A Life in a Year
As I took my first few steps back on American territory, my eyes filled with tears of joy and my nose filled with the familiar smell of the freshly mopped airport floor. Within those few seconds,...
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Alaska 2012
The moments I spent in Alaska are some to always be told but not...
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Building character through judo
I stare with awe as I enter The Grand Amway Plaza Hotel with my dad and sister. As my eyes dart in all directions while I take in the hotel’s overwhelming size and grandeur, I laugh at how...
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From Fear to Triumph: Cancer Stories from the Detroit River
This is not the story of a travel far from home, but of the journey to a new and improved spiritual state. Every year for the last thirteen years on the second Wednesday in July, the Lance Armstrong...
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My Soul Search in the Himalayan Mountain Range
The benevolent and unselfish nature of Mother Earth has given every human being something to cherish and worship. In India, the concept of displaying one’s devotion to a natural force or existence...
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High Stakes at Stokes
Living a fast paced, new age life style is no easy task, and my family prides itself on our ability to keep up with the demands of everyday living. We own the carpool route like it’s nobody’s...
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Becoming A Family Far From Home
“She was right there.” The venerable old woman pointed a crooked finger toward the flowerbed in front of her. All four of us stared into the little bed that was brimming with golden chrysanthemums....
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With Travel It’s Always a Surprise: A Camping Adventure in the Smokey Mountains
The senior project is a period before graduation that is allotted to the seniors of Columbus Academy to design a project, complete it, and reflect on it. Sitting in the chemistry room, we listened...
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The Big Apple Break-Up
My oldest sister once told me that young women in Japan idealize France to such an extent that when they eventually visit, they are most disappointed since it could in no way live up to their expectations....
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The Wholeness of Purpose
It was early spring of 2012 and the cherry blossoms were in full bloom, the lawns were lush, and the sun was warm. We had traveled to D.C. for WAMUNC, a four-day Model United Nations conference at...
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Nature and the Modern Human’s Reality
Miles away from civilization, camping at Lane Lake in the high Sierra, the conveniences of modern day life were almost completely gone. As I finished brushing my teeth that cold morning a few days...
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A Dance With the Pope
Here I stood; in the midst of the excited energy I received from the crowd I was surrounded by. After ten long yearning years, my wish had been granted and it seemed that out of nowhere I stood in...
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Great and Wonderful Egypt
"Wake up Ade, Iv'e got something great for you and I know your going to like it !", this is what I heard one faithful sunday morning of 2009. You see my father did have something great...
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The Trial of Myself in Salem Massachusetts
I entered the new residence hall, almost feeling like I was going into a prison. I passed a security check, noted the strict rules that I must abide by, and followed the staff member onto the normally...
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New England Odyssey XIX
With the turn of a key, our sails unfurled. Our vessel - the Kingsmen charter bus – would soon brave the vast expanse of the Eastern...
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My Trip to MCAD
From the time that I was able to hold a pencil in my hand, I have been drawing. Art has been a part of me my entire life, even through there were times when I wasn’t...
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College is brighter on the West Coast
All my classmates attending were gathered in front of the school, everyone with their luggage at hand. It was 5:30 in the morning;...
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Unexpected, Unforgetable
If I had to describe my travel experience at World Youth Day 2011 in only one word instead of six hundred, I would choose 'unexpected'. I embarked on this semi-annual pilgrimage...
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The Storm’s Second Light
The imminently haunting clouds of an incoming storm juxtaposed with the crystalline waters of Lake Michigan caused me an internal connection to my surroundings. In this divine environment composed...
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Lessons from the Mountains
You probably think I'm nuts saying the mountains have no word for ocean, but if you live here you begin to believe they know everything. They...
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A Mission Trip in Downtown Atlanta
My mom and I found out about the organization Church on the Street from a member of our church who had done mission work in Atlanta recently. He began planning an all church mission trip to work...
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The Trip That Inspired My Future
As I stared at the teary eyed girls in front of me and fought back mine as well, I realized why I was so upset. I felt as though I'd known them for years even though it was just a few days. The...
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Journalism, Sunsets, and Discoveries
During a hike at Horsetooth Reservoir , Fort Collins, Colorado, I couldn’t help but stare in awe when I saw the sun set. The vast, rolling mountains were an endless ocean of waves frozen in time...
