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Category: America

Travel in America

Life in Los Angeles is Killing Me

Life in Los Angeles is Killing Me

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Los Angeles Sprawl
Los Angeles Sprawl

My alarm buzzed at 6:00AM, waking me out of my deep slumber. I fumbled in the darkness of the early morning to shut the alarm off and begin yet another 12+ hour day of work and commuting.

Originally, I didn’t want a car. I wanted to just get by with a bike, a ride form my boyfriend every now and then, and the trains—yet it was impossible. The distance from my boyfriend’s house to the train station was 20 minutes away by car, which is almost 90 minutes away by bike. Thus I was forced to lease a car, which costs me a ridiculous amount of money every month. An asset I honestly don’t want, but is impossible to live without in the United States. read more

The Best Place to Visit in America

The Best Place to Visit in America

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Zion in the Narrows

My favorite vacation in America is a place I have been trying to escape from my entire life, yet found a whole new appreciation for upon my return back to the United States.

It’s a state with not one, but five national parks.  It hosted the winter Olympics and is known to have “the best snow on Earth.”  It’s home to what some would call an over-zealous and somewhat strange religion.

Yes, my favorite U.S. vacation so far is not San Francisco, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, or even Boston: read more

Merry Christmas from Salt Lake City!

Merry Christmas from Salt Lake City!

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For the first time in five years, I’m spending Christmas at home.   I’m not flying in on a 13 hour flight from Tokyo or Shanghai.  I’m not spending Christmas in China and Lunar New Years in the states.  I’m actually home during the holidays, and it’s a wonderful feeling.

I flew into Salt Lake City on Christmas eve and was greeted to a white blanket of snow on Christmas morning.  It was the perfect Christmas present to my morning.

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Although I’m spending the holidays in the United States, the month of December hasn’t felt much like Christmas because of Los Angeles. read more

First Time to the Grand Canyon

First Time to the Grand Canyon

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Nope, never been here…

I’ll admit it.

Until recently, I had never been to the Grand Canyon.

This was my first time to the Grand Canyon.  Although I was only a mere state away in Utah, I never made the drive down south to visit America’s unofficial landmark. When I told people abroad that I had never journeyed to the Grand Canyon, I was met with pure shock and looks of horror.

My parents weren’t much for the outdoors (my mom grew up in Saigon, my dad in Boston), so the mere fact these two city slickers moved to outdoorsy Utah is still a very, very big mystery to me. I was one of the few families that didn’t go skiing, didn’t go camping, and didn’t go hiking. I was always cooped up at home reading a book, painting, or watching the news with my dad. read more