First Day of Summer!

Well the research paper was turned in on Monday and we only 20 pages long, I was pretty thankful for my word limit. Yesterday we had community day where about 100 people from the community came and listened to each group give about a 30 minute presentation about the research we did and the results we found. It was really exciting to tell everyone what we did and people are supposed to ask each group questions but our group got praise instead of questions so that was nice. Then we fed everyone and they seemed to really enjoy it.
Today for the first day of summer we went to Amboseli to do a game drive in the morning, then a buffet, which was awesome. I filled up on salad and desserts for the most parts. Then we laid by the pool for a while and did another game drive. So it was a pretty great first day of summer.
Tuesday we went to the market for the last time. Someone was talking about how next market day we would be back in the states, and that it just too crazy. I can't believe I only have 2 more full days in Africa, I'm slightly freaking out. We found out that on Sunday on our way to the airport we are stopping at an elephant orphanage!!! The only bad part is we are going to get to the airport way before our flight. I am not looking forward to that flight at all. But at least I know good food awaits me.
Last night we had a silent auction that turned out to not be so silent. Everyone just sold random skills or art they had. I paid about $6 to have someone do my cook crew tomorrow night so I dont have to wash dishes from dinner. The greatest part is that we raised over $300 for an aids clinic!!!
I think thats about all the new things that have happened, we get our grades back tomorrow so hopefully that doesn't bring the summer excitement away! I will be home so soon and then its off to the lake and then back to Purdue. Lots to look forward too so hopefully I don't get too depressed in Indiana!

Directed Research Paper Write-up

Well for the past week I have been working hard on my research paper write up, so any other typing that I have to do it painful, so sorry for the lack of blog posts. I sit at my computer for 10 hours of my life but my five friends and I have taken over the study banda so its just us hanging out all the time which makes it a little better.
Out of boredom we have also discovered One Direction, and they have given us a lot of enjoyment over the past few days. I think everyone else is confused when we play their music videos in the Chumba and try to dance and song along.
Our papers are due on Monday so we are almost there and then we have community day on wednesday and we are going to Amboseli on Thursday. My time here is winding down quickly and I am excited to come home but not wanting to leave here all at the same time. I really like the people I have met and we have big plans to get together in the fall so that makes things a little better.
The thought of coming back to busy America is slightly overwhelming and it will be kind of hard to get used to it I think since everyday for the past 3 months has been planned out for me and I have been driven around, not positive I will be able to drive a car when I get home but that will be a whole different bridge to cross.
Even with the wet season upon us the weather has still been great and I don't want to go back to chilly Indiana, I could live in African weather forever. I have procrastinated my paper long enough, back to writing!

Directed Research Sickness

Well a little bug has taken over camp and has been causing people to miss field work for directed research, myself included. Yesterday I woke up in the middle of the night and felt awful so I took the day off and to lay in bed and watch Grey’s Anatomy all day. I also drank about three rehydration things, and I woke up this morning and felt fine. Two other girls also stayed back and they were feeling fine this morning also. We aren’t sure what is causing it but it was pretty quick and painless. 

Today we went out in the field, but it rained for ever last night and the land cruisers on mud is like a mustang on ice, we were fish tailing ever where. Then we got stuck in the mud, two tires were totally submerged, so we got out to push but we weren’t getting any where. Then we noticed that the other car with the guides and the guards was also stuck so we went to help them. After about 45 minutes we got the first car out and went back to ours. We waited another 30 minutes and it wasn’t moving so we went to start our transects. We walked about 10 miles in grasses that were about up to my hip the entire way and i was caked in mud by the time we got back to our car, that was still stuck. They called in some other people from camp to help and 7 hours after the car got stuck it was pulled out. My hiking boots are fully broken in now and are no where near the color they were when I brought them here, but I guess thats Africa! 

I am still having a great time, but I am getting ready to come home. I need freedom again, which I don’t get here. I don’t want to leave the country at all but I’m ready for the program to be over. I fully plan on coming back to Africa at some point. I also have a new favorite bug which is the dung beetle. They roll the poop into a ball and then take it to their hole by rolling it with their hind legs. They are the coolest bugs, even if they are huge. 

Tomorrow we are going to a lodge and having the buffet with a pool so I’m pretty excited about that. Last non program day we planted about 100 trees and then my five friends and I went to Club K to have a couple beers and separate ourselves from the 22 other people we spend all of our time with, big groups are just a little too overwhelming. Also at the bar, there were chickens running around. 

Directed Research Fieldwork

We have officially started fieldwork for directed research. For my research I am with Claire, Beth, an armed guard, and a local guide and we walk through wildlife sanctuaries all day and count animals. We also look at habitat. The goal is to get as close as we can to animals that are on our transect. We have seen zebras, giraffes, wildebeests, gazelle, and impala and they have gotten within 50 meters of us. The worst part is carrying our backpacks because they make us sweat so much. Today we walked about 15 kilometers, so nearly 10 miles. Needless to say I did not go for a run today, instead I came home, showered, and watched Aladdin. Even though its tiring, its amazing that we are able to walk through the sanctuary among all the animals without anything in between us.

Tomorrow we are going out to follow Thompson’s Gazelles for 9 hours, so its going to be a very very long day. I am finally slightly burnt on the back of my neck, now I’m just hoping for a good tan. Today I went to eat my lunch of a sandwich, banana, passion fruit, fried dough, and cucumber slices to realize that ants had joined the party. So all i could eat was the sandwich, I guess this is like in the African bush as a researcher, tomorrow I’m hoping for a lunch minus ants. I am having a great time in the field and its really nice to only have to see two people for a whole day and to get out of the box. The coolest thing we saw today was a snake that had been run over, and its venom was all over its body and it was black. I’m slightly obsessed with Africa, and I will be home in about 25 days, its so hard to believe!

One More Month

We had our first non-program day in Kenya, and it was awesome. We took a short hike to a beautiful water fall in the morning. Then we went to An HIV/AIDS clinic and talked to some women who run support groups for local people and they all told us their stories and showed up beading that they make to raise money. So I obviously bought even more jewelry. Then we went shopping in town, but it was so hot we mostly sat and hung out to watch the local people. We were offered a ride to anywhere we wanted to go many times, but we turned them all down. I enjoy being left free in towns, it gives a little sense of more freedom since we don’t get very much of it. After shopping we went to Club K. Which sounds like a club kids go to on a cruise ship. But we sat at tables and had some beers. Our table had a personal bartender and every time we finished a beer the lady opened another one and had it ready for us. At one point they brought out a bucket of water and soap so we could wash our hands. Then they brought us our free chapati, I guess thats like free hot dogs at Jakes? Later that night we watched Grey’s Anatomy, so all in all it was a great day.

