Om, Shanti Shanti!

Archive India- SHANTI
Dearest Shanti students: It is difficult to describe our excitement; our anticipation; our absolute delight at the thought that, in just a few shorts days, our Shanti community will depart for the wild and magical lands of India. What fortunate souls to have such an opportunity! We are feeling such tremendous gratitude for the upcoming journey: we hope that you are too! We have been working hard hear in Portlandia,… Read More

Scavenger Hunt in Portland: An Adventure!

Archive Central America- MAYA
Hola, MAYA students! This is Jessica and Brent, checking in from Portland, Oregon, home of Voodoo Donuts, Powell’s Books, beautiful rose gardens, and of course, Carpe Diem Education. We found all of this out today on one of the mot epic Scavenger Hunts we have ever been on. Not only did we bike 15 miles through and across most of Portland’s 12 bridges across the Willamette River, but we visited… Read More

Saw wa dee krap from Portland!

Archive Southeast Asia- SABAI
The excitement is building here in Portlandia. Late nights and early mornings.  Bottomless cups of coffee fuel a circus-like atmosphere of dream weaving merriment. Visions of new adventures bounce about our intrepid brains during brief and precious moments of much needed rest. And we weave together a strong foundation. It is a special time for us now. As Overseas Educators, we have very little time to engage with our extended… Read More

Lets Talk Ooks… Carpe IAM Soon to Begin

Archive Indigenous America
Benj and Angie here, signing in for the first time this semester.  Today, the 10th of September, 2013, was a day full of adventure, biking all around the city of Portland, defined by a well-struck balance of work and play.  On one of our assigned missions, we journeyed to and through Portland’s famous and massive Powell’s bookstore:   At Powells and beyond we gathered goodies and necessary material goods for… Read More

Scavengin’ Portland in the Sun!

Archive Central America- QUETZAL
Greetings soon to be ITZA family!! Noah and Julia here, your fearless leaders who spent a beautiful crystal clear hot Portland day traversing across the city on an epic scavenger hunt to gear up for our trip and discover many little treasures that the city of roses has to offer! Today, we sampled the scrumptious savors of food carts (Julia climbed inside one), Noah serenaded his lovely co-leader with a… Read More

Urban Scuba

Archive South Pacific- HONGI
Ryan and Cheridyn here!  Getting super excited to “dive” into our upcoming adventure in the South Pacific with all of you, our fellow Hongi adventurers. It has been great to hear all of your voices via phone calls, and again, please feel free to contact us with any questions or concerns about the trip.  Enjoy this exciting time of preparation and anticipation, and we’ll be waiting for you in the… Read More

Leader Scavenger Hunt

Archive South America- INTI
Hey SAM group, friends, and family, After a productive morning workshopping group dynamics and semester plans, we hopped on our bikes and hit the town for a Carpe Diem leader scavenger hunt. As 90 degree Portland sunshine blared down on us, we cycled across bridges and through parks, dodging traffic, sweating and smiling. We sampled some delicious street cart food from the Maurician Islands, browsed through the nation’s largest used… Read More

Mambo vipi marafiki yangu!?!

Archive East Africa- NKULA
What’s up my friends!?! Ever wanted to know how to say that in Kiswahili?  Well, now you know!  Let’s go make use of it in Mashariki! (East Africa) In our minds the adventure has already begun (have you gotten your immunizations yet?); so we thought it was time to introduce ourselves and welcome you to the Carpe family. If you haven’t put the pieces together yet, Dan and I are… Read More

Ian reports from South Africa

Archive Latitudes Year
When trying to decide which placement would suit my intentions best, I was primarily looking at organizations that would give me the opportunity to work with children who were at risk of dropping out of school, getting into drug use, having behavioral and disciplinary issues, things of that nature. I hope to one day go into the field of wilderness therapy and make a career out of helping young people… Read More

So Long Team India!

Archive India- SHIVA
  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… Read More

At the Crown of the World

Archive Latitudes Year
I’ve been in Nepal for just a little over two months now, and I’ve realized that I have become an old soul. Sometimes I sit on the porch of my guest house for hours and just look out over the valley, or watch a herd of goats grazing down the hill. I haven’t seen a car for an entire month. I read and journal and never watch tv. I don’t… Read More

Ciao Bella!

Archive Latitudes Year
Work at the Farm has been interesting lately, with an interesting variety of cleaning bikes, typing of hotel itinerary, creating tour scripts and gathering information for European cycling tours. In the office, various maps of roads, city layouts, national parks and highways have been at my fingertips. The information for a a single country is numerous with general travel information books that include history, art, food, language, hotel, attractions and… Read More

Asante (Thanks) and Kwa Heri (Good Bye) for Now!

Archive East Africa- KIFARU
Mambo GC Gals!! These past three months have been held together by each of your strengths, synergy, support and laughs which created the depth to be embraced by a cultures beauty and rhythm that East Africa has to share! We are so proud of the presence you brought to every community you met. You all are officially booked through the new year for entertaining purposes (thank you ukulele). As well,… Read More

and a good time was had by all

Archive Central America- MAYA
Here is the real last post: our final week was AMAZING as we all studied and played hard to earn our PADI OPen Water Scuba Certifications on the Honduran Caribbean island of Roatan. We saw tons of tropical fish, sea turtles, felt jellyfish and more! The final night included a sunset cruise and sharing gratitude and celebration of our successful semester. Looking back we all learned a lot and pushed… Read More

One Chapter Closed, On to Others…

Archive South Pacific- HONGI
Bula Hongi Crew and Family! James and Avy here on a sunny day in Eastern Australia.  We just wanted to take a minute to send out our sincere gratitude to all of the Hongi crew – Brendan, Ana, Tom, Jeff, Andrew, Emma, Lexi, Maddie, and Kailey – and to all of our families and friends back home.  From the shores of Fiji to the farms of New Zealand, from the… Read More

Finding happiness: India Shiva Spring Semester ’13 comes to a close

Archive India- SHIVA
Typing the words and thoughts  of my 11 fellow companions for the past three months once and then twice after the internet crashed and rebooted(hey, this is India) is scrambling my brain a little bit. With every word I type I recall an amazing day, a weird bowel movement, an inside joke, or a panorama of towering mountains.  I remember our airport farewell. The 12 of us laughing and crying… Read More
Archive Central America- MAYA
Dear families and friend of the Spring 2013 Central America group, This spring’s Central America semester has come to an end!  We’ve heard from program leaders Michelle and Alex that after a lovely stay in Roatan, the group was seen safely to the airport and with a mixture of smiles and tears, are heading back to the US. Carpe HQ wishes everyone safe travels home. Our thanks to all our… Read More

Back to the States!

Archive South Pacific- HONGI
Hello Parents and followers of the Hongi blog, We just received word and a picture from Avy and James that the students have departed Australia (some students are staying on for further travels) for their long journey back home. This marks the end of this program, but not the end to the growth, friendships, and knowledge gained during these past 3 months. We (including James and Avy) wish the best… Read More

Off into the world

Archive South America- INTI
Dear families and friend of the Spring 2013 South America group, This spring’s South America semester has come to an end!  We’ve heard from program leaders Ryan and Cheridyn that the students who are traveling home today were lovingly seen off to the airport, and the rest of the students are preparing for days, weeks or months of independent travel. Carpe HQ wishes everyone safe travels home, whenever they make… Read More