
Cacti. Quail. Javalina. Roadrunners. Hummingbirds. Bunnies.
The cat.
My parents.

That being said, I leave Arizona today for Utah where I will meet up with Jon who has been away for the last three months. It is 80F in Tucson right now. It is 33F in Salt Lake. I brought gloves, a jacket and a snowboard :)

Tomorrow is an exciting day. If you have thoughts, comments, opinions about the inauguration, please share. If you'll be in DC, I would love for you to send along links to your photos.

Love,

Melissa

Random Travel Update 35

2009-01-05T18:39:00.000-08:00

Last location: Banff, Canada
Arrival Date: December 26, 2008
Departure Date: January 4, 2009

Current location: Tucson, AZ
Arrival Date: January 4, 2009
Departure Date: January 19, 2009

Next Location: Farmington, UT
Arrival Date: January 19, 2009
Departure Date: TBD

Photos at: http://picasaweb.google.com/a.melissa.meyer

My non-vegan cousin may be the most brilliant vegan cook ever. This Christmas, her and my aunt teamed up to create one of the most righteous family feasts yet. We had terra chips, hummus, jalapeno cranberry sauce, strawberry mandarin spinach salad, cranberry bread, candied carrots, rosemary roasted potatoes, green bean supreme, a vegan roast by Field Roast Grain Meat (available at whole foods) and chocolate cake. Of particular note was the cranberry sauce, which is absolutely brilliant with jalapeño (who would have thought?); the vegan cranberry bread, which was sticky, tart and sweet to perfection; the green bean supreme which I never liked as a kid but love now that it’s been veganized; and the eggless chocolate cake which was decadently moist on the inside and flawlessly crisp around the edges. I have attached the recipes for you foodies out there. They are also available here with pictures.

When it became apparent that I would be in North America for the winter, my parents invited me to join them on their annual ski trip departing the day after Christmas. This year we went to Canada for the first time as a family. We stayed in Canmore, a small town between Calgary and Banff put on the map when it hosted the Nordic events for the 1988 Winter Olympic Games. 1988 is significant because it is the first year of Olympic Games that I ever watched. (Points to anyone who knows what city hosted the 1988 Summer Games.)

We skied three resorts in Banff National Park: Norquay, Sunshine and Lake Louise. Norquay is small and untouristed, a local spot with great attitude but not-so-great-snow. Sunshine and Lake Louise are world class resorts comparable to those in Colorado and Utah with wonderfully rugged (read rocky) terrain and a healthy respect for avalanche danger. On our fourth day, we took a break from downhill to try our skills at cross country skiing at Canmore’s Olympic Nordic Track. On our final day, we packed up and drove two hours north along the Icefields Parkway to stare in awe at the massive glacier formations and ice falls impressively suspended over towering rock formations.

If you live or travel in Alberta, I recommend checking out The Coup in Calgary, a super trendy joint serving up spectacular meals and a live DJ on the weekends. This place is no secret and is obscenely popular. Expect a worthwhile wait. In Canmore, I highly recommend The Chef’s Studio Japan for Sushi. The menu is great for vegans (they even leave the fish out of their miso), the staff is uber friendly and the bathrooms include chalk so that you can guiltlessly tag the walls. If you are anywhere in Canada, I recommend checking out the new Vegetarian Chicken Sandwich at KFC. Yes, Kentucky Fried Chicken sells vegan chicken that is absolutely delicious. The people at the counter may not know that it is vegan so make sure to ask for no mayo. Unfortunately, it is only available in Canada. So, if you live in Canada and don’t mind eating fried food every so often support it so that they’ll start offering it in the US. Related trivia: the first KFC ever is in South Salt Lake, Utah.

There is more to write but I’ll save it for update 36. Thanks to all of you who wrote back with your New Year’s updates!

Love,

Melissa

Random Travel Update 34

2008-12-11T16:12:00.000-08:00

Last Location: Costa Rica
Arrival Date: November 7, 2008
Departure Date: December 9, 2008

Current location: Tucson, AZ
Arrival Date: December 9, 2008
Departure Date: December 26, 2008

Next location: Banff, Canada
Arrival Date: December 26, 2008
Departure Date: January 4, 2009

Photos at: http://picasaweb.google.com/a.melissa.meyer

Costa Rica is an amazing country. I should have written more from the beach, but I think the photos speak for themselves. If Samara is any indication, then there is no understatement about the quality of beaches in Costa Rica. While in Samara, I explored tide pools and isolated beaches, walked along (and once by accident through) horse fields and river deltas, photographed monkeys and iguanas, was followed and befriended by several local dogs, took Spanish, dance, yoga, aerobics and jewelry making classes on the beach, tried the local firewater (www.guaroliquor.com), went on a canopy tour (http://samarabeach.com/wingnuts/index.html) of the rarest type of forest in the world-dry tropical, and experienced several dozen turtles all laying their eggs at night on a nearby unoccupied stretch of sand.

After returning to Heredia via a five hour standing-room-only bus trip from Samara, I packed my last week in Costa Rica with a historical music concert by the 10-time Grammy winner Juan Luis Guerra and his band 4 40 (cuatro cuarenta) from The Dominican Republic; a trip to the discotheque for some salsa con mis amigos; a tour of the local Café Britt Coffee Plantation in Barva and a tour of the Rainforest in Nacional Parque Braulio Carillo, in addition to my 20hr/week Spanish lessons.

All of the above activities were outstandingly wonderful and mind tingling. The Juan Luis Guerra (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juan_Luis_Guerra) concert was of pure luck. The show was scheduled for Sunday but was rescheduled due to rain. My teacher told us about it in class on Monday and when I asked the school receptionist about getting tickets, a friendly English student offered to give me and two of my amigas a ride. Getting tickets was another effort since their advertised price was 22,000 colones each (US$40). Way out of budget. After more effort, we discovered that 2 for 1 tickets were being sold for only 18,000 colones at the bank. After going to the bank, we discovered that the deal only applied to those holding a specific credit card which none of us had.

After pondering a bit more and almost giving up, our salsa instructor offered to call his friend who had the requisite card and ask him to pick up some discounted tickets at the bank for us. Since there were three of us, we were going to have to buy an extra ticket, but upon arriving at the bank we found a person selling her ticket for 8,000 colones. So, in all, we ended up with three tickets for a total of 26,000 colones ($16 each) just in time to drop off our books at home, eat a snack and head out to the show which, turned out to be nothing short of magnificent despite the six-inch deep mud trenches we had to trek through on the way there that nearly destroyed all of our shoes.

I spent the rest of the week studying and making the best of my last week at the school. On Friday, I met up with two friends from dance class and their two friends for a night out at the discotheques. Of course, I was terrified about the cigarette situation, but I figured that it was my last weekend and if I got sick, it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world. I really wanted to experience Salsa in its correct content.

After driving to our preferred club, we found that it was reserved out for a private party so we proceeded to drive to three more discotheques, all booked out by private parties. I didn't mind being driven around since two of the friends we were with were locals and we were able to exchange useful language tips with each other. We ended up at a sort of discotheque mall with over a dozen bars and clubs all in one main area. We found a dance club with a cheap cover that turned out to be perfect. They played salsa and meringue and cumbia and socca and hip hop and even I think a moment of techno. The best part is that it was big and airy with no active smokers in sight. So I was able to stay out late without getting sick.

The next morning I woke up naturally for breakfast at 7am, studied some, and then headed out for my walk to the nearby town of Barva for a tour of the Café Britt coffee factory. It was a sunny blue day and my walk was delightful. The tour too was delightful, if a little bit cheesy, and the tour guides let me demonstrate the proper coffee sampling technique for the audience, which was fun and won me a prize. I can demonstrate later if anyone is interested. Before heading home, I walked to the city of Barva town center and strolled around the central park where they just happened to be having a festival.

On Sunday, I woke up early again to catch a bus from Heredia to the capital city of San Jose in order to catch another bus from San Jose to Guapiles via the Parque Braulio Carillo about an hour north. There I took a delightful tour of the rainforest by Aerial Tram, which you can find info about at http://www.rainforestrams.com/craintro.html. It was pouring when I arrived, but I figured that it was likely going to be a lucky day for me since I had just seen the biggest rainbow of my life a few moments earlier on the bus ride up. So, despite being assured by the park staff that it had been raining all week and that it would continue to rain all day, I decided to wait in the giftshop just in case it stopped raining, which it did 15 minutes later.

There were no other tourists around so I had a tram and guide to myself, which meant that I could ask all the questions I wanted, practice my Spanish and have the binoculars all to myself when wildlife emerged. The tram tour was perfect because it traversed all layers of the forest from almost ground level to above the canopy. Did anyone else have the Reading Rainbow when they were kids? Being on the tram felt like being in a scene out of The Reading Rainbow, like I was suddenly transported by rainbow into this densely interesting and educational environment in a far away place.

After the hour and fifteen minute tram ride, my guide took me on a hike through the park pointing out significant or interesting plants along the way. We came across a tiny red and blue poison dart frog and a larger non-poison cute frog taking a nap on the orchid display, a coati, a very cute red oversized rodent-like animal, a huge ant, and a bunch of toucans, including rainbow-billed ones, which are especially pretty looking. Photos are at: http://picasaweb.google.com/a.melissa.meyer/CostaRica2. Though, the nature of being in the wild and not at a zoo was that the animals ran away pretty quickly in general and so it was not possible for me to get photos of most of them. I was lucky to get an up close shot of the toucans. There are a few more quality-looking photos of wildlife in Costa Rica posted at http://www.wildnatureimages.com/CostaRicaWildlifePhotos.htm.

After spending a few more minutes writing postcards and sampling the Café Britt chocolates at the gift shop, I returned to Heredia, checked out a dance performance by the local UNA university and ate dinner at my favorite Lebanese joint in Costa Rica, aptly named Comida Lebanesa. At 8pm, I hopped on a bus to Alajuela to catch up with a group to go white water rafting the next morning. Unfortunately, rafting was cancelled due to an overabundance of water on the river so I spent Monday hiking the coffee farm outside the hostel, socializing with the other hotel residents, checking out Alajuela proper and documenting the ant behavior on my bedsheets.

Tuesday saw my return home on a long series of short flights from Alajuela to Houston to Los Angeles to Tucson. Though sad to have left Costa Rica, I am thrilled to be back at home with my mom, dad, hot shower and bug-free bedroom.

Thanks to everyone for your travel tips and Costa Rica advice. It looks like I will have to return to Costa Rica someday to see everything that I missed out on this time.

Now to all my Canada peeps: let me know what's up in Alberta for New Years!

Love,

Melissa

Random Travel Update 33

2008-11-20T21:14:00.000-08:00

Last Location: Heredia, Costa Rica
Arrival Date: November 7, 2008
Departure Date: November 14, 2008

Last location: Monteverde y Volcan Arenal, Costa Rica
Arrival Date: November 14, 2008
Departure Date: November 16, 2008

Current location: Samara Beach, Costa Rica
Arrival Date: November 7, 2008
Departure Date: December 9, 2008

Next location: Undecided

Photos at: http://picasaweb.google.com/a.melissa.meyer

Hola! Estoy en Costa Rica estudiar espanol. Yo quiero escribir esta cartra en espanol, pero no es possible por mi ahora. Tal vez en tres mas semanas…

I love it here. Before it even touched the ground, I understood why my plane was packed with tourists eager to spend their precious little vacation time on this rich coast. As my aircraft descended, the clouds parted to expose the luscious green landscape below: http://picasaweb.google.com/a.melissa.meyer/CostaRica2008#5268283094517035762

Costa Rica is thoroughly beautiful, the tico (Costa Rican) culture is relaxed, the environment is generally well protected, and the infrastructure is simple. I live with host families of which I have two, one in Heredia and one in Samara. The accommodation, like the infrastructure, is simple but charming. My mama ticas are wonderfully caring and make me two delicious vegan meals a day.

