If you are lucky enough to go to Wheaton College, MA, you have the once in a kind opportunity to study abroad for a semester at the Royal Thimphu College in the Land of the Thunder Dragon, also known to us chilips (foreigners) as Bhutan. The majority of your days are spent in awe of the country’s natural beauty, the kindness of its people and the incredible humor of your Bhutanese classmates. But some days even the majesty of Himalayas can’t distract you entirely from how much you want to binge your favorite TV show and eat a cheeseburger.
1. On any given day, there will be
about 25-30 flies in your bedroom.
You will wake up, and they will be on your face!
2. Laundry is washed by hand in a bucket.
This is not as bad as it sounds. What does suck is having to hang said clothes up to dry and inevitably anything with a recognizable logo being stolen. This can be avoided if you hang them out your window.
3. You will have to crawl through the woods and or hop the fence when coming back from a night out.
Curfew is 11 p.m. Yep, you read that right. 11 p.m. Even on weekends.
4. Hitchhiking is widely practiced and is relatively safe (incredibly compared to doing so in the States).
Just don’t do it alone or late at night. And don’t be surprised if you are asked to sing along to Justin Bieber (the whole country loves him, seriously).
5. Hot showers are sometimes possible.
But never between the hours of 7 and 10 a.m. or 5 and 9 p.m. Also, “hot” really means scalding. There are no in between temperatures.
6. If someone offers you weed, it is actually "hash."
This is a combination of weed and tobacco such as you would find in a spliff. Would not recommend. You will wake up the next morning with a splitting headache and ready to cry.
7. If you have fair skin, you will perpetually have a sunburnt face.
Beware of the sunglasses tan lines; they can be vicious up here in the Himalayas. Remember: SPF is always best, folks!
8. The Internet doesn’t work well.
At all. Say goodbye to Netflix, Pinterest, BuzzFeed and Tumblr.
9. Facebook and Instagram are blocked from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.
YouTube and Netflix are always blocked.
10. Beware of all face lotions.
“Whitening” means this lotion will bleach your skin. With actual, real life bleach.
11. More likely than not, you will never know where exactly the city bus you have just gotten on is going.
Don’t panic! Thimphu is small enough that if you make it into town, you will be able to walk relatively easily to your destination. You may also get lucky when your bus ends its route seemingly randomly, your bus driver may become a taxi driver and offer you a ride!
12. Other foreigners will stop ask to take your picture, especially if you are wearing a kira or gho.
13. There will reach a point where you simply cannot eat anything.
Even the thought of food makes you sick. You will simultaneously feel more bloated than you ever have and like you have lost five pounds because your appetite has been zero.
14. Cocktails also do not exist.
If you are incredibly lucky, you might be able to get a vodka cranberry, but it will probably taste more like a Tootsie Pop than anything else.
15. But at the end of the day, you won’t care about any of the inconveniences because you will be too busy having the time of your life in one of the most incredible countries in the world.
