Follow the Journey

Where has the time gone? I suppose it’s slipped right past me. Apart from the humidity and Mosquitoes I can confidently say life in Broome is near perfection. The apartment I am staying in is great for one. I was even given a bike, which I named eggman. I’m living a sort of Hannah-Montana lifestyle, getting the best of both worlds. The start of my week I’m in Broome, working… Read More

So much gratitude to our wonderful Latitudes Alumni Leaders, Erin & Colleen, for not only being phenomenal support for our students but also taking these great pictures! As we get word of safe arrivals to FVP sites around the world, enjoy the photos and we look forward to hearing more over the next few months.… Read More

Today is the day! Our 2016-2017 Latitudes cohort heads off into the world for their focused volunteer placements. Our orientation ended with shared wisdom, hugs, and laughter during our closing ceremony. As the Latitudes team, we couldn’t be more proud of this crew of students. Each of them inspires us with their courage, confidence, and passion. We’re so grateful to be a small part of their journeys. Safe travels, everyone!… Read More

It’s hard to believe we’re on our final full day of Latitudes Orientation already. Each of the days has been full of laughter, reflection, and preparation for the adventures to come. From fireside yoga in the morning to storytelling workshops, from shared meals to shared wisdom from different regions of the world, the entire Latitudes Team has enjoyed every second with the 2016-2017 cohort here at Camp Angelos and we… Read More

Orientation began with lots of laughter, joyful reunions, and excitement here in beautiful Corbett, Oregon. The entire team is excited for a full few days setting our Latitudes 2016-2017 cohort up for success on their Focused Volunteer Placements. This year’s cohort has students going as far flung as Madagascar, Japan, Belize, and everywhere in between for their volunteer placements. We’re looking forward to a full orientation of sharing stories, learning,… Read More

Blog from Alanna T Hello to everyone who is reading this latitudes blog post! While most students have their group semester in the fall and their latitudes semester in the spring, I decided to have my group semester in India in the Spring and head of on my own in the fall. It took me a really long time to decide where to go and what organization to be with,… Read More

“IN THE LIFE OF CARPE DIEM” (UGANDA BLOG #10, WEEK 12) Six months later and the mind is still eager to discover and learn more… If you want to live a short life, live quickly. But, if you want to live a long life, live slowly.” —Señor Rony de Guatemala “Timshel— thou mayest.” —John Steinbeck “It’s all about perspective, and it is only you that has the power to either… Read More

During the process of completing my FVP, I think I have become the ultimate mother figure. Well…A mother figure to about fifteen to twenty (depending on the day), screaming, filthy birds. I spend most of my work days in a very small, hot room, and watch my children, catering to their every need and desire. Every one hour, I sit on my tiny stool, and force dog food, or fruit… Read More

This has been the fastest year of my life. I honestly can’t believe it’s coming to an end after I’ve been thinking about this year since my junior year of high school. I’m not ready for it to be over in some senses (traveling, adventure, different culture, my carpe friends and community) but in some ways I feel more prepared than ever to take on college and go forward in… Read More

Hello all! I’m checking in here from Koh Tao, a small island off the coast of Thailand where the sun is hot and the water is blue. I am here working as an intern with the New Heaven Reef Conservation Program which is actively trying to protect and restore the ocean ecosystem around Koh Tao. On an average day I’ll wake up and be at the dive school by 9am.… Read More

It’s crazy to think about where I was one year ago. I was in my second semester of my senior year, frustrated and worried about my future. I had applied to several universities, and was starting to hear back, rejection and acceptance letters, and began to feel like I was being led down a path that didn’t feel right for me. It was my mom who actually suggested that I… Read More

Hot dirt brushes along steaming pavement, dogs pant, sweaty children play, the devious sun beats relentlessly down on anything brave enough not to seek shade. I hide out in the relative coolness of the office where the remnants of air conditioning still linger from an earlier meeting. The weeks here in Potrero, Costa Rica seem to have come and gone more quickly than my initial, fleeting hope that it might… Read More

Five incredible weeks at Foxes’ NGO, and I’m still not sure exactly what label to give the organization where I’m working – besides “NGO”. It’s non-governmental, sure, but it’s a lot of other things, too. And all of them are worth writing about. What is this place? An orphanage? Yeah, kind of – though we don’t use that term, since it tends to paint a sad, Western, “institutional” picture –… Read More

I hadn’t been to school in quite a while, so I figured that it was about time to head back for a little bit. 😉 And the past two weeks have certainly been one of the best “back to school” intros! The two schools at which I am both teaching and learning is found amongst the lusciously green, rolling hills of south western Uganda, in the small village of Kitanga.… Read More

Hello world and welcome to another post of the cool side of the blog. your host Valiant Val! As you know, and actually as you probably don’t know Valencio is currently in the beautiful country of Belize, where the water is warm and the sky is blue as a really… blue sky…. What did you expect. Any who back to business, Valencio is working hard and doing things right. Not… Read More

Project Bona Fide. Permaculture farm on a volcano, on an island, in a lake, in the heart of the tropics. Imagine one of those early fly over scenes from Jurassic Park and you’ll get the gist of it. As I’m writing this I’m watching the silhouetted volcano fade in front of a sky that’s literally traffic cone orange. The orangeness is just ridiculous. But so is everything about this island,… Read More

Giddy from down unda’! It’s been six weeks since I arrived in Bunbury, Western Australia, (aka “The Dolphin City”), and I can’t believe how fast the time is passing. I’ve been lucky to be doing my FVP at the Dolphin Discovery Centre, a volunteer-based organization on the coast of Australia. Because of the warmth and safety of this one small bay, hundreds of wild bottlenose dolphins roam free. It’s the… Read More

My past month in Morocco has been a blast to say the least. Instead of giving a summary of the past four and a half weeks, I have chosen to share the events of this past Friday night. My homestay brother Taha and I entered his cousin’s house, dressed head to toe in traditional Moroccan regalia, and greeted by the traditional “Salaam Alaikum” which was followed by a handful of… Read More