The inside cover of my guide book seemed to have a tough time finding a pleasant way to sell São Paulo to the common tourist. The opening paragraph was full of words like “polluted” and “ungainly”, “concrete” and “sprawling”. If I hadn’t booked the flights before doing the reading, I might have had second thoughts about spending the second part of my Brazilian trip here. … Continue reading São Paulo is a City
Every now and then a person finds themselves roaming through southern Spain on a cloudless December day, doing nothing other than casually searching for their next Rioja and tapas fix, when they accidentally make eye contact with the horizon, which means they have to go to Africa. Accordingly, we boarded the boat in Tarifa, the small historic town in which we were doing our tapas-hunting, and a bumpy 57 minutes … Continue reading The Spontaneous Voyager’s Guide to Tangier
New Orleans Day 3: I am never drinking again. I spent the morning reading Faulkner on my balcony and chugging coffee, because it was noon before my hangover finally dissipated sufficiently (fyi, here’s what I got up to last night) that I was able to venture out into the 30 degree heat and do some more exploring. I couldn’t start the day’s adventuring without some more classic … Continue reading NoLa SoLo
The one time I forgot to check the weather forecast was the time Chicago experienced its 5th heaviest snow-dump of all time. OF ALL TIME. It began snowing at about 8pm on Saturday. I was in a dive bar in Ukrainian Village on a date of the romantic sort, and was informed by the establishment’s owner, as he showered us with free cheese puffs, that blizzard-warning nights are always … Continue reading #Superbowl #Snowday
So our program, and we shall be known from this post onwards as MPP (Master of Public Policy), is very nationally diverse. From about 100 students in total, there are about 45 different nationalities represented. To celebrate this diversity, and so that we can all get to know a bit about each others’ cultures, there will be “international dinners” held sporadically throughout the year, where we … Continue reading First International Dinner
the lost scot 