It’s Day 9 of the 30-Day-Blogging-Challenge and that means time to do some serious recapping. Approximately one and a half weeks ago I started my second round of the challenge, which prompts you to publish one new blog post every day. While I successfully completed Read More »
Today’s challenge sponsored by Sarah of Sarkemedia was to find out how to install plugins on self-hosted WordPress blogs. While trying to figure this out for a good 15 minutes of my timeRead More »
How to start a post after almost 6 months of silence?
This entire year has been one of the most transformative I’ve experienced. Not only in terms of job and job focus but more certainly in terms of Read More »
So, for the third time in row, the WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2013 annual report for this blog.
Here’s an excerpt:
The concert hall at the Sydney Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 11,000 times in 2013. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 4 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.
I don’t know if 11,000 is a ton of people for one year or not. It roughly translates to Read More »
Lately, many things have happened. But then again, many things have not. How do you start a blog you have neglected for almost a month? I know my post #300 is coming up soon. And while I had thought it would be a cool idea to have told most of my stories by then, it simply didn’t happen. The usual dilemma between working long hours and not being able to have much of a personal life has caught up with me in the past 3 weeks. It will be over, soon, though, so perhaps in the coming days or weeks I will have more time to devote to this blog. Hopefully. And also some fresh topics.
Until then I remain one of those faceless zombies who wait for the subway every morning and evening. In a faceless crowd, trying to squeeze into an overfilled train. Rush hour, how I’ve almost forgotten how it felt. And looked. And smelt.
Or how draining it can be to work for not much of a purpose.
Until then: How do you do it? Blogging and having a life? I have asked you this before but I am still curious how you juggle working, buying groceries, meeting with friends, having a hobby, and then posting online? Well, let me know! Suggestions are always welcome.
Recently I’ve stumbled across this cool site I found on Liz’s blog (she happened to find it on another person’s twitter – the word spreads fast!). It determines what personality type you are according to your blog. It is based on the Myers- Briggs personality tests and a pretty neat tool I wanted to share with you since this is after all a blogging community.
Because I have two blogs, I first gave in my main one, which happens to be German-American Abroad.
The result was: ISFP – The Artists.
According to the description, I am NOT a friend of many words (most readers would strongly disagree since a majority of my posts are 1,000 words and above) and have to make sure that I am not being taken advantage of. Aside from this, I am very compassionate and genuinely care for my fellow human beings. I really like that last part of the description!
I then typed in A Picture Every Day and received a very different response. According to this blog, I belong to the ESFP – The Performers.
As the description goes, I live in the current moment and experience life’s riches. I also love being around other people and have an eye for beauty and art.
I guess if I were to combine those two descriptions, I would get a solid (and very flattering) observation of my current personality. It’s interesting to see how the test takes your blog and transforms it into a pretty accurate view of who you are or perhaps wish to be.
To a certain degree, the results took me by surprise. I would have thought the roles to be switched, after all my picture blog appears to be way more artsy than this one, the writing site.
Please feel free to try it out for yourselves and don’t be shy to leave your feedback!
Go visit the Typealyzer!
A few weeks back, Amanda from AmandaPOverseas tagged me in a post of hers called “ Travel Confessions.” The rules are simple:
1. Post a photo (or photos) and description(s) of your confession(s) in a new post.
2. Tweet your post with hashtag #TravelConfession and follow/tweet @Traveling9to5
3. Tag 3-5 other travelers you’d love to see confess and tag them on Twitter.
While I didn’t tag everyone on twitter, you are certainly tagged through your blog.
My confessions:
1) I like to stay in hostels
This might be part of me leaning towards the cheap stuff, especially when it means having a bed for a night. Maybe somewhere down the line between being a poor student and earning less than 13/h an hour in my first job in New York it had established itself as the only possible way for me explore other cities and still keep my budget in check. Either way, it has turned out to be a fantastic place to meet people my age, people of a younger age, people of an older age, and people from all walks of life. The first hostel I stayed in as an adult was HI in DC (read more here). And it was the best experience I had so far! Pub crawl with a local I am still friends with today. An animated discussion with a girl from Wisconsin who visited me a year later in New York. Some weekends are just notorious for changing your life.
Take the hostel in London as another example. Either burning hot or ice cold water coming out of the pipes – ouch! However, a ten-bedroom-share with guys and girls made up for a great laugh. Especially the 60-year-old Brit who had emigrated to Thailand and who had to come back to his home country every six months to renew his visa. The stories you run across in hostels – unforgettable!
2) I like to travel alone
Don’t get me wrong here – traveling with friends and (sometimes) family can be a very interesting experience, as well. But mostly I have found myself hitting the road all by myself. Be it lack of friends who wanted to see the same city or be it personal choice – I have so far never regretted packing that duffel bag and getting on the bus/plane/train to reach out to undiscovered lands. It’s pretty neat, if you come to think about. No whiny partner who does not want to see this monument or go out in that club. Just your own opinion that counts. I love picking out stuff only I like to see. If I am bored at one place, I am free to move on to the next.
I believe some people still have this very innate fear of letting go of the circles they know and just traveling by themselves. I had to learn how to travel alone from a very young age on. My most life-changing experience must have been relocating to Florida all by myself at the tender age of 20. After that, all ties broke loose. I found myself shaking for cold beneath the Stephansdom in Vienna, dancing in the streets of Paris, and then of course moving to New York – only me, myself, and I. One of the best decisions ever!
3) I like to discover new lands
You will rarely find me at one and the same spot more than one time. Unless I have found something truly exceptional about one place, I am all for going out there and setting my pins on the world map of life. Yeah, Canada was cool and I definitely want to go back to the Grand Canyon. Some things are just too huge to grasp in one day. But I’d also like to part my wings and finally get to see more of the West Coast of the US. Seattle, Portland, San Francisco – all awaiting my arrival. And then what about South America, Asia and Africa? Not to mention Australia and New Zealand… The globe is endless, it seems. My biggest dream is indeed to pack my bags for 12 months straight and see what else is out there. Probably I am in the wrong city to save up for this, don’t you think?
4) It’s either all or nothing
When I travel somewhere, I want to get to know the culture. No lame bus tours or being locked down in a group that has “I am a tourist, please rob me” stamped all over it. Another convenience of traveling by yourself is that you are more open to your surroundings. You have to carefully wage if this road is safe to venture on and if that neighborhood is appealing to you. At the same time, you want to see something your friends have not and you want to boast with things they wouldn’t be able to read up in any tour guide. So I really like to talk to the locals when it comes to exploring another city. I don’t like the stigma that is attached to a tourist. Being a young female can be dangerous but it can also make other people more open towards you. I had the most interesting conversations with locals just because I sat by myself. Rest assured, other people are about as curious about your whereabouts as you are about theirs.
5) Sometimes I only travel to get a good picture
Part of being a photographer is to wage the battles and to get some challenging shots. My trip to Montreal was based on 50 percent curiosity and 50 percent of “I need something new in my portfolio”. Hey, it worked! It got me out there. Taking pictures is also a really good excuse to be alone. You can literally take day-long photo excursions without people looking at you oddly because you always have your camera strapped around your neck.
Traveling – the more you do it, the more you realize what the most relevant things in life are. You also see what kind of lives other people have and what kind of attitude they display towards it. Traveling is mostly only one thing to me, and that is inspiring.
Now, Liz from Belovelive, the Sweet Kitten, Shannon from Rediscovering Healthy, Dave from TravelBugster, and last but not least Ron’s View. Your turn!
German-American Abroad 