My tico families don't speak English and I get plenty of practice between them, the staff at my school and my fellow students. My Spanish is improving rapidly, though I think that perhaps I am better at forgetting English than I am at learning Spanish.

I will leave the rest of the details to the few photos I have already taken: http://picasaweb.google.com/a.melissa.meyer/CostaRica2008#. There is much here to do and I am keeping busy between my studies and all of the activities my school has available for us to participate (in Spanish, of course). I will add comments someday when I am back in English-speaking mode. In the meantime, I will do my best to reply to emails during my breaks. Extra points if you help me practice by writing in Espanol- though please try to keep language simple.

Love,

Melissa

Random Travel Update 32

2008-11-07T17:11:00.000-08:00

Last Location: Los Angeles, California
Arrival Date: October 27, 2008
Departure Date: November 6, 2008

Current location: Heredia, Costa Rica
Arrival Date: November 7, 2008
Departure Date: December 9, 2008

Next location: Undetermined

Of all the places I have been or could have been in the world, there is nowhere that I would have rather been then right where I was during the eight days leading up to the most historical election of my lifetime. On Tuesday, November 4th, Californians passed a ballot initiative to end the intensive confinement of calves, pigs, and egg-laying hens in crates and cages so small the animals can't even turn around or extend their limbs. When implemented, the new law will affect 20 million animals, making their lives a little bit better in a significant way.

The landslide victory, 63 yes to 37 no, shows that treating the animals we raise for food with some standard of common decency is a mainstream value accepted by people from every demographic and political ideology. To those of you who contributed financial resources to this campaign or otherwise helped out, thank you and congratulations. For those of you still in the dark about Proposition 2 or the plight of animals on modern day factory farms, visit www.yesonprop2.com or the Humane Society's homepage www.hsus.org for more information about this landmark victory for farm animals.

My gratitude goes out to Josh Balk who suggested that I come out to California; to Paul, Brian, Eric, Sandy and Ryan who were amazing company during the last few days of the campaign; and to Jane and Mark Garrison (as well as Tuffy, Little, Daisy and Tiny) who put us all up with amazing hospitality in their gorgeous vegan utopia on Redondo Beach.

Another congratulations goes out to those of you who supported Obama for president. I have always been proud to be an American, but never in my lifetime have I been so proud of Americans as I am right now.

Pictures are up at http://picasaweb.google.com/a.melissa.meyer.
Click on the Prop 2 Campaign 2008 photo album.

I will send an update from Costa Rica soon.

Love,

Melissa

Random Travel Update 31

2008-10-25T23:21:00.000-07:00

Last Location: DC metro area & Coopers Rock, West Virginia
Arrival Date: October 3, 2008
Departure Date: October 13, 2008

Current location: Tucson, AZ
Arrival Date: October 13, 2008
Departure Date: October 27, 2008

Next location: Los Angeles, California

So this was going to be my "Why I love America" update, but there were too many reasons and too much pressure to phrase them eloquently so you will just have to trust that I love America and I will cover the subject again in more depth at a later time.

My visit to the DC-metro-area was refreshing. The leaves were displaying gorgeous color and the temperature was just perfect; still summery with the occasional breeze. I was able to see several good friends, visit my favorite places for good vegan cuisine, run a few long-over-due errands, attend the annual Poplar Spring Animal Sanctuary Fundraiser, listen to a live Jazz concert on the mall, finally go to the top of the Washington Monument, pick apples at an Orchard and try my hand at bouldering in West Virginia with Jon and his rock climbing posse.

Being home in Arizona has also been nice. I have been keeping myself busy organizing the house, spending time with the parents and preparing for my next adventures. On Monday, I will head to Los Angeles for ten days to help out with the Proposition 2 California ballot initiative campaign to end the practice of cramming farm animals into cages so small the animals can't even turn around, lie down or extend their limbs. For those of you in California, and/or who believe that animals should be treated with compassion and dignity, make sure to visit: www.yesonprop2.com for info on how you can contribute to this historic cause. I shouldn't have to remind any of you to VOTE ON NOVEMBER 4th, but if you are still having trouble deciding, feel free to contact me and I will tell you why I am voting yes for Barack Obama and no for Prop 105 (Arizona only). For more easy-to-read endorsements for those residing in Arizona, visit: http://www.tucsonweekly.com/gbase/Currents/Content?oid=116378.

From LA I will head straight to Costa Rica where I will study Spanish for a month. If you have ever been to Costa Rica, now would be a good time to write me ;)

Love,

Melissa

Random Travel Update 30

2008-10-02T13:53:00.000-07:00

Last Location: Seoul, ROK
Arrival Date: July 16, 2008
Departure Date: September 28, 2008

Last location: San Francisco, CA
Arrival Date: September 28, 2008
Departure Date: September 28, 2008

Current location: Tucson, AZ
Arrival Date: September 28, 2008
Departure Date: October 3, 2008

Next location: Washington, DC

New photos: http://picasaweb.google.com/a.melissa.meyer
Jon's Blog: http://elfanoos.blogspot.com

So this is my story of the last few weeks. It is a sad story and also a happy story.

Jon and I did glorious things while he was in Seoul. After returning from our tranquil temple stay, we watched two movies at the DVD bang (room). Thelma and Louise and The King and I. Both were perfect for the mood I was in. I had forgotten that The King and I is about an English teacher! Really, it was perfect. DVD bangs are fabulous inventions. They consist of a small room with a big comfy couch and a big screen TV. You can watch any released movie you like there, with or without subtitles. Also, you can bring in whatever snacks you like and go wild. It is really a lot of fun.

One day, I made Jon walk along the Han River with me from my apartment in Chungdamdong, past the Olympic Stadium, through Hangang Park, across the Jamsil Bridge, through Riverside Park where we discovered an outdoor free rock climbing wall, then past another park, across the Yongbigyo Bridge at which point the sun set and the bugs started eating us so we jogged another 2 km before grabbing a cab near Oksu Station. Along the way, we stopped to take pictures of flowers, butterflies and kites, drink 1000W ($1) iced coffees with 900W ($0.90) soymilk, and paddle along in a paddleboat shaped like a swan. I think we totaled about 15 km. My goal was 20 if it hadn't been for the bugs.

After Jon left, things outside of work were really good. I made more time to see my friends, went out with my co-workers and found a gym five minutes away that let me try for a week free. I took a pilates class and a body sculpt class in Korean! It was so cute how the Koreans in the class would help me along the way to make sure I was doing the moves correctly. They were so sweet.

At work, however, things got complicated. Early Saturday morning I made one of the saddest decisions of my life, to leave Korea after my school failed to pay me for a month of work. I can't fully detail how sad it was. The weather had just gotten really good, I had just found my gym and also just found Cheewoo, a friend from Java Green in DC who recently returned to Korea and turns out to be one of the most wonderful people I know. I had plans to go bungee jumping in Bundang, to a film festival in Busan and was hoping to start hiking regularly in the Fall weather.

If you were one of the people who was there to see me off Saturday night (Cheewoo, Tre), to help me pack all night (Jordy) or to see me off that morning (Meghan) then you know the story. If not, I can explain the comedy of errors later. I don't feel like focusing on it now, but I am sure the whole episode will seem funny later.

I have returned safely to my hometown of Tucson, Arizona and I can't help but wonder whether, as much as I miss my friends in Seoul, maybe I was meant to return here all along. I have barely been here four days and I already have so many important things to do, like learn Spanish and help my parents lay wood flooring upstairs. Also, I will be coming to DC next week. So watch out for me. Maybe send a message if you want to meet up at Asylum, Java Green, Sticky Fingers or somewhere else awesome. I'll be living it up after ten and a half weeks in the vegan train wreck that is Korea.

In the meantime, check out new pictures and the last additions to my Korean Food Scrapbook at: http://picasaweb.google.com/a.melissa.meyer. Also, check out Jon's new blog for his take on things: http://elfanoos.blogspot.com.

I look forward to seeing many of you American types soon!

Love,

Melissa

Random Travel Update 29

2008-09-30T00:07:00.000-07:00

Last Location: Seoul, ROK
Arrival Date: July 16, 2008
Departure Date: September 28, 2008 (2pm)

Last location: San Francisco, CA
Arrival Date: September 28, 2008 (8am)
Departure Date: September 28, 2008 (9pm)

Current location: Tucson, AZ

Today was the most magnificent day. I can't describe all the ups and downs of the last few tumultuous weeks but today I can say that I came a bit closer to understanding the purpose of it all.

Today I saw the sun rise twice. Once blurred through my foggy window in Seoul and another time crisply through the window of my airplane just as the west coast of he United States came into view.

Today someone told me, "welcome home" and I felt a deep sense of gratitude for being an American.

Today someone asked me "What makes you feel free?" And a million things that were that moment came into my head.

Today I returned to the same place I was a year ago last week when I took my first flight to Korea. I saw good friends, ate good food and felt happy.

Today I came across at least a hundred things that are worth more than the money I left behind. And I felt utterly content.

Today, I discovered the clarity that I am perpetually in search of. Today was nothing like what I would have thought it would have been just a few days ago, but it was better than anything I could have planned.

Today I would write more, but it has been a 40 hour long day and I am ready for bed. Thank you to all the people in life who make this living such a wonderful experience: Mom, Dad, Jon, Jordy, Cheewoo, Meghan, Ben, Haiete, Francky. You bring sparks of light to my heart. Thank you for being there.

Love,

Melissa

Random Travel Update 28

2008-08-25T22:04:00.000-07:00

Last Location: Youngpyungsa Temple, Gonju, ROK
Arrival Date: August 23, 2008
Departure Date: August 24, 2008

Current location: Seoul, ROK
Arrival Date: July 16, 2008
Departure Date: Undetermined

Next location: Undetermined

I love Dos Tacos. Not the way people love their significant others or family members even. No. This is that kind of pure, intelligently emotional love, reserved only for a perfect business design that has emerged miraculously as if from out of one of my dreams.

Dos Tacos has everything that a vegan internet junky from Arizona living in Seoul would want: wireless internet, fresh (not pre-mixed) margaritas, sautéed mushrooms, vegetarian refried beans, cilantro, guacamole, salt, cacti and a 3am closing time. All within walking distance from my home and work. I don't know if it possible to describe the significance of this find but I think it rivals that of marriage or maybe even college graduation. I am tempted to send out invitations.

I forgot to write a one-year anniversary update. I am sure you didn't notice, but the fourteenth marked a year since I wrote my very first update 28 updates ago (see attached email). This month also marks a year since I left DC and next month marks the anniversary of my first flight to Korea. So be impressed or don't. I am going to take a moment to feel nostalgic.

