My partner and I wound up in Lille this week – a spontaneous trip to visit friends from France and Moldova!
What you might appreciate most after months of volunteering, or working, or studying elsewhere, are the connections you take away with you.
Tag: tourism
Ambling in Amiens, The “Venice” of France
Amiens is friend to no weatherman: her cloud breaks and spots of drizzle make for predictions no more successful than your telephone soothsayer’s.
When visiting Limoges in late February, my friend told me about his mother’s gaffe when she moved there from Amiens. She would go everywhere with an umbrella wedged under her arm. Her first friends in the neighborhood gently teased: why, they asked, would she lug that thing with her on sunny days? It was a holdover habit from her youth, she admitted. One day in Amiens might have announced with a crisp morning sun, transitioned quickly to drizzle, breathed through a streak in the clouds and, finally, simpered into foggy evening.
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To Belarus, to Minsk: Diamond City, Cultural Capital
For those looking for a break from the burbling streets of Paris or the boggled-eyed sightseers of Barcelona – Minsk is not a tourist city!
Belarus is one of those places that Western countries have reputed to be closed, repressed (the US stamped it an “outpost of tyranny” in 2005), and inaccessible for its travel restrictions.
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The New Face of Comrat
Every summer, former EVS volunteers make their way back to visit Comrat and the Miras Moldova gang.
This summer, returned volunteer Cosma Billiotel-Roinel came determined to continue his mission! We collaborated on a video to celebrate volunteers and Miras staff, past and present – and to show off the New Face of Comrat.
Moldova Has Caves!
Moldova is a curious trove for the explorers. When you ride round the country, observing through curtained маршрутка (minibus) windows, you might forget your coordinates.
Horsing Around Moldova
He picked us up directly from the bus station driving a white Lada matchbox that he referred to as his “Russian Jeep.” He hesitated, first, in front of the автостанция entrance, then hummed up, presumably when he noticed the lime green hiker’s pack. He offered a serious smile when we got in the car, then stoicism. I joked about the little red-and-black flag above the air conditioning unit: “Batman?” No, he replied; the bat silhouette was the symbol of his army unit.
Sundry Travels 