Scholarship Winners: Sonam Dolma Sherpa

 
Sonam Dolma (Grade 11) on the left, with Dawa Dolma (Grade 12) on the right, center another Nepalese friend

Dearest SMD family,

Lhosar Tashi Delek!!! It’s a pleasure to be writing this letter to you all, remembering how lucky we all are! I apologize for not having written any letters. I am absolutely certain that you all have nice smiles on your faces by the blessing of Venerable Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche and hope that everybody is enthusiastic to hear about some of my experiences from abroad.

How quickly time flies. It’s almost half a year since I left SMD and I feel like it’s only been a month. I can hardly remember what I have done in all these months; being in places I had never imagined I would be and meeting such warm and interesting people I never thought I would meet in my life. Indeed, it has been a marvelous time. I miss you all in those wonderful times. Well, I had never realized that life is wonderful until today. Sometimes when I sit back and think about it, it is so wonderful. I feel extremely lucky personally for having a golden opportunity to be in such a great, international college. How lucky you are, too, for having been to such a nice school as SMD. Things like this are often forgotten. I often forget, myself when I started to get used to everything here but now I realize that it’s very important to think about how lucky I am. Whenever I think about it, I manage to do everything very well. That’s one of my best advice to you all - to think about how lucky you have been and only then will you learn more and be a good person.

UWC is such an amazing place to be in, with such a dedicated staff and friendly students. Some of the people here are from countries I had never heard about and it’s interesting to hear all the fascinating languages they speak. It sounds quite funny but it’s quite amazing that such languages exist in the world. Now I can see my own culture with more perspective, rather than thinking it is only dancing, customs and language. Furthermore, I explored some European cultures and ways of life when I visited my sponsors last winter in the Netherlands and Germany. I visited Buddhist centers in both the countries. It was inspiring and I was especially very glad to see so many Buddhist people in Europe. Indeed I had a great time with my sponsors.

I am 100% sure that most of you are wondering about the academic life here. That was one of the big questions in my mind when I was in Nepal. It’s exactly like Peter’s leadership class and Shirley’s Friday night classes were. It’s the students who speak more than teachers. Some classes are very interesting depending upon the teacher. I especially enjoy English and Geography class the most. We sometimes listen to music and do some exercise after that, in the English class. We even sing songs. Isn’t that fun? I really love it! In my Geography class once, we were talking about plate tectonics and later we watched videos about volcanoes and earthquakes. It was fabulous. Most often, in class, students are encouraged to think and voice opinions rather than memorize .  A very big thank you to Peter and Shirley for all those wonderful classes. Based on my academic experience so far, DON’T MEMORISE Q/A. DON’T FEEL PROUD THAT YOU WERE FIRST IN CLASS BY MEMORISING QUESTION ANSWERS. I think that’s what most people do and I did as well but it didn’t help me after all. I just regret and now I am telling you LEARN TO MAKE UP YOUR OWN ANSWERS FROM THE BOOKS AND BE CRITICAL. I don’t have much critical thinking myself but I am learning to be critical. This is some of my general advice to all my fellow friends. There are still lots of things to share but I will stop here for today.

By the way, ever since I left SMD, I have been missing all the moments that I spent with you, my new room mates in the flat and my old roommates at the school. I miss the strict rules in school when I had to keep my hands back in the line and keep my mouth shut when I was eating. Though it was quite annoying at that time, it brings a smile to my face now. In fact, SMD has given me so much and all those wonderful things will remain in my heart forever. Not forgetting my beloved teachers who prepared me to be who I am today, I want to ‘Thank you so much for your hard work’. I always miss all the teachers who have taught me whenever I do well because of what I learned in SMD. Thank you all for all the memorable times we spent together. I look forward to seeing you all in the summer. Have fun and enjoy the new year celebration!

With best wishes and regards from

Sonam Dolma