Ok. Back to Dos Tacos. Really. If you live in Seoul come meet me here. I may very well stay here all week. If you live in the US or Australia or some other country that has a large diversity of ethnic vegetarian cuisine to choose from, don't email me back. I don't want to here about your happy cosmopolitan ways. I will tell you what it's like to eat some combination of rice cakes or vegetables and rice for lunch five days a week. They don't even give me soy sauce half the time. Gangzajm.

I am posting pictures soon. Find them at: http://picasaweb.google.com/a.melissa.meyer

Perhaps I will write about my job someday. (Yes I do work.) I teach children. I am now officially in the position of authority that I always dreamed I would never have. So much for dreams, though it isn't as bad as one might think. I just let them do everything I wish my teacher had let me do when I was their age. Hmm. It doesn't feel like that was so long ago. Another moment for nostalgia please…

Jon and I spent last weekend contemplating the meaning of life and aesthetic at a Buddhist Temple near the town of Gonju, about two hours South of Seoul by bus. It was idyllic and the weather was perfect for us. Pictures will explain more. Think lotus flowers and spiny chestnuts. I will try to have them up by next week. Not trying to be too ambitious ;)

Love,

Melissa

Random Travel Update 27

2008-08-07T09:23:00.000-07:00

Last Location: Suwon, ROK
Arrival Date: August 2, 2008
Departure Date: August 2, 2008

Current location: Seoul, ROK
Arrival Date: July 16, 2008
Departure Date: Undetermined

Next location: Undetermined

Today is a good day for an update. I was waiting for the best day to write an update. Yesterday was an excellent day and I would have written then but the day started to early and ended to late. It was a good thing, because today turned out even better.

My acclimation (or "acclimatization" for you Kiwis and Aussies) is moving forward steadily. I now have a bedsheet, wireless internet, towels, door mats, laundry detergent, placemats, veggi-meats and an apartment walking distance to work, complete with several nearby coffee establishments and the like. I also have a handful of new friends that I have been checking out the town with.

Last weekend, I went with my ex-neighbor, Jeremy to visit his childhood friend, Korah, in Suwon, a satellite city of Seoul. The three of us spent the day hiking the Hwaseong Fortress http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hwaseong_Fortress and then settled into the evening with a huge dinner, some kiwi soju http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soju and live entertainment at Korah's hotel.

Sunday was spent getting to know the expatriate vegetarian community. There are apparently at least two vegetarian social groups in Seoul: one for Korean-speakers and one for English-speakers. Who would have thought? Goes to show that Korea has pretty much everything. We checked out a hidden hole-in-the-wall all-vegetarian Korean restaurant near the Hoegi metro station, just to the west of where I was living before my move. Lunch was at 2pm, but we decided to spring for ice cream afterwards and ended up hanging out swapping veg secrets at the Purely Decadent soy ice cream shop late into the afternoon.

Monday night, I met my new Korean friend and fellow student-type, Sun (pronounced San), after work at one of the coffee shops near my house where I discovered "double mocha snow" which is apparently like a quadruple shot frappuccino in the states. I had one of those and didn't get to sleep until 5:30 the next morning. Sun and I have agreed to meet at coffee shops in the mornings from now on.

Tuesday morning, I made Sun wake me up and we took a trip to Itaewon for lunch. Itaewon is the foreign district (think reverse Chinatown) and thus has the best diversity of food. It also hosts my favorite falafel restaurant, Marrakesh, which offers a $5 lunch special with a falafel sandwich, fries, tabouli salad and a drink. Really good, considering most places charge about $3 just for a soda! Unfortunately they just moved into a nicer building and I am worried that they are eliminating the lunch special. So call before you go. Email me if you're in town and I'll send you the details.

Wednesday night was spent in Seoul's most ritzy neighborhood, Apgujeong, which borders my new neighborhood Cheongdamdong. We went for some drinks and tempura at a decently-priced and classy Japanese restaurant off of Rodeo Drive. Apparently, there are a few Rodeo Drives around the city. I recall someone telling me that Cheongdam is the Beverly Hills of Seoul. However, Korea is nothing like California. New York City? Maybe. LA? No.

Last week was productive. I switched apartments, met new friends, and visited friends from the last time I was in town. It is hard to keep track of time. I have been here three weeks as of today.

The only thing Korea is missing, other than perhaps decent weather, is Jon. And he just purchased a ticket to Seoul this morning and will be arriving in 16 hours. It's like a fairygodmother came and waved her magic wand and *poof* Jon was on his way to Korea. I feel like the Disneyland theme song should be playing in the background, "When you wish upon a star..."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-GtMDLlGRI

I hope everything your heart desires comes to you, wherever you are.

Love,

Melissa

Random Travel Update 26

2008-07-22T22:06:00.000-07:00

Last Location: Farmington, Utah
Arrival Date: June 5, 2008
Departure Date: July 16, 2008

Current location: Seoul, ROK
Arrival Date: July 16, 2008
Departure Date: Undetermined

Next location: Undetermined

July 16, 2008

I am in the Salt Lake City airport awaiting boarding for my flight to Seoul via San Francisco. I stayed up most of the night, more out of tradition than an actual need to accomplish anything. I packed early this time to avoid the frantic organizational frenzy of stress that usually precedes my international adventures.

Yesterday was a great day. I feel as though there is some force out there conspiring to make my life really awesome. Jon had a mountain bike race at Solitude. I sat and watched the race, contemplating the mountain scenery and fresh air, wondering why I would ever voluntarily leave it. They gave each participant a raffle ticket, and because she had to leave early, one of the lady racers gave us hers. We won on both tickets. Headphones and sunflower seeds.

I ran all of my errands with spectacular grace. The people at DHL corrected an invoice they had overcharged me on and let me pay over the phone rather than having to wait for a paper invoice to arrive in Utah. The people at the optometrist had run out of contacts in my prescription and so offered to ship the whole year's supply to me in Korea free of charge. The people at the Apple Store online told me not to worry about returning a case that I didn't like, they would ship me a new one, worth $80 more for no additional charge. (I love Apple).

Jon's mom Kathy, baked our favorite vegan "Better than Sex" cake, for my going away. I think it consists of chocolate cake plus chocolate pudding plus chocolate chips plus chocolate frosting. I ate it for three of my last five meals. I figure I won't be getting much Better than Sex cake in Korea.

Jon stayed up with me last night and took me to the airport this morning. Such a gentleman, he parked and waited with me all the way through the security line until the last minute when I had to say goodbye. It is hard to leave Jon.

July 19, 2008

It looks like we may be returning to the days where I write updates over several days time and send them off whenever. I have arrived in Seoul. I have no internet, no cell phone and no power adapter to charge my computer. I also have no luggage. The 15 minute delay in my flight out of San Francisco threw the baggage people off enough to not transfer my checked bag in time. Luckily, I considered this possibility and took an extra carry-on bag with toiletries and clothes to last me a week.

July 23, 2008

It has been just about a week since I left the US. Things are going well. I have a cell phone, luggage, sleeping bag (no sheets yet) and I finally learned how to operate my water heater. My Kiwi neighbor and fellow teacher, Jeremy, has been the biggest help in my acclimatization. He has lent me a towel, a power adaptor, comforters, his clothes drying rack, soap, Korean friends and numerous other essentials. Last night him and our other neighbor, Marcus, had a breakthrough with the internet so I now a get intermittent wireless signal in my room. I will work on getting a more powerful router this week to see if that helps.

I will explore a bit longer and then tell you what it is like here. I am not taking too many photos, I figure that I already have two albums dedicated to Seoul on Picasa, but I will collect a few to send later on of things like my school, my neighborhood, recent attempts at vegan cuisine, etc. I hope all is well wherever you are.

Love,

Melissa

Random Travel Update 25

2008-07-10T11:18:00.000-07:00

Last Location: Snake River, Idaho; Jackson, Wyoming; Yellowstone, Wyoming; West Yellowstone, Montana
Arrival Date: July 4, 2008
Departure Date: July 6, 2008

Current location: Farmington, Utah
Arrival Date: June 5, 2008
Departure Date: July 16, 2008

Next location: Seoul, South Korea
Arrival Date: July 17, 2008
Departure Date: Undetermined

Of the 39 states I've visited, I think Utah is my favorite. It has a significant, cultured, metropolitan area with several vegan dining options; several recreational areas with opportunities for outdoor adventure including but not limited to skiing, snowshoeing, hiking, rock climbing, mountain biking, shooting, 4-wheeling, and boating; a well educated population contributing to a healthy economy; and a superb social support network consisting of well executed community projects and initiatives. Also, Jon's family lives here and his mom Kathy makes the best low-fat vegan cookie dough ever.

We arrived back in this awesome state on June 5th, in time to attend one of Jon's best childhood friend's wedding celebrations. I think I forgot to send an email out about our trip to Oregon, though I swear I wrote one. I just can't find it in my outbox or saved drafts.

So briefly on Oregon: My freshman year "suitie" ("roomie" is to roommate as "suitie is to suitmate) Diane was there getting ready to join the Peace Corps in Africa. We met up with her our second day in town to do some awesome vegan munching and to check out some of the sites around Portland. Admittedly, we spent more time on eating than on site seeing, but I think that's okay when you're visiting a veg-capital like Portland.

We spent the next few days hanging out with my graduating cousin Mathew, my slightly younger cousin Michael, my mom's sister Rosemary and my uncle Patrick in the picturesque town of Linfield about an hour outside of Portland going 35mph on small town roads. I had a really good time catching up with Mathew and Michael who I haven't seen in maybe a decade. We have way more in common now than we ever did growing up. Mathew is a talented musician and performer who studied philosophy and Michael works at one of my favorite places in the world, The Apple Store.

After parting ways with the extended family, my parents (and Jon) drove us five hours south to Klamath Falls from where we planed a series of excursions to Crater Lake National Park, Lava Beds National Park and the little town of Ashland famous for its outdoor Shakespeare theater where we watched an evening performance of Othello.

Then we left from a little airport on a little plane bound for Utah by way of Portland. I don't remember much about that, other than it being very early and us not having to wait in line to check our luggage.

Utah has been splendid. Many of our stories can be told by photo at www.picasaweb.google.com/a.melissa.meyer I just posted a bunch this week. We have really been making the most of our time with Jon's family and friends before we split for another year of adventure. We went to a local theme park, Lagoon, with Jon's sister that is located one exit down from Jon's parents' place on the freeway. We went to Antelope Island located inside the ever-shrinking Great Salt Lake. I had the time of my life 4-wheeling with Jon and his parents at Simpson Spring, about two hours southwest of Salt Lake. We attended The Salt Lake City Arts Festival in downtown Salt Lake City while Kathy and Jon's sister Alex vacationed in Hawaii.

We visited one of Jon's good childhood friends, Jason, on the set of High School Musical 3, a Disney cult classic for 11-17 year olds. I'm not going to lie. It was pretty sweet to check out a movie scene production. It was everything one would imagine it to be complete with an eccentric director carrying a mini-size dog around the set, a body builder in spandex, several techies on their Macbook Airs, catering service, choreographers doing head-spins on cafeteria tables, and actors and actresses running around giggling and looking cute for each other. We even got to see Zanessa/Troyella in person (minus points if you know what that means).

