Academy for Global Exploration is excited to announce our destination for Spring Semester 2009 - Japan! This winter we head across the Pacific Ocean to the land of the rising sun to learn about their incredible culture and take advantage of the deep, deep powder. Japan’s rich history, marked by isolation, rapid industrialization, and modernization, combined with more than 600 ski resorts makes Japan an ideal destination for AGE.
Nick and Tom enjoy the powder in Japan
Days in Japan are busy, filled with regular classes, skiing/snowboarding, home-stays, school visits, onsens, snow monkeys, tea ceremonies, cultural celebrations, cooking, and calligraphy classes. Our adventures begin in the town of Nozawa-Onsen. Known as the birthplace of skiing in Japan and for its thirteen “onsens,” or hotsprings, scattered throughout town, Nozawa is a beautiful little village tucked into the Japanese Alps. This is the perfect spot to begin deep cultural immersion as students learn the basics of Japanese language and cultural traditions such as bowing, bathing, and eating.
In a nearby valley, further along in the Alps, AGE returns home to the small village of Otari. Famous for its stunning mountain views, this area is known for its friendly people and rich cultural heritage. Here AGE students and staff home-stay with a gracious Japanese family. Izawa and Hisako invite us into their home once again for amazing food, stories, friendship and true cultural exchange. This is an incredible way to get a firsthand look into Japanese life as we eat, sleep, have class and live our lives in Japanese style. Their home is conveniently located just 60 seconds from the lifts of Hakuba Cortina and we ski/snowboard nearly every day.
We then head to central Japan to spend time at the largest ski area in Japan, Happo One. With annual average snowfall above 500 inches we continue the tradition of taking AGE students to the best adventure sites on the planet. Academy for Global Exploration finishes the expedition by visiting some of the many historical areas in Japan. Kyoto and Tokyo are two of the areas last year’s students are still talking about. All AGE classes continue and students are busy here preparing for mid-terms. Papers, projects, speeches and exams are all completed by the time we depart for spring break.
Visit our website for the full details including school calendar, tuition, full application and course offerings. AGE will accept a maximum of 12 students for Spring Semester 2009.
An $850.00 activity fee will be added to tuition for this trip
Call 541.913.0660 or visit the website for more information!
Academy for Global Exploration has just returned from a one-week summer trip on the Trinity River with the Mid-Peninsula High School Peer Counselors! The trip was a huge success and we had great experiences white water rafting, hiking, swimming, and exploring the Trinity River Basin. We spent two days rafting through class II, III and IV rapids and students swam through rapids, jumped off 25 foot rocks, and climbed and experienced “back-massaging” waterfalls. From the land and boat, we spotted several eagles, innumerable bear prints (but no live bears), trout, deer, and turtles. Although there were many fires in the area, we were lucky in experiencing only minimal amounts of smoke. We also watched several fire-fighting helicopters fill up with water just a few feet from our campsite along the river! To see some of the student blogs from the trip, scroll down or click on “North America”!
“There were so many adventures I had on this trip I have no idea where to start. Well, let’s start with the people. Greg and Nina are two of the most wonderful people I’ve met. I got so close to them in one week. I had an awesome time cooking with Greg and of course white water rafting. This was my first time rafting and I completely fell in love with it. Once we got to level 4 or 3 - it was so exciting. The two best rapids were definitely ‘Hell’s Hole’ and well I forgot the name, but Michelle and I got totally soaked. This was an amazing trip and the people were hilarious. The inside jokes between Nikole, Eros, Eva, Anthony, Alex, and I were the best. Terridactal! Roar. And we can’t forget our precious Tikiman, Grrrr. I had such an awesome time. Coming to this trip I didn’t talk to most of the people here. This was an awesome team building experience.”
–Daisy
“For the first time rafting I had a great time. Surprisingly, I didn’t fall into the water when I was on the boat. So that made the trip just that much better. The food was awesome and we played a lot of fun games. We had two of the best guides in the world, and if there is another rafting trip, I would definitely come again. Thanks a bunch Greg and Nina.”
–Anthony
“I liked my camping trip because it was so much fun. I got to be with friends. My most favorite thing was going rafting. Even though my tailbone is sore, but it was fun. The food was good, especially when we got to eat burritos that was good. The water was cold but you got used to it. It’s also hot so you get dry somewhat fast. It was really funny when Alex and David fell off the boat. There is also a little playground that we went to everyday. I like the wheel because its so much fun going round and round and round and round. But yeah, this camping trip has been really a lot of fun. While rafting I got to see eagles, deer, quail, and fish and even a small fire!”
–Eva
“I’m 17 and I’m going into my senior year at Mid-Peninsula High School 2008-2009. I really enjoyed rafting except for the part where we bounced off a rock and I shot out of the boat. I was trying to stay dry and I was very successful until this incident. I literally flew out of the boat. I did a face-plant and drifted back over to the raft. My face or hair didn’t actually get wet though even as I face-planted into the water. We also had multiple raft-on-raft splash fights. We camped next to a playground which was nice for relaxing and talking. I shared a tent with my friend Anthony who, thankfully, didn’t snore or roll that much. I slept well until every morning when I would hear Eros being loud. Overall it was nice. The sleep was good. Most of the people were good. There were a lot of jokes. Greg and Nina rock. Dave and Dana also rock.”
Thanks,
Alex
“The past five days have been full of adventures and laughs. I think it will be the only time that I see David feet go over his head of that I will see Eros be the second to jump in or it be my privilege to pull Anthony in!! But over all, Thursday was the best for rapids and Wednesday was the best swimming. Thank you to Greg, Nina, and Julia.”
–Michelle
“The day that I got on the van I was so excited because I was going to go camping with my friends. That day we set up camp, went for a quick dip in the river and when we came back we had dinner. The next day was rafting. I had never been rafted before, only kayaked. But it was fun. We got to swim a lot– me and my buddy Michelle. The next day we were supposed to take a hike but out trail was closed so we went to the water hole and that was pretty fun too. Today, Thursday was even better rafting and I got to jump off a 20-25 foot rock and I was scared but I survived and before that I had jumped into a rapid with some other people. Then we had lunch and we were all made cause we didn’t want to switch from boats but we ended up switching guides and then we got to jump off again into a rapid. Then Alex fell out of the raft and then went David. Nikole made me laugh so much throughout the whole entire camping trip it was really funny.”
–Eros
