Introduction

Hi everyone! My name is Isabel. I'm a 19 year old college student taking a gap year from Yale University. I created this blog to document my travels around the world. The name "196" refers to how many countries are in the world as of March 3, 2014. I'll first play catch up and try to document where I've already been. As a Foreign Service brat I've travelled a lot with my two parents, twin sister Helen, and little sister Phoebe. Now time for some cliches: traveling has always been and will always be my premier way of learning. I really do believe that immersing yourself in a foreign culture trumps any amount of time spent in the classroom. And let's not forget that it's incredibly fun. Here we go:

My family and grandparents in St. Petersburg, Russia. From left to right: my mom, Alice, my little sister Phoebe, my dad, Kurt, me, my grandma, Oma, my twin sister Helen, and my grandpa, Opa