My name is Jo Hyun Sung, a 2nd year student at Dongrae Middle School in Busan. I'd like to introduce a few things I experienced during the 18th Himalayan Hinterland School Expedition program that lasted for 15 days and 16 nights, which I had to participated in thanks to the urging of my parents.

Traveling alone... This was my first trip without my mom and dad. The idea of going to the unfamiliar country of Nepal in the Himalayas wasn't something I was initially enthusiastic about. My older brother, who is now in his final year of high school, said it wasn’t possible for him to participate in the program because he's a student preparing for college entrance exams. Why would they send a first-year middle school student like me to such a faraway place? They said we'd have to climb high mountains, there would be no Wi-Fi available, and there would be no one I knew. I hesitated a lot.

However, over the 16 days, I climbed the Himalayas on my own, made friends, and with the help of Captain Kim of the expedition and several teachers, I became a proud member of the expedition team. As I write this with a joyful heart, I can't help but wonder how much I would have regretted it if I had ignored my parents' urging and missed this opportunity.

The Himalayas, known as the roof of the world, are truly a majestic range of mountains. They stretch over 2,400km from east to west, with more than 14 peaks over 8,000m high.

We saw the Himalayas from the plane flying from Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal, to Pokhara. We enjoyed the panoramic view of the endless snow-covered mountain ranges and the beautiful Himalayas. It was felt like a dream to be embraced by the Himalayas. 

People in Nepal, commonly referred to as Nepalis, consist of around 30 ethnic groups. The mountains are high and the valleys deep, and so traveling to visit one another is difficult. However, they live peacefully without conflict. According to Captain Kim, it's all thanks to the power of their religious faith. Their daily lives are intertwined with their faith. Nepal is a Hindu country, and it's said that there are as many gods as people there. They say that, if there were 10 people in Nepal, 8 would be Hindus and 1 would be Buddhist. It gives us a hint how devoted people here are in their religion.

When we visited schools, they always wore smiles on their faces. They were friendly and always smiling. When they saw my facial expression, they might have thought, “This boy must have come here to fight.” It made me a little ashamed.

 Nepalis love animals very much. Dogs, cats, ducks as well as cows, horses, mules, and yaks, all roam the streets alongside people. "Seolsani (Snowy Mountain)" and "Kaale" are the names of the Himalayan dogs I met while trekking. "Seolsani" is white, and "Kaale" is black. Of course, I named them myself. The leader taught me those words.

I saw the mountains while walking during the day, but at night, the sky was filled with stars. I hadn’t realized there were so many stars in the sky until I came here. For the first time in my life, I saw countless shooting stars streaking across the sky. Brothers and sisters such as Ji-min, Ye-ra, Jeong-su, and Jeong-min, and mischievous teacher Gyul, and Advisor Yoon, are all special people to me.

The Bhutanese movie A Yak in the Classroom, which we watched together at the Australian Camp and Low Camp, was also a memorable and good movie.

"Namaste" is a common greeting used by Nepalis. Captain Kim taught us that it means "I salute the god within you." Until now, I have only lived in the visible world, but Nepalis see the world with their hearts. I think that's why they greet each other like that.

Trekking in Nepal this winter was the best trip of my life, and I think it will continue to be so in the future. My heart, once stifled and heavy, feels as light and free as a butterfly, now after completing the Himalayan expedition, like Mungi, the protagonist of the novel However the Sky is Clear, written by Hyeon-deok, which I read in my Korean textbook.