Arizona is a Long Ways Away
I have always wanted to visit the Grand Canyon. I imagine it would be beautiful to hike part of its 227-miles of length or to camp in the valley and stare up at the mile deep walls of rock. Instead,...
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Eau de Grasse
As a perfume fanatic and aspiring perfumer, I have wanted to visit Grasse ever since I learned it was the perfume capital of the world. I have had wild dreams featuring colorful meadows with rows and...
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In the World, Not Of the World
Breathing in was like breathing in a new culture, adventure, and life - taking it all in at once. Here I was, along with twenty-one adults and students I’ve known most of my life, experiencing this....
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My Home is the World
We rumbled down the worn dusty road passing families on mopeds, donkeys carrying bundles of grass and battered taxis. The silhouettes of rocky hills and desert dunes stood...
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A 6 Month Journey
At first I thought my parents were joking. Leaving school behind for six months to travel across...
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A Lesson Learned, A Perspective Changed
This past summer I was fortunate enough to be awarded a scholarship for a trip to Bolivia and Peru for 24 days. It was with the Youth Ambassadors program sponsored by the...
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Divided by Borders, United by Blood
Paved roads turn into gravel roads and gravel roads turn into dirt roads; the pickup truck leaves pavement behind, entering an abyss of pebbles and mud and ditches. I hold onto the metal handle bars...
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Musings on My Father While in Moscow
My Dad always loved Russian literature. Every once in a while he’d plop down one of his books on my bed for me to read, but I never would pick it up. The books’ slow,...
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Lies of Pond Painters
When I heaved myself onto the dock, I was tinted yellow. I was also slightly oily, with subtle odors of mud and sulfur. I grinned at my reflection and breathed deeply, inebriated by the scent of crisp...
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Peculiar Friends: The Tale of A Goat And His Boy
The heat of the Saharan sun beat down on our minivan full of sweaty, tired tourists. The convection oven with wheels intensified my hunger and my deep craving for salty, deep-fried Americanism:...
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On Wings Like Eagles
I must admit, when my mother first pitched the idea of zip lining through the trees in the beautiful forests of Alaska, I was nervous, my mind instantly filled with questions and concerns. What if I...
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In Stitches
Blood dripped from the patient’s thumb as an intern jabbed the crescent needle into the nail. The man felt no pain, as he’d received painkillers moments earlier. Clad...
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Assisi: St. Francis’ Fertile Fields
The golden glow of the pastoral Tuscan countryside had lulled us into a stupor from which our tour guide had so rudely awakened us. He announced that we were taking a stop outside Assisi for lunch, claiming...
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The Center of the World
When Zeus instructed two eagles to circumnavigate the earth, I doubt he envisioned that thousands of years later, a younge blonde girl with red plastic sunglasses would stand in awe marvelling at the...
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Nature’s Performance
The sun was beckoning for me to join him on his daily journey of rising and setting. Usually he goes on his task of bringing forth the day and making way for the night without igniting...
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Above the Clouds
I yawned for what felt like the twentieth time to clear my ears. The sign out my window said 5,000 feet. The road...
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The Flip on the Fourth
On mile 17.1 of the Colorado River is House Rock rapid, a class 4. This rapid has two holes, a small one left of center at the top, and a much larger one directly center at the bottom after a bend....
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Tumbleweeds and Little Seeds
When you think of any national park, you probably think about a place with bright green foliage and craggy waterfalls scattered over a few acres of land. In Joshua Tree National...
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Traveling Beyond the Barbed Wire
I would go insane if I lived in a place like this. The dirt, rocks, and sagebrush look the same mile after mile, in contrast with the snowy Sierra Nevada Mountains looming in the background of the desolate...
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Embrace Your Culture to Fit Into This Maniacal Society
The minuscule island located just the beneath India is like a speck of dust to the human eye. This island is so small, no one...
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Fifty Feet from the F-22
I could feel the pressure waves reverberating through my body. They started with a tingling in my feet, raced up my torso and stopped in my chest. I was keenly aware of every heartbeat,...
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Life in Udaipur: I Belonged in it
My fingers burned and my palms were glued to the rusty metal handle as I held tight, afraid of being tossed from the doorless auto rickshaw during the bumpy ride. My purple shirt had turned black as...
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Drink It In
Steam rises from an open air cauldron; wafting sweet and spicy aromas around the air, fighting to mask each other. A dark curly haired man sits cross-legged on a layout of blankets, laden with baskets....
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Stormy Faces of My Past
My grandparents live in dusty, old photo albums. Like dreams I’ve never had, I see pictures of my grandmother holding my infant form and my grandfather sitting...
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Breaking the Ice
The snowshoe hike through the Rocky Mountains in Estes Park, Colorado was supposed to 'warm us up' for skiing the next day, but as the wind hurled chunks of snow at my defenseless 14 year old self,...
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Will I Get A Signal If I Climb A Big Tree?
It was mid-April, when school was entering its final throes and summer was tickling at the edge of our fancies. Determined to keep my siblings and me from staring at screens for all of our week-long...
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Lessons Learned Along the Way
On the fifteenth of June, 2015, an eager group of...
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Suspended in the Air: Rappelling Down Utah’s Intimidating Cliffs
Sweat pours down my tanned face under the relentless Utah sun. I am hiking to the rappelling site in Moab, Utah, near Arches National Park. My back sticks to my shirt, and my legs burn in...
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How Nicaragua Defined My Future
Significant moments in life are often connected to memorable places such as Paris, where we snuck my grandma’s ashes into the Tuileries gardens,...
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Sharing Experiences in a Tropical Wonder
As we stood in the mucky, sweltering heat of the Philippines, I prayed that the bus taking us to our destination would come sooner—along with the relief of its cold, refreshing air from the strong...
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Wonders That Surround Me
They remind me of tsunami waves, these mountains; frozen mid-air despite...
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A Thousand and One Nights in Persia
You are not supposed to break into a Mosque from a second story window – especially not in Iran. I scamper across the...
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An Indian Sunset
Our small bus inched down the busy dirt road, unable to weave through the traffic as the cars and motorcycles did. The passengers didn’t much care, each dozing off after an exhausting day of sightseeing...
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Endangered Island Life
"The big fish come in and swallow up the little fish." That is what Captain Crosby said to my family and me as we sailed out to Stingray City in Grand Cayman.
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In der Schweiz
The muggy, humid air that beat down on our travel group had been accompanied by a blazing, fiery sun. As our tour bus crossed the border between Italy and Switzerland, however, the veritable inferno...
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Traveling & Its Affects on Character
Hard work transgresses struggle. Junior year I had the wonderful opportunity to visit Panama and my distant family. Despite their daily struggles and apparent poverty, Panamanians are said to be the...
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Traveling to Make History
As the school bell rang on the last day, I could not control my extreme feeling of excitement. I opened the classroom’s door and ran insanely fast to the bus. I did not mind the burning sun. I just...
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I Czeched Out: Flying Out of My World and Into Another
Two words. Air. Sickness. I had attempted to prepare myself for the 14 hour “adventure”, but there...
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