I am currently sitting on my back porch in
the middle of Idaho with my poodle, listening to the birds chirp and basically
watching the grass grow. I spent the day
gardening, and after spending the day playing in the dirt with flowers, I am
tired. I assume that life will be a
little different this fall after a quick hop and a skip to the middle of
Mongolia, the last wild place on earth (or so I am told). Besides dramatic landscapes and a vegetable
free diet dominated by dairy and meat products, Mongolia is also known for its
up-and-coming country status (NPR even had a series on it this spring). Last year, it had the world’s fastest growing
economy, a product of huge amounts of coal and copper, among other natural
resources. Mongolia is rapidly changing
socially, politically, and economically as people in the traditionally nomadic
culture move to the city, the government continues to adjust from communism to
democracy, and as the economy responds to development and expansion.
This rapidly changing environment is what
really sealed the study-abroad deal for me when I was deciding on a country to
study in. I didn’t feel particularly
driven to become fluent in Spanish, the language I’ve been studying for just
about forever, so I nixed South America, and I feel that Europe will more or
less be the same in 20 years (if all goes at least marginally well in the
Eurozone Crisis). I’m pretty sure that in
20 years Mongolia will be an entirely different place than the country I will
be exploring this fall. I want to see the last wild place on earth, live in a
yurt, and talk to people about communism and coal. Who knows what the mining industry,
urbanization, and democracy will do in the next two decades. So I’m going to
see it all now.
I am studying abroad with a program called
SIT, and I will be learning all about Geopolitics and Natural Resources, which
I hope will pair my majors, International Studies and Geography, nicely. The program is based in the capital,
Ulaanbaatar, where I will live in an urban homestay, and students also spend at
least three weeks living in a rural homestay which will definitely be in the
middle of nowhere. I will also be
expected to complete an Independent Study Project which I hope to focus on
tourism and impact. To set the record
straight, I speak absolutely no Mongolian, and the host families speak little
(read: no) English. So as I sit on the
couch and play in the flowers, I am getting ready for an adventure!
And in order to be fully prepared for an
adventure in a country sandwiched between Russia and China, it is imperative to
pack appropriately. My packing list is a
little daunting (definitely different from my friends studying abroad in Chile,
Australia, or Spain). The most important
thing on my list is a sleeping bag that is appropriate for -15 to -20 degrees
Fahrenheit; additionally I also need a down jacket, a heavy jacket, a heavy
sweater, wool socks, wool hat, and “trekking boots.” So that is step one. I also have a book list to read which will
help me get some handle on Mongolia’s history and culture. I’m not even going to try to learn the
language before I go, and instead I will rely on the universal language of
smiling and good humor when I arrive while praying for a quick learning
curve. I also need to get a visa (that
should probably be step one).
Because I expect this to be a crazy, probably
fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants kind of adventure, I’m not super worried about
anything. Assuming I get my visa, I’ll
show up and hope for the best. I’m not
expecting my fall to be easy by any stretch of the imagination, but I am
planning on surviving. I also hope to
ride a horse through the Mongolian steppe.
The whole experience seems like a long ways away (and it is—as the crow
flies Ulaanbaatar is about 5,500 miles away from my back porch and that is
cutting through the Arctic Circle as a shortcut), and I have no idea what to
expect. So I am trying not to expect
anything except adventure. I am crossing
an ocean and half a continent to learn something, and I am confident that no
matter what I do, as long as I meet the SIT coordinator on August 27th
at the only coffee shop in the Ulaanbaatar airport, I will succeed.
