Written by India & Nepal Overseas Educator, Soumya Namaste! It’s your favorite Sagittarius OE, Soumya. This morning, I said goodbye to the Qaasid cohort and our own British prince, Andrew. As I zoomed away from the airport feeling the smoggy Kathmandu air on my face, I could not believe the moment had arrived. This week closed out a brief and beautiful rollercoaster of a semester with eight unique, special souls… Read More
Written by Italy & Greece Overseas Students, Ben Torregiani & Stavroula Skandalakis This week the Terra 2024 group went to Matera, a town carved out of stone. We started the week by visiting a school where we would be teaching kindergarten students English. In the afternoon, we made pasta in a house carved into the mountain and ate it with a view of the Sassi di Matera. The next day,… Read More
Written by Central America Students, Jess Solit and Danny Evans This week was student-directed travel (SDT)! Our group embarked on the intimidating yet exciting task of planning and budgeting all of our housing, activities, transportation, and food for the week, while also leading our expeditions. We started our week on the west coast of Guatemala in El Paredon, splashed around in the ocean, played some frisbee, surfed some waves, and… Read More
Written by Italy & Greece Overseas Students, Eden Tropepe and Kian Murray This past week the Carpe Diem Terra group went to Rome and experienced the ancient wonders of Italy. We started our time off visiting the Vatican and seeing the Pope’s inspirational message to 1.4 billion Catholics for Easter. We then had some time to explore the city with a walking tour through the historic area. On our last… Read More
Written by Central America Student, Arianna Cochrane What’s new?
We were in San Juan staying in homestays for our second and final week! Which also means our final week of Spanish school! We are all glad we got to improve our Spanish so much, but definitely happy we made it through it all. Our group also had painting classes and weaving classes, and we got to learn the history behind… Read More
Written by Italy & Greece Overseas Students, Sydney and Logan A few weeks back, we did part of the Via Francigena! We walked for 4 days and had great weather throughout! Lauren was our guide through it all, she was amazing! We met a nice gentleman on the first day who stopped us and talked about how he hosted hikers doing the trek! We stopped at various small towns along… Read More
Written by Central America Student, Henry Probolus What’s new?
We arrived in San Juan and started our week of Spanish classes. We started on cultural art projects like painting and weaving. We enjoyed the cultural events of Semana Santa like the procession and creating alfombras out of flowers and colored sawdust. We visited nearby towns like San Pedro and went to Panajachel to see butterflies and other animals at the… Read More
Written by Central America Students, Jess Solit and Cleo Miller What’s new?
⦿ Our group headed over to Tzununa to learn about permaculture from Neil and Jeremy at the Granja Tz’ikin – The Farm.
⦿ Swam and walked around San Marcos, learned about the 12 values of permaculture, harvested veggies, and turned over garden beds.
⦿ We also met some incredible people like Ava and the families at Quixaya to… Read More
Written by William McCall Symms, 2023-24 Latitudes Student This semester has been an immensely enriching learning experience for me. Following a consistent schedule has been both demanding and enjoyable. Every day involves going out to collect data and conduct field research, not only on elephants but also on other species negatively impacted by humans, with the main focus being to reduce human-wildlife conflicts.
A great part of this experience… Read More
Written by Andres Huenneke, 2023-24 Latitudes Student Over this semester I have been in Namibia in Southern Africa working with animal conservation for an organization called Naankuse. I have transitioned between some different projects around the country. Every project deals with a different aspect of animal conservation and rehabilitation. I have been to four different projects so far and next week I will go to my fifth. Some projects are… Read More
Written by Anantya Mazi, 2023-24 Latitudes StudentSettling In and Finding Community La Hesperia is a forest reserve that rests above the small rural town of La Esperie. At the reserve, I was able to settle in quickly, especially with the help of the other volunteers working here, whom I now consider dear friends. On weekdays, Monday to Friday, we begin our days with breakfast at 7:30 am. Depending on… Read More
Written by Italy & Greece Overseas Students, Ryan Chun & Julia Rivard We went to Florence (Firenze) and made ourselves at home for a few days! We climbed the Duomo Bell Tower, explored the Palazzo Vecchio, and did a scavenger hunt of different city attractions, among other things. We also started our trek to Siena on the Via Francigena!
Top Highlights of the Week:
🍨 Gelato Galore: Gelato, gelato, and… Read More
Written by Stella Kuramoto, 2023-24 Latitudes StudentExperiencing Independence and Wildlife Conservation This semester I experienced true independence and one of the most beautiful places in the whole world with one of my best friends whom I’ve met through Carpe. I’m six weeks in volunteering at the wildlife habitat and life could not be cooler. I spend my days taking care of incredible animals and learning all about conservation and… Read More
Written by Shloimy Goldberger, 2023-24 Latitudes StudentMy Experience at Repzootic I have spent this semester working at Repzootic, a small zoo in a town of about 300 in the rural southwest of Hungary, about an hour-long bus ride from the historical city of Pécs. I have spent much of my time in this town, as although there is surprisingly reliable public transport to Pécs, I’m only able to go… Read More
Written by Central America Students, Henry Probolus and Arianna Cochrane This was our last week in Xela! At the start of the week, we left our hostel and moved in with our host families! It has been such an amazing time experiencing the culture and tasting the amazing food inside our families’ houses! We met and became friends with so many people through the school PLQ, and we have improved… Read More
Written by Italy & Greece Overseas Educator, Ariana Agrios The Terra group is off and running!
We landed in Rome on Wednesday and made our way to Passignano Sul Trasimeno where we’re staying at Panta Rei, a sustainable living community in the hills of Umbria. This week we’ve enjoyed hiking to and from town, exploring the beautiful landscape, making pizza and pasta from scratch, and getting to know each other… Read More
Written by Central America Students, Danny Evans & Cleo Miller This week we’re located in Xela! We are starting one-on-one Spanish classes with the beautiful teachers at PLQ. We attended the many events put on by PLQ including a student soccer game and a trip to the hot springs. We stayed in Casa Siebel and made many trips to the Central Park. We also had a blast at the local… Read More
Written by Bitsy Bond-Perez, a student from our non-profit partner Carpe Mundi February 29th: From February 25th to March 3rd we are staying in Protovillage! “A prototype of a resilient rural community.” And by rural they mean that, in the state of Andhra Pradesh we are 25 minutes away from the closest village. We are surrounded by all types of trees and plants in mostly flat farmland. Besides the houses… Read More
Written by Kailash Biswa and Lucas Barrera, students from our non-profit partner Carpe Mundi Since we came, we’ve been to a lot of places, seeing new things. Temples, shrines, new land…We visited the moon, the sun, and the earth. While we were flying across Russia, 18 hours, 13,000 Kilometers away…
We’ve been very busy, going from place to place. Chai shops, watermelon stands, and the loud, busy city of Bangalore.… Read More
Written by Kyla Wendel, 2023-24 Latitudes StudentExperiencing the Beauty of Port Douglas Having been in Queensland my last semester, I thought I was prepared for the sheer beauty that is Port Douglas but I was mistaken. Already a month into my stay and I’m still in awe of my surroundings. The beautiful beaches and the tropical trees that surround them are jaw-dropping. I’ve been able to appreciate the natural… Read More
