4 Amazing Day Trips in Bulgaria

While I love Sofia, Bulgaria’s capital, you’d miss out on so much of the country by only sticking to the city. Instead, you can use Sofia as your base to go on a day trip or two (or four). Use this guide to choose your ideal excursion based on your interests: 1. Nature and adventure:…

What to Do In Bucharest (When You Only Have One Day)

Not to be confused with Budapest–believe me, the mix-up is more common than you’d think–Bucharest is the capital and largest city in Romania and an absolute dream for people who love architecture and history. My friend Rosalie and I arrived in the city from Luxembourg ready to take on the sights and sounds of Eastern Europe.…

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Review: The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

But I always have thought it was strange, if our mother cells done so much for medicine, how come her family can’t afford to see no doctors? Don’t make no sense. People got rich off my mother without us even knowin about them takin her cells, now we don’t get a dime. I used to…

Museum of Vancouver

Between the extravagant exterior and the highly official-sounding name, I imagined the Museum of Vancouver to be as extensive as The Museum of the City of New York or even The British Museum. But the MOV turned out to be more humble than I expected. I wasn’t disappointed, per se, and in fact I quite enjoyed it, but…

Why Walking Tours Are a Traveler’s Best Friend

For me, no trip is complete without a walking tour. Here’s why: It orients you. Especially if you do the tour early in your trip, it establishes some sense of direction in an unfamiliar place, which will be immensely helpful when you inevitably take a wrong turn later. It introduces you to people. Tours are made up…

Review: Blues People

What it is: Blues People by Amiri Baraka (Leroi Jones) details the history of blues, jazz, and other African-derived musical genres. He describes how culture and music affect each other, and the history of race relations in the United States via the interaction between African-influenced and European-influenced music. What I liked about it: Baraka does an excellent job of…

Review: The Cleft

What it is: The Cleft by Doris Lessing is a novel about a Roman man who tells the story about the beginning of humanity, which consists of only women. They live communally and conceive babies through moonlight. Suddenly a baby boy is born, and eventually their society changes to establish, embrace, and struggle with gender roles. The…