Heartbreak in Lhasa Many things come with traveling and living abroad. Being away from your loved ones and what you are comfortable with, new settings, new cuisine, new customs, and new stresses. And undoubtedly has a personal crisis of sorts, whether it be family, injury, or homesickness. And I had such a crisis which was completely unexpected (as they usually are). I always felt that when you study abroad you have the opportunity to be whoever you want to ...

New Year's 2011 New Year's in Lhasa, well Western New Year's in Lhasa that is. Funny enough New Year's here in Lhasa was like many New Year's Eves of the past. Friends got together had some beverages (various kinds but Lhasa Beer and Bacardi Breezier were the alcohol of choice that night). With drinking of course dictated going out for dancing, which in Lhasa meant another trip to Queen (or Baliba in Chinese). This time around we were all seasoned pros ...

Christmas On the heels of Thanksgiving and after finishing all four of my finals, Christmas finally came to Lhasa. Spending the holidays away from home is always interesting and both Halloween and Thanksgiving in Lhasa had proven to be so (see my past blogs on these topics).However, Christmas in Lhasa has been the best and most interesting of the winter/fall holidays. Initially, the only signs of the Christmas season in Lhasa were commercial. Budweiser seemed...

The White and Red PalaceJust before finals we were informed that as part of our Tibetan Culture class we would all be visiting the Potala Palace. The Potala Palace is like Disney's Sleeping Beauty's castle of Lhasa because it over looks the entire city and can be seen from across the city. Supposedly it is difficult to get tickets to especially during high tourist season. Now this is kind of fitting because as I got news of our visit to the Potala I felt very pos...

The Hot Springs This past weekend a few classmates and I went on a trip to local hot spring known for theirhealing properties. The Dretrum hot springs are located about six hours outside of Lhasa on thesite of a small nunnery just below famous meditation caves known for their religious power. Thecaves are still used by the nuns today and were formerly occupied by one of the most wellknownand powerful figures in Buddhism, Padmasambhava.Our stay only lasted a litt...