Encircled by Beauty
Three years ago, my family, journeyed from our suburban home in Frankfort, Illinois, to the beautiful, stunning wilderness of Yellowstone National...
Read More 2 min read
¿Hablas Español? Do You Speak Spanish?
“Deja tus zapatos, por favor.”
Read More 3 min read
Nobel Week with the Swedes
Never did I think I would be in a room with the greatest minds of our time. Yet here I was sitting only rows away from them hearing their amazing plans for change. I had...
Read More 3 min read
A Walk Alone in America’s Most Unique City
Hard as I tried, I could not do it. As I closed my eyes and tried to imagine just how enormous the river really was, my brain failed to comprehend the sheer magnitude and raw size of the Mississippi....
Read More 3 min read
Learning Humility
During the summer of 2015, I was selected to participate in Loop Abroad, which is a program that enables students to work with endangered elephants and provide veterinary care for the elephants, Bengal...
Read More 3 min read
Climbing to Montana Glaciers
Something looks different about glacial runoff water. While the average lake has a banal navy blue or even brown color, one composed of glacial melt has a rich, aquamarine, slightly opaque look to it....
Read More 3 min read
New York. New Me.
I couldn’t stop smiling, my enormous grin was permanently chiseled onto my face; my heart wouldn’t cease its drumming in my chest, it was as if King Kong himself was pounding his huge fist throughout...
Read More 2 min read
Peace at Last
When my parents first proposed a twenty two day road trip from our native Arizona to Florida I was skeptical. We...
Read More 2 min read
Murder On The Prospect
Visiting the setting of a book you have recently read may be completely different from what you imagined. My imagined setting of Crime and Punishment, I discovered, was completely different...
Read More 3 min read
Goat Milk and Gratitude
The plane landed in Casablanca Mohammed V International Airport on June 24th at 2:37 P.M. I looked around and saw cacti and emptiness. I was slightly disappointed, to say the least. Vast stretches...
Read More 3 min read
My Trip to Stirling Castle, Scotland
I could hardly contain my excitement as I drove up the tiny, winding road. Up I went, up, up, up. When would I ever get to the top?
Read More 2 min read
TRAVELING THOUGH TIME TO DISCOVER – AND UNCOVER – DINOSAURS, FISH AND TRILOBITES IN THE WILD WEST
This summer I got to travel through time with my family. We started our journey by heading back 50 million years to a spot near Kemmerer, Wyoming. After riding up a mountainside, we stepped into a barren...
Read More 2 min read
.JPG)
Camping By the Seat of Our Pants
A lot of families, when choosing to travel, often already have booked which hotels they will stay at on specific nights of the trip, days or weeks in advance.
Read More 3 min read
Helping Others, Or Getting Helped?
Dancing with children on the dirty streets with the rain pouring over our heads, playing soccer on the dusty roads, and...
Read More 2 min read
The Trip That Changed My Life
As a human being, I am often guilty of becoming far too comfortable with my circumstances in life. I become comfortable with the house that I live in, the clothes that I wear, and even necessities such...
Read More 3 min read
My Voyage to Living History that Inspires Within
One world blends into another as a formation older than anything else I've ever seen appears in front of me. Sidewalks transform into cobblestone roads, and townhouses become...
Read More 3 min read
Dirty Water and Inspiration
I was a travel virgin. Until, that is, my grandparents invited me on a trip to New York to see Niagara Falls.
Read More 2 min read
The 3 Years That Changed My Life
After living in the United States for 5 years my parents could no longer renew our Business Visa. We had to go back to Europe, but this was also the perfect opportunity for my parents to finally accomplish...
Read More 2 min read
I Found My Spot
“Every American citizen should stand in this spot before they die,” I proclaim to my fellow students and our chaperones. Despite my tendency to speak my mind before I think,...
Read More 3 min read
Meeting the Rest of My Family
The roads are full of cars that don’t seem to be following any rules. People stand by the car window holding maimed body parts up to the glass begging for money. Men, women, children and animals run...
Read More 2 min read
Falling Stars
My best friend, Kiana, and I first hung out when we were assigned a Spanish project. We were to take "selfies" of us experiencing different emotions and insert those pictures onto a slideshow to present...
Read More 3 min read
Éire
Sunshine that feels as though the world is telling you to live. Bright green fields and farms that you can’t get away from. And Helen, who has been by my side since day one, venturing into alleyways...
Read More 3 min read
Hiking The Swiss Alps: Vacationing to a New Reality
The sun rises in the east, traveling westward among clusters of wispy clouds. Like a saturated version of a fairytale, the world encompasses a hand painted backdrop of craggy mountains and bouquets...
Read More 3 min read
A Day in the Life of an Italian
Opening my eyes to Rebecca, my roommate, still asleep, I get up and go upstairs for an espresso.
Read More 3 min read
Millennium
As I was running along the River Thames with my classmates to catch our group’s bus I realized that everything...
