July 17th.

TODAY IS THE DAY!

I can’t believe I’m boarding a plane to Africa in 10 hours.

My itinerary will look something like this…

Fly into Amsterdam, take a train to Zanvoort (a town on the coast of the Netherlands). Stay in a guest house near the beach for the night.

Possibly tour Amsterdam before boarding again…and fly to Entebbe, Uganda. Arrive in Uganda on Tuesday.

Stay in a guest house in Entebbe overnight.

Next, head to Rwanda (not sure if it will be for one or two days)

Drive through Kampala to Lira. Lira is where the school is, so we’ll spend about 9 days there.

Then head to Masindi, Uganda where we will stay in a National Park and go on safari!

Next = boat ride on the Nile River (lots of hippos and crocodiles…)

Then off to the Bomoo Women’s Park and Wildlife Sanctuary.

Stay in a Rhino Sanctuary overnight.

Back to Lira.

Possibly head up to Gulu for a few days to visit Gulu University.

Return to Entebbe, and jump on a plane back to Amsterdam, and then home to good old MINNEAPOLIS!

….I’ll keep you posted on my adventures, but for now, back to packing. only 9.5 hours on the countdown!

Safari?!

I joked with my co-workers yesterday about going on an incredible safari while in Uganda, and after a meeting today with the coordinator of my research lab, it sounds like that could really happen…pretty exciting if I do say so myself! It’s finally starting to sink in that I’m leaving and I’m trying to mentally prepare myself for the culture shock. Quite honestly, I can’t wait for the change I’m going to experience! Also began my packing list today…yes that’s right, “BEGAN” my “LIST”, not, “COMPLETED” my “PACKING”. Oops. Well I still have 3 days on the countdown so I’ll hold off on panicking until tomorrow (and probably hold off on packing until tomorrow too…) but I do have the day off at least. Sleep in, panick, pack, panick some more. That’s for now until day 2 of the countdown!

Getting excited...

Sun rising over the Kazinga Channel (Uganda). Home of th world’s largest concentration of hippos and nile crocodiles. So beautiful, but it’s still hard to believe I’ll really be here in a matter of days!

4 days.

Probably time to start packing!

I woke up this morning thinking about what adventures were in store for me 7,896 miles away from home (literally 7,896 miles…) so I curled up with my computer and pulled up some info.

A quote from Tourism Uganda, “Ecologically, Uganda is where the East African savannah meets the West African jungle. Where else but in this impossibly lush country can one observe lions prowling the open plains in the morning and track chimpanzees through the rainforest undergrowth the same afternoon, then the next day navigate tropical channels teeming with hippos and crocodiles before setting off into the misty mountains to stare deep into the eyes of a mountain gorilla?”

No safaris on my itinerary at this point, but it sounds like I’ll be surrounded by beautiful animals and plant life. For someone in need of a change of scenery, I think this will do the trick.

Finally, an excuse to write.

After a busy and stressful Spring Semester, I’ve REALLY been enjoying this summer. But as always, it’s going by way to quickly! I’m leaving for Uganda this Sunday as part of a research team studying PTSD in former child soldiers and other children who have experienced trauma. The trip is going to last 3 weeks, and will mostly consist of working as a research assistant (and probably babysitting a classroom of 80 to 100 kids). Right now I’m full of mixed emotions…excited, nervous, curious, and a little sad to leave everyone that I love in Minneapolis. You’re probably thinking that 3 weeks isn’t horribly long, but after getting home from Uganda I’ll only be in the US for 2 weeks before I leave for a 3 month adventure in Mérida, Venezuela, where I’m studying Spanish and staying with a host family. It is all so exciting, but as the trips get closer it’s also becoming overwhelming. My motivation to travel comes from a promise I made to myself before I went to college. I promised that I would go abroad to a place where I wouldn’t know anyone, and somewhere where I would have an opportunity to help people. I think my trips will meet my criteria, at least they do so far. To make a long story short, I’ll be using this blog to relate my adventures while abroad and to reflect on my experiences. The countdown to Uganda begins: 5. days.

My first attempt at red lipstick...

It's been awhile.

It has been a while, hasn’t it? I’d like to get back in the habit of writing, so we’ll see how this goes.

I have a ton of photos I should be posting, because it was a beautiful Autumn, and thanks to my best friend who is a great photographer, I turned into a makeshift model for a day.

I’m vowing to keep up with this blog…so for now, keep listening to Pandora’s Christmas radio and enjoy the beginning of the holiday season!