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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Mother Nature’s Teachings
Scampering through the vast plantation, the toes of a young girl embraces the warmth of the earth underneath. The mass of trees encircling her, surrounding her with the sweet scents of the flourishing...
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(N)everchanging
Every two years, my family would save up enough money to travel back to our roots: Hong Kong. In the August of 2009, I returned back to my homeland. It was different this time around compared to the...
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Finding My “Other Half” in China
As I boarded the plane for Bejing, China, all I could think of was the summer that I was leaving behind. To me, a proud California native, my sparse memories of the few visits from my childhood suggested...
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One Exotic Island – Three Amazing Worlds of Indonesia
It's all about perspective – looking out from a temple across the ocean at sunset, walking crowded streets and hearing motorists whiz past, or breathing in sweet mountain air while watching the fog roll...
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The Warring Polar Opposites of Palestine and Israel
After 9/11 many racial assumptions arose as people questioned others from Arab countries. Two summers ago I travelled to Ramallah, Palestine to learn more about my heritage. My mother and I flew to...
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A Home Across the Ocean
Family is the solid pillar in one's life, no matter how far away siblings and relatives might be. As an immigrant who has lived in America for the past twelve years of my life, I have met many...
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A Trip to the Motherland
“Guys, guess what? We are going to Israel! Yes, you heard it right, Israel!” Those were my mother’s first words at the beginning of February of 2011, and she would not stop repeating...
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Changing Locations, Changing Perspective
Seven days -- not enough time to leave an impression on anyone, or I supposed. Lost in translation. I guess the phrase wouldn’t be an adequate way of describing it because I still speak the language....
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We Adopted My Sister
We adopted my sister, Maya, from India when she was one year old. As she grew up she asked questions about where she was from and what it was like there. My parents promised to take her to India when...
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Language Barriers
As a child, I never acknowledged my mom’s lack of developed English. In fact, I treated the anomaly as a game for my young self to decipher and put together, like pieces of a puzzle. It wasn’t...
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The Land Of The Passionate People
Growing up with Nigerian parents and listening to them talk about their "home" all the time, I always wondered what it was like in Nigeria. Was is really that hot? Was it like America? Does my dad really...
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Walking the Sahara Desert and Holding My New Brother
I don’t know if any trip will be as important as the one I took last November. My parents decided to adopt a baby from Eithopia and accepted a 8 month old boy from a tribal village. My sister...
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Tehran, Iran: My Story
Iran isn’t the kind of place that one might visit over summer vacation, but for my family, it was an ideal destination. My dad is Iranian and most of his family still lives in Iran. I had been to...
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Merida, Yucatan
This Past summer (2009) I was blessed with the Chance to Go to my parent’s homeland of Merida, Yucatan. Also known as the home of one of the Seven Wonders of the World: Chichenitza. It...
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To Italy with Chocha
Chocha is my grandmother. She was born in Rome, Italy and had promised me since I was a small child that she would one day take me to visit her homeland. This was a day that I dreaded! You might...
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Life Changing
To say I’m uncomfortable would be an understatement. With a cold sweat, I wake up from a dream where I’m running. It’s about 4:00 in the morning. I’m nauseous. I’m about to suffocate from...
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The Pennsylvania Hills
I learned to measure milk in a half an eggshell, found doppelgangers exist, fell in love with rollercoaster-like land . . . and decided family reunions had possibility. I truly tried to avoid my...
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Visiting a Homeland
In December of 2008, my mom and I took a trip halfway around the planet and to an entirely different world. We visited my parent’s home country of Bangladesh after almost...
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Vacation to Home
The morning is just light enough to distinguish blurred human figures already bustling through the streets of Beijing. I lie in my bed listening as the voices outside...
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My India
Fear. Bombs. Blood. Screaming. TERROR. This was all I could see, hear, and think about while visiting one of Mumbai, India’s exclusive malls. All I could do was watch the people in the mall, with...
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The Becoming of Appreciation
My buoyant ambiance is dampened...
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Luvianos
We were to depart from Dulles International Airport, at 5:00pm, and arrive at Mexico City International airport at 9:30pm. Those were the simple instructions given to my eight year old sister, my eleven...
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Discovering the Roots of My Personality
In Memoriam On August 19, 1692, Martha Carrier of Andover was hung as witch in Salem, Massachusetts. She is one of the witches about whom many people know nothing. To me, she is the most interesting...
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The Forbidden Island of Kaho’olawe
Kaho'olawe; also known as Kohemalamalama'okanaloa, is translated as "the holy genitals of the Ocean God Kanaloa" and is the only island throughout Polynesia to be named after a God. The following are my...
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Trip to Israel for Jewish Olympics
In the summer after my freshman year, I participated in the Maccabiah games, which is a worldwide gathering of Jews, in an Olympic style competition, that happens every four years. It was a three week...
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Scorpions
As our ship pulls up on the shores of Tel-Aviv, the New York City of Israel, residents have their arms outstretched in welcome. I bend down and kiss the scorching ground of a land I have only read about...
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What My Trip to the Middle East Taught Me About Life
I dreaded the sixteen hour plane ride and when it was over I was actually happy, which I never thought I would be on this vacation. The man at the desk asks me something and I can't understand him,...
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Portugal
Finally, after six hours on the airplane, we are now landing. My family and I take our first footsteps in another country! Unfortunately, there is still another five to six hour drive to get...
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