Carolina Calderon

Whiplash

I'm very grateful to have so many friends, family, and dear people across the US, and the world. This is the first, of hopefully many, installments serving as an update/forum to communicate with all of you.

To summarize these past four weeks: whiplash.

Germany

In October, I traveled to Berlin with my best friend from college, spontaneously booked when I found $400 round-trip flights. I stayed behind an extra week to work remotely/explore East Germany. In Berlin, we immersed ourselves in history — shout-out to Rick Steve's free walking tour audio guide — visiting sites that highlighted the city's past while enjoying plenty of good food (doner, wursts, strudels, etc.) and drink (mostly Berliner Weisse, but the occasional cider too). The weather remained cloudy and gray the entire time we were there, but it contrasted nicely with the fall colors and colorful graffiti on residential buildings.

I love listening to music in the language/country I'm traveling to — my preference on this trip was Scorpions, and Die Artze. For the following week, after my friend left, I traveled to Leipzig and Dresden. I credit the 10 years I spent learning classical music, but I love traveling to historical music sites, so it shouldn't come as a surprise that I had to go to Leipzig to see Bach, Mendelssohn, Grieg, and the Schumanns. The true highlight, however, was the church in Leipzig where Leibniz (yes, that calculus guy) was baptized.

I returned to Berlin for my last two days. While the Pergamon Museum (famous for the Pergamon Altar, and Ishtar Gate, among others) is unfortunately still closed, I wandered the other museums in Berlin's Museum Island, and I was thrilled to recognize Liszt at the Piano (Josef Danhauser, 1840), a work I studied in my college music history class. I also stopped by an East German-themed restaurant, Volkskammer, which felt remarkably authentic to everything I had learned about the era. I ordered a goulash that turned out to be heavy on ketchup and hot dogs, but hey, it's East Germany—this must have been a staple.

Throughout this trip, I felt I struck a good balance between remote work and vacation. I planned the trip around a region where I could comfortably explore from 9 AM to 3 PM during the weekdays. While I would have liked to add Bavaria and Munich to my itinerary, I feel they deserve a trip of their own to truly explore. I’m not in a rush to return to Berlin, but I wouldn’t mind finding myself there again someday.

Career Update

In early November, on the 2 year annivesary of when I got laid off from Twitter, I got laid off. Again.

What made things different this time was greater personal & financial stability, reaffirming that I can adapt and I was proactive in preparing myself. I had been passed up for a promotion, so, in part fueled by frustration, I seriously started job hunting in late September. I'm grateful that I got an offer from Hashicorp, a company specializing in infrastructure automation, the day after the layoff.

Japan

But anyway, this whiplash of this unexpected career transition changed my plans drastically for November. I intended to spend 9 days in Japan for 9-10 days, and return to Idaho for Thanksgiving. Now, with no immediate obligations until December, I decided to extend my trip. Posing this to my family as a "once-in-a-lifetime trip", I compromised to spend more time in Idaho in December and booked a new return flight from Seoul.

Japan had been on my mind for months, especially the challenge of solo travel in such a unique culture where I couldn't depend on knowing the language. It turns out New York City prepared me well — navigating the bullet trains and Tokyo’s subways felt almost familiar. Still, I got lost quite frequently trying to exit the Shinjuku station.

Over 10 days, I explored Kyoto, Osaka, Nara, Hakone, and Tokyo. I saw countless temples, ate so much sushi, and walked an average of 25-30,000 steps & 20 flights of stairs a day. Despite only getting 4-5 hours of sleep a night (jet lag), I felt energized and excited to explore everything in Japan I could.

Some favorite moments:

To my family & friends in NYC, I'm bringing back 10+ different flavors of KitKats from Japan (no joke, apparently each prefecture has its own special flavor), and I'm excited to share them all with you.

What's Next

I’m currently working on getting this site up and running, so updates on my upcoming stops in Thailand and South Korea will likely have to wait until I’m back in NYC. Also, I'm trying to find a way to share & format pictures here, so expect a "photo dump" by the end of the year.

This layoff, while challenging, reminded me of the importance of staying connected with the people I care about. I’m hoping this blog can serve as a way to share stories and keep in touch without relying on traditional social media.

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Carolina