Pink Marble Urn
Warszawa’s crimson and white, Narodowy Stadium—National Stadium—flashed past the window as I was overcome by a shallow slumber. When I awoke, we were nearing the Polish periphery. Our intercity...
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Fulfilling Her Wish
I slowly drift out of a light sleep and glance out of the plane window as we descend into Managua. I notice the endless expanse of Lake Managua that could easily be mistaken as ocean. The volcanoes,...
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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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The Island of Charm
There is a special place in my heart for the origin of my heritage. That place is called Puerto Rico. It was the most dazzling, gorgeous, and love-filled place I’ve ever had the opportunity to visit. ...
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Paradise
As I exited the airport in Carolina, I inhaled deeply—the air was crisp and refreshing, just as I had imagined it to be. I looked around and was in awe at everything I saw; I could see the sandy beaches...
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Disability Travel in Japan and Taiwan
I went to Japan and Taiwan with my mom, my step dad, my grandma, sister, uncle, aunt, and two cousins. My sister and I were both born with developmental disabilities but we have been traveling with...
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Parallel Lives
We walk, wearing our shoes branded with names that do not belong in this field of debris and misplaced belongings. “This was our home,” my mother...
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Endings and Beginnings
We had accepted a quest. A wonderful,...
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Dirt-Caked Memories: A Story Revisited and Retold
Standing inside my mother’s former home for the first time, I notice the uncovered skylight. The floor beneath it is moist with rain that has fallen through. Scratched pots and pans lay cluttered...
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I Know the World, But Have Never Left America
T?t c? b?t ??u v?i It all started with my dad, a war refugee from Vietnam. Ever since I was a little girl, I heard stories of “life back in Vietnam.” Stories that included...
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Home of the Soul-less
The 18 hour drive from Virginia to Florida was exhausting but all the while worth it. I was on my way to go to Cuba. As I walked onto the plane, my heart filled with excitement. I haven’t been there...
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Meeting the Rest of My Family
The roads are full of cars that don’t seem to be following any rules. People stand by the car window holding maimed body parts up to the glass begging for money. Men, women, children and animals run...
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A Journey Into the Past
The humidity of the monsoon season envelopes me in an embrace as I step outside of the car. For a moment, the loud commotion from inside ceases, and I half-heartedly welcome the smoldering heat as I...
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Discovering Family of the Past, Present and Future
Crying. Tears that lead to wracking sobs, the only thing you would hear if you watched a woman reunite with a man who she had not seen in twenty-seven years, her brother.
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An Unexpectedly Wonderful Trip
When my parents said that we were taking a spontaneous trip, visiting the family cemetery was definitely not what I had in mind. Traveling over two hours to Melrose, Louisiana was not my idea of fun....
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Just a Peace of the City
Scorching temperatures, spectacular tree-domed mountaintops, and narrow city streets were just the ribbon of a well-bound summer package. These were wonders of the western Japanese summer of 2013. What...
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Tunes and Travels: My Trip to An Irish Jam Session
I had not imagined in my eight years of classical violin training that I would end up fiddling in a pub. I wasn’t used to Maryland’s long lines of traffic and crowded streets. In Ohio, Rural King...
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A Convergence of East and West
I knew what city my mom was born in: Chicago. I knew what city my dad was born in: Damascus. However, I never truly got to drive through my culture and watch the images of what make...
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Returning Home: Portland, Maine
When people hear Portland, they usually think of that famous Oregonian town on the East Coast—bicycles, roses, and rain. Little do most know that on the opposite side of the United States, there exists...
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Finding Family
On the way back from cleaning out her locker senior year, she was was hit by an ambulance. This is where everything began.My father got married years ago and had children: two boys and one girl,...
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Exploring the Beaches of Trinidad
The alarm clock buzzes at six in the morning and I immediately shoot out of bed. Despite the early start, I contentedly wake up and start packing as I review my checklist—towel, fresh ripened...
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I Come From Elsewhere, But I Come From Here
The sun is blazing, and the humidity is turned up a thousand notches. However, my Western sensibilities remain undisturbed, as my mind is a preoccupied whirlwind of endless...
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Time Travel in Eight Days
This summer I did not go to the sandy beaches in the Bahamas or uptown England, but in only eight days I participated in a college tour that traveled back in time through eight...
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My Trip to China 2007
It was the summer of 2007 and I stared out the window of a crowded bus taking me from Hefei to Tongling, China (P.R.C.). My life had started here in 1996 and then I was placed in the Tongling orphanage...
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New York Is Not All About the City
The first thing that pops in a person’s head when they think of New York is automatically related to the city. I grew up on Long Island so the first thing that pops into my head when I think of New...
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A Heroic Tragedy
The day was March 31, 2014 and all I heard was crying, screaming, and harsh stomping as the noise quickly filled my ears. I rushed towards the horrific news that my twenty eight year old brother Alfonso...
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Meeting My Grandfather
My parents came to the United States in 1990, six years before I was born. Three years after they moved, my grandfather passed away. Although he died before my birth, he was extremely proud that my...
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Indian Identity
After we settled into the apartment my grandparents have lived in for years, I was presented with something I had sincerely missed: authentic South-Indian cuisine. Living in the United States and being...
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One Fraction
Four journeys. Eight plane rides. One fraction. At age two, I flew over the Atlantic Ocean guided by my Senegalese father and part Portuguese, Irish, German mother for the first time. Our destination...
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I Shall Return
Going back to the home of my ancestors was now or never. The Philippines, my parents said, was Third World: No paved roads, No streetlights, No running water, Sweat, and Mosquitos....
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Remembering American Sacrifice in France
In tenth grade, I visited France with the Normandy Academy through the National WWII Museum to study D-Day. It was incredible to win the essay contest for the trip....
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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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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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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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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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My Camino
Colombia has beautiful colinas: green clouds that go on forever and make you feel as though you can jump from one to the other in a leap. My abuelo has a farm with hills like these and dirt paths that...
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A Panorama of Life: Poughkeepsie, NY
The breeze sifts through my hair like a million playful butterflies; the sky is a singular swath of blue above my head; 160 feet below is the splendor of the Hudson River. I am walking on the longest pedestrian...
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The City of Sawdust “Claws” its Way into Top Tourist Destination
A group of teenagers, with their hipster hats touching their eyebrows, and TOMS shoes treading lightly across the path, open the door to New Moon Café. Once inside, they are barraged by the sound of acoustic...
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Orange City: Iowa’s Most Unique Cultural Jewel
What comes to mind when you hear the word “Iowa”? Let me guess: endless fields of corn, too many cows to count, and possibly no running water. On the contrary, my friends! Iowa...
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The True Small Town
Welcome to Jefferson, GA the picture perfect image of a small town. Jefferson is a small town with a giant foot print in medical history; in 1846 Dr. Crawford W. Long discovered Anesthesia. ...
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You’ll Fall In Love Once Again!
I'm sure many of you have wanted to go out somewhere with your whole family. Somewhere, where your kids would love it, you would love it too. Well that place would be the Bay Area! Which means Hayward,...
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