Upcoming Trips: Oregon Coast, Madrid & Liverpool

Next week my dad and I will take our third annual trip to the coast on his motorcycle. It's always an exhilarating experience to be on the back of his roaring Harley, partly because it's work to stay on and partly because the bike attracts appreciative looks wherever we go. I love being out in the open at 50 or 60 miles an hour, feeling the moisture and breathing in the smells of the highway and coastal air in August. Our trip is something I've come to consider as one of the few traditions in my life, and it's something I look forward to every year.

Am also excited to have not one but TWO trips to Europe planned for this fall.

View from the window of my former 8th story flat in Las Águilas, Madrid.

 First trip will be back to Madrid for two weeks of vacation in September. Plan to see several friends--from the U.S., Spain, Australia--as well as perhaps some former students. Might also meet a friend from Poland in Paris for a weekend. Ah, how I miss being able to jet to Paris for a long weekend!

Second trip will be to Liverpool in October for a professional conference. Although I've been to England a few times, have not yet been to Liverpool. Am looking forward to exploring a new town, perhaps taking a Beatles tour, not to mention geeking out at the International Society for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning conference.

A couple years ago, when I imagined my life in the not-too-distant-future, I'd seen myself being in a position, both financially and in terms of vacation time, to travel abroad for a month every year. It's important to me to continue to expose myself to new ways of being in and perceiving the world, as well as work toward my goal of being fluent in seven languages before I die. While I can't yet quite afford to spend a month of each year abroad, I am incredibly grateful to work at an institution where they're willing to make such a significant investment in me as to help send me to an international conference abroad.