Los Angeles freelance science writer and editor
I had not thought a lot about the consequences of living in a small city, in a small country with a small population before I moved to Bergen. None of that entered my mind. What kept me up at night was the possibility of getting trapped there in winter. That the airport would be closed... Continue Reading →
Planning a trip isn’t the kind of activity that should break your brain. To Europe anyway. I’ve traveled there so many times, and even lived in Europe – seven years. And yet, I mull over the options until it’s like a last minute cramming session. When I’m planning to travel to Europe, I feel the... Continue Reading →
“Are you carrying a lot of money?” the customs officer asked at the airport in Bari, Italy. “Ummm, no,” I said, not sure how to answer that question out loud in front of strangers as I was about to board a local train, with luggage, to a city I didn’t know. I was on the... Continue Reading →
You never know when one of those odd skills you have acquired is going to help you make a connection with someone. Like speaking Norwegian. I tried to learn the language, to speak with the natives, but I hardly needed to use it even in Norway. On a flight to Munich from Los Angeles? I... Continue Reading →
I didn’t go to Norway to learn Norwegian, but almost everything good that happened to me in Norway was somehow connected to Norwegian class. A German colleague once said, “Where else do you meet people in this country but in Norwegian class?” I think my life is still driven by what happened to me in... Continue Reading →
The day you decide to leave your adopted country as an expat is as memorable as the day you arrived. My plan for a research sabbatical at a university in Norway was to stay as long as money allowed me. The not-a-plan plan. I left the USA for Norway with no concrete ending date and... Continue Reading →
The standard sterile classroom environment-fluorescent lights, pale yellow paint on cinder block walls, a blackboard-emphasized the drudgery ahead for learning a language. It was also January, the darkest part of the year, the rainiest part of the year, when I began Norwegian class in Folkeuniversitetet in the Bergen city center on the southwest coast of... Continue Reading →
The revelation after my six years of study and lab work to complete a PhD in biology is that I wasn’t on an automatic path to career fulfillment, or happiness. And I had an envious PhD experience. My principal investigator had a clear vision. He was so sure about his goals that our only problem... Continue Reading →
I’m about to launch a second book. On my own. In just a few days. It’s a little more than a collection of some of my travel essays and stories I’ve been posting on my blog. A few stories are "new". Some I cover without enough detail, maybe because there’s too much there to write... Continue Reading →
I enter a story in the Easy Reader contest for writing and photography each year. They usually print my stories about my adventures as honorable mention. This year I wasn't sure they would print it, as it's more of a personal essay (a shorter version of a post from a few months ago). But they... Continue Reading →
Janice Nigro 