Beginning my fourth year in undergrad, I'm majoring in rugby and beer, while enjoying political science and Japanese in my free time. I'll eat just about anything that won't eat me first, including fish with heads, but I won't touch boxed macaroni and cheese with a ten-foot pole. Blech.
Laura Hancock's Full profile
Hometown
Lexington, Kentucky, USA
Location now
Northampton, Massachusetts, USA
Work published
Not applicable yet, sadly.
Travel philosophy
Go. Just, go.
Craziest place
It's a tie. Tokyo's Shinjuku station during rush hour is about as insane as it gets crowd-wise; all the hype about people being stuffed into trains by overzealous conductors is true. And as soon as one train (nearly touching the tracks with the weight of its human cargo) lumbers away, a new one pulls up and unleashes what could only be called a flood of humanity, all rushing for the neon bosom of Kabuki-cho. New York City's Central Station is Green Acres in comparison.
The other place would have to be my grandmother's house when it's full of all my drunk relatives playing Trivial Pursuit. Tokyo may have sheer numbers, but they don't all know me.
Bizarre experience
Probably the day when I was tearing the head off of my shrimp and sucking out whatever was in it and thinking how very normal it was.
I mean, I grew up in the American Midwest. People just don't suck out the inside of fish heads, it just isn't done. But then again, my Japanese host family was revolted when I told them that we drank milk with meals at home in America.
Culture is all what you're used to, you know?
Advice
No matter where you go, learn how to say the words "beautiful" and "delicious" in the local language. Nothing will make you happier than being able to express how good the food is (and it will be good) or how beautiful the surroundings are (and they will be beautiful) and it will make the people around you happy, too.
Traveled before
USA: Kentucky, Tennessee, Iowa, Indiana, Michigan, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Washington D.C., Virginia, North Carolina, New Jersey, Illinois, South Carolina, Florida, Missouri, California, Hawaii. And Ohio, but definitely not by choice, that one.
Internationally: Canada, Japan, Korea, Thailand
Going next
Speaking as a senior in college, this is a very frightening question that would earn a freshman the Ice Glare. But... hopefully somewhere interesting.
Disneyland?
