Teresa Aviles

07 Feb 2008

Mind races without any reason

First day of school, no problem. I have done that well over 15 times in my life. What does one bring to school? Notebook, check. Pen, check. Backpack, check. Colored pencils, check. Textbooks, oh, I guess I forgot all about […]

13 Dec 2007

Study Abroad: Europe the experience of a lifetime

Flipping through the worn pages of a four month Euro-trip journal, some with metro tickets glued memorably and some stained with peach from a mishap in the satchel from the beginning of the semester, the memories make my mind race […]

06 Dec 2007

Demonstration reveals foreign patriotism

Belgian waffles and a pit stop before Amsterdam was all Brussels was supposed to be. A couple of English blokes in Cologne, Germany informed me of a nation wide event that the people of Belgium were calling a “demonstration.” The […]

29 Nov 2007

Reunion offers chance to reflect

“But for now we are young, let us lay in the sun and count every beautiful thing that we see. Love to be in the arms of all that I’m keeping here with me.” Neutral Milk Hotel said it right […]

15 Nov 2007

Backpacking poses challenges for college student

My knickers are hanging from the window. They are hanging from the bedpost. They are dangling from the hooks pushed into the crumbling walls. No it wasn’t strip night in the hostel room, it was laundry day. College students are […]

08 Nov 2007

Spain proves unwelcoming

Ah, Spain. Where the atmosphere is relaxed, the women have mullets and siestas are a mandatory routine for all citizens. Flying into Bilbao, Spain, from my sweet London home, my jaw dropped at the sight of the towering mountains and […]

01 Nov 2007

Friendships survive across distance, time

Hugs are shared. Cheek kissing, luggage carrying, email exchanging—goodbyes don’t have to be this dramatic. A good friend visited me in London for the weekend. After being separated by post-high school university life for three years, we reunited in Europe. […]

25 Oct 2007

Television defines U.S.

The clerk asked “Where are you from?”  “The States,” I replied sheepishly. “Ah-maaay-reeka! The Superpower.” That brief and instant statement came at me forcefully. Coming from the country that calls itself “Number One,” I never realized exactly how much the […]

18 Oct 2007

Public surveillance exposes personal privacy as less than necessary

When you live the hostel life, you sacrifice nearly 95 percent of your privacy to people whom you do not know and probably should not trust. Even sleep is disturbed by the top bunker calling it a late night. The […]

11 Oct 2007

Language creates, dissolves differences

In high school Spanish class we were taught how to conjugate verbs. Because we live in America and will generally be confronted with Mexicans rather than Spaniards, we dismissed the vosotros part from our vocabulary, rendering it useless. Although I […]