About Me
Hi! I am Nick
Hej! Thank you for visiting my blog about travel, food, culture, and my thoughts on leading a Happy life.
Emic, Etic, Epic
First, let me explain the title of my blog and share some things about me. My name is Nick and I was born in 1985. The same year the Schengen agreement was signed for much easier travel between member countries in Europe.
Perhaps this is why I have developed a great passion for travel & exploring different cultures. I was so interested in getting to know more about cultures different from my own that I decided to study Cultural anthropology.
Emic & Etic Points of View
I have borrowed the first two terms of my blog, emic & etic, from Anthropology. Emic refers to an internal perspective or approach to understanding a particular culture or group from their perspective. It is distinct from an external or outsider perspective, known as etic.
In this blog, it is my aim to not only inspire great travel destinations & wonderful food but also to give some of my views on the local culture. I will do so, from both an emic (the view of the locals of their own culture) and etic (my view of the local culture) perspective.
Epic, Cultural Stories, Legendary
In literature, an epic is a long narrative poem that tells the story of a hero or heroes and their heroic deeds. These stories often involve gods or supernatural elements, and it deals with myths and legends of a particular culture.
The word epic can also be used to describe something that is grand, impressive, and legendary. In my blog epic refers to both elements of the term.
To me, life is an epic, a story with you as the hero. In my life story I try to include elements of amazing travels and getting to know many different cultures. This a story I would love to share with whoever is interested. Let’s make it Epic!
Food as a Travel Guide
However much I love traveling, I am well aware I cannot travel anywhere. This means I need a way to select my travel destinations. My next travel destination is frequently determined by the cuisine I desire to try from its place of origin. Often I found that if I like a certain cuisine in a restaurant in my hometown, I love it when I try it in my country of origin.
Japan
Because I love exploring new cultures, I also love staying in one location longer than the average traveler. This time I wanted to find a new starting point for my travels. I had the opportunity to move to Japan and so I did.
This means most of my blogs will be about different locations in Japan.
Of course, I still like exploring different countries and cultures and I will go out of Japan at least once or twice a year. Most likely though these will also be Asian countries, just to give you a heads up.
My thoughts on Leading a Happy Life
From time to time I will share my thoughts on leading a happy life. Some of these thoughts of course have been inspired by other people and some are my own.
Having a certain mindset has made a huge impact on my life. This too I would like to share with those who are interested. This way I hope to inspire others as others have inspired me.
These thoughts will sometimes be woven into my travel blog posts and sometimes I will write a separate post for them in their own category.
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