New Year’s in Australia

The land down under does it up for the New Year. From small town celebrations to worldwide fanfare, let’s take a peak at how Australia rings it in. First, there are some simple things. Where a Waterford Crystal ball sliding down a pole is part of a North American countdown, the Aussie’s count up—making noise Read More …

Out with the old, in with the New Year!

THREE…TWO…ONE! Happy New Year! Felice Anno Nuovo! Bliadhna mhath ur! While New Year celebrations in many parts of the world consist of fireworks, ball dropping and bar hopping, some countries ring in the New Year with pretty interesting traditions that date back hundreds, even thousands of years. This week, Explorica takes a look at some Read More …

Most Popular Tour of 2011: Costa Rica

As 2011 comes to an end, we are counting down some of our ‘most populars’ of the year. This past year, our most popular tour by far was Costa Rica.  Teachers and students just can’t seem to get enough of this tropical country—maybe because it provides an excellent combination of forest ecology, ocean and beach Read More …

International Dance, Part 3 of 3—Cancan

Discover the Cancan in the third part of this world dance series, which in its heyday elicited rather too much scandal in the Parisian district of Montmartre. They didn’t call this dance the Cancan (which translates as “scandal”) for nothing. Young ladies, (usually students) would shriek, provocatively throw their legs up high from beneath their Read More …

International Dance, Part 2—Tango

In the second part of this world dance series, let’s discover the romance of Tango. Though rumor has it that its humble beginnings in the lower class barrios of 19th century Buenos Aires were anything but romantic. In fact, some say that Tango got its rigid posture when ladies would dance in the crook of Read More …

International Dance, Part 1—Flamenco

International Dance Week Why wait until April 29th 2012 for World Dance Day? Put on your dancing shoes, let Explorica take the lead and one, two, three-step into this three-part series about some of the most culturally significant dances from around the world—Tango, Flamenco and the Cancan. International Dance, Part 1—Flamenco In this first of Read More …