Archive, Author at International Gap Year Programs | Carpe Diem Education

It´s the Cliiiiiiiiiimb

10/16/2013 Archive Central America- MAYA

Hello friends and family of the MAYA group! We´ve taken a bit of a vacation from blogging as we were trekking from Xela to San Juan over the course of three days and two nights. We departed form Xela by bus and were dropped off in a small village about half an hour outside the city. The first day was by far the most difficult. We climbed up steep mountain… Read More

Captains Log, Earthdate 20131610: Goodbye Pucara!

10/16/2013 Archive South America- INTI

We have officially left the cloud forest community of Pucara, and are residing in Mompiche, a beach town, before our exodus to Peru. Over the next week or so we will be making blog posts detailing what we did in the “lost weeks”. In Pucara, we worked with the resident Carpe Contact, Pete, who educated us on sustainable agriculture and reducing our carbon footprint. The entire group with Petes property… Read More

Pun Pun Fun

10/15/2013 Archive Southeast Asia- SABAI

Hi again! We have just wrapped up our week at Pun Pun Organic Farm, which is located around an hour outside of Chiang Mai. Overall we all had a wonderful time. The farm itself was beautiful. It was green and lush, and in the distance massive haze-covered mountains stretched as far as the eye could see. Living conditions were rustic but comfortable; the students all were living in a treehouse-like… Read More

Onward & and Upward

10/14/2013 Archive South Pacific- WALKABOUT

Holy cow how the days have been flying! Our stay in Vatusekiyasawa, Fiji was a beautiul and challenging experience. More accounts from the group to come, but wanted to share some pictures below. Late Thursday night we arrived into Auckland and after many obstacles, such as missing luggage, the strictest bio contamination regulations in the world, and uncooperative airport ATMS, Tera (our transport captain for the week) landed us an… Read More

“In America, If there are no cows, then there are no cowboys”

10/13/2013 Archive India- SHIVA

Namaste my fellow Americans. Evangeline here (I’m the New Yorker that lacks the fun accent and has a confusing other identity known as “Eva”), this week I get the honor of sharing our latest adventures with you! Every week the Carpe students rotate specific roles and this week I’m the blogger! Other roles include “hot wheels”(responsible for our transportation), “cribs”(our housing), “gratitude”(expressing thanks to all our contacts along the journey),… Read More

Calcutta

10/12/2013 Archive India- SHANTI

So after three days of being in Bodhgaya, the place where the Buddha received enlightenment, we began our crazy journey to Calcutta. It was not an easy journey to say the least. We were wait listed for seats for the train to Calcutta, which we luckily did make it on; but we had to sleep two to a sleeper bunk on an overnight train. We were suppose to board our… Read More

Saying Goodbye to Fiji

10/10/2013 Archive South Pacific- HONGI

Bula from Fiji, Our group’s stay in beautiful Fiji is coming to a close today. We spent the last two weeks in the friendly village of Rewasa near the town of Rakiraki on the north side of Viti Levu island. Our experiences inside the village will always and forever be remembered as a time where two cultures were able to share and take from one an other. The group’s time… Read More

Wrapping up our time in Fiji

10/10/2013 Archive South Pacific- HONGI

Hey everyone! We just spent our last few days in the village this week and headed out for our free travel in Nadi this past Wednesday morning. We are now spending some time at a resort in Nadi and have a very early wake up call tomorrow morning to fly out to Auckland! All of us are very excited for a change of scenery but will never forget our beautiful… Read More

Culture Shock

10/10/2013 Archive Central America- QUETZAL

I never thought I’d be back in school so soon, but who would’ve expected a school where you could swing in a hamock while sipping coffee in an outdoor classroom? The last two weeks have been nothing but amazing. Throughout the remainder of our time in Matagalpa the group continued to participate in activities organized by the language school. We visited an organization called Agentes de Cambio (Agents of… Read More

Esto Es Un Queso

10/09/2013 Archive Central America- MAYA

¡Hola Amigos y Familia! We are currently sitting in the deserted, gringo-opperated internet cafe here in Xela, listening to the daily thunderstorm overhead. This past week has been adventurous, thought-provoking, stomach-inflating, and generally a positive experience for all! Coming from Pasac (population 1200), the city life in Xela has been a welcomed change. When we`re not spending all of our Quetzales on overpriced hipster cafe food (and by that we… Read More

