A Camp that Changed My View of Life
When you meet people from other countries, with backgrounds and beliefs different than yours, you are able to learn many things that you would not ever imagine. This summer,...
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Touching, Seeing, Understanding
During the month of November, 2013, the junior class at the International School of Americas (ISA) visited a multitude of places throughout the deep south, including Birmingham, Alabama, a place some...
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J’aime la France: A Story of Escargot, Lots of Walking, and the Best Two Weeks of My Life
When I was ten years old, my mother told me, “When you’re twelve and Andrew is ten, we’ll go to Paris.” When I was twelve years old, she told me, “We’ll go when you’re fourteen.” And...
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A Journey Through the Holocaust
Over the February break of my junior year, I took a trip with a select number of students to Austria, Germany, the Czech Republic, and Poland on a Holocaust tour. Whenever I tell people about my decision...
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Great Adventure… I Don’t Think So!
Hurling through the air at speeds defying logic, twisting, turning, flipping upside down, then careening down terrifying heights, screaming until your lungs burn, is not my idea of fun. Roller...
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Traveling in the Mountains ROCKS!
On June 24, 2014 we began traveling to Princeton, West Virginia to see family and surprise them with a chihuahua puppy. By we, I mean my Dad and I. It’s an 8-hour drive so we had plenty of time...
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Victory at the Giant’s Causeway
As soon as we stepped off the tour bus, our guide apologized. "We don't normally have weather like this," He said. "It's usually so foggy you can't see four feet in front of you." The forty of us, all...
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The Lights, The Sounds, The Scenes…It Could Only Be New York City
The delicately carved stone bodies posing above the Grand Central Station entrance was the first New York scene I laid eyes on. Suitcases still in hand, I was already in awe of the trip that had barely...
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Back to My Roots: Exploring Pakistan
There was a large stone wall dividing the world of high-class Pakistanis and absolute poverty. Inside the walls was a fragile community; educated, English-speaking locals who lived in large homes and...
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The Most Amazing Gift Shop in the World
Mist shrouded our 4x4 Jeep as we crawled up Route 606 to Monteverde, Costa Rica. The rocks on the unpaved road had been jostling us back and forth inside of our car for close to three hours. Very slowly,...
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Through the Lens of Panama
Everything about Panama was breathtaking; from the green-carpeted hills to the impossibly blue sky....
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World Beauty
?Something about standing alone, thousands of miles away from home, a certain beauty embracing my very being; I am gazing upon something that will remain a vivid picture in my...
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Heaven in Hawaii
After a seven hour plane ride over the Pacific Ocean, my mom and I were starved. We spoke to a few Hawaiian locals, and concluded that Aloha Mixed Plate was an affordable restaurant to sample...
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The Day I Almost Died
To any of my readers that don't know how I almost died, I'll tell you what happened.One summer day in July 2010, my family decided to take a road trip. Our destination was unknown. ...
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Where the City Leaves the Northwest Coast
I always find that the minute you go into a vacation with preconceived notions, they tend to rule your entire vacation, and limit your ability to really delve into something unique and personal.Early...
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It’s Official, I’m Obsessed with Atlanta!
Arriving in Atlanta at midnight I felt exhausted yet filled with a restless energy. While my friends were socializing I took a moment to myself to let it all sink in. Just months ago we were competing...
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Belize Mission Trip to LOL Orphanage
During the summers of 2013 and 2014 I took a trip to the country of Belize, a country located in central America. Both trips took place as part of a mission...
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My Enchanting Inspiration From Olmsted Point
Back on our vacation along the west coast and in California, one of the most remarkable stops we made was at Yosemite National Park. The colossal granite cliffs and the seemingly endless beautiful red...
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The Dominican Fever
The guide’s hand shot up, his fingers slowly curling into a fist. I grasped the side-rail of our two-seater mud buggy, bracing for Josiah to disengage the gas and hit the squeaky brake pedal. ...
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Escape Into Letchworth: Sehgahunda, “Vale of Three Falls”
Letchworth State Park is one of the most beautiful places on Earth. Located in the hills of Western New York State, the 17-mile stretch of the Genesee River is known as the “Grand Canyon of the East”....
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Ajanta Caves: Elegance Set in Stone
I must admit, when I first stood at the base of the Ajanta Caves in the sweltering June sun, I didn’t understand why my family and I had left the...