We received our directed research topics, and I didn’t get the one that I really wanted but I got my second pick. We are working with the water systems and I think I am going to focus on public health and look at how the water affects the health of the people who drink it by comparing the people upstream with the people down stream. For Easter we did an Easter egg hunt and it was a lot of fun so have some kind of festivity. We start all of our fieldwork on Wednesday and according to the professors we are going to be dead after, so it sounds like its going to be an intense 8 days in the field. I’m hoping to be able to go to the clinic and check out the records that they have. 

One thing that I forgot to mention from my last blog is when we went to Amboseli we were driving and we saw that the Soccer World Cup of Europe was in the middle of the grassland. Our professor and one of the drivers got out of the car and starting running toward it. Then they turned around and they were like come on! So about half of us got to get out of the cars, in the middle of the Amboseli, and take pictures with the Europe World Cup. It was pretty awesome. There was a guy who just kept telling us not to touch it. My life here is so random I’m not going to be able to get back to normal life.

We woke up this morning to a beautiful view of Kili and there was a ton of snow on it. I am going to be pretty upset when I don’t get to see that every morning.

I think its officially rainy season, its been raining about every other day, but today its really nice out. But with the rain comes the bugs, so there have been a lot of them. The other night I went to go to the bathroom and I found Natalie standing outside of them because there were 4 or 5 bats in them. So we spent the next 5 minutes trying to get them out but it wasn’t working, so we just had to move fast. Last night for RAP Emma did superlatives. Everyone got one, so I am officially “Most likely to face plant during a traveling lecture” I think it fits me pretty well, at least I am keeping my reputation in Africa.

Better Late Than Never

Finally I have time to breathe and fill everyone in on what I have been doing for the past week. We did our homestay last Saturday with a Maasai family. I have a whole new respect for the women of the Maasai culture, they are amazing. When Emma and I arrived at our Boma we met our Mama and had some tea. Then we had to go retrieve water from the stream. This is done by taking a can that probably has 4 gallons in it and carrying it about a quarter of a mile. You fill it in the stream and then using a strap, you strap it to your head. Yes, there are pictures of my struggle to do this. But once you get the strap on a good place on your head its not that bad, but it was really tiring. Then we made lunch, which is done in a smoke filled room. We ate ugali and cabbage, which isn’t the greatest meal, but it was ok for one day. Our next activity was going to get firewood. Our Mama was using the machete to cut down branches, and then we strapped that to our head, which was a lot easier. It was a really great day and the Maasai culture is really amazing.

We had a field exercise where they sent us out and we walked about 1 Km into the nothing to look at grasses, nothing like a morning spent in the African bush, which we have done twice now. We also saw a dried up zebra placenta and plenty of tracks of zebra, giraffe, and elephants. Class here is amazing, but I am glad its over.

Monday we went to Amboseli National Park, and we learned that time management is not a thing in Africa, which is slightly painful. We did a lot of sitting around but we had an amazing day. There is a swamp area in the park where the elephants would get in and all you could see were their heads. I think it is one of my favorite things I have seen here so far. Kili was covered by clouds all day but it came out just in time for us to see an elephant parade with Kili in the background, it was beautiful.

In order to keep sane I have been running, and I have made it up to 3 miles! I’m slightly amazed with my self and I would love to make it up to 5 by the time I leave, so I have a month to accomplish this.

This week we had 3 papers due and our final was today. So I am officially done with classes and we just have our directed research left, and I am really excited about it! We find out which topic we get on Sunday so I am slightly nervous about finding that out.

I have found two new fruits which I really like, which are mangos and passion fruit, but it depresses me that these probably wont be any good when I get home. Well it’s movie time since we don’t have any work to do!

Busy Busy Busy

Currently I am too busy to do anything but write papers and study. We have done so many things since we got home from Lake Nakuru like going to home stays and Amboseli. But unfortunately I have three papers due before friday, and we have finals on friday. So I'm sorry for not responding to e-mails or updating about my life, but I will do all these things Friday or Saturday. I thought this was easier then responding to everyones e-mails separately. So I am alive for those of you who are worried!

Lake Nakuru National Park

Once again we had an incredible expedition, although the car ride to get to Lake Nakuru National Park was ten hours, I enjoyed seeing all the different landscapes. We also got to drive through Nairobi which was awesome. They are really modern and it was nice to so a whole new side of Africa that we are never able to see. This time we did not stay in tents, instead we stayed in a hostel and slept about 13 girls to a room. One of the girls kept singing Annie songs because we lived like orphans for a couple of days in bunk beds. We at least had a real bathroom, even though I’m pretty positive that someone has ben murdered in it before. The baboons on and around the camp are also insane, and often had to be chased away by the guards and professors. We found a Leopard Tortoise in camp so we decided that we needed to save it, but when Claire picked it up it peed on her so we made the boys take care of it.

The next day we had A LOT of class, which really stunk, but we went on a game drive that night. This is a fenced in park so the animals are not able to leave, so we got to see some new animals like waterbucks, black and white rhinos, and seagulls. We also discovered the creep of all creeps which is the Marabou stork, he is ugly and eats flamingos, I may be one for breakfast club. 

The following day we had a traveling lecture where we went to different sights and talked about how the people and animals affect each other. We also went through a neighborhood and it was nice to see some real house that were super nice. They cost about a half a million US dollars. Obviously I figured out where I want to live. I also saw the first Veterinarian clinic in Africa, so there is still hope! That afternoon during the game drive we saw a leopard and a really awesome owl.

We also did a field exercise where we watched white rhinos and zebras for about 4 hours, which was really just driving around and looking at animals. We saw five lion cubs that were about a year old hanging out under a branch and they were adorable. After that we went to the lodge and had another buffet where they had unlimited desserts, and some really delicious chicken, so we all got really full and then laid by the pool for a while. A couple of us then spent an hour watching soccer and talking with one of the staff members which was a nice change.  That night at the campfire we had debrief and one of our professors, Shem, went through and thanked everyone and it was a really nice time to bound with all the staff.

The drive home was long, mostly because I was dirty and ready for a shower, but I was able to just sit, listen to music, and read so it was pretty relaxing. Now we are back at KBC and we have a relaxation day. We were just discussing how we have adapted to African Life very well because writing e-mails makes us tired, and this blog will be the hardest thing I have to do. We will start our directed research soon, I just hope I get the topic that I want. Once again African living is the way to go, I don’t know how anyone ever leaves here.

