Salut and à Bientôt

Salut, Little did I know that the term for a runaway train would be an apt description for how Fulbright seemingly has been going. I feel as if I have experienced a month within a week. What is the old saying? Lifetimes can pass in weeks? I arrived in Hanoi on August 7, and despite not being out much or exploring as a tourist would, I am already drained and tired. I have little else but to say that it is all overwhelming, or as Jessica would say, "overstimulating". I much appreciated the pace and vibes of Peace Corps, where we had the time and energy and space to acclimate to things. Part of it matches Vietnam itself; Vietnam is an early riser, people wake up in the early hours of the morning, and the city streets feel alive and bustling by 6:30 am. The bright sun accompanies it, as do the UV rays. Vietnam is a lot of things, but some recurring topics I anticipate already that have been rehashed by any tourist known to man, but I shall do again are the heat and humidity. I ...

 Salut, It has been a moment, hasn’t it? But also no time at all. I am restarting this blog right before orientation in Hanoi. My last blog, for all the new people, followed my two-and-a-half-year-long escapades across Central Asia. It features a host of wild and crazy stories. Linguistic messups. Adorable host kids. Some amazing (and not so amazing) food. Incredible friends and people. That chapter is over, and here I am now, one year later, to start another. My journey to get here started in the fall of last year. Shortly after Peace Corps wrapped up, I arrived back in the United States. I spent some time at home before moving to DC for just a year. There, I worked for Kid Power, an educational nonprofit, in conjunction with AmeriCorps. You’ll notice I have a certain affinity for collecting US government sponsored service programs. I collect them like Pokémon. I loved loved my time in DC, but here I am back again, now on my way overseas again. My sister’s mother-in-law once told...