I'm in Katmandu right now! It's really cool. Here's an entry I started a while ago in Delhi:

So all those things I said about being alone in Dharamsala and challenging myself and all that, well, I take it all back, or at least, I take back that I feel up to the challenge. Spending one day in London alone was almost lonelier than I could handle, and being alone in Delhi is just depressing. I had over nostalgia-ized it. I thought it was Delhi that I liked, but it was just the people I was in Delhi with that I liked, not Delhi itself. While I was here, I wanted to go wander around some of the places that we first went to during orientation in January, but it’s so disgustingly hot out, and I don’t think I’m even going to leave my room more than I have to. So right now it’s my first night in Delhi. I went back to the guesthouse that I stayed at with Justin, Tom, and Kendell when we were all in Delhi just before leaving. I tried to stay awake this afternoon so I could call home once it was a decent hour and so that I could sleep tonight and hopefully not be too jetlagged, but I fell asleep anyway and didn’t wake up again until it was too late to go out (well not really actually, but I didn’t want to wander around a place I didn’t know after dark trying to find a phone), and now it’s almost midnight, and I can’t sleep, so so much for that whole plan. Also, so much for the whole going to Dharamsala/being independent plan. Tomorrow, I’m going to try to figure out if there’s a way I can get to Katmandu in the next week. I want to be in a city where I know people, and Marissa, Diana, Amalia, Dan, Amber, Steve, and Karen are all there right now, so that’s where I want to be. My visa expires in about a week, so hopefully I can find a way to get there before that happens so that I don’t have to deal with extending it. I guess it’s a little sad that I can’t handle being alone for even a few days, but that’s just how I am I guess, and I don’t want spend a few weeks being miserable just to try to prove that I can. I just wish I could sleep so that I can wake up so that I can try to find a way to get to Katmandu. I’ll go however I can, plane, train, bus, whatever (well actually just plane, train, or bus I guess). I really, really hope this works out. I think maybe I took embracing the ambiguity a little too far and should have made more concrete plans. I never really enjoyed the ambiguity that much; I kind of like to have a plan. On the bright side, I did see an elephant on the side of the road today. TII.

Okay, so yeah, I’m in Katmandu now. I went to talk to a travel agent about getting to Nepal before my Indian visa ran out, and he called a few airlines and said they were all booked, except business class, and I’m already worried that I underestimated in my grant proposal, but I saw an advertisement on his wall for a Delhi-Katmandu bus, which it turned out was going to leave in a few hours, so I went to exchange some money, bought a ticket, packed, checked out of the guesthouse, and got on the bus, and that’s where I’ve been for two days. Not quite two days really. The bus left at around three in the afternoon on Thursday, and just got in around five or six this morning (it being Saturday as I write this). I even have a shiny, new Nepali visa in my passport. If only getting a new Indian visa had been so easy (at the border, I was required to fill out a form and to give them a passport picture and $30 cash). I think I’m going to sleep for a few hours now, since I didn’t get much sleep on the bus. My seat wouldn’t stay back, and I’m not sure what time zone my body thinks it’s in, but I think it’s somewhere between here and London. Also, we didn’t stop for dinner last night until around eleven, and we got in pretty early, so I don’t think anyone slept much. Also (this doesn’t really have to do with anything, it just amused me), last night there were a chicken and three chicks wandering around where we were eating dinner.

So I’m really glad that I came to Katmandu. I’m staying in Marissa’s room for now, and Diana lives across the hall. Dan and Amber live upstairs, and Karen just moved to an apartment nearby. She and Steve were staying in Thamel, but he left today, so she moved to Boudha, where we are. I’m glad I got to see Steve one last time before he left though. We all got together for dinner last night. It was sad to have to say goodbye all over again though.