Follow the Journey

hello out there in bloggerworld, This is one of the old farts here in India, Andrew, checking in. “Hello?! Can you hear me? Is this thing on?” Crazy, crazy, cyber-bloggerworld… anyways, I just wanted to pass on a few informational websites for any and all who may be interested. I am always subjecting the group to random articles and websites about myriad hot topics, so I figured I would spread… Read More

Hey everyone, Chrys here, reporting for blog duty. Since we last corresponded, our group went on a five-day Himalayan Trek. The night before we left, we got a photo preview of last semester’s trek, from our main man Arthur who coordinated all of our activities while in the state of Sikkim. But before we left, there was a little misfortune as a result of the soccer game, described in the… Read More

greetings earthlings. we are still IN-dia. we are staying with a very precious family. they have a little baby boy named chew-dock. and a smiley cute grandma, the main character is sharab. he is full of life, dancing all the time, and singing “its chill time its chill time. ” choden is his wife and is so sweet and some what shy. sharab is allways there to break the silence… Read More

Hey loved ones, we’re all safe and sound in Sikkim, which is a groovy, magical mountain state that only became a part of this wild country in 1975. but to backtrack a bit-our last blog post said only “holi hell” and some mysterious thing happened to the rest of the blog. Its gone. Maybe forever. Our very own Hillary Brown assures us it was a great one, too. A moment… Read More

hey there people out there in cyberspacethere seemed to be some technical difficulties for this last postingand now it is lost in the vast and confusing land that is the internetbut Kolkuta was an amazing experience for all of usthere was a general consensus that volunteering was quite the worthwhile experienceI know personally I had the great fortune to work with four young kidsall who were orphans and hiv positivethey… Read More

Those who have seen the movie Blood Diamond (if you haven’t, do it) might remember the acronym “T.I.A.,” which means this is Africa. In the movie, it served as a simple way to describe the utterly complex, intricate and random workings – from the land to the people – of the entire country of Africa. Similarly, our group has adopted T.I.I. (this is India) to describe the disappointment, the… Read More

Hey everyone, Chrys here, reporting for blog duty. We’re currently in Bodhgaya, but before I get to that, there are some highlights from the rest of our time in Varanasi. Nina, Ben and Desmond did some fire=dancing with actual fire! A bunch of the girls made rings in jewely making class. We went on a sunrise boatride on the Ganges and on another day, took a boat ride across the… Read More

So we are in this amazing city called varanasi, oh yeah! lots of bonding and good laughs flowing. To start this blog off, “bridey” has officially changed her name to willa rose, which is awesome. There have been to recent hair stylings, thanks to our own willa rose, that have left the girls a bit short on the head (hillary and graham). As you may well know our beloved friend… Read More

hello out there in Bloggerville- just throwin out a test blog of sorts. we have been experiencing technical difficulties and our last blog got lost in cyberspace. Stand by…… Read More

hello everyone,sorry for the tardy post, but rest assure everyone is more than happy and healthy. We are currently in varanasi, the city lights, and kicking off our internships and hindi classes. Hindi is definitely a challenge, but we’re getting the hang of it slowly… ie practicing on the roof top with the monks across the street. The internships include fire dancing (nina, bridey, ben and desmond, classical indian singing… Read More

All India students are present and accounted for at SFO, greeted by an enthusiastic co-leader team. In just about 3 hours they will be in the air bound for Hong Kong, then Delhi. After they get settled in Delhi, they’ll take over this blog for the next 3 months-so stay tuned! (Give them at least 36-48 hours). From Carpe HQ, this is Nannette and Amy saying “Shanti bahar!”… Read More

“May today there be peace within you. May you trust God that you are exactly where you are meant to be. May you not forget the infinite possibilities that are born of faith. May you use the gifts that you have received and pass on the Love that has been given to you. May you be content knowing you are a child of God. Let this presence settle into your… Read More

Namaste lovely people…Hopefully everyone is slowly recovering from the jetlag and even more ready to begin a new exciting phase. As we all know…the last part of the trip just flew by, and it seemed as though we were saying goodbye much sooner than we were ready for. I know that Shangu and I feel so very blessed to have met you all and to have had the opportunity to… Read More

Before we move on to less important matters, let us touch on a subject that is as deeply ingrained in our hearts as your love: Chocolate Salami. Now, moving on. These last few days have been quite hectic with the Mumbai attacks, but thankfully we are all safe and sound in Calcutta. We are lucky enough to still be staying at Nalin’s aunt’s apartment and the hospitality has been superb… Read More

Namaste!!! This will be a quick blog to first wish everyone a very HAPPY THANKSGIVING!! We all just spent the day together, with the feelings of gratefulness emanating from us all about being together…and also for having the love and support from our family and friends at home. So grateful of all of the eye-opening and soul enhancing experiences we have had here. Also just to let everyone know, we… Read More

Hey everyone!We hope this message finds all of you very well. Today is our last day in Calcutta, also known as the City of Joy. For the past week, we have all been very busy. We have been volunteering at various Mother Teresa houses, such as Kalighat, Prem Dan, and Shishu Bhavan. The houses range from those that care for the destitute and dying to those that provide a childhood… Read More

Hola Lolas! After a delightful goodbye dance/Halloween party thrown in our honor in Varanasi, we departed for a “saturation in Buddhism” aka Bodhgaya aka the Bodhi Tree aka awesomeness. We arrived at the tranquil Butanese temple, where we spent our three nights. Surrounding the area were temples from all over Asia — we were able to visit the intricately designed temples of Thailand, Vietnam, Tibet, Japan, and THE BIG BUDDHA.… Read More

Hey everybody! We are writing to you as we near our final days in Varanasi after a delightful week. We have all been quite busy here in Varanasi a.k.a. Benares a.k.a. the City of Lights a.k.a. the City of Temples a.k.a. the City of Learning a.k.a. the culture capital of India. Indeed, we have been lucky enough to catch glimpses of the reasoning behind all these highly appropriate nicknames. The… Read More

We continued our internships regularly in Mcleod until the evening of the 21st, when we had a speaker talk to us about the issue of Tibet’s occupation by the communist Chinese government. We learned a great deal and even purchased some of his writings at the end of the presentation. Afterwards we had a brief ceremony in which we presented our thanks to our host mothers along with a traditional… Read More

Namaste everyone! We happily left Delhi long ago to journey to the wonderful land of Rishikesh/Laxman Jhulla, located right on the banks of the mighty Ganga. Our first train experience was quite luxurious, complete with padded individual seats, air conditioning, and food service. Once arriving in Laxman Jhulla, we all dispersed for accommodation hunting. Carrie and Amy found a lovely guesthouse on a side street off of a somewhat busier… Read More