Tsivia's Notes From Nepal

Tsivia  at the Monkey Temple.
Photo Courtesy of Tsivia Chonoles

Greetings readers! As I type this article, it is a little after 8PM EST, which means that I have been sitting on an airplane for almost twelve hours now. By the time this article will have been published, however, I will have been in Nepal for almost a full week.

    This semester I will be writing all my articles from Nepal, where I am spending the semester interning with a non-profit organization. The focus of my internship is on education and environmental sustainability, so I will be working as a part of a green school initiative until the beginning of June. In this column, I hope to share with you my experiences as well as the things I’m sure I will be learning over the next five months. Since this article is being written before I have even started the actual internship, in this issue I’m going to share some of the things that I learned while going through the process of applying, organizing, and preparing for my internship abroad.

    The first step was, at least for me, possibly the most difficult, and that was finding the actual internship. For me, having a study abroad experience in college was one of the most important things I wanted to do, especially as a student with a focus in international relations. I have so many varying interests, it was hard to pick a specific field to work in. I eventually decided to focus my search efforts in places where I felt I might be able to make more of an impact. The search was narrowed down further by program cost. It was – unsurprisingly – difficult to find a program that either didn’t cost an arm and a leg or that didn’t cost anything but wouldn’t require me to dig further into debt just to afford living expenses. Eventually I stumbled upon World Internship. World Internship is – essentially – a facilitator. I chose the field I was interested in working in and then narrowed it down to two countries, and they helped me design my internship. Between Nepal and Morocco, I ended up choosing Nepal because, as their newest program, I felt it was the one in which I would both be able to make more of a difference and grow personally and professionally. Their program fees also covered everything except for my airfare, which didn’t hurt in aiding my decision.

    Step two was the actual application process. I had to teach myself how to write a cover letter, which for me was challenging not simply because it wasn’t something I had learned in high school or in my introductory college courses, but because I have a very difficult time writing about myself. This part of the process was when I found my professors to be invaluable, as my advisors were more than willing to read over and correct my resume and cover letter before I sent them in. Then came the phone interview. Some of the best advice I was given by one of my professors was that, even though the person on the other end of the phone can’t see you, you should dress professionally and comfortably anyway. I also find it helpful to clear a space to sit at beforehand; clean off your desk or a section of your dining room or coffee table except for a pen, and a notepad with prepared questions for your interviewer. Make sure that if you’re using a cell phone you put it on ‘Do Not Disturb’ for the duration of your interview so as not to be distracted by incoming text messages, app notifications, or the possibility of another phone call.

    Once you’ve found the internship that’s right for you and you’ve been accepted, the next step is the most tedious: paperwork. If you’re getting credit for the internship, you need to make sure that it’s going to be accepted by your department and University. Since I’m doing my internship abroad and through a program, I had to work with the business office, the financial aid office, and the registrar, but in the end my financial aid was able to pay for everything. You also need to make sure that – if your internship is abroad and not in the U.S. – you have an up-to-date passport and whatever vaccinations you may need to travel to and in that country safely. For me, this also included getting a prescription for malaria pills as a ‘just-in-case’. You also need to know where the closest U.S. Embassy is and look up the country’s specific visa requirements, application, and length of stay. In Nepal, for example, the longest visa they will issue is for 90 days; once those 90 days are up, I have to go to the Immigration Office and apply for an extension.

    Finally, the preparation. Preparing to leave is going to be difficult. As the queen of over-packing, some of the best advice I was given is to lay out everything you are thinking of taking and then take maybe half. It was hard. The key is to look at the average temperatures for wherever you’re going for whenever you’re going to be there and go from there. I was also given some advice on what to bring by my supervisor in Nepal. Something I found to be indispensable are packing cubes. Six packing cubes, for me, holds two pairs of jeans, a pair of cargo pants, a pair of capris, three pairs of leggings, about ten shirts, two long skirts, and a little over twenty-days of socks and underwear. This may not seem like much for five months, but I started out with much more. I ended up packing maybe a little less than half of what I had been thinking about taking because I want to be able to do some local shopping as a way of immersing in the culture and feeling more comfortable in the area and with the people. I also packed almost no liquids; instead, my sister found me laundry soap sheets by Travelon, and I discovered that they also make shampoo, conditioner, and body wash. They take up less room and are far more portable. While I can’t speak for the usefulness of the shower products or laundry soap yet, if you don’t feel like chancing it you can also just not pack any and purchase product when you land at your destination. The only liquids I packed was some hand sanitizer and a bottle of medicated body wash just in case. My two checked bags each weighed a little over 30 pounds out of my allotted 66. My carry-on is almost empty, holding only spare clothes incase anything should happen to my checked bags, an emergency bag of toiletries, a couple books, and some other small things I didn’t want to check – including a blanket for the plane. My backpack holds another book, and all my electronics, as well as a travel pillow.

    As for the actual travel portion of the trip, here are some things I have learned. First, book an international flight at least a month to a month and a half in advance – earlier if you can manage it; this helps keep your cost down. Second, international flights are much different from domestic. For one thing, they are usually much longer. My flight is about sixteen hours to Hong Kong with a three- to five-hour layover there before I finally arrive in Kathmandu after 10 PM Nepal Time on Friday, January 20 (that’s about 9:15AM EST). It’s okay to get up and walk around, unless the seatbelt sign is on. Sitting for sixteen hours straight will make you cramp up and is just generally uncomfortable. So what I usually do is put on a movie, then walk up and down the aisle a little. When I flew to Israel with a group last year, a couple of us would stand in the alcove near one of the doors and do some yoga stretches. International flights usually serve at least two meals, so make sure you eat. I usually get up and walk after meals are served. This helps your body adjust to the time difference and can help with the jet lag. Also, don’t be afraid to ask the flight attendants for snacks in-between meals and make sure you stay hydrated. Sleep, too! The final flying tip is to wear comfortable shoes. I know the general rule of thumb is to wear your bulkiest pair of shoes instead of packing them – which for me in this case would be my hiking boots – but for an international flight I prefer comfort over anything else. I wore my flats, which I can slip off easily. If I had worn my hiking boots or sneakers, I would have had to put my flip flops in my backpack so I wouldn’t have to fight with laces anytime I wanted to get up to use the bathroom.

    My final bit of general travel advice is this: invest in an anti-RFID pouch, either one you wear around your neck or one that can strap around your waist through belt loops or not, just make sure it’s one you’re comfortable wearing under your clothes. It’s a safe place to keep your passport if you need to have it on your person, as well as any cash and credit cards you may be carrying. It keeps it close to you and since it’s comfortable to wear under clothes, it’s much harder to steal or to have pick-pocketed.

    With all that being said, I hope I’ve been helpful to some of you, educational to all, and I look forward to being able to share my experiences with you all in the coming weeks. Any questions for me can be sent in to the Concordian at Concordian@concord.edu under the subject heading “Tsivia’s Notes from Nepal,” or you can tweet at me @GetScaredLater.