College Essay # 149 - William and Mary

149. Once you have completed your education, would you return to your hometown to begin your adult life? Why or why not? (William and Mary)


I watched my father struggle to find a job that would make a difference in the coutry after returning back home to Nepal. He worked in a bank for a while and then he decided that he wanted to start his own company. In 2008, he opened his own company: Solar Solutions. He is now the managing director of a company which sells and installs solar systems in homes, hotels, and office buildings which allows people to be energy independent. But this is not how he started out. He went to AIT in Thailand returned home to Nepal and worked with hydroelectric power companies. Then he joined the United Nations and worked in Bangladesh, Dhaka for around 6 to 7 years. He then returned to school and went to Maxwell University in Syracuse, New York to gain a master's degree in public administration. Then he returned to Nepal to start this. Although my father had returned to Nepal twice to start and continue his adult life ... twice ... I wouldn't want to go back to Nepal to start my adult life. My father may have, my mother may have, and my whole family may have, but times have changed, and that is not the path I want to follow. But he came back to the place he calls home a number of times, and that is what I plan to do as well. After all, your home is your home.

I want to become a doctor, and many of you may think that "doctor's can get a job anywhere" so why does it matter where you start your adult life. But it matters to me. Even being a doctor, I will struggle if I go back to Nepal. Not to deal with my proffession but to deal with the constant turmoil Nepal is facing. Before going to my country, I will want to live a more sustainable life where I don't have to worry about anything but my job and how I can enhance my life with this kind of experience. I don't want to have to worry about all the problems and all the bandhs, strikes which close the city down, while I'm just starting my job. I will be excited, I will be passionate about what I do. I want to focus on that and nothing else.

But just because I won't start my adult life there doesn't mean that I won't live there for a while and help my people. Although I'm not a patriotic person I still want to help those that are from the same place that I am. Just like my father, I will want to come back again and again to make a difference in my home country. I haven't lived in Nepal long enough to love, cherish, and admire it but I do have some sort of love-hate relationship with the country. I hate that everything seems to be crumbling down but I love the beauty and the culture that comes with it. I will definitely not start my adult life there, but I will be sure to include some aspect of my home in my adult life. I can't possibly abandon the place that defines my culture and heritage.