jamie y. watkins

Category: Travel

  • Where I’m At Home in the World

    Where I’m At Home in the World

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    jywatkins
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    If you haven’t heard about Tsh Oxenreider’s new book At Home in the World, it’s time to catch up. Tsh writes about her around the world trip with her husband and three kids, each chapter describing a new place, a new culture, a new potential place to feel at home, a new place that IS home to…

  • Of Mists and Stones

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    jywatkins
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    A couple years ago, Chad and I visited Brittany, France. I’m over at You Are Here today, writing about the experience we had there. I hope you’ll join me there.  We arrive early in the morning, while the mist from the sea is still floating in among the long rows of stones. We can barely…

  • En Silence

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    jywatkins
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    “But after years of practice she now prays as naturally as she breathes. Silently or aloud. From awakening to bedtime. In the cloister and in the hospital. Prayer slakes her thirst for the absolute. Prayer makes her heart rejoice.” – exhibit description of a nun’s life in the Monastère des Augustins. There is no TV…

  • Sunshine Too Bright

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    jywatkins
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    The very first time I got on an airplane, I flew from Newark Liberty Airport to Nice Côte d’Azur Airport in the south of France. The runways are as close to the Mediterranean Sea as an airplane should get.  The skies are clear blue, the air is warm, and the water glistens. It is the Azure…

  • I’m Scared Too

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    jywatkins
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    In one week, Chad and I will be getting on a plane and flying across the ocean to Europe, to France. We are so excited to revisit the beautiful Alsatian city where we studied abroad, where we began our romance ten years ago. We love France. And we watched with grief and sorrow and fear…

  • The Big 5

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    jywatkins
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    My junior year of college, I studied abroad for one semester in Strasbourg, France. Studying abroad in France for five months was, for me, a big thing. I grew up in a family that didn’t really travel, didn’t fly, didn’t venture, so traveling alone for five months to a foreign country was a big step,…

  • Things I Learned Traveling in Norway

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    jywatkins
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    My husband is the best travel partner (okay, I already knew this one, but I’m reminded of it whenever we travel). He makes me laugh. He supports me when I’m stressed or confused. He lets me comfort him when he’s stressed or anxious. He spends hours with me in the Nobel Peace Center so we…

  • Norway: Finding Peace in “Forgive Us”

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    I chose just the right book to read on vacation to accompany our theme of peace and to align with our visit to the Nobel Peace Center. Reflecting back on my post about the laureates, the one thing I didn’t mention in my (ever-changing, evolving) definition of peace is forgiveness and lament. Forgive Us: Confessions…

  • Norway: Nobel Peace Prize Laureates

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    jywatkins
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    In addition to the #BeDemocracy exhibit at the Nobel Peace Center, Chad and I explored the exhibit about the Nobel Peace Prize laureates, 103 individuals and 22 organizations in total since 1901. The exhibit itself was an interesting experience. Each year was represented by what I can only describe as a tablet on a pole, in a field…

  • Norway: Peace, #BeDemocracy

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    I can’t remember if we decided to focus on peace before or after we found out the Nobel Peace Center is in Oslo, but whichever, it was one of the things I was looking forward to most on our trip Norway. The Novel Peace Prize is awarded in Oslo each year, unlike all the other…