Stateside once more.

I'll leave you with this, and happy holidays!

3 Traveler Techniques For Adjusting After Being Abroad

In many ways, coming home after living overseas is even harder than leaving. For one, you’ve changed in hundreds of perceptible and imperceptible ways. For another, so has everyone else – despite the fact you did not give them permission to continue with their lives after you left (Rude!). Suddenly all the familiar stuff you took for granted seems strange and alien, and you find yourself itching to purchase the plane ticket for your next adventure. But before you repack that suitcase, here are three techniques to ease the transition:

1) Take the backseat to everyone else.

The last six months or two years or whatever have been monumental; it’s only natural to expect everyone to listen to your updates with rapturous attention. But chances are some pretty big stuff has been going down while you’ve been M.I.A. as well – engagements, funerals, graduations, babies – so playing audience first and foremost is a great way to show you’re not just a narcissistic asshole.

2) Prepare two stories, maximum.

When your turn does come, restrict yourself to one or two of your greatest memories (and nothing longer than five to ten minutes). Remember, there is a reason why you’re the one who went abroad and they didn’t: this stuff just means more to you. It’s like if your buddy suddenly really got into ant farming, or that guy you never saw again after he downloaded Minecraft. Your friends love you, so they’ll put up with the retelling of the time you drunkenly fell off the tuk-tuk, but not because they think it’s as funny as you do.

3) Stay one year, minimum.

This one has always proven hardest for me to keep, ramblin’ man/rolling stone/jet plane leaver that I am. About three months after settling back into your old life, you will become profoundly bored and begin nonchalantly browsing Expedia for deals to Buenos Aires. But book nothing, if only for the sake of your piecemeal resume. Traveling is like a drug, and users everywhere are always looking for the next hostel high. By staying put for a year or more, you’re giving yourself a chance to set down some roots and remember why you called this home in the first place. That doesn’t mean you won’t be off adventuring in the near future – you’re just making sure you have a world to come back to afterwards.

An open plea to the writers of FOX’s ‘New Girl.’

First off, let me just say, good work.

I only started watching 72 hours ago and am already catlady-level crazy about the show. I’ve watched every episode at least four times and even begun frequenting other blogs for news and updates. Yeah, I’m that guy.

This is largely due to the will they/won’t they couple of Nick and Jess, hailed as the “Ross and Rachel” of our time. Their onscreen chemistry has been painfully palpable since the pilot, and with every teasing glance and lopsided smile, you’ve drawn me further into your unrequited television hell.

But I’m fine with that. Honestly, I am. In fact, I encourage you to draw out the torture for as long as you’d like. There’s only one condition: they have to end up together.

I saw in some interview you admitted you’d let these two characters come together, but – and I write this whilst squeezing my eyes shut in absolute anguish – that they’d settle down with other people.

Unacceptable.

I know that as a lowly fangirl, I do not hold much sway. After all, it’s a business and the almighty dollar has final vote. So I will try to convince you not from the heart, but from the wallet.

Let Jess and Nick stay together. They can break up and make up as many times as you’d like to rile up your ratings, but let these two kids make it in this crazy, mixed up world. And if you do, I promise to buy every season on iTunes with all the silly behind-the-scenes bloopers and any soundtracks you choose to release. I will buy a “Nick + Jess 4 Eva” tee if that’s what it takes, I don’t care. Just don’t break them up.

I know one person’s promise might not mean much, but I bet I’m not the only viewer who feels this way. So listen to your audience, FOX, and thanks again for the cool show.

The single girl’s guide to dating a Bond villain.

Each month, I travel to Hong Kong to enjoy a few meals, do a little shopping, and bask in the awe-inspiring glory that is unrestricted internet access. It’s how I’m able to maintain my sanity and/or post on this blog, and these day trips have become the highlight of my time here.

Last November was no different; clad in my sweatpants and magnificently un-showered, I shuffled my way into the city to take advantage of the holiday sales and surprisingly tasty cheeseburgers.

But then things got interesting: On my way back to the university, I met a Hungarian doctor by the name of – I kid you not – István Kiss. He was thirty-two, here on business, and bore a striking resemblance to Jeremy Renner. His charm, good looks, and persistent ambiguity about what he was doing in China intrigued me. Or, it would have were I not covertly attempting to subdue my hair in the substantial downpour.

But why's he taking off... Never mind, keep doing what you're doing.

He handed me his card and told me he wanted to take me to dinner. I tried to return with some witty response, but inhaled several gallons rainwater instead. As I hacked up a lung and he disappeared into the night, and ran my thumb over his name.

The things a girl has to do in the name of research.

Bond... James Bond,
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