Where in the World is Foreman?

As I have been driving along Albania’s highways, I can help but think of infrastructure. Infrastructure helped to make America successful.  Without the Transcontinental Railroad, businesses would never have expanded.  But because of this railroad connected both sides of the United States, it encouraged more people to move west. It encouraged more people to invest in different inventions like the telephone and telegraph (which gave us Alexander Graham’s company AT&T) so we could communicate across those long distances.  We could ship goods and people and thus ideas.  After World War II, the United States government dropped $25 BILLION on the Federal Aid Highway Act (or Interstate Highway act) to build an interstate highway system more than 40,000 miles long in 1956.  Now families could move to the suburbs in their Levitt-style ticky-tacky houses but businesses could also ship goods to more places outside the realm of the railroad.  More people could commute to work, which allow

As soon as we got off the plane a week ago and went through customs, there was a Vodafone store.  Immediately, I took Schofield to it and we both got SIM cards and a 30-day phone plan.  One of MANY Vodafone stores in Albania See when I was in China and Japan two summers ago, I was surprised to see that you could go into any corner store and get a SIM card.  Outside of the United States, all  phones are unlocked.  But in the United States, we have succumbed to cellular feudalism. You want to use AT&T, probably will have to get an iPhone. Want a Google Pixel phone, you must sign-up for Verizon. Want to afford your phone?  Then you sign a year or 2-year contract to get a good deal.  We sign these contracts and buy these devices and give our loyalty to these corporations.  But is it the best way? I specifically bought an unlocked phone before I left; I made sure that it was GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) frequency because GSM is the frequency used in Europe

Skandenbeg Square, Tirana, Albania Upon our first day in Albania (after the 24-hour trip here), we walked to Skandenbeg Square.  It was about a mile but I loved that every second storefront was a cafe where people huddled in their puffy winter coats (it is only 60 but again, I'm from Michigan; bring it ) to sit outside and talk with friends over coffee. We did get lost several times because the streets wind, diverge, and then connect.  Sometimes there are street signs, sometimes there is nothing.  There are no numbered street addresses (like 12677 Beadle Lake Road); instead they go by landmarks.  When we called from the airport to meet up with our landlords, they told us to go to the Select Hotel and Bar; they would meet us there and take us to the apartment.  Because there is no address.  It reminds me of Cuba - locals know where everything is and if you are new, they'll show you.  Just another example of the idea of community - you cannot survive life unless you depend

To be honest, I forgot that yesterday was Thanksgiving until I logged onto Facebook and saw all the posts.  So to keep with tradition, I will say why I am thankful: I am thankful that the DeMaso International Study Fellowship thought that our grant was worthy of funding; I am thankful that the family of which we are renting an apartment here in Tirana came to dinner with us; I am thankful that I got to not only try traditional Albanian food but also hear stories of life under Communist dictatorship and the civil war that followed; I am thankful that Albania has welcomed us with open arms - from the shopkeeper across the street to the waiters at every cafe/restaurant who help us order when we stumble on foreign cuisine to the guy who helps us get a parking space in Tirana (no seriously, the parking in this city is insane).   Everywhere we have gone, Albanians are pleasantly surprised that we have chosen their country to explore.  According to our host Eslo, most people only sto

I was fifteen when I first traveled abroad.  A friend invited me to go to Spain with her Spanish club from school. Since this was 1994, there was no internet to book tickets.  There was no Google maps to figure out where to go.  There was a phone attached to wall in my parent's house that I called to organize my flights.  There was a travel guide book from the library I used to learn about certain cities in Spain.  But that was it. Yesterday, I landed in Albania's capital city of Tirana.  Upon exiting customs, there was a Vodophone store, one of the major cell phone carriers in Albania.  There I could purchase a SIM card and a cell phone plan: 400 minutes, 5G of data for 30 days for the price of $10.   I used Google maps to find my way from the airport to the apartment I rented (from AirBnB, an online site that allows you to find private rooms/apartments to rent).  I could also call the people who were renting the apartment to us to let them know that we landed and w