Contributed by Kathryn Collins

At the end of September, eight IES Beijing students, including myself, experienced the trip of a lifetime: a two-week journey to the Tibet Autonomous Region. The trip was incorporated into one class of IES Beijing’s Culture and Contemporary Issues program, which focused on ethnicity and Tibetan studies. The trip included a six-day camping excursion into rural areas around the regional capital of Lhasa. We camped at Namtso,”Heavenly Lake,” and Drepung Monastery, where we explored cultural landmarks, interviewed locals and experienced traditions that date back to before the introduction of Buddhism. Each of us focused on a research topic during the trip and prepared a study for our final project. Many of us used this opportunity to investigate aspects of Tibetan culture that we could relate to previous studies. As a biology major, I focused on local medicinal resources and the importance of this market to rural Tibetans. Other projects included a study on Tibetan-Hui relations in Lhasa, and another on state-run education in the Tibetan Autonomous Region. In addition, we took the world’s highest railroad on our way back!