My Camino
Colombia has beautiful colinas: green clouds that go on forever and make you feel as though you can jump from one to the other in a leap. My abuelo has a farm with hills like these and dirt paths that...
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Pandas and Places You Only See in China!
When my sister was living overseas in Hong Kong, I jumped at the opportunity to visit her and get a glimpse of what my culture was like. As a fifth generation Chinese-American, I...
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Adventures In Japanese
Just a few weeks ago my friend had nudged me slightly as we walked through the hallways of our school. He was staring at his feet with a solemn expression as his silly dinosaur sunglasses bounced atop...
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Seeing the Ocean: The Trans-Catalina Trail
The Trans-Catalina Trail is a 37.2-mile backpacking endeavor. It wraps around Catalina Island—the island where I was raised. The trailhead spirals above the small town of Avalon, through the hilly...
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The Power of Seven Days
When I was 17 years old, I almost died while on a plane returning home from Central America.We were flying directly over the Bermuda Triangle (of course, right?) when the plane started experiencing...
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My Journey With How
How? A word used to unlock a treasure chest of the unknown during my days as a child, a simple syllable that revealed everything I wished to discover. “How does this work?”
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The Untouched Magic of Kaua’i: The Garden Island
When you wake up to the sound of the waves crashing on the shore, it's nearly impossible to "wake up on the wrong side of the bed". That is reality on the little island of Kaua'i,...
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My Experience at Our School in Tanzania
Community service has always played an important role in my life. From an early age, I have been dedicated to helping those in need. I volunteered at a preschool, a warehouse where food was being packaged...
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The Beauty of South America
It’s Buenos Aires, Argentina. The Paris of South America. A place full of wonder and mystery and most of all, beauty. The exotic birds that reside in the blue sky, the trees that sway in the warm breeze,...
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Welcome to Los Angeles
When most people think of Los Angeles, they either think of the glitz and the glam, the true allure that Hollywood brings or the hot...
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God’s Own Country: Kerala
Kerala, also known as God’s own Country, is the most beautiful state located at the most southern part of India. It is famous for its backwaters, houseboats, traditions, religions and cultures. The people...
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Kashmir: Heaven on Earth
As you step off the airplane, you’re greeted by the aroma of spices and pine, an enveloping cloud of humidity, a boundless blue sky. Just over the nose of the plane,...
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Fall in Love with the Sweetheart of Ohio
You know how in the Hidden Valley Ranch commercials there’s that little town where everyone is happy and eats their vegetables? Well, substitute chocolates and Hawaiian ice for...
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The Best Kept Secret of Southern California
The smell of roasting barbeque chicken and the sweet intoxicating smell of kettle corn fill the air as you move down the aisle of vintage sports cars. Route 66 was in town once again and the people that...
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A Miniature America within “America in Miniature”
In Maryland, a state known as "America in Miniature", the city of Hanover rightfully deserves a title of "Maryland in Miniature". Although,...
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The Time I Ate A Guinea Pig
“Cuy, quiero cuy!” These were the desperate words that escaped my mouth as my family and I scrounged the Ecuadorian mountainside, searching high and low for the famous cuy;...
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Eastern Iowa: More than Food and Fairs
I have lived in Iowa all of my life. Some people say that it’s in, or even is, the middle of nowhere. This where I come in. I hope to banish the misconceptions people have about Iowa, and prove that...
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Hidden Treasures
Hidden away in the Sierra Nevada Mountains is seemingly just another small town on the road to bigger, brighter places. A person may drive through the town and see run-down houses and boarded-up windows....
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Fun in Tampa Bay, Florida
Hi, my name is Enya and I live in a fabulous and wonderful place called Tampa Bay. Tampa Bay has so much to offer, and I urge you to sample some or better yet, all it has to offer. From beautiful beaches...
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The Real Barcelona
Barcelona is a city of contrast. Gaudi's spires rise against sleek modern apartment buildings, and crowded, tourist-geared streets give way to quiet residential alleys. In some areas restaurant staff speak...
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Getting Lost.
Castles, Cathedrals and Cats, oh my! If there were three things that my trip this past summer had plenty of, those would definitely be at the top of the list. Where do you ask, was the land that possessed...
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Evanescent Magic, Everlasting Wonder
It was two summers ago that we had taken this trip to Yellowstone National Park, home to more than seventy five percent of the world’s geothermal features and sitting smack dab...
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The Land of Color and Culture
To visit your motherland is a life changing experience. I had the privilege of doing so in 2007 when I look my extraordinary journey to the beautiful India. As I took my first step into Ahmadabad, India,...
