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Becoming Iceland’s “Crazy Unicycle Girl”

In July of 2017, I completed a 150-km backpacking trip with my mountain unicycle through gravel roads and over the Laugavegur and Fimmvörðuháls hiking trails. The hiking trails were by no means remote, so I often encountered surprise, disbelief, and even some scepticism. “But why do it on a unicycle!?” My exact responses varied, but the core idea was the same: I had planned the trip to challenge myself. To force myself to do something outside of my comfort zone. And I succeeded. Continue reading “Becoming Iceland’s “Crazy Unicycle Girl””

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A Wedding in Chile

Let it never, ever be said that the Chilean people lack warmth or hospitality. I learned this lesson well in March of 2016, when I flew to Chile for a two-month backpacking trip to celebrate the completion of my Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering. Less than 48 hours after landing in Santiago, I found myself in a situation I had never imagined in my wildest dreams – adopted by a Chilean family and invited to be a member of their wedding party in Valparaíso. Continue reading “A Wedding in Chile”

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Unplanned, Yet Successful: Mountain Unicycling in Sweden

There are two well-known groups of people in the world: those who plan everything to the finest detail, and those who refuse to plan anything at all. I normally fall somewhere between these two groups, but for a quick camping-and-unicycling trip to Sweden last fall, I hardly planned anything at all. To my surprise, the weekend trip ended up being quite a success. Continue reading “Unplanned, Yet Successful: Mountain Unicycling in Sweden”