Tellus

Tellus: (tel’us), n. 1. [Latin] earth, soil, and the land; a country; the world. 2. a collection of Willamette University student’s insights, stories, photos and thoughts from their experiences studying abroad.

Archive for February 15th, 2010

Out of the Smog; from Pune to Nanegao »

http://www.flickr.com/photos/47598990@N04/4362035064/ I took this photograph of Anishet while climbing a mountain in the Western Ghats in Maharashtra, India. We were visiting an organic farm just an hour from Pune, and if nothing else, the air alone tasted so good. The rumor is, spending one day in Pune India is the equivalent to smoking 1 ½ […]

Morocco »

http://img195.imageshack.us/img195/668/p9050118.jpg Caption Moroccan Diversity: United, restrained, and homogenized by Islam. The craftsmen, the businessmen, the women, the poor. To be oneself in the world of Islam is to be as one is supposed to be. To seek oneself is to do it secretly, subtly. But if a muslim seeks to express herself, it is evidence […]

Friday afternoon crafts at Raglan Roads »

My semester in South Africa was one of the hardest and most exciting times of my life. I learned so much, but some of the most valuable lessons I learned came from difficult experiences. While many students who have studied abroad talk about their experience as an enjoyable and fun semester, my semester abroad was […]

Alive in Vietnam »

http://Upon-Returning.deviantart.com/art/Alive-In-Vietnam-152108186

An Hour or so in Limbo. »

There I was, on the border between Zambia and Botswana, with the two best friends I made in South Africa. We had just finished a safari in Botswana and were returning to Livingstone, Zambia where a few days earlier we had seen Victoria Falls. The African sun was beating down on us as we looked […]

Learning to Breathe »

Not only was it literally difficult for me to find my breath living in Quito, Ecuador at 9,000 ft. altitude, but learning to breathe, walk, live, and interact with Ecuadorians was a five month long journey that I will never forget. I can compare this journey to a much shorter one I took during my […]

What Are You Doing? »

I was sneaky, very sneaky, with my photo-taking during an excursion to the Saturday market in Otavalo. Not wanting to draw any more attention to myself than my pale skin and blue eyes already did, I held my camera at the level of my waist, out of view of most everyone around me, and surreptitiously […]

What I Never Expected to Learn Abroad »

When I would tell people, before leaving for Granada, Spain, that I was going abroad, they all told me how lucky I was to be able to have such an exciting and life changing experience. I of course knew how lucky I was, but I could never really imagine how my experience could be life […]

After the road Trip from Hell »

http://jamieslonaker.myphotoalbum.com/view_photo.php?set_albumName=album01&id=img_4521 This picture was taken at our last road trip destination in Sydney, Australia. Everything that could possibly go wrong, went wrong on this road trip including losing car keys in the ocean, renting 4 separate vans to drive down the entire west coast of Australia, cell phones not working/dying, getting separated at night in […]

Sunrise at 10am »

When I woke up it was still dark, but the lightness of the snow made it seem so much brighter than it was. At this time of year, where I was living, there were only 3 hours of sunlight per day. I gathered my warmest clothing, bundled myself up and walked out to a bridge […]