SUSI Diaries

Shail Silwal from Nepal writes about her experiences this summer during the FIUTS SUSI program.

Guest post written by Shail Silwal, FIUTS SUSI participant, Summer 2016

White Beats headphone on maximum volume, tapping my feet and waiting for the flight details to be announced, I was seated with five of my other Nepali mates in Hamad International Airport. Had I known the journey of two months would be this exciting I wouldn't have wasted a single second. Ten minutes later came my friends from Srilanka and Bangladesh and we were ready to embark a journey towards Seattle, the Emerald city. If I was alone there, trust me, I would’ve lost my mind with that child in front of me crying throughout the journey, the bland food of Qatar airways and a Nepali grandma poking me every five minutes. But then Upakar, Upendra and Prashanti came to my rescue. By cracking riddles and jokes which made no logic and laughing so hard, easily catching attention of everyone around us, our journey started. As soon as we landed in Seattle, we saw the staff from FIUTS eagerly waiting for us with colorful paper signs. If only they knew how mischievous we were, they would probably have been a little less excited at our arrival!

Soft rain, colorful surrounding and lights everywhere - that’s how the University of Washington welcomed us. Sudden change in weather, people wearing multiple layers and with little Thailand, little Korea, little India and little other countries there was a small world in the premises of U-Dub itself. Sitting in a hall from 9 to almost 7 doesn’t sound exciting at all but the moments we stole from the time left were precious. The aroma of coffee from Starbucks in every block, the last minute of going through few pages of text books individually and sharing it with friends just in order to be safe from punishments and the random paper conversations while the classes were ongoing, that’s how our first week started. With such a huge time difference and the habit of reaching late to every place “a typical Nepali tendency”, it was really tough for us to adjust with the time schedule as punctuality was at its best there. In order to make our journey more fun FIUTS allotted each SUSI participant with an ambassador from the University of Washington. Mine was Mrunmayee Shetee. From history of journalism to the techniques of reporting and various leadership exercises the first week was fully packed.

In the first weekend, with our shades on, a bag full of enough food and water and ample of sunscreen applied on skin all the SUSI participants were ready for a hike. We hiked our way through the gigantic rocks of Mount Rainier, slipping, falling and getting up again amidst the melting snow on the mountain. We struggled on our hike but still managed to get good pictures of everyone! At the end of the long day we started a bonfire under the starry sky. Amid the silent pine trees in the windless night we made s’mores and sang songs in our respective languages and shared stories from home. It was a perfect weekend for all of us!

The next week our preparation for individual articles started. All the participants were either busy in their laptops searching contacts or busy talking to their ambassadors. Some were busy taking interviews on Skype while some were reading books to dig information. Just to help us get out of the monotonous schedule FIUTS took us to the Safeco field to watch a baseball game. Well I knew what baseball is but I didn't understand the game that well before then. Even after watching the entire match I couldn’t understand the game completely (though I understood many rules) but the fun in the virtual games that were played on the screen, the cheering, the hooting, the DAI HO LEE tune, the Mexican wave, the rhythm of the claps all were out of the world. Like the cherry on the cupcake, the fireworks made our night.

Slowly and gradually we had come to know the ways and alleys around the university. One of the shining moments of the second week was night stroll in Kerry park. Competing with the American children in the games, climbing the rope webs, falling from the spiral slides, finishing the maze and getting drenched in the international fountain brought the child inside me out.

The second and third weeks were full of site visits and who helped us "THE GOOGLE MAP lady." In order to help us understand about the execution of media houses, their functioning and the workstyle of the journalists in Seattle we were taken to TVW, KUOW, Geekwire, Seattle Weekly and the Seattle Times. One of the unique media houses I saw in Seattle was Real Change. It was very impressive because it employed homeless people for paper distribution. With our ambassadors we were taken to a cruise ride which was icy cold but as it was the first experience for us all, every one of us was excited. Uncountable jelly fish swayed with the waves with their tentacles constantly moving in the sea.

Besides the time difference, one of the hardest things to adjust with was the food in America. We south Asians who have been habituated to eat warm rice and lentils had to eat cold sandwiches and burgers everyday which kind of felt good the first few days but was difficult to cope up with. But when the district market started to prepare rice and pulses there used to be a long queue. It felt weird when I saw Nepali people in U.S. meet each other even when it would demand for travelling hours of distance but when we visited Nepali restaurants it was totally shocking to observe ourselves talking to every next other Nepali people.

I was not at all happy spending a major portion of my day inside a hall itself but when I look back integrating so many things in such a short time span couldn't have been better. Meeting different people in a new environment and learning newer things was a great experience. It was really challenging but rewarding for us to step out of our comfort zone. There were times when the people we were interacting with were not friendly at all and we would succumb. But once we did that we were able to understand that it was all in the brain. The execution of media houses there was completely different. The best part of the media people there was that every single individual would listen to your views and try their best to quench your curiosity. They would encourage and entertain our questions and every single task was transparent.

The fourth week was the most memorable one. It was our last week in Seattle and I believe we connected to each other in this very week. Preparation of momos with our ambassadors, random walks, chats, camp fire at the beach and games helped to make our bond even stronger. The participants with their ambassadors went for dinner, viewed the Seattle skyline from the top of Space Needle. In this week I got a new family outside my home – a sweet nephew, lovely pet Mia who would welcome me every time with its wagging tail and lovely dad and mom. With a separate room full of stuffed pandas everywhere, glass pieces with small pandas, statues of pandas, first hand and foot impressions of baby Ayden and building blocks just ahead of me Thompson family welcomed me. The home which I was sent for my homestay was similar to that I had expected my dream house to be. Every corner had different pieces from different parts of the world; one could feel the liveliness and happiness in the house as soon as one entered. My American dad and mom took me to Bavarian village of Leavenworth a place which ditto felt like the sets of Dilwale. Men dressed like cowboys were riding tourists in horse carriage with those beautiful draperies. Vintage homes lined by colorful flowers, antique pieces and lights all around it was a perfect place for a date. Mexican music and orchestra was playing around and children were blowing bubbles all around. Men and women were enjoying with pitchers of beers and it felt like they had the entire time in the world. I met Mateo who was just a child but made my remaining weeks in U.S lovely.

