Temperature is currently 91 degrees Fahrenheit. I’ve just finished your typical day at CROW. I work in the baby bird room with all the little birdies that have been abandoned, injured, misplaced, or just without a home. They are cute little nuggets but needy and must be hand fed once every hour. It’s a big responsibility and not always a happy one. More often then not, the birds don’t always… Read More
Nepal, she called; Me, I answered- and my life has been all the stranger since.
I came into this semester expecting to be nothing more than a farmer with too much time on his hands and a lingering taste of adventure in his mouth. I am now the Indiana Jones of Diamond H.S.S. English Boarding school. I take short leaves from the school to go off on adventures, I trek… Read More
Hello from Baños. After an early leaving from Las Delicias and Santo Domingo (which was at 4 A.M) and a five hour bus ride, we finally arrived in Baños. On our first day we meet our host family and our partners for the week. This gave us the chance to get to know a person from the group really well and to get to know our host family as well.… Read More
I swear that sometimes I wake up here, next to beautiful Lake Bunyonyi in South Uganda, and for a second I actually believe I’m back home. The Golden State of California carries many of the same characteristics as the paradise I currently reside in. The weather here is never too hot, never too cold. Whenever it starts to feel too hot for my Nordic blood, a simple, gentle breeze comes… Read More
Friends and family: greetings from balmy Phnom Penh! I have been here for about a month now, and though the beginning of my journey was an adjustment (living alone in a city where you don’t know anyone can be a challenge!!), I have since settled in.
Last semester, I was lucky enough to volunteer with a special needs education center in rural Uganda. I regard that week in the mountains… Read More
Written by Alanna Hello Parents, family, friends, and strangers about to read this blog post, hope you’re all well and wonderful.
This is an update from the Shiva Group, we’re all lovely and fine. We spent the last week in Varanasi, waking up at 5 in the morning for yoga classes with a wonderful teacher, starting to take classes to learn beginner Hindi, being daring enough to try the local… Read More
I remember sitting in class my senior year of high school and knowing that I needed to be out in the world. I would look at these blogs everyday and marvel at the amazing opportunities and experiences Carpe Diem students were having and I knew that I wanted to have the same ones. So, I packed up my backpack and spent my first semester traversing around Southeast Asia. I explored… Read More
From the beautiful sunsets in the lake city of Udaipur to the breathtaking sunrises in the village of Jahdol, this week has been a perfect mix of India’s amazing city and country life. We all loved spending time in the peaceful countryside at the foot of the himalaya’s in Jahdol with our homestay families and teaching english at the local all girls elementary school. Now we’re back in Udaipur enjoying… Read More
Sending you all love from Portland and remembering our Orientation just a month ago. Hard to believe you are all out in the world doing amazing and meaningful work.
Don’t forget your fellow compadres are going through similar feelings as you right now as you navigate through your own heroes journey.… Read More
What an incredible thing for two leaders to see: our entire group rallying together and completely planning out four wonderful student directed travel days! After only knowing each other for a week, each student stepped fully into their chosen leadership roles; booking accommodation, transportation, planning and cooking meals, and facilitating group meetings. Our adventure began in the remote Waipatiki beach. We welcomed our newest member, Taylor, and celebrated with delicious… Read More
The fourteen of us sat in a circle on top of a grassy hill overlooking the city of Quetzaltenango, nicknamed Xela. With the cluster of city buildings spread out below us we discussed our thoughts and hopes for the rest of the program. After we wrapped up our orientation, we jumped into the meat of the Carpe Diem trip. Introductions to homestays and preparations were made for our first week… Read More
Truth be told, over the course of my Group Semester I had doubts about my future in volunteering. I struggled with what being a volunteer meant to me, and what kind of imprint I wanted to leave in the minds of others.
I spent last semester in East Africa, specifically Tanzania, Rwanda and Uganda, and unfortunately, I found myself uncomfortable with my position as a foreigner in Africa. I grew… Read More
Stepping on the bus to head to La Delicias was a bittersweet feeling. We were sad to be leaving the luxurious life in the hostel in beautiful Quito and all the wonderful people we met. But at the same time we were thrilled to start another page in our adventure. The drive was a long three hours but but the view from outside the window of the bus was breath… Read More
We left Quito and its bustling streets and various tourist traps for the promise of a remote rural banana farm. We took three buses that first took us out of Quito, down the Ecuadorian mountains, and finally through the city of Santo Domingo to the town of Las Delicias through a winding back road to the banana farm.
Upon arriving at the banana farm, we ate a delicious lunch of… Read More
I flew in to Cali, Colombia, and was greeted by the 96 degree embrace of the Equatorial city. A taxi took me through the city, past the numerous monuments to revolutionaries and salsa musicians. We ascended a mountain crowned by a colossal statue of Jesus called Cristo Rey and soon arrived to the site of my volunteer placement: Yogendra EcoAshram.
Yogendra is a yoga studio with extensive living accommodations for… Read More
Habari,
I can’t believe it’s been a month since I stepped off the plane into Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania. It felt so much different than four months prior when I landed in Delhi, but the anxiety and nerves were still present. After a fairly quick line, I had my second visa stuck into my passport, which would allow me 90 days of tourism in Tanzania. After spending the night in… Read More
Stepping off the plane into South Africa, I did not know what this country had to offer. I walked out of customs to find the other Latitudes student Olivia awaiting me, we would be driving to Marine Dynamics in Gansbaai our home for the next 10 weeks together. It was a 2 hour drive filled with amazing scenery, it was if we were in New Zealand one minute, the Tanzanian… Read More
Just finished up with a hard, but satisfying week on the farm. Shout out to the Hart family for their beautiful place and warm hospitality. Most of our days were spent in the woods, chopping up bush and creating paths for the Harts and whomever else. We’re proud of what we accomplished this past week, which includes a long and beautiful mountain bike trail that we made from scratch.
In… Read More
We have been in a small town outside of Mae Rim for a week now and all of us are having wonderful cultural experiences, in many of our cases they are like nothing that we have experienced before. Last night was a prime example of the intense cultural immersion: we went to a Thai festival held at a temple. The primary reason for us going to this festival was so… Read More
everyone is enjoying their time at their home stays. yesterday we went to the blue pottery, a textiles and pottery shop where we learned how to do printing on very soft cotton with ink and beautifully hand crafted stamps. we also made elephant prints that we were able to take, Alex and James got them printed on their shirts. after lunch we were lectured on Indian policy, parliamentary democracy and… Read More