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Walk Down Memory Lane
I have two homes, one I’m emotionally tied to and the other physically. I lived in New Jersey for over half my life, now I live in Florida, and have for almost 4 years. We were supposed to...
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Escape in the Elevation
I traveled without the luxury of staying at a five star hotel. A hot shower was jumping in a lake 3000ft above sea level, a comfy bed was under a tent, gazing up at the clear night sky, and bathroom tissue...
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From Negative Heterosexual to Positive Homosexual
I was being forced to stay at my aunt’s house in Utah for a month during the summer of ’11. It was supposed to be a life changing experience; it was, but for all the...
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Traveling Through Time: A Pioneer Reenactment
A few summers ago I took an unusual trip to the middle of Floridian no-where with two siblings and several hundred other youth. The trip was more through time, rather than to a place; for we...
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A Leap of Faith
If you have ever planned a trip a year in advance without knowing when, how, or where you were going then you have an idea of what my summer adventure was like. I had no idea how I was going to make...
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My Nomadic Experience
Home. It's usually not the first thing you think of when you see a 30 foot RV. But that's what it had to become for me. After selling our house 2 months before school ended, we were forced...
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Running Through the Mountains of Big Pine, California
"I can’t feel my arm!" I cried out to my cross country teammates, as we were on our way to Big Pine, California. The drive was taking hours from Norwalk, where we were all from; so...
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Escape to Freedom
She stares at the ground, not believing the amazing location underneath her feet. She looks up at the sky waiting for someone to awake her, to bring her back to the reality of her limited life. After...
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Purpose at the Capitol
A tear dropped from my mother’s eye as she gazed at where I was standing compared to where I had stood. Originally from a deteriorating part of California, my future was supposed to be occupied...
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My Extra-ordinary Park
Up until I was ten years old, my father had been my hero. Despite my father working long and tiresome hours, he never neglected my sister and me. Every Saturday morning at Wilson Park, in the quiet...
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Life Lessons: We Learn Them in Every Language
After a red eye flight beginning at two a.m., we hit the ground running. Some of us were lucky enough to find time to sleep on the six hour flight to San Jose; unfortunately I was not one of the...
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Travel Through A Teen Heart
It took a while, but I have successfully traveled through the roller coaster that is love once over, a ride through my own soul and conscious. I went to Ireland, inside...
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California’s Hidden Serenity
Within the fast life of California living, there is a peaceful serenity where travelers can pause from life to admire all the magnificent aspects of nature’s beauty. On June...
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The Walk That Changed the Talk
Growing up, God was always a part of my life. I knew that he did great things for me and the people around me, and I knew that he was the highest of the high. However, I've never had a personal...
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A Dancer’s Paradise: New York City!
New York City is the ultimate place to dance because they have every style taught by the very best in their field. I have been dancing since I was three years old and have been going...
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Istanbul, Turkey: Where East Meets West
Mexico, Puerto Rico, Jamaica, Haiti, Bermuda, Argentina, Netherlands, Spain, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, United Arab Emirates, Turkey, India, China, Japan, South Korea. I, India Lewis, am a traveler...
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On Belonging
You fit into me / like a hook into an eye / a fish hook / an open eye You Fit Into Me, Margaret Atwood Cultural immersion, the anthem of this year, played itself boldly across glossy...
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Betty’s Travel Blog To Eritrea
The small, flat building they called an airport reeked of African spices. “Welcome to Asmara,” a man in a vomit green colored jumpsuit spoke coldly. I laughed at the way his heavy accent...
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Culture Shock:Life Lessons
I was at Logan Airport saying goodbye to my parents. I made my way into the terminal, turned in my luggage, breezed through security and...
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Vietnam And My Baby Sister
It could have been yesterday: The tangled stratum of purposeful noises, the primitive industrial pollution, the draft of oriental fragrances, the fluctuating wall of rushed foreign syllables....
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The Peak of My Success
On a dimly Saturday morning I awoke deep in the wilderness. My first thought was the cold. It seeped past my skin and chilled me to the bone. My tent-mate was still asleep, but I shook her awake...
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Reacquainting Myself With The Mediterranean
Most teenagers are on a constant search for who they are and with me, it was no different. But adding two countries, one transatlantic migration and three cultures fused together never made my search...
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A Whole New World
This past summer I traveled to Central Europe for 11 days with a group of students from my high school. We were chaperoned by two teachers of mine who, every year, organize an...
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