Read More 2 min read
.JPG)
Indulging in Deutschland
A connecting flight, a six-hour layover in Newark, an eight-hour flight to Düsseldorf and a train to Bochum, and I am finally met with open arms of my German sister (AKA exchange partner). Excitement...
Read More 2 min read
The Girl in Stripes
About two weeks ago, I had the privilege of going on my first, actual vacation. We were going on a road trip all the way to the Gulf of Mexico so my grandmother could see the ocean before she died....
Read More 3 min read
Campus Touring Tips Learned on a California College Road Trip
The idea of a two week college road trip seemed daunting to me at first, and as the date neared for my family to leave, I became increasingly anxious and apprehensive. The basic...
Read More 2 min read
Just a Peace of the City
Scorching temperatures, spectacular tree-domed mountaintops, and narrow city streets were just the ribbon of a well-bound summer package. These were wonders of the western Japanese summer of 2013. What...
Read More 3 min read
Mission Beach, San Diego, California
Home: the place where a person lives. Sorry Webster's Dictionary but I have to...
Read More 3 min read
Finding Tranquility
We drove through the night and I gazed at the towering skyscrapers through the rain-spattered windows, amazed by the myriads of cars around us, feeling the Mexican metropolis envelop...
Read More 3 min read
Mzungu Monday: One Day of Life Lessons for a Foreigner in Uganda
Uganda is troubled with Malaria, a disease not commonly found in America. Despite the risk of entering a malaria zone, I traveled there for three weeks this summer. I was...
Read More 2 min read
A Danish State of Mind
On one random drive to the library in November, my friend Maya asked me if I would be interested in going to Denmark this summer with her. My first thought was “OF COURSE!”...
Read More 3 min read
Driving Into a Hole Can be Monumental
The early August sun beat down on the prolonging stretch of road. A “Welcome to Utah” sign had long since passed, and our rented black Ford Explorer was filled with...
Read More 2 min read
South River Girls Soccer Takes Italy
If you ever have the opportunity to travel to Italy, I highly recommend taking the time to explore the beautiful cities that litter the Tuscan landscape. I had the pleasure of traveling with 25 other...
Read More 2 min read
La Ville Lumière
Paris; It’s the city of lights, known for its magnificent beauty, delicious foods, and romantic qualities. Some people dream of visiting this esteemed European city their entire lives, and here I was...
Read More 2 min read
_2.jpg)
Joy in the Journey
The old cliche “the joy is in the journey” is taken literally in the Smoky Mountains. The real attractions there do not rest in Gatlinburg or Pigeon Forge; they do not reside in Ripley’s...
Read More 2 min read
A Convergence of East and West
I knew what city my mom was born in: Chicago. I knew what city my dad was born in: Damascus. However, I never truly got to drive through my culture and watch the images of what make...
Read More 3 min read
Returning Home: Portland, Maine
When people hear Portland, they usually think of that famous Oregonian town on the East Coast—bicycles, roses, and rain. Little do most know that on the opposite side of the United States, there exists...
Read More 2 min read
A New Experience in America’s Oldest Town
I always found myself falling asleep in history class. Some lessons couldn’t hold my interest. Even when I visited places filled with history, I found myself extremely bored. Summer of 2012 changed...
Read More 3 min read
Expect the Unexpected
In March of 2014, I journeyed with my junior class of twenty-six students on a road trip to Washington, D.C. We not only visited the Capitol and most of its sights, but made numerous...
Read More 3 min read
Striving for More
Travel is a person’s way of expressing desire for something new, whether you’re conscious of it or not. People take trips for multiple reasons: visiting family, leisure, exploration, or charity....
Read More 3 min read
Big City, Big Lights: A New Home
Good morning Shanghai, my second home. The scattered rays of sunlight that manage to penetrate through the thick smog don't quite do justice to the city, a place better clothed in the sexy black of...
Read More 2 min read
The Beautiful Disaster
July of 2014. Nashville, Tennessee. My senior year. This was going to be one of the last vacations I take with my parents, so we decided that we should take a 2 week vacation and explore every corner...
Read More 3 min read
Cambodia: A Whole New World
Three days in Cambodia... That was all it took for the world to change my entire perspective on the world. Three days, and I was never again able to understand how we could categorize Americans as “impoverished.”...
Read More 3 min read
A Day of Discovery
I wriggled my way into a grey and slightly damp wetsuit. The air was hot and muggy, and the sky was a brilliant blue. I stood in the slight shade of the building on the docks in Cancun. I was here with...
Read More 3 min read
Red, Black, and Gold
The streets were devoid of vehicles. Views of the people of Mainz were few and far between as we walked the cobblestone streets. My friend and I were anxious to get to dinner. This was not because we...
Read More 3 min read
Can-Can with Strangers
The French culture has always been present in my life. My fascination stems from childhood; family members and friends constantly told me that the French culture was...
Read More 2 min read
School Trip Survival Guide
I am the queen of late nights and early mornings, the master of suitcase-sitting-so-I-can-get-the-zipper-around-this-last-corner, the grudging...
Read More 3 min read
