Written by Trevor Thursday October sixth: Time to set the scene. The fifteen of us tumbled out of the van, slung our backpacks over our shoulders and said a tearful goodbye to Krit and Nada. We were then introduced to our host, Nikom, who took us on a tour of our new home, the Chiang Dao Youth Camp! We got our first looks at the enormous Chiang Dao Mountain on… Read More
Written By John and Ellie On Saturday, the group packed up early and ventured toward the birthplace of the renaissance, Firenze (Florence). After setting up at our new hostel, we spent our free time further exploring and appreciating the beautiful architecture around us.
On Sunday, we were sent on a scavenger hunt, and through our wanderings got to know the heart of Florence. Our final destination of the scavenger hunt… Read More
Written by Ishtar & Ellie Hello friends, family, and staff! We hiked the Via Francigena starting in beautiful Tuscany — specifically, a little town known as Gambassi Terme! We reunited with our lovely guide, Lauren who took us from town to town to learn about historic Italy.
Our agenda:
San Gimignano
Poggibonsi
Colle di Val d’Elsa
Monterigionni
Siena!
The trail we’re hiking “Via Francigena” means the road that comes from… Read More
Written By Lindsey & Ella On Saturday afternoon, at PLQ (the Spanish school), we split off into groups of two or three and met our host families. We all walked to our new homes carrying our heavy packs. Saturday evening we had the pleasure of cheering on the fútbol team, Xelaju, at their home stadium. Everyone had a blast singing and cheering on the team alongside their very passionate fans.… Read More
Written By Rivermonday, september 26, 2022platypus sighting: after many early mornings of going down to various creeks and ponds in search of a platypus, the long wait was finally over. a small group of four went down to the water’s edge with claire, sitting in motionless silence, transfixed by the water. at last, 10 minutes before all hope was given up, a small brown creature surfaced, ripples echoing… Read More
Written By Adi Our week started off with our first move to a new campsite, Hawai’i Land Trust in Waihea – Waihe’e, Maui where the group met Kia’i, the Educator and Steward of HLT. Will and Adi were this weeks leaders and them along with the rest of the group adjusted to the porta-pottys and cold showers that came with the beautiful mountains and ocean front views of our tent… Read More
Written By Ava Coming into this week, the group had no idea what the expect. We did not know anything besides the fact that we would be staying with families in the Haui Hin Lad Nai village, there were possible tigers in the woods (village members later laughed when we told them how worried we were about them), and most importantly that this was a HUGE honor to stay in… Read More
Written By Talia The land we seek to restore belongs to nobody but itself. We can’t own the spiders or the flies, the barking owls disturbing our rest. We can’t contain the wallabies hopping from bags into freedom, or the trees towering over it all. We spend our days attempting to restore land that will never, and can never belong to us. For the sake of our children, and our… Read More
Written By Ishtar & Gavin The Carpe Terra Group has marched through the busy streets of Rome — a big switch from the countryside where we started! Our bellies are full with pasta and pizza — as expected. On our first day, we met our new Italian language teacher, Michaela, from whom we learned to ask, “Come ti chiami?” and “Come sai?”. To this we answer, “Mi chiamo Terra Group!”… Read More
Written By Nina Ukiah and I (Nina) took over as leaders of the week, starting off with an early drive to the Iao Valley. In this historically sacred and special river drainage, we met up with Ua, Lizzy and their dog, Joi, from Kipuka Olowalu. The group hiked through the valley to a spot very special to Ua. There we all collected Ti leaves that we all then later used… Read More
Written By Kelli “OH SH*T, COME CHECK OUT THIS BUG!!” This was by far the most commonly used phrase upon arriving at the beautiful seed-saving farm known as Pun Pun. To say this week started out challenging would be an understatement, although to be quite fair the “Ajarns,” as we called the wonderful Pat Nom and Petchara from the eco-lodge, spoiled the heck out of us. Upon arriving at the… Read More
Written By Sofia & Sam Off to Xela! The group piled into the cars and started the 5 hour drive to the big city. After lots of twists and turns, we stopped at a beautiful lookout (where we were able to see Lake Atitlan!) and ate some much needed lunch. We arrived in Xela and got an introductory tour of the hostel and the city. The group later explored the… Read More
Written By Abby and Mike H After a beautiful start to the program at the heavenly EarthLodge above Antigua, the group braved the infamous hill out, and we made our way to Comalapa. A supermarket stop, winding roads, and way too much ice cream eaten with measuring spoons later, we arrived at our next destination: Long Way Home. Our main-man, Omar, showed us around the school and property where we… Read More
Written By Elise & Issy Come Monday morning, Elise and Issy spend their first day as leaders, waking everybody up for our first day at Kipuka Olowalu. The group spent the morning cleaning up plantain trees and clearing the surrounding area while also exploring the river and getting to know the amazing staff. After lunch, the group took a trip to Target to pick up essentials (candy and sleeping supplies)… Read More
Written By OEs, Adam & Megan The Carpe Terra program began their journey in the stunning region of Umbria, the green heart of Italy. This could not have been a more perfect beginning to the environmental focus of our semester, staying at the impressive family-run farm of Adolfo and Darcy, who have tenderly loved and cultivated this land for over 20 years.
Students were welcomed with a traditional Italian meal… Read More
Written by Samantha S̄wạs̄dī kha! Or in English, hey! This is Samantha coming at you from a beautiful Eco Lodge in Mai Rim.
When we all met in the airport there was a tangible air of excitement and anticipation. We savored our last American meals and chatted about the mix of emotions that were shared for our coming journey. Our flights went quite well (aside from some very off plane… Read More
Written By OEs, Ryan & Lauren Standing in a semi-circle on top of a small hill half a world away from the country where we first met, the 14 of us gazed out into the milieu of yellow, orange, pink, purple, white, and blue permeating the skies and our faces alike. The setting sun’s rays hit us, and we forgot to think of the distant lands that sun was heading… Read More
Written By OEs Mara & Matt We are coming to you from the ever rainy and evermore stunning hills of Guatemala. Our first few days as a group have been spent tucked away above Antigua, Guatemala’s old capital, at the aptly named Earthlodge. The food has been unreal – some have even said it slaps and is gas – as we have been served homemade bread and tortillas and fresh… Read More
Written By OEs, Stace & Forrest The Aloha Semester started with a bang. All seven students arrived at the Kahului Airport safe, excited, and a little bit groggy. Everyone was blown away by the coastal views on the way to Camp Olowalu. We were surprised to find you can see the other islands from the coast of Maui. We made it back to camp, set up tents, grabbed some pizza,… Read More
We’re happy to report that all Hawai’i ALOHA students have arrived safely to Maui! The group is happy to finally be together and are looking forward to the journey ahead. They’ll be posting blogs here throughout the semester, so stay tuned for more updates!… Read More
