Back to WhereThereBeDragons.com
Photo by Celia Mitchell (2015/16 Semester Photo Contest Entry), Indonesia Semester.

Yak Board

Course Postings from the Field

Post a Yak

View Yaks by Course

Student Programs

Educator Programs

Adult Programs

Partner Programs

Student Programs

Educator Programs

Adult Programs

Partner Programs

Looking for a Course Prior to Fall 2017?
View Yak Archives

Featured Yaks

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.

Go to Blog
WTBD Yaks from China

China: South of the Clouds

View

From Beijing to Liqu

Zack Siddall, Instructor

Picture of the Week

Tibet was once one of the most isolated nations in the world. It’s harsh climate coupled with its impressive natural border of the Himalaya mountain range made traveling here quite difficult. When China staked claim to Tibet their first goal was to bridge this gap and make it easier to access the Tibetan Plateau. Railways were built to Lhasa and other major cities inside and outside the official Tibetan Autonomous Region. Xining, an old trading town on the famous Silk Road, received one of these railways. Nowadays it’s a mere 20 hour train ride from Beijing to the city of… Read More

View

Tocaña: Una Comunidad Afroboliviana

Nicole Martin, Participant

Yak of the Week

When we first arrived to Tocaña the only vestiges of human life were the paintings and pictures on the walls. I was admiring a picture of Bob Marley, Mick Jagger, and Peter Tosh, when Pulga, the first Tocañeno I met, came out. With his short......Read More

WTBD Yaks from Nepal

Nepal: Himalayan Studies - Group B

View

The Beat of the Mountains

Sutter Morris, Participant

Yak of the Week

Growing up in San Francisco I have always considered the city a core part of my identity, never able to imagine myself anywhere else. So much so, in fact, that I told my college counselor I would only seriously consider urban schools. Somehow I......Read More

WTBD Yaks from Guatemala

Guatemala: Spanish Language & Grassroots Activism

View

The Andreas

Andrea Giacomini, Participant

Yak of the Week

My name is Andrea. My name was bestowed upon me in honor of my father’s mother, who died before I was born, who’s legacy I carry with me everyday. My name has meant a great many things to me, but it has always served to remind me of the......Read More

View

Tashi, the Tar Doctor

Marka & Darci, Dragons Admin

Yak of the Week

We sat in the back of Tar Village’s small gompa, watching our amalay, Tashi, bend to the floor in prayer. She came and sat down, laughing and taking selfies with the two of us and Tsewang, who was the amalay of Isabel and Caroline. Tashi and......Read More

View

Monaster-ical Puns

Peter, Bennett, Madeleine, Participant

Yak of the Week

What’s a monks favorite drink? Lamanade! What did the instructor say to the student during the homestay briefing? You Buddha Thangka your host! What did the student say when they found out they would be trekking in the mountains for over 9......Read More

View

Umbrella Trees

Ellie, Participant

Yak of the Week

The earth becomes pews as carpets are laid out; slowly, deliberately, in rows upon rows. The minutes sing slowly onward as men in white skullcaps cluster tightly together, shoes discarded behind the rugs in neat pairs; there is an air of great......Read More

View

Jungle Person

Jenny Battye, Participant

Yak of the Week

We didn’t step into the jungle. We were devoured by it. Gunung Leuser National Park in Northern Sumatra is a primary rainforest, so the trees stretch higher than most necks can even crane. Giant Jungle ants creep along graceful Lilliana vines......Read More

WTBD Yaks from China

Princeton Bridge Year China 2018-19

View

The Walnut Tree

Harril Saunders, Participant

Yak of the Week

At the foot of the walnut tree my ShuShu hugged the trunk, his chest glued to the familiar bark, with each limb wrapped around, like a cub clinging to his mother’s back while she wards off predators. In this position he shimmied slowly upward.......Read More

WTBD Yaks from Andes Amazon

South America: Andes & Amazon - Group B

View

Homesickness in the Andes

Zora, Participant

Yak of the Week

¡Hola a todos! It is incredible to think that in the past ten days, I met the people I with whom will be spending the next three months, explored the town of Urubamba to the point where I almost know my way around (I can at least find my new......Read More

View

​Deconstructing to Reconstruct

Anna, Arvin, & Rishi, Instructor

Picture of the Week

​Our first week of course has been an art in holding space and sharing light. We have provided one another license to think about intention and self. We have riffed off of one another’s thoughts and that has taken us down roads and up valleys of conversation relating to travel, development, adulthood, family structures, and our spirit animals. Light has been an important thread we have followed. We began our time together settled around candlelight, where we expressed our fears: of not being as present as we could be, of not expressing adequate gratitude to those we care about, of… Read More

WTBD Yaks from Bolivia

Princeton Bridge Year Bolivia 2018-19

View

Entre Las Calles

Liam, Anna, Harry, Athena, Participant

Yak of the Week

There’s a saying that there is no winded road. We are only walking zigzagged on a straight road. When it rains, it’s not the clouds that are crying, but rather the sun, and the clouds cannot keep the sun’s tears from falling. As we......Read More

View

Into The River’s Abyss

Elizabeth Tong, Participant

Yak of the Week

When hiking through the town of Yubeng, one cannot help but marvel at the vast and powerful nature of the world. The sun peeks out each morning from behind snow-capped peaks and tree-covered mountains encircled by puffy white clouds which have never......Read More

View

First Monastery Visit

Jack O'Conner, Participant

Yak of the Week

On September 19th, the fearless Alpha Dragons group ambled over to a nearby Tibetan monastery. After a brief meditative walk through the outskirts of Pharping, we entered an immense monastic complex, surrounded by beautiful landscaping and......Read More

WTBD Yaks from Indonesia

Princeton Bridge Year Indonesia 2018-19

View

Update from Sumatra!

Noa Greenspan, Participant

Yak of the Week

Sumatra’s landscape shocks one into the present moment. Here hobbling, knobby dogs share the road with mud-slicked water buffalo and discarded juice cups and little schoolboys with clip-on ties. In the day the clouds swell warm and heavy over the......Read More

WTBD Yaks from Andes Amazon

South America: Andes & Amazon - Group A

View

Five beautiful days

Tabita Doujad, Participant

Yak of the Week

To begin to write this Yak is slightly difficult, porque so much has happened in our last 5 days in Bolivia that is new, deeply transformative and certainly worth writing about. I suppose I will begin with some small details. Our bus ride to......Read More