Tourism

Grove City College
Travel
Obsessed
Anna (Watson ’02) Carl has always had a passion
for traveling and exploring the world. Combined
with her love of writing as well as her determined
spirit, Carl has made a name for herself. In the
short time since graduation, Carl has traveled
throughout the world meeting various people,
cooking and writing about it all.
Carl has had an eclectic career thus far,
but attributes her numerous jobs to
shaping her as a writer and person
today. Carl encourages young writers to “do
what they love while having interesting life
experiences before moving into a structured
work setting.”
Carl’s love for travel did not begin only
after graduating from Grove City College.
As a student, Carl was fortunate to have
the ability and opportunity to travel often.
Reflecting on her time at the College and
passion for travel, Carl said that her Grove
City College experience was wonderful.
“I have always loved to travel; it has
always been a big passion of mine,” Carl said.
While at the College, Carl tried to travel
every summer. She had the opportunity to
backpack in Europe, go on two different
mission trips to Portugal and Belize, go
on an Inner City Outreach trip to Jamaica,
study abroad for a semester in Paris and
enjoy several other trips. Carl had her
first writing job at the College, writing
for The Collegian as a restaurant critic.
She describes her time spent in Paris as
sparking her interest in food and in turn
combining it with her previous passions of
traveling and writing.
“Ever since I studied abroad in Paris, it
started my ‘food awakening,’” Carl said.
After graduating, Carl started her
adventurous and wide-ranging career.
She moved back to her hometown of
Nashville to write restaurant reviews for the
entertainment newspaper, All the Rage, and
then moved back to France for a year-and-ahalf
where she took an opportunity to write
for Inner Metro, a food and metro magazine,
and began her combination of food and
travel writing.
“I have had a lot of jobs with cooking
and writing,” Carl said. “I love both and
have tried to incorporate both.”
In 2003, Carl saw her first article
published in a magazine (Inner Metro in
France). She was able to write about a story
she pitched, which was about a day in the life
of the French chef Susan Herrmann Loomis.
“It was a dream come true to spend a day
with one of my food idols and be able to write
about it,” Carl said.
After interning with Time Out Paris,
writing restaurant reviews and working with
By Bethany Blain ’14 | Photos By Nate Poekert and Courtesy of Anna (Watson ’02) Carl
30 | www.gcc.edu the G ē D U N K