The funeral industry reveals our values, our fears, and our blindness. As a freelancer, I spend much of my time working at home, but there are times when I go to my clients. A few weeks ago I was working on location at a local funeral home. It certainly wasn’t…

This persistent stereotype is extremely outdated. — Search “French girl” and you’ll find hundreds of articles and websites talking about French girl brows or all the essential cosmetics you’ll need to be replicate the “effortlessly chic” style that all French girls have flowing through their veins. Imagine a French girl. You probably see slightly tousled light brown…

This trope of gifting flowers to your partner seems rather tired, until it’s not. When my husband and I were first dating I told him, “You don’t have to get me flowers. They’re pretty pointless, after all.” I didn’t really understand the point of it at the time and I…

Since returning to the US in 2017, I’ve been planning my next move, and next year, I’m hoping to make it happen — just need to narrow it down a bit. Like many people who’ve recently hit age 30, I have been evaluating where my life is at, where it’s…

I’m the first to despair over those from my country of birth never thinking about travel beyond their country’s borders, but there are reasons behind it you may not have considered. — “I don’t know what you’ve been up to, but I lived in 4 different countries by the time I was your age,” a German friend scoffed at me when I was 25. Indeed, to most Americans, the idea of living in 4 countries before 25 would be extremely impressive. Of…

Traveling on your own as a woman is an amazing experience, but can also be a nerve-wracking one. Choosing the right destination can make all the difference. — Over the course of 5 years of my life, I visited a dozen countries and most of them were traversed on my own, as a 20-something woman. Coming from a small farming village in rural Pennsylvania, I got plenty of negativity when I announced I was living abroad and that…

Loneliness is a chronic illness among those living far from home, so seek out companionship in these places — One of the hardest parts about moving to another country (besides learning a new culture, sometimes a new language, and working through piles of paperwork, of course) can be the feelings of loneliness and isolation. …

Korea is an amazing country to visit, but if you plan on living there long-term and working there, it can be a minefield of baffling cultural differences. — When meeting people who visited Korea in the past, almost universally, they have only positive things to say, and often, they will lament that they would love to live in the country one day. But, when speaking to people who lived in the country and worked there, it’s a mixed…

Tell anyone you’re going to France and whether they’ve been there or not, they’ll likely have an opinion on the folks that call Paris home. — It started innocently enough. A friend of mine heard that I had guests visiting from France and asked me to bring them over for lunch. She was inviting some others from the community and thought it would be a good chance for everyone to mingle. …