A retrospective: A little over a month ago, I was buying some vegetables from a seller at the Dappermarkt, an open market down the street from my apartment. After asking for a few ½ kilos of this and a ½ kilo of that in my clearly not-Dutch accent, he asked where I was from. I told him I was an American, which influenced the typical, “what brings you here” type of questions. Right before our transaction was finished, he asked “What’re your thoughts about the election?

After traveling from coast to coast of the Mediterranean Sea, including Barcelona, Santorini, the Almafi Caost, Rome and Nice, I decided I needed at least a long weekend to focus more on traditional French culture. I planned a trip to Annecy, France. I knew Annecy was a typical summer destination located on Lake Annecy, in the French Alps.

A great thing about going to school in Boulder, Colorado is being so close to Red Rocks Amphitheater, potentially the best outdoor concert venue in the world! All of my friends in the United States had the pleasure of seeing the Chainsmokers live at Red Rocks. Although I am so happy and excited to be in France, this is something I felt I missed out on.

The SLUMp vibes

The last couple of days have been very weird. A lot of mixed feels. Let me explain. Bear with me here, it going to be two different topics smashed into one semi-disorganized blog post. I apologize ahead of time:

A few weeks ago, I found myself standing at the edge of the Motoyasu River in Hiroshima, where I stood two summers ago on the eve of the 70th anniversary of the dropping of the A-bomb. I leaned against the railing, watching the sunset rays glimmer across the metal skeleton of the A-bomb dome, unable lift the heavy feeling trapped in my ribcage.

Time to do this again. I had written this first, and then the site had glitched out on me when I pressed publish, and it deleted this entire post. Sometimes, life just likes to make me suffer.

The day that the world has been anticipating for many weeks now has finally passed. After an unexpected turn of events, this election has brought many firsts. My first time voting in a presidential election. My first time voting in a presidential election abroad. The first president without a political background.