The day after tomorrow, I will be on my way to Africa. The emotions that statement evokes are difficult to describe. Most accurately; anxiety, fear, excitement, sadness, and elation all mixed together. I feel a bit in a daze, the reality of it all hitting me hard this morning. I know, it’s only three months, many students have done study abroad for the same amount of time (if not longer), and I’m not going into the peace corps (27 months!), but it’s still Africa, and it still scares me. Part of me just wants to be on that plane already! the anticipation is almost too much to handle, and at the same time I don’t want to leave the comfort of the US.
Tag Archives: Pre-departure
Back On Track
T-60 hours!!!
After careful consideration, we’ve decided to just pay, though this is irritating apparently it is quite typical of the government! I suppose whats $500 in terms of a once in a life time opportunity? And if this is all that goes wrong, then it will have been quite a smooth trip. I fully anticipate other “difficulties” to be encountered, hopefully my electronics will not decide to die.
Government Intervention
My program manager just called to inform us that the Tanzanian government has decided to increase the permit (for volunteer/work) by $500.00 for long term workers (so, me). Options include shortening my visit to 8 weeks, then coming home, or staying for a month on my own in Tanzania (SCARY), or paying the fee. Not sure what to do, although not surprised by this it is quite irritating, and was decided this previous weekend. While I am tempted to come home early (early October), I also think that doing so could be a mistake I would later regret. We have until tomorrow morning to decide…
Bittersweet goodbye
Today I had to say my first goodbye, to Alex. It was, of course extremely difficult. I am still very excited for Tanzania, and Alex has been a big part of why I am able to do this trip, his encouragement has helped give me the strength I’ve needed to go through with this. For anyone who has known me in the past, large commitments such as this have always been hard for me, I need to be %100 sure of what I’m about to do, and generally I never feel %100 sure about much. But, in this case I know that however hard it is to say goodbye to those I love, and it has and will continue to be very hard, it will be worth it! I keep telling myself that it’s only 12 weeks, a summer. And I can do this, I’ve been on my own before. I do know nothing but good will come from this, now to get those obnoxious emotions in check.
And to Alex, thank you so much for everything you’ve given me, I’m so blessed to have you in my life, Nakupenda and I can’t wait to see you in November.
Colliding With The Earth 