Metropolis in Metamorphosis
The acrid scent of cigarettes deluged our nostrils the second we stepped on Tegel Airport’s turf, the jetway creaking underneath the weight of 20 over-packed...
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My Trip Across the World
This July fifteenth through the thirtieth I traveled to Changchun and Beijing, China. I went through a program called the Confucius Institute that was based in Cleveland State University. It was not...
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Awakening the Soul
I arrived in South America with the understanding that as an exchange student I would be filled to the brim with memorable experiences. Little did I know at the time that one of my adventures would...
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A Trip Back in Time
My family doesn’t travel very often and by extension, I don’t travel often either, but with the trips I have taken, I’ve learned one thing. You don’t have to travel to the...
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My Cultural Immersion in Spain
My recent travel experience was not just seeing another country, but rather experiencing it. Recently, I had the privilege to travel to, live, and study in Alicante, Spain. I spent three weeks this past...
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The Dark Side of Venice
My greatest impression as we left Venice was that it is a dying city, although that was not my first impression. After multiple delays that stretched our overnight train...
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My Year Abroad
Growing up in a small town has its limitations, and for this single reason, even at a young age, I craved to see what was outside my small town in Michigan. I wanted to learn about and...
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A Wonderful Journey, Not a Simple Trip
This may be a little unorthodox, but [i]bear with me[/i], okay? The trip about which I’m going to blog just happens to be a field trip to [size=18]Lawrence, Kansas.[/size] My...
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Sand between my toes, but where’s the beach?
When you think sand, you think lying out on the beach, watching surfers ride the waves, and a perfect temperate climate. However, the sand at The Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve has none...
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How Many Camels? An Adventure in a Moroccan Tannery
The leather Souq and tannery in the Fes medina is one of the biggest and oldest of its kind in the world. Hundreds of workers wake up early each morning, before the Moroccan sun has risen in the...
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Unmasking Venice
I wish I could stay in Venice forever. When I visited Venice, or Venezia in Italian, the spectacular grandeur of the city amazed me. Yet, the city seemed so peaceful and quaint with...
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Treasures and Timing
I sat in my Honors World Art Studio Class freshman year expecting to have the opportunity to make pottery and create beautiful art. Within the first few minutes I was handed…a textbook. A...
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No Sleep In Istanbul
Saood Abdul-Kabir peers over me as I dipped a big toe into sleep. As soon as I was drowning in the blackness of sleep, Saood encroaches...
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Fear is Fear of the Unknown
I was overwhelmed to be back to such a historic and majestic park surrounded by tall elegant trees that were covered in a faded blanket of snow. It was surreal. There were birds singing happily in the...
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Switzerland Swept Me Away!
This summer, I had the wonderful opportunity to travel to Europe with the Voyageurs Florida Ambassadors of Music. The trip lasted 16 glorious...
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To Germany and Back Again: A Tale of Exploring and Gaining Independence
June 12, 2012 8:30 a.m. MSP Airport, Security Checkpoint I was crying. The trip to Germany hadn't even begun, but my eyes were wet as my friends and I waited in the long...
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Running Late
“Good Lord I’m late!”,I screamed as I barreled down the hall. I looked up at the clock. I could feel it mocking me …”6:45a.m”, shamefully late as usual....
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Digging
As a five-year-old, I remember sitting on the salty shore and contemplating whether or not my friends could have been right when they told me that if I shoveled long and hard, I would hit China. ...
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Island Ecology Trip 2012
This past June, I had the amazing opportunity to travel to the largest Bahamian island, Andros Island, on a school trip. With a population of only...
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Dream Trip for the Fiercely Patriotic
I stood with nerves tingling among a small, shy group of teens at the airport. I, at fifteen years old, paid for my own tuition and plane tickets to come on this four-day Washington D.C. trip...
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Strawberry Fields
Earlier this summer, I was fortunate enough to be chosen to attend a Girl Scout "Destination" program to New York City. "Destinations" is a worldwide program that encourages girls...
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My Trip to Paris. Discovering a New World in the City of Lights.
In May I traveled to Paris, France with 19 other...
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A Child’s Tribulations
I used to mistake traveling for leisure, believing that going abroad was simply an intensely exhilarating expedition. However, I learned otherwise last summer during a six-week home stay in Germany. Upon...