We have been to the shooting range a few times with Jon's dad, Paul, and brother, Nate. Paul has an impressive arsenal of firearms, I think there are two rooms and half a garage dedicated to his armory. I am getting progressively better at my aim. It helps that Paul has a rifle with a scope on it. I have been working on my handgun skills as well. I think the little guns are cuter, and they are more compact to carry around if you want to kill someone.

Last weekend, the whole family, except for Nate who had to work, sailed down Idaho's Snake River on Paul's drift boat. After a night camping out on the river, we hitched the boat up to Paul's truck and headed up to Wyoming where we checked out Jackson Hole, The Grand Teton National Park, and Yellowstone. This was a treat for me as I have never been to the country's oldest national park and have been dying to see it since I found out it is a mere five hour drive from Utah. I also got to check off three more US states since we went through Montana on our way out of Yellowstone.

So it has been pretty much awesome. Yesterday we went ice-skating at the rec center for only $5. Shortly, we will head up to Park City to ride the alpine slide and then head back down to the city to see a free outdoor concert. One of my favorite groups, The Roots, is playing. Don't know yet what we'll do for the weekend, but it will be something awesome. I just booked my ticket for Korea. I depart on the 16th, and arrive in Seoul next Thursday, one week from today. A year of international travel will follow. More updates to come…

Love,

Melissa

Random Travel Update 24

2008-05-30T00:14:00.000-07:00

Previous Locations: Mobile, AL; New Orleans, LA; San Antonio, TX
Arrival Date: May 20, 2008
Departure Date: May 25, 2008

Last location: Tucson, AZ
Arrival Date: May 26, 2008
Departure Date: May 30, 2008

Current Location: Portland, OR
Arrival Date: May 30, 2008
Departure Date: June 1, 2008
Next Stop: Klamath Fall, OR

The trip home began with a Versace Mansion Party in South Beach, an afternoon diving the Florida Keys, and an all night 13 hour drive from the Southernmost tip of the US to the gulfcoast town of Mobile, Alabama, with a stop along the way to visit with a good friend of mine from college. The trip ended with a beer-enhanced float down a river in New Braunfels by tube, a brief trip to the Alamo and another 13 hour drive from the east end of Texas back home to Tucson, Arizona. In the middle there was New Orleans.

We arrived in New Orleans later than expected, due to an issue we had with a box that had in it a particularly dear item that we had left at a do-it-yourself carwash in a questionable Mobile neighborhood. The box was a lost cause until, while eating at a Taco Bell is Pascagoula 30 miles closer to Louisiana, we received a phone call from a gentleman at the Laundromat next to the carwash explaining that the contents of the box had been retrieved by the previous night's employee and was safe there at the Laundromat. This loss, and the accompanying find, was the lowest point and highest point of our trip west.

There are pictures of the Mississippi gulfcoast that will be posted on Picasa soon. A short drive later, we arrived in Louisiana. The French Quarter is more like Europe than I had expected and unlike other tourist-ridden locations, it has a terribly authentic feel to it. Many signs are in French, the streets are narrow and occasionally cobbled, customer service is provided with an attitude, food is generally overpriced, and you can drink in the streets. They also serve Absinthe. Needless to say, we had a marvelous time.

My favorite part, of course, was the jazz. Unlike our disappointing Beal Street blues experience in Memphis, we were able to find packed jazz clubs with real jazz musicians who played soulful music that drew one from the street to their door to listen. The second night we went out was perfect. The all-day rainstorm kept people off the streets but didn't stop the musicians from playing until 2am.

We arrived in Tucson early Monday morning (think 1am) just in time to get some sleep and prepare for Memorial Day lunch with the family while Jon and the Mom went off mountain biking with my cousin, Cal. And now we are in Portland for my other cousin, Matthew's, college graduation. So as one journey ends, another begins.

A big thank you goes out to those of you who generously hosted us at some point in our travels, especially to my parents and even more especially to Jon's parents whose gorgeous home has been our base for the last several months. If it weren't for you, these emails would be awfully plain.

Love,

Melissa

Random Travel Update 23

2008-05-17T00:13:00.000-07:00

Last Location: Daytona Beach, FL
Arrival Date: May 15, 2008
Departure Date: May 16, 2008

Current location: Key Biscayne, FL
Arrival Date: May 16, 2008
Departure Date: May 19, 2008

Next location: Mobile, AL
Arrival Date: May 20, 2008
Departure Date: May 20, 2008

Jon and I have been traveling like crazy the last two weeks. We have been to ten states, over a dozen cities and several state and national parks. We have experienced spectacular American infrastructure, cities dedicated to old music and memories of the past, glorious meadows, rain-soaked forests, vast tree-covered hills, jaw-dropping cliffs, shimmering plains and vibrant green pastures lined by piercing blue skies. We have seen vultures, fox, four-foot long iguanas, cranes, pelicans, brightly colored warblers, idyllic white cows and one dead armadillo. We have eaten from Styrofoam cups at truck stops, out of camp-ware in the rain, at American favorites like Taco Bell and Subway, and at one of the world's best raw foods restaurants in America's oldest city. We have driven just over 3,500 miles and filled our tank just over ten times. We have made it to the most southern tip of contiguous America and our destination: The Florida Keys.

Of course, the more I have to write about, the less time I have to write it. I had wanted to describe the sites of the last week in detail leading you from the western tip of Tennessee, through the world's largest cave in Kentucky, to the gorgeous grasslands of North Carolina and up and down the Great Smoky Mountains on our way to the epitome of southern charm and grandeur in Charleston, South Carolina. But this story will have to be left to the pictures.

Today is wedding day and I must now turn my attention to Kirk and Michelle. After all, it was their wedding that inspired this great journey across the country. Kirk and Michelle are our uber-fit, exceptionally educated, athletically inspired friends from Maryland. It was them who motivated us to hike 50k from White's Ferry, Maryland to Harper's Ferry, West Virginia last Spring.

Their wedding was beautiful, set in a charming Episcopal church on the sea. The bridesmaids were glowing and the groomsmen looked dashing in their pink vests that complimented the bridesmaids' pink gowns. The priest was well spoken and succinct. The parents were jovial and all of the details came together with perfect timing and grace. Kirk's mom, Judy Saylor, is an esteemed artist and her work created a soothing ambiance for the reception, which featured a pesca-vegan menu and gorgeous beach views. Both Jon and I were honored to be in the bridal party and can't wait to spend tomorrow morning sea-kayaking with the bride and groom.

Florida is Florida. Sunny, humid and hot. We were greeted by embers along I-95 as we ventured into the state and we have heard word-of-mouth that the Everglades are on fire, which explains the never ending BBQ scent we experienced this evening.

After tomorrow, we journey back west to Arizona stopping in Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas along the way. In the meantime, I will work ..ing pictures onto Picasa via my overwhelmed 40gig hard drive. I will send a message when they are up.

Love,

Melissa

Random Travel Update 22

2008-05-08T00:12:00.000-07:00

Last Location: Palos Duro State Park, TX (near Amarillo)
Arrival Date: May 5, 2008
Departure Date: May 7, 2008

Current location: Sallisaw, OK
Arrival Date: May 7, 2008
Departure Date: May 8, 2008

I don't know how many of you all watch CNN. I am thoroughly annoyed by their repetitive, drama-ridden, angst-inspiring, unprofessional coverage of the primary election and "news" in general. However if you were forced to watch it, as I am many mornings when Jon introduces its unintelligible chatter to our otherwise peaceful motel room, then you may have heard about the tornado warnings we have been getting through the tornado belt. We are currently staying at a Days Inn in Sallisaw, Oklahoma near the Arkansas border. We buckled down here last night after driving for ten hours in massive thunderstorms that followed us from Palos Duro State Park in Texas, where we narrowly escaped being flooded in (Go Prius!)

We ate a great lunch at Gupuram Taste of India in Oklahoma City and then proceeded to peruse the town despite the torrential downpour that was upon us. We took some pictures and decided to be on our way around the same time that the emergency broadcasting system went off, complete with sirens and hour-long radio interruptions, warning us of "tornadic activity" in the area. Unfortunately, the rain was too thick to be able to see the funnel clouds that were reported to be just to the north of our path of travel.

We rode horses through Palo Duro on Tuesday and then hiked a quick six-mile trail to their Lighthouse Peak, which winds through a canyon spattered with lush green shrubbery, wildflowers, cactus fruit, bright yellow berry-like chili peppers, and unique geological formations. Jon agreed with me that it looked like The Great Valley in The Land Before Time movies.

We returned from our hike just before nightfall and Jon took me on an authentic turkey-hunting experience (minus guns and bloodshed). Jon speaks fluent turkey and was able to communicate with the Toms (adult male turkeys) roosting a few hundred yards from our campsite. We stalked them all the way to their roost just in time to see their silhouettes, perched high up in a tree, against the fading night sky.

Back at camp we cooked dinner, read a Lonely Planet and tucked into our tent just in time for the torrential thunderstorm and lightning show that kept us awake a good portion of the night and flooded the roads out the next morning (pictures of flooding to come.)

Must go now. On to Devil's Den State Park in the Ozarks. More to come…

Melissa

Random Travel Update 21

2008-04-30T00:09:00.000-07:00

Last Location: Southern California
Arrival Date: March 20, 2008
Departure Date: March 30, 2008

Current location: Farmington, UT
Arrival Date: March 30, 2008
Departure Date: April 30, 2008

Next stops: (Tentative)
Tucson, AZ (May 1-5)
Amarillo, TX (May 5-6)
Devils Den State Park, AR (May 6-8)
Memphis, TN (May 8-10)
Red River Gorge, KY (May 10-11)
Gatlinburg, TN (May 11-13)
(Great Smokey Mountains)
Hickory, NC (May 13-14)
Charleston, SC (May 14-16)
Key Biscayne, FL (May 16-18)
Mobile, AL (May 19-20)
New Orleans, LA (May 21-23)
Houston, TX (May 23-24)
San Antonio, TX (May 24-25)
Big Bend, TX (May 25-27)
Tucson, AZ (May 28-30)

Thanks to those of you who recently sent me your contact info! Do let me know that you get this email. If you are interested in receiving past updates, let me know and I will send you a link. I haven't gone anywhere since I last wrote so I suppose I ought to call this a pre-travel update. Jon and I leave tomorrow morning for Tucson, then head across country by Prius, stopping in every southern state along the way. I will try to hit an internet café every few days and send updates along the way, but it is hard to say how much down time we will have or how much wi-fi we will encounter. In the meantime, it would be nice if some of you would send me updates of your own. Last week one of my good friends from college wrote and it was refreshing to hear her story for a change.

It was nice to be "settled down" for a few weeks. I have been pursuing my ski bum dream and intermittently planning future adventures. In my spare time, I have been working for the Salt Lake City School District as a substitute teacher. I don't think it had occurred to me that I am now officially an adult until the day that I went to use the bathroom between classes and encountered an "ADULTS ONLY" sign on the door to the faculty restroom. I had to pause for a moment to consider whether I was at the right door.

Teaching has been great. I must give my mom credit for suggesting the idea. On lucky days—like yesterday, I get to teach high school, which means reading a book or writing a letter while students study. On other days, I teach elementary or middle schoolers, which is still great but requires some patience and a significant amount of actual instruction time. I have decided that AP Literature is my favorite subject to teach. I will l try to get a job teaching this in South Korea.

