In April 2026, I had the opportunity to visit Europe. It was my first international trip, and the fact that it was Europe was something I had never even dreamed of.
My colleague and I attended a workshop hosted by the Italian Buddhist Union and Mind & Life Europe.
Our first stop was Milan, where we arrived around 1 a.m. Navigating a new city at that hour was quite a moment for us. We somehow managed to find our way, thanks to a chance encounter with David. He was friendly and incredibly helpful, and even helped us book a bus to Padua, where the event was being held.
We reached our hotel exhausted, but after a soak in the hot spring, all the tiredness melted away. We then had a quick chat with the other attendees. Over the next four days, we discussed the ecosystem of Tibetan AI translation. Even though I was new to the field, I gained a lot of insight into how Westerners view our low resource language, and how we can all collaborate to make this ecosystem more sustainable.
I met many wonderful people like Kai, Gabor Karsai from Mind & Life Europe, Chris, Nathan Hill, Franz Xaver, and many more. What surprised me most was how deeply they valued the Tibetan language, most of the attendees, despite being Westerners, spoke it very fluently.
Honestly, it was one of the greatest experiences of my life as a Tibetan and a software engineer. All thanks to NT, Kaldan, and Tashi Tsering for making it possible.
After the workshop, we had a few leisure days, so I went to visit my uncle and aunt in France and Switzerland. But before that, one memory happened that has stayed with me, what I'd call a "core memory"
Here's what happened: after the event, my colleague and I headed to the train station. Once we got there, I realized I had left my bag at the hotel, the one with my laptop and, more importantly, my visa documents. I froze for a second. Our train was leaving in 30 minutes. We called NT, who sent a driver to bring the bag to the station, and I cancelled my tickets and booked a new train 15 minutes later than the original. Just like that, 100 euros gone, haha. That mix of panic and absurdity is exactly why it stuck with me.
For the rest of my trip, I travelled around France, visiting the Eiffel Tower and Stalingrad, and then went on to Switzerland, where I explored Zurich, Interlaken, and Mount Pilatus.
Overall, my first international trip turned out to be my most memorable one. Special thanks to the Italian Buddhist Union for hosting such a wonderful event, and to the management at WeBuddhist for giving me this opportunity.