Expedition Preparation

I’m getting along with Kenya just fine. Between the food and the amazing view I’m pretty happy with this camp. Yesterday we had a traveling lecture to a hill where we had a great view of the mountain. Then we had 4 hours of Economic Policy which was quite awful. Today we had another traveling lecture where we went to a bunch a different sites to have lecture. One site there were monkeys sitting right above our heads in the trees so it was kind of hard to concentrate. Then we went over all the rules for expedition tomorrow. We are going to Lake Karuku and it is about a 10 hour drive.  We are going to get to see a bunch of rhinos and hopefully some more leopards.

This morning I was woken up by baboons “barking” at each other. They were so loud and I don’t know what happened, but every time they would calm down the birds would start to egg them on again so it probably went on for about 5 minutes. There is a ton of wild life on this camp but luckily I haven’t had anymore run ins with baboons on my runs again. 

It is definitely a lot hotter here than it is in Tanzania, but they say that it gets very cold at night while camping. We aren’t staying in tents this times, we are in a dorm situation because everyone was so cold last time. Also we can’t eat outside because the baboons are crazy and they will come up and snatch food right out of your hands. The rest of the day will be spent packing and preparing and then we are leaving at 6 tomorrow morning to head to the park!

Hello Kenya!

We have been welcomed into Kenya with open arms, and even though we don’t have the Tanzanian staff with us, the new staff is still pretty awesome. We left Moyo Hill this morning at 6:30 and we had about a 4 hour drive to the boarder where we had to say our good byes to Whitney and the drivers and we checked out of Tanzania. Then we met our new SAM, Tara, and we walked across the Kenya boarder which was pretty awesome, I never thought I would cross a country boarder on foot.

After we checked into Kenya and got our new home we went to eat lunch, at a lodge, what’s new lol. Then we took a “road”, which was not a road at all it was just random land that we drove on to get to our new camp, which is HUGE. The camp is probably four times larger than our old camp and its amazing. We have four people per banda, the only down side is that the bathroom is not attached so we have to walk to it. Also they have warm water for showers here. We do have rules like camping though, because we can not use the sink water for brushing our teeth and we have to wear long pants and close toed shoes to dinner because of the snakes and scorpions. There are so many animals on camp including reptiles, dogs, baboons, vervet monkeys, and bush babies. I think I am really going to like Kenya and I am thrilled to be here.

Today we went to the market and I got some fancy tire shoes with beading on them which I’m pretty excited about. We also got some ice cream, which will make any day 15 times better. We also woke up to the most incredible view of Mt. Kilimanjaro this morning. There is snow on it and everything and its beautiful. This camp is so much better just for that reason. The bathrooms aren’t attached to the bandas, but the amount of water pressure the showers have makes up for that totally, it was the best shower I have had since home. I went running today and made it about half a mile where I encountered a male baboon so I got scared and went the other way which caused me to run about two miles today, I guess I can’t really be too mad. The food here is also wayyyy better than the food in Tanzania, I love the cooks in Tanzania but the Kenya cooks are amazing. So chapter two is starting off really great plus we leave for expedition on Friday already! Another 5 day trip to a National Park.

Goodbye Tanzania

Well its our last day in Tanzania and its pretty depressing. Next time I pack my stuff up it will be to make the long journey back to the US. The last 7 months have gone by way to fast. Last night to thank that staff a bunch of us cooked an amazing Italian dinner and it was the best I have eaten since I have been here. We had pasta, meatball, pizza, and bruschetta. Then the staff surprised us with ice cream, so I went to bed with a food coma last night but it was absolutely worth it.

The day after we got back from the Serengeti we went into the “big city” and did some shopping and I got my Tanzanite to make a ring when I get home! I’m pretty excited about it. We also received our exams back and so far I have A’s and B’s in all my classes so I can’t complain. We had debrief earlier today and said bye to a lot of the staff and spent about 20 minutes taking pictures, it was like the last day of high school all over again. 

One thing I will miss is being a Rhotia celebrity every time I would leave camp a bunch of children would know my name. One day Kristin was asked, whats your name? where are you from? who’s your president? and where’s Jessica? They all love me its very weird lol

6 of us went to Moyo hill even though we aren’t suppose to but we had to see it for the last time. So we sat and looked over the edge for a while. Then when we got back we went to Happy Days to have some drinks and get some food. We also played our pictionary game which is always entertaining.

When we got back we had a goat roast and sat around the fire and enjoyed saying good bye to everyone so it was a really awesome last day. Now it’s time for some grey’s and bed! Tanzania is the most beautiful place and I absolutely love it here, I think I will defiantly come back at some point!

5 Day, 4 Night Serengeti Expedition!

This is going to be a long post, but trust me it’s worth it to read the entire thing because the Serengeti was amazing!!! We left early on Sunday morning and began the long drive to our camp. We had to travel through Ngorongoro so we went past the crater again and it is amazing what a little rain can do to the place because it was 10 times greener than the first time we were there. We made our first stop at Olduvai which is where we think the human race began, we had a speaker and he was quite hilarious and gave us a lot of great information.

Once in the Serengeti we were able to see the wildebeests on the Great Migration!! There were 5,000 wildebeests grazing, and I wish this was an exaggeration but there were at least 5,000 of them it was incredible. When we got to camp it was raining so we had to set up our tents in the rain which was kind of a bummer, but that was the only time it rained besides in the middle of the night and all the professors were saying that it rains every year multiple times so we got lucky.

The next morning we went on a game drive at 7 and watched giraffes. It was a pretty calm morning and we saw lions and some other animals. Then after lunch we went to a lecture were we talked to two people, one who is a graduate student from minnesota, about their lion research. They live in the Serengeti and go look at lion prides all day, I’m completely jealous. After lecture we went on another game drive and we saw LEOPARDS!!!! Which means I have finished the Big 5 and I have seen all of them (leopards, elephants, lions, rhinos, and buffalo). The leopards were defiantly the highlight of the day. At night we sit and play cards and talk to the staff then we are always dead tired. The staff likes to play “Last Card” which is like uno but with normal cards and they get a kick out of it. I lost so many times Yohana kept telling me I had to buy all his candy bars.

Tuesday morning we woke up and went birding at 7 again and then we did another game drive. We had the old car and we weren’t able to turn off the engine because it was break down and then people had to get out and push. We were sitting and watching lions at one point, and then all of the sudden we heard a hissing noise... we randomly got a flat tire. So Ninah and Yohana had to get out of the car and fix it with the lions about 50 meters away. Then we went to the visitors center for another lecture and to just take a look around for a little break. Then another game drive! We were on the hunt for cheetahs but we ended up driving around forever and seeing no animals at all. We found some lions sitting about 10 meters from our car and we watched them for a while, it was a male and a female. We were getting ready to leave and we say something running towards us, when it got closer we realized it was a baby wildebeests who must have gotten separated from its mother, and it ran right to where the lions were. Everyone began to freak out and then the female lion attacked it. Honestly watching this happen was awesome. So we saw a lion hunt, kind of... more like home delivery. That night there were about 4 buffalo hanging out by the bathroom, slightly alarming.

