Currently, about 15 employees and students at Kentucky State are from Nepal. When Dr. Buddhi Gyawali came to Kentucky State to be a professor in 2012, he was the only person from Nepal.
“After I came here, I brought one student, and it became like a chain reaction after that,” Dr. Gyawali said. “It’s growing.”
After completing her bachelor's degree in agriculture, Paudel wanted to get a master's in the environmental sector.
“I was doing the university search, the professor search, and I stumbled across Dr. Gyawali’s profile,” Paudel said. “It’s something I resonated with.”
Paudel liked the program, which offered a holistic degree in environmental science, and that one of her professors would be Nepali. Suraj KC, another MES student and graduate research assistant, had a similar experience. One of his Nepali friends was already at Kentucky State.
Suraj KC, another MES student and graduate research assistant, had a similar experience. One of his Nepali friends was already at Kentucky State.
“It was easy for me to communicate and to know about Kentucky State and the environment here,” KC said.
Neither student was overly shocked by American culture when they arrived, but there were still adjustments they had to make. One was to the cold—outside in the winter and even in the classrooms. “I like the snow,” Paudel said. “It makes my heart glow.”
“I like the snow,” Paudel said. “It makes my heart glow.”
KC said there's more pressure and therefore more stress. Part of that is just being a graduate student with a lot of responsibility, but there's also the American emphasis on multitasking. People in Nepal— and maybe more broadly in Asian culture, Paudel said— aren't so concerned about time and being on time.
Another adjustment was the lack of public transportation and the need for
a car and driver’s license. When Dr. Gyawali came to the United States for graduate school in the late ‘90s, he had even more to get used to: what clothes to wear and laundry, credit cards and ATMs, even the Internet.
“Everything was new for me at that time,” Dr. Gyawali said. “These guys are lucky, compared to my story.”
KC said Dr. Gyawali’s presence at Kentucky State decreased the culture shock that he may have otherwise experienced.
“It has helped that Dr. Gyawali is from Nepal, and he understands the transition that we have to go through and provided some tips and tricks to cope with it,” Paudel said. It also helps that Paudel and KC both spend a lot of time with their fellow Nepali students, creating a community of home here in Frankfort. This is especially important since Frankfort isn't a big city that has international spaces for eating and shopping.
It also helps that Paudel and KC both spend a lot of time with their fellow Nepali students, creating a community of home here in Frankfort. This is especially important since Frankfort isn't a big city that has international spaces for eating and shopping.
Nepali students will gather for meals or to celebrate festivals back home. On special occasions, they cook goat meat— which Dr. Gyawali “cooks very well,” Paudel said.
“That homely vibe has never gone off from me,” KC said.
PREVIOUS SPREAD: Nepali students enjoy an authentic Nepali meal prepared by Dr. Buddhi Gyawali and his wife at their home in Frankfort, Kentucky, in August 2021. | Photo provided by Dr. Buddhi Gyawali TOP: Graduates, friends and family celebrate at a graduation party at Kentucky State University in Frankfort, Kentucky, on May 13, 2022. | Photo by Kris Chappel LEFT: Students gather for a graduation reception in the Kentucky State Student Center Ballroom in Frankfort, Kentucky, on Dec. 13, 2022. | Photo by Jonathan Palmer