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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The Language of Kindness
A gentle breeze blew through the vivid green rice fields and made the sea shell wind chimes above me sway. I was surrounded by the mountainous green hills of northern Thailand, but I wasn’t paying...
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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....
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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...
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Finding Peace in Hiroshima
We stared with hands clasped over our open mouths and eyes glued to the figures before us. They were bathed in the red of their own blood, burned skin, and the flames that surrounded them. Their clothes...
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Old New World
Bullet holes still dot the walls outside the Pergamon Museum...
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The City of Lost Souls
Although my story is not considerably phenomenal, it is unique. Because unlike most, I will not tell you a memory of greatness, but rather one of realization. When asked about your...
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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...
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A Day in the Life of Japan
This past June I flew to Japan. I was deliriously underprepared for the experience that awaited me. I had crossed the Pacific Ocean to attend Tokyo’s...
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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...
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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.
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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...
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Journey Back to Darwin
“Stepping out of an airplane into the balmy, pleasant air of Baltra Island is definitely not the way Charles Darwin made it to the Galápagos Islands,” I thought to myself, as I walked toward the...
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The Silk of Uncertainty—My Tentative Journey Underground the Guatemalan Jungle
My eyes are bleary, eyelashes split by Guatemalan sun. My hair is damp and tangled in hot, wet air. I tug a tee-shirt over the damp swimsuit that I must have fallen asleep in. I hope there aren’t...
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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,...
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The Eerie Struggle
We were waiting in line to go to the top of the Empire State Building. Our time was ticking and we only had 3 hours left in the city at most. To start off our impromptu 5 hour excursion, I witnessed...
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The Last Homely House
I'm the kind of person who is easily enthralled by the romanticized ideas of adventure. Having always loved fantasy novels and the like, the concept of exploring something...
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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...
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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...
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The Summit—Climbing the Philippines’ Highest Peak
The morning was cool and damp as I carefully stepped onto the rainy trail littered with dead leaves. I was zipped into my waterproof jacket to stay warm (and as dry as possible). FINALIST 2015...
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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...
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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.
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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...
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Get Lost in Paris on June 21st
There is no better time to plan a trip to France than in late June when the temperature is 70°F all day and the sun doesn’t set until 11:00 at night. While I did know that being in Paris during...
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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...
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