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
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BLOG POST FOR JULY 9
Hello parents, guardians, friends, and family. Shelby here, the International Director for the Europe: Mediterranean Wanderlust 12 Day Adventure. I have the great responsibility of writing our very first blog post of the trip, but after tonight our wonderful leaders of the day will each have a turn sharing their musings on the day. We have a jam-packed itinerary for the next 11 days, including visits to the Sagrada De Familia in Barcelona, the Eiffel Tower in Paris, and the Colosseum in Rome.
These highlights will be memories they will never forget, but it will be the moments in between these insta-worthy locations that will become the cherished memories they will look back on. The inside jokes they will make on the train ride to Paris, the stories shared over plates of local specialties, and the quiet confessions told in the dark of their dorms.
I read a quote by Blake Mycoskie, the founder of TOM’s, years ago that reminded me of my time as a GLA student: “Trips like these aren’t vacations. They are so much more. These experiences show you what’s possible and challenge you to examine the paths you’ll take in the future.” I hope when our students look back on this summer, they do it with unabashed joy and the realization that the world is bigger than they can imagine, but that the power of human connection can make any distance feel small.
Now onto the silly portion of this post. I have a bit of a tradition when it comes to first night blogs; a horrible rendition of “The 12 Days of Christmas” Please find joy in the large creative liberties I have taken while writing this!
The 11 hours of GLA arrivals gave to me
11 students
10 new names to learn
9 trips up the elevator
8 students napping
7 “Wait, what’s your name”.
6 card games played
5 kilometers walked
4 flights tracked
3 rooms checked into
2 Tasty meals
1 happy group photo, but no one said cheese
Overall, all students arrived safely, have eaten their first two meals, and have a fresh clean bed to rest their weary, jetlagged heads on. We’re off to a great start and I can’t wait to see what tomorrow has in store for us!
With much excitement,
Shelby
BLOG POST FOR JULY 10
Hello welcome buckle up for this real great day it’s a good ride, we started off with a good breakfast it was like really good like eggs croissants and like all the bangers. So like we trapped out to this lunch spot that was really good and I got a salmon dish it was good. After we went to this big park that’s privet with lots of lil cool building made by some famous guy, lots of walking prolly 13 miles in walking the whole day. After we stopped at s souvenir shop and some of us got soccer jerseys. After we went and got smoothies otw back to the hostel. Pretty good and then the boys got a game of pool in, pretty fire. After went to dinner it was great I got an oyster wasn’t great and some really good paella and dessert was even better. And we got lost on the way to the restaurant which added maybe 10 min walk. After we slept great. Yesterday was really great the group is really getting together well.
-James
Everyday we will be uploading photos taken throughout the day. The Leaders of the Day are given a point and shoot camera to take photos with of anything they want and at the end of the day will choose 5-7 of their favorites to upload. The camera has no screen so it’s a surprise at the end of the day when I upload them to my computer how they turn out!
-Shelby
BLOG POST FOR JULY 11
Yesterday we visited the Sagrada Família. We explored the architectural culture of Antoni Gaudi. One of our favorite parts was the history behind the stained class to mimic the seasons and how they shift thru every detail. One of the most interesting facts that our tour guide mentioned was that the Sagrada Família was funded entirely by the people and tourists that visited. One question that raised was when it was going to be finished and who was going to finish it as it is an on going project passed down by many architects. We also participated in a cooking class and worked together to make gazpacho, a potato dish, paella and a custard dish. After this event we did a scavenger hunt in our travel groups. Where we followed a list of clues to different local monuments. After each stop we took a photo a sent it in creating 8 different memories. We explored Main Street and got to shop around for 2 hours followed by mentor groups where we became closer. Finally we went to the Oasis to eat dinner.
– Hazel & Raegan
Everyday we will be uploading photos taken throughout the day. The Leaders of the Day are given a point and shoot camera to take photos with of anything they want and at the end of the day will choose 5-7 of their favorites to upload. The camera has no screen so it’s a surprise at the end of the day when I upload them to my computer how they turn out!
-Shelby
BLOG POST FOR JULY 12
Today: a day full of adventure and thrill. It started off pretty mellow, with a light breakfast consisting of mini chocolate croissants, eggs, fresh fruit, and juice. It was incredibly filling, but better yet, it wasn’t even the best food all day. Afterwards, we went on an incredibly exciting biking tour of Barcelona where we saw a lot of Gaudi’s incredible architecture and learned more about his deep care for nature and God. It was super informational and honestly incredibly interesting learning about different parts of Spain and Barcelona’s history. The biking was so fun because we got to go all around the city and the roads are extremely wide and easy to ride on. We were all wiped out afterwards, so we decided to go to an Asian restaurant where we had the best food all trip. I left feeling incredibly satisfied and incredibly happy with not only the taste of the food, but the service as well. The locals in Barcelona are incredibly helpful, super nice, and oftentimes they are able to speak English as well.
