Yesterday I picked my parents up at the airport. It's a landmark I've been looking forward to all semester, and now that the presentations are wrapped up, final papers are in, and we've all talked our ears off about returning to the US, tonight is our last night, one last hurrah at the wonderful 1905 restaurant, and it just doesn't quite feel real.
All semester I've been keeping note of all the amazing places and things to see with my parents, to show them all of the amazing things I discovered and lived these past four months. But on this second day of getting dragged around Boudha my dad's reptilian gaze makes it clear that that's just not possible. Kathmandu is exhausting on its own, I can't shove months worth of wonderment into these few days, it's enough that they're here to enjoy the city with me. And when we go down to the Terai to see Chitwan National Park and up to Pokara and Jomsom to trek and spend time in the mountains we won't get to see all there is to offer, that isn't realistic, but I am so excited to see what we can discover in these whirlwind few days.
At the grand pavilion of 1905, the gilded cage of the Rana prime minister's mistress, the yard was lit up and tented with fires set up so we could warm ourselves as we grazed on appetizers. There was an open bar. Considering this much of the conversation was still at a surprisingly intellectual level, but with the added flavor of "drunk history" videos. By the end of the night the tearful goodbyes dragged on as we inched our way towards the bus that would take all of us back to Boudha for the last time. Of course we sang Bohemian Rhapsody, all of sleeping Kathmandu was serenaded by our (I'm sure perfectly pitched and together) chorus. In the true fashion of last nights there were roof shenanigans and general running around before collapsing in sleep.
While everyone's emotions are quite mixed about leaving, whether it be tomorrow or in another week, this has been an amazing semester. We kept saying "this isn't real school," because we kept going on adventures, and were less tied down by assignments and class schedules. But this has absolutely been the most I've learned in a semester, and it will probably take me a while to even realize half of what I've learned here. I think there's a quote about life being so intensely lived, and it would probably make what I'm trying to express much clearer, but to be honest I don't have that much internet and am not to into quoting, so maybe let's just say that this semester has been so intensely lived, and so in the present, as I have never been before.