By Tori Graffius
So far we’ve been here for a week and I can already tell that this adventure is going to be the best adventure of our lives! We have an amazing group of 12 students and two instructors and I’m excited to see where these next three months takes us! Every day has been very eventful, with group bonding activities, Spanish classes, tons of walking, and delicious food… Read More
By Eliza Cash
After our three-day orientation in the city of Xela—where we explored the tiny side streets, filled up on street food, celebrated Guatemala’s Independence Day, and worked out in the courtyard of our hostel—we piled into a tiny van and made our way up the mountains to begin our first week together.
Our adventure began as we rumbled down the cobblestone street to La Escuela de la Montaña.… Read More
By Elle Nicholson and Karolina Putterman
We were on our way to the Ziwa Rhino Reserve and as our bus was about to arrive—after nearly three hours of driving—we got stuck in the mud! All of us got out of the van and tried to push it out of the mud, but we failed badly and three other trucks had to come rescue us. They got stuck too! Eventually, we… Read More
By Ajenai Hampton
This week was an adventure, to say the least. It feels like we just all got together, and we’re already splitting up to stay in homes with Thai families. It’s only our tenth day in Thailand total, and yet we all feel so connected as a group that it was hard for us to split up (even though we still see each other daily). We’ve started taking… Read More
By Rickey Matherne III
Well, as we head into our second week of travel and adventure with Carpe Diem, let’s recap what happened over the first week.
With brand-new faces and green bellies, we oriented ourselves in Christchurch where we formed bonds and started to get to know one another. Having been a complete success, we then moved to our next location: a 103-year-old school building on the South Island… Read More
By Anna Reed
We embarked on our journey, starting with orientation. The moment we all sat down together, a sense of relief fell over all of us when we realized how amazing each individual in our group is.
Everyone brings something unique to the group in light of our diverse backgrounds.
Jon’s personality radiates positivity and he has been kind enough to share his love for music with the group.… Read More
By Mayana Gibbs
After a few days exploring Delhi, it was finally time to move onto our next adventure in Jaipur! We got on the five-hour train at 6:00 am and arrived in the late afternoon at our homestays. We got to see and explore the Amber palace and got to see elephants, monkeys, and camels!
We then had the opportunity to learn some Hindi, which was very useful and… Read More
By Brian Simpson
Our first major destination this semester is in Las Delicias, a banana farm owned and operated by Juan Carlos. Juan Carlos’s family welcomed us with open arms and warm hearts and took us into their home. They provided us with beds, food, and Spanish lessons for the entire week, which was an amazing experience.
On the first day, Monday, we woke up to the sound of roosters… Read More
By Curtis and Jenny
Friday the 15th was the start of our journey together as a Carpe Diem group. The first three days of orientation were spent getting to know everybody. We shared personal details about our lives to understand everybody’s motivation for coming on this trip. After agreeing on the rules we wanted to abide by and the skills that we all wanted to work on, we made a… Read More
By Ella, May, and Keshav
Hello from an internet cafe in Connaught in New Delhi! Today is our fourth full day in Delhi and we’re doing a scavenger hunt by ourselves throughout the city. So far we’ve taken two rickshaws, been helped by a couple of friendly locals, and tried our first lassis! We’ve experienced many cool things so far in this city.
On our first full day we went… Read More
By Jake, Harrison, and Isabel
Since arriving in Delhi, our group of 10 has already piled into rickshaws plenty of times to get from one place to the next. We’re a fun, loud, and silly group, but we never seem to talk much when riding in rickshaws. Maybe it’s because we have no idea if the driver will take us to the right place, or if we will get there… Read More
By Alec, Garrett, Isadora, and Emma
We have been in India for six days and have seen several beautiful things and have met so many interesting locals. What makes India different than any other country is their bountiful kindness. As we walk the hectic city of Delhi, people come up to us and offer us assistance and tell us their stories.
There are billions of people in this country and … Read More
Our students turned their good agreements into an amazing flag they all learned to machine sew and make, while Eric cooked a local fish stew. Each patch represents an agreement: neon represents radical honesty and the turtle symbolizes jumping outside of your comfort zone.… Read More
By Cate, Jillian, and Jon
So far Nicaragua has been a blast. The traveling day was long but since we got here, we have been having a lot of fun getting to know our fellow group members and going through orientation.
This country is beautiful and we are all so excited to be here. One of the best things that we have done so far was going to a cool… Read More
By Lily, Karolina, Ella, and Nathan
Hello!
Life is good here so far. We have seen lots of cute dogs and monkeys. Our group is getting along quite nicely and right now we are on a scavenger hunt around Entebbe looking for fun things.
Yesterday we went to the Saturday market and walked around. There were so many new smells and colors. We saw a guy sharpening a machete with… Read More
By Yina, Elle, and Finn
On day one, after 22 hours of grueling travel, we finally made it to our hostel close to 1:00 am. Despite being exhausted, we stayed up even later to get to know each other. The hostel’s been really nice, especially the “refreshing” cold showers. Breakfast was better than we expected. Everyone in the group has been awesome and getting along as well as can be… Read More
