In 2014, I traveled across Africa for five months, from late January to early June. I did all of the bucket-list activities, but I was also researching social enterprises and expanding what Grassroots Volunteering could offer, at a time when colonialist attitudes in travel and aid were really being challenged. I started in South Africa, …
With a last name like O’Donnell, my Irish heritage was a vibrant thread woven into the fabric of my childhood. My parents and grandparents ensured that, long before my first trip to Ireland, I dined on a steady diet of the greatest Irish authors of all time. By the time I reached adulthood, I had …
I’ve called Spain home since 2018, with six years in Barcelona and now from my home on Spain’s Costa del Sol. I’ve also traveled extensively, training north to south, and even overland on 500 km of the Camino de Santiago, crossing the Pyrenees from France into Spain on foot. I love this country, and it’s …
As part of my 52 books challenge, I aimed to read a book a week throughout the year. While I ultimately failed (I was about 10 books shy of my goal), I did read interesting stories I might never have otherwise discovered. When I visited a friend in Australia last fall, I perused her bookshelf …
This has been on my Kindle for at least a year and I have no idea why I waited to read it. When I started my 52 Books Project I made sure The Geography of Bliss by Eric Weiner was among the first I read. It’s a fantastic book. Even more, I read it simultaneously with Man’s Search for Meaning, by …
Reading is one of the first things to fall by the wayside when life gets busy, so in 2016 I set a goal for myself to read 52 books every year. My kindle is packed with books from over the years. Everything from business books I’ve wanted to read, to travel books, to gifts from …
I picked up I Am Malala on a whim; I was strolling through Target for a toddler birthday gift and saw it on the shelf. I had seen her speech to the United Nations Assembly, and I found her message compelling. I also own that I didn’t know a lot about Pakistan, and I found that …
North Korea is all over the news lately. Over the holidays, the controversy over the film The Interview put the country back in the spotlight (is it ever far?) and highlighted for the world just how far the North Korean government will go to control information. A week after I watched the film, a close friend recommended …