Written By Sheldon & Lauren A funny thing happened after a north to south traverse of Italy (with a brief detour to Venice, almost), from “La Dotta, La Grassa, La Rossa” on the Emilia Romagna plains to the chestnut covered slopes of Tuscany, from the David to the Sassi, the overnight voyage with Greek and Albanian truckers across the wine dark sea, to Hellas, and Athens, and Kriti, and finally… Read More

Written By Sebastian Waking up early and being on time for transition days has not been our group’s strong suit and our transport day to Crete was no different. We rushed to the subway station near our Athens hostel 15 minutes late and crammed into the train just as it pulled out. We took a very small plane to Crete and met our local contact Xeno. We spent the afternoon… Read More

Written by Maya S. When I first heard that the ferry from Italy to Greece was supposed to take 17 hours, I thought I was being pranked. But as it turns out, I was not. Now I’m not gonna lie, I was asleep for roughly 14 of those 17 hours, but I’m sure everyone had a great time. And the long boat turned out to be worth it because we… Read More

Written by Mallory & Anna Terra group made their grand debut in Matera under cover of darkness. We first met our Matera liaisons Andrea and Birgit at 9 at night in a murky bus stop somewhere in Matera. They shepherded us to the farm, or Masseria, that would become our humble abode for the next seven days. We all piled into Andrea’s van that would also become our home away… Read More

Written By Emma L. Where to even begin. This week was one of the most beautiful ones yet and I think we all enjoyed being more connected to nature with some of the crispest air I’ve ever consumed. Starting on day one, another tough travel day. Shuttle to bus to train to train to bus to walk, Carpe has us absolutely mastering the Italian public transportation system. Arriving in a… Read More

Written By Gracie Where to even begin… We arrived on October 8th, after two bus rides we made it to the city of Siena, for about an hour we explored the winding roads and got lunch. My classic plate of straight meat never disappoints. After lunch, we returned to the bus station and boarded a van to Spannocchia. Let me just start by saying, it was nothing we could ever… Read More

Written By Emma and Sebastian On Friday, half of the Terra group took a 3 hour trek down from Paladini to the train station while the others enjoyed a nauseating bus ride scaling the side of the mountain! After what some would call an eventful start to our journey, we refueled with Caprese sandwiches on the hot train platform. All was well though, and we made it to our hostel… Read More

Written By Emma Arrivederci Bologna, buongiorno Paladini. The group woke up early Saturday morning to walk a mile with packs on to a bus to a train to another train to another bus to another 1 mile walk to arrive at a campground with a composting toilet situated halfway down a mountain. Here, we have been spending our days around a campfire sitting on old tires wrapped with rope and… Read More

Written By Mallory It was a busy week exploring Bologna, the capital of the Emilia-Romana region. Everyone really loved the city! Especially walking under the covered sidewalks, called arcades or portico, Bologna is famous for. For the week in Bologna we took Italian lessons from local Bolognas, Andrea and Giulia. They taught us how to make a reservation, order meals, and also how to say girl boss. With our local… Read More

Written by Maya S This week we found our way to Venice. Before leaving, we learned a bit about climate change and how this has been affecting the city. This trip was entirely student planned, from the transportation to the activities. We took a ferry to Murano, spending some time walking around checking out the glassblowing before hopping on the ferry back to Venice proper. Breaking into groups for a… Read More

Written By Kendall Over the past 5 days this group has accomplished many exciting and new adventures. After arriving at the hostel we enjoyed our first Italian meal together with a family dinner. It was full of laughs and conversations and this group clicked right away! On our first full day we were thankful to have Andrea to take us on a walking tour of the town and share some… Read More

The TERRA group has arrived safely in Bologna! They are heading to their hostel to settle in, have lunch, get some rest, and then start their orientation. They’ll post an update here on Monday to let us know how their first few days went. Stay tuned!… Read More

The TERRA group is finally together! All students have arrived safely to JFK and the group is getting ready for their flight to Italy. They are already enjoying getting to know one another and we are so excited to follow along on their journey these next few months. We’ll post another blog here tomorrow once we hear they have arrived safely in Bologna. Buon viaggio, Terra!… Read More

Greetings lovely Terra Italy & Greece group! It’s your trusty OE’s here – Lauren and Sheldon. We are currently out here in Portland, Oregon making plans for orientation and getting super psyched for our journey that begins in just a few short days… we can barely believe it! We encourage you (and are also trying ourselves) to linger in these last moments of having little idea of what’s ahead –… Read More