Program Reviews

I participated in the Andes and Amazon semester for where there be dragons last fall and could not have asked for a better experience. Through the program I made friends that I will stay in touch with forever and instructors who inspired me daily. I was able to increase my spanish speaking and communication skills, learn how to do traditional Bolivian dance, and live with some amazing host families. Although some of my days in the Andes and Amazon were the hardest of my life- trekking at 17 thousand feet is never easy!- I would not trade that experience for anything in the world. Truly, cannot recommend this program highly enough! It will stretch your comfort zone and leave you more prepared for your future life ahead!

My semester in Indonesia with Where There Be Dragons was absolutely one of the most important experiences in my life. The opportunity to travel to a developing country and see how the rest of the world lives in a culture completely different to my own has changed the way I think about how I interact with and exist in the environment around me. The instructors are kind, thoughtful, and inspiring. Dragons is a great organization for gap year experiences – the students are encouraged to make the trip their own and have autonomy, but in a safe and supportive structure. Indonesia is a diverse and fascinating country that few Americans know anything about, despite its massive population. The places we lived in on the trip were all unique and wonderful in their own ways. I still think about the trip every day, even a year later, and I will forever be grateful I had the chance to travel to this amazing country with such incredible people.

The homestay was so helpful for me in learning Spanish. I'm currently a teachers assistant in a Spanish class at my school-- Español para hispanohablantes (Spanish for native speakers) and I understand everything the class says! My family was so patient with my Spanish and very welcoming. I couldn't have asked for a better homestay experience.
I made so many great connections while on the trip, with both my group members and Nicaraguans we met while traveling. While my homestay family was the most prominent in my mind, my Spanish teachers from the village and all the people who helped me practice my Spanish on the farm also played a role in my success as a Spanish student.

Where do I even begin? The Dragons programs are absolutely incomparable, in every sense. I have so many stories swirling around my thoughts that encapsulate just how incredible, enriching and magical my experience was in Nepal. From waking at 5 in the morning with the sun and meditating with the monks at a buddhism retreat to strolling through the bustling and colorful streets of Kathmandu at dusk. One moment (out of many) that has remained with me occurred on the three week trek that we did through the Himalayas. It was eleven o' clock at night, my two tent mates and I were nestled into our sleeping bags, our bodies ached from the eight hour day and we were ready to fall into a deep and well earned sleep. It was flurrying outside but it was expected to stop by midnight or so. However just as our eyes were fluttering closed, the wind began to pick up. Our tent began to shake and our rain flaps blew open, exposing us to what had transpired into an incredible snow storm. Chaos had erupted. Boisterous laughter and shouts could be heard from tent to tent, we were all delighting in the pandemonium.
It was the next morning that ended up being the moment of pure glory. The sun peaked its way through our tent and our watches alerted us of the time; it was 5 am and it was no longer snowing. I slipped on my shoes and mittens and carefully unzipped the tent. The fresh snow on the ground made the unmistakable gratifying crunch underneath my boots.I pushed back the rain flap and there in front of me were the snow capped Himalayas. The morning beams of light casting an absolutely brilliant orange and red glow onto the peaks. I felt as if I was looking at a piece of heaven. As if Shiva was reaching his hands through the clouds and touching the earth, as if it was a preserved sanctuary that no human had ever touched. My entire being filled with the most gratifying and extraordinary feeling. I wanted to stand in that very place for the rest of my days. I breathed in the crisp Nepali air and my eyes feasted upon the unequivocal beauty of the world. I felt so grateful to be where I was.

This program was absolutely incredible. My home stays were the most amazing part throughout my trip- I cried after leaving all four of them because I just felt like I was a part of the family. From spearfishing to going on jungle hikes looking for durian, this trip will blow your mind. There is intimacy within the group and the instructors are incredibly helpful. This creates a safe space on the trip, which is super important when looking at gap year programs. I tell all of my friends to take a semester off because this trip was so influential and I want others to feel and experience the same awesome things I did on this adventure.

Hiking Up to 17,500 with some amazing people and staying at people's houses and learning about the development issues going on in different communities was amazing! I met some of the coolest people I have known, and exploring Peru with them and getting to know them was amazing for me. One of the highlights was the homestays that we did, living the life of the people in Peru. The instructors were so helpful to me in order to learn about myself and explore there, and they know what they are doing because some have lived in the country for a few years. Wasn't your average community service program, as I learned about the place and myself at the same time.

I had a great time on Dragons! It was such a blast, we got to go to some really neat places and it was just superb! The Amazon was my personal favourite, mostly just because I prefer hot weather over cold weather (and I got to make friends with snakes and such!). I've done quite a bit of traveling before, but this was definitely one of my favourite trips that I've ever done. It was unique, well-structured, and I feel like I learned a lot about the culture and how well I can deal with certain situations. We had a great deal of variety, we had a lot of fun, and we had a really great group. There wasn't a ton of drama (and even if there was, I can't blame that on the program), and everybody seemed to get along quite well for the most part.