Yesterday we went on another morning game drive and we went to the hippo pool and we got to see hippos fight! We also so giraffes fighting, which is a very slow process. We went to the lodge and had the buffet, I finally got to eat a salad! And then we went swimming for a bit. After swimming we went on yet another game drive! Yesterday all before 9 A.M. we saw a leopard and a cheetah and two hyaenas ,  one of which was sitting in a mud puddle and looked like a little bear. Then last night we had an SFS first, a male lion came to camp. Everyone was sitting by the fire and all of the sudden we heard a roar and all the professors got real tense and Whitney told us to go to our tents. Other tour guides with the other people who were at our site hopped into their cars and chased it away and we all saw it leave. All the students thought it was awesome. 

This morning we packed everything up and headed home. We all finally got to shower and I washed the layer of dust off me. I’m sure I missed a bunch of stuff that occurred but I hit the main points. The trip was awesome and I can’t wait for our expedition in Kenya!

Finished With Finals!

I’m gonna be honest, studying for finals without Hicks Library and a Den Pop is a rough life. But the finals are over and none of them were too bad. This also means we leave for the Serengeti in like 36 hours!!! So we are obviously going to have the best spring break ever! Everyone is getting really excited and we can’t really control ourselves. We also don’t have anything due for the next 25 days so we get a pretty long break which is great.

Also I am very, very, very, depressed that Manning is not longer a Colt. I really didn’t think I would ever see the day and now that it has occurred I am depressed. Hopefully he gets drafted to a team that I can handle watching. This is now another reason that I need cable next year, because I don’t think its acceptable to sit in Jakes for 12 hours on Sunday, and I don’t think anyone likes me enough to join me for that.

This morning me and a couple girls woke up early to go for a walk before breakfast and it is so beautiful here that I don’t ever want to leave. We found out that since in Kenya we are in the middle of no where we aren’t allowed to leave the box, so we want to explore as much as we can while we are still in Tanzania. Plus it is just a beautiful country. We then went to a coffee farm and had a tour and then went to the pool to relax all day. Except you can’t really sit in the chair for more than 15 minutes without feeling like you are going to die so it was a lot of jumping in. 

A couple of us have started watching Breaking Bad which is a pretty awesome show and I also had the second season of Grey’s Anatomy put onto my computer so now I’m really happy and I get my Grey’s fix every once in a while. Besides that it’s just been a lot of studying and tomorrow we have debrief about the Serengeti and then just packing the rest of the day so things are good. Like I told my mom I’m still considering not coming home. Nothing bad can happen in Tanzania and you never have any worried. Also I thought I would share some swahili words that make me giggle.

Jenga- to build

Pilipili hoho- green pepper

Pumba- warthog

And warthogs are one of my favorite animals here, I think they are so funny!

Studying Begins

Lately it has been a whole lot of work. We didn’t leave the box for a couple days so I figured writing about adventures in the box weren’t that exciting. For class we were each given 500 shillings and we were sent to town to work on our Swahili skills. We managed to get 4 cokes for the price of 3 and a half so we were pretty happy and we sat outside and enjoyed them. They use real sugar here so the coke is really rich and delicious. We also went to the tailor but since rainy season just started he has been tending to his farm and is behind on all of our dresses, hopefully it is done by the time we leave for the Serengeti!

Speaking of the Serengeti we leave a week from today!!! Unfortunately we have to make it through finals before we can start to get excited and I have a lot of studying ahead. We have one exam on Wednesday and two on Thursday and we have a Swahili exam tomorrow. But then we are home free and we will only have a day at the pool separating us from the Serengeti for a 5 day camping trip. Rumor has it there is an amazing buffet in the Serengeti so I’m hoping for some good ol’ American food and maybe some less carbs in my life. 

Yesterday we had a non-program day so we went into town to get pizza and shopping. Once again I think my bargaining skills worked pretty well and I got some deals. We went to this banana stand and this guy asked if we wanted a banana and we were like ehhhh since we didn’t want to pay for them, but instead he was just feeding us bananas for the fun of it. They were like different kinds of bananas and they tasted amazing. This one guy had a bracelet that I kind of liked and he asked for 2000 shillings and I only had 1500 in small bills and he just gave in and took that amount so I got it for about a dollar, great success. 

Also yesterday we had spear throwing class. I’m not the greatest at it to say the least. I can throw it straight but I have a hard time getting it to stick in the ground. But maybe with some practice I will figure it out. Today everyone has just been studying and hanging out. We have started to watch breaking bad in our spear time which is a pretty good show and I received word today that one of the girls has season 2 of Grey’s, so I will be borrowing that.

One Month Later

Today is the first day we have had class in the classroom in about a week, and since we had six hours of class it’s been a long day. Sunday we had a traveling lecture to a Wildlife management area and people talked to us about what they were doing to conserve land and the animals. They are doing a lot more for the environment than some other people we have talked to. The drive was about two and a half hours so we spent a long time in the car, and since time management isn’t a thing in Tanzania we were late getting to lunch because we were going to a “picnic area”. When they say picnic area in Tanzania I’m thinking a great view with some rocks to sit on. So we turn on a dirt road, see some giraffes and zebras along the way. And long behold we enter into another lodge. We aren’t sure how they talk these lodges into allowing 28 dirty kids come in, sit on their couches, and eat food from our packed lunches. Not to mention we were there for about 2 hours. Once again no time management, but it’s always nice to be out of our box.

Yesterday we had another traveling lecture we went to a secondary school and looked at their garden. As we were walking around the secondary school I also fell in a hole because I can’t walk properly. If only I wasn’t such a klutz all the time my life would be a lot easier. Then we saw where they make bricks for their houses which was kind of cool. They showed us new stoves that have been invented and we ended the day going to a primary school where we planted trees that they kids have been growing. So I have officially left my mark on Africa with a tree!

Today we had 4 hours of swahili which is forever and then a guy came into class to talk to us about lion trophy hunting. It was an awesome presentation that told us the negatives and positive of trophy hunting and also just about how lions live. I have officially been gone for a month today! And I honestly can’t believe how fast it’s going. We leave for Kenya in three weeks and I will be in the serengeti in two and I have finals next week. Time is flying and I know I’m not going to be ready to leave, besides the fact that I will get to eat good food.

Pictures

Just some pictures!!

In Tarangire we say probably 300 elephants it was awesome

Its kind of hard to tell in this photo but there are zebras like 50 yards away from us just grazing

Zebra Hug!!