Leaving Seattle was very hard. It was tough to leave my new family and I was very sad to see the ambassadors crying (though I was the very one who was nagging everyone) but it had to be done as Chicago was waiting for us. Though the journey of Chicago started in a bittersweet (with the news of various gunshot cases and my dollars stolen) the other days helped me to forget it. Chicago was exactly the America which we picture in our mind – tall skyscrapers, busy people, big statues and museums.  The best part of Chicago was its nightlife. It felt like I could spend days looking at those colorful skyscrapers and the fountain which would dance with the background song merrily. In Washington DC, the visit to Newseum was no less. The way Newseum portrayed the history of journalism via 3D movie was commendable. History was never this fun. Looking the history so close that you could actually feel the world wars, the struggle of journalists, the challenges yourself is totally an unexplainable experience. As I am not that fond of museums DC did not turn out to be my dream destination but it was amazing to see how well the history was preserved and people were exploring for more details. History was worshipped initiatives were respected. Tombstones, memorials, scripts, objects were perfectly managed and there were guides who knew very single minor details of that places. Bus drives were carried out so that people could learn about it.

United States is undoubtedly a very beautiful place to be but Nepal would be much better only if it was a little developed. One of the best things of United States was that people respected profession regardless of what job you do and they highly prioritized independence. I could see ten-year-old girls playing violin in order to earn money. People invested a huge amount of their money on recreation and amassing materials. The other best part about States was that people were very hard working. If only program as SUSI would be conducted in Nepal it would demand for minimum 10-12 staffs which were handled by only five staffs in total. Majority of the teachers were females and it was quite encouraging to see them teach so well even with their babies with them. The daily tasks were very simplified with the use of technology. All the vegetables and fruits were cleaned before selling, all the things required for daily activities were available in very one store and with the use of machines like washing machine, dish washer and dicer the time to finish household chores was reduced to exactly fifty percent. It was really good to see how artifacts are preserved and explored more and more and the thirst for knowledge would never end. It felt amazing to see how any person could extract information from the places they like and journalists didn’t require certificates to practice journalism.

I believed that the leg pulling tendency is only prevalent in the south Asian political scenario but it was quite disturbing to see how low political contenders could stoop in order to achieve the position during electoral period even in the States. It might have advantages of its own but I was not at all happy seeing marijuana legalized. Children were directly exposed to it which was certain to encourage them to develop tendency as such in future.  I assumed that there would be no homeless people in states but after seeing homeless people living in tents under the bridge and asking for money I felt that whichever country you go there exist poor people. It was more surprising to see some homeless people wearing suits and carrying iPhones. Later after listening to various stories I realized that a millionaire yesterday would turn to be a beggar the very next day as the health facilities were too expensive. But unlike in south Asian countries people would not have to die of hunger as the government would distribute the food coupons and there were food banks from which the homeless people could collect food materials and toiletries. We in our home country believed that America is a progressive country with open minded people. With American government emphasizing so much on empowering women, creating safer environment for them and bringing new rights I believed that it would be a safe place or a place of imagination for women. I was totally shocked when I found that America was no different from our country.

Presenting all those shiny moments in words would be impossible. Nevertheless I will miss those irrelevant and nonsensical riddles of Upakar, “you know I read an article” of Prashanti, Raja sahaab Upendra’s orders, I will miss the obsessiveness of Muaad in coffee and energy drink, vintage homes of Bavarian village, the massage of Hiran, visit to capitol hill with Herish, the support of Jyoti, the cool attitude of Ananya, craziness of sarika, NO of Farzana, the beautiful skyline of Seattle. I will miss banging saucepans and shouting with baby Ayden I will miss breaking all the traffic rules and running to harbor bridge just so that we wouldn’t miss the cruise. I will miss the ride with my American daddy in Harley Davidson, dipping legs in the ocean and feeling the sea tides. I will miss the night strolls in U-Dub. I will miss playing with snow and falling down after every five steps. I will miss the view of the glistening tunnels which I saw with the hair flying in the rhythm of the wind.

Thank you  Stuart Thompson and Lynn Thompson for being a warm and welcoming family in an unknown city. Sorry Era Schrepfer, Qanani Kalil, Ellen Frierson, Tom Lang and Benett Corey Anderson as I have been a pain many times. But thank you for forgiving me every single time. I can’t say how grateful I am to each and every one of you for making my summer this beautiful! Loads of love!

This post was originally published on Shail's personal blog here.

The Study of the U.S. Institutes (SUSI), sponsored by the U.S. Department of State Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, promote a better understanding of the people, institutions, and culture of the United States among foreign students, teachers, and scholars. Study of the U.S. Institutes are short-term academic programs for groups of undergraduate leaders, educators, and scholars from around the world.

The Study of the U.S. Institute for Student Leaders in Journalism and New Media in Seattle is hosted by the Foundation for International Understanding Through Students (FIUTS), a local non-profit organization affiliated with the University of Washington that promotes international friendship and cross-cultural understanding in the region. The Seattle Globalist, a daily publication covering the connections between Seattle and the rest of the globe, is collaborating with FIUTS to deliver courses on topics in journalism and new media.

Guest posts on the FIUTS blog represent the experiences and views of individual writers. They do not necessarily reflect the views of FIUTS or any organizations or institutions affiliated with our programs.