PROGRAM PHOTO ALBUM
Thanks for the checking out the blog for this Global Leadership Adventures program!
Here are a few things to know and expect:
- Blog posts are written by onsite program staff and/or students and sent to our Headquarters team who will post the blog on this page.
- We typically receive 2-3 blog updates per week from each program, so please don’t be alarmed if you don’t see a blog post every day – that’s totally normal.
- Blog updates received late in the evening or overnight will be posted the following day.
- Blog updates received on weekends may not be posted until Monday.
- Due to many factors such as internet accessibility, program staff aren’t always able to send photos, so some blog posts may contain text only.
Thank you for your patience and understanding, and we hope you enjoy following along on these unforgettable adventures.
For frequently asked questions about the blogs, please visit our Program Blog FAQ page.
-The Global Leadership Adventures HQ Team
Click here to jump down to the most recent post!
BLOG POST FOR JULY 24
We’re so happy to finally have this group here on the program with us! Our staff team has been excitedly preparing and awaiting. All 5 students in the group have arrived safe after their long journey.
Through out the day students have landed and jumped into sharing stories with their peers about home and past trips. With the early arrivals we even got some pool time in back at home base.
We shared a Balinese dinner and most of us were ready for an early night to recover from jet lag and prepare for tomorrow’s “Amazing Balinese Race” where they will explore the local area and learn a lot about the culture here.
What a great start to this journey!
Students will have full days fostering in-person community. To keep you looped in, we’ll send regular blogs and be available as a staff support team 24/7. Our blogs will start with myself Amanda, International Director, as author then transition into student written narrative.
Thanks for trusting us with your teens, it’s really an honor to work with them.
Amanda
BLOG POST FOR JULY 25
Om swastyastu!
It was fun orientation day for us here in Bali! We dove into GLA leadership curriculum and learned about Balinese culture.
After lunch and some pool time we practiced our language and ventured out into the neighborhood. We met some of the people in our Banjar, visited some little fruit and sweet stands, and saw some wood carving shops. It was nice to try and speak Bahasa and try some new fruits like snake fruit!
We closed our night with a welcome dinner at a cute little restaurant eating great food while sitting on the ground then having a photo both shoot.
BLOG POST FOR JULY 26
Om swastyasu!
Today for herbal day we did an herbal walk, explored a temple, had lunch overlooking an active volcano, visited a coffee plantation, and ate dinner with at a local royal palace with the princess and queen.
We woke up early, eating breakfast at 6:15am and leaving the home base at 6:30am to start our day. At our herbal walk we learned different smells of herbs and the rice fields of bali. We stopped halfway, where we had fresh coconut water and a small second meal. Before the ride to the temple we stopped at a convenience store and got snacks and drinks to try on the road.
While visiting the temple, we saw ancient carvings with fresh spring water from the mountain. We feed coi fish and took time to bask in the beauty before we went to shop.
After, we traveled up north to a lookout spot. Lunch was buffet style, where we got to taste even more local cuisine. Followed by an Alfamart trip, where we got more snacks and drinks to try as dessert.
Our second to last spot was a coffee and tea plantation. We walked around the garden they use and smelled the herbs and coffee, while also tasting a raw cacao bean. We tasted samples of every tea and coffee offered and picked our favorite one.
To end the day, we went to a royal palace. We walked through the compound with a server. We had another Balinese dinner as we asked questions to the princess and queen.
Taryn
BLOG POST FOR JULY 27
Today we immersed ourselves in Balinese culture! From traditional dance and yoga to making offerings and wood carving, we had a blast!
We started our day with a lovely breakfast at home base before heading to the Banjar Workshop. There, we learned a traditional Balinese song and dance, created a balinese offering, and even practiced wood carving. It was such a fun and meaningful way to experience the local culture!
After the workshop, we enjoyed a delicious lunch that served traditional Balinese food. Some of us even had a milkshake to pair it with! Then we headed over to the PKP Community Center. There, we learned about the impactful story and message behind the incredible organization.
At the PKP Center, we took a relaxing yoga class and tried a Batik painting. While the paintings were tricky to do, they were so cool! After our activities and tour of the place, we ate dinner and exchanged dances with the locals. We even got to shop and pick out some souvenirs from their store! It was such an awesome evening.
On the drive home, we convinced our mentors to stop at a market. We picked up some snacks, mostly sweets of course, then shared them amongst ourselves. We enjoyed trying new foods and singing songs until we got home.
Alison
BLOG POST FOR JULY 28
Om swatiastu!
Today we started our morning at the maggot farm!! The maggot farm was such and amazing place to see! In the beginning we learned about the business and why they stared doing this to help with the waste problem in bali. The company will give the home or business a tray of maggots and you would put your food waste in it. They will eat all of the scraps and left overs to help with producing less waste that will pile up! After we got shown how the maggots are helpful and what they do we got to see them!!! This was fun because we could pick them up and kissed them goodbye!! Then we made 100 meals and went around handing them out to families in need that live in the community around the landfill and work sorting trash.
Then we went back to home base and had a few hours of rest and pool time before we got ready for a surprise dinner!! All of us got fun drinks overlooking a sunset and Rice patties! Then we got surprised with a local Balinese legong dance performance at a Temple! And finally we ended the night with ice cream of course!!
Soraya Preston
BLOG POST FOR JULY 29
Today we had an early start to the day to get a good viewing on exploring the mangroves in bali. Once we took a short boat ride out to the mangroves, we got on paddle boards to get in closer and clean up trash scattered around the area. Within ten minutes of us all on paddle boards we almost all filled up about 6 baskets! After about an hour we headed back to the Ripcurl surf school to sort, wash, and clean the trash and plastics we picked up. After a solid twenty minutes of sorting we were able to enjoy some downtime by the beach, relaxing on the sand. There we enjoyed some lovely banh mi and journaled for a short while.
