Italy: The Path of the Gods
The narrow, serpentine road hugs the hillside, rocks and vegetation to the left, a sheer drop to the Mediterranean to the right. We’re taking the Sita...
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Breakthrough
Bzzz! We were constantly swatting away persistent mosquitoes which craved our blood, dehydrated from the sweat pouring off our bodies, and sore from the backpacks that felt like a pack of elephants....
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The Way That Water Washes Over
If I had to pick one thing, for-sure, that I love most about Thailand, it would be the rain. Where I'm from (San Francisco, I tell everyone I meet, because it's close-by anyways and far more well-known),...
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Of Heat and Humanity
The heat slipped into Los Angeles, catching us unaware. Was that the inkling of a coming heat wave, or just a warm breeze? Were those clouds in the distance? Surely, the morning fog meant a mild day? By...
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Climbing to New Caledonia
The American flag waved above me as I paraded across stage with forty other Americans all wearing red white and blue. We were surrounded by the reds, whites, greens and yellows of twenty-six other flags...
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Setting Foot in a Nation of Faith and Resilience
A blank computer screen… This is the scholarship applicant’s dreaded nightmare, yet at the same time, the cherished dream of countless poverty-stricken Filipino sidewalk dwellers. Gratefully exchanging...
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A Final Night to ‘Never Forget’- The Journey Between Summer Camp and Auschwitz
My whole life revolved around summer camp. I would dream of climbing onto the bus and taking off for another summer spent lakeside with my best friends at Emma Kaufmann Camp. The school...
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Pompeii Dreams
Young and hopeful, I dreamed of seeing the places from my "Who Was" books and History Channel documentaries. I wrote stories of going to Egypt and discovering King Tut’s tomb for myself. I wished...
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Dance is the Universal Language
I stood center-stage in a colorful costume and stared out into the crowd eagerly filling the cobblestone square. Beyond, the Sudety mountains stood proudly before a glowing sunset. The music began,...
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New York Two Ways
The air is sharp, like the people who glance at our mini-man for but a second before discerning our place as outsiders looking into their world. The pale, yet colorful, cynical,...
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Pilatus: The Dragon’s Mountain
LUCERNE, SWITZERLAND. 1421. It’s summer, when the snows have finally receded back into the fang-like peaks of Mount Pilatus. The small lakeside village rests peacefully...
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Fifteen Cent Priceless Glossy 4×6’s
I can still see myself standing in the middle of the Budget parking lot, basking in the scent of rental cars, trying to imprint the moment in my memory for the rest of my...
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An Evaluation of Public Transportation or, That One Time I Went to New England and Couldn’t Rent a Car
1. Airplane We arrived at the airport at approximately 4:15 the morning of November 11. My mother, my sister and I were taking a couple days to visit some colleges. We were flying into Laguardia that...
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Uprooted in Gold
It was that night by the gas station when I felt it. A liquid, a lightness, kind of like the golden air over my shoulder as I sat on the curb. For a moment it was stretched out soft, carrying me with...
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A Different Bird
I had been counting the days, then the hours during the plane ride. Finally I am in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, my home, the place I had been longing for the past year. And yet, back in the city, I feel...
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The Secret Behind the Twigs
When I looked at the island on the horizon, there wasn’t anything pretty to look at. After all, it was very small, like a child had stuck a small group of leafy branches into the middle of a puddle....
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One Ola at a Time
Waving goodbye to my chaperones and fellow exchange students, all of the excitement that had built inside me on the 12-hour plane ride to Costa Rica turned to dread as I realized that my classroom...
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An Unfortunate Day on the River
Skin blistering heat. River water moving as slow as an act of Congress. Disappointment after every turn from hope that we would soon reach the end. Our family’s much anticipated white water rafting...
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God Was Having A Good Day When He Made Alaska
Alaska is more a humbling experience than anything else. There’s something beautiful in every direction you look. My dad knew this when he planned our day in Juneau....
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Battling on the Courts: A Dallas Story
Red, white, and blue. Patriotic colors fly through the sky as we celebrate America’s independence. Scurrying out the door to enjoy the fireworks, the phone echoes through the empty house. Usually...
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Memories Are Amusing
I remembered serenity: crunchy, sweet and sour bowls of chaat in outside cafés, aimless walks down busy streets admiring lavish storefronts, gentle, white flowers, tumbling from trees above. Memories...
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The Boardwalk Where Footsteps Align
The way Coney Island is, you can never pinpoint how exactly it’s supposed to feel; it’s different every time. On the last day I visited it felt especially gritty, from the way the gray overcast...
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Looking Through The Conch
The soft whir of the air-conditioner permeates the small study room as I lay on a bamboo mat, staring up at our makeshift mosquito net with my sister breathing...
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More Than a Postcard
Contrary to popular belief, there is more to the Hawaiian Islands than what is portrayed on a postcard. I myself had been to Hawaii before, but at the time I too was mesmerized by the commercialized...