After leaving, we went shopping for around an hour and a bunch of the people staying in the boys hostel got to look around at some really cool Soccer Jerseys in the center of old Barcelona. My friend got a really cool Maradona Jersey that he got to wear to the beach later on in the day. The beach was super warm and the water was extremely clear and blue. It was incredibly packed with locals and tourists alike. We had a lot of fun being at the beach, as we got to swim and play with our friends, play soccer, and other beach sports. Afterwards we were pretty tired so we took the metro back to the hostel and got a little bit of rest before going out to get some dinner. Dinner was another one of our favorite meals; we had some incredible Paella, a dish that is native to and very famous in Spain. I got a Chicken Paella and it was incredibly savory and rich making me very happy. Afterwards, we went back to the hostel, wound down after our long and arduous adventure, and got packed up for our trip to Paris the next day. As the sun set we drifted off to sleep with our dreams slowly guiding us towards the city of love.
Nikhil
BLOG POST FOR JULY 13
Today we left the beautiful city of Barcelona behind and started our journey to the second location on our trip- the City of Light! Even though we had some delays in travel, the extra time on the train gave us even more time to get to know each other (and take an amazing nap.) We spent hours chatting and sharing stories about what our lives are like back home in our state, discussing which grocery stores one person had, while the other had never heard of. The conversation and laughing made the trip feel much shorter than it actually was. Some of us chose to play card games, which became one of the highlights of today’s trip. By the time we arrived in Paris, we had almost completed another day full of memories that we get to cherish long after we got off the train. In today’s case, it felt even more rewarding to say we had fun because it was created solely through each other’s company. After checking in, we took a short walk to dinner and got to have our first delicious meal in the city- which may have been one of the only moments that conversation quieted down. Getting back to our hotel, we began to settle into our rooms and prepared ourselves for the following morning’s service opportunity. Looking forward to helping the community, we finally got to bed, excited for the adventures to come during our time in Paris, and beyond.
Sarah
BLOG POST FOR JULY 15
Today was an exciting and extensive day! After breakfast, we ventured to the train station where we found our way through the train station. The train, filled with the unfamiliar chatter of Parisians, finally arrived at Versailles. Approaching the Palace of Versailles, the golds and marbles were a sight that could not be missed. Inside the palace was no exception, where statues lined the walls, coming alive at every step. After a self guided tour through the palace, we made our way into the garden where the city air became replaced with the sent of blooming flowers and fresh squeezed orange juice. We found a shady spot for lunch, a delicious ham and cheese baguette sandwich for everyone and a chicken avocado sandwich for myself and one of our amazing mentors! Further in the garden, we found bike rentals. While on the bikes, we all enjoyed many beautiful views and fresh air breezing past us. We passed fields of horses and a beautiful lake, surrounded by trees giving us shade. After we turned in our bikes, we found the orange juice stand where many of us indulged in fresh, tangy orange juice. We also took many great photos around the garden. Unfortunately, our time in the garden had come to a close. However, our day was not quite over! We took the train back to the home base where we found live music for a few of us to dance with, the others enjoying the music. For dinner, we went to a delicious Crêpe restaurant. Although we were all exhausted, we all decided to watch the Eiffel Tower glimmer as the sunset. This was my favorite conclusion to our day.
-Jocelyn
BLOG POST FOR JULY 16
Hello all! Today we had a jam-packed day full of adventures and lots of laughs. However, we first started off by helping the community by picking up trash. We had a very serious competition where we attempted to pick up the most trash. During the cleanup, we had people asking to take photos of tourists (us) cleaning up their city and thanking us. One team got 1.7 pounds which seemed good however the other team got 7.6 pounds and blew the other team out of the water. After this the winning team got a super cool prize: a baseball cap. After we finished cleaning up, we went to the most iconic landmark in all of Paris… THE EIFFEL TOWER. We first went below the tower to take a look at it from underneath where we made a very fun video and took lots of cool group photos. After we got all the photos done we started the trek upwards. The trek up to the tower was very challenging and tested our limits, at the first floor we got some snacks to refuel ourselves. Once we started the second climb to the second floor our legs were burning. We weren’t complaining, however, because the views were just so incredible. After taking in all the views, we began our descent downwards. This was the most challenging part of our climb because our legs were already burning from climbing up the tower. After taking a break downstairs and resting our legs, we went out for lunch where we had pizza and pasta which were delicious! After our lunch we decided to go to notre dame—which was incredible—after sightseeing for a while we all split into groups to do shopping and when we met back up again we had so many new items with us. We were all exhausted after this full day of adventures so we came back to the hotel to rest and recover from our large adventure. After a nice long break, we went to get sushi where we got two LARGE boats which we finished with no issues! When we finished eating our sushi we went back to the hotel to sleep and prepare for our day of flying to Rome!
