Anne Berger, 21, a student of Bachelor’s in Media Studies at Kathmandu University shares the flat with her boyfriend and his older brother.[break]
“My boyfriend is already home,” she says as loud music is heard from the doorway. Her boyfriend is making coffee in the kitchen, right across the entrance.
“Coming home in a foreign land is at times overwhelming, so we wanted a good place to relax and wind down,” says Johannes Plank, 23, also a student of fine arts at Kathmandu University.
Plank had come to Nepal in December 2009 with his family after his mother was offered to work here for the German Development Cooperation.
While their mother is at Dhangadi now, he and his brother, Mathias Plank, 26, live in the apartment in Kathmandu which is a 15-minute walk away from their college.
Berger, however, has her own story. When her boyfriend’s family decided to move, she started searching for colleges in Nepal via the Internet.
“When I came across the Media Studies program, I found it very multidisciplinary. Since I couldn’t find such a program in Germany, I applied for it,” she says.
According to data available at the Ministry of Education, a total of 913 foreign students were granted recommendation letters from the government for visa extension in 2011. Among them, 431 students study at KU. The number, however, excludes the count of Indian students at the university.
Lubna Sidhhiqui, 23, a medical student at Nepalgunj Medical College who is from Lucknow, India, says that Nepal was a better option for her. “The other prospects in India were comparatively farther away from home than this, so I chose to study in Nepal,” she says. Her father also supported her decision as he thought that female students were safer in Nepal’s medical colleges. Siddhiqui lives in the girl’s hostel within the premises of the college.
Indian students like Sidhhiqui are spared from going through the process of visa application.
Student visa has to be renewed every year through the Ministry of Home Affairs, Department of Immigration. For visa renewal application, the applicants have to attach a recommendation letter from the educational institution they are currently enrolled in to the Ministry of Education. The Ministry will then recommend visa renewal to the Immigration Department.
“After the recommendation letter is issued from the university, it’s actually a day’s work. But it does not proceed that easily,” claims Berger. The study visa grants an expatriate to stay in Nepal for a year and charges US$40 per month for students except SAARC countries. They also have to show a balance of US$3,000 in a Nepali bank account besides the monthly charge.
Apart from the benefits of lesser cost for visa application, students from SAARC countries are generally charged only 25% extra of the normal tariff fee in the universities while the amount increases to double for other foreign students.
Ashkar Haniffa, 26, a Sri Lankan intern doctor at Nepal Medical College Teaching Hospital, says that he decided to study in Nepal because the financial dealings are easier and flexible in Nepali universities.
But it wasn’t as easy for him, being the only foreign student in his batch; he had to struggle with the language barrier. “Though the course is an English medium one, sometimes the teachers would prefer to explain the procedures in Nepali. I had to request the teachers to describe it again in English or see them in their office after class,” he says.
“When I came to Nepal, my head was full of Spanish. English is a foreign language for me, too, and it was very hard to comprehend the class lectures in Nepali-accented English,” says Berger who now speaks in Nepali. “But it was a very new and a good experience learning Nepali, as I learnt it like a baby would learn, catching up with some words and phrases and repeating them,” she adds.
Learning the language has helped her in studies and also in daily life. “The shopkeepers in the neighborhood have begun to take me as a girl-next-door rather than a tourist,” she shares with a smile. Her knowledge in local language has also helped her to commute in public transportation, especially on her daily route to Dhulikhel.
But living in Nepal was not easy with the fuel crisis hitting hard. “When we were here at the beginning, we didn’t have any backup for load shedding. I found it very hard to study in candlelight,” says Berger.
Language and fuel crisis are secondary issues, according to Plank. “People here think that all foreigners here are tourists and if you are a white skin, they assume you to be an American,” he says. Berger agrees with Plank and holds such mindset of the people to be responsible for their difficulty in getting incorporated in the society.
But they study, live and have weekend night outs like normal middle-class students. “We’re often invited to other expats’ apartments for birthday parties or dinners, but I prefer to be with my Nepali friends on the weekends,” says Berger.
However, except from few jatras in Kathmandu and Bhaktapur, they haven’t closely experienced the local festivities. In the case of festivals, students from SAARC countries seem to adapt more easily and naturally than the students from other countries.
In Nepalgunj Medical College, Siddhiqui has easily blended into the local festivals her friends celebrate. “The most fun festival for me is Tihar. My friends have taught me to play Bhaili and I’ve learnt to make Sel Roti, too,” she says. She also loves vegetarian food on Maghe Sankranti and enjoys making vegetable momos.
On the other hand, Berger could not enjoy the cuisines as much as Sidhhiqui due to the difference in the tastes. “There are so many spices used in the food that my eyes used to fill with tears while eating them. But now, I’ve become used to it,” she says with a laugh.
For Plank, more than tastes, it was the hygiene that bothered him. “In our initial days in Nepal, we used to see meat sold in small dirty tin shops with flies swarming all over the place. It was of course a very unpleasant sight,” he says. .
As these students make efforts to adjust in a foreign society, the Nepali society, too, is attempting to expand its space for the expats. The number of other expats who had come to Nepal as tourists or for business but now living on study visas is a proof of the very endeavor.
At the Bishwa Bhasha Campus, there are 169 expat students who were recommended for visa extension in 2011. It is the highest number of students after Kathmandu University.
Raphael, 31, a second semester student of Nepali language from France, says that most of the students are there only to retain their student visa. Though he refused to disclose his last name, he did mention that he came to Nepal one year ago with his partner who has been working here.
Ayaka Ikemi, 31, a student from Japan said that she had come to Nepal on a tourist visa for the first time five years back. It has been two years she has been living in Nepal as a student. “I had no problems with adjusting in my neighborhood,’ she says.
Expats resort to study visa as it is more feasible than business or tourist visas. A tourist visa requires one to pay US$30 for a single-entry visa of 60 days and US$50 for multiple-entry one-year visa, allowing only 60 days’ visit at a time. Business visa, on the other hand, requires US$100 per month for a one-year visa and US$250 per month for a five-year visa. Both the
multiple-entry visas only allow a 90-day visit at one time. Therefore, a study visa is an easier option for foreigners looking for a steady living in Nepal or with lower costs.
Whatever may the reason be, expat students are finding their ways to adjust themselves to the pros and cons of Nepali society. “Earlier, my friends treated me differently. They were too good to me and I didn’t want that,” shares Berger. But now she is happy as her friends treat her as equal.
“It’s always a two-way street, haina ta?” she says.
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