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Describe how you have spent summer (or long school) vacations during the past two years.
Unlike most of the schools in the United States, schools in Nepal do not give long holidays during summer; instead a one-month long vacation is given during 'Dashain-Tihar', one of the most celebrated festivals in Nepalese culture. Since the date of the festival varies every year-as it depends mostly on the position of the Sun, the Moon, the Saturn and all other planets and satellites in the universe, we are never sure of when we get our holidays, but the statistics suggests that it falls generally between September to November of any given year. Fortunately, in 2011, the festive season of Dashain and Tihar happened to fall just at the end of November which was right after my grade 11 exam. So, I took that opportunity of being freed from all those tedious school work and exams, to join my cousins in their trip to Mustang, a place which is over 4000m from the sea level.
I had never been above the height of 2000m in my life before and neither was I physically fit for the climb; however, I also didn't want mess up a golden chance to get out of the rush of Kathmandu and an opportunity to explore my country. So, I decided to go anyway.
We were five of us and each of us was given different responsibilities for the trip, for instance, my eldest cousin was responsible for camping materials and I was responsible for foods. Our plan was to have a simple and short adventure. On day 1, we would take a flight from Kathmandu (my home town) to the Jomsom airport (the nearest airport from mustang) and spend a night there. On day 2 we would trek up the hill to reach mustang and camp there for the night. We would spend our day sightseeing the mustang valley on day 3. And descend down the hill to the Jomsom airport on day 4 and return flight to Kathmandu on day 5.
Everything went according to plan; we reached the Jomsom airport safely on day 1, stayed there in a hotel that night, ascended up the hill of mustang the next day and prepared to set our camp for the evening. But since we were not allowed to carry a lighter in the plane and we completely forgot to buy new one in Jomsom, we had to endure a small problem of cocking during our campaign. However, because we were setting up a camp and were on an adventure, instead of asking for help from the nearby villagers we thought of using traditional method of rubbing two wood stick together with some bushes around it to create fire. While I was doing it, I had this epiphany of living in the wild, as we were staying in a camp in a deserted land and were rubbing wood sticks to create the fire. But my imagination was short lived as soon as I remembered myself sneaking two very expensive energy bars from my rucksack just four hours earlier.
We spend the next day visiting different places and temples in Mustang and camped on the same site for that night. On the fourth day we stepped down the hill and on day five we came back to Kathmandu. I had some wonderful time during my stay in Mustang, partly because it turned out to be one of the most beautiful places I had ever visited in my life and also because it was the only time of the year when I get to be together with my all of my cousins.
In contrary to what happened in my adventurous trip to Mustang the previous year, my 2012 vacation was rather dull and boring. I had isolated myself from the festive environment of Dashain and Tihar so that I could prepare for the SAT exams and college essays. My everyday life was pretty much routine which was getting up at seven in the morning, breakfast by 8 a.m., off to United States Education Foundation-Nepal (USEF) by 10 a.m. return home by 4 p.m. study till seven in the evening dinner by eight watch T.V. till ten and sleep. But as I spend my time studying for SAT exams in USEF, I happened to be friend with three wonderful people, Suresh (from Mechi zone, the eastern most part of Nepal), Ram and Hari (from Mahakali zone, the western most part of Nepal) all of whom were also applying to colleges in the United States, during a seminar organized by the USEF-Nepal on 'study abroad'.
As days went by our friendship, grew bigger and stronger. We mostly spend our time in USEF discussing our essays and college lists, but sometimes we managed to sneak out to watch movies or visit 'Dai ko pasal cafĂŠ' the nearest one from USEF.
By the end of November we all had our SAT exams, our essays were complete and apart from me all of us had applied for admission in the colleges and universities in the USA. And luckily enough all three of them got admitted for the spring session of 2013. Suresh, Ram and Hari had to go to their hometown to prepare all the documents for the visa process. By this time, our holidays had also finished and everybody in my family were engaged in their daily routine, so knowing that there would be no one to disturb, I decided to prepare for my application at my home.
The funny thing is that even though we had known each other for merely one month, I sometime felt as if I had known them since eternity. And now, since they are off to the USA, I am really missing those times we had spent together as a group in the premises of USEF and in Dai ko pasal cafĂŠ.
My 2012 holiday session started rather slowly, but as days went by and I became friend with Ram, Hari and Suresh, to some extent, time seemed to have moved quickly. And since we had vowed to be friend till the end of our life, I would have time to cherish every moment of it for the rest of my life.