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Adventures Down Under
Travel is about more than just seeing the sights, it's about connecting with the locals and taking on new adventures that will lead you to the great unforeseen...
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A Life Changing Trip to Europe
For almost all of my seventeen years, I have had the privilege of visiting a beautiful little country in Southeastern Europe called Albania. When I was younger, I dreaded when the words “Ilira, we’re...
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The Light of the Night
Last year for Spring Break, my brother and I, presumably believed that we would spend our break doing nothing but chores like every other break. Instead, we got to venture to one of the exotic beaches...
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My Teacher Got a Lap Dance
Sometime before I decided that band class was the meat grinder of my school's curriculum, I went on a trip to Chicago with my school's Wind Ensemble. My class and I travelled to play...
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27 Hours to Florida
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. Imagine fifty two overly-excited band geeks on a smelly coach bus for twenty seven hours. Now can you see why it was the worst of times? We thought...
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Culture Shock & New Home
For two years, my classmates and I raised money for a Mission's Trip to Peru. We were going to serve at an orphanage in Ayacucho, but since this was a once in a lifetime opportunity, we also decided...
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I Left My Heart in the Heart of Art
Florence, Italy: birthplace of...
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Becoming Part of the Landscape: Inisheer
I looked very hard at a stone wall in the distance. I blinked once, then twice. “Is that a TV?” I asked my parents and sisters, just to make sure that that small, boxy shape sitting...
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From the City to the Suburbs, Experiencing All New York Has to Offer
I’m in love with two New York’s.There’s New York City, where everything seems bigger, bolder, tastier and more alive. When I look out a window in NYC, it feels like life is moving by at...
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Israel: Discovering a Land of Cats and Conflict
Israel is a place that means many different things to many different people. When I made my first visit to the Promised Land, I came hoping to gain new perspective on a country that’s experienced...
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Simple and Free
The wind fanned my sweat-sticky face as I rode on the back of my dad’s motorbike. It was our last day in Thailand and already half of it was wasted. We had planned to leave the mainland early in...
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My “New York Times”
In April of 2014 my grandmother, mother, sister, and I took a trip to New York City. Despite the fact that I had been to “The Big Apple” before, I had never seen the city like...
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Scuba Diving in the Great Barrier Reef
Experiencing the world that lives under the sea has always been a great topic of interest, constantly peaking my curiosity. So, after just completeing my scuba certification, one can only imagine my...
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The Solution For Which You’ve Been Waiting
Ladies and gentleman, I have the solution—the...
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Italian Escapades
The amount of forethought and preplanning one does before embarking on a family vacation to a foreign country can mean the difference between a perfectly enjoyable trip and a disastrous one.When...
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The Beauty in the City
After an awesome six days in New York City, I wanted to share my experiences, high lighting the beauty of the city and some of the adventures I experienced. Here is a recap of what I did, how it made...
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A Staring Contest with the Great Perhaps
“I go to seek a Great Perhaps.”-François RabelaisThese words are so often quoted in travel magazines and young adult novels,...
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Scandinavian Wonder
During a vacation to Scandinavia with my mother, I was able to experience the atmosphere and life of several Northern European cities, albeit as a tourist. By car, ship and plane, we traveled through...
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Traversing the Concrete Jungle
Ah, the illustrious metropolis that is New York City: the city on everyone's bucket list and that is known by so many names (City that Never Sleeps, the Big Apple, Gotham). So, why is it that NYC...
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Here Be Dragons: Filling in My Map
I had never ventured abroad before. Arizona had been at the edge of my travel map; beyond that, 'here be dragons'. I knew nothing about flying, passports, baggage checks, or customs.And...
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How to Get to Puerto Rico Without Really Trying
In 10 seconds, I went from relaxing at home with an open schedule to frantically packing to fly to the Caribbean island of Puerto Rico for an entire week...
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What’s Left When the Frappe is Gone
In a tiny village called Istiaia on the island of Evvia in Greece, I came to accept the reality of me. My mother spent the first eighteen years of her life trapped in that village, forever under the watchful...
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What the Kids Taught Me
I have recently returned from an amazing journey to Peru. This trip was through my high school and was centered on volunteer work and cultural experience. The first week we spent in the city of Chaclacayo...
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