I am in Nepal!

Tashedalek! (Hello, congratulations, good health etc. in Tibetan) I have safely arrived in the beautiful (really, though) land of Nepal. Although my journey here was difficult I could not be happier and more excited to be studying abroad a second time. Lets go back to the journey over here:

January 28^th, 4:23 pm: Leave BOS for JFK. This was a very smooth flight…sat next to a very relaxed baby who loved to play and smile, score!

I arrived to JFK hoping to catch the air tram (the public transportation system that brings you from terminal to terminal) but to my pleasant surprise it was closed down… So I had to find the public busses outside the airport and find the one that was going to terminal 4. Finally I was able to do that got to the International Terminal. I checked into Ethaid Airways and was told that my bags would not check all the was through to Kathmandu, Nepal and that I would have to pick them up in Mumbai, India. Normally I would not be upset about something like that (especially because I had a 8ish hour lay over in India) but I did not have an Indian visa and therefore was not permitted to leave and come back into the Indian country…aka how was I supposed to pick up my bags! YIKES. This had me very worried…and my dad too. (He was helping me figure everything out via cell phone—thanks Dad!) 9:50 pm: JFK to Abu Dhabi. I boarded the plane and was lucky enough to have the WHOLE ROW to myself. I was assigned the window seat but did not have anyone join me so therefore I was able to lay down on the whole seat—I slept for almost the whole 11 hour flight because it was equivalent to a nights sleep for me! I also watched We are the Millers and Mary Poppins!

I arrived to Abu Dhabi around 3:30am (Abu Dhabi time) and managed went to speak with an Ethiad Airways representative to figure out how I could get my bags in India with no India visa. The representative told me that I was to be okay, they would check all the way through to Kathmandu. While this sounded awesome, it seemed too good to be true…and I later figured out it was.

Once I got to Mumbai, India 1:00 am (Mumbai time) I was greeted by a man holding a sign for “Mr. Megan McGregor” I excitedly greeted him and he brought me to a one person holding cell (who knows where) in the airport. I was told to hand over my passport, boarding ticket and itinerary and that this gentleman, Riji, would some how get my bags, check me in and come back to me. What else was I supposed to do?! I VERY hesitantly handed over my entire life and hoped for the best. 4 HOURS LATER, at 5:00 am Riji came back. (I have never been SO excited to see a complete stranger in my whole life). I was guided into the security line where my bag was checked and I was patted down, laughed at (because of my make-shift skirt situation) and then told how to wrap it correctly. After that I was left to wait in the Mumbai airport for 5 hours until we were supposed to board at 10:40 am. I waited, and waited, and ate a croissant, and waited and talked with some friendly Indian men, and waited, and tried to study Tibetan but was too overwhelmed so just waited longer.

Around 8:30 am I was greeted by an American girl, her name was Emily! We made the connection that we were both going to Nepal with SIT (different programs) and that we had a very good mutual friend named Emily! Small world. We exchanged our stories and waited until we boarded the plane. Come 10:00 am all the Kathmandu passengers were asked to go through yet ANOTHER security check point and then we all went on a 30 minute bus ride to where our plane was…(it was very odd). Then we boarded the plane and by this time we were about 45 minutes late. The best part of the whole plane ride was the last 15 minutes as we flew over the Himalayas. Words. Cannot. Describe. The. Beauty. (neither can pictures…because I do not have any SO SORRY:/).

We arrived in the Kathmandu airport 1 hour later than was planned. This put me right on the edge of making the 3:00 pm deadline for meeting with my group. Once I obtained my visa, got my bags (YES, THEY REALLY DID COME!!!!!!!!!) it was about 3:15 pm. I was very worried, but found one of my teachers holding a sign reading SIT! (Oh, happy day, I did not miss my group.)

Three other students, my teacher Tenchou La, and I got into a minibus and proceeded 1 hour 30 minutes to Parphing (a religious sight for many Buddhist and Hindu pilgrimages right on the border of the Kathmandu Valley) where we were staying for the next week. The drive was beautiful, horrifying, exciting, and a whole lot more contradicting emotions. Traffic habits, wandering goats (!), unpredictable foot traffic and the incredible Himalayan mountain range guided us all the way to Parphing.