Now I must return to packing. In the next month, Jon and I will pass through over a third of the United States: Utah, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Oregon. I have attached a link to our tentative path. Let us know if we can visit you along the way.

Love,

Melissa

Random Travel Update 20

2008-04-03T00:09:00.000-07:00

Last Location: Las Vegas, NV to Joshua Tree, CA to Los Angeles, CA
Arrival Date: March 20, 2008
Departure Date: March 30, 2008

Current location: Salt Lake City, UT
Arrival Date: March 30, 2008
Departure Date: May 1, 2008 (tentative)

Next stop: Tucson, AZ (tentative)

The last update was update 19, not 18, so I have updated this one to 20 accordingly. This update is late. We have been on the road again, this time with Jon’s siblings.

Jon’s sister, Alex, is a junior in high school and was exited to go on a wild and crazy spring break this year parent-free. So with planning help from Jon and funding from mom and dad, we came up with a 10-day itinerary to sunny southern California that I think most college students would envy.

It was Jon (24), Nathan (21), Alex (17) and me cooped up in Jon’s mom’s Volvo station wagon that was just barely large enough to fit the four of us plus: Alex’s two huge duffle bags full of clothes and hair supplies; Nate’s bag of unfolded clothes and an additional garbage bag full of cowboy boots; a cooler full of bottled water; enough fruit snacks to feed a mid-sized African village; a Cosco-sized container of Pace salsa; three bags of chips; a folding chair; and Jon’s idea of what is needed to camp and climb out in the desert for two nights. There was barely room for the laptop, purse and backpack-worth of clothes I had brought along.

Our first stop was in Las Vegas, which was good because I wasn’t ready to spend another 9-hour day in the car just yet after so recently having returned from Texas. All of the Cirque du Soliel shows were sold out that weekend so we had to wait for an hour and a half in the standby line to get four seats together to see Ka. Luckily, we were the first in line and were able to get great seats. The show was good, about a village in war doing crazy kung-fu stunts in the air to combat evil forces, but we suspect that they missed a few tricks. Corteo, which we saw in DC with my parents a year back, is still our favorite. I liked Love a lot too, which is a tribute to the Beatles and has great music that takes me back to the two decades immediately preceding my birth.

We departed Las Vegas the next morning only after stopping by Ronald’s Donuts for what should be world-famous vegan donuts. We stopped there again on the way back so that Jon’s parent’s, Kathy and Paul, could experience the amazing-ness. Next stop was Joshua Tree, a National Park a few hours east of Los Angeles. As it’s name implies, Joshua Tree is covered by Joshua Trees, a very cool plant that looks like a cactus trying to look like a tree. There will be pictures.

We spent the rest of the weekend rock climbing and sleeping under the stars. It turns out that Jon’s siblings are natural climbers, which probably explains why Jon is so good. His sister climbed 27 meters up a rock face without injuring her beautifully manicured newly filled nails! I think that is comparable to running a race or chasing down super villains in high heels.

We left for our hotel in Redondo Beach, just south of LA, on Easter Sunday. We were hoping the holiday would dissuade the Californians from clogging the highways, but we had no such luck. It took us about four hours to travel 140 miles, though it may have helped if we had taken the right exit instead of heading 25 miles towards San Diego before turning around. Jon insists that we saved time in traffic by doing this. I remain un-convinced.

We spent our first day (and in general some part of every day) sipping Jamba Juice and laying on the beach. Everyone but Jon came home with a tan. Jon has a great system for avoiding UV exposure. He applies a thick layer of SPF 30 and then keeps his shirt on for as long as possible. This allows him to nearly replicate the level of whiteness that his Norwegian ancestors would have historically maintained.

On Tuesday we woke up at 6am to get to Disneyland in time to get tickets without having to wait in line. This meant getting there an hour before the park opened. It also meant getting Jamba Juice before the sun came up. I was very cold sipping mine at 6:30am, but my Matcha Mantra with peaches, mangos, soymilk and ice still beats a Soy Latte in terms of health and sustained energy. Matcha is one of my favorite things ever invented by man. I learned about it originally while taking a History of Tea class at Kino in junior high. Now Jamba Juice uses it in a few of it’s drinks, but it is otherwise pretty hard to come buy short of ordering it from Asia. I wikied it as I do most things: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matcha.

We had a magical 15-hour day from 7am to 10pm and never had to stand in line for more than 30 minutes thanks to a schedule that Jon had printed off from the internet recommending a strategy for reducing line time. Though, I think it may have been my last trip to Disneyland. The rides are much smaller than I remember them being when I was last there in 1996. The best part of the day was the fireworks. Apparently, they have a magnificent firework show every night at 9:30pm. It’s funny, because I always remember leaving the park before dark when my parents said it was closing. I can’t blame them though. I don’t think I would ever take my children to Disneyland. Many of the parents at the park looked like they were on the brink of a panic attack.

On other days we went to Manhattan Beach, Laguna Beach, Santa Monica (we go here a lot because of the good veg food), Hollywood, and Venice Beach. On Friday night I met up with my friend Thrace who I haven’t seen since elementary school. It was great catching up and I think we have a surprising amount in common still. It would be nice if she would visit Utah. Thrace, confirm that you get this email.

We went to Venice beach on Saturday, which was my favorite day because we met up with Tristan and Jackie (we stayed with them in December if you recall) and also Nancy (who we met campaigning for Obama in Texas.) We had a blast riding beach cruisers down the coast, haggling with the street vendors and watching Jon show off on the oversized monkey bars at Muscle Beach.

Our drive home was well timed. A front of cold and precipitation entered both Utah and California on Sunday, which made for miserable beach weather and perfect ski conditions. We stopped in Las Vegas again on the way to eat at Veggie Delight, which was good and cheap (Alex and Nate went vegan for the week!) and also to pick up more donuts. Really, go to Ronald’s Donuts if you are ever within an 8-hour drive of Las Vegas. It is worth it and the owners are so nice that they were leaving the parking lot when we pulled in and they re-opened the store so we could load up on a dozen (aka 15) donuts and apple fritters for the road. We managed to only eat ten on the way home, which I think showed considerable restraint.

On Monday Jon and I rejoiced the fact that we neither have to go to school nor work and instead spent half the day making calls and running errands that surprisingly still exist in absence of work. Then Jon took me up a treacherous road to a secret pristine forest where we strapped on snowshoes and made first tracks in the fresh powder.

Yesterday we met up with some fellow ski-bum travelers to hit the powder at Brighton. I took my snowboard out for the first time since Steamboat and had a great time talking about past and future travels while realizing that I still can’t really carve black diamonds on my board. Luckily, in turns out that I still have a month to practice since Snowbird has committed to remaining open until after we leave for Florida in May (travel update to follow.) We are getting a great deal on end of the season passes which will allow us to ski for about $15-20 per day compared to the usual $80 lift ticket price.

After a great day on the slopes, Jon took me to an Asian Market in search of Jasmine Tisane and Matcha (no luck) but we did find all the ingredients necessary to make vegan sushi, including fake eel! We made it for dinner and it rocked. If our political careers never materialize, we may consider going into the business of vegan sushi. The Asian Market also carries the cough syrup that cured me of my cold in record time when I was in Beijing. I am making a mental note to get it the next time I am sick.

I am done traveling for a few weeks and hope to get the best of spring skiing through April. Jon however, is leaving for Nevada tomorrow to rock climb with some friends who are flying in from the east coast. The 5-hour drive there and back doesn’t phase him. He’ll be happy to be in his GTI.

Next month, we’ll be driving through the South, and sampling good old vegan soul food. In the meantime, check out my photos at http://picasaweb.google.com/a.melissa.meyer. Check out Jon’s at http://picasaweb.google.com/fhc4life. We will both strive to have new albums up by tomorrow.

Cheers,

Melissa

Random Travel Update 19

2008-03-04T00:08:00.000-08:00

Last Location: Tucson, Arizona
Arrival Date: February 14, 2008
Departure Date: February 23, 2008

Current location: Austin, Texas
Arrival Date: February 23, 2008
Departure Date: March 4, 2008

Next stop: El Paso, Texas

So the journey looks like it is far from over. Jon and I arrived in Tucson just over two weeks ago to visit family and friends for a few days and to pick up a few th¬¬ings to bring back to Utah. Now we are in Texas campaigning for Barack Obama (you GOPers can think of it as campaigning against Mrs. Clinton if you prefer.) We have been here for just about ten days, gearing up for the Election Day that is now upon us. The campaign hooked us up with amazing supporter housing. Our hosts are wonderful in so many ways. And they have a precious 17-year-old cat named Bandit who I love dearly.

It is a lot of fun here. Texas is excited to be playing a pivotal role in a primary election for the first time in 20 years. Barack Obama, Michelle Obama and Bill Clinton have all been here to speak in the last few days. I will be posting pictures up on my Picasa page shortly.

Austin has a great vegetarian scene and its own awesome vegan bakery complete with dairy-free oat ice cream, mocha "cheese"cake and tiramisu cupcakes.

The weather has been gorgeous. On our first week here we were greeted by sunny days with highs in the 70s and 80s. Yesterday it cooled down a bit. People here refer to weather in the 60s as a "cold front".

What they say is true; everything is bigger here. The Whole Foods is the size of a shopping mall, the parking spots are twice as wide as those in DC and the freeways never end. The political system is seemingly bigger too, and a bit complicated. Instead of voting once in the primaries or attending a caucus, Texans must both vote in the primary and caucus to utilize their total vote. We have been going door to door to explain the system to voters in hopes of gaining a significant caucus turnout.

After the excitement here subsides we will head to Hueco Tanks, an area just north of El Paso so that Jon can do some rock climbing. Then back to Tucson to drop off the Prius and head back up to Salt Lake City by way of Breckenridge, Colorado to visit and ski with some of Jon’s friends there.

More adventures to come.

Love,

Melissa

Random Travel Update 18

2008-02-12T00:07:00.000-08:00

Last Location: Breckenridge, CO
Arrival Date: February 09, 2008
Departure Date: February 10, 2008

Current location: Salt Lake City, Utah
Arrival Date: February 10, 2008
Departure Date: February 14, 2008

Next stop: Tucson, Arizona

After four days, 22-hundred miles and nine state crossings, we arrived in what Jon calls the Promised Land: Salt Lake City, Utah. No lie, it felt good to drop into the Utah Valley after days of driving in Jon's two-door Volkswagen hatchback packed to the brim with barely enough room for me to squeeze into the passenger's seat, provided that I carry several items on my lap and several more under my feet. By the time we crossed the Utah-Colorado border, my legs hurt more than when we walked 32 miles from Whites Ferry, Maryland to Harper's Ferry, West Virginia.

Salt Lake City is as beautiful as ever. The sun has been shining and the weather's been great. My room here is cozy and for the first time in six months I have a set of drawers and a closet to keep my stuff tidy. Jon's family has a heard of deer who frequent their neighborhood and snack on the landscaping. It is quite idyllic really.

Today we busied ourselves printing resumes and looking for jobs. We will go out tomorrow morning to apply in person to several prospective employers. In DC, 90% of the hiring process is done online or over the phone. Here, 90% is done in person.

