Travelogues:

Spring 2008

"Although my college education and professional experience has consisted primarily of engineering, I have always been involved with art." [more]
Chris Gasparian
AVC volunteer and BR/DH participants

Winter 2007/08

"Dozens of emails riddled with questions…" [more]
Ani Colekessian (Canada)
AVC Volunteer and BR/DH participant

Fall 2007

"I will take this opportunity to share with you a long distance conversation I had with my mother regarding my "experience" in Armenia" [more]
Alessia Berghoudian (USA)
AYLA Volunteer and BR/DH participant

"Spend a Saturday night in the village of Gomk , in Armenia 's Vayots Dzor province…" [more]
Veronica Siranosian ( USA ), Alumnus 2006

"When I decided come live in Gyumri and leave Yerevan..." [more]
Carine Liberian (Canada)
AVC Volunteer and BR/DH participant

Summer 2007 - Gyumri

"How's life in the gyugh?" the other volunteers ask when they see me in Yerevan" [more]
Elyssa Karanian (USA), AVC volunteer and BR/DH participant

"J'ai quitté trop vite l'Arménie alors que les montagnes du haut kharabagh me demandaient de rester. " [more]
Emilie Tchobanoglu ( France ) DAC volunteer and BR/DH participant

"My host family. After the volunteers they were the people I spent the most time with…" [more]
Lori Wagoner (USA), AVC volunteer and BR/DH participant

"Coming back to Armenia was a slightly different experience for me compared to a lot of the other volunteers I've met here." [more]
Inna Djaniants (USA), LCO volunteer and BR/DH participant

"The first time I heard the word marshrutga (public minibus) I instantly pictured an amusement park ride:" [more]
Elyssa Karanian (USA), AVC volunteer and BR/DH participant

"Boris, my home stay father, is a terrific man, with about three teeth." [more]
Sevana Naaman (USA), AVC volunteer and BR/DH participant

"I knew from the start that my host family was going to be great." [more]
Lori Wagoner (USA), AVC volunteer and BR/DH participant

"I had a very emotional day today...I don't really have the words to explain or describe what I felt like." [more]
Sevana Naaman (USA), AVC volunteer and BR/DH participant

"I don't want food put on my plate anymore." [more]
Allison Tanielian (USA), AVC volunteer and BR/DH participant

Summer 2007

"I went to the Karabakh region this weekend and this will undoubtedly be the highlight of my trip to Armenia." [more]
Sos Bagramyan (USA), Arak-29 volunteer and BR/DH participant

"I am back home, and yet again my life is flying by at lightning speed." [more]
Christina Manoukian, AVC volunteer and BR/DH participant

"Today was the first day I saw her truly smile. Perhaps it was a secret she only shares with the baby." [more]
Deanna Cachoian-Schanz (USA), AAA volunteer and BR/DH participant

"I just returned from my first trip to Armenia where I spent two months..." [more]
Johnny Bogossian (Canada), AVC volunteer and BR/DH participant

"I hope my summer in Armenia is just a prelude to a symphony of change." [more]
Raffi Wartanian (USA), AYF volunteer and BR/DH participant

Spring 2007

"Been traveling for about 17 hours." [more]
Karen Kazanci (USA), AVC volunteer and BR/DH participant

Winter 2007

"A lot has changed since the last time I wrote a travelogue." [more]
Raffi Keuhnelian ( Canada ), AVC volunteer and BR/DH participant

"The word Armenia has always conjured images of Ararat, ancient churches, and elderly women selling bread on the side of a road." [more]
Maro Siranosian (USA), AVC volunteer and BR/DH participant

Fall 2006

"I do not use the word "love" very often, but in this case I can say that I loved my experience in Armenia." [more]
Armen Khatchadourian (Canada), AVC volunteer and BR/DH participant

"Never did I think I would find so much here in Armenia." [more]
Serli Hacikoglu (USA), AVC volunteer and BR/DH participant

"There is a reason nobody wants to leave this country." [more]
Sevan Ohanian (USA), AVC volunteer and BR/DH participant

"Truthfully, I'm scared to fall in love with Armenia ." [more]
Serli Hacikoglu (USA), AVC volunteer and BR/DH participant

"For the past few weeks, I have been living in Yerevan as a Birthright/AVC volunteer." [more]
Raffi Keuhnelian ( Canada ), AVC volunteer and BR/DH participant

"I wish that I had never come here..." [more]
Hagop Cutujian (Syria), AVC volunteer and BR/DH participant

Summer 2006

"If you try to find Gomk on a map chances are you won't." [more]
Veronica Siranosian (USA), AVC volunteer and BR/DH participant

"As our bus made its way through the streets of Shushi towards the city center, the city's heritage lay apparent in its landscape." [more]
Samvel Setyan (USA), AVC volunteer and BR/DH participant

"Like many young Armenian-Americans, I had always been interested in seeing my motherland." [more]
Shant Korkigian (USA), AMA volunteer and BR/DH alumnus (2004)

"Prior to setting foot on Armenian soil, I had yet to fully grasp the deep connectivity of Armenian culture to geography." [more]
Nairi Tashjian (USA), AAA volunteer and BR/DH participant

"This August, Birthright Armenia volunteers traveled to Artsakh, and many can say that this trip was definitely the highlight of their time here in Armenia." [more]
Parseh Bakirtzian (Canada), AMA volunteer and BR/DH participant

"As a nurse, I have experienced a lot of great things that have had a profound affect on my life." [more]
Ani Sinanyan (USA), AAA volunteer and BR/DH participant

