By the end of last semester, I decided it was time for me to spend some time back in Argentina. I love Nepal and I was very happy there, but with the holiday season coming up, I wanted to be with mi family for a little bit. Also, it made sense to do it while I wasn’t in a rush to get back, since classes would remain online for some time. 

Studying from Argentina, back at living with my mom at the house I grew up in, has been both very nice and cozy, and a bit stressful at times. Time management is different here, because there are so many things that I want to do. There are friends that I haven’t seen in a while, and family members I want to spend some time with. So far, I’ve been able to handle it—not with the occasional fear of not being able to do it all! 

What’s interesting about being back is that now that I’ve spent around two months here, I am think a lot of Nepal and missing it greatly. By the end of the Fall Semester, I had been taking Nepali for a whole semester and I was trying my very best to engage in conversation with the locals, so my experience in Nepal had become pretty different to what it was when I first got there. I was finally really into rather spicy food, which to be honest had been hard at the beginning. Now (though I’m back to eating many of my favorite foods!) it’s nice how being here has made me appreciate Nepal even more. And it’s even funny how after calling everyone “dai,” “bhai,” “didi” and “bahini” it just feels so strange to call someone by their name. Realizing all these changes that while I was in Nepal I didn’t really realize that I was undergoing, has been wonderful. 

Definitely my experience studying in Argentina is very good, being able to mix studying with just walking around the city and having some good coffee with friends. It’s also made it very clear that I’m really looking forward to going back to Boudha! 

~Lucia Videla