Written By Riley & Ethan This week we boarded an early morning flight from Crete to Athens to explore the independence of Greek city life. After settling in to our spacious AirBnb on Loulianou Street, afternoon free time was spent napping, locating laundromats, vintage shopping, and sampling the wide variety of cheese pies Greece has to offer. That night, the group dined together at a local souvlaki restaurant where we… Read More
Written by Natalie & William Greetings Carpe Diem enthusiasts,
Our group had an excellent second week in the mud houses in the mountains of Crete. The week was focused on further Greek exploration. We continued our Greek classes with our teacher, Maria. Our lessons focused on more common sayings and greetings which were useful on our trips to local towns. We even learned some traditional Cretan dances – made even… Read More
Written by OEs, Rachael & Adam Yasus Terra friends, family, & fans! OE’s Adam and Rachael here writing with an update. We can’t believe it has almost been a week since the group united for the first time in NYC. We went straight into a loooooong journey from JFK to Amsterdam to Athens to Crete to a two hour drive to our destination. We arrived in stormy rain and cold… Read More
Dear families and friends of the Spring ’22 TERRA group,
After a full day of travel, the TERRA group has made it to Crete. They look forward to settling in, getting some sleep, and then to waking up and diving in to their orientation. They’ll spend the next few days focused on getting to know each other, the program, and getting an introduction to Crete! They’ll post an update about… Read More
Hello family and friends of the Spring ’22 TERRA group,
We’re happy to report that all TERRA students have arrived safely to JFK and connected with Adam and Rachael. They are all together as a group for the first time and are already enjoying starting to get to know one another. They are looking forward to their adventures together – and we are all looking forward to following along. We’ll… Read More
Written By OEs, Adam & Rachael Yasus Terra Crew and family and friends who will be following us on this journey! This is Adam and Rachael your OE’s writing from training in Portland, Oregon. On this blog from here on out you will be hearing directly from students about our adventures and their experiences!
This week we have been enjoying seeing old Carpe friends, getting out and about in chilly… Read More
Written By Sheldon & Lauren A funny thing happened after a north to south traverse of Italy (with a brief detour to Venice, almost), from “La Dotta, La Grassa, La Rossa” on the Emilia Romagna plains to the chestnut covered slopes of Tuscany, from the David to the Sassi, the overnight voyage with Greek and Albanian truckers across the wine dark sea, to Hellas, and Athens, and Kriti, and finally… Read More
Written By Sebastian Waking up early and being on time for transition days has not been our group’s strong suit and our transport day to Crete was no different. We rushed to the subway station near our Athens hostel 15 minutes late and crammed into the train just as it pulled out. We took a very small plane to Crete and met our local contact Xeno. We spent the afternoon… Read More
Written by Maya S. When I first heard that the ferry from Italy to Greece was supposed to take 17 hours, I thought I was being pranked. But as it turns out, I was not. Now I’m not gonna lie, I was asleep for roughly 14 of those 17 hours, but I’m sure everyone had a great time. And the long boat turned out to be worth it because we… Read More
Written by Mallory & Anna Terra group made their grand debut in Matera under cover of darkness. We first met our Matera liaisons Andrea and Birgit at 9 at night in a murky bus stop somewhere in Matera. They shepherded us to the farm, or Masseria, that would become our humble abode for the next seven days. We all piled into Andrea’s van that would also become our home away… Read More
Written By Emma L. Where to even begin. This week was one of the most beautiful ones yet and I think we all enjoyed being more connected to nature with some of the crispest air I’ve ever consumed.
Starting on day one, another tough travel day. Shuttle to bus to train to train to bus to walk, Carpe has us absolutely mastering the Italian public transportation system. Arriving in a… Read More
Written By Gracie Where to even begin… We arrived on October 8th, after two bus rides we made it to the city of Siena, for about an hour we explored the winding roads and got lunch. My classic plate of straight meat never disappoints. After lunch, we returned to the bus station and boarded a van to Spannocchia. Let me just start by saying, it was nothing we could ever… Read More
Written By Emma and Sebastian On Friday, half of the Terra group took a 3 hour trek down from Paladini to the train station while the others enjoyed a nauseating bus ride scaling the side of the mountain! After what some would call an eventful start to our journey, we refueled with Caprese sandwiches on the hot train platform. All was well though, and we made it to our hostel… Read More
Written By Emma Arrivederci Bologna, buongiorno Paladini. The group woke up early Saturday morning to walk a mile with packs on to a bus to a train to another train to another bus to another 1 mile walk to arrive at a campground with a composting toilet situated halfway down a mountain. Here, we have been spending our days around a campfire sitting on old tires wrapped with rope and… Read More
Written By Mallory It was a busy week exploring Bologna, the capital of the Emilia-Romana region. Everyone really loved the city! Especially walking under the covered sidewalks, called arcades or portico, Bologna is famous for.
For the week in Bologna we took Italian lessons from local Bolognas, Andrea and Giulia. They taught us how to make a reservation, order meals, and also how to say girl boss.
With our local… Read More
Written by Maya S This week we found our way to Venice. Before leaving, we learned a bit about climate change and how this has been affecting the city. This trip was entirely student planned, from the transportation to the activities. We took a ferry to Murano, spending some time walking around checking out the glassblowing before hopping on the ferry back to Venice proper. Breaking into groups for a… Read More
Written By Kendall Over the past 5 days this group has accomplished many exciting and new adventures. After arriving at the hostel we enjoyed our first Italian meal together with a family dinner. It was full of laughs and conversations and this group clicked right away!
On our first full day we were thankful to have Andrea to take us on a walking tour of the town and share some… Read More
The TERRA group has arrived safely in Bologna! They are heading to their hostel to settle in, have lunch, get some rest, and then start their orientation. They’ll post an update here on Monday to let us know how their first few days went. Stay tuned!… Read More
The TERRA group is finally together! All students have arrived safely to JFK and the group is getting ready for their flight to Italy. They are already enjoying getting to know one another and we are so excited to follow along on their journey these next few months. We’ll post another blog here tomorrow once we hear they have arrived safely in Bologna. Buon viaggio, Terra!… Read More
Greetings lovely Terra Italy & Greece group! It’s your trusty OE’s here – Lauren and Sheldon. We are currently out here in Portland, Oregon making plans for orientation and getting super psyched for our journey that begins in just a few short days… we can barely believe it! We encourage you (and are also trying ourselves) to linger in these last moments of having little idea of what’s ahead –… Read More