After the beach, we went back to the homestay to refresh and get ready to see the Bali Institute. We received a tasty tour inside and were able to see the sustainable local businesses helping to support a cleaner future. From there we went to dinner and enjoyed some American comfort food followed by some shopping at the local balinese markets. We all learned so much today and were so grateful to get to experience so much!
London
BLOG POST FOR JULY 30
Om swatiastu!
Today we had a roadtrip Ubud to Pemutran. Before we headed out for our road trip at 8:50 we had breakfast which included crepes, fruit, and toast! We also had a group meeting to go over our values we agreed on during the first day.
After we were on the road for a while we stopped by a temple that was on a lake! We walked around the big garden, played on the playground and got coffee and matcha! After the temple we had a quick walk over to lunch, where we saw fluffy chickens!
After lunch we got back on the bus and had hair braiding in the bus on the way to our stop at a gas station. We got back into the bus and arrived at our homestay at 3:30! We got to settled into the homestay until 4:55 and then headed out to the beach for our sunset boat ride! During the sunset boat ride we swam and talked about our agenda for tomorrow! We then headed back at 6:27 ready for dinner! After dinner we prepared for teaching!
We are excited to meet the kids and can’t wait for tomorrow!
Jacqueline
BLOG POST FOR JULY 31
We started our day with an extraneous hike, where we stopped at the top of the mountain for some pictures.
After hiking we had time at the beach to relax and cool off in the water.
Then we had our first day of teaching and got to meet the kids at the school. When we got to play sports with kids it was the highlight of the day, we liked it the most because the kids were interactive with us.
We finished the night with boba and ice cream after a quick shopping spree post dinner. Ending the night with a movie and some downtime.
Taryn
BLOG POST FOR AUGUST 1
Halo!
Today we started the day off with a beautiful snorkeling tour around our local beach. We were educated on how the coral reefs grow and thrive, and are grown on structures underwater.
After snorkeling we had a little time to refresh and get prepared to teach the second day at the local school. We were able to fix some problems we had teaching during the first day, and find good ways to engage the kids in activities such as english, arts and crafts, and sports.
After teaching we had time to relax before enjoying dinner. We then ended the day with a shopping walk for ice cream and jewelry!
London
BLOG POST FOR AUGUST 2
Om swatiastu!
We started our moring with breakfast at 7:15am!😴 Then we walked to get masks fitted and to get fins to go scuba diving!!! That only took about 15 minutes, right after that we walked straight to beach and had a nice long beach day! It was nice because we had our mentor group at the beach and learned all about how Ai is bad and good in some ways?! and immediately after we left the beach and made our way to get boba for the millionth time!!😋 We sadly had our last school teaching today and got to give the kids there certificates!🥳
Then we walked back to our home stay and had some down time and had a yummy dinner, and now probably going to get boba and ice cream again! YAY! Today was super fun and relaxing!!!
Soraya Preston✌️
>
BLOG POST FOR AUGUST 3
We started off today with a lovely breakfast before heading over to the scuba diving place. There, we practiced scuba diving techniques in a pool. After feeling confident, we headed out to the water and did our hour dive. The dive was amazing! We saw so many coral, fish, and other animals in the water. It was very successful. Once we finished, we walked to our favorite boba place and got a quick treat before lunch.
After lunch, we walked to the beach and spent a few hours swimming and relaxing. Soraya and London, our Cali girls, taught us the “corn dog” technique (rolling from the sand into the water). Which ended up getting sand everywhere!
After a much needed beach day, we headed back to home base and got ready for dinner. The girls got dressed up and took pictures by the mountains and the beach. Dinner was right on the beach where we got to watch the sunset. It was beautiful. Once we finished, we walked to the market and boba place one last time. Then, we packed for the rest of the night preparing for our roadtrip back to Ubud the next day!
Alison
BLOG POST FOR AUGUST 4
Om swastyastu!
Today we are heading back to Ubud from our amazing time at the beach and trenching! We started the day by packing our last things up and eating breakfast at 8:30! For breakfast we had pancakes, fried bananas, papaya and mango!
We left our homestay around 9:10 and stopped at a waterfall after a hour and thirty minutes of driving for a break. The waterfall was pretty, we took a lot of photos and got soaked! After we dried off a little bit we got back on the bus and headed to lunch! After lunch we headed to the homestay.
Once we arrived to homestay we had time to rest and swim before we got ready for our last night out for dinner! We all ordered fun drinks at dinner before we headed over to karaoke! At karaoke we sung our hearts out and had so much fun!
After karaoke we got on the bus and talked about our plan for tomorrow. We then arrived to the homestay tired and excited for surfing tomorrow!
BLOG POST FOR AUGUST 5
Om swatiastu!
Today was a kind of gloomy day because it was unfortunately our last day here in Bali. We started our morning off at 8:30 am!! And went surfing!! Surfing was so fun the waves were so fun to play around in and tandem and just mess around!😋
We had lunch on the beach and did our last mentor group🥺😢
Then went shopping to spend the last of our Rupiahs!!
Then we had dinner and stuffed our faces with the foods we missed. It was a ton of pizza, fries, and fried chicken!!! Also many desserts like specialty donuts and fancy brownies! 🥹
With full hearts we had our appreciation circle and shared many memories and tears!
Now we are off to see our families soon!!
Soraya Preston✌️🤙
