From Gulf Shores to Skyscrapers
From the excruciating packing for the trip there, to the heart-wrenching packing for the way home, New York City had slowly crept into my heart, calling itself home. Coming from a small town...
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Coffee is the Universal Language
During my sophomore year of high school, I was fortunate enough to be able to travel to Austria with my school choir for a week long performance tour. The historic cities of Salzburg and Vienna provided...
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A Spanish Walk to Remember — A Week of Camino de Santiago
As I gazed up at the arched cathedral ceilings, held aloft by massive Romanesque columns, my mind wandered during mass as I thought about the week my family had just spent completing the Camino de Santiago. ...
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Dolphins and Sea Lions and Whales, Oh Alaska!
Imagine this: you stand on a dock beside a silver boat, preparing to board. The spruce-scented air caresses your face, promising gentle waves in the blue water of Resurrection Bay. Before you step onto...
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Flipped by Mountain Fork
My parents were singing to old rock songs on the radio. My younger sister Emma and friends Rose and Ella were in the back seat with me laughing at ridiculous pictures on Instagram.“Look at...
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Exhilarating Moments in South Africa!
I believe that traveling is meant for exploring things outside of your normal, everyday life. In September 2011, my family visited our friends in Johannesburg, South Africa, and we decided to...
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The Old and the New
This past summer of 2015, I joined my Japanese class from my high school on a short exchange program in Japan, a beautiful country very different from my familiar America.SEMI-FINALIST 2015...
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Superfamily
“Caution: Trail not maintained. Use not recommended.” I think that is an accurate representation of my family vacations. My mom has...
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From Textbooks To Reality
I stand on the beach of Colleville –sur-Mer in lower Normandy, France feeling the chill rise from the ocean. The longer I stand upon the same sand that over 2000 men died fighting for, historic stories...
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Becoming a Global Citizen
In the summer of 2014, I had the opportunity to travel to Europe with People to People Student Ambassadors, a study abroad program created by President Eisenhower. With a group of 36 high school students...
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Discover Yourself: One Journey At A Time
A gust of warm spring air strikes the open windows of the 768-step tall cathedral. The soft breeze sweeps beneath...
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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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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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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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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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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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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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Wonders That Surround Me
They remind me of tsunami waves, these mountains; frozen mid-air despite...
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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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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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Path of Wind and Simple Days
Our feet, coated in grime and mountain mud, tread a path over the unsteady ground. The trail we hiked was one of indeterminable quality: it was, in essence, the very perfection of hiking. Only...
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The Day I Opened My Eyes
Travelling lets us explore. It lets us see other parts of the world and how others’ ways of living differ from our own. For me, it was a life-changing experience. I was 15, and straight out of my...
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Finding My Sister
This was a trip three years in the making. From the moment we stepped off the plane, the thick, balmy air hit me like a wall of tropical bricks, inducing the hazy, dreamlike feeling that dominated the...
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Light from Broken Windows
My family’s footsteps were quiet on the damp earth. That was fitting; loud noise seemed gaudy here. Even though the broken walls opened straight to the sky, the abbey retained its reverence—noise,...
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Beethoven in Bonn
The rain steadily fell in misty sheets, so that the landscape was partly obscured by a dewy veil. Our train chugged through damp German villages, swaying gently from side to side. The grey horizon showed...
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Adventure Was Waiting
In 8th grade I was that kid who would leave my parents for about 3 days, having had enough freedom and adventure, and come back home as quickly as possible. But that completely changed when my mom convinced...
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How Much Water Do You Need?
My French teacher organized an exchange program with a high school in La Rochelle, France. For the first couple of days, we stayed in Paris. For about a week and a half, we would stay with host families...
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Encircled by Beauty
Three years ago, my family, journeyed from our suburban home in Frankfort, Illinois, to the beautiful, stunning wilderness of Yellowstone National...
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¿Hablas Español? Do You Speak Spanish?
“Deja tus zapatos, por favor.”
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Getting Lost, Being Found
I am alone. Five days have gone by on my trip to France and Italy, and my geography teacher lets me roam the streets of Assisi, Italy, alone. My Romanesque sandals aid my feet across the cobblestoned...
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Journey To Find Love In Chicago
Over a year ago, I met someone who changed my life. As a teenager, I spend a lot of spare time browsing the Internet. One point during those lonely summer days, a boy from Chicago, named Tim, messaged...
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A Beautiful City with a Dark History
I remember being there. The very grounds where many people were sent to their deaths. It felt so unreal seeing all that remains. You know that moment that you could not believe that a part of history...
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A Sky of Stars
When I was a freshman in high school, I was a part of this program called Expedition Academy which was for advanced students who also had a love for the outdoors. From Quehanna, to the Laurel Highlands,...
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People in Paris
I received news that Paris was a journey foreseeable...
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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....
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