Welcome to Georgetown

The last few days before leaving were hectic. Between packing, finishing up my case study outline, and feeling nervous about flying for 26 hours, I found myself asking the same question that I had asked before every cross country race I ran back in grade 9: how did I get myself into this?

Well it’s a pretty simple story, really. I’ve been working at the Institute for Health and Social Policy at McGill for a year now, first as an intern, then as a research assistant, and now as a policy fellow. When my supervisor, Tinka, suggested that I think about applying for the fellowship program I jumped at the opportunity. I mean really, what’s not to love? It was an opportunity to put everything that I had learned in the lecture hall to work, and to study civic participation in a completely new context. New culture, new country, new friends. I was thrilled when I was accepted to the fellowship and learned that I would be traveling for two months to Nepal to study Blue Diamond Society, an organization that works to protect the rights of LGBTI individuals and to spread awareness about HIV/AIDS.

Now, several months later, I am sitting in a Barnes and Noble in Georgetown, Washington DC after missing my connecting flight to Doha and then on to Kathmandu last night. Mechanical problems and bad weather combined to leave me hanging here for 24 hours, still full of anticipation over my pending journey, but feeling more nervous than ever. Part of me recognizes the adventure I am about to embark on, and part of me is wondering: wouldn’t it have been easier to stay in Montréal for the summer? Now don’t get me wrong, I am lucky to have been chosen for this program and know that when I look back at my time in Nepal it will be with pride at my accomplishments and confidence in my ability to work in new cultural environments. This is a once-in-a-lifetime chance, and I would be a fool to pass it up. In spite of this, however, my stomach is turning flips at the idea of spending two months (alone!) in a completely new environment, so far from home and everything that I am familiar with. It seems a bit silly doesn’t it? Today we fly around the world in 26 hours. 100 years ago it would have taken weeks to make the same trip. Irrational as it may be, sitting here on the floor of Barnes and Noble, it seems just as far and just as daunting to me as it must have seemed to travelers all those years ago.

Alas, armed with my Lonely Planet guide, Dramamine (the drowsy kind of course!), and two seasons of Star Trek: The Next Generation, I am ready for Nepal whether my nervous stomach likes it or not. As Capt. Jean-Luc Picard would say (sorry Eric for the blatant reference): Engage!

Alex