The following is a sample itinerary for the fall semester.  The actual itinerary will likely vary from that listed below.  Due to weather, the spring semester will be sequentially different.  For itinerary updates, please visit the bulletin board (Yak Yak) on the Dragons website. 

Weeks one through four

Students arrive in Delhi and spend 2 days exploring Old Delhi with visits to Mandirs, Masjids, and Gurdwaras (Hindu temples, Mosques, and Sikh temples) with introductions to these three religions.  We then fly to Leh, Ladakh, dramatically set between the Himalaya and the Karokoram ranges along the Indus river.  Students spend a few days acclimatizing in Leh and visiting Buddhist monasteries before beginning homestays in a rural village to learn about high altitude farming practices and Buddhist practice in daily life.  Following village stay, we embark on a week to ten day long strenuous trek at elevations reaching above 15,000 ft through the dramatic landscape of the Ladakh range where we will likely see blue sheep, Himalayan marmots, ibex and perhaps signs of the elusive snow leopard.

Weeks four through five

We fly to Nepal were we explore the outskirts of the Kathmandu valley.  We visit the medieval Newari cities of Bhaktapur and Panauti, where students encounter traditional architecture and the unique blend of Buddhist and Hindu iconography and religious belief during Dasain, Hinduism’s most significant festival.  Students then live and work on an organic permaculture farm and learn about an activist’s movement to bring these practices to traditional Nepali farmers.  Students begin intensive Nepali language training and development discussions. 

Week six

A ten-day meditation retreat and introduction to Tibetan Buddhism at Kopan monastery.  We will attend a course where we live and study amongst Tibetan monks in the Gelugpa tradition (the school of the Dalai Lama) in an idyllic hilltop monastery overlooking the Kathmandu valley. 

Week seven through ten

Students move into Kathmandu homestays and come daily to our program house for language training, guest lecturers, development discussions and lunch.  In the afternoon we will pursue independent study projects.  We will also go for weekend excursions, visit sacred places of pilgrimage, and attend religious festivals and celebrations.

Week eleven

We depart the Kathmandu valley for a rural homestay in the Himalayan foothills.  Development discussions, an ethnography study and presentation, and language training continues alongside service work and learning in a relaxed village atmosphere. 

Week twelve

We return to Kathmandu and our homestays to conclude ISP projects with presentations and a party for our host families.

Week thirteen

Students research and plan an excursion for our last week together.  Flight to Delhi for final course wrap up before the flight home.