Follow the Journey

Written By Ryan and Lauren Our last goodbyes have been said. The murmurs of our laughs and celebrations and banter have faded into the surroundings. And the world has continued to turn even as most of us flew half a world away to return to the strange world of familiar things. The story of our journey together has ended. As we re-enter spaces of individual living and storytelling, we’ll each… Read More

Written By Ben Throughout the last 2 1/2 months I was thinking of the perfect way to conclude this blog post. Our group has been through the highs of going caving and exploring the Great Barrier Reef, and the lows of sorting trash in the pouring rain and everything in between. Instead of describing the last week of student directed travel, I decided to bring our adventure to a close… Read More

Written By Baylor and Jensen The week of the 6th we left the comfort of the Hart farm and headed for the South Island. The ferry ride was 4h and it mostly consisted of sleeping, eating and playing cards. The landscape around was beautiful and nothing we had ever seen before. After getting off the ferry we meet one of our guides, And The week of the 6th we left… Read More

Written By Charlie October 31, 2022. A Halloween like none other. I arrived at the Hart family farm exhausted but excited for a change of scenery. An intense couple of days had tired me out, but the beauty of the farm lifted my spirits. Opening the door to our new home, I was greeted by a scene that was best described as a painting. Rolling green hills, grazing sheep and… Read More

Written By Eden & Cole “The largest journey in life is from the heart to the head.” -Terangimarie This week we let go of some of the things delaying that journey, and did some self reflection to find what fuels it. October 23rd. Spirits were low. More than half our group was sick. Many competed to be the last healthy one standing, some even trying to play it off as… Read More

Written By Jade and Bridget Maori Cultural Immersion Kia Ora Ko Catskills ngā maunga Ko Hudson te awa Nō Ironi nō Italia me New York ahau Ko Jade Marsigliano ahau Tīhei Mauri Ora!! Kia Ora Ko Shenandoah ngā maunga Ko Potomac te awa Nō Oui Oui me D.C. ahua Ko Bridget Scully ahua Tīhei Mauri Ora Oct. 17 After a long day of travel to Auckland, we finally make our… Read More

Written By Raj I wake up to the sound of the air conditioning unit. It makes a sound- tick, tick, tick, tick. I am aware of the sound, yet also not. It fades in, and out, and in, like a tide. But today is the start of another day, and that is what matters most at the current moment. Not an air conditioning unit. No, in fact, today was extra… Read More

Quotes from the week: – “Tiaki mai i ahau, maku ano koe e tiaki…” (If you look after me, then I will look after you…) – Tangaroa, Māori god of the ocean – “Hard plastic remnants” – “It’s not enough to clean beaches, there has to be an effort to turn the nob off at the source of the plastic pipeline” – “Imagine being megamind” Data from the week: Total… Read More

Written By River monday, september 26, 2022 platypus sighting: after many early mornings of going down to various creeks and ponds in search of a platypus, the long wait was finally over. a small group of four went down to the water’s edge with claire, sitting in motionless silence, transfixed by the water. at last, 10 minutes before all hope was given up, a small brown creature surfaced, ripples echoing… Read More

Written By Talia The land we seek to restore belongs to nobody but itself. We can’t own the spiders or the flies, the barking owls disturbing our rest. We can’t contain the wallabies hopping from bags into freedom, or the trees towering over it all. We spend our days attempting to restore land that will never, and can never belong to us. For the sake of our children, and our… Read More

Written By OEs, Ryan & Lauren Standing in a semi-circle on top of a small hill half a world away from the country where we first met, the 14 of us gazed out into the milieu of yellow, orange, pink, purple, white, and blue permeating the skies and our faces alike. The setting sun’s rays hit us, and we forgot to think of the distant lands that sun was heading… Read More

Dear South Pacific Families, We are excited to share that the group has all met up at LAX.  I know the past few days and weeks have likely been busy for all of you prepping for this moment.   Now just the journey and the semester of a lifetime remains.  The group is looking forward to getting to know one another and our friends in Australia and New Zealand are ready… Read More

We’re happy to report that the Walkabout group has arrived safely in Cairns! They are currently making their way to She Oak Ridge where they will spend the next two weeks with Claire and Marcus-ecologists who will be teaching them about the local flora and fauna and conservation.   When you hear from them next, you can expect to hear about what they have learned about Wallaby rehabilitation and the Daintree-the… Read More

Kia Ora! (Hello in Maori) Lauren and Ryan here, writing to you all from Portland, OR, where we are busy getting ready for the incredible adventure we are about to embark on. We are so excited to meet you all in just a few days to start our journey in the Land Down Under! We are looking forward to learning about the flora and fauna in Australia and New Zealand,… Read More

Currently, we are looking out over the Tasman Sea in Auckland, NZ, reflecting on the last 3 months. The trip has all been wrapped up, and we are here as your OE’s, your friends, and your fellow travelers. What a whirlwind of an adventure it has been. By now many of you all will have told your friends and families some of your favorite stories and memories, and we wanted… Read More

Written By Kai 11/19 On Tuesday we left the Buddhist retreat and and took the train back the Brisbane. The night before we discussed options for activities for our two days in the city before heading to the wallaby reserve so Natalie, Lillie, Jay, Caleb and Maddy decided to visit the Steve Irwin Zoo. So when we left the buddhist retreat, one group enjoyed the best zoo in Australia and… Read More

(Steve Irwin Accent) “AUSSIE! AUSSIE! AUSSIE! AUSSIE!……….AUSSIE! AUSSIE! AUSSIE!” First week in Australia was CRIKEY! The stoke levels of the group were off the charts heading into this next leg of our journey. We could feel the energy of the outback coursing through our veins obsessing over the dangerous and gnarly environment in our near future. Upon our arrival in Brisbane we stayed our first night at the BBR (Brisbane… Read More

After 12 days in the remote village of Nakuku, we took an hour and a half bus ride back to Savusavu. In our first day of scuba, we went to a dive resort. It was super weird being in a resort after trying for the past two months to be travelers not tourists. We split into two groups at the dive resort. The first group was for people that may… Read More

For the past ten days, we have been staying in home-stays in a rural Fijian village, Nakuku. This has opened our eyes to new ways of life, community engagement, and cultural immersion. Throughout our time here, we have had time to reflect on our past experiences and dive into a something that might be a little harder compared to life in New Zealand. This was the first time on this… Read More

Written By Sydney Welcome back family and friends! We are happy to say that we are in our Student Directed Travel week, meaning that we students budgeted and planned the whole week. After weeks of planning and excitement building up we were finally able to put our preparation to the test! Following our week with Whinua Iti we headed off to Nelson to quickly get our groceries for the next… Read More