The cubs aren't present in this picture but I like them because they are standing up!

Lions, and cheetahs, and rhinos, Oh My!

Greatest. Day. Ever. We went to Ngorongoro Crater yesterday which is a conservation area, meaning that the Maasai still live in the area but they are not allowed to harm the animals. The crater was formed by a volcano falling in on itself. So when you are at the bottom of it you are essentially surrounded by mountains which is pretty awesome all in itself. 

Driving up and down the crater was pretty terrifying because you can see all the way down the mountain and you are going on curves, it was slightly like the Road to Hana in Hawaii. So once we enter the crater we see mass amounts of zebra, cape buffalo, and wildebeests. If I was to add all of these together throughout the day we saw well over 1,000. Baby zebras are little calls of fur and I love them.

Then Yohanna points out that there are cheetahs sitting in the middle of all the commotion of the grazing animals. Unfortunately they were too far away for my dinky camera to get pictures of but it was still awesome. Surprisingly they just sit and watch all the animals they normally eat if they aren’t hungry and the animals just go on with their day. My new obsession is warthogs (pumbas in swahili) I think they are the greatest, we saw a warthog family taking a mud bath which was awesome.

Also out in the distance, we saw Rhinos!!! There are only 28 in the entire park and we saw 2 of them. We sat and watched them forever and one of the staff members that was with us kept tell us we needed to leave because he could smell lions and he needed to take us to them. Then is phone started ringing and he told us they were not calling him. So he told our driver where to go and long behold a family of lions!!!! There were 2 males, 2 females, and 2 cubs. One of the females went off on her own, but we got awesome pictures of the other lions. They are so beautiful!

The animals at the park are so funny. One wildebeest sat in the middle of the road and would not move we had to go around him. The baboons often enjoyed doing this too. We later say another female lion in the grass and 2 wildebeests were walking toward her and she began to stalk them. They go so close to her and we could tell they knew something was wrong. She flinched a tad and they both ran away. But it was still awesome to see her stalk her prey. 

A lot of the animals all hang out together, we saw an elephant in with the zebras and wildebeests. Yohanna kept referring to the elephant as a walking house because 6-8 wildebeests could fit inside. He is a Maasai and he grew up in the conservation area, so he was tell us all kinds of things and every time there was a new bird he would tell us to look it up in the book so we were learning a lot.

We went to the hippo pool and saw hippos, and we watched people. The tourists here are so funny. We show up to a park in shorts, t-shirt and flip flops because we all take our shoes off in the car anyways. Most people are in full out safari gear and hiking boots... why do you need hiking boots, are you planning on getting out of the car? We always get a good laugh out of the rich old people. But there was one girl, wearing a dress, hair straight as can be, and a HUGE bow in her hair. Where do you think you are going? The Jersey Shore? It was really funny. After a day in the trucks I have a layer of dirt on me, which makes me look super tan for photos at least! SO it was an incredible day and I don’t think I will ever get over what happened.

Today we had a non program day. First we went to Fame Clinic which is a clinic opened up by two Americans from California. They have 48 Tanzanians working there and it is incredible. They are building a ward where they will be able to do operations and an inpatient ward. All of their electricity is going to be solar powered when it is done. They have a pharmacy and they will also get radiology when the new ward opens. The people are amazing and what they are doing is so incredible for the people in surrounding areas. It also makes tourists feel really comfortable when they have something happen to them. I think I may open a spay and neuter clinic here... except for the fact I won’t make any money because people won’t pay for that. So I have to become rich first...

Then we went to the pool and laid out all day. I pulled the feet hanging off the edge into the pool and it worked great. I even managed to get a tan line on my farmers tan. Once again it was a beautiful lodge and it was just nice to relax. Then we went to Happy Days for lunch, the food is just alright them... much like all the food here. It started pouring and I was on the verge of falling asleep to the sound of rain on the tin roof. Walking out of Happy Days I fell down the wooden stairs... my life. 

Then we found out that a place in town had ice cream so we convinced our German professor to stop and get ice cream. It was one of those “Dad can we stop on the way home?” Kind of things and he was like does everyone want to go, and obviously we did so he stopped for us! It was pretty awesome considering is personality is lacking most of the time. I ended the day with a cold shower because once again the power was out. But I’ve completely fallen in love with Africa.

Class in the Field

Papers are coming together and I can see the light of the weekend. We are going to a National Park on friday (where we could see lions!) and we are going to a pool to relax on Saturday, which hopefully means I can somewhat even out the awesome tan lines I have accumulated.

For class yesterday we had a filed lecture, which meant we went to the top of Kilimatembo and received lectures from all of out professors. The view makes it very hard to concentrate on anything that is being said, and with finals about 12 days away I should really be listening to lectures. Its hard to believe that in 17 days we are camping in the Serengeti and we leave Kenya in only 25 days!! Its gone so fast!

But after lectures we went for a walk in a forest and we looked at the trees and such. Yohanna, one of the assistances, was shaking fruits off a tree so we all grabbed one, and you squeeze it out of the skin and you just suck on it. It has the flavor of a warhead so we were all loving it. Then you just spit out the pit. One of our professors tore sap off the tree and was licking it, but I didn’t want any part of that. Then we went to a rock face and climbed up the side of it to get a good look at the view, and yet again it was beautiful. We also saw an ant lion which is part of the small five! We didn’t have any class after noon so it was a day of just working on papers. Which wasn’t too bad.

I took my fabric to the tailor and he is making me a strapless dress that goes to about my knees. It’s having a zipper and lining and it is only costing 25,000 shillings which is about $16, so costume made dress including fabric for about $32 ... I’ll take it! A bunch of us are going to take all of our extra fabric and have a bunch of head bands made which is only 2,000 shillings so a little over a dollar! I go to pick my dress up on the 29th so hopefully it looks good.

Yesterday I was MOD which is like student of the day where you do a reflection, make announcements, and then do a presentation. So I clearly had to tell the famous Hot Gary and Reggie Wayne story, and everyone loved it. I showed the pictures and all!

This morning we went bird watching for class and identified as many birds as we could. It was pretty much just a hike up to Moyo Hill where we sat for a while and then we walked back down the hill to camp to finish up our papers. I still find myself in disbelief that I am actually in Africa because its so green in Tanzania and it doesn’t look like Pride Rock at all, its more Timon and Pumba style. 

Home-Stay!

Well its been three weeks since I arrived in Tanzania and I am still loving it more than anything. This week has been more paper writing (surprise surprise) We went around and talked to local farmers in Rhotia about there main concerns about the farming season and they said that they are supposed to start planting in January but we haven’t gotten any rain so they havent been able to. So all of the elders in the village got together and prayed for rain, and long behold its been raining almost all day today! I think thats really amazing.

