Blog

Sahwatdee from the Plaekwiwek Dhamma Center!

Sabai Overseas Educators Southeast Asia- SABAI
It’s been a very eventful week here in Thailand. We celebrated our time with our host families at a farewell party at the ecolodge on Friday night where we ate, danced, performed our Thai speeches and rousing renditions of “Wagon Wheel” and “The Elephant Song.” We also lit floating lanterns, “loy gratong,” to bring good luck to our group and our host families. We said a tearful goodbye to our… Read More

Varanassi (James)

Georgia India- SHANTI
From Varanassi, greetings! THis past week we’ve been in Agra, Varanassi, and the long railway in between. Our one full day in Agra was spent celebrating my birthday at the Taj Mahal (this is James, not Georgia). Other than the mahal, Agra was smelly and crowded. We went to a semi-abandoned mall with a haunted house which gave Caroline nightmares. We drank tea at an enlightening cafe run by victims… Read More

Epic Adventures at BMAC!

Hongi Overseas Educators South Pacific- WALKABOUT
After hiking the Tongariro crossing, we ventured to the Blue Mountain Adventure Centre (BMAC) where a concoction of adventure and self-discovery awaited. The first couple of days were centered around team building activities, and learning about each other’s strengths and weaknesses within the group. Once our team was functioning like a well-oiled machine, we pushed our limits on a ropes course in the sky and deep in caves below the… Read More

Kolkata

Haley M India- SHIVA
Our days in Kolkata have been pretty full. Most of us have started our service work at the mother Theresa houses and have had mixed reactions and experiences with it but are still enjoying our time with the organization. Yesterday we got back from our trip to the beautiful Sundarban river delta and mangrove forest that is home to crocodiles, Bengal tigers, spotted deer, wild boar and various types of… Read More

La Escuela de la Montaña // TREKKING

Lizzie Central America- MAYA
¡¡¡¡¡¡¡HOLA!!!!!!! This is Elizabeth, writing from an internet cafe in Xela. We just got back from our super intense two day trek to the Fuentes Georginas hot springs. Before that we were at the Mountain School for an amazing week of Spanish study. We all lived together and had hella adventures. We each had a host family to eat meals with and most of them were related. The food was… Read More

Starting With Me

Colleen McGrath Latitudes Year
“Be the change you wish to see in the world” – Mahatma Gandhi I’m sure you recognize that quote, it’s been used an infinite amount of times for an infinite number of different campaigns. Well, I like it a lot because while choosing a place to spend three months of volunteer work, there’s a question between the lines that asks you “What aspect of the world would you like to… Read More

Coral love

Chloe Latitudes Year
Sawadeeka from Ko Tao, Thailand, my friends. It is pretty crazy it has already been a month at New Heaven Dive school. Time is flying, yikes, now three months sounds too short. Diving with New Heaven is very rewarding because not only do we get to dive everyday but the work we are doing sets it apart from simply “fun dives” (they are even more fun). I am apart of… Read More

Baby birds from Durban South Africa.

carpediem Latitudes Year
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

Pokhara, Nepal

James McManus Latitudes Year
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

Follow me to Baños

Susan Vang South America- INTI
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

Being In Awe of Your Life Choices

Hank Latitudes Year
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

I love you big time, Cambo.

Hannah Adkins Latitudes Year
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

Becoming Enlightened from Varanasi and Bodh Gaya

Shiva Overseas Educators India- SHIVA
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

Thank You for Giving Me the World

Emma Latitudes Year
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

Udaipur to Jahdol and back again

Kenya India- SHANTI
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