In a mere two months, we learned and immersed ourselves in four different cultures—Tibetan, Himalayan, Nepali and Indian. As a result of not being fluent in any of the languages and due to the excessive amount of traveling, I quickly felt overwhelmed. To be honest, I never imagined I would ever get overwhelmed by traveling too much, as I have always dreamed of traveling. However, this experience did teach me an important lesson: speaking isn’t the only form of communication. I have been reminded that a gesture of kindness can be as simple as a smile or making someone else tea and food. A generous amount of smiles and food these past two months have helped affirm my sense of belonging in the different places I was in. On the other hand, simple acts like honking excessively reminded me to be more cautious and swift when crossing the road!
To my surprise, another obstacle I had to confront was my emotions. In the past two months, I have met so many resilient individuals. I have been so blessed to have heard stories about journeys of hardship, perseverance, heartache, victory and recovery from my peers, neighbors, mentors and even strangers. As a listener, these stories left me feeling speechless; I was blown away by the amount of courage and compassion those around me embodied. For example, my home-stay family in the Himalayas shared with me their concern over the new road that was being built in their valley. The government of Nepal did not take into consideration their voices, making them feel both frustrated and disappointed.
