The Land of the Blue Sky

During the first lessons we had in Mongolia at the SIT office, we lame that the country was also proudly referred to as the "Land of the Blue Sky." As the trip continued from there on, I truly experienced the authenticity to that phrase through 4 o' clock morning hours to see the sun rise and just looking out from the hills in the Gobi Desert.

From traveling to the ger camp in Khovsgul (largest freshwater lake in Mongolia) through a 5 hour horse trek to doing community service with Mongolian students, I was able to take in parts of the culture through everything that we did. In this experience, I not only learned what it meant to look out for myself and grow in my independence, but I also learned about teamwork and looking out for my whole group. By traveling as a group and doing stuff together day in and day out, I really came out of my shell in just a few days and made such great friends on the trip that just made the whole experiment all the more amazing.

Mongolia truly is a big and a whole new different country that has a lot of things to offer. As my group and I traveled to the different regions of the land, we came to understand that even if we are all under the same blue sky, each part of Mongolia had different things to offer. The weather changes are drastic and all of the sudden there can be a sand storm with rain coming down, however, that just makes the experience all the more real and enjoyable when the sun came out.

The part of this trip that made the biggest difference in the world was knowing that you could find trust in the leaders from the program. Both in country leaders and from the states leaders had great experiences in the country and were able to answer all sorts of questions that we had(and trust me, it was a lot). One of the greatest memories was just sitting around in a circle with all the students and all of the leaders as we went around telling funny stories and horror stories under the beautiful night sky where stars were actually visible. The dedication that they showed us is something that is truly unforgettable.

Honestly, who can ever say that they went to Mongolia and did all these things? I can genuinely say that I fell in love with the land and traveling and I can't wait till the next time I go back.