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Stanford Trip
My past year has been uplifted to new heights! on August 7th I embarked on a journey to Stanford University in California to attend the People to People Student...
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Outrunning the Sun
It was a bit of a misnomer. Of course, I didn’t find out until much later that there were no wolves on Rising Wolf Mountain. In this season of life, everyday seems to bring new...
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Experiencing the World, and Myself
Adrenaline rushed through my veins; my world seemed to close around me, leaving me like a beacon of light in a world of forever growing darkness. The thoughts of backing out flooded my mind; I couldn’t,...
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Peru Adventures
My name is Lauren Cole and I am a rising senior at Highland School of Technology. This past June, as part of the Gastonia Sister Cities Student Exchange Program, I traveled to Peru where I lived...
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A Surprise Adventure in Paris
All throughout junior year, my default answer to the question of how I’d be spending my summer was “the Europe trip,” which was what I had come to call the 10-day European tour...
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Grand Arizona Adventure: From Red Rocks to the Best View of Them All
The jaded road ahead radiated with heat from the Arizona sun. The land around the asphalt was dusty and cracked. It was speckled with pale green shrubs and was wrapped by forgotten barbwire...
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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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European Odyssey
Family: ”a social unit consisting of one or more adults together with the children they care for.” With that said, I have many families. One that has made the most difference...
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I’m Just a Bill, a Lonely Bill, Sitting on Capitol Hill
As I was walking, I saw this crystal clear lake, glistening from the bright sun. The lake was inhabited by white flawless birds. I saw tourist and locals sitting on the edge of the lake reading,...
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The Road to Excellence
The stage lights turn on and everyone takes their seat and adjusts their stand; the moment is finally here. We raise our instruments and take our first deep breath; everyone hears our director’s...
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Foreign Yet Familiar
Cramped and weary from our seven hour flight, we stepped onto foreign ground fatigued and in disbelief. Twenty students including myself had embarked on a week-long voyage to Paris to immerse ourselves...
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Maine High Adventure Trip
My trip to Maine was a great trip for me and the rest of the crew. You see, I went on this trip with a bunch of Boy Scouts. The trip I went on was one of the high adventure trips the Boy Scouts occasionally...
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5am Morning Call to My “Dream Vacation”
Finally, the day I had worked extremely hard for to board my flight all the way to Hawaii, was here. I had dreamed of waking up on the beach at my own leisure and being pleasantly entertained by fire dancers...
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Philmont Adventure
I am an Eagle Scout who recently went to Philmont, New Mexico. Philmont is a Boy Scout high adventure camp that challenges the scout’s ability to survive in the wilderness. Our...
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A Valuable Exploration
In my mind, I pictured groomed, pristine streets overflowing with fashion-conscious, fast-walking citizens. I’d been to cities before, I knew what to expect—but the moment...
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Definition of Culture
The number of ways to acknowledge another human’s presence is infinite. Waves of the hand, nods of the head, or even twitches of the mouth are all methods of salutation; however, the most unique...
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Pourquoi Pas?
This is me, the health freak who won’t even put dressing on her salad, indulging in ice cream and crepes daily. The same girl who won’t touch beef chomps down on blood sausage and organ meat. When...
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Uniquely Similar
I woke up to a hint of sunlight, feeling strange that I was not in my own bed. Then it came to me: I was in Madrid, Spain, 3,000 miles and an ocean away from the United States. I weaved my way through...
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Boston, MA.: A Look into How the Other Coast Lives
In September of my junior year of high school, I took an unofficial visit to Boston University. Aside from the school’s stellar academics and...
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The UC Berkeley Trip Featuring San Francisco
It was the summer of my junior year going into my senior year and I needed to go and visit my top colleges and universities that I was definitely going to apply to; I suppose that's what led...
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Dansk!
3/1/12 7:55 p.m. After no sleep for about 34 hours straight it is finally time for bed. Maybe I’m in a sleep-deprivation haze, but the...
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For the love of France!
This summer I was given the opportunity...
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British Bunting
My sister and I made our way to the nearest underground station, walking swiftly past the plethora of shops lining Oxford Street as light, but steady rain fell. Taking the Jubilee Line from Bond...
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