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The Universal Language: Ice Cream Cones and Crayola Crayons
My eyes grew sleepy as winding hills consumed my view, sloping gently into the background with no sign of relapse. I watched as sunflowers danced in the wind and wildflowers mingled haphazardly; the colors...
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The Big Blue
I have visited thousands of places, dozens of countries, lived through marvelous adventures, but nothing will ever compare the amazing experience I had in Polynesia. I was sixteen, I loved swimming...
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When in Rome (Or Assisi)
There are those vacations that leave you with fond memories, and there are those that leave you forever changed; my trip to Assisi was of the latter. After enduring a grueling five-hour layover, a turbulent...
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Fistula Repair in Ethiopia
While working at my uncle’s diagnostic clinic, I was invited to watch four surgeries at the Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Fistula Hospital. I was nervous and excited to be in such an important place! Even...
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Remember Me
Shoes. Piles of dark, weathered, worn shoes. If they could speak, they would disclose secret tales, too ghastly to imagine. The leather-bound soles might sigh, weep, and hesitate to tell about the arduous...
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Monterrey: The City of Mountains and of My Heart
Even though I travel to Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico every year in the summer, the city never ceases to amaze me and every time I leave, I feel as though...
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How Paris Showed Me the Stars
All the sounds fade away as the doors close and suddenly I am apprehensive, unsure and excited all at once. The elevator is packed with people who have come from all over the world for this moment....
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Rediscovering Nepal
In the summer of 2014, my mother, father, brother, sister, and I traveled to my parents’ homeland: Kathmandu, Nepal. We hadn’t visited Nepal since 2007 to catch up with relatives, but this time...
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Waters of Freedom
Dictators have had a horrible history throughout the world, and although they are not prevalent in the United States, I found my life being controlled, not by a person, but by fear. My fear of doing...
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The Little Things Can Change a Lifetime
Winding cobblestone roads, with walls seemingly growing ever closer, until even the smallest Fiat can barely squeeze through. Frigid stream water, rushing down from the heights of the Alps. Old buildings,...
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A Trip To Ecuador: Finding Beauty in More Than One Form
Sitting there, looking out the window, I was in awe at the beauty that the world had to offer. I was used to the dull brown desert of Las Vegas, where you’d be lucky to find a single patch of green...
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My Adventure in India
Travelling is a mentality. Am I willing to start the adventure? Vulnerable enough to step out the door to learn more about others, and, by application, myself? Not a tourist, but someone...
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Dubai: A “Tale of Two Cities”
When you think of Dubai what’s the first thing that comes to mind? If the first thing you thought of was money, mansions, or even people with monkeys for pets then you were a lot like me in...
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Solving Indonesia
When I visited Indonesia in July 2015, I stayed with my cousins in Jakarta. They were both boys. My older brother easily joined their FIFA battles and Grand Theft Auto missions on the PlayStation...
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Why I Will Always Belong to India
The rancid odor of pollution and cow dung penetrated my lungs as we emerged from the doors of the Delhi international airport, and the usual a crowd of luggage carriers and taxi cab drivers began their...
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The Beauty in Simplicity
The hot sticky humid air hung over the boisterous city of Kollam, Kerala. I gripped the polyester seating of the dilapidated rickshaw as it jackknifed to the right to swerve around another wayward goat....
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Smaller Moments
I have never walked through Roman Catacombs, gazed from above Niagara Falls, or even seen the Grand Canyon. I cannot tell stories of how I trekked the Amazon, share how I navigated Tokyo, or preach...
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The Rising Sun of India
The splash of vibrant fuchsia mixed in with a tinge of twinkling turquoise and a glimmer of iridescent crimson backdropped with lofty mountains was enough to complete my mental photograph of the incredible...
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Our Foundation, Where the Mountains Meet the Water
Standing on a rock, overlooking the fjord with small ships crawling along, he turned to me. Kåre said, “This is where your great, great, grandfather stood and dreamed of America.” Never before...
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From Here to Jerusalem
My grandmother scowled at me as we boarded the airplane. Much to my vexation, my subtle acting had not payed off; she had seen right through my futile smiles and unavailing grins. “Family fun,”...
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It Didn’t Bother Grandpa
When we arrived at the secluded, run-down looking beach house, it was just about the opposite of paradise. The cracked and peeling chalk white paint, the jungle of palm trees and overgrown greenery...
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Love at First Animal Towel
Carnival cruises tend to be known for their exotic destinations, staff aiming to please, and a trip of a lifetime. Yet those weren’t what made my 4 day trip to Cozumel so memorable. That was all because...
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A Change in Me
My favorite Broadway musical is Disney's "Beauty and the Beast." After returning home from being held as the Beast's captive, Belle sings "For now I love the world I see -- no change of heart, a change...
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