Traveling Insights: An Inside Perspective

My source of hope. Planting.  You know how some days you feel like you're flying high as the sky and others really put you down in the dumps? I'm not really sure what's happening right now, but I get the sense that people are waking up as mother nature speaks her truth. She's done playing games. And we're watching. We're working to survive the storm. Recently, as I've spoken with friends and family about the woes of tumultuous weather and the toll it's taking on our farmers out here in West Central Minnesota, for the first time I've noticed that about 90% of people respond in the same way: "it's not weird, Emily, it's climate change." For the first time in my life do I feel like I am no longer the minority in not only believing - but knowing - this to be true. I've known about climate change since I was just a little kid. We started talking about it when I was in the 4th grade. Yet I always felt like this little bubble in my lit...

Early on in my trip to Costa Rica, Alonso had me listen to my tarot card reading. I can't remember if it was for December or January, but something that stood out was that I would be making a big trip and that I had the intention of looking for love. Love is definitely a theme of my trip. It showed up in so many ways: Running around from store to store to buy Christmas gifts; having sopa Azteca ordered for delivery so I could have a hot, fresh meal for lunch; being shown how to properly apply makeup; a peck on the cheek; a fierce hug; an unexpected gift...Love has so many manifestations. When we think about love, a lot of time we're trapped into the image of what can exist between two people. For those that are bit more imaginative, between people and animals, plants, and the land...but what about love for oneself? By far, the greatest gift that Alonso has given me to date is demonstrating what it looks like to love oneself and allowing me the space, permission, and encourageme...

  One of the most common questions that I've gotten since traveling internationally during the pandemic are 'What is the pandemic like over there in Costa Rica?' and 'Are they wearing masks?'  Sometimes I get frustrated because it sounds like people ask it in a way that assumes that the locals aren't, and other times I just realize how busy and stressed people are and that the last thing they would be doing is keeping tabs on safety precautions in other countries. I'm lucky to have an international family, with my sister in Australia, so I'm constantly apprised of how things are being handled outside of the U.S. My international friends have also kept me in the loop, which has overall contributed to this feeling of 'shared fate'. No one is going to escape from the pandemic, no matter what part of the world you're in. We're all dealing with the impacts. Period. The difference is in how countries have responded to COVID-19, and this is wher...

  La manera en que he sentido durante la semana pasada es lo más bajo que he sentido en mucho tiempo. Hace unas semanas, cualquier persona que me vio probablemente vio el resplandor que vino de vivir en Costa Rica. De vivir lo más lleno todos los días después de cerrar mi computadora para tener una noche y un fin de semana lleno de aventuras. Ayer tuve dificultad en no comer un cuenco entero de masa para galletas. ¿Qué cambió? Quizás debo retroceder. Retrocedimos a marzo de 2020. Es el semestre de primavera, y es tan frió como nunca. Minnesota se cambia así. Pero como soy de Kansas, todavía me cuesta acostumbrarme. Es mi último semestre en la maestría. Todos los estudiantes del segundo año están cansados. Nuestros pies se cansan para llegar a clase, la presión de tener un puesto ya organizado...planes. Estoy en el proceso de una solicitud extensiva para un becario que creo que es la oportunidad perfecta para pos-maestría. Había salido con alguien que tenía la idea de tomar un viaje...

The way I've been feeling during the past week is the lowest I've felt in quite some time. A few weeks ago anyone who saw me probably witnessed the glow that came from living in Costa Rica. Of living to the fullest every day after closing my laptop to have an evening and weekend of adventures. Yesterday I had a hard time not eating an entire bowl of cookie dough. What changed? Maybe I should back up. Let's rewind to March of 2020. It's spring semester, and it's cold as fuck. Minnesota gets that way. But as a Kansan, I'm still getting used to it. It's my last semester in grad school. All of us second years are feeling it. The drag of our feet to go to class, the pressure to have a job lined up...plans. I'm in the middle of a rather extensive grant application for a fellowship which I think is the perfect post-masters opportunity. I had been dating someone who threw around the idea of taking a trip to Miami for spring break. It was the wildest thing I coul...

  Los finales para mí con frecuencia son dolorosos. Soy terrible con los despedidos. Creo que en parte eso viene de la realización de que cualquier cosa asombrosa que sucede - ese momento, el verano, la aventura de medianoche - nunca va a suceder otra vez.  Eso es como me sentí dejando a Lida Farm esta última fin de semana pasado. Aunque sé que mis relaciones siempre permanecerán intactas, este capítulo de mi crecimiento y evolución está terminado. Una parte de mi corazón ahora reside en este rancho, en la misma manera que dejé una parte con John y Karen en  Pendleton's Country Market  cuando me mudé a Minnesota. Es inevitable cuando se hace tan íntimamente conectado con el lugar - y la gente. Cultivar me conecta a la tierra en una manera que no se puede ignorar. Las plantas, las malas hierbas, los principios de las plantas...ellos necesitan el amor y el cariño, y te dicen cuando es atrasado. Del otro lado, tanto que los fines me resultan difíciles, me encuentro bus...

Endings for me are often painful. I suck at goodbyes. I think in part this comes from the realization that whatever the amazing thing that happened - that moment, the summer, the midnight adventure - will never happen again. This is how I felt leaving Lida Farm this past weekend. While I know that my relationships will always stay intact, that chapter of my growth and evolution is over. A part of my heart now permanently resides at that farm, in the same way I left some of it with John and Karen at Pendleton's Country Market when I moved to Minnesota. It's inevitable when you become so intimately connected with the place - and the people. Farming grounds you in a way that can't be ignored. The plants, the weeds, the plant starts...they need tender love and care, and they'll tell you outright when it's overdue. On the other hand, as much as endings are challenging for me, I find myself often seeking a change of scenery. There's something about being in a new pl...