Dearest Friendies

Dearest Friendies, I’ve been walking around the streets of Dharmsala, still expecting to see your faces pop out of a cafe or wandering back to visit your homestay family. Instead, I see people that we all know and we spend a moment talking about how great you are and wondering how you are readjusting to home. At times it all feels like a dream, then I recall all of the… Read More

Dreaming of India

Shanti: From Sanskrit śānti ‘peace, tranquility’. Namaste Shanti Crew! Kelsi and Jonathan here, your overseas educators for the next three months. We have the honor and privilege of writing Shanti’s first of many upcoming blogs! The authors of the future blogs are going to rotate through our group and will allow each of you, our Carpe Diem students, to share the adventures of the Shanti crew in your own unique… Read More

Namaskar, Shanti, goodbye for now.

Wow, what a semester here in India! I am sure you all are feeling a little jet-lagged after your long flights home, and hopefully not too overwhelmed being back in America. We are missing you all already, and really reflecting on our time spent with you all. We couldn’t be more grateful for our group, and feel so honored to have travelled with you all for the past three months.… Read More

Day 1 – music stores, markets, and motorcycle theives

Somehow we all woke up feeling refreshed on our first morning in Delhi – neither the 30 hours of travel nor the magic of jumping a day forward in time seemed to phase the group. We had an amazing and quintessential Indian breakfast on the rooftop of our hotel – chai, aloo parantha (potato-stuffed bread), breakfast curries, omelettes, cornflakes and curd. Appetites sated, we jumped right in with some great… Read More

And they’re off

The mighty Shanti group has successfully gathered together at the San Francisco airport. They’ve gone through security and they are off to board their plane. We look forward to hearing more from this team as they delve deeper into all that awaits in India. Stay tuned to the blog for an update when they have landed safely in Delhi! – Mike and the HQ team… Read More

Let’s Curry-up and get to India!

Namaste to all of our Shanti adventurers! We are here in Portland eagerly and enthusiastically preparing for our upcoming India semester together. We are so excited to meet you all in just five short days! Within the many activities we are planning for the trip, we have also been putting our heads together to come up with great Carpe Diem lessons, as well as hilarious jokes to enlighten you with.… Read More

Happy Returns

This morning we said goodbye to our wonderful group of students. We have shared some amazing memories with them and will remember each of them fondly. After our arduous journey across the plains of Northern India, and a breathtaking trek into the mountains of Sikkim, we ended our semester in the Tibetan communities of Dharamsala and Bir. The students remained engaged and enthusiastic up to the very last moment, taking… Read More

Along the Ganga

Namaste, and a warm hello from all of us here in India!!! Wow, our most recent adventures have been truly one of kind. Sorry, to eveyone out there that has been looking forward to our latest post, we haven't had the chance to catch up on group orientated activities lately; such as blogging because we where staying at the beautiful Phool Chatti Ashram in Rishikesh. Last week was such a… Read More

Shanti in Sikkim

  Overnight trains are almost becoming comfortable — compared to train station floors.  We left the busy city of Calcutta and looked onwards towards the mountains of Gangtok, Sikkim. After our first jeep ride we were eager to make our way into the nearest cafe to grab pizza, hot dogs, and a cake to celebrate the 19th birthday of our wonderful group mate, Hava. We made our way into our… Read More

51 Hours In and Still Smiling!

Salutations from somewhere between Singapore and Delhi! It's been exactly 51 hours since we disembarked from San Francisco International Airport, new friends in the making. Since then, we've encountered several unexpected adventures. Little did we know as we boarded our first flight at 12:05 am on Wednesday, that Singapore airlines would become our best friend and our worst enemy. After arriving in Hong Kong, we got off our plane and… Read More