So It Begins
I am beginning this blog on the eve of my departure to study abroad in Asia for the fall semester of 2008. I'm entering my junior year of college at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, and I could not be any more excited for what is about to happen. I will be studying in the India/Nepal/Tibet region for three and a half months. The program is through a group called Students in International Training (SIT) based in Vermont. I'll get about 16 hours of credit, and come back with a minor in Anthropology. There are 27 students going--a larger group than I had expected.
On the 31st of August, Darby (my girlfriend of over a year and a half) and I will fly to Los Angeles to meet the group. From there, we'll make a pit-stop in Hong Kong on the way to New Delhi. Then it's on to Dharamsala, Nepal, Tibet, and more. We get home on December 16th. I leave for Costa Rica a month later, but that's another story for another time...
Dharamsala is a city in northern India--in the foothills of the Himalayas--that is home to the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan Government-in-Exile that he set up, and a large population of Tibetans who have escaped from their homeland. (I suggest that if you aren't up to speed on the Tibet issue, you get there soon--you'll be hearing a lot about it in the next few months.) There is also a considerable population of Westerners; from what I can gather, it's basically a microcosm of crazy cultural diversity in India.
The purpose of the program is to study Tibetan and Himalayan cultures in hopes of better understanding them and gaining insight into ways to help preserve them, as well as to "explore the effects of Chinese policies and expansion in both rural and urban areas in the Tibet Autonomous region and their impact on traditional culture." During the first third of the program, we live with a Tibetan family, learn the Tibetan language, and take classes on the culture. During the second part, we take an excursion into Nepal and Tibet (conditions/Chinese government allowing, of course). The final third is where we go out on our own and do an independent research project for a month--away from the group, from familiarity, and from life as we know it. I have the chance to go to the monastery of a Tibetan monk who teaches at our university and who I've had the chance to become fairly good friends with over the past year. He's changed my life in ways I can't explain, and he's about to do it again. I can't wait.
(click to enlarge)
With the Olympics closing just before we get there, it will be interesting to see how the Tibetans in Dharamsala (and wherever else we go) are reacting. This is a critical time for their people and their culture--and may be one of the last chances they get to show the world what they have been experiencing for the past 58 years.
There is still so much to do before the trip--I have three books to read, an essay to write, a foreign alphabet to memorize, things to buy, and people to see. I know it will get done, but it seems like a week isn't enough time to do it all and be well-rested by the time I get there. Maybe the seventeen hours on a plane will help?
I don't yet know how internet access will be while I'm there, but check back occasionally. I'll do my best to update this at least semi-regularly.
If you need to contact me while I'm there, just email me or, if you're extra patient, try to catch me on Skype. My skype name is stephen_ironside.
I'll also probably be posting pictures online, but I'll get back to that later.
Until then.
On the 31st of August, Darby (my girlfriend of over a year and a half) and I will fly to Los Angeles to meet the group. From there, we'll make a pit-stop in Hong Kong on the way to New Delhi. Then it's on to Dharamsala, Nepal, Tibet, and more. We get home on December 16th. I leave for Costa Rica a month later, but that's another story for another time...
Dharamsala is a city in northern India--in the foothills of the Himalayas--that is home to the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan Government-in-Exile that he set up, and a large population of Tibetans who have escaped from their homeland. (I suggest that if you aren't up to speed on the Tibet issue, you get there soon--you'll be hearing a lot about it in the next few months.) There is also a considerable population of Westerners; from what I can gather, it's basically a microcosm of crazy cultural diversity in India.
The purpose of the program is to study Tibetan and Himalayan cultures in hopes of better understanding them and gaining insight into ways to help preserve them, as well as to "explore the effects of Chinese policies and expansion in both rural and urban areas in the Tibet Autonomous region and their impact on traditional culture." During the first third of the program, we live with a Tibetan family, learn the Tibetan language, and take classes on the culture. During the second part, we take an excursion into Nepal and Tibet (conditions/Chinese government allowing, of course). The final third is where we go out on our own and do an independent research project for a month--away from the group, from familiarity, and from life as we know it. I have the chance to go to the monastery of a Tibetan monk who teaches at our university and who I've had the chance to become fairly good friends with over the past year. He's changed my life in ways I can't explain, and he's about to do it again. I can't wait.
(click to enlarge)With the Olympics closing just before we get there, it will be interesting to see how the Tibetans in Dharamsala (and wherever else we go) are reacting. This is a critical time for their people and their culture--and may be one of the last chances they get to show the world what they have been experiencing for the past 58 years.
There is still so much to do before the trip--I have three books to read, an essay to write, a foreign alphabet to memorize, things to buy, and people to see. I know it will get done, but it seems like a week isn't enough time to do it all and be well-rested by the time I get there. Maybe the seventeen hours on a plane will help?
I don't yet know how internet access will be while I'm there, but check back occasionally. I'll do my best to update this at least semi-regularly.
If you need to contact me while I'm there, just email me or, if you're extra patient, try to catch me on Skype. My skype name is stephen_ironside.
I'll also probably be posting pictures online, but I'll get back to that later.
Until then.
posted by Stephen_I at
2:08 PM
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