Tourist or Native? A Chinese Adoptee Returns to Hangzhou
Sipping Hangzhou’s famous Dragon Well tea from a small plastic cup, I hear the company representative through our translator, who talks of the tea’s color, texture, temperature... I turn...
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A.M. Accomplishments in Israel
I stepped out of the Alexander Hotel onto the silent streets of a dimly lit Dizzengof Street as adrenaline coursed through my veins; the clock told me it was 2 AM in Tel Aviv,...
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Just A Place In China
A blue tooth brush, a cartoon about a boy, and a little white dog; that’s the extent of the memories, I have of my early life in China. I left when I was 3 years old and going back, I had fancy...
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Exhilarating Adventures in an Unknown Country
After the 13 hour flight, I was ready to get off the plane. In addition to the long plane ride, I did not understand anyone. I was so scared that I was going to get...
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A Time to Reunite
When I was less than a year old, my father decided to leave my mom and I with any form communication between him and us. Twelve years later, my mom and I learned from my father's sister that...
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The True Indian Experience
“Mom, what are we doing for Christmas?,” I ask my mother with excitement. “We are going to visit your Grandma and uncles” she responds rather bluntly. That...
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Home Sweet Home
I have been craving the sweet taste of lambutants, the sticky, hot weather alternates with heavy rain, and, especially, I have been missing a piece of home. A month ago I came back from...
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My Ionian Village Experience
After arriving in Greece after a total of 19 hours of travel, I had never felt such a sense of euphoria. The picturesque white cottages with royal blue rooftops, the deep emerald green grass in contrast...
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Discovering My Roots in Koshkonong
I believe that experiencing places on this beautiful earth that God created brings me closer to Him, provides in
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Broaden Your Horizon
Being Mexican-American comes with a great advantage. Here is the thing why it is so great; I get to travel to Mexico annually. I am one who is fascinated by culture, religion, language, you name...
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USA History Rush
A select group from my eighth grade class poured into the busy Ronald Reagan National Airport, in Washington DC. The purpose of our group was to see as much of DC as we could in two and a half days....
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The Old World: Israel
When I told people I was going to Israel, the first question I was asked would always be, “Is it safe?” Truth be told, I was more scared waiting in the airport for our El Al flight on...
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Forever Bittersweet
Not always are trips worry-free and joyful. At least, that's what I thought when my mother, brother, and I embarked on a trip to my parents' native country of Poland to supposedly enrich...
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Root Seeking Trip: More Than What Meets the Eye
In the summer of 2010, my dad had signed me up for a Root searching trip...
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Meeting Culture
As I walk into the airport, I am hit with the smell of dirt, sweat, and heat all mixed together. Outside the sky is pitch black but there are no stars to be seen due to the multitude of lights surrounding...
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What we don’t realize.
Guyana is someplace that can definitely be considered a third-world country full of poverty and corruption. Filled with humidity and humungous bugs, I considered it to be the serene place on Earth....
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Eid – Festival that distinguishes the polar opposite social classes
As a Bangladeshi-Japanese student studying in the United States, I have learned to accept different cultures and values. When I traveled to Bangladesh two summers ago to see my relatives, I learned...
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An Amazing Traveling Experience Within Lima, Peru
I have had many wonderful trips with my family to Lima, Peru in South America, which a few times, we did have unexpected things happen to us in the process, but turned out making...
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The Deal on Israel
At age fifteen, I found myself on a plane with my family taking a fourteen-hour flight from JFK Airport into Ben Gurion Airport in Israel. After my freshman year of high school, no reward could have...
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My Trip to Home
As I prepare for the exciting challenge that is college, I reflect on my past experiences, particularly one between my sophomore and junior year. While most young adults used their summer vacation...
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Chicken
I barely heard my sister shouting over the rushing waterfall. My hands were quivering with adrenaline and my heart was beating like a drum as I peeked over the edge. Cautiously, I caught a glimpse...
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Exploring the Urban and Rural lands of Argentina: A peek into my heritage
In the winter of 2007, my family and I ventured to the vast expanse of land known as Argentina, located in South America alongside Brazil. My father is from Rosario, a small rural town approximately...
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From Auschwitz to the Negev
Last summer I went on a trip that changed how I view the world. I traveled with NFTY (an international Jewish youth organization) with a hundred other teens to Europe and Israel for five weeks. The...
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My Trip to Nigeria
My trip to Nigeria would definitely have to be a significant experience that has made an impact on my life. My father always wanted me to see my heritage, and has always desired to introduce me to my family....
