The Long Voyage

Traveling from the West to the East is no small feat; much anticipation ensued following up to the big day of travel. Was I going to be able to swing this IFP thing, the sum of about $10,000 stood between me and a once in a lifetime opportunity. My father always taught me not to let money ever be a barrier from anything that I want to achieve in life. Through determination and a series of odd jobs that included an enumerator within the census and substitute teacher with a classroom of 30 3 year olds afforded me a ticket to Nepal, The rest was covered by Grad Plus (thank you government for paying for my education I promise that one day when I make it big that I'll pay it back, you could have hooked me up a bit better on the interest rate though, 7% is not exactly the best deal, Yet I digress). So leading up to the big day, I spent the time saying goodbye to friends via a Memorial Day cookout and sleepless nights followed by an all nighter of packing. I'm not one to pack more than a day before, keeps me on my toes. So the day had finally arrived, it was time to go, after countless days of preparation, waiting on student loans, research, papers, lectures, discussions and nepali lessons. Some people didn't think that I was going to be able to do it, partially including myself, but the time had come. The challenge was to get to Nepal by any means necessary and I had successfully completed it. Now I just had to make it to my flight on time, which was a whole ordeal in if of itself. The plan was to take a bus from Boston to NY Friday afternoon June 6th, then fly from NY to Frankfurt, Frankfurt to Delhi then from Delhi to Katmandu. Easy enough right? So 48 hours later, body piercings, a partial scare from a front desk attendant at airport regarding my visa or lack thereof, lots of roksi, terrible airplane food, long lines, flight delays, and layovers I finally made it to Katmandu Sunday morning, exhausted, hungry, hott!! Un-showered and everything else imaginable, but grateful. Bags in hand thinking I was headed to the hotel for some much needed R&R I ended up at an orientation meeting/lunch where the rest of my fellow classmates had been awaiting my arrival. Greeted by a white scarf from the director of the Nepal Institute of Development Studies our hosting organization and the rest of my comrades and professor, although it wasn't my hotel it was certainly the next best thing. Besides no time to sleep when you're in Nepal I can do that when I'm dead.