August 30, 2019. The most awaited day of my life had finally arrived. This was the day when my flight was scheduled to take off from the Tribhuvan International Airport to the Boston Logan International Airport. With bags packed and ready to go, mind and body filled with excitement, I reached the airport three hours ahead of time. Along with my companion, Sudhir Maharjan, we entered the departure area, and thus our journey to the West began. Needless to say, it was my first international flight.
After a five-hour-long flight, we landed in the Hong Kong Airport the next morning. We grabbed some coffee and breakfast. Afterward, we got on to another connecting flight to Chicago. Though I was physically tired, I was still very excited. After a long flight of fifteen hours from Hong Kong to Chicago and another three hours of flight from Chicago to Boston, we finally reached our destination: the capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the US, Boston. We hailed a taxi at and headed to 27th Genetti St, Bedford: our temporary home for the next month.
It had been a long weekend, and we wanted to see the city. The very next day we went to Harvard and MIT with Awanish Dai’s family. After the tour, we went to their place, where many Nepali Deerwalkers had gathered to celebrate Teej, a famous Hindu festival of Nepal. The environment was so cozy that anyone would forget the exertion of the long flight and the jet lag amidst the tasty food, beer, and the dance to the famous upbeat number, “bichha bichha ma.” We had great fun. At the end of the party, Awanish Dai drove us home.
The next day we took a tour of Boston and called Manish Luitel Dai. He took us to Boston downtown, Harbor, and Castle Island. We tried different types of food items at the Quincy Market and then had some Chinese food for dinner. Among all the food items, my favorite was the lobster roll. Another day we took an Uber ride to the office. It was our first day at the Deerwalk Boston office. We introduced ourselves to our colleagues. I already knew many of them, but some of them were completely new to me. I finally got a chance to meet the people with whom I had only communicated through emails and deermines over the years. The best part of working there was a quick walk to the parking lot after lunchtime every day.
However, the main goal of my visit was to attend a training session on CSSLP (Certified Secure Software Lifecycle Professional). The training was supposed to start next week. It was a five-day online training, and I had to take it from the office. The time of the training was from 10.30 AM to 7.30 PM, so I used to be the last person leaving the office. In the meantime, I also got a chance to witness Ed Haussmann giving a Client Demo.
To sum, the month-long tour was an astounding, excitement-filled experience. I would especially like to thank Sanshila and Rob for being such amazing mentors. All my hosts throughout my stay gave their best company to make me feel at home. I could not have expected anything more amazing. Last but not least, I would like to thank Deerwalk for considering me worthy of this wonderful opportunity. Thank you, everyone!
[Santosh Kumar Sah, Associate Engineering Manager at Deerwalk Services Pvt. Ltd. Nepal, visited Deerwalk Inc, USA, from August 31, 2019 to October 1, 2019]