Here we come Central America!!!
We are so excited to finally meet as a whole group and adventure southward. With just a few days left until you leave remember to: 1) breathe 2) take time to yourself and envision what you hope to gain from your semester and, most importantly 3) enjoy some good ice cream or sweet treats to reward yourself for choosing to challenge yourself and grow during… Read More
Hola Team Inti, family and friends!!
It has been wonderful getting to chat with all of you over the past few weeks, our excitement for the upcoming semester is at an all-time high! From our brief conversations, it seems we have a really strong group, with all of you ready to bring your own passions and strengths to our new community. We are in the midst of staff training in… Read More
Namaste Shanti Crew and all who will be following and supporting us on this journey!
We are so excited to be writing this introductory blog, less than a week before we will all be meeting up at the airport in San Francisco to head to the other side of the world. Although the students will be taking on the majority of sharing our experience here, you will be hearing from… Read More
Kia Ora! Bula! G’day! (That’s hello in Maori, Fijian, and Australian!)
First things first- we want to take this opportunity and tell you guys how EXCITED we are to be going on this trip with you! There’s so many incredible things we’re going to experience together this fall, so many amazing people and places we’ll get to encounter and explore- we can hardly contain ourselves!
After we meet at the… Read More
Good morning, Sabai!
And greetings from Portland! After a week of campfires, songs, skits, and learning new ways to build community, today we finally got to dive in to planning our trip and imagining what life will be like for the 14 of us as we explore the cities, countryside and waterways of Southeast Asia.
We’re looking forward to meeting you, sampling Thai street food, and shopping for colorful gap… Read More
Mary and Adam here from Nkula 2016! The last week has seen all the Carpe Diem Overseas Educators gathered in Portland for the annual Fall Training. We have been busy preparing for the incredible semester ahead, and are eagerly awaiting the arrival of our East Africa students!
We feel recharged after spending several nights camping at the serene Milo Mciver State Park. While there, the entire Carpe Diem crew prepared… Read More
Hooray – it’s the final week before departure here in Portland, Oregon. We’re at our Overseas Educator staff leadership training and some highlights have included group camping on the Clackamas River where we saw otters, learned about each other, and reviewed program highlights. We are excited for ‘tramping’ aka trekking in the Abel Tasman park in New Zealand as well as scuba diving in the Great Barrier Reef in Australia… Read More
It nice to be home again after four months in South America. Now I have time to reflect on the the many things I have experienced during the Latitudes semester. My FVP was at the Third Millennium Alliance (TMA), a non-profit conservation and research focused organization located on a beautiful mountain range in coastal Ecuador’s Manabi province. As late as the early 1900s, the lowlands of coastal Ecuador were almost… Read More
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
Dearest Shiva Crew,
We’re writing you here in Kolkutta at Raj’s Cafe, sipping iced mango juice and coffee (no surprise there…) and looking at the Carpe Diem Shiva tag on the wall along with the hundreds of other notes and drawings from travelers over the years. It’s strange to be here without you, and we’ve been thinking back fondly to those last times all 10 of us were together and… Read More
It seems like just yesterday we were arriving in Chiang Mai wide eyed and anticipating all of the adventures to come. A band featuring Thai Elvis serenaded us as we indulged in our first dinner before heading to sing karaoke. We began to immerse ourselves in a new culture, a new language and we learned the fine art of the shuttlecock. And now it is hard to express what has… Read More
How can we begin to describe this journey? Challenging, wonderful, hard, beautiful, it is a weighty task to try and put the past three months into words that can possibly convey its different shapes and forms. Our group has changed and shifted throughout these three months, and every single student has created their path and growth in many different ways. As we hugged our dear friends Carly and Anna goodbye,… Read More
Dear Maya 2016…
It is difficult to describe the mix of emotions we are feeling while we spend our first night and day without you in three months. The absence of belly laughs, “Rocky Top”, and the ever present call of “Guys!” leaves a conspicuous silence. We have been doing a lot of processing together and some real gems have come out of it. One that sticks out above the… Read More
We have received word that the mighty Sabai group has successfully checked in for their return flight to America from New Hanoi. We wish them traveling mercies on the long flight home and joyful reunions with their loved ones.… Read More
The plane ride to Hanoi took a toll on me. I felt home sick after getting on a plane for the first time after two and a half months and not heading home. We’ve been having so much fun I almost forgot about home. Taking a plane ride to Hanoi instead of heading home was hard but Hanoi is extravagant. The vibrant city offers amazing food, night life and a… Read More
Well friends, we’ve done it. We’ve traversed the primary forests of the Ecuadorian Amazon, trekked the Salkantay pass at 15,200 feet, and visited the ancient city of Machu Picchu. We’ve witnessed community activism in Junin, and experienced the daily life of Ecuadorians while staying with local families in Pucara. We don’t even have to talk about our week working with the monkeys… The most important thing is that we all… Read More
After a wonderful week in Roatan (and a great semester!), the MAYA group has boarded their flight home! We wish them safe travels and a happy reunion with friends and family.… Read More
We have received word that the mighty Shanti group has successfully checked in for their return flight to America from New Delhi. We wish them traveling mercies on the long flight home and joyful reunions with their loved ones.… Read More
We have received word that the mighty Shiva group has successfully checked in for their return flight to America from New Delhi. We wish them traveling mercies on the long flight home and joyful reunions with their loved ones.… Read More
Hey everyone, this is your captain Travon Braswell speaking using Haley’s account again because I still can’t get in mine unfortunately but I am here to bring this story book to a closing so sit back and enjoy the last of our adventures. So i’ll start with the for some, long dreaded Himalayas trek and what was for others something long anticipated. It was absolutely beautiful getting out of towns… Read More
