For the past year or two, I required my students to set up and maintain a blog as a way to interest them in the habit of writing regularly. They were instructed to establish an anonymous identity so that not even their classmates would know who they were unless they told; I was the only person who knew which blog was whose. I linked all of the student blogs to a main class blog, where I posted a discussion question to which they all had to respond on their own blogs and then comment on the responses of two of their classmates' posts. Some of them kept their blogs going after the class ended, and others started a whole new blog that had nothing to do with our class. Such is the case of Carrie, a student from the Spring '09 semester.

Carrie and her brother, John, are cycling around the North Sea this summer. When she told me about the adventure that they were about to embark on, I jokingly told Carrie that I hoped she would blog about it so that I could follow along with their progress. Much to my delight and surprise, Carrie told me that she had already set up a blog for that exact purpose, then she thanked me for teaching her how to set up and use this most amazing of online communication platforms.

Well on their way around the North Sea, Carrie and John have traversed Germany and are currently in Denmark. In her most recent post, Carrie relates that she and John have been interviewed for the local newspaper in the 5th Century Viking village where they are currently camping. I hope that some of my readers will pay a visit to Carrie's blog and follow the bicycle ride of a lifetime!

Cycling the North Sea with John and Carrie