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Natural Wonder of the World
This isn’t just any blog about some type of cruise that oh-so-changed your life. Or some church missionary trip that has probably been repeated numerous times and just gets boring after a while. ...
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“What Are You?”
"You’re too dark, and your Chinese sounds too funny for you to be Chinese, you’re not fat enough to be American... what are you?” bluntly inquired the local six-year-old Shanghai boy at the Global...
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How to NOT be a Tourist (and Love It Too!)
My very first kiss was with Mozart, and I did it WITHOUT a time machine. If that’s not talent, I don’t know what is (I’m kidding of course, I don’t think you’d want to read this blog entry if...
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The Innocence of a Child: Mexico Mission Trip
As the shore approached, I reflected on the reason of my being here in Mexico. A group of 11 from my home church of House on the Rock had gathered with the shared goal of spreading God's love on foreign...
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Travel Teaches: What I’ve Learned about Diversity from Travel
You’ve heard: Everyone is “one of a kind”. No mat
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Feet in One World, Eyes in Many
Very early in a post-rainy morning when the skies remain gray and the streets idle, two young girls travel home. Returning back to the apartment house after spending a night at the country house (dacha),...
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The Museum
We had finally arrived at the Ellis Island Immigration Museum. Only minutes after entering the museum, I spotted my strong, impenetrable father next to a stone plaque with his head buried in his hands,...
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Regalos Pequeños (Small Gifts)
This last summer I had the privilege to serve in the impoverished areas of the Dominican Republic with many of my fellow youth group members. We touched them with the material gifts and services we brought,...
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Teens Westward Bound: It’s More Than a Trip, It’s an Experience You’ll Never Forget!
After packing for days for Teens Westward Bound, the day of departure finally arrived. As my parents drove me to Davidson College, the point of departure, I suddenly began to feel ...
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Breaking Latina Expectations
I have in my deepest memories the times that my father went deep-sea fishing and arrived home with few fish. Since age seven, I dreamt of holding a fishing pole and reeling in...
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The Greatest Gift
They came from all over by the thousands. They traveled for miles. Some of them even came from neighboring countries. They walked, rode motorcycles, piled into the...
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A City on the Edge
The taxi pulsed with cool air that taunted the domineering sun above, as if it was coyly escaping its relentless blaze. Seeping into the pores of the local people outside, the sun’s rays crawled into...
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The Land of Melancholy
In but a few hours, I had managed culture shock of the highest degree: I had traveled from the wintry Milwaukee airport, full of businessmen typing on laptops, college students...
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¡Bienvenidos a Ecuador!
Until two years ago, I had never been anywhere outside the United States besides Canada, and the idea of jungles and wild tapirs seemed like something out of a fairy tale story....
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Remembering the Coast
I crane my neck, hoping to catch a glimpse of the Pacific Ocean. Turn after turn in the road, I hope this one will reveal the never-ending expanse of water. When the ocean is finally...
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Happiness at a Rest Stop
"Destination: Garmisch, Germany. Five hours, thirty-seven minutes. Take the first right, then turn left." the monotone voice of our trusty GPS echoed through the car. ...
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To Italy with Chocha
Chocha is my grandmother. She was born in Rome, Italy and had promised me since I was a small child that she would one day take me to visit her homeland. This was a day that I dreaded! You might...
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Reflections
Whether it was the feeling of being overwhelmed or the opportunity to be pushed to my limits in a way that words couldn't even begin to describe, whichever it may have been, it...
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Vaccation
I wish that you, The panel of judges, or however the winner is picked for a scholarship, could see my family in action. You would give me the money as soon as possible and...
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Take Time to Notice a Sunset
There are a few places in this part of the world where life is not easy, where the human inhabitants do not quibble over minor inconveniences, and where the elements of nature rule what is allowed and...
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The Family Resort at Lake Coeur d’ Alene
Every year I take an eight hour journey to a place that I think is heaven on earth, Coeur d’ Alene Lake, Idaho. My family of four: my dad, mom, my little brother, and I all pile into our white GMC...
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Meeting the Stones of Stonehenge
It first started with a trickle. Those few drops of cold water had landed on my head, as I walked around the ancient city of Bath. My friends and I had just come out of the building housing the Roman...
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The Blossoming Grape
As they plant the first seed of a future harvest, I watch in amazement. Sitting on the ground, looking past this one small seed, my eyes are...
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IT”S A TRIP TO A GOOD LIFE
Seeing the crowd lined up at the cruise-ship terminal in Venice, I wasn’t sure whether my mother booked a family vacation or an extended stay at...
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“Travelers on a road”.
I once heard an ancient proverb that said, “only he who has traveled the road knows where the holes are deep”. As these words slowly echoed across my mind, neither a sense of inspiration nor understanding...
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