Describe how you have spent summer (or long school) vacations during the past two years.
Unlike most of the schools in the United States, schools in Nepal do not give long holidays during summer; instead a one-month long vacation is given during 'Dashain-Tihar', one of the most celebrated festivals in Nepalese culture. Since the date of the festival varies every year-as it depends mostly on the position of the Sun, the Moon, the Saturn and all other planets and satellites in the universe, we are never sure of when we get our holidays, but the statistics suggests that it falls generally between September to November of any given year. Fortunately, in 2011, the festive season of Dashain and Tihar happened to fall just at the end of November which was right after my grade 11 exam. So, I took that opportunity of being freed from all those tedious school work and exams, to join my cousins in their trip to Mustang, a place which is over 4000m from the sea level.
I had never been above the height of 2000m in my life before and neither was I physically fit for the climb; however, I also didn't want mess up a golden chance to get out of the rush of Kathmandu and an opportunity to explore my country. So, I decided to go anyway.
We were five of us and each of us was given different responsibilities for the trip, for instance, my eldest cousin was responsible for camping materials and I was responsible for foods. Our plan was to have a simple and short adventure. On day 1, we would take a flight from Kathmandu (my home town) to the Jomsom airport (the nearest airport from mustang) and spend a night there. On day 2 we would trek up the hill to reach mustang and camp there for the night. We would spend our day sightseeing the mustang valley on day 3. And descend down the hill to the Jomsom airport on day 4 and return flight to Kathmandu on day 5.
Everything went according to plan; we reached the Jomsom airport safely on day 1, stayed there in a hotel that night, ascended up the hill of mustang the next day and prepared to set our camp for the evening. But since we were not allowed to carry a lighter in the plane and we completely forgot to buy new one in Jomsom, we had to endure a small problem of cocking during our campaign. However, because we were setting up a camp and were on an adventure, instead of asking for help from the nearby villagers we thought of using traditional method of rubbing two wood stick together with some bushes around it to create fire. While I was doing it, I had this epiphany of living in the wild, as we were staying in a camp in a deserted land and were rubbing wood sticks to create the fire. But my imagination was short lived as soon as I remembered myself sneaking two very expensive energy bars from my rucksack just four hours earlier.
We spend the next day visiting different places and temples in Mustang and camped on the same site for that night. On the fourth day we stepped down the hill and on day five we came back to Kathmandu. I had some wonderful time during my stay in Mustang, partly because it turned out to be one of the most beautiful places I had ever visited in my life and also because it was the only time of the year when I get to be together with my all of my cousins.
In contrary to what happened in my adventurous trip to Mustang the previous year, my 2012 vacation was rather dull and boring. I had isolated myself from the festive environment of Dashain and Tihar so that I could prepare for the SAT exams and college essays. My everyday life was pretty much routine which was getting up at seven in the morning, breakfast by 8 a.m., off to United States Education Foundation-Nepal (USEF) by 10 a.m. return home by 4 p.m. study till seven in the evening dinner by eight watch T.V. till ten and sleep. But as I spend my time studying for SAT exams in USEF, I happened to be friend with three wonderful people, Suresh (from Mechi zone, the eastern most part of Nepal), Ram and Hari (from Mahakali zone, the western most part of Nepal) all of whom were also applying to colleges in the United States, during a seminar organized by the USEF-Nepal on 'study abroad'.
As days went by our friendship, grew bigger and stronger. We mostly spend our time in USEF discussing our essays and college lists, but sometimes we managed to sneak out to watch movies or visit 'Dai ko pasal cafĂŠ' the nearest one from USEF.
By the end of November we all had our SAT exams, our essays were complete and apart from me all of us had applied for admission in the colleges and universities in the USA. And luckily enough all three of them got admitted for the spring session of 2013. Suresh, Ram and Hari had to go to their hometown to prepare all the documents for the visa process. By this time, our holidays had also finished and everybody in my family were engaged in their daily routine, so knowing that there would be no one to disturb, I decided to prepare for my application at my home.
The funny thing is that even though we had known each other for merely one month, I sometime felt as if I had known them since eternity. And now, since they are off to the USA, I am really missing those times we had spent together as a group in the premises of USEF and in Dai ko pasal cafĂŠ.
My 2012 holiday session started rather slowly, but as days went by and I became friend with Ram, Hari and Suresh, to some extent, time seemed to have moved quickly. And since we had vowed to be friend till the end of our life, I would have time to cherish every moment of it for the rest of my life.
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