As my departure approaches

I'm coming up on about three weeks until I leave for India. I'm starting this blog so that all my friends and family can follow along with where I am and what I'm up to over the next three and a half months. YIKES. Just typing it..."three and a half months"...it seems so long!

So to catch everyone up:

On September 5th I will begin my National Outdoor Leadership School Mountaineering course in Conway, Washington. On September 6th I will fly out with the group of climbing students and our instructors from Seatac airport in Seattle to Delhi, India. From Delhi, we will bus to Ranikhet in the northeastern state of Uttarakhand. There we will begin trekking into the Himalayas. The course lasts 40 days in which we will learn everything from basic backpacking skills, to basic conversational Hindi, to technical glacier travel. I will "graduate" the NOLS course on October 15th and be reinstated back into civilization in Delhi.

After completion of the NOLS course I will spend a few days traveling in Agra (home of theTaj Mahal) and Delhi with a few of the other NOLS students, then travel north again to the village of Dharamsala, where I will volunteer as a contributing English writer for their village newspaper. Dharamsala, while not a grandiose village, has become home to Tibetan refugees fleeing China's persecution. It is now the home of the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan Parliament-in Exile. As I hope everyone is aware, this is a very important time for the Tibetan people both those in refuge and those still under oppression as the world watches China through the lens of the Olympic games.

While Tibet is a hotbed for political turmoil, the village of Dharamsala is protected by the Indian government and the near impenetrable wall of the Himalayan mountains. It is a safe and peaceful village that thrives on tourism, both secular and religious. I will reside there until I return to Delhi to fly home on December 19th.

Getting in touch:

I will not have access to telephones or internet during the NOLS course except in the event of an emergency. Once I am back in civilization I will utilize internet cafes to send out emails and if time allows, update this blog. I will be keeping a journal during my travels which I will post here in detail once I return to the states, allowing everyone to follow up on their own time instead of flooding your inboxes with lengthy emails.