Baggage allowance is my first attempt at a podcast. The idea came from my friends who enjoy hearing stories of my travels and adventures. I am from the United States, but nearly half of my extended family lives abroad. Growing up, international travel was simply a fact of life. I do not wish to reveal an further details regarding my race, religion, occupation, etc. This isn't due to concerns about privacy, but rather I want listeners of this podcast to focus on the people, places, and ideas I encountered on my travels, and less about me. There were, and still are, moments when my race, religion, etc. affected how people treated me and how I interpreted events. I am conscious of that, though when recording my podcasts, I deliberately omit details that are revealing, while simultaneously trying to not mislead the listener. Only those who know me can tell if I managed to walk that line. For everyone else, I just hope you enjoy this podcast and that it gives you a glimpse to the ideas, beliefs, and lifestyles held by people around the world.
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People travel for many reasons: culture immersion, research, charity, or just for fun. For the season finale, I wish to share travel trips tailored to each of these types of travelers, so that you too can travel and experience the world. Thanks for tuning in. Safe travels!
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What does the Hansa, a confederation of trade guilds in the Middle Ages, teach us about the modern middle class? How did the modern state evolve to take on so many roles in a country’s economy? Find out in this week’s episode of Baggage Allowance.
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In Rwanda, people have invented ways to order things online without revealing their addresses. Encryption was a household name in Germany long before it arrived on American shores. Shopping bags in Japan don’t have any logos or ads. Your salary is public information in Sweden. In Finland, people are allowed to camp on private land. And nudity isn’t very taboo in many places. All this and more is explored on this week’s topic: privacy.
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Children in many countries learn how to use public transportation on their own from a very young age. Children in Sweden have many of their classes outside of school. Children in Japan clean their own schools. These are just some of the ways growing up can be a different experience depending on the country. This episode explores these differences.
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This episode is a little different from the others and touches on several design choices I observed while traveling. The first half of the episode describes the Oodi library in Finland, and the second half describes interior decor and space saving strategies in Japan and Swedish homes. I briefly discuss other designs along the way.
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Podcast: Play in new window | Download
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Culture is more than just food, clothing, or way of life. It is the collective equivalent of an ego, and as nations change, their cultural narrative changes with it. In this episode, I explore how technological changes in India and Japan affected their culture narrative, and how the shifting borders affected the culture narrative of Latvia and Germany.
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Podcast: Play in new window | Download
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Ideology play an important role in a nation’s politics, but too often conversations regarding ideology discuss the ideology themselves and not the people who embrace them. In this episode, I will explore the history and minds of people in Berlin (a city literally split in half due to cold war ideological rivalries) and Slovakia (a country that embraced capitalism with vigor after the cold war).
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Podcast: Play in new window | Download
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Continuing from the previous episode, I go into more detail about the conversation I had with my Japanese host at Mt. Fuji about the Meiji restoration. This experience forced me to re-imagine not only Japanese history, but the history of Europe as well.
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Podcast: Play in new window | Download
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Continuing from the previous episode, I go into more detail about the conversation I had with the Catholic deacon in Switzerland. I also describe my encounters with religions in India and Japan, and I discuss how my views of religion evolved as I encountered these experiences.
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Podcast: Play in new window | Download
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Welcome to the first episode of Baggage Allowance. This podcast is about my travels abroad, specifically focusing on events or experiences that led to personal growth. In this episode, I retell a reckless adventure I had in Switzerland as a teenager.
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