The other day one of the girls found a worm in her water, so we are all on high alert for parasites and none of us are sick yet, so hopefully that keeps up. We made a joke about having a hair in your water, first world problems... having a parasite in your water, third world problems, I guess its Africa, Hakuna Matata. 

Today we did our home-stay, it was an experience. We were paired together and dropped off at a house for about 10 hours. Ashley and I arrived and shortly found out that long behold we were at the house of a guy who helped with the tours, so he spoke English, we really lucked out since we have only been learning swahili for about a week and a half now. First they had us sit in the room, alone for a while. Then it was tea time, the only problem is I do not like hot drinks, so I tried my hardest to drink it and as soon as I was done, they refilled my glass. 

He then got on the subject of swahili words we knew, one being eggs, so they asked if we like hard boiled eggs, and Ashley said yes, next thing we know there are hard boiled eggs on the table, again something I don’t eat. Then we were sitting and there was a chicken trying to get under the door. The father asked if he ate chicken in America and we said yes... big mistake. The next thing we know is out Mama has the chicken and then the son grabs a knife, five minutes later, dead chicken.

We then went into the “kitchen” to help with lunch. By helping, I held the baby for an hour. You can imagine how awkward that made me feel. They also had baby kittens, which I had to pet. I assumed that if they had fleas I would already have them from sitting on the bed so I went for it. We had cabbage, chicken, soup, and a Tanzanian dish which is just corn starch and water. Since I am a very very picky eater, I ate bits of each and then claimed I was full. 

After lunch we went for a walk and then played with the kids for a couple hours. andthe kids just pretty much took pictures the whole time and we did clapping games, it was pretty fun. The family wants us to come back on Sunday to bring them printouts of the pictures. 

          We had a ton of laughs throughout the day. One being the chicken situation and while we were in the kitchen a child, probably 2, had a knife, and he was putting it in his mouth, and no one around us seemed to car. Then all of the sudden a cow walked into the kitchen and started licking used dishes, just normal things occurring. We just had to go with the flow and let things happen, it was a great time. We started to really get along with the family toward the end which was good. We had a lot of fun and it was an awesome experience to have. We had so much fun and I’m really excited to do my next home-stay in Kenya! Now we have more papers to write and I am very, very ready for dinner

Three days of sun and fun

Its been a busy busy 3 days, so every time I’ve arrived back at camp I’ve been too tired to blog. This has probably been the most exciting 3 day streak yet.

Monday we went to a Maasai Boma and they danced for us and showed up their house. Its such a different way to live but its really cool. All of their jewelry is really awesome so I made a couple purchases in the little shop they had set up. Then we headed to an orphanage to paint the boys room and to play with the kids. They were just happy if you were holding them which was kind of sweet. A lot of them had lost their parents because of AIDS which was really sad. They had songs they sang to us in English but we aren’t positive that they actually knew what they were saying. After the orphanage we went to s store and looked at some Tanzanite. It is running out so I think I am going to purchase some and make it into a ring when I get home. 

Tuesday we woke up extra early and we hit the road at 7 to go to Tarangire National Park. We started our safari at about 10 and we drove around until 1. As always the park never disappoints  we saw Giraffes, Elephants (like 150 of them!), and a tone of other grazing animals that are way to many to count. The elephants got slightly too close for comfort at certain points. One male elephant was very angry with us and looked like he was about to charge so that was pretty stressful. We had to inch our way toward him and he was sticking his trunk out at us which is a defensive mechanism. We also made a bunch of elephants stampede in the opposite direction and we heard two make noise! Surprisingly giraffes are a lot darker then I thought they were once you see them up close. After the safari I found the destination of my honeymoon.... We went to the lodge to go swimming and have lunch and a beer. We walked in and saw the most amazing view ever. From the balcony you could see elephants eating and walking. So we all laid out and enjoyed the view and the pool, it was paradise. Then we went on another hour game drive but everyone was pretty worn out from the mass amounts of sun. I only got burnt on my hand, which is good besides the fact it is so painful! That night the cooking staff made us a cake for Valentines day which was a great way to top off the day.

This morning I unfortunately had to get up at 5:45 A.M for breakfast crew because we were leaving camp at 7:30. We drove to Lake Manyara National Park and we road bikes through town and then to the lake. I can’t even explain how beautiful it was. We were surrounded by mountains, the dried up lake, and we were riding through the grassland. There was a herd of zebras about 30 feet from us and they had to move so we could ride our bikes through, it was incredible. Then a herd of wildebeest stampeded right in front of us, again, slightly terrifying. We rode over to the hippo pool, and then a banana plantation and we looked at some art. Besides the fact that it was tiring and I can hardly sit down, it was an amazing experience. Then the jeeps drove us to a pizza place where I had the best chicken pizza I have ever had and a coke. From there we drove into town to do some shopping and I found I have a small talent for bargaining. The first thing I bought was 65,000 shillings, I talked him down to 25,000. Next I bought another piece of fabric which I’m going to make “genie” pants out of. Its purple tye-dye and awesome. The guy asked for 25,000 shillings and I got him down to 13,000. The last thing I bought he asked for 35,000 shillings and I got it for 10,000. So overall I made out like a bandit and I’m pretty proud of myself, if only I could do that in America. I may have a problem getting things home but I’ll figure it out. They all gave us cheaper prices because we are student and they are happy we are learning their culture. Since I had breakfast crew this morning we also have to wash dishes at night and since I’m a big baby and hate dirty dishes I just dry. Which consists of like 150 dishes with one towel, so it is soaked by dish 20 and its kind of a waste of time Hakuna Matata

Also while driving along the road we see all kinds of animals including, baboons (which are like rabbits here, cute when you see them just not to exciting anymore) elephant, giraffe, and I may or may not have seen an ostrich. So sorry for the long post there were just so many exciting things that happened!

The calm after the papers

Well today is the first time we have had internet since Thursday, which would normally be fine except for the fact that we had our paper due today. So we were not able to look articles up online and we had to refer to the books in our very tiny library here on camp, everyone survived though and we are all very happy to be done. The next three days we don’t have actual class we are traveling and going on another safari so its something to look forward to.

Today we had a goat roast. They brought in a goat and slaughtered it here at camp. I left camp to go hiking with a couple of the other girls. I wanted to leave so I didn’t have to hear the goat suffer. I did make it back to try the meat though. The ribs were a little fatty for my liking but the leg was pretty good, defiantly a different flavor. The meals we have here are always so interesting. We think the cooks try really hard to make food like at home, for instance we had corn on the cob, but it tasted more like wax then corn. Today they made sandwiches and everyone was pretty pumped, but they consisted of cucumbers, carrots, eggs, and jelly, not the greatest combination I would ever come up with. But hey at least they are trying.

