I still remember everything about leaving for Tanzania. I remember my goodbye party—and all the people that came to say farewell. I remember writing letters upon letters to people—frantic efforts to say thank you. I remember looking at my grandma in the nursing home, knowing inside my heart that it would be the last time I got to hold her hand. Two days before departure, I remember playing ping pong until midnight at a friend’s Christmas party with some of my best friends. I remember the drive to the airport—I [...]

So I’ve finally been able to write in my blog (Google cancelled my account because apparently trying to access my account in Tanzania is suspicious). Today is my second full day at MS-TCDC that is the college where we will be taking classes. The flights to Tanzania were pretty brutal, but they went by faster than I thought. We arrived in Tanzania at 8:30 p.m. their time and were driven to the college by our coordinator Steven Ndosi. On Monday we had our first day of orientation where we heard [...]

I can’t believe it’s less than 24 hours and I will be on a plane to Amsterdam. After a four hour layover in Amsterdam I will be on my way to Tanzania. People keep asking me if I am nervous about going, but to be honest I don’t even know what to expect. I’ve never even left the country, so I can’t imagine what it will be like to live in Tanzania. Thankfully I’ve gotten a lot of help from my coworkers that have either lived in or traveled to [...]

I just returned from a 6 day trip to Arusha, Tanzania with three friends from my program, and it was absolutely amazing. The MSID program coordinators decided that they would give us 5 days to travel after our final exam last Tuesday. So we boarded a bus bound for Arusha, Tanzania. The trip to Arusha was primarily my friend Chelsea’s idea—since there is a school there that she has supported for the last 7 years, The School of St. Jude. One highlight from the 5-hour bus trip from Nairobi to [...]

Definitely one of the top 3 of weekends since I’ve been in Kenya. On Saturday morning I headed to Tanzania. Got on my bus at 7 a.m., and the only plan in mind was to get to Moshi, Tanzania. I was going to meet our friend Simon who we met while rafting in Uganda. I was afraid we would miss each other because my bus was 1.5 hours late and there was no way I could get a hold of him, as he has no phone. So I got off [...]

Six of my friends and I decided to spend Easter Break/Spring Break in none other than ZANZIBAR! We left early Thursday morning. The bus ride was supposed to be 8 hours, but it took 12. The border was crazy. No one told us we had to pay in USD. We assumed we could pay in Kenyan shillings because we could pay for the Uganda visa in Ksh. Apparently not. So we all had to exchange our money with the crazy people outside. And got totally ripped off. I ended up [...]