Hej hej!
I’m Aaron – a native of Texas and a citizen of the world. My two favorite hobbies are traveling and learning languages. Ever since I was young, my family would go on road trips to national parks and cities throughout the United States. I was always fascinated by the places we went and obsessed over the maps. When I entered high school, I began studying French, which sparked my interest in languages, and in the world outside the United States.
While studying engineering at the University of Texas, I spent a semester on exchange at a university in Stockholm, Sweden. There, I had the opportunity to study Swedish and travel extensively throughout Europe. I fell in love with Sweden and the Swedish language, and especially with kanelbullar – Swedish cinnamon buns! Since returning from that semester, I have continued to develop my Swedish language skills, and look forward to any opportunity to return to Scandinavia. And, I’ve learned how to make some pretty delicious kanelbullar!
During my semester abroad, I also maintained a blog called Aarons Termin i Sverige (Aaron’s Semester in Sweden). However, that blog lasted only as long as the semester. Before departing on my most recent trip, I decided to start a new blog to share my continued travels and discoveries. The name of this new blog, Traversing Territories, is inspired by the song “Territories” by Rush. The lyrics to the song warn about the consequences of nationalism in an international world, and represent one of the reasons why traveling is so important to me. Give it a listen! And, if you like what you see here, follow my blog!
Recent Travels
On February 2, 2018, my 26th birthday, I boarded a plane to Singapore to start my most recent adventure – a backpacking trip through Southeast Asia, India, and Europe. Despite the fact that I eat Indian and Asian food all the time at home, I had only ever traveled in North America and Europe, so it was about time that I head over to Asia. Over the course of six months, I explored ten countries: Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, India, Sweden, Italy, and France.
All of the places I visited were interesting and unique, and you can read about them all on this blog. However, a few experiences stand out as my favorites:
- Learning about the rich cultures of the south Indian states of Tamil Nadu and Kerala
- Trekking in the rice terraces of Sapa and cruising the karst archipelago of Ha Long Bay in northern Vietnam
- Ziplining in the jungle of northern Laos while supporting an important conservation effort
- Practicing my Swedish while celebrating Midsummer in rural Sweden
- Studying French intensively at the Institut Linguistique Adenet in southern France
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Traversing Territories 
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