One of the great discoveries in retirement is that you don't have to be satisfied with just one go-round of spring. When you retire to northern Michigan, you pretty much have to enjoy the winter, and I do. I love the first snowfalls. I love a white Christmas, white January, and white February, but when March blows in, we blow out of state searching for spring. It's there some place, we know, but it seems a long way from Michigan where leftover piles of snow have turned black, and even sunny days are still too brisk to enjoy.

Does that travel bug of yours have you flying the friendly skies in search of new horizons? Well not only does that bug keep us itching for new adventures, but many disturbing studies also show that our travel bugs are eating away at our “good” ozone – that is: the ozone in the stratosphere, which shields us from harmful UV rays. The bad news doesn’t end there, either. While our air travel strips away that lower layer, we are actually CREATING harmful ozone in the upper troposphere, generating climate-changing greenhouse gases. But what are we to do?

“I’m a Princess,” she said, opening her palms and turning her face to the sky. Soft pink petals of cherry blossoms sprinkled down magically around her. I’d never seen Kamioke-san look so light; so full of life. I’d been visiting her off and on as a volunteer for several months, through Hands and Hearts, an organization created to offer companionship to the elderly who suffered loss in some way during the ’95 Kobe earthquake.

NAFSA  is the premier organization for all facets of international education, from study abroad to immigration, from specific interest groups to institutional interest groups. NAFSA  is the lynchpin that holds the international education community together, and this conference - and the regional ones - are not to be missed. I have been to several NAFSA  conferences (and helped at many!) and they are just brimming with international goodwill and excitement.

One of my favorite cities in Germany is Freiburg. Nestled at the foot of the Black Forest (and just north of Basel, Switzerland), there is a plethora of things to do and see here.