On Thursday, we will fly to Phoenix and eat a Valentine's Day dinner with my parents, who have kindly offered to pick Jon and me up at the airport. Then down to Tucson to load up the Xterra with my skis, snowboard and winter clothing. I plan on staying in Tucson for a few days, but we have to be back in SLC by the 20th for an interview and Jon wants to take a slight detour to visit some friends and ski in Colorado. We want to test his theory that Utah has better mountains and better snow. This has been an ongoing debate between us for several months. As it turns out, he's only skied Colorado once.

If you are or will be in Tucson over the weekend, email me and we will try to meet up. For those of you in Phoenix and Flagstaff: email and we will try to swing by on our way north.

Love,

Melissa

Random Travel Update 17

2008-01-11T00:06:00.000-08:00

Last Location: Steamboat & Denver, CO
Arrival Date: December 29, 2007
Departure Date: January 5, 2008

Current location: Silver Spring, MD
Arrival Date: January 5, 2008
Departure Date: January 11, 2008

Next stop: Charlottesville, Norfolk & Virginia Beach, VA

The weather has been great here in Silver Spring, though we are starting to get some rain now. I'll be heading down to Charlottesville in a few minutes to visit UVA Law. Then some more law school visits along the east coast next week. Nothing too exciting. It is really good to see my friends here, a big thanks to those of you who have come out or made plans to see me. Still, I'm looking forward to heading west again.

All pictures from Mexico through Colorado are finally posted, have fun with it: http://picasaweb.google.com/a.melissa.meyer.

Love,

Melissa

Random Travel Update 16

2008-01-05T00:04:00.000-08:00

As it turns out, my travels are far from over. I struck gold a few weeks ago when my parents invited me to come with them to Steamboat, CO for a week-long ski vacation. I changed my LA-DC ticket in for a LA-Tucson ticket and was able to spend the holidays with the family in Arizona before making the 16 hour trek with my parents to Colorado.

Tucson was great as usual, though a little cooler than I would have liked having just come from the 80F summer beaches of Australia. But it was probably good to acclimate to winter at 30F before heading to what would get as low as -20F in Steamboat.

Spending Christmas with the relatives was refreshing. I had been craving a traditional American family dinner after being abroad for several months. The best part is that my cousin Mary surprised me by baking a vegan chocolate cake that tasted of pure chocolaty goodness. Unfortunately, I am a sucker for chocolate, despite it being generally at odds with my goal to one day eliminate refined sugar foods from my diet. I should have taken a picture.

Colorado is an amazing place. Steamboat is breathtaking, a snow junkie's paradise. It is also surprisingly veg-friendly for a resort town. We had great weather on the slopes for four out of six days, though I only went out for three since I managed to come down with a sinus/throat infection after dinner on the 25th. I still have a cough...wish I had more Chinese medicine.

Tomorrow I will fly back to the District of Columbia. If you live in DC, now is the time to call/text/email/message me to meet up. I will also me doing my best to answer emails that I haven't responded to yet. Please re-email me if I should have written you back and didn't.

There are a few more pictures on Picasa: http://picasaweb.google.com/a.melissa.meyer. I will try to have even more up by the end of the week after I commit to purchasing additional storage.

Love,

Melissa

Random Travel Update 15

2007-12-18T00:08:00.000-08:00

Previous location: Glen Innes, New South Wales
Arrival Date: December 16, 2007
Departure Date: December 17, 2007

Current Location: Manly, New South Wales
Arrival Date: December 18, 2007
Departure Date: December 18, 2007

Next Stop: LA, California

Greetings from Manly Beach and Sydney. Today is our last day in the Northern Hemisphere. We depart for LA in less than 24 hours. Our trip has been grand and I thank you all for keeping up with my emails.

I posted more pictures to Picasa last night, feel free to check them out...or wait. I will be posting all my pictures from the last four months to Picasa when I return to the land of free unlimited wireless internet.

I will be visiting both of my homes in the next month. I will be in LA from December 19th-22nd, Tucson from the 22nd-29th, Steamboat from December 29th-January 5th and DC from January 5th on. If you see me, feel free to drill me on my adventures. There are many stories left untold.

Love,

Melissa

Random Travel Update 14

2007-12-13T00:22:00.000-08:00

Previous location: Brisbane, Queensland
Arrival Date: December 11, 2007
Departure Date: December 12, 2007

Current Location: Byron Bay, New South Wales
Arrival Date: December 12, 2007
Departure Date: December 16, 2007

Next Stop: Glen Innes, New South Wales

So diving the Great Barrier Reef on a four day long live-aboard was as fantastic as it sounds. We had a total of 15 dives, including one night dive and a shark-feeding! Us people were well fed too. The daily itinerary consisted of breakfast at 7am, first dive at 7:15am, second breakfast at 9:00am, second dive at 10:00am, lunch at 12:30pm, third dive at 1:15pm, snack at 2:00pm, fourth dive at 4:00pm, dinner at 6:00pm and dessert soon after. Our chef was very good about cooking Jon and I our own special vegan dishes including faux-sausage with beans; pumpkin and veggies with peanut sauce; bbq veggie skewers; and a fabulous baklava dessert rich in seeds, nuts and filo pastry.

The boat was gorgeous, and our room was very nice and equipped with its own ensuit bathroom (more luxury than many of the hostels we have been staying at on land.) The nights, when we did most of our traveling, were a bit rough. Jon and I both still felt like we were rocking though Brisbane, a good two days after reaching shore.

There are pictures, but I am not allowed to download them to these computers at the internet cafes (I left my iBook in Sydney) so everyone will have to wait another week or so for me to post everything. I know-boo. In the meantime, you can check out the pictures that I managed to transfer to Picasa before I left Sydney (check next email.) They are still missing their captions, those will come later along with hundreds of pictures from South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau that are currently sitting stuck (unviewable) on Webshots.

Brisbane is a great city. Seems like a good place to live. Vegans- definitely hit up the Alibi Room if you're ever in the area: http://www.thealibiroom.com . We had The Kombie Driver's Breakfast and it was pretty much awesome. Maybe too huge, but definitely a good thing. I should have taken a picture.

We arrived in Byron Bay last night. It was raining but we went out anyway only to be bombarded by the neo-hippies. It was an interesting anthropological experience for Jon who didn't grow up with 4th Avenue in his backyard. Tomorrow we learn how to surf!

Love,

Melissa

Random Travel Update 13

2007-12-13T00:03:00.000-08:00

Previous location: Brisbane, Queensland
Arrival Date: December 11, 2007
Departure Date: December 12, 2007

Current Location: Byron Bay, New South Wales
Arrival Date: December 12, 2007
Departure Date: December 16, 2007

Next Stop: Glen Innes, New South Wales

So diving the Great Barrier Reef on a four day long live-aboard was as fantastic as it sounds. We had a total of 15 dives, including one night dive and a shark-feeding! Us people were well fed too. The daily itinerary consisted of breakfast at 7am, first dive at 7:15am, second breakfast at 9:00am, second dive at 10:00am, lunch at 12:30pm, third dive at 1:15pm, snack at 2:00pm, fourth dive at 4:00pm, dinner at 6:00pm and dessert soon after. Our chef was very good about cooking Jon and I our own special vegan dishes including faux-sausage with beans; pumpkin and veggies with peanut sauce; bbq veggie skewers; and a fabulous baklava dessert rich in seeds, nuts and filo pastry.

The boat was gorgeous, and our room was very nice and equipped with its own ensuit bathroom (more luxury than many of the hostels we have been staying at on land.) The nights, when we did most of our traveling, were a bit rough. Jon and I both still felt like we were rocking though Brisbane, a good two days after reaching shore.

There are pictures, but I am not allowed to download them to these computers at the internet cafes (I left my iBook in Sydney) so everyone will have to wait another week or so for me to post everything. I know-boo. In the meantime, you can check out the pictures that I managed to transfer to Picasa before I left Sydney (check next email.) They are still missing their captions, those will come later along with hundreds of pictures from South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau that are currently sitting stuck (unviewable) on Webshots.

Brisbane is a great city. Seems like a good place to live. Vegans- definitely hit up the Alibi Room if you're ever in the area: http://www.thealibiroom.com . We had The Kombie Driver's Breakfast and it was pretty much awesome. Maybe too huge, but definitely a good thing. I should have taken a picture.

We arrived in Byron Bay last night. It was raining but we went out anyway only to be bombarded by the neo-hippies. It was an interesting anthropological experience for Jon who didn't grow up with 4th Avenue in his backyard. Tomorrow we learn how to surf!

Love,

Melissa

Random Travel Update 12

2007-12-06T00:02:00.000-08:00

Previous location: Hunter Valley, New South Wales
Arrival Date: November 22, 2007
Departure Date: November 26, 2007

Last Location: Hobart & Frenchman's Cap, Tasmania
Arrival Date: November 27, 2007
Departure Date: December 2, 2007

Current Location: Cairns, Queensland
Arrival Date: December 3, 2007
Departure Date: December 11, 2007

Next Stops: Great Barrier Reef!

We are keeping ourselves busy as usual here in sunny Australia. It
occurred to me while I was internet-less in the wilderness last week
that I hadn't sent out a list of our planned activities:

Our first night in Australia was spent climbing the famous Harbor
Bridge in Sydney: http://www.bridgeclimb.com/theClimb/default.htm.
The next day we walked the city and experienced a play at the Sydney
Opera House. We spent another day in Sydney walking Bondi Beach.

We spent four beautiful days in Hunter Valley with our wonderful
hosts, Ian and Kate, who are good friends of Jon's parents before
preparing for our epic five-day trek through the Tasmanian wilderness:
http://www.parks.tas.gov.au/recreation/tracknotes/frmans.html.
We spent one more day in the Tasmanian capital of Hobart before
returning briefly to Sydney to catch a flight to Cairns in Northern
Queensland.

We arrived here yesterday, napped in our hammock, rented a yellow
scooter, cruised around the promenade, received full body 40 minute
Chinese massages for $25 (together!) and sampled the local cuisine.
Today we jumped out of a plane at 14,000 feet with a 60 second
freefall and parachuted to the ground. I will try to post pictures
soon.

Tomorrow, we board The Spirit of Freedom for a four day SCUBA Diving
tour of the Great Barrier Reef:
http://www.spiritoffreedom.com.au/4_Day_Coral_Sea.htm. Jon and I are
both very, that is, incredibly excited about this.

We will return to Cairns on Monday, wait for the nitrogen to dissolve
from our bloodstream, and then catch a flight the next morning to
Brisbane where Jon hopes to do some rock climbing. From there we head
a few hours down the coast to Byron Beach where we will spend the next
five days surfing, relaxing and trying not to get eaten by sharks.

From Byron, the goal is to take a train back down the coast of New
South Wales to Sydney where we will spend a few more nights before
catching our final flight back to the United States (Los Angeles then
Washington, DC).

There are many stories being made but limited internet time. The
pictures, once posted, will tell more.

Love,

Melissa

Random Travel Update 11

2007-11-20T00:01:00.000-08:00

Last location: Abu Dhabi, UAE
Arrival Date: November 19, 2007
Departure Date: November 19, 2007

Current Location: Sydney, Australia
Arrival Date: November 20, 2007
Departure Date: November 27, 2007

Next Stops: Tasmania

There was fog. My flight to Dubai from Mumbia was delayed 3.5 hours.
I missed my connecting flight to Hong Kong, thus missing my connecting
flight from Hong Kong to Sydney.

