Hey there followers of this crazy Indian journey! HOLY COW what an amazing journey this has been. Right now we’ve all transitioned into our next phase of life. To some of the group that is reuniting back home with friends and families in the states, working jobs, going back to school, or just relaxing and recouping from the magnificent craziness that is traveling in India. Some of our friends are still out there exploring, sweating it out in the Andamans, gearing up for a trip to Nepal, and exploring factory districts of Delhi. As for the leaders of the group, Lauren had a grand old time reuniting with the Carpe staff in Portland, which included hot wings, Karaoke, and five wonderful men from the Carpe office collecting her from the airport, flowers in hand. She flies to Bhutan today for a wonderful opportunity working with School for Field Studies and then right back to the states to work with Seeds of Peace facilitating a conference of History teachers from the US, India, Pakistan, and other Middle East nations (WOW!). After a week in Nepal, Robbie is relaxing in Philadelphia with family, and is then off on an adventure of his own reconnecting with friends and family on a whirl wind trip traveling through New York, Road Island, Virginia, Georgia, Missouri, Colorado, and back to Oregon. He is already getting exciting for his fall trip to Fiji, New Zealand, and Australia, and has already begun researching farming and homestay opportunities in Japan for the winter!
This has been one epic semester! The trip ended strong with free travel in Menali filled with good conversations and tons of dizzying adventure activities, but the whole trip seemed to feel like that honestly. This has been such a solid group of travelers and friends. We have seen you all grow immensely as human beings and show amazing leadership, a willingness to give yourselves over to crazy new experiences, and put your amazing energy into India and these relationships you formed here. This has been one of Carpe’s most successful semesters ever and it’s all thanks to you special 10 individuals.
To recap for the folks at home a few highlights of the semester include basking in the glory of the Taj Mahal, a return trip to Agra because the group loved it so much, hangin with Sadhus, sunrise boat ride to see the ghats on the mighty Ganges river in Varanasi wake up into life and cremate their loved ones to become one with the holy waters, playing with kids of the red light district of Varanasi and watching them doze off during their afternoon meditations, volunteering our time and hearts with the wonderful kids and old folks at the Mother Theresa home in Calcutta, laughing yoga, dancing-singing-and-screaming around a roaring bonfire on the banks of the Ganges during a United Nations style talent show at our ashram in Rishikesh, relaxing in a field with thousands of followers as the Dalai Llama addressed the masses,Trekking in the Himalayas and a glorious sunrise at Dzongri watching the new sun wash the peaks with fresh daylight, after racing to the station from the hospital reuniting the group on a train as it began to pull out of the platform and feeling so happy to just be all together, being woken up at 3am from a well earned slumber on the marble floors of the Golden Temple in Amritsar to escape the oncoming deluge of water as devotees mopped the holy space to purify it, learning the stories of Tibet straight from monks who escaped oppression, and most importantly . . . . . ZORBING!!!
We want to reach out to all those of you who have been keeping up on our travels and thank you for your love and support. Without you all this could not have been so immensely successful and life changing.
OK Carpe Diem Education India Spring 2013 group! We love you and will miss you bucketloads! See you round the globe!
Lauren & Robbie