About

I’ll start with the facts, which are arguably frivolous. I was born in northern California – in a town I still call “small” because it used to be. It is beautiful and quaint, even if a bit bloated.

I played basketball and studied hard, but the meat of my childhood was spent running around the block with the neighborhood kids: making fairy houses out of twigs, getting lost in the field, climbing trees, tying knots, stopping for a snack and then doing it all again.

Our backyards and the hill nearby constituted a universe that, by nature, we had to explore daily.

Then, one day I was suddenly a grownup and left for UCLA to earn an English degree. Every time I came home the field seemed smaller than I remembered it (and it was, thanks to new housing developments).

If I could bottle up that endless excitement at the smallest catalyst, I would and I’d binge drink from it daily, or sell it and become a millionaire. The last few years have taught me how golden that childlike curiosity is and that I’m happiest when I follow it. There are many ways to do so, but for me travelling has been the best fix.

I travelled often as a kid and then on my own during college. After graduation I moved to Cologne, Germany to once and for all learn my mother’s tongue. I found four roommates online and lived in a Harry Potter cupboard for almost a year, taking full-time language courses and working at a cafe.

Then, one evening, after a year of googling and daydreaming, I drank a half a bottle of wine and bought a one-way ticket to Nepal. I boarded the plane a month later, set on trekking and meditating, not knowing how long the trip would last but planning to meet up with some friends in South America.

Instead, I stayed in Nepal for three months – one of which was spent in a monastery – then continued on through southeast Asia and Myanmar, up through China to Mongolia, back down through China to Kyrgyzstan and down to India, where I spent almost four months. Sometimes I travelled alone and sometimes with friends I’d met along the way.

Early on, while trekking in Nepal, I asked a small group if I could join them for the remaining week. One of them was a Luxemburger and the reason why, four years on, I live in the Grand Duchy.

Every experience and conversation plants a seed. I guess our curiosity is the water and our life paths are largely determined by which ones we keep alive and which ones we let shrivel up.

I hope to always live a curiosity-driven life, though eventually a less nomadic one. For now, I’m exploring near and far, relishing in places, people and lifestyles from all corners of the earth.

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I’ve alway written along the way but recently decided to go digital (I know, I’m a bit behind the trend). You’re welcome to contact me with any questions or thoughts. I’d love to connect and hear about your own adventures.

I hope this far corner of the web tickles your curiosity and gets you excited about all there is to see.

Natalia

8 Comments

  • Reply
    Brie
    September 21, 2015 at 10:52 pm

    Lady, you are so amazing and inspirational-I didn’t have any clue what has been driving you all over the place and can’t wait to hear more of your story and insights! You’re such a talented writer and photographer-I wish so much I could have seen you in Luxembourg when I was in Europe a few months ago. I am SOO excited to follow along on your journey and live vicariously through you from a far! <3

    • Reply
      Natalia
      September 23, 2015 at 7:48 pm

      Thanks so much for your enthusiasm Brie! The blogging process has been a great excuse to reminisce on all the good times over the past few years. Good luck with your transition back into CA life 🙂 Hope to hear about your travels sometime too. I loyally stalked you on Facebook along the way.

  • Reply
    Jackie
    September 22, 2015 at 2:03 am

    Hi Natalia – And from someone who watched you grow up in that small No CA town and shared in some of your experiences, I encourage you to keep on going…for all of us! Jackie

    • Reply
      Natalia
      September 23, 2015 at 7:49 pm

      I’d love to! I’ll do my best.

  • Reply
    Kathy Myers
    October 27, 2015 at 12:31 am

    I love your New York piece; full of energy (yours and the cities.) I plan to take Taos online course with Summer Wood focusing on creating scenes to enrich fiction and non fiction. Your scene describing the cluster-f*** with the subway to JFK was a vivid example of that skill. Hello to Boris.

    • Reply
      Natalia
      November 4, 2015 at 3:03 pm

      Thanks Kathy. That sounds awesome! I was also recently looking at a course called “setting the scene.” You inspired me to try an online class and I’m loving it! We’re on week 5 and working on writing a sestina-story this week.

  • Reply
    Charles Stevens
    December 4, 2015 at 4:01 pm

    Natalia,
    Best of luck in this new venture of yours. You are such an independent thinker and always forgo the easy and obvious path with the goal of gaining firsthand direct experience and knowledge. It would be hard not to be impressed.
    Charlie

    • Reply
      Natalia
      December 4, 2015 at 4:32 pm

      Shucks, thanks Charlie 🙂 The same could be said for you by the way. I’m glad you enjoy the blog!

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