By tierneybb
Today our independent study research period ended, and as we regroup in Boudha to franticly put final touches on our papers and find somewhere able to produce color printing, I find myself in the inevitable slide into reminiscence about times when I didn't have forty page papers due (especially ones I'm so far from finishing). I guess the my study abroad program's first week was different than the overwhelming feeling of arriving in a foreign city and having to set yourself up, because it's SIT everything is managed for us, and the first week was a lovely retreat to welcome us to the city, I think I might have gone crazy if it had just been me landing at the airport, sans bag, and setting up for a semester of school. Kathmandu's chaotic cluster of humanity now feels comfortable to me, I'm not sure if this is because I have imposed that order or found what was hidden beneath a completely foreign surface, but I am able to work with it all the same. Compared to that first week in Pharping I am now able to casually navigate the city, find local or expat friends, and while I can't speak Nepali or really enough Tibetan to shoot the breeze people are always looking to practice their English with a brief conversation in line or as you walk somewhere. ...continue reading "Back in Boudha"