Perrine Bourgeois Coursen

Edward works in tech downtown Austin. Every evening, he drives his Cybertruck back to his home in Westlake. Edward loves clicking buttons for a living. It brings him much money and status. Edward does not like sitting in traffic every night. His designer guard dog, Menace, is waiting for him at home. Plus, here is a girl who is young and properly impressed by his money and status, whom he would like to take on a date tonight. His Cybertruck is crawling along MoPac, and the empty space in his...

Valetta Malta is the smallest country in the European Union. Nestled between Sicily and Tunisia, the country has a fascinating history. The capital, Valetta, was named after Jean Parisot de Valette, who successfully defended the island against Ottoman attack in 1565. The baroque architecture features distinctive wooden balconies jutting out from the facade, which to me are the soul of the city. Valetta is an open-air museum with 28 churches within its 0.2 square miles. The islands of Malta...

Split Split is forever in my heart. The old town used to be the palace of a Roman emperor, which is unique in the world. I was sleeping within the stones that had hosted Emperor Diocletian! The Greeks created the city in the 3rd century BCE. Diocletian was the only Roman Emperor to retire and chose Split to build his palace. Split was Ottoman and Venetian as well before becoming the Croatian city we know today. Walking down the streets of Split, I was breathing in history. This town is the...