Time runs in this place, every day is quite full. Now we are closer to the end of the semester then the start. One thing I would like to tell you all about though is the outdoor seminar we had in outskirts of the city, that was one of the nicest settings I’ve ever had when it comes to a university seminar.

One Friday morning we were told to jump on the bus and go to Happy village, a small place outside of our common grounds (which would be “lakeside” of Pokhara). Instead of our regular conference room where most of our lectures and seminars are held, we met at an outdoor café right next to the end of the grand Fewa lake.

We sat at a long table under the shade just a few meters away from the edge of the water, overlooking all the paragliders landing on the opposite side of the lake. Zipping our coffees as the seminar was about to start, my eyes went from the vibrating green mountain hills to the newly awoken still content faces around the table. It is incredible what a change of settings can do!

The first part of the seminar was a kind of evaluation of the past weeks, discussing pros and cons to different methods used. We filled in forms saying what we thought was done good and what could be done better. After this we made a circle of appreciation, this was done through sending papers around were we all wrote a little note of compliments to the person whose name was on the top of that paper. We also added good wishes and advices. In the end of the exercise we all had one heart-warming paper each to keep as a memory.

 

The second part of the seminar was held by one of the students, Lasse, who wanted to do a workshop about “active listening”. He started by reading this poem out load;

 

I would like to ask you

 about you

 

about the how 

perhaps 

I might then better 

understand 

the why 

 

it’s not about 

the knowledge 

or wealth 

that you have gathered 

 

but 

about how you

experience 

life in you 

 

how you think

and what moves you 

inside 

 

what are your expectations 

your desires 

and do you dare to dream 

 

what have you won

and what have you lost 

and how did that move you inside 

 

are you in the end

someone

you truly love 

 

I would like to ask you 

 

life

 

what’s it like 

for you 

Beautiful right? It ended up being a very honest seminar were some of us eagerly shared our experiences. We had some time off before leaving for our lunch buffet, spending it with our feet in the water or chilling in the shade.

-Daniela-