UPDATE

10/09/2013 Archive South America- INTI

Hello all, I am posting from an internet cafe near Pucara. Sorry this will be a really short post but I want all to know that there is no internet in Pucara, so we most likely wont update until Monday when we leave Pucara. However, that is the begining of group directed travel which, depending on what we decide to do, may or may not allow for internet access! Updates… Read More

Worth a thousand words…

10/09/2013 Archive East Africa- KIFARU

This shot was taken by Jenny on Grant’s camera during home-based care visits to the sick and vulnerable. During our time visiting each home we encountered sadness, joy, hope, and inspiration mixed in clouds of empathy as we say in Kiswahili “Pole” Our group has had it’s fair share of health struggles here lately, but all in a matter of perspective after these home based care visits as the majority… Read More

Our Week in Mufindi…

10/09/2013 Archive East Africa- KIFARU

Hello friends and family- Katie here! This morning, our group had to say goodbye to all of our friends that we made in Mufindi. Before arriving at Igoda Childrens Village (Orphanage+), our group talked about the “single story”. The idea of a “single story” is that it is the stereotypical view or idea of something. So, our single story for an orphanage was that it would be a sad place,… Read More

Introducing Team MAYA!

10/08/2013 Archive Central America- MAYA

We’ve just returned from a sticker factory, where we alll designed MAYA 2013 logos to represent our group. As we sat “ohhing” and “ahhing” over the designs and wondering which ones would turn out the best, we were reflecting on each student and thought you all might like a little update on who exactly is forming this wonderful little group. So without further ado, here are Jessica and Brent’s updates… Read More

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10/08/2013 Archive East Africa- NKULA

Greetings from Kampala! Lilly here! This past week has been incredible. We went white water rafting on the Nile River last Monday and we all had a blast. We went on class 3 and 4 rapids. Nobody fell out and the raft did not tip over. We spent the night at Nile River Camp, which was very much like a resort. We got up early the next morning and took… Read More

Wanna Chai My Chai?

10/06/2013 Archive India- SHANTI

Namaste from Bodh Gaya! It’s been too long since our last post… So sorry friends. Since the last posts, we’ve been in Jaipur and Varanasi – two very different {amazing} experiences. A quick list of highlights: In Jaipur First of all, our contacts Rekha-ji and Rishi-ji were wonderful teachers and hosts. They truly made every day chock full of Jaipur’s finest. From Hindi lessons to yoga and ancient architecture, our… Read More

MAGIC IN MCLEOD

10/05/2013 Archive India- SHIVA

Namaste everybody! This week has been full of surprises and fun activities. We attended the teachings of His Holiness the XIVth Dalai Lama, adventured to an amazing waterfall in Bagsu, and we drank boatloads of chai (as usual). We have all been learning Hindi, and apprenticing in trades such as Tibetan Massage, Tibetan cooking, and jewelery making. We had the opportunity to watch a documentary that explained the Chinese occupation… Read More

The fun never ends

10/05/2013 Archive Southeast Asia- SABAI

Greetings from Thailand! We are now back in Chiang Mai, after a fun two weeks with our home stay families. This past week we continued to practice our Thai language skills, rao puut passaa Thai dii maak. Which mean we speak Thai very well. Apart from our lessons, and spending more time with our families getting to know them better. Our teacher ajhan Petchara gave us a mini cooking class,… Read More

Hello from Baños

10/04/2013 Archive South America- INTI

Hello friends, families, and loved-ones, This week we have been living in the beautiful city of Baños! The city is surrounded by mountains and a semi-active volcano. PLEASE NOTE: semi-active means that you cannot go all the way to the top because the volcano can spit out small amounts of lava at times but it is not a threat to us nor does this happen often. That said, some people… Read More

Spongebob and Plaster

10/04/2013 Archive Indigenous America

Long days of plastering where off set with plenty of laughs, experiments in food, and learning. Every day we build off the past, both figuratively and literally. Two weeks ago we came in fresh faced and new. Now we’re covered in plaster, and significantly less new. Ever try a Kool-Aid pickle? Not many of us here have. Experimenting with food is a wonderful way to journey outside ones comfort zone.… Read More