Wish it never ended June 30, 2024

Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc.

Overall I came out of this program having learned and experienced so much. All of the teachers are amazing and I learned so much from them inside and outside of class (you spend a lot of time with them outside of class during excursions). You get to see a lot of the country and learn things you never would if you were stuck in the classroom everyday because of all of the excursions, field exercises, and guest lectures. I now know so much about Bhutan and was exposed to new perspectives on the environment. I learned so many new skills related to my environmental major and grew so much as a person. The classes were not too challenging or overwhelming and the workload was very manageable with not a lot of assignments, however a large majority of your time was spent in class and when traveling we were very busy. During the last two weeks for directed research, my group in particular was very busy with hardly any free time. Some complaints were that sometimes lessons or guest lectures were too much focused on basics that you could learn in the US with not enough Bhutan specific examples. Also especially with guest lectures, since they were often company or government workers, the lessons were not always relevant or useful to us because of the information included and the lecture's organization. This could be frustrating because it felt like a missed opportunity.

On-site administration of your program

How satisfied were you with your living arrangements?

Our center is a really cool building. It used to be a palace and then a hotel before it became our center. The rooms are comfortably with traditional painting on the walls and furniture. Some bedrooms had limited storage space. Also the center has western toilets but while traveling and staying at other locations there was often squat toilets instead which are more common. Public bathrooms were also scarce and often not very clean or completely functional.

The food at the center was good but could become repetitive. There were also many good places in town (local cuisine and tourist restaurants) however this wasn't always an option due to traveling.

How integrated did you feel with the local culture?

The program and teachers made a very great effort to integrate us. There was the Language and Culture class, 2 home stays, and a stay at the College of Natural Resources (where we got to meet students our age and had a cultural performance in which we all performed). There were as many opportunities as possible and much encouragement to meet and talk with locals of different backgrounds and regions. However despite all efforts made by the program due to its nature of being all US students, it was sometimes difficult to make local friends and find locals your age. You had to make an individual effort and go out of your way to meet people and make local friends. Also all the traveling limited the time you had to meet people in Paro Town.

How well were health issues addressed during the program?

Sometimes a bit far from hospitals when traveling. Need many vaccines beforehand (rabies vaccine important).

Bhutan is a relatively safe country. One thing to note is the many stray dogs many of which carry diseases such as fleas, mange, and rabies (only one dog I noticed had rabies). Many of the dogs are friendly but if it is night, you're by yourself, or you're in an area with the more territorial dogs it can be a little dangerous. But you should be fine if you give them space and are careful where you go. Also there are government systems in place to get rabies shots if you are bitten.

(1 = not very easy/$200+ on food & personal expenses/week, 2.5 = $100/week, 5 = very easily/minimal cost)

Everything is very inexpensive and all spending is optional (food, drinks, taxi fare, toiletries, certain souvenirs). Places that cater to tourists will be more expensive but most things are still relatively cheap with only certain souvenir items being expensive. Food is always provided so all additional spending is optional.

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• Other

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• Americans

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• Americans

• Professors
• Traveling/excursions/field exercises/directed research
• Bhutan/the country/the people

• Longer time for directed research
• More opportunities to make local friends
• More classes of the Language and Culture Course

The Academic or Linguist