Written by Grace and Caroline, students on the Carpe Diem gap year Australia Daintree rainforest program at SheOak Ridge in the South Pacific semester
What’s New in Our Journey?
After our long flights, we safely arrived in Cairns! Mary and Sushi bravely drove on the opposite side of the road for the first time and got us to our lovely hostel. For lunch, we ventured to our first Australian shopping… Read More
Written by Chelsea Van Eck, Overseas Educator on the Carpe Diem gap year Italy orientation program arriving at Panta Rei for the Italy and Greece semesterCiao!
After months of preparing for this day, I’m ecstatic to say the group has successfully arrived at our first stop in Italy, Panta Rei!
It’s been an eventful 48 hours as we traversed planes, trains, and buses to arrive at our destination and… Read More
Written by Maggie and Chelsea, Overseas Educators on the Carpe Diem gap year Italy Greece semesterSome interesting tidbits about your leaders:
Maggie calls both Colorado and Scotland home and is passionate about climbing, mountain biking, climate justice, and mental health advocacy.
Chelsea, a Midwest native, has called Korea, D.C., Wisconsin, and Florida home. She enjoys spending time with her nieces and nephews, going on nature walks, and learning people’s… Read More
Written by Mary and Sushi, Overseas Educators on the Carpe Diem gap year Australia New Zealand South Pacific semesterHello, SoPac Cohort 2024!
We are super excited to journey with you this semester in Australia & New Zealand! 😊
Mary (she/her) and Sushi (she/they) here, your Overseas Educators! Mary is thrilled to be returning to Carpe Diem, as she loves to travel, share her passions for ecology and anthropology, and… Read More
Written by India & Nepal Overseas Educators, Tara and AnandGreetings earthlings!
Here we are in rainy Portland, just returned from a rambunctious scavenger hunt.
Some things that Tara learned about Anand:
He’s very playful and masterful in chess and pickleball ♟️ 🟡
He hails from Pune, India 🇮🇳
He has a deep understanding of leadership and developing a curriculum around it 🌟
Things Anand learned about Tara:
Tara would… Read More
Written by Andy and Jubitza, Overseas Educators on the Carpe Diem gap year Central America semester guiding students through Guatemala and Costa Rica👋 Hola!
Andy and Jubitza here, writing to you from Portland, Oregon. We’ve been in training for the last couple of days, with a few more to go before setting off on this awesome adventure ahead of us. Here’s a quick rundown of who we are and… Read More
Written by RJ Lichten – 2024 Carpe Vitam Community Award: Education, Spring 2023 South Pacific Alum
Finding your path is much more than following what you love; it is about aligning your passions with actions that make a difference. Once you find your passion, any action can have a significant impact. These small actions could be anything from volunteering your time to an organization you truly care about, to something… Read More
Written by Macey Tayler, a Carpe Diem gap year Peru surf therapy Latitudes student volunteering with Waves in Lobitos
When I committed to going to a quaint little town, on the northern coast of Peru, I had no idea what to expect. Google Maps showed me pictures that could only be described as extraterrestrial; but for some reason, I couldn’t shake the feeling that Lobitos, Peru was where I needed… Read More
Written by Malcolm and Jasmin, Overseas Educators on the Carpe Diem gap year Central America full semester from Guatemala to Costa Rica
It’s hard to believe our ten weeks together in Central America have come to an end. How is it that we won’t all be sharing a meal later today or waking up groggy-eyed tomorrow before another adventure? We formed such close bonds and integrated into each other’s lives… Read More
Written by Asa Poole, 2023-24 Latitudes StudentSettling into Jungle Life
When I first stepped off the bus I was greeted by a friendly old man named Donnie. I loaded my bags into the back of his truck and jumped in. He started driving down a beautiful path through the jungle lined with giant ferns, and coconut trees. After a few amazing minutes we arrived at my new home, an… Read More
Written by Central America Student, Danny Evans
We arrived in Drake Bay for the last week of the trip! Here we explored the biodiversity of the Pacific Ocean as through the week we completed our Padi Open Water Dive Scuba certification🤿. We were also fortunate to visit Corcovado National Reserve seeing many different animals native to Costa Rica. We saw different types of monkeys, a sloth, an anteater, a boa,… Read More
Written by Italy & Greece Overseas Educators, Ariana and Megan
Ciao for Now!
It’s hard to believe, but the Terra group is on their last night in Athens! Did we really just do all that we did? Whatever motivated each student to step on that plane on March 5th and fly to a foreign country with complete strangers, we applaud them! It takes courage to do what others aren’t doing-… Read More
Written by Cleo Miller, a student on the Carpe Diem gap year Costa Rica chocolate program at Villas Mastatal with Javier’s familyNew Adventures in Mastatal
Landed in Costa Rica! This week we traveled to a small and remote, but extremely beautiful, town called Mastatal in biodiverse Costa Rica! We stayed with Javier and his family in Villas Mastatal, and remained unplugged for the week, which was amazing to connect… Read More
Written by Soumya, an Overseas Educator on the Carpe Diem gap year Nepal trek Pokhara closing out the India Nepal semester
Namaste! It’s your favorite Sagittarius OE, Soumya. This morning, I said goodbye to the Qaasid cohort and our own British prince, Andrew. As I zoomed away from the airport feeling the smoggy Kathmandu air on my face, I could not believe the moment had arrived. This week closed out… Read More
Written by Ben Torregiani and Stavroula Skandalakis, students on the Carpe Diem gap year Italy Matera school program teaching English in the Sassi
This week the Terra 2024 group went to Matera, a town carved out of stone. We started the week by visiting a school where we would be teaching kindergarten students English. In the afternoon, we made pasta in a house carved into the mountain and ate it… Read More
Written by Jess Solit and Danny Evans, students on the Carpe Diem gap year Guatemala Acatenango volcano hike during student directed travel
This week was student-directed travel (SDT)! Our group embarked on the intimidating yet exciting task of planning and budgeting all of our housing, activities, transportation, and food for the week, while also leading our expeditions. We started our week on the west coast of Guatemala in El Paredon,… Read More
Written by Eden Tropepe and Kian Murray, students on the Carpe Diem gap year Italy Rome Easter semester exploring the Vatican and Colosseum
This past week the Carpe Diem Terra group went to Rome and experienced the ancient wonders of Italy. We started our time off visiting the Vatican and seeing the Pope’s inspirational message to 1.4 billion Catholics for Easter. We then had some time to explore the city… Read More
Written by Arianna Cochrane, a student on the Carpe Diem gap year Guatemala coffee weaving program graduating Spanish school in San Juan
What’s new?
We were in San Juan staying in homestays for our second and final week! Which also means our final week of Spanish school! We are all glad we got to improve our Spanish so much, but definitely happy we made it through it all. Our group… Read More
Written by Italy & Greece Overseas Students, Sydney and Logan
A few weeks back, we did part of the Via Francigena! We walked for 4 days and had great weather throughout! Lauren was our guide through it all, she was amazing! We met a nice gentleman on the first day who stopped us and talked about how he hosted hikers doing the trek! We stopped at various small towns along… Read More
Written by Central America Student, Henry Probolus
What’s new?
We arrived in San Juan and started our week of Spanish classes. We started on cultural art projects like painting and weaving. We enjoyed the cultural events of Semana Santa like the procession and creating alfombras out of flowers and colored sawdust. We visited nearby towns like San Pedro and went to Panajachel to see butterflies and other animals at the… Read More
