Vincent Sablich '24

Making Sense of Study and Travel Abroad

Starting my senior year at Boston College has been an exciting yet strange experience. The strangeness of it resides in the fact that I am getting used to campus again after studying abroad last spring in Kathmandu, Nepal, and more recently have returned from the Sant’Egidio Prayer for Peace conference in Berlin, Germany. Walking around campus, I’ll run into people I haven’t seen in over a year and often get asked the question, “Dude! How was Nepal!?” It means the world to me that people are interested in my experience abroad, but this question often perplexes me. How can I sum up a four-month transformative experience on the other side of the globe when I run into someone on the quad? I usually respond with the typical, “Bro, Nepal was so crazy!” However, this statement does no justice. Nepal was arguably the best experience of my life, but what many people don’t know is that the magnificence of it was not all that glamorous. 

Along with the beautiful hills, snow-capped mountains, and the rich and diverse cultures of the Nepali people, there were some grim aspects to my experience. I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to trek to Everest Base Camp and climb a nearby peak, Imja Tse, or Island Peak. This was a childhood dream come true. When I arrived at Base Camp, I was greeted by a friendly man who invited me and my group into his expedition tent. His name was Dr. Ben and he served as the Asian Trekking Company's lead doctor for the 2023 Everest expedition. When he is not leading expeditions in the Himalayas, Dr. Ben trains British special forces soldiers in advanced medical techniques, such as how to perform amputations. Inside the expedition tent was an Australian man named Jason, who was preparing to summit Everest in the next few weeks. Jason talked to me about what it's like to actually climb Everest and showed me around his tent. He later took photos of us at the famous Everest Base Camp rock, and jokingly, also took photos of random people on my phone.

Once I arrived back home in Upstate, NY, I received devastating news that Jason passed away on his descent from the summit of Everest. This broke my heart and put a lot of things in perspective. I began to ask questions regarding human ambition and why people risk their lives just to stand on top of a really really “big hill,” which is how climbers often refer to Everest. There is a complex relationship between life and death in the Himalayas and this relationship is at the core of my Fulbright research proposal, for which I hope to return to Nepal after graduation. This relationship is one that can only be semi-understood by being present in the Himalayas.

I am very grateful to the International Studies Department and all my Professors at Boston College for inspiring me to pursue my dreams, no matter how big or distant they are. 

Vincent Sablich '24
October 2023