Mark was great. We left the airport after a few hours of trying to negotiate an alternate course. I spent the night in Dubai. Booked a new ticket to Sydney direct from Abu Dhabi. Arrived at the airport at 8:30am. More fog, delayed again. Flight was 14 hours but otherwise great. Less than half of
capacity. Arrived in Sydney 12 hours late.

Met up with Jon.

Sydney is wonderful. I am happy.

Love,

Melissa

Random Travel Update 10

2007-11-17T00:00:00.000-08:00

Last location: Goa, India

Arrival Date: November 08, 2007
Departure Date: November 16, 2007

Current Location: Mumbai, India
Arrival Date: November 16, 2007
Departure Date: November 18, 2007

Next Stops: Sydney, Australia (via Dubai and Hong Kong international airports)

India was an adventure. The last three weeks have been a whirlwind of
dodging scams, checking in and out of hotels (12 total), inhaling fire
fumes and auto traffic exhaust, making travel plans, trying to avoid
illness and seeing a few sites along the way.

I almost managed to make it out of India unscathed. My vegan diet at
home must do wonders for my adaptation to local cuisine. I didn't
encounter a single episode of diarrhea all month. Unfortunately, Mark
and I came in contact with a bit of poison ivy on our way to and from
our eco-friendly hut in Palolem (Goa) two nights ago. Luckily,
medicine is easy to come by here and our hotel has an on-call doctor
to assist us. We should be itch-free in a few days.

I have hundreds of pictures to post. With the exception on Goa, I
would not recommend India as an ideal vacation spot for those looking
to "get away from it all". However, it is a wonderfully picturesque
country, when you get past the pollution.

I have a million stories and only a few minutes of internet time.
There was the time Mark heroically fired our driver, Chandar, for
driving drunk while taking us from Agra to Rajisthan in the middle of
the night. We had to pull over in the middle of the trip, stay at a
roadside hotel, and take a local bus the next morning.

There was the time we had a rickshaw driver drive us around for an
hour "searching" for our hotel only to introduce us to a friend of his
who just happened to have a hotel nearby. Luckily I had negotiated
two rates in advance, one hundred ruppies for a direct trip to our
hotel, 50 ruppies for getting "lost". In the end, we got a free tour
of Jaipur, made it to our hotel, and saved 50 ruppies.

There was the time we were picked up by a resort spokesperson on the
side of the road in Baga (Goa) and promised one of four great prizes
if we only agreed to be taken for a 60 minute tour of the resort down
the street. We agreed to go and I was able to negotiate the sales
woman to let us pick up our prize of "7 free nights in Goa or Bali"
before the tour began. Then we took the next free cab to the
destination of our choice.

There was the time we booked a scuba diving trip out to a local island
in Goa only to be called five minutes before our scheduled departure
to be informed that our trip had been canceled due to the fact that
some military VIP required use of the island that day. Of course, when
we went to pick up our refund, we spoke to a group of 11 divers who
had just returned from a great trip with the same dive company.

There were hundreds of good moments too. The time I convinced a group
of small children to return their starfish collection to the sea so as
to prevent them from dying. The time I went parasailing with nine
Mumbians, half of whom seemed to be horribly scared of heights. The
time I rescued a butterfly from the tide. The time we went to an
"authentic" Rajisthani village for dinner, henna and human powered
ferris wheels (think Old Tucson Rajisthani style).

Traveling with Mark has been great. The beaches of Goa are beautiful,
and the weather has been gorgeous for us the whole time. No rain. The
handful of good people we came across were truly wonderful, and we met
two new friends on our train ride from Mumbai to Goa. I have a slight
tan, and apart from my poison ivy rash, I feel wonderful.

Our flight from Mumbai to Dubai has been delayed, so we are stuck at
the Marriott for six more hours. I don't mind, though I hope I don't
miss my connecting flight to Hong Kong. If all goes well, I will be
in Sydney in less than 48 hours.

Love,

Melissa

Random Travel Update 9

2007-11-02T23:59:00.000-07:00

Last location: Delhi, India

Arrival Date: October 31, 2007
Departure Date: November 02, 2007

Current Location: Agra, India
Arrival Date: November 02, 2007
Departure Date: November 03, 2007

Next Stops: Rajastan, India (Ranthambore, Jaipur, Pushkar)

The UAE was great. We visited Dubai and Abu Dhabi. Both modern, globalized, desert cities on the rise. I am a big fan of the desert. Though, as it turns out, sandboarding is not nearly as fun as it looks. Indoor snowboarding however, is a wonderfully good time. Camels are very dirty and smell horrible close up. I intend to post photos, but the connection speeds here in India are tragically slow.

Mark and I left Dubai late Wednesday night on a red-eye to New Delhi. India is pretty much everything anyone ever said it would be. Dirty, crowded and poor. Beggars are rampant and the pollution is sickening. Still the sites, when you get past the touts, are beautiful.

I am at an internet cafe now, fewer than 100 meters from the Taj Mahal. The Taj Mahal is truly breathtaking, despite the thick layer of smog that surrounds the place. I have taken many photos. Hopefully, I do not lose my camera before they are all uploaded.

The food here is amazing. Better, perhaps, than anything I have ever tasted in the United States or anywhere. It is very much a vegetarian utopia with over half the restaurants serving only pure vegetarian meals. Even the McDonalds menu is over 50% vegetarian.

I am devastated that Webshots continues to hide my photos. I may have to re-upload everything to Flickr when I return to a first world nation.

Cheers,

Melissa

Random Travel Update 8

2007-10-27T23:58:00.000-07:00

Last location: Macau

Arrival Date: October 22, 2007
Departure Date: October 24, 2007

Current Location: Hong Kong
Arrival Date: October 24, 2007
Departure Date: October 28, 2007 (12:30am)

Next Stop: Dubai, UAE

I appologize for any further difficulties with Webshots. It keeps
hiding my albums, I hope the problem has been resolved.

I am currently traveling with Mark, a fellow GWU Alum who I met on a
ski trip to Quebec a few years back. He has spent the past year
working in Saudi Arabia as an international consultant for Bearing
Point. He is taking a break from work to explore other international
job options. We are so far, wonderfully compatible travel buddies.

Hong Kong is a fantastic city. It is large, but pretty clean with a
largly international population, most of whom speak nearly perfect
English, likely as a result of Hong Kong having been a British colony.
We leave tonight (very soon) for Dubai. I will try to post more
pictures from our hotel there.

Love,

Melissa

Random Travel Update 7

2007-10-23T23:57:00.000-07:00

Last location: Beijing, China
Arrival Date: October 18, 2007
Departure Date: October 22, 2007

Current Location: Macau
Arrival Date: October 22, 2007
Departure Date: October 24, 2007

Next Stop: Hong Kong

Photos available at http://community.webshots.com/user/lmn8co2

I am officially no longer "roughing it". Mark and I met at the Hong Kong airport on Monday and checked in to a five star hotel at the Wynn Casino in Macau. Our room is beautiful and about the size of a one bedroom apartment in DC. We have a couch, a large bathtub, full water heat and pressure, a 5 by 8 foot mirror, modern art, a mini-bar, a desk, a huge flat screen tv, a marble table and automatic curtains that conceal a full window wall when drawn.

We splurged HK$160 on an in-room broadband connection and so I was able to fix the problem with my Webshots album and add more photos. Sorry to those of you who got on only to find no pictures. There should now be five new albums with several hundred new pictures on my page.

Last night was lucky. Mark let me play a few hands for him at the poker table and I was able to win HK$450. Together, we doubled the HK$1000 Mark put down. That is officially the most amount of money I have ever seen anyone leave a casino with.

We will check into a new hotel in Hong Kong tomorrow and from there fly to Dubai on the 28th. I will try to keep up with email but internet (and time to spend online) may get harder to come by.

Love,

Melissa

Random Travel Update 6

2007-10-21T00:21:00.000-07:00

Last location: Seoul, South Korea
Arrival Date: September 26, 2007
Departure Date: October 18, 2007

Current Location: Beijing, China
Arrival Date: October 18, 2007
Departure Date: October 22, 2007

Next Stop: Hong Kong and Macau

Photos available at http://community.webshots.com/user/lmn8co2

It's been a beautiful month. October came to Seoul like a breath of relief from the hot and rainy September. A lot has happened in the last four weeks, more than I can possibly write about in the short moments I have to myself with my computer. The most important update is that I have finally uploaded my pictures from San Francisco, Taiwan, Seoul and Beijing with captions. Unfortunately, webshots will not load here in China so you will have to wait for the more recent photos. Please do read the captions, as they will help to convey the story of my trip in the absence of my explaining it here. Feel free to send me questions and I will answer them in the next update.

I arrived in Beijing on Monday with a cold. I knew it would happen eventually. I am treating it with Vitamin C, Echinacea, Azithromycin, Tylenol Cold & Flu, Coldeze, Airborn, Zicam, and now two forms of Chinese medicine, that I was prescribed at the hospital next door. The helpful man from the hostel who took me to the hospital assured me that the Chinese drugs are all herbal and won't kill me.

The Great Wall was glorious, everything I had dreamed it would be and more, with a toboggan ride included! Beijing is absolutely charming, the food is good, and the weather is near perfect. I leave for Hong Kong and Macau tomorrow, then off to UAE and India next week. It may get harder to find internet, but I will do my best to keep sending updates and photos.

Love,

Melissa

Random Travel Update 5

2007-09-26T00:19:00.000-07:00

Last location: Kenting & Jialeshuei, Taiwan
Arrival Date: September 23, 2007
Departure Date: September 25, 2007

Current Location: Taipei, Taiwan
Arrival Date: September 22, 2007
Departure Date: September 26, 2007

Next Stop: Seoul, South Korea

Traveling is a mix of wonder, excitement and gut-wrenching nausea. It is BBQ season here in Taiwan, which means the streets and markets are filled with a smoky, rotten, gaseous scent that makes my stomach turn and my nose twitch. Taipei and Kenting are the first cities I have encountered that go out of their way to flavor their air with noxious fumes. Aside from BBQ, the cities here are pretty clean and much better smelling than the urine-entrenched streets of Paris and (occasionally) New York. I think it helps that every metro station here comes equipped with several restrooms. Brilliant. Almost makes up for the lack of sidewalks.

On my last visit to Tucson, I met up with some long lost relatives who had just adopted a puppy. I envied the fluffy week old pup with her boundless energy and a seemingly endless passion for her every surrounding, from her little basket bed to a patch of grass outside. Today I am that puppy. I have never been so happy to sit on a bus for an hour on the way to the airport before. I can't sleep, I just stare wide-eyed out the window absorbing every detail of the world passing before me. Naivety is my greatest attribute.

I cannot write too much now, my brain is still processing the excitement of the last ten days. I can say though that everything is going marvelously. My travel buddies are great. Everything has gone according to plan. Never mind the fact that few, if any, plans were ever made.

Yesterday we took a cab from Kenting National Park in southern Taiwan to Jialeshuei (pronounced shallow shway), a fairly remote surfing beach down and around the tip of the island. We rented boards and I tried surfing for my first time. It was great fun, but I will have to invest in more secure water-wear before attempting again. We spent the rest of the day on the beach and then the five of us managed to snag a van all the way back to the high speed train station three hours north for only NRT1800 ($60). It sure beat the smaller cabs we had been squeezing into previously. We arrived at the station just in time to get the last three tickets available for the evening (getting two more required an additional effort, but it was eventually accomplished through a negotiation effort on the part of Chad and myself.)

