By Hannah and Alex
To our monos –
Wow! We cannot believe the semester has come to a close. What an incredible journey we have completed and will without a doubt remember for the rest of our lives. As we take a moment to reflect, we are awe-struck and inspired by how much you all have grown and transformed. We feel honored and grateful to have shared the past three… Read More
By Nico and Ricky
Dearest friends and family of Carpe Diem students, Nico and Ricky are here to deliver the final blog of the 2017 South Pacific Hongi Group trip.
While our weathered faces, tan skin, and nauseatingly-smelling clothes reflect the three months that have come and gone, our reminiscent memories of New Zealand, Fiji, and Australia remind us of how relative time is. It is difficult to comprehend how… Read More
By Julia Gordon
Heading to Ho Chi Minh city, a final bus ride I will never forget.
After leaving our guesthouse in Dalat, also home to a wonderful family, whose son serinated us with his lovely performance on the piano each night, playing America’s “greatest” pop hits, and mom who greeted us each time we came in the front door with such excitement and interest, just like my actual mom,… Read More
By Jimmy and Jake
Hello to every one of our blog readers, it’s Jimmy and Jake blogging here and we would like to inform y’all about all the fantastic activities and other experiences we had during the past week. Our journey during the past week started in the large and historic capital of Guatemala, Guatemala City. We entered by microbus coming from our fulfilling week at El Paredon, but we,… Read More
By Cole and Will
Yo what’s up Inti fam. Wilaureneomichrisjulianyosh Colairmate Bridanachris here to give you the fill for the past week. It was the long-awaited Salkantay trek week, which in layman’s terms meant that starting Wednesday, we had 42 daunting miles staring at us in our out-of- shape, lazy bodies. To give some more context, the night before, we had met our two guides for the trek: Antonio, a… Read More
0 Sleeps left.
Well, that went quick.
At the time of writing this, our students are well on their way to reuniting with their loved ones.
Sue and Jon are reminiscing about all the memories made these last three months and offer up some highlights and reminders of our time together.
Juan’s blue jeans
Nightinggale
“Cyphering”
Girls nights
Bro time
Lucas’ walking stick(RIP)
Elliot’s incense
“Mana”
“Drink water.”
“Take a… Read More
We made it to Zanzibar—finally! After another high-class night at EconoLodge (The Waldorf of Dar Es Salam), we moved in with our last home-stay families. Interesting internships arose, including a world-famous screen printing opportunity with a Rasta God named Omi. Incredible Zanzibar painting at the Old Fort, wood carving which proved too challenging for the students, one of the higher quality internships was pillow making at the Zanzibar women’s cooperative… Read More
By Caroline Kessler
Alas! We made it to Roatan, Honduras for the final week of our trip. A celebration was definitely in order as we reflected on the past three months. To top it all off, we earned our Lifetime SCUBA Certification, allowing us to explore greater depths all around the world.
In many ways, scuba diving embodied our Carpe Diem Adventure. It was something many of us had been… Read More
By Benjamin Lenzi
Namaste,
The last blog post is here! It feels not that long ago when we met each other at the San Francisco airport. Many of us in the group have similar feelings that it seems like we have been away for so long but yet so short at the same time.
Last week after a successful student travel we visited Agra to see the Taj Mahal in… Read More
Last Wednesday we left Antigua. After a short two-hour van ride we arrived in the tranquil beach town of El Paredon. Our week in El Paredon was organized by a social enterprise called La Choza Chula. La Choza Chula is helping El Paredon through a recent increase in tourism. They are providing knowledge and help with sustainable ways of education, enterprise, and environmental protection.
We stayed in an awesome hostel… Read More
By Charloe Koloma
Namaste to those at home.
This past week was our group’s time for student-directed travel, naturally creating a hectic but exciting time for all of us.
We started off our week in the city of Bikaner to celebrate Thanksgiving with each other and go on a two-day camel trek in the desert. The day before our trek was Thanksgiving so we decided to split off into groups… Read More
By Keshav Krishnan
My time as the official “Bilbo Bloggins” started at the Phool Chatti ashram. I enjoy the time I spent there in retrospect, although it was tough for me at (most) times. We had three hours of yoga asanas (the stretching and stuff) a day! We also had some incredible experiences outside of stretches that I couldn’t do. Every day we did a walk into nature, ending near… Read More
Photos from Matt and Michelle, our fabulous Overseas Educators
A big thanks to our OEs for even more great photos. The Nkula crew spent a week in homestays in Stonetown, Zanzibar. They spent the days taking classes from local artisans and learning the basics of traditional woodcarving, “Tinga Tinga” painting, making natural herbal remedies and beauty products, and music. They also got to visit Prison Island (known locally as “Changuu”)… Read More
Our latest weekly update covers three separate locations throughout Australia that we’ve visited. The period that this blog covers begins in Chenrezig, the Buddhist retreat that we spent 6 days visiting. Our second to last day was spent in complete silence, a practice that is very common amongst buddhist monks. starting in the morning just after breakfast, we were instructed to say nothing out loud, to others or to yourself,… Read More
By Greg Pipher and Wynn Simmons
So we left Fiji and as we got onto the plane we came across something most of us have never seen before. They made us empty our water bottles and all the drinks we bought after going through security! Then we got on the plane and when it was time to get off we did and went off into Brisbane too our hostel at… Read More
Throughout this entire trip, we have met some incredible people – people that we will be lifelong friends with and stay in contact with forever, and people that have taught us so much about different cultures and ourselves. But in Fiji, we became family with an entire village.
Back home, you can knock on your neighbor’s door and ask for sugar. Most likely, they would give it to you, and… Read More
Photos from the Overseas Educators Michelle and Matt
Our Nkula crew just spent 4 days snorkeling and/or earning their Open Water Dive certificates off of the Indian Ocean in Zanzibar. Enjoy these stellar photos!… Read More
All photos from Mike S. and Ellen M., our fabulous Kifaru Overseas Educators
A couple of weeks ago our intrepid Kifaru crew spent 4 days canoeing from island to island, and then trekking some mighty hills, in and around Lake Bunyonyi. Thanks for the great photos Mike and Ellen!… Read More
Photos from Matt S. and Michelle N., the Nkula Overseas Educators!
Zanzibar is famous for it’s spices. Our Nkula crew recently got to visit a local spice farm to learn how vanilla, cinnamon, ginger, and other tasty spices are grown. Thanks for the photos, Matt and Michelle!… Read More
