By Kobbe
Hey family and friends!
After two amazing days in Sydney, the time had finally come for our six-day adventure in the Australian Outback. We arrived in Uluru after a three hour flight and met our GUYde who is a really cool guy named…Guy. He immediately took us into the wilderness and showed us around. Collecting firewood, singing songs around the bonfire, hiking under the Australian sun, stargazing, driving,… Read More
By Paige Marcano-Buchanan
As hazy fog drifts over far-off trees, the rising sun dyes the sky a soft purple. We cradle hot mugs of chai in our hand listening to the birds flying overhead. With the strike of a gong, we march to morning meditation. This is a completely different experience from the boom and bustle of Kolkata’s honking horns; now we sit quietly and watch cows graze. Instead of… Read More
By Kaela Horton
Hello friends, relatives, and everyone else who is along for the ride. It’s crazy to think that two weeks have gone by since I met the 13 strangers that I’ll be living and traveling with for the next three months. It’s also unbelievable that in that short period of time we’ve become the opposite of strangers and are building relationships and creating memories.
After a week of… Read More
By Kathleen
Hi everyone!
Our week started out on our last day at our hostel in Katoomba. Our time in Katoomba was spent doing orientation activities while also going on hikes and exploring our surroundings. After Katoomba, we went a few towns over to Penrith to settle in before starting our volunteer work at a dingo sanctuary the next day. We showed up to the dingo sanctuary the very next… Read More
By Maya Hertz
Hello!
We have had a very exciting past week. Last Wednesday, the 19th, we took a railway train from Delhi (where we finished orientation), to Jaipur, the “Pink City,” where we stayed with our first homestay families. Rehka-ji, one of our contacts in Jaipur, was a host to Avery and Sarah and also let us use her home as a classroom for Hindi and Indian history lessons.… Read More
By Overseas Educator Cari PeckEllie B. And Lily stoked to be hanging out with Kori and her two year old baby, Ajabu.Eli trying to make friends with a baby cow.Eve celebrating her 19th bday at Ziwa.Clearing invasive plant species.Visiting the national mosque in Kampala.Rebecca looks out at the view of Kampala from the top of the national mosque.
Lily, Meghan, Ellie, and Hanya getting … Read More
Making chocolate at Las Delicias farm.Alex grinding fresh cacao.The Carpe Diem group with our hosts at Las Delicias right before departure—now on to the beach for the day!View from Las Delicias.Addy helping Clean up plastic used for banana production on Las Delicias.Down time at Las Delicias with Alejandro, a Spanish instructor, and Alex and Patrick.We celebrated Ellen’s birthday with a bonfire, singing our favorite … Read More
By Sailor and Daniel
Hola!
This Sunday we arrived at the mountain school in Fatima and Nuevo San Jose. Fatima is a community of ex-finca (plantation) workers, who were displaced by the unfair treatment of the finca owners. The people of Fatima lie on 20×20 meter plots of land, in houses composed mainly of cinderblock, wood, and sheet metal. We have been eating three meals a day with our homestay… Read More
By Reid Cohen
Hello everyone!
Its Day 12 and so much has happened already! We went through our three days of orientation and started to learn about each other’s likes and dislikes and what everyone’s strengths and weaknesses are so that we are able to be there for one another in the upcoming months.
We are learning about all of the cultures here as well! It’s so much fun to… Read More
By Charlotte Clark
Day 7 of our adventures here in Kolkata, yet it feels like we’ve been here for so much longer. We started out with orientation in this crazy city, going out a little more each day to ease ourselves into it. It seems as though there are no rules for driving, people honk more than they speak and if you can cross the street here you can do… Read More
By Sarah Roman
First blog of the trip is up and boy, do we have stuff to tell you guys! For all of the parents frantically checking this site to see if there are any updates on their child’s location, hello. We are all alive. There are a few bumps and bruises from rope swings, capture the flag games, accidentally lighting on fire, and I will spare you the rest.… Read More
By Sarah, Avery, and Lexie
Warm and sticky air
Our bodies shine in the sun
Fall for this city
Samosa’s and Dahl
The sweet and savory smells
Food will comfort us
India’s red fort
Beautiful on the skyline
Old place, new people… Read More
By Emily Bates
Hello friends and family of Rayah!
It’s been a week since the start of the program, and we’ve all been quickly settling into the group and our first country—Spain!
For our three day orientation, we called the yoga and meditation retreat center La Semilla home. It was the perfect place to start our journey. We bonded over late night talks in our Mongolian yurt before bed, and… Read More
By Katie
India so far has been the craziest place I’ve ever been, but it’s also the coolest. The food is amazing and the people have been super nice but it’s also very hot.… Read More
By Emily
Kolkata is very crazy. There are tons of people, you drive on the other side of the road and horns are always honking. The constant smell is a mix of incense, food, and sewage. Driving here is a free for all, there are no lanes. Its like 80-90 degrees everyday here with 100% humidity—I have never been so hot.
The food here is really good and the people… Read More
By Kelly
Kolkata is amazing. It is so vibrant and full of life. I am currently sitting in a computer cafe down on Sudder Street. I am doing well but realized a lot of my clothing is too heavy for here. It is about 90 degrees but 100 percent humidity. We are currently doing a scavenger hunt for different items without our leaders. It isn’t as scary as I thought… Read More
