University of Wisconsin–Madison

Nepal: Maria Freese (Learning on Excursions)

I woke up in the lap of Nilgiri South [mountain], its white cliffside reflecting the alpine sun through the small window of my rooftop bedroom. Thini is a tiny (though the words are unrelated) village located in Lower Mustang, a Nepali district that includes the infamous Annapurna mountains. To get there you must take a nine-hour bus ride West from Nepal’s capital city, Kathmandu, to Pokhara. From there you’ll board a 12-passenger plane that twists itself through steep Himalayan valleys, landing in Jomsom, and finally, walk 45 minutes up terraced buckwheat fields to the quiet village.

Six people smile and hold their hands out in front of a grassy hill, with a giant snow-covered mountain behind the hill.
All of the students in my program after our hike up to Thini (yes, there are only six of us total)!

We were in Thini during the peak of harvest season. Apples hung heavy from the trees and a dozen different colors of corn were laid on the rooftops drying. From breakfast until dusk, the small streets were deserted, save for the cows, which wandered, untethered, throughout yards. Below the village, the khet (field) was bustling. Whole families—grandparents, aunts, little children—were helping with the harvest. My friends and I were wholly accepted into this process, dais (older brothers) showing us the correct way to hold the sticks to beat buckwheat and hajuraamaas (grandmas) offering various fruits, halved with a sickle, at break time. There was no rushed feeling out in the khet. Chiya (tea) was sipped slowly and we played classic Nepali songs from a bhai’s (younger brother’s) phone, everyone stopping the harvest to dance. There was so much laughter, at my friend’s and I’s broken Nepali that makes us sound “cute” and at our excitement when Dhaulagiri (the seventh tallest mountain in the world) peaked its way through the clouds.

Several buildings with flat roofs are enclosed by tall mountains.
A rooftop view of Thini!

Sometimes, the days in Thini felt long. Especially, for my American brain, so conditioned to a hundred deadlines, eight-hour days, and a need to go go go. But, with each passing day, I felt a little more at home in Thini, in the windy khet, with the cows, and protected by the tallest mountains on Earth. What a reminder that sometimes, slowing down is the most important change of all.

Maria wearing a hat and winter jacket takes a selfie in front of snow-covered mountains.

Maria Freese

Hometown: Duluth, Minnesota

Major: English

Program: SIT Development, Gender, and Social Change in the Himalaya

I am most excited to learn about smaller more rural villages we will visit in Nepal and what life is like there. How are the social and caste systems functioning there and how is it different than urban areas?

I like that the structure of this program is not on a US type university campus. It is much more immersive in the culture and language, with a small cohort.