We have been learning songs in our swahili class to help us remember words and numbers. So today we met some kids on our hike and asked if they knew the songs, they did. So we are pretty sure the songs we learn are from kindergarden class, but its really ok with us. 

We had our first thunderstorm today and the first rain that we have seen while being here. Ive decided Africa is a lot like Dale. Its 90 degrees everyday. When it rains everyone runs outside to play in it. At night the stars are beautiful. Get me a drink and a raft and I’ll be one happy camper. But I’m sitting outside writing this on the porch and a huge spider is sitting next to me, its time to go inside.

Another day, Another Animal

The past couple of days have not been all that fantastic,  just for the fact that I have been writing my papers on baboons and elephants. Yesterday was a work day all day and we had our first Swahili class and our teacher is the most fabulous women I have ever met. She has made the class a ton of fun.

Today we went out by Lake Manyara and we counted grass, and looked at different types of grass, it was wild. The only thing that made it ok was the fact we were in Africa and the mountains were around us and it was beautiful. School is so much better when you aren’t actually in a classroom or class or you can feel the breeze the entire time you are in class. We went for a short walk to the shore of the lake and we found the skeleton of what we believe is a baby wildebeest. We found the rib cage, spine, and the entire skull, it was pretty incredible. We also were able to see wildebeest from where we were standing which was pretty awesome. While we were out in the field we also got the news that instead of having to do two more papers we only have to do one. So tonight I’m giving myself the night off to read and blog and maybe watch a movie. Things are still great and I tried to post a picture of an elephant on here but it was taking too long and it just wasnt worth it. Looks like pictures will have to wait until May!

Non-Program Day

Today was our first non-program day so we went to a village and they told us about their marriage traditions and they showed up some of their houses. Some of the girls were able to wear traditional wedding skirts and the rest of us wore a drape. Then we did some tribal dancing which was pretty cool. We also went into town and walked around the market. I purchased some fabric so I can have a skirt and a headband made my the tailor that live next to camp, I’m super pumped about it. The locals swarmed us with merchandise trying to get us so buy some but they just didn’t have anything that I really wanted.

Later we want to a restaurant called Happy Days which is run by people from south Africa and they serve American food and beer. So all of us sat down for some cheese burgers and some good old African beer. We tried Tuskers, Kilimanjaro, and Safari beer, all of them were pretty good and we were just happy because it was cold. So after we got back from happy days I decided the tipsy state of mind I was in was not appropriate to write my paper so I did laundry instead. Which was honestly a disaster. Most people can do their laundry in one bucket, not me I needed two. It was not the greatest experience and I think I might just have one of the locals do it for me for now on. My wife skills are next to nothing.

In town there is also a medical center called Fame Medics and it is run by a husband and wife from the states. They came to Africa one year to climb mount Kili and the husband got really bad altitude sickness and he told his wife if he survived they were going to come back and open a clinic to help people, long behold here they are. The clinic is amazing, they have a pharmacy and right now they are building an inpatient ward. They have volunteer doctors come in to do eye checks and things like that periodically for the locals. What is really nice is they have lower prices for the locals and us, but of coarse they have to charge tourists more which only makes sense. So we all feel super safe here knowing the American clinic is only ten minutes away.

We have all been stressed about the fact that if we go on a walk we might end up in someones yard. Whitney has told us that if it happens just wave and say hi and they will just wave back. It’s not a big deal at all, she said they will just talk about it at dinner “so a white person walked through our yard today” , we all found that pretty amusing.  Tomorrow will be a long day of class and working on papers since I have pretty much taken the entire day off but everyone needs a break every once in a while.

Baboons on baboons on baboons

Yesterday we had day 2 in Lake Manyara National Park but the main focus was baboon watching. We were supposed to watch one troop for two and a half hours and write down behaviors so we could write a paper about it. The troops we watched liked to run away from us so most of hour time was spent driving around looking for the baboons. Which was fine with me because we got to see a Jackel with a kill, a buffalo up close, and another elephant standing in the middle of the road not caring about the line of jeeps behind it. We only had about an hour and a half of baboons watching but it was still pretty interesting.

The cows here have a huge  bump on their back and at first I thought they all just had an iodine deficiency and it was a goiter, but it turns out that they are a camel type of cow and the bump is a way for them to store water in the heat. I think its awesome that they have adapted like that.

One really nice thing about camp is that if you are willing to learn some one is willing to teach you. Even the guards and the drivers always are trying to teach everyone different swahili words which is awesome. And if you get i a car with a professor they stio every 5 minutes to show you a different plant or bird so we are all learning a lot more then was it just in our books. 

As always the weather is beautiful and I try not to spend more then 5 minutes inside at a time. This morning we we had class outside on the side of a mountain and it was an incredible view. Now people are sitting outside working on our papers for the rest of the day!

My first safari of many more to come

Today I realized exactly why I wanted to come to Africa in the first place, and even though there is a huge beetle walking past me as I write this I couldn’t be more giddy. This morning we had Wildlife Ecology for an hour and a half and we talked about baboons the entire time. So obviously it was a wonderful class. After lunch we took our first trip to the nation park Lake Manyara, and it was incredible. For about 5 hours we drove in our jeeps standing with our heads out the roof. A lot of the time was spent frantically scribbling down notes about all the animals and counting them but we did have time to get some awesome pictures. There were elephants that were about 10 meters away from our car and the baboons were running all around it. We also saw giraffes, warthogs, dikdiks, impallas, zebras, wildebeests, cape buffalo and probably a bunch of other animals that I can’t think of right now.

It was quite the workout standing up in the car and trying not to fall since there were a lot of bumps and ditches but it was totally worth it. I probably did too much picture taking and not enough writing, its sometimes hard to remember that I’m here for school and not just to see animals. It was also a great time to bond with some people in the group because you were in close proximity with 6 other people in the car.

When we returned back to camp around seven we were all dirty (I was asked if i was really tan, turns out just dirt) and hungry. To our surprise there was pizza waiting for us for dinner, everyone was pretty happy about this. Between class and being out in the field I have been learning the most incredible things about animals, which makes me love them all even more. One thing that was sad is in Lake Manyara there are poachers that go after zebras, so in one area they ran frantically from the cars because they are terrified of people. We did get to get really close to some of them and we even saw a baby nursing from a mare. I then ended the day with a HOT shower because the guys figured out how to turn on the water heater. So no more cold showers here.

