After four long years and a lot of talk and pseudo-planning, I'm finally returning to Africa. After two applications, four letters of recommendation and weeks of anxious waiting, I will be spending three months in various regions of Tanzania, from May 24-August 15 (approximately). The first part of my summer (May 24-June 19) will be spent traveling with my old Kiswahili professor and her husband, who coincidentally is my African history professor. Myself and two other Iowa students will stay with them at their home in Dar es Salaam and travel through the region of Iringa studying the history and development of the region, among other things. After a few weeks I'll switch to a completely different program, a Fulbright-Hays Fellowship through Michigan State and the Department of Education (June 19-August 15). The fellowship is paying for me to study intensive Kiswahili for the eight weeks I'm there, living with a host family for six of the eight. There were only 14 students chosen throughout the entire US so I'm not embarrassed to admit I cried from happiness when I received my acceptance email. I'm so excited to be leaving and can't wait to be back in East Africa after all these years of talking about it.
Now here's the problem: I have nothing done. I have a passport. I don't have:
-a plane ticket
-a visa
-medications
-coordination between the programs
-really....any solid plans
I have 26 days to get all this figured out, and to cram as much Kiswahili into my brain as possible. Luckily, hakuna matata....I'm going to Africa!
No comments:
Post a Comment