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The Warmth of Food and Family
Every three years I get the amazing opportunity to squish myself in coach seating between overly excited tourists awaiting their new adventure. As long and claustrophobic as these plane rides are, I would...
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Jazmine’s Trip
My trip was from Mexico to the United States, during the spring of 2009. It was my first trip without my parents. It took my aunt and me three days to travel from San Luis Potosi to Chicago, Illinois....
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I Grew Up
Funerals and burials in America seem so easy, simple, and closing. Once you step into another country, it’s completely different. Traveling to Dominican Republic for the burial of my grandmother changed...
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Deutschland–June 2011
Walking down the bustling streets of Berlin in the midst of the June breeze was perhaps the most eye-opening experience of my life. My German-hungry mind, and my paternal relatives’ lack of...
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The Syrian Experience
I was nervous that first day, as my parents helped me unload my suitcase next to the airport terminal. They hugged and kissed me goodbye as I departed into the terminal, not to see them again for...
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Desert Experience
This past summer I spent a month in Israel with a Jewish tour group, and over that period of time I set some personal records. To list a few, there was longest time spent without sending a text message,...
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The Amazing Celebration
A recent trip that I took with my family was back in the year 2007, July 23 to be exact. We went to our home town back in Mexico. But this year was different. We were going because it was my grandparents...
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This is South America, My South America
Eight weeks before one of my dreams actually became reality, I found out we were leaving to the country where half of the blood running through my veins belongs; Ecuador. The images and words could...
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The Museum
We had finally arrived at the Ellis Island Immigration Museum. Only minutes after entering the museum, I spotted my strong, impenetrable father next to a stone plaque with his head buried in his hands,...
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My Life
When it comes to traveling I have got that under my belt especially with my dad being in the military. When I was around 9-10 years old my dad had to go back into the military because of 9/11. When...
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My travels to Tijuana
I've been to Tijuana with my family so many times. The rides there are a pain, but once I get out the car I am glad to have come because I get to run around. Mexico is our native country it's...
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Back to the good old days
Over the course of every summer my family makes our most meaningful trip of the year. We travel to an old log cabin in the upper right hand reaches of Vermont, a cabin that my grandfather built by...
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Two Weeks, Two Visits, Two Families
My family has always been one that enjoys traveling, however, in all of the vacations we have taken, our trip to Spain is the most interesting adventure. The vacation started,...
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No’ar Hadash Summer 2010; Discovering My Second Home, Israel.
It is July 13th, 2010, local Israeli time, 7:15am, I am on an ElAl flight from Newark, New Jersey to Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv, Israel. I am with a Reconstructionist youth...
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Journey to Nicaragua
During the summer, I discovered a lot about my father's homeland of Nicaragua. As a teen, my father and his family barely escaped the Sandinista Rebels, sadly leaving...
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India 2010: Family, Food, Fun, Fantastic and Family…Again
I could start this essay the ol' fashioned way. You know "the days were hot, the nights were cold," yada, yada, yada. The days were hot and the nights were hot but not as hot. What would you...
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Eye Opener
The exhausting 22 hours plane ride, unusual bed times and powerful aches are all bearable for a vacation to Nepal, my home and one of the third...
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Next Year in Jerusalem
"Next Year in Jerusalem," said my dad as he stared at me with eyes full of pride. The phrase used to end the Seder ceremony during Passover was finally about to come true for me. In just a matter of...
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My Internal Journey
Ever since I was fourteen years old, the same routine has always occurred. Each morning, I wake up at the break of dawn, and I see my parents getting ready for another day of work in the fields, full...
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Shoes for Haiti
My trip to Haiti this year was a completely unexpected miracle that expanded my view on the world. This year the family trip was supposed to be a three week fiesta in Europe - "exploring the world"...
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Back to My Homeland
The Philippines – it is my hometown, my birthplace, my childhood. And yet, before the Spring of 2009, I only remembered bits and pieces of it. After eight years of living in California, my mom and...
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Memories from Scotland
A trip to a foreign land never fails to leave everlasting footprints along the shores of your memories. New experiences and encounters with foreign cultures embed themselves in your memories and, without...
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Trip to India
It took me years to recognize the importance of diversity and customs. As a girl growing up in two cultures, I found my own tradition something to be ashamed of. I was just a little innocent four year...
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A Trip to the Land of My Ancestors
There I was, an American born Indian boy, from the Texan suburbs, in the middle of rural India. I lay in a cot outside in the humid muggy air staring up at a dark star strewn sky, feeling strange, out...
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