Written by Bitsy Bond-Perez, a student from our non-profit partner Carpe Mundi February 29th: From February 25th to March 3rd we are staying in Protovillage! “A prototype of a resilient rural community.” And by rural they mean that, in the state of Andhra Pradesh we are 25 minutes away from the closest village. We are surrounded by all types of trees and plants in mostly flat farmland. Besides the houses… Read More
Written by Kailash Biswa and Lucas Barrera, students from our non-profit partner Carpe Mundi Since we came, we’ve been to a lot of places, seeing new things. Temples, shrines, new land…We visited the moon, the sun, and the earth. While we were flying across Russia, 18 hours, 13,000 Kilometers away…
We’ve been very busy, going from place to place. Chai shops, watermelon stands, and the loud, busy city of Bangalore.… Read More
Written by Kyla Wendel, 2023-24 Latitudes StudentExperiencing the Beauty of Port Douglas Having been in Queensland my last semester, I thought I was prepared for the sheer beauty that is Port Douglas but I was mistaken. Already a month into my stay and I’m still in awe of my surroundings. The beautiful beaches and the tropical trees that surround them are jaw-dropping. I’ve been able to appreciate the natural… Read More
Written by Kora Battleson, 2023-24 Latitudes StudentExperience in Camarones, Ecuador: My experience this semester in a small town called Camarones (shrimp) along the coast of Ecuador has been incredible. One thing I love about the work I do is every day is different with some sort of surprise.
My week typically begins and ends with a hike through the reserve which usually takes about 4 hours to monitor monkeys.… Read More
Written by Central America Students, Ari Cochrane & Jess Solit Greetings from our team’s latest adventure! We ventured to Comalapa to collaborate with Long Way Home (LWH), an organization dedicated to sustainable living and community development. Here’s a glimpse of what we’ve been up to: Learned about sustainable living practices
Worked on a retaining wall made out of tires
Helped build houses out of cob (dirt, sand, water, pine needles)… Read More
Written by Italy & Greece Overseas Educators, Ariana and MeganBuongiorno from the Terra Overseas Educators! Ariana and Megan have enjoyed connecting with each of you over this past week in preparation for our European adventure, and we hope you’re as excited as we are that we’ll soon be on our way to Roma! Bellissimo! A few fun facts about your fearless leaders: Irish Dancing Bookworm and Cat Lover Ariana… Read More
Written by Central America Overseas Educators, Jasmin & MalcolmHola a nuestras familias y amigos! We’ve had a great few days in Antigua, one of the larger cities here in Guatemala. Our groups flew into Guatemala City and we made our way to Hostel Hopa, our home for the next few days. Our group was finally together when the LAX crew pulled up and joined us for breakfast after a… Read More
Written by India & Nepal Overseas Educators, Soumya and AndrewGreetings earthlings! Here we are in rainy Portland, just returned from a rambunctious scavenger hunt through the hallowed halls of Forest Park. Along the way, we got to know each other as co-leaders, enjoyed a delicious meal of red curry and vegan cheesecake, and spotted some really cute woodpeckers. Soumya’s Discoveries of Andrew: Andrew was once attacked by an owl… Read More
Written by Central America Overseas Educators, Jasmin & MalcolmHola chiques! We hope everyone is getting as excited for the semester as we are! We’re here in Portland, Oregon at Carpe Diem Headquarters reviewing our program itinerary, policies, curriculum, and more to fully prepare for our time together. This being the first time we’ll lead a trip together, we’ve also been getting to know each other and learned some fun… Read More
Written by Central America Overseas Educators Malcolm and Jane Happy end of program to our wonderful students, and to all of their parents and family and friends waiting to greet them at home! This semester simultaneously feels like it flew by, and it feels like we’ve been together and known each other for so much longer than just 10 weeks. We have just enjoyed our last couple days in Costa… Read More
Written by Italy & Greece Overseas Educators, Tara & Ariana We embarked on our student direct travel pizza mission in Napoli! Eating pizza, island hopping, and visiting mystical ruins. We maxed our selves out with pizza and pastries. Clocking 30,000 steps a day trying to soak in the most of the days we had left. Leaving Napoli we were back in Rome, and smelling the end course. We started… Read More
Written by Central America Student, Sophie N. This was our last full week as a group, we spent it in Drake Bay mostly scuba diving. We met great directors that guided us along the way and met our needs while diving. On Thursday, since we wouldn’t be spending Thanksgiving with our families, we decided to plan a Friendsgiving in which everyone was split into pairs and asked to make a… Read More
Written by South Pacific Overseas Educators, Soumya & Forrest To my beloved superpoopers,
We came together like the Daintree River and parted ways many moons later like its many tributaries. Along the way, we lived and laughed through seventy beautiful, challenging, sweaty, hilarious, eye-opening, wild and wonderful days.
There are so many moments I look back on… a befuddling, chaotic few hours at the Sydney airport when we realized we’d… Read More
Written by Italy & Greece Overseas Educators, Meg & Mary And that’s a wrap! The Terra group has officially come to the end of its journey. This past week we stayed at Re-green, an amazing village nestled in the mountains of Akrata. The volunteers and village members that live there practice and promote permaculture principles, and were generous enough to let us into their community for a week. Our… Read More
Written by Central America Students, Lily & Matilda This last week we rode, climbed and scrambled up the steep Permacultures farm sides of Maztatal Ranch!
From herbal tours to chocolate adventures, night walks, and even cooking with our host family, it really feels like we did it all!
But that’s so broad, so what did we get yo to? In more specific terms:
We started off fighting the brutal sun… Read More
Written by South Pacific Students, Madeleine N. & Treavor O. Our group traveled to our last contact, Whenua Iti. We spent the next 9 days caving, hiking and sea kayaking. With our leaders Joe and Michael, we participated in many group bonding activities; we learned more about the Maori culture through these activities.
What have been the three highlights of the week?
🪨 Caving – We went to a cave… Read More
Written by South Pacific Students, Asa & RJ We drove from Raglan down to Wellington over a few days while doing a practice run of our student directed travel. We spent a day in a very culturally significant museum in Wellington before we departed towards the South Island.
What have been the three highlights of the week?
🌎 The first highlight of the week was on our first day of… Read More
Written by Italy & Greece Students, Katie M. & Conrad I. Since the last blog we’ve moved away from the city of Rome and have been staying at a farm right outside of the city of Matera. For the past week we’ve been working with volunteers from the organization B-link, olive harvesting, visiting the local primary school, and learning about different duties on the farm like cleaning up after… Read More
Written by Italy & Greece Student, Macey T. This past week our group got to spend time on the beautiful island of Aegina!🌴Our wonderful group leaders on Crete, Elizabeth and Liam, booked a picturesque 3 story house, right on the ocean. The weather was on our side as well, allowing us to swim almost everyday! It truly was a little patch of paradise. Aegina is very famous for pistachios,… Read More
Written by Italy & Greece Students, Iris & Rob Since last week, we have finished our stay in Panta Rei. Doing day trips into town and learning Italian by a very patient Chiara. We got to explore the surrounding area and learned about sustainable living, such as water conservation, and learning various other ways to live in accordance with principles of self-reliance. We met many great people that took… Read More
