Borobudur, Indonesia

When I was eighteen and stepped outside the airport in Jakarta the heat and humidity were so intense I thought I was going to faint. The city I lived in for a year as an exchange student was situated in the hills a few hours outside of Jakarta and thankfully, had a slightly more moderate climate.

But certain experiences in my early years have conditioned me to be somewhat fond of humidity. First it was summers spent in Wisconsin with my grandparents where I loved the warm thunder showers that would break the heat and bring mosquitoes. This was such a change compared to the arid dry weather of Southern California. Then came Indonesia where the vegetation was so lush and wet sensuality pulsed through the air despite the sexual constraint of the culture. After that came time in Connecticut and New York where summers were filled with verdant green and restless nights from heat.

And yes, these climates are sticky and gross and make my hair even more unruly. But I also feel a certain comfort in the warmth. I feel alive in the mess of it. And maybe that is precisely why I like humidity and the rain that washes it all away.

The photo was taken at Borobudur, a Buddhist temple in Indonesia. The bell shaped structures are called stupas. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borobudur

Very unusual structures, great shot!

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Friends, Waikiki, Hawaii

A bunch of kids standing half naked in front of a canoe with coconut trees in the background…jealous? I would be too haha. But there’s a lot of meaning behind this picture. But some of the most important people in my life are captured in this picture. The little girl that looks like she’s 13 on the left of me is my future sister in law, when in actuality, she’s 22. And the three guys in the back of us are very important men in my life. Not in a romantic way, but in a way that I hope they will be apart of my life forever. They make me smile everyday, and they protect me like a sister. Things happen for a reason, and there was a reason why I adventured to Waikiki beach 6 years ago, and it was to stumble upon my little grass shack in Waikiki.

What a great memento!

Check out The Adventurous Life In A Bikini !

Auckland, New Zealand

Our fourth (and final) Easter in NZ was celebrated in the company of our dear Canadian comrades.  After celebrating many a holiday, birthday, and festival together, and journeying quite closely with each other over these past three years, it’s hard imagine not being here for special gatherings like this.

Never easy but when the time comes, we all go forward, it’s all good!

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Karachi, Pakistan

ursallah and friend, Karachi.

Nice shot, makes us wonder what they are doing?

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Valjevo, Serbia

Good friends are like stars! You don’t always see them, but you know they’re always there… <3

That is so true, and a great picture of friends to go with it, Yay, win win!

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Tenerife, Canary Islands

This picture was shot on a vacation in Tenerife, January 2012. I was traveling with my best friend. It was a dreamy holiday! We are going on a new journey together soon, and it made me remember this image :-3

Great shot!

Check out Moments I’ll now never forget !

Rosario, Santa Fe, Argentina

A week after leaving the states I have arrived at my final destination, la residencia de Krause in Córdoba, Argentina. Over the past week, six fellow international students, two ISA staff member, and I have been touring two of Argentina’s most popular cities; Buenos Aires and Rosario.

Buenos Aires is, in a word, alive. It is the 17th largest city in the world, and it shows. This bustling port city has a very rich, proud history. We had the pleasure of visiting some of its most popular points of interest including the Plaza de Mayo, 9 de Julio Avenue, the Obelisk, La Boca, and el Museo de Evita. Eva Perón, the wife of Juan Perón, also better known as Evita, was a celebrated activist for women’s suffrage, the Argentine labor unions, and the Peronist party in the late 1940’s.  This exhibit portrays and narrates how dearly Evita is held in the hearts of so many Argentines, following her life from her impoverished youth, to her short radio personality career, and finally to her marriage to Juan, future president of Argentina. The Argentina Congress declared Evita the spiritual leader of the Nation of Argentina after her death in 1952.

In Rosario, we got to see the National Flag Memorial, the Basilica Cathedral, the Cemetario El Salvador, and of course the Paraná River, which is a major port for transportation of goods traveling south toward Buenos Aires.

Finally, getting to Córdoba was an adventure of its own. In the heat of the day, we rolled our luggage into the bus station in Rosario and boarded the double decker bus for a six-hour drive. Leaving the concrete and entering an expanse of fields growing corn, soybeans, and wheat with farm houses situated so quaintly in the middle reminds me so much of my own roots that for a moment I forget how many miles stand between the two landscapes. At the Córdoba bus station our host families met us right off of the buses. The Krause family was very kind to help Meghan, a fellow ISA student who is staying in the same home stay, and I with our luggage. I feel very fortunate to have such a friendly and helpful host family. I couldn’t ask for more.

