Visit Nepal for a Gap Year of Volunteering & Adventure Travel

I spent three amazing months with AV in Nepal, not only was everyone from AV themselves amazing but all the people that helped in Nepal were to. Going away with AV was a once in a life time chance I wish everyone would have the chance to take. AV made everything easy from organizing everything to making sure that we knew what to pack. AV has showed me a whole new side to the world and I'm so happy with the thing that AV has given me.

In the spring of 2017 I had the pleasure to spend four very, very nice months in Nepal - Syangja. I was teaching English and Mathematics at an English boarding school on the countryside of Nepal. It truly was one of the most recommendable experiences in my life. Our host-family and almost everyone I meet there were incredibly hospital, the landscape is stunning and the work was interesting. In my opinion staying with a traditional Nepali, getting to know them and their culture, and getting a glimps of what everyday life is like there was just great!
I can only recommend. Furthermore our Nepali coordinator was a really lovely and competent guy, so I never felt unsave or not looked after, in case I would have needed help.

Lennart

A fantastic experience from start to end with a group of people that no one knew before the airport.
Having also spent the Millennium in such a fantastic and magical Kingdom such as Nepal really was a memory of a lifetime.
The safari in Chitwan National Park was very well organised also with rafting and rhino stalking.
I wonderful 4 months of my life, that gave me the independent travelling bug I still massively have to this day.

Daily life is Nepal consisted of cooking breakfast in our flat before going to the schools to teach morning lessons, returning home for a quick lunch before heading back for the afternoon. After school we would go shopping for food and prepare traditional Nepali dinner of daal bhat before reading, playing cards and writing our diaries by candlelight. I taught 14 year olds in the mornings and 7 year olds in the junior school in the afternoon. This meant that I experienced teaching using the government text books but also have the opportunity to play games and be more creative with teaching methods in the afternoons. I loved the freedom of living in a flat with four other volunteers and sharing all our cooking disasters together, whilst also being made to feel part of the community by the school and by becoming friends with the other teachers, being taught to cook, taken to beauty salons and even attending a local wedding. From the best to the worst, the incredibly friendly Nepalis and breathtaking views of the Himalayas to the squat toilet, I couldn't recommend AV Nepal more for anyone wanting a truly authentic and stimulating experience

It is a fantastic experience from start to finish. Richard Venning and Guarev Chhetri were great people to have with us during the early days in Kathmandu, Nagarkot and Besisahar. Richard, as well as Guarev, has a fantastic knowledge of the country, it's cultures and the language and gave us many useful pointers for interactions with the Nepalese.

The teaching stage is fantastic - be prepared to get given random lessons at a moment's notice, match your students' enthusiasm with your own and organise projects for them. It was amazing how much effort and care they put into some of the large pieces of work that we set.

Never turn down an invitation - going to colleagues' houses/weddings/day outs was always a special experience. More often than not you will meet their family, try some new Nepali dish and learn something new about their country.

But make the most of an amazing opportunity, explore your surroundings, make a real effort with the language because people will appreciate it and accept you, be prepared for cockroaches and for your gas supply to run out, go to pokhara, visit the other AVs, get involved.