The high-speed train is brand new and, from what I hear, one of the fastest in the world. It took us from southern Taiwan to Taipei in just over 90 minutes. Smooth ride too. We arrived back in Taipei at 9:45pm and met up with a friend of a friend who lives in the city. She (amazingly) spoke and read Chinese and took us out for the best food I have had since I arrived: sautéed spinach and thai-style tofu-plus Taiwan beer for only NRT100 ($3) per person. I was thrilled.

Today consisted of a 15 minute walk to the metro, about as much time on the metro to the bus station and then about an hour on the bus to the airport. I am here now, typing at a free internet access terminal next to our departure gate. My flight to Korea will take about two hours from the time the plane leaves the ground and then I will take another bus about an hour back to Seoul and then take a cab five minutes or so back to Adam's for about W1900 ($2) for the three of us. It is 12:15pm and my plane boards in 20 minutes, so I will be editing and sending this email from Seoul.

Cheers,

April/Melissa

Random Travel Update 4

2007-09-18T23:48:00.000-07:00

Last location: San Francisco, California
Arrival Date: September 12, 2007
Departure Date: September 16, 2007

Current Location: Seoul, South Korea
Arrival Date: September 17, 2007
Departure Date: September 22, 2007

Next Stop: Remote Beach, Taiwan

I am in the Republic of Korea. It is 10:41am here and raining. It took me a few minutes to figure out why it felt so much more humid today than yesterday. There is an air-conditioning system in the main room, but it is not connected to the bedrooms so we slept with the window open and a fan on. Other than the current humidity, the weather here is perfect. It was about 80 degrees when I landed at 6pm last night (Korean time) and only got down to about 70 degrees by the time we came home from the spa at midnight.

I have been in the country for about 16 hours, eight of which were spent sleeping. We spent the other eight, first traveling by bus one and a half hours in rush hour traffic from the airport in Incheon to my friend Adam's place in Haebangchon, right across the street from the Yongsan US military base, and then hanging out at the market (aka huge shopping center) in Myeongdong. We didn't get out to Myeongdong until 8:45pm, but it was still packed. The streets and malls were as crowded at 9pm on Monday night as New York City's might be on a Friday or Saturday night. Everything is open late. We ate dinner around 10pm and then went to the Jjimjilbang, or Korean Spa, until 12am.

If you haven't been to a spa in Korea before, the following article describes the experience well: http://www.gapyear.com/features/the_spa_experience_in_korea.html .

Seoul is big, the biggest city I have ever seen. I cannot compare it to any US city. It goes on for miles, built up with neon lights, tall buildings, and worn down apartment buildings that are crammed onto small side streets and alleyways. The food is spicy, but it looks like I won't have too much trouble eating vegan so long as I can figure out how to communicate "no meat" competently. Have I mentioned that Sticky Fingers is here? Check it out at www.stickyfingers.co.kr.

For more on Korea, I suggest wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Korea.

San Francisco too, was fantastic. I met some wonderful people in the city, including my reflexologist, the friendly admissions team at Boalt Hall, and a random Berkeley student who helped my parents and me find our way back to our hotel Thursday night.

Thank you to those of you who offered restaurant suggestions. We were able to make it to both Herbivore and Millennium, both excellent. I will plan on hitting up every other vegan restaurant in town when I return to the Bay Area.

Big thank you to Ben and Haiete, who put me up for the weekend and came wine tasting with my dad and me in Sonoma. Pictures will be available shortly.

Love,

April/Melissa Meyer

Random Travel Update 3

2007-09-12T23:56:00.000-07:00

Previous Location: Phoenix, Arizona

Arrival Date: September 7, 2007
Departure Date: September 8, 2007

Last location: Tucson, Arizona
Arrival Date: September 8, 2007
Departure Date: September 12, 2007

Current Location: San Francisco, California
Arrival Date: September 12, 2007
Departure Date: September 16, 2007

Next Stop: Seoul, South Korea

Quick update:

I just arrived in San Francisco. I am in the process of convincing my parents to take me out to Millennium Friday night, but am otherwise overwhelmed by the 41 vegetarian listings brought up by Happy Cow. Are there any other Bay Area restaurant musts? My goal is to check out at least four.

Also, pictures of Mexico are currently loading online at http://community.webshots.com/user/lmn8co2 . It is taking awhile, being that the hotel internet connection keeps failing. I am going to take a nap while they load and try to have them all posted shortly after I wake up.

Regards,

Melissa/April

Random Travel Update 2

2007-09-05T23:50:00.000-07:00

Last location: San Carlos, Mexico
Arrival Date: August 31, 2007
Departure Date: September 3, 2007

Current location: Tucson, Arizona
Arrival Date: September 4, 2007
Departure Date: September 12, 2007

Next Stop: San Francisco, California

Photos available (soon) at http://community.webshots.com/user/lmn8co2

This morning ended a near ten-hour drive from San Carlos, Mexico to Tucson, Arizona. The distance is about 325 miles and should only take five hours going at Mexican speed, which is about 30-50 miles over the posted speed limit at any given time once you cross the border. But it was Labor Day and we got stuck at the border for an unfortunate three and a half hours and at a checkpoint for near an hour, essentially doubling our return time.

It was well worth it. The trip was exceptional, one of the best in my life. I left with that glowing feeling that you imagine when you look at an Abercrombie print ad or a Sandals beach commercial.

The weekend consisted of three boat diving trips with two dives each and a day of rest which we used to learn how to jet ski. I love boats, especially fast boats. Our boat was fast for its size and the breeze made the 100-degree temps seem pleasant. We saw dolphins, whales, sea lions, eels, sea turtles, a funny underwater spider that was actually a crab, and a lot of pretty (and a few not-as-pretty) fish.

I met amazing people on the trip. My carpool driver Eric brought an underwater camera, so do check Webshots in a few days for pictures. My diving buddy, Elizabeth, was wonderful and taught me how to dive (as in high-dive not SCUBA dive) on my first day out on the boat, though I apparently forgot this skill by the third day when I tried to dive off the top deck of the boat (see video to be posted soon on Webshots).

My best friend Sara from Washington, DC flew into Guaymas on Saturday and met me at the hotel in San Carlos right as I was eating lunch with Eric and his dive buddy, April. Everyone was friendly and relaxed. There wasn't a single moment of stress or anxiety the entire weekend. I highly recommend Ocean Sports/Desert Divers for those of you in the Southwest thinking about getting SCUBA certified. Their staff is impressively friendly and their trips are very well organized. Besides, the boys on staff are all very cute ;)

Tucson is great, wonderfully warm as usual. Sara is here now for five days and I am making it my obligation to show her Arizona in between the many errands I have to run before I depart Tucson next week. I am starting to compile a packing list for my three-month journey abroad. If you have ever traveled before, please take a moment to look at my itinerary below and make suggestions regarding what I should bring with me.

I have all of my vaccines now as well as my anti-malaria, anti-diarrhea, anti-pain, and anti-biotic prescriptions, so those are covered. Tips on additional medications, toiletries and items that may not be available abroad are most welcome. Also, I am buying a camera this week. It needs to be tiny and user-friendly. I am thinking the Canon Elph SD600. Any suggestions?

With love,

April/Melissa
__________________________________________________
Travel Itinerary 2007

San Francisco, California
September 12, 2007
September 16, 2007

Seoul, South Korea
September 16, 2007
September 22, 2007

Remote Beach, Taiwan
September 22, 2007
September 26, 2007

Seoul, South Korea
September 26, 2007
October 16, 2007 (tentative)

Beijing, China & The Great Wall
(tentative)

Hong Kong, China
October 21, 2007 (tentative)
October 24, 2007 (tentative)

Multiple Destinations, India
October 24, 2007 (tentative)
November 18, 2007

Hong Kong, China
November 18, 2007

Multiple Destinations, Australia
November 19, 2007
December 19, 2007

Los Angeles, California
December 19, 2007
December 22, 2007

Washington, DC
December 22, 2007

Random Travel Update 1

2007-08-10T00:00:00.000-07:00

Original location: Washington, DC

Arrival Date: August 2003

Departure Date: August 2007

Last location: Las Vegas, Nevada

Arrival Date: August 8, 2007

Departure Date: August 9, 2007

Current location: Zion Park, Utah

Arrival Date: August 9, 2007

Departure Date: August 12, 2007

Next Stop: Tucson, Arizona

Photos available at http://community.webshots.com/user/lmn8co2

This will be the guinea pig letter to use an animal-unfriendly metaphor. Please let me know if you would like to be removed from the random-travel-update list or, alternatively, if you know of someone who should be added. Also, confirm that this is the email address to which you would like updates sent.

Thank you to those of you who came to my going away dinner, who sent very nice departure notes, who stayed up all night to help me pack, who let me borrow their car and didn't get upset when it was rear-ended in the U-Haul parking lot while I was off moving boxes to Fedex, and who woke up at 4:15am to patiently wait for me and then equally patiently drive me to the Regan National Airport in the nick of time to catch my 6am flight Wednesday morning. You guys are the best.

To those of you who wrote emails to which I never responded, my apologies, it has been a hectic week and a half. But I did read them all and appreciated all of your advice, goodbyes and random notes.

If you ever get a chance to leave DCA around 6am right as the sun is rising over the city, I recommend it. The flight, which ended two days of nearly no sleep, was reinvigorating. I ended up in Las Vegas six hours and three time zones later in a daze, but fittingly so, me being in Vegas. My parents met me on the strip Wednesday night and we ate dinner at Go Raw http://www.gorawcafe.com/ before going to see "Love", a Beatles tribute preformed by Cirque du Soleil. It was impressive, as usual.

Has anyone heard of Ronald's Doughnuts? I got lucky and found this place on Happy Cow http://www.happycow.net/ right before leaving Nevada. I am still attempting to limit my refined sugar intake, but couldn't pass up the opportunity to sample vegan doughnuts. And these aren't the kind you get sealed in plastic and shipped from Pangea. No, these are real doughnuts, sold at a real hole-in-the wall type doughnut joint. Fresh, the kind that deflate a little the next morning. Believe me, they were worth every sugary calorie. Though, in retrospect maybe I shouldn't have bought 12.

Next stop was Zion National Park, Utah for my family reunion. I am here now. It is Friday night, though none of you will get this until Monday, since there is no internet access here, or cell phone reception for that matter. Zion is a beautiful place. I can't describe it, look up pictures online: http://www.zionnational-park.com/images/album2/index30.htm . You can also view pictures on my Webshots page under "Family Reunion Zion Park": http://family.webshots.com/album/560276451Yxtajf. I will try to keep my Webshots homepage page updated as my travels progress.

Please send me your full home address when you get a chance in case I get around to writing the occasional postcard. I don't know how much postcard-writing time I will have, but it is always best to have addresses up front rather than having to track them down while on the road. Don't forget to reply to any emails I send with the name of the email in the subject line. For example, all emails responding to this one should read, "Re: Random Travel Update 1 August 10, 2007". This way I can find them when I go to respond to several emails at once.

Love,

April/Melissa Meyer