In all, it has been an incredible week and it’s only going to get better from here. I know that I am going to have so many amazing experiences and I can’t wait to share them! ¡Chau!

Off to a great start, fantastic!

Check out Experiences of a Novice Traveler !

Ilha do Campeche, Florianópolis, Brazil

After leaving São Paolo, I got on a plane on Saturday, Jan 19th to Florianopolis. It’s a beautiful island that is connected by a bridge to mainland Brazil in the South East of Brazil. Here I booked a hostel for the first two nights in a rural, hippy beach zone called Barra do Lagoa (Neighbourhood of the Lake). I really didn’t know anything about Florianopolis, and the only real reason that I came here is that I heard it was beautiful, fun and my Australian friends that I met last year in Mexico were going to be here at the same time. So why not? I had to check it out.

Little did I know that the island is huge and has really poor public transportation. Being the “savvy-backpacker” that I am (haha just kidding, this was a first), I decided to take the bus from the airport to my hostel as it seemed pretty straight forward. Wrong. It took me 3 public buses that didn’t have a single tourist on them, and to go 18 km took me almost 2.5 hours. Lesson learned. Do some research on a place before arriving! Anyways I made it, got off the bus, walked about 500m with all my bags over a pedestrian bridge and up a windy little alley to my hostel, Banana Beach Hostel. It was very welcoming, had a great vibe and right away I met a bunch of super friendly people from South Africa, Finland, Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay.

Después de irme de São Paolo, tomé un vuelo el sabado 19 de enero a Florianópolis. Es una linda isla que esta conectada a la costa de Brasil por un gran puente. La isla queda en el sud este del país. Acá reservé un hostel por mis primeras 2 noches en un barrio muy hippy y rustíco que se llama Barra do Lagoa. En realidad no sabía nada de Florianópolis, pero la única razón que venía fue por que escuchaba que era muy linda y que mis amigos Australianos que conocí el año pasado en Mexico, iban a estar aquí al mismo tiempo. Entonces porque no? Tenía que conocerla.

Yo no sabía nada de Floripa y que era una isla muy grande y con transporte público muy malo. Siendo la “pobre mochilera” que soy (jaja estoy bromeando, fue la primera vez que quería ahorrar dinero) tomé el colectivo desde el aeropuerto hacia mi primer hostel que me parecía facíl. Me equivoqué. Me demoró casi 2.5 horas para llegar 18km en 3 colectivos y después caminando 500m con todas mis valijas por un puente peatonal y subiendo un callejón hasta mi hostel Banana Beach. Aprendí mi lección jaja. Cuando llegué por lo menos toda la gente ahí era muy simpatíca y el lugar tenía mucha onda. En muy poco tiempo conocí gente de Sud Afríca, Finlandía, Brasil, Uruguay y Argentina.

Looks like that turned awesome on ya!

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Tra Vinh, Vietnam

With a variety show blaring, there wasn’t much sleeping happening on this daytime sleeper bus from Tra Vinh back to Saigon. My two Vietnamese friends were lying down to my left and an elderly Vietnamese lady was to my right.

Doesn’t look too comfortable.  Great shot!

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Puerto Galera, Oriental Mindoro, Philippines

This was taken during one of our outings with friends. My friends were snorkeling, but it was too hot so I decided to just laze at the shore and took a photo of my “Happy Feet” “D .

Looks beautiful there!

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India

Just my friends and me having a good time!

Nice shot!

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Brick, New Jersey

Is there anything better than a cup of tea with an old friend? This is my friend Annie, we met in kindergarden. This picture was taken on her front porch in Jersey.

Kindergarten? Now that’s pretty cool!

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Lake Bohinj, Slovenia

Taking a break with friends

Nice shots!

Ilmajoki, Southern Ostrobothnia, Finland

The exchange students were lucky enough to have a visit from two friends, my best friend Teal and also from our Cal Poly Department Head of Natural Resource Management and Environmental Sciences.

There were approximately 130 students from the Netherlands, Belgium, Bulgaria, Argentina, Canada, France, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Lithuania, Russia, Spain, Germany, Czech Republic, Malaysia and Poland. We listened to presentations about the school, community, events and other good things to know while we are in Finland.

Doesn’t get any better than that!

Granada, Spain

“This photograph was taken in Granada, Spain. They are three of my friends, and we were waiting in line to get ice cream on a very hot day. “

Nice shot!

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