We’ve finally moved out of Mongolia and are on to a more tropical destination! Thus, I can officially inform you all of my amazing experiences in the land of Chinggis Khan. I periodically wrote some posts during my 4-week stay, so I will post them in the order they were written. Unfortunately, all of this happened a while ago, but being part of a university-sanctioned study abroad group, I have to comply with their safety regulations, which restrict us from posting any material about the countries we are currently visitng.
Before I get to the more personal stuff, I have decided to post something I wrote for the blog our entire travel group is writing. It’s got some good info on my first impressions of the city.
I’ll start by giving some background on the circumstances of our time in Mongolia. We were in the country for four weeks, the majority of which was spent in the capital city, Ulaanbaatar at a guesthouse. Professor Elizabeth Benard, program director and religion professor on campus, taught our first class here, which was an introduction to Buddhism. Through her many connections, we were given the incredible opportunity to visit some of the most significant Buddhist sites in the country and meet some amazing people. When we weren’t on excursions in the countryside, we attended class twice a day in a temple at Lamrim Monastery, a 15-minute walk from our guesthouse.
Our living quarters were tight, and took some getting used to. The girls were split into two rooms of 10 beds, leaving the 6 boys with their own room. Bunk beds all the way! But my roommates and I ended up having a blast together. It was like camp. Another hurdle was the bathroom situation, which I briefly alluded to in my final South Korea post. The guesthouse contained only two toilets and three showers, and hot water was a rarity. As was sufficient water pressure to ensure that everything would make it down…if you know what I mean. Things got dicey a few times. If you’ve read David Sedaris’s story “Big Boy” from his book Me Talk Pretty One Day, then you can imagine what I am talking about. If not, I encourage you to do so.
We rode camels, slept in gers, befriended nomads, and marveled at this vast country’s incredible landscape during our three excursions outside the city. No rules, no roads, no rest stops. These were by far my favorite experiences of the trip.
So here are some of my most significant memories of the past month, beginning with my thoughts about the differences between city and country life in Mongolia.
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