New students click here for information on how to submit your own photos for posting on the blog.

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The photos today come from Nick Culver, an incoming MIA student.

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These two pictures were taken in Jordan in 2009. The first is taken at Wadi Rum, a beautiful desert area in the Southwest near Aquaba. Near sunset on a misty day, the landscape began to resemble Mars and I wondered if that was the Sun or the Moon on the horizon. The second picture is a couple hundred miles north of the first, a Moses-like view facing west from atop Mount Nebo.

New students click here for information on how to submit your own photos for posting on the blog.

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The photos today come from Andrea Moore, an incoming MIA student concentrating on International Finance and Economic Policy.

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This photo was taken in Chicago’s Grant Park on Election Night in 2008. The city had been buzzing for weeks with now-President Obama in the race, and since I work right across from Grant Park, I knew I wanted to try for tickets to the Election Night rally. Luckily, I happened to be at my desk the minute the invitation was sent, and I pounced on the chance. We ended up way in the back (people were already lined up outside the park at 9 am or earlier), but I think we had the best vantage point: looking out on millions of people who all were having the same “this is history in the making” feeling. It was a big day no matter what your politics were.

This was taken in June 2008 from the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC. I was doing an impromptu night walk of the monuments with some friends, and when we got to the Lincoln Memorial, it started getting stormy and we stayed put for a while. It ended up just being an epic lightning storm, and I was trying to capture some of the strikes. Somehow, through blind luck with my point-and-shoot camera, I caught a lightning strike that was perfectly placed to mirror off the Reflecting Pool.

The last photo was taken in April 2005 in Madrid. I was studying there when Pope John Paul II passed away. With almost Catholicism the dominant religion there, it was huge news and spawned memorials all over the city. This picture was taken at a statue of the Pope that’s outside the Catedral de Almudena. People had flocked to the statue the day after he died, just standing and praying around the statue, lighting candles. I had done so much studying of the importance of Catholicism in Spain throughout history, like with Ferdinand and Isabela, but I hadn’t realized how central the religion still was in the present. Even though (full disclosure) I identify as Catholic as well, I almost felt like I was a stranger intruding on a private moment here.

We still have more than a month for new students to submit photos for posting, details here.

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The photos today come from Kris Capella, an incoming MIA student.

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Taken in Tarangire National Park in Tanzania.  I think Cheetahs are wonderfully beautiful animals, and we were fortunate to come across a couple as we were leaving the park.  We had plenty of time to watch them because they ambled into the middle of the road and there was no way around them!

Taken in Stone Town, Zanzibar.  This is an example of the Indian style of extremely elaborate doors that adorn the homes of many wealthy people on Zanzibar.  By far the most picturesque doors I’ve ever seen!

Taken at the soccer field near the school where I taught as a Peace Corps volunteer for three years in Mashati, Tanzania.  This was the ad-hoc cheering squad for our school at one of the many football (yes, I tried hard to unlearn the word “soccer” from my vocabulary) matches I watched over the years.

New students interested in submitting photos for the blog please click here for details.

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The photos today come from Marissa Polnerow, an incoming MIA student.

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Macedonia, 2009

This series of photos captures a day in the life of a Peace Corps volunteer in the Republic of Macedonia.  The shots were taking during a hike from my apartment in Prilep to the 13th-century mountaintop monastery of Treskavec.  The monastery is a timeless and remote gem, adorned with Byzantine frescoes, open to guests to stay however long they desire.  The early morning scene of a goat is followed by a foggy view of Macedonia’s lush hilltops.  The sign reads “cheshma,” and leads to an old fountain.  In the final shot, my friend Darko and I rest beside the monastery, where we stay the weekend with friends and Treskavec’s welcoming Orthodox Monk, Kalist.

Here are the latest in our new student photo submissions.  If you are an incoming student please see this entry for details on how to submit your own photos.

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The first set of photos were submitted by Mai Shintani, an incoming MIA student who grew up in Kauai, Hawaii.

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The baobab tree never fails to amaze me. While in the Gambia with the Peace Corps, my assignment was serving as an environment volunteer, in a dry barren landscape, these trees were my only hope of sending the important message of tree planting to the Gambian youth.

I have been a dancer since age 4, mostly sharing the aloha spirit through dance . . . and during my time in the Peace Corps.

These tortoises were HUGE!!! Seeing these guys, reminded me how amazing and precious mother nature is.

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The second set of photos were submitted by Diana Carolina Pereira from Colombia, an incoming MIA  student who will be studying International Security Policy.

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This first picture was taken in one of our military forts during and activity of the Ministry of National Defense where I work called Soldier for One Day. This is me standing by one of the helicopters used to rescue 15 members of our military, one former presidential candidate and 3 american citizens kidnapped by FARC guerrillas and held for 10 years in the jungle.

As part of the activities of Soldier for One Day, we receive training in areas such as parachuting. This is me with the equipment ready to make a jump from a 14 meter tower. I was the first to go and it was great.

To change the subject, this is a picture taken from a boat in Cartagena, Colombia on our way to Islas del Rosario. These are two men that catch shrimp, preparing it right there as “ceviche” to be sold to passing tourist boats. Doesn’t get any fresher than that.