"What began as a regular weekend excursion with Birthright Armenia turned into one of the most defining moments." [more]
Tamar Shahabian (USA), AVC volunteer and BR/DH alumnus (2005)

"One of the first things that caught my attention about Yerevan were the little white buses that weaved through the perpetually busy streets, always at full capacity, somehow still able to take passengers and always looking as though complete vehicular collapse was moments away..". [more]
Arpi Paylan (USA), AAA volunteer and BR/DH participant

"As a person who has been visiting Armenia almost every summer since childhood, I wouldn’t expect any new kind of emotion to supplement the ordinary feelings of excitement that one feels while embarking on a journey.". [more]
Shogher Margossian (Lebanon), AYLA volunteer and BR/DH participant

"Many people in the Armenian Diaspora feel a special responsibility to Armenia for a variety of reasons". [more]
Richard Antaramian (USA), AIPRG volunteer and BR/DH participant

"Being in a foreign country is not always very easy". [more]
Anoush Dekmezian (USA), AAA volunteer and BR/DH participant

"Before coming to Armenia, I wondered, among many other things, what Armenia’s churches would be like." [more]
Sona Bekmezian (USA), AAA volunteer and BR/DH participant

"Only In Armenia can complete strangers become your family in a matter of seconds." [more]
Parseh Bakirtzian (Canada), AMA volunteer and BR/DH participant

Spring 2006

"...Two outsiders welcomed into a family's celebration not as volunteers, but as sisters. Some might say that those we are helping are the fortunate ones, but I think in this case we are they..." [more]
Karinne' Hovnanian (USA), MHF volunteer and BR/DH participant

"... I am overzealous about the Birthright program, in that I feel every Armenian should take this opportunity to give back to their motherland." [more]
Raffi ElChemmas (USA), HFH volunteer and BR/DH participant

Winter 2006

"Being in Armenia in the winter is a whole different experience from the summer." [more]
Sophia Malkasian (USA), AVC volunteer and BR/DH participant

Fall 2005

"...I had one of the best live music experiences I've had in a long time." [more]
Andre Mansourian (USA), AVC volunteer and BR/DH participant

Summer 2005

"Because of our very rewarding experience, Mike and I will not stop our involvement when we leave Yerevan." [more]
Hanna “Johnny” Elchemmas (USA), ACYOA (ASP) volunteer and BR/DH participant
ACYOA (ASP) volunteer and BR/DH participant, 2005

"...it was a matter of time and opportunity before I came home to Armenia." [more]
Colette Seter (USA), NY - AAA volunteer and BR/DH participant

"Comment décrire cette expérience qui nous est donnée de vivre en Arménie grâce à l’aide de Depi Hayk ?" [suite]
Céline Derbekian (France), DAC volunteer and BR/DH participant

"Waking up every morning and seeing Mayr Hayasdan from my balcony is truly a priceless feeling." [more]
Lalai Manjikian (Canada), AVC volunteer and BR/DH participant

One of the greatest lessons of being here is how little is
required to attain happiness. [more]
Nishan Bingham (USA), LCO volunteer and BR/DH participant

"I had an incredible experience in Armenia . During my first trip to the homeland, I saw many sights, learned many things, and wondered how anyone could feel satisfied with a trip to Armenia that lasted less than 4 months." [more]
Harout Manougian (Canada), AVC volunteer and BR/DH participant

" This last weekend was one of the most interesting yet. We travelled to Nagorno-Karabagh or Artsakh to Armenians. Artsa k h which translates into "mountains and woods" is just that. " [more]
Alex Kolanjian (USA), AVC volunteer and BR/DH participant

Fall 2004

"Every emotion you feel in Armenia is real. Every person you meet is real, and every hand you hold and every pair of eyes you look into has seen more history, more loss and more beauty than you could ever imagine." [more]
Tina Serebrakian (USA), AVC volunteer and BR/DH participant

Summer 2004

"Before I arrived in Armenia, I tried not to get my hopes up. I had wanted to come to Armenia for years, and finally, the time was ripe!" [more]
Sonia Shahrigian (USA), AVC volunteer and BR/DH participant

"Initially, I came to Armenia simply to see my ancestral homeland, but there are so many opportunities to volunteer and so much to see that 8 weeks will not be nearly enough." [more]
Alex Hakoopian (USA), NY-ASA volunteer and BR/DH participant

"I came to Armenia to conquer my fears. My modus operandi was to experience all that I could even if it was different or difficult, or challenged everything I had ever known." [more]
Sarah Wilkinson (USA), NY-ASA volunteer and BR/DH participant

"I've been in Hayastan six weeks now--long enough to be frustrated by the linguistic handicap and long enough to startle myself with occasional spurts of fluency." [more]
Grace Yacoubian (USA), AVC volunteer and BR/DH participant

"You do not have to spend a very long time in an Armenian hospital to realize that it is a vastly different world than its American, French or German counterparts." [more]
Shant Korkigian (USA), AMA volunteer and BR/DH participant

"...maybe I should just not tell you why I would want to live here but provoke you to come to Armenia to figure it out for yourself!" [more]
Tamar Palandjian (USA), AYF volunteer and and BR/DH participantv

"Having the opportunity to be fully immersed in Armenian culture allowed me to realize where I came from, and eventually, to realize who I am." [more]
Alexandra Kazarian (USA), AAA volunteer and BR/DH participant

"When asked what is the greatest thing I’ll remember or have gained from the Homeland experience, I say to name just one experience is difficult." [more]
Alan Broglin (USA), AYF volunteer and BR/DH participant