Welcome to our forum for courses in the field. The Yak Board is a digital group journal where students and staff share photos, stories, reflections and group updates while on course. Check out our Featured Posts below or explore Yaks by program by clicking on the icons above.
Want to follow a program in the field? Click on the Subscribe to Updates button to receive one email a day if new content is posted.
I groaned as we hit yet another bump that sent a jolt straight up my spine. I didn’t remember the road leading up to Krishna Ranch, the farm on the outskirts of Udaipur where we had spent our very first week in India, being quite so rough. But......Read More
Hola a todxs! Cómo están? I’m sure you’re all very excited, preparing to leave home and start this trip in South America. I’m Paola and I’ll be one of your instructors with Zack and Cat. I’m writing this from......Read More
Dear Lola, Only three months ago we were sitting at a café in Amsterdam, eating ‘bitterballen’ and sharing the limited amount of information we knew about a Dragons semester. This was when you first heard you’d be travelling with all your......Read More
Thursday, December 5, Jakarta “Because here’s something else that’s weird but true: in the day-to-day trenches of adult life, there is actually no such thing as atheism. There is no such thing as not worshipping. Everybody worships. The only......Read More
As our course comes to an end, we had a chance to look back and reflect on these past few months. Having seen, experienced, and felt so much, it is hard to put our time following the Mekong into words. No matter how many times we cursed the......Read More
As most probably know or figured out, my Dragons journey ended a little bit earlier than everyone else’s. Due to some medical complications, I returned to Nashville (yeehaw) at the beginning of November. Leaving Morocco was the last thing I wanted......Read More
Where There Be Dragons—or Dragoncitos (little dragons in Spanish) as Randall likes to say—pays homage to ancient Chinese map makers who would draw dragons on the edges of maps for places they hadn’t yet explored. The wild, unknown, unconquered......Read More
Choquekiraw – Machu Picchu X-Phase Trek Log1 Day 1 11/22/19 Partly cloudy with rain in the distance Ate lunch at a small hostel overlooking Apurima2 valley. Hiked up to a stunning mirador with views of......Read More
It has been one week since we left our homestay in Sampela, the remote village suspended on dried coral reef and stilts over the ocean off the coast of the Wakatobi island chain. Like our students, this was my first time visiting this community.......Read More
When I was in sixth grade, I was picked to give a commencement speech at my graduation. I remember the excitement, the nerves, but most of all, the challenge of what to write about. How could I aptly summarize seven years of school? All the jokes,......Read More
Nearly ten years ago, I was preparing to depart Taiwan after a year-long study abroad experience. The transition time was tough and I ached to find ways that would allow me to reconcile with leaving. Returning to my life in the U.S. seemed......Read More
Dear Perú, I’m sitting here trying to figure out what I could possibly say that could express what you’ve meant to me over the past three months and I’m drawing a blank. If you’d told me a year ago that I’d be here in this situation, I......Read More
Finding Home Far From Home Leading up to the Bouguemez homestay, I was beyond nervous. After facing many challenges during my first homestay in Azrou, I was anxious to see what this tiny village would throw at me. One week in, I found myself feeling......Read More
The group has had an amazing time in Sampela and after reflecting on such a wonderful cultural and personal experience, we are getting ready to say goodbye to a place so unlike our American home. A place where we learned to spearfish, spent a lot of......Read More
Here are a few more photos from the past couple of weeks! I have been very inspired by all of the beautiful landscapes we have been going through, and having lots of fun experimenting with my camera.
As we write this, we’re listening to the discordant harmony of sounds descending from the heart of the Pariamanu Amazon. The calls of unseen birds and unrecognizable insects fill the air and echo reminders of the past two months filled with the......Read More