Yesterday some of us went into town, which is always an adventure. The locals love to ask the girls to marry them, (don’t worry Mike I haven’t been asked yet) and two girls were asked yesterday while we were in town which is always entertaining. As we were walking back there was a stampede of children coming out us since they had just gotten out of school. One of the little girls asked me what my name was and I told her Jessica and when I asked her what her name was she got a big grin on her face and said her name was Jessica also. But all of the other little girls started giggling when she said this. Then they all started screaming my name, so I’m pretty positive they were pulling my leg. Clever ones they are. I’m loving it more and more everyday. I’ll try to upload some pictures but tonight I’m just too tired and I have a lot of work to do, we have 3 papers due in like 5 days. Joy.

Poop

Well I didn’t see the need to blog for a couple days because all we had planned was class. But today in Wildlife Ecology we spent about 20 minutes talking about poop, which I decided was blog worthy. Not only did we talk about poop size and what you can learn from poop, we also passed poop around. The dung samples included: elephant poop, aardvark poop, goat poop, monkey poop, cow poop, and I could me forgetting some. So to say the least class was pretty amusing today. Classes can sometimes be long, but the things we are learning about are so interesting that no one really cares. The only class that hasn’t gotten my attention is Economic Policy, I like animals.

In the first blog of being here I said the water was warm, this is a false statement, it’s very cold. You must do the jump in, jump out maneuver, which is pretty easy considering our shower has no curtain. Let’s just say having the dry shampoo is a sort of life saver.

Today we learned about a bug here that looks like a flying ant, but if you kill it, the bug releases toxins that can give you second degree burns. So I don’t think I will be killing any bug with my hand anytime soon. The bugs haven’t really been bothering me like I thought they would, i have had to kill a few but they just aren’t that bad. I have seen some of the biggest bugs I have ever seen though, a lot of them look like small birds and are pretty scary. 

Last night a bunch of us went to the class room and watched lion king and pointed out things that were realistic and other things that were not. Everyone was pretty giddy about the movie and didn’t mind staying up late even though we get up at 7 every morning for breakfast, which is still my favorite meal of the day. We have eggs, potatoes, fruit, and pancakes everyday and some how it hasn’t gotten old yet.

I’m still in love with Tanzania and everyone here is great. We all spend a lot of time together and you hardly ever sit next to the same person in class or at meals, so everyone is getting to know each other pretty quickly. Also I haven’t gotten sunburned or have I been bitten by a mosquito yet (knock on wood).  The weather is so great that I was able to go for a run and have the beautiful mountains in front of me to look at for parts of the run which makes the run worth it. 

Day 2

OUR BAGS CAME!!! So finally I am able to change my clothes and shower so I’m a happy person. One thing I forgot to do in my last blog was to explain the plane ride from Nairobi to Kilimanjaro, one of the bumpiest planes that I have ever been on, I wasn’t positive the plane was going to land safely. It was a small propeller plane and it was all SFS students and older couples taking a vacation. Considering I had no sheets or blankets last night I actually had a pretty good nights sleep and I only woke up once. At 6:30 I woke up for breakfast crew and I was in charge of making the pancakes, I’m a pro now to say the least. After breakfast we had a lot of orientation and spent time going over all the rules. Then we went to walk around to see the town and a really cute little church. One thing I want to do in town is have a skirt made form the fabric and also tire shoes, so many things I need to do. What is really nice about school is we have a two hour break after lunch to do what we want and now we don’t have anything to do until dinner at 7. Things are going really well, and this weekend we have our first trip into a National Park!!! I just have to get through three days of class until I get to have the real fun. Most of the professors are natives and one of them is from Germany. The hangout has become a gazebo that is elevated off the ground so we have a great breeze coming through while we read, blog, and do homework. It is has been pretty hot, but it’s only bad when we are walking for a long time with the sun beating down on us. The weather is honestly beautiful. I’m thrilled to be here!

Arrival

Well I have finally arrived in Africa after 3 days of travel, and no showering. Since we were having so many problems with our baggage we were not able to go out and see London, but this was probably for the better since we have been getting so little sleep. Everything is so beautiful here and I think I'm really going to love it. I haven't gotten more then 5 hours of sleep since Friday so normal daily functions have been a struggle and I can't wait to go to sleep tonight. Unfortunately I have breakfast crew in the morning so I will have to be up at 6:30. We drove all over today through towns and such, it was a scene of random cows and goats and children. Also Tanzania has a lot more speed bumps then I would ever think. Also as everyone in my jeep was starting to fall asleep on our 3 hours drive one of the girls woke us all up because there was a family of giraffes walking along the road. So for the rest of the drive I was on the lookout for more. In Tanzania we have a little cabin and there are two other girls with me. The bathroom is also inside and we have hot water! Plus all the water on camp is drinkable so I don't have to worry about that. We stopped in town today to get some water and I also got ice cream since none of the food sounded that great since my nerves were full blown. Now I'm just ready to go to bed and start orientation tomorrow!

2 Days

Well I have two more days of living in the US which means today was packing day, and it seems near to impossible. One suitcase is 44 pounds and the other is 47 pounds, things aren't looking good with this 50 pound limit. My last Rabies shot was Tuesday and today I start my Malaria medication. It's been a week of rushing around and seeing family and friends. Everyone has been trying hard to make my last weekend fantastic so thanks to all my family, Aaren, Sarah, Sara, Kayla, and Mike for doing just that. My group has been communicating for the past month and so far everyone seems great, I'm looking forward to seeing everyone at the airport on Saturday. Things are great and I think I am actually more excited than nervous at this point. I'm giddy for Saturday to come so I can head on my way to London Sunday morning and then leave for Africa on Sunday night!

Count down begins, 10 days.

Well since this is my first blog, and I'm awkward enough as it is, this shall be interesting. So far I have had a polio shot, Hepatitis A, Yellow fever, and two rabies shots. Yesterday I finished my Typhoid pills and I have my last Rabies shot on Tuesday.  I will also start my Malaria pills a couple days before I leave. My "Africa Pile" is growing a little more everyday and it is going to be a challenge to fit everything into my 2 suitcases. I'm excited to get out of the cold, but also nervous about what the next 15 weeks is going to bring me. If my blog does suffice your need to speak to me my e-mail is jspista@purdue.edu and I would love to get letters! No packages please, they are too hard to get to our camps! I hope everyone enjoys my blog, I'm sure it will be awkward and nerdy, you have been warned.

Student Name 

Center for Wildlife Management Studies 

P.O. Box 27743 (Nyayo Stadium) 

00506 – NAIROBI, KENYA 

East Africa 

Student Name 

SFS Center for Wildlife Management Studies,  

P.O. Box 304 

KARATU, TANZANIA 

East Africa 

I will be in Tanzania first, then Kenya half way!

Hope you all enjoy!!