Category: Urban
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Looking up (Batumi, Georgia)
(July 2 – 5th, 2026) I am a man of the mountains. The only times I have ever lived near the sea was as a young child in Virginia, which I hardly remember; during my university years along the frozen shores of Finland; one spectacular bohemian summer bumming around Homer, Alaska; and my two-year stint…
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Surprising Sofia and Piety in Bulgaria
(June 21st – June 24, 2026) On cue, I roll off the bus from Niš, Serbia, to Sofia, Bulgaria, in the late evening of June 21st and in the midst of searching for the entrance into the Metro station underground I fell gravity towards Latin fusion rock rhythms emanating from an open courtyard adjacent to…
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Serbia: Yu-Rock, River Fortresses, and Graffiti Wars
Late my first night out in Novi Sad, I walked along cobblestone streets back towards my hotel a few blocks off the central plaza. Serbia is pretty rough around the edges, but old town Novi Sad is generally as polished and charming as any European city. As I near the last cross street a tall,…
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A Pub Called Heaven (Menny) – Budapest, Hungary
(June 15 -17, 2026) The bus doors open and I step into the busy streets of Budapest, backpack weighted over my shoulders and guitar in hand, keen to find my hotel and settle in for an evening on the Danube before continuing my travels onward the next morning. After all, I had been to Budapest…
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Ah, das schöne Berlin! (Oh, beautiful Berlin!)
(May 29 – June 8, 2026) I met Bastian my second year living in Finland, as he moved into my old apartment when I transferred out of the first-year furnished room into the long term unit across the hall. Born to a German dad and Finnish mother, he grew up in West Berlin until he…
