Written By Kari Namaste!
I am Kari, from Portland Oregon. I have been given the job to share our cool Agra experience with you wonderful people! While in Agra we had a very educated guide that knew everything there is to know about this city and was willing to tell us about all the places we have visited. His name is Arif Ji.
Our first day in Agra, we got… Read More
Written By Amiah Namaste to all you parents, friends, pets, and other miscellaneous mystery readers!
My name is Amiah and I have 18 years under my belt, soon to be 19 years during our student directed travel week in April. I’ll be your blogger for this week, and by the end of our Kolkata experience I will update all of you on our final days here since we’ve been here… Read More
Written By Zevi Namaste to all!
I, Zevi, from Portland, Oregon and 18 years old, have received the job to share our Shanti groups’ wonderful experience in Varanasi, the spiritual capital of India! I know everyone says that there are countless unforgettable memories of when they travel places, but our experience in Varanasi truly was exactly that: filled with countless unforgettable memories, positive, powerful, and eye opening.
For starters, the… Read More
Greetings from India!
The Shanti group is just completing our first week in India, and it has been a whirlwind of amazing, intense, overwhelming, and awesome experiences.
As part of the Carpe Diem community, we have taken to heart the meaning of ‘Carpe Diem”, and have been seizing every day.
Each day has been jam packed, and we are now just starting to have some breathing room to process what… Read More
Dear Friends and Family:
The Shanti group has landed safely in Delhi, settled into their accommodation, and have shared their first meal together. They are already walking the narrow streets of Delhi, reveling in the sites, smells, and sounds of India’s capital city. The journey has begun!
Moving forward, the Shanti group will have the opportunity to update this blog and share their amazing stories with you. Be on the… Read More
Dear Shanti Friends and Family:
We wanted to update you and let you know that the Shanti group has safely arrived at the SFO airport. The group will go through security, and then dive into a few introduction and orientation activities led by their Overseas Educators, Rebecca and Adam. The group will then embark upon their long flight over the Pacific Ocean, en route to Delhi, India!
We will provide… Read More
Hello from the Carpe Diem Education Shanti team! It’s been a week well spent in snowy Portland, full of games, laughs, tea and coffee.
As we’re all gearing up for an exciting and transformative trip to mother India, our co-leader team is hard at work planning a great semester for our students, as well as getting to know each other.
We found that we are both lovers of tea, long… Read More
Three months ago 7 strangers met in the San Francisco airport to embark on the journey of a lifetime. Today, our journey has come to an end, and we depart no longer as strangers but as family. We have so enjoyed spending the last three months with all of you.
We appreciate all of the unique qualities that each of you brought to this journey. We are sad to see… Read More
We came. We saw. We experienced. Not many people can say they traveled across India for three months with total strangers but we did it. We explored the culture, we met people from all over the world, and we opened up our heart
s and minds to everything and everyone around us. Some of us are more ready to take on what we have planned for our future; some of… Read More
A day for Emily:
Snuggled up under my wool blanket, I am awoken by my host family chatting away in Hindi. I open my eyes and absorb the soft glow of the pre-sunrise light and take in my surroundings: the small mud patio I am sleeping on and my host brothers Lalito and Rukase coming toward me to say good morning. I get out of bed and am greeted wit… Read More
Katie and Charlotte on what it like to teach in a small village in India.
Katie- This last week we got to spend our time working at an all girls school outside a small village. The school provides free schooling for over 500 village girls who would otherwise not get a chance to go to school. Everyday we taught different classes in English and got to play and run around… Read More
After the trek we quickly came back to civilization. We had a long travel day to Amritsar where we stayed for two days. We explored around the Golden Temple and visited it. We had some bougie Kulfi (indian ice cream) in chocolate, almond, rose and pistachio and mango flavors and a delicious dinner. The next morning we tried to bring our bags to spend the night at the Golden Temple,… Read More
By Kelly Tobin TOP THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT TREKKING IN INDIA:
1. You never know where you are going or how long it will take.
2. Bring more chocolate then you think you need.
3. You will gain new animal friends (baby goats, dogs, and sheep.)
4. It will be very cold in November while hiking the Himalayas, bring warm layers.
5. The food is delicious, except desserts.
6. Mountain… Read More
By Emily Radek To paint the picturing of a sustainable living permaculture farm:
• Wake up at 6am to join the group for some Chi Kung-to move the energy in the universe and in and around you.
• Eat some delicious vegan food grown right on the campus
• Then it’s getting to work. We worked with the local villagers carrying bags of sand up a mountain, pugged (aka danced)… Read More
By Emily Radek Our travel day(s) to McLeod Ganj was a long and odd one. We left at 4 am, took a 5 hour train ride, spent 7 hours in Delhi till our 12 hour overnight bus ride to Dharamsala. We got to our cute hostel in the beautiful towering mountains of McLeod Ganj, and we all passed out in the lounge on the roof– cute group cuddle puddle, as… Read More
By Kelly Tobin Our day on October 17 started bright and early with a visit to a travel agent in Rishikesh to work on our Student Directed Travel plans. We then proceeded to take a 20-minute Jeep ride on a mountainous road to Phool Chatti Yoga Ashram.
At Phool Chatti, we had the opportunity to participate in a seven-day yoga, chanting, and meditation program along the Ganga river. Our mornings… Read More
By Charlotte Clarke and Paige Buchanan Everyone’s been sick and visited the hospital except for Rebecca in the past 10 days; talk about a wild ride!
Everything started off in Varanasi: cow poop in the streets and poop problems in the sheets. And then, the first case of Dengue. Kelly was out for the count, the mosquitos had got to her. Yet, we traveled on. What was supposed to be… Read More
