Nepal

Hello everyone!
So the last couple of weeks has been quite the roller coaster ride with finishing my paper, giving a presentation and hearing about Wesleyan. For those of you who don't know, there was a shooting at my school killing a girl. I was pretty shaken up by this and it has been really difficult being away from my community. However a friend on my program helped me through it, and I did my best to enjoy my last few days in India. We had a wonderful banquet where we all dressed up in Saris and had delicious food with our homestay families. It was a bit of a shock leaving India, to be honest it didn't really even hit me until I landed in Nepal that I was leaving. When I arrived I met dad at the hotel and he took me out to have a nice Thai meal, a really nice break from the fake American and Indian food.

Today Dad and I walked around Kathmandu today. We found various beautiful old statues and carvings that date back to the 4th century just hanging out on the streets sandwiched in between brass shops and vegetable vendors. We finished in Durbar square where we got a light snack of momos and fresh lemon sodas. We were planning on continuing to Swayambhunath, the main huge stupa that is so often used as the poster image of Nepal, but it started to rain so we headed back to the hotel. I have already been stopped for conversation in the airport and at the ticket stalls regarding my name and appearance. They tell me that I look Nepalise and were confused why I had an American passport. It feels nice to be welcomed into a country in this way, to have the assumption that I belong instead of my presence being constantly questioned. I see Taras, Gangas, and Yamunas everywhere, however their context is often confusing to me here. I feel like all my knowledge of Hinduism and even Buddhism is thrown out the window here for it is all mixed together in new ways. However I think I really love it, it is beautiful and very tourist friendly. There are many bakeries and yummy places to eat, as well as all the things in India I wanted to buy but didn't want to lug around all in one place. This is a shopping nightmare for me, so many things I want to buy, for cheap, and conveniently placed, however no room to take them back with all my new things I acquired over the last 4 months.

Basically I wanted to let everyone know I arrived safely. Dad is thinking about doing an 8 day trek, however we are keeping an eye on the recurring rains.