This week on hongi student adventures, we departed from the warm stay with the Maori and arrived at Sentry Hill, a WWOOFing farm. ( World Wide Organization of Orgainic Farmers). PJ, Tom and their three awesome kids, were our amazing hosts that kept us organizaed and made us feel right at home.We sweated hard as we herded and milked cows, cleaned paddocks, and for Liz and Annie castrated bulls. Even… Read More
Sawtdeekha everyone- this is Emma here, writing as the designated blogger this week from a small internet cafe in Sukothai, Thailand. We arrived here yesterday afternoon and already have made many great memories in the last 24 hours at this new place! Today was a day full of unexpected rain, joy and lots of laughter. It is definitely one we will never forget!
We left Chiang Mai yesterday morning, after… Read More
Heya!
So, you might already know, but we’re in Perú! After just over a month in Ecuador, we left it via a very early taxi ride and plane trip last weekend. Arequipa, our Peruvian city for the past and next week, has been kind to us. For the most part. The pickpocketing warnings that we had been given before our arrival were given for good reason. Two of our group… Read More
“Kia ora” is the Maori greeting, like hello, directly translating to “be well and healthy.” Our week with the Maori has flown by. Our days have been jam packed, getting up early and working hard all morning, and finishing the day off seeing some of the beautiful sites New Zealand has to offer.
We arrived at the Marae (the communal or sacred place that serves religious and social purposes) on… Read More
I have been in Bolivia for about 6 weeks now. My experience thus far has been very different than I imagined. It was really hard for me when I first arrived in Cochabamba for my homestay and Spanish lessons. I felt so overwhelmed and lonely, being in a new county by myself where I don’t speak the language. I wanted to jump right back on a plane and come home.… Read More
The whole crew on our last day in Uganda!
Love to all from Rwanda, “the land of 1,000 hills.” We appreciate all of you who are following our journey and equally appreciate all of your patience with the sometimes-slow internet connections out here in East Africa that can make posting images difficult. We wanted to take advantage of a faster connection to throw up a few f or… Read More
Three months alone in a foreign country is a long time. It can be intimidating and overwhelming, especially when you go into it alone. When I first got to my placement in Cusco, Peru, I didn’t know what to do with myself. I was incredibly lost, and lonely. For the first two weeks I wondered if I had made the right choice by coming here.
At the beginning of my… Read More
Few words have but one definition. To wrap up our week in Matagalpa, talent reared its many heads in our desolibri Spanish School. To start us off, Easten and Ryan demonstrated the power of teamwork by being the respective arms of Amelia and Damian. Essentially making a really terrific, talented mess. Next up was Nattie, who resourcefully glued cordabas to the bottom of some toms to perform some tap dancing… Read More
Here in Thailand, I am thoroughly exhausted, sunburned, and smiling. Truthfully, I have never been happier. When I first touched down in Chiang Mai, after many requests to stay home while the political unrest blew over but coming anyways, I was delighted and exhausted. Here I was, alone in a country. No friends, no acquaintances, just a name and an organization that would be my home for the next four… Read More
Hey everybody its Karenna!
I’m writing to ya’ll from home base in Chiang Mai as we spend our final rest days in this now familiar city. THe past week has been filled with daily meditation and morning and evening chanting, as we enjoyed the company of the novice and full monks at the Pleek Wiwek Dharma Center located just a few minuets from the Burmese boarder. While there our days… Read More
We went for a hike with Richard (a member of Ngati Whatua tribe we were staying with) who led us up Mt. Atuanui. The weather was far from ideal: rain, serious winds, and cold temperatures were all tough for most of us. Richard led us up a ridge where the wind and rain nearly knocked us us off our feet! After a short walk we entered the rainforest and were… Read More
Sadly we had to leave one of our group members in Nadi. Jess, after a lot of thought, decided to return home for family reasons. Our hearts are with him and his family at this time and we hope he’s doing okay stateside!
We arrived in Auckland after some difficult moments. As if our daily activities didn’t throw us enough curve balls in Nananu (we love the curve balls), we… Read More
Saturday morning we woke up super early to catch a 4am bus to Baños. We arrived around 9:30am and met up with Lorena, our coordinator in Baños. Lorena introduced us to our host families and we all went back to our respective houses where we had lunch. We then had the rest of the day for free time so we could explore Baños and catch up with people from home. … Read More
Hello from Sri Lanka! I want to start by saying how amazing it is to read about everyone’s adventures. It is crazy to think about how we all met just a few months ago in Portland, and now everyone is spread out all over the world!
I can’t believe it has already been a month since I arrived at Millennium Elephant Foundation here in Sri Lanka. I remember it like… Read More
Today we arrived in Rwanda, and I bet you’d like to hear all about this beautiful country. Well today’s not your lucky day because I’m not here to tell you what you want to hear, I’m here to keep it real.
Honestly if I were to tell you about Rwanda after being here only a short 3 hours I’d be doing you a disservice. With that said I’ll keep it… Read More
Hey to whomever may be following this awesome trip!
Arriving in New Zealand was a breath of fresh air. Perfect weather conditions being not too hot and not too cold right after stepping out of the airport. While Fiji was amazing, it was time to start our next chapter of our trip. We stayed at a hostel in Auckland that was right in the center of town, right next to… Read More
When I first started by FVP I was not happy, in fact, I was miserable. When I landed in Cusco, Peru I was frustrated, disorientated, and confused. I had not slept in 24 hours and had insomnia, I had not eaten in about 14 hours but my stomach was so upset I could not force anything down, the altitude was making me sick, it was cold, I was alone, and… Read More
