As I prepared to come visit China, I was especially excited to visit the Tibetan region within China. This was mainly due to my interest in Tibetan Buddhism and the way it will influence the people of Tibet. However I was not expecting a warm welcome due to the usual reserved attitude towards foreigners that I had expected from the Buddhist monks. This stereotype was blown out of the water the second we arrived in the small town Tagong. When we exited the car we were surrounded by the familiar sound of Hello. As I turned around expecting to see another westerner, I was shocked to see a group of small Tibetan children running towards the members of our class. After we found our hotel (if you would want to be kind in the description) the 70 year old Tibetan owner even tried to help us carry our bags up the stairs to the living area. Even the supposedly reserved monks at the local monastery were excited to see us as we visited their temple and orphanage. While I was expecting the usual gawking as our large group of foreigners, I was pleasantly surprised to find that most Tibetans knew how to say hello and would go out of their way to meet us. As I prepared to leave I actually regretted the fact that I would no longer get the chance to meet the spunky Tibetans who totally blew away my stereotype of a quite reserved group of people.