I was 23 when I graduated from college and launched myself into adulthood. At 23, I knew how to do a few cool things. For example: How to write a 25-page research paper on one line of Biblical text, How to carry on a basic conversation on Hebrew or German, and How to pack an
Life
Building Skills for Fun and Work: Or, How Skillshare Gave Me New Hobbies and a Fellowship
Ken and I have a favorite YouTuber: Mike Boyd. He regularly posts videos on how he learned cool new tricks and skills, like breaking a glass with his voice, uncorking champagne with a sword, and splitting an apple with his hands. Every time Mike posts a new video, Ken and I set YouTube up on
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Life
Brr! Books that Kept Me Warm this Winter: My Winter Reading Wrap-Up
Winter here in the Netherlands is far from my favorite season. After Christmas and New Year’s, I’m ready for flowers and sunshine, but there’s still January and February to wade through. So instead of the long walks and beach trips I’m missing, I’ve been curling up with a good book… or 20. As I’ve mentioned,
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Life
Lovely Leiden: A Field Guide to the City of Discovery
So you’re in Amsterdam for a few days, but you’re looking for something to do outside of the city. You’ve seen the Van Gogh museum and taken a boat tour, and now you’re ready for some real Dutch life, like the locals do. Or maybe you just want something a little quieter, and it turns out that
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New Adult
Long Distance Friendships: How to Stay Close When You’re Far Apart
My friendships are everything to me. When I got engaged a few weeks ago, I was almost as excited to ask my bridesmaids to be in the wedding as I was to find an engagement ring (sorry, Ken). I’m lucky to have a lot of close friends, and I put a lot of effort into helping those
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Life
Read More: How to Go From 1 to 100 Books Per Year
Like everyone else, I’d like to read more. I used to be a voracious reader. I’d often finish entire books in a single sitting, much like I later learned to devour boxes of Triscuits in a single afternoon. In elementary school, I fought my parents to read at the dinner table (and always lost), and
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New Adult
Unpacking the Last Box: On First Homes and Leveling Up
There’s a scene in Pixar’s The Incredibles where the mom of the superhero family, Helen, talks about unpacking the last box. Her family had moved a few years ago, if I remember right, but it had taken her years to get to that last box of stuff. Now that she had, they were finally all moved in. When