The Beginning

In 18 days I will be traveling to the other side of the world to a very remote place known as Ladakh situated on the border of Northern India and Tibet. It is said to be the second coldest inhabited place in the world with snow exceeding 20 feet! It also is one of the last places to have been introduced to the rest of the world so they have a very distinctive identity, preserving their original Buddhist religion. To give you a little introduction about Ladakh I will give you a breif overview about what I have read so far. Its one of the last cultures to have come into contact with our Western culture mainly because of political reasons concerning China. In the 60’s, a road was build from Leh, it’s capitol to Srinagar. This road, the "skyway", is the highest road on earth. Before this was built, I'm pretty sure most Ladahkis had never seen cars and traveled by yaks and camels. Pretty amazing!

I want to begin my blog with how I ended up deciding two weeks ago that I would soon be traveling to this isolated region in the Himalayas because I think it began with quite an ironic series of events. It began with conversation I had with William Eddy, an emeritus professor of UVM. I have spent the past two years trying to find a concentration and in my vast search I have began to focus on the impact we have as Americans on international developing countries. I have been able to gain a greater understanding through my course work at UVM of the connection between the infrastructure of developing countries which is determined by their culture and the impact these countries have on the environment. William Eddy is a man with worldly experience who has been able to introduce thousands of people to the way other cultures perceive nature by working internationally in Africa, India and here at UVM. This experience of his is what led me to contact him and set up a meeting. I sent Bill an email and soon after contacted him by phone. After months of not visiting Burlington he was planning to make his way to the airport a few weeks down the road. Although I knew he had been a professor for years at UVM from the Environmental Program's website, I had not heard about him prior to this. At first I was a little intimidated knowing his background and life time of international experience. Sitting at a table in the front of Muddy Waters, I eagerly watched as every person came through the door. I immediately recognized him from his photo as he walked in. After a quick introduction about my background he candidly asked me why I requested to meet me. In my mind, I thought there must be someone out there who can help me narrow my dreams down and point me on a path so I searched to tell him this in a more “mature” way by presenting the many study abroad programs I was considering. His response was that he couldn't even tell me the number of students who had come to him for this in the past. In my mind, I knew he was expecting someone working towards a PhD or someone who had read all of his works. I just sat there like a little lost soul trying to put on some kind of act. He spent the next 45 minutes talking to me about his experience in Africa and gave me his own thoughts about programs such as the Peace Corps and SIT with which he has worked closely with in the past. Our conversation led to VIS and the incredible work this non-profit organization does for VT high school students in Ladakh, India. He seemed to be very keen about the program and the director who was running the program. This man verbally described people and places with such detail I can't even tell you. And he described people he has encountered with the upmost respect. His next stop after meeting with me was with an older gentleman, Charles Houston, who was the first American to have ever climbed K2 and our world's expert on high altitude sickness. As I am writing this blog months after the conversation with William Eddy happened, I am planning on meeting this 94 year old next week to hear about his amazing experience as well. For me, listening to the accomplishments of others inspires me to live with the qualities it took for these amazing people to accomplish what they did. William Eddy is surely a man of passion for opening up the minds of others to different perceptions and Charles, I imagine will be a man of courage and strength. When I think of other amazing people I have recently met I have learned that taking risks and living your life without regret are qualities we all need to embody in order to turn our dreams into reality. I contacted Curtis directly after our meeting to learn more about her program, VIS, because I wanted to how I could in any way be apart of such a highly respected program in the future.

Before I was to meet up with Curtis in Montpelier, I had a meeting with my advisor at UVM, Thomas Hudspeth. I felt as though I needed to explain what I might be getting into with a professor who may be familiar with William Eddy or the program. There was no one that could have been better to meet with than Thom. Straight away he gave me an insightful look into who Bill was and the travels he had done himself with Bill Eddy in India. He rambled through the file cabinets filled with thousands of senior thesis' and handed me a senior thesis to take a look at that was done by a student named Ashley Morton 4 years earlier. Thom spoke highly of this student and gave it to me to read because this student had done her thesis based on cross cultural education with Vermont and Tibetan students which is similar to what VIS does. With a boost of confidence given to me by Thom and a smile on my face I walked out of his office and headed to Montpelier. It was my first time in the capitol of Vermont and was greeted by the state house, a huge building capped with a golden oval shaped statue. I had only seen buildings like that in pictures of foreign countries. We were meeting at capitol grounds, a small coffee shop, very similar to uncommon grounds in Burlington. I ordered my green tea and waited for Curtis. I was getting a little nervous because again, I was meeting with someone who was most likely expecting much more than I had to offer. Reading over all of the information I had printed out I noticed across from me was a younger woman reading a book. I always try to look at what others are reading - it tells you a lot about a person. Anyways, finally a woman walked in and sat next to the woman across from me. I realized it was Curtis and walked over to introduce myself. It turned out this younger woman was Ashley Morton whose thesis I randomly just read only two hours earlier. Things were getting more ironic by the minute! The conversation amongst us was great and I fell in love with everything Curtis said about the students and Ladakh. I walked out of the coffee shop wanted to help her continue the program in anyway I could.

After a long thoughtful conversation with my other advisor, Ibit, I realized I had to take the offer Curtis had given me the night earlier at a presentation she gave in Shelbourne. While I was meeting with Ibit, Curtis had sent an internship description to Ibit so she could send it out among the entire UVM environmental listserve. I am sure Curtis would be sent more e-mails than she could open from alumni and students so I asked Ibit to please hold off on sending the position so I could make my final decision that night.

As of a few days ago I took a leave of absence from UVM and on January 28th I will be heading to India as an intern with VIS (Vermont Intercultural Semester). Now that I have been speaking to professors about my plans, I have learned that Bill Eddy was known as being one of the most respected professors at UVM-"the cream of the crop" as one professor put it. I am reading his book, "Mind and Nature" which I highly recommend to everyone.