Walking It Into Me: Preparing to Leave Bhutan
Lately, my walks have felt different.
I take the long way around campus, I watch the clouds drift in low over the hills like they’ve done every day.
I’m leaving Bhutan soon.
And I find myself trying to walk it into me. All of it. The sound of monks chanting in the distance. The rhythm of archery matches on weekends.
I want it to stay.
So I walk. Through Changlam’s narrow streets.
Some days I walk with purpose. Others, I let myself drift. But every step feels like a soft recording of memory. A way of telling this place: I’m still here. I’m paying attention. I won’t forget.
Bhutan teaches you how to be still, even while moving. How to see the sacred in the everyday. How to belong, even if only for a season.
I know I can’t take the mountains with me. Or the scent of pine rising after a rain. Or the way the valley lights glow just before dark.
But I can carry the walks.
And the way they’ve changed me.
2024-2025