The Lumberjack

Issue date: 11/14/07 Section: Culture

You can see China and Tibet from Founders Hall, in a slideshow adventure created by students in the geography department.

Imagine yourself in a new, far-off country, thousands of feet above sea level where the air is thin and cold. You and your small group hike for eight hours to a remote monastery.

The final leg of the journey is an 800-foot hike up the hill surrounding a 20,000-foot tall mountain. You and your group reach the monastery that sits in the shadow of the gigantic mountain. You are all tired and hungry from the trek, but the monastery has no food or beds to offer, so you eat the ramen noodles you brought and sleep on the porch.

This was just one adventure that geography students had last summer on their trip to China and Tibet. The students each chose a subject to research during their six-week stay. In Founders Hall on Tuesday, Nov. 13 at 7 p.m., the students showed off photos and told the audience what they had learned.

Colin Leslie, a senior geography student, learned to always be prepared and flexible when traveling.

"Sometimes there is no food, sometimes there is no water, and sometimes there isn't even a road," Leslie said.

Leslie gained experience in a few different fields while on the trip.

He is an avid photographer and shot photos of amazing landscapes. The group moved so quickly that he said he only had about three minutes to compose his shots.

Leslie is also a mountaineer who has climbed around the Sierras along with mountains down in Mexico. Westerners view a mountain as something to conquer where as easterners see it as a spiritual entity, he said. A westerner climbs a mountain while an easterner walks a circle around the base.

Leslie applied this idea to his research. His focus was on how diverse the land is and how the Tibetan people utilize the different parts.

"The land changes quickly," he said." We traveled up and down between 9,000 and 17,000 feet over the whole trip."

Carly Hanssler, a senior political science and religious studies major, said that on the train ride from Beijing to Lhasa oxygen masks came down because the elevation changed so rapidly.

In Beijing, Hassler said, "It was so polluted that I got flu symptoms from breathing in the air." After the 48-hour train ride, the group arrived in Tibet's traditional capital Lhasa. China technically rules over Tibet but Lhasa is still considered by many to be its capital, said Hassler.

"The air was fresh, with big fluffy cumulus clouds sprinkling rain," she said. "But it was weird, they had Shania Twain playing on the radio at the train station."

Other examples of Western culture creeping to the east included a Chinese TV show Hassler saw. It was like American Idol, with individuals in a singing competition. The weird part was each individual was representing a different American corporation. One was backing Coca-Cola, while others endorsed McDonald's or Sprite. They would take turns singing songs promoting the products and would slip in English phrases when they could, Hassler said.

Amy Liu, a senior international studies major with a minor in Chinese, focused on researching education in Tibet during the trip. The school trip was over on July 19 and the group disbanded. Some hopped on flights home while others continued their travels through Asia. Liu stayed in Tibet and worked at a school to teach kids to speak English.

At Whaxi Nationality School, Liu taught songs to the kids while playing guitar. She was there for four days.

"They just called last week saying, 'We need English teachers'," Liu said.

If you want to adventure through China and Tibet next summer, contact Tony Rossi in the geography department.

He will take you to see amazing rivers and mountains. He might be able to set you up with an English teaching position.

Just remember to pack some food for that eight-hour hike.


Matthew Barry can be reached at mkb27@humboldt.edu

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