stowaway

Maybe you’ve never heard of voluntourism, but you’ve probably seen it portrayed in a myriad of ways: a newly married couple building houses in Belize; families taking care of elephants in Thailand; recent college graduates teaching math to young students in South Africa.

Losing a tooth is a highly anticipated milestone for young kids. Not only does it mean that they are growing, but the event may also involve an exciting cultural tradition.

At the center of the small town of Chartres, a ninety-minute train ride away from Paris, sits a towering cathedral. This edifice, completed in the thirteenth century, has been the center of controversy because of a decision made in 2009 to renovate it. This is not the simple, patchwork maintenance performed on many old monuments; the cathedral’s once gloomy interior, blackened by centuries of use, is currently being painted a sunny, pale yellow. The paint job is part of a monumental attempt to restore the cathedral to its medieval appearance. But the renovation has inspired polemical responses.

The Bayanihan Festival celebrated in the Philippines today celebrates the Filipino spirit of cooperation and community. The festival’s name comes from the word bayanihan (pronounced buy-a-knee-hun), which refers to a community’s tradition in which the members help one another to transport their houses.

A vacation is often a step outside a traveler’s frame of reference. However, the footsteps of tourists often remain in the countries they visit, even after they go home.

It was my junior year, and school spirit drenched the sky on another cold night of football—I thought it was going to be a dull wait. But then the team came out, tearing off their helmets, their faces already glowing with sweat and their arms clenching. They lined up on the 30-yard line, facing the crowd in the stands. Then the team squatted with all knees and legs at the same angle.

Does modern life sometimes feel too complicated? Wishing you could revisit the innocence and imagination of your childhood? Then pack your bags and prepare for a road trip into the land of fairy tales!

The Island of the Gods. The land of a thousand temples. The island nation of Bali is home to many mystic and spiritual things. Probably the most visited tourist destination in Indonesia, Bali is home to seven key temples known as the seven temples of the sea. The temples are arranged in a visual chain, creating a circle of protection around the nation. The temples were built in the sixteenth century by Nirartha, a Majapahit monk, in order to honor the Hindu sea gods. Visitors often comment on the temples’ beauty and locations—and monkeys.

When Columbus crossed the Atlantic Ocean in 1492, he expected to find the riches and spices of the West Indies. To their dismay, they returned to Spain without the treasures they had anticipated. However, one of their many discoveries impacted the world dramatically—the culinary world, that is. The explorers discovered gold in a form never before seen in the eastern hemisphere. The gold was enveloped by filmy, green leaves and had fine, yellow strands protruding from its tip. This kind of gold affected the world’s palate as it spread out from the Americas and worked its way into cultures around the world. Corn, the American gold, has been incorporated in recipes around the globe as appetizers, entrees, and desserts. The following recipes come from different countries, but all share a common ingredient: corn.

If you’re in Philadelphia to see the Liberty Bell (which means you’re really there for the cheesesteaks), take some time away from the city crowds and go to Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Rolling fields, horse-drawn carriages, country-style meals, and roadside mom-and-pop shops. The women wear bonnets and the men wear beards. They plow their fields and keep their only telephone in the barn for emergencies.

The annual parade for the Rushbearing festival at Grasmere, an ancient tradition where the villagers gather the rushes from around the lake or river, make ornaments out of them, and carry them in a procession to St. Oswald’s chapel.Last summer, while living in the green and beautiful valley of Grasmere, I felt like I had stepped into the past. I first arrived to this small village in northern England for a summer internship and saw more nature untouched by man or time than I thought possible. In addition to its vibrant color and overabundance of life, everything about Grasmere and the entire Lake District exuded a sense of timelessness that the Romantic poet William Wordsworth tried to capture in his poems. Dove Cottage, the little house he lived in for a time, was still standing, allowing visitors to come and explore life in early eighteenth-century England. Even the church he’s buried at, St. Oswald’s, still holds regular Sunday services. All the while, the forests, streams, trees, ferns, and fells surrounding the little village have an ancient feel to them that seemed entirely undisturbed. The past and the present seemed intertwined: I could have just as easily been visiting that spot more than two hundred years ago and would have seen Wordsworth walking by, muttering his poetry under his breath.

Visit the Santa Barbara Courthouse. Photo by Aimee Robbins.When Spanish missionaries came to Santa Barbara, they didn’t realize they had stumbled into a palm-tree-ridden, beauty-soaked paradise that would someday be known as the “American Riviera.” This nickname aptly describes the quaint, red-tile- speckled city surrounded by alluring mountains and sunny beaches, all wrapped in a Mediterranean climate. The water, vistas, and culture of this Californian city can be enjoyed no matter the mode of exploration.

By Mary-Celeste Lewis