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

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This set of photos comes from Andrea Bustard, an incoming MIA student.

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West Java, Indonesia. The newlywed, shown center, in a semi-traditional Batak wedding as guests take their last look before the couple leaves. The bride carries a live chicken and a basket of rice – representing future prosperity.

West Java, Indonesia. A young boy gets a chance to walk on water in the parking lot of a department store promotion.

Astoria, Oregon. Passing through on a road trip to Seattle, I took this photo of a bridge that borders Oregon and Washington.

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.