Some of the group activities struck me as a little bit silly, I felt a little patronized at parts, and I didn't like the reviews we had to do, but other than that it was such a blast! It really was an incredible adventure. I loved the group discussions about culture and politics etc., I had a ton of fun exploring the towns and the countryside (although I could have done with a little less time in Ocangate haha), and the ruins were all so incredible. I would strongly recommend this program to any youth who wants to get a little bit off the beaten trail and doesn't mind getting covered in dirt (and has a few thousand dollars burning a hole in their pocket).

Oh, and if Patrick, Jackson, or Avery are reading this: I was diagnosed with exercise-induced asthma! Surprise! I found myself struggling to breathe when I was biking (AT SEA LEVEL) in August/September, so I went to the doctor. I'm getting a final diagnosis sometime next week, but we're pretty sure that's what it is. No wonder I couldn't breathe on the mountain. I have a puffer, now. I can't believe I made it up all those freaking mountains with faulty lungs. I kinda wanna go back with my medicine and see if I can take it on for real and not hyperventilate.

Each morning in Ale Gau, a small agricultural village in the foothills of the Himalayas, I woke up to the sound of crowing roosters and cool mountain mist. My Aama and I would huddle around the open fire, sipping fresh, warm bison milk and preparing breakfast. Aama would knead rice flour and water to make roti, and I would stir the vegetables in a large pot, naming the spices in Nepali as she added them to our dish. "Besar" I would say, as she sprinkled tumeric into the sizzling pot. "Ramro (very good)!" she would reply with a hearty laugh and toothy grin. Through cooking and sharing meals, Aama and I forged a new kind of family, built on love, trust, and openness rather than blood.

I would like to share a letter of thanks I wrote to the Boulder Offices after my experience with Dragons...

Thank you for allowing me to embark on an educational journey, one lead from authentic ideals and one that has left a major impact on my development as a person. Thank you for the friends I have been able to make and the instructors that were able to teach me more than I learn in a given school year. Thank you for the lectures, lessons, and debates which most often lead me to think beyond, and now leave me thinking critically everyday. Thank you for the endless journey of possibility - making me believe in my mental, emotional, and physical self more than ever. Thank you for the exploration, as the endless trekking has allowed me to grasp the full beauty of China and learn that China is much more than an overpopulated and polluted country. Thank you for the policy of electronics, as disconnecting has made me realize that the devices that we think make us connected to the world actually disconnect us from the ones that are close. But most importantly, thank you for allowing me to search for my meaning, as I have learned that our search for meaning can just simply never end.

If I were to tell someone one thing I learned in my search for meaning; I learned that one’s philosophy on happiness will change depending on where you come from. Happiness - a paradox of itself is something that I much analyzed when I was with my Homestay family.

When trying to immerse myself in my rural Homestay family on the outskirts of Xining, I without a doubt was pushing myself out of a comfort zone that the Western World had forced upon me; not only because there was a major language barrier, but because the luxuries of indoor plumbing, a memory foam mattress, and indoor heating and insulation were swept away from me beneath my feet - literally, with myself sleeping on the cold Tibetan nights on a crummy blanket , laid upon dear mother earth. But, you may be asking yourself: How does this relate to happiness? After experiencing the Tibetan lifestyle - a very simple lifestyle to say at the least - I reflected back on the lifestyle I had at home - a lifestyle completed with all the physical luxuries of indoor plumbing and heating, but a lifestyle also filled with the essential ethics of freedom and privacy - things these Tibetan people have never experienced and probably will never experience. So, in regard to happiness, I constantly questioned myself “How do these people - living such a simple lifestyle remain happy and content, even in their most dreadful moments?” And as I type this, I still have no answer to that question.

The experiences, lessons, people, and places that encompassed my search for meaning all have left a huge impact on myself - and this letter is my best shot at conveying how thankful I am for the experience. “You travel not only to see the world, but to see yourself” Endless experiences could be shared in this letter - but I just wanted to provide you a brief insight into the experiences you (Dragons) were able to give me.

Thank you.

Often, the problem with telling stories is one's inability to capture the feeling of the moment in words. We can say the facts, say there was an electricity in the air, but that electricity is lost in translation. This is why it has been so difficult for me to explain why one of the happiest times of my young life took place in the tiny village of Sare Cene, in the Casamance region of Senegal. Why? I am asked so often, and while my answer has been refined, it always falls short. Why? Well, every night, all the young people of the village and I danced well past the time when the moon reached its zenith, illuminated only by the light of a dying campfire, the moon, and the vast multitude of stars. Even with my prettiest language, I fail. I can not convey the energy, the joy, and the laughter. I can not describe the feeling, or the reason I am smiling so wide in all of my pictures. The best I can do is to refer them to Where There Be Dragons, and say "Why don't you find out for yourself."