This is a blog that I've created to more easily keep in touch with my friends' blogs.  I don't have too much to write about, but I do hope to write a little bit here from time to time when I've hit a block while working on my MA thesis (which happens frequently). There probably won't be too many people who care much about this, but that's fine. It's purely for my own amusement.
A little bit about who I am, and why this is a "non-travel travel guide":

• First, I am currently a graduate student in West Virginia. I'm originally from Richmond, VA, and I still consider that my hometown, even though I've lived in Morgantown, WV more or less full time since the fall of 2004. I earned my BA at WVU in History and Religious Studies, and I am currently earning an MA in History. 
• I'm also earning an MA in International Relations, but not from WVU. This degree comes from Collegium Civitas in Warsaw, Poland. I'm part of a Trans-Atlantic program funded by the U.S. Dept. of Education and the European Education Commission. 
• Because of this program, I lived abroad for about a year. The majority of my time was spent in Warsaw, but I also spent several months living in Tartu, Estonia. I also had the chance to travel around Europe, though not nearly as much as I would have liked to. There will probably be a lot of stories on this blog from my travels. 
• I use the term "non-travel travel guide" because, as you can see, I'm not currently traveling. I had intended to keep a blog while abroad, like many of my less lazy traveling buddies, but I didn't. There's no excuse for that. I just didn't do it. That said, I have a lot of blogs to keep up with, so this seems like a good way to do it, while also taking the time to add thoughts from some of my own travels. I think it might turn out that writing of my trips in retrospect will provide some new perspectives for me. Or it will make me look like a jackass. One or the other. 
• Finally, I love traveling. Everyone wants to be a nomad at some point in their lives, but very few of us get to really experience it. Spending a healthy bit of my mid-twenties bouncing around in budget rate planes, sleeping with one eye open on overnight trains, and staring at monochromatic landscapes in the winter - time Baltics on a bus for eighteen hours was not exactly fun, but it was always an adventure. I want to do it all over again, especially since I get cabin fever very easily. You give me a plane ticket, and I'm out. That said, and despite my current state of poverty, I'm always looking out for my next opportunity to get away. I have at least one possible trip in the works, and if it works out I'm sure I'll bring it up again. 

So that's that. That took more words than I thought, but it's a pretty fair reflection of myself. If you think this could be fun, check back. I might add something new. Also, check out my friends' blogs. I'll link them. They're good people.