Welcome to my Travel Blog! I've recently returned from a month in Italy and France, and it's now time for me to kick my preparation for the fall semester of junior year in India into high gear. The objective of this blog is to provide information to my family, friends, or even other travelers about my experience from my pre-trip preparations, through my 4-months stay, to my trip with my grandma and Charlie, ending with my post-trip reflections. The blog will also hopefully include pictures, and there is the opportunity to leave comments sharing news from home or observations about my [View Full Entry]

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(This page is adapted from the SYA webpage: www.sya.org) My semester abroad is made possible through a program called SYA of which my school, Lakeside School, is a member. I applied for this program around November/December of last year through school, which required more essays, recommendation letters, questionnaires, interviews, forms, and discussions with my parents than I would like to repeat or recount, but it was totally worth it. I will likely mention this often in my blog - I feel very lucky and privilege to be able to participate in this program. SYA or School Year Abroad was founded in [View Full Entry]

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The Rain Forest The ferry terminal is located in Edmonds, and the ferry takes you to a small isthmus, where you disembark. You find your self going though a small town with very narrow streets until you cross over a bridge to the main body of land. You pass through Gardner a picturesque town, resembling a Maine fishing village. There are quaint shops, scenic over looks and harbors, and not to forget very nice homes. You continue on and soon leave the shore line and travel slightly inward along the 101 where the land flattens and the scenery changes to farming. [View Full Entry]

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Today I ventured up to Edmonds to the Europe Through the Back Door Travel Store. (The fact that EBTD seem to be steadily rebranding themselves to be Rick Steves' Whatever is kind of too bad, but it's going to save me a lot of certain people's snickering whenever I talk about them.) I bought my German Railpass there last month and scored a coupon for 20% off merchandise, so after some deliberation and comparison-shopping I came away with: * Germany & Austria 2005 guidebook * Prague & Czech Republic 2005 guidebook * Clean Kit: 2 microfiber washcloths and 2 oz. of [View Full Entry]

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