Blog #2 – Adventures to Africa

I am writing this at 3:10 AM (my newest time zone!…it is 9:10PM back home.) traveling at 958 km/h up in the sky 11 389 m.

There are ten of us from Guelph and we started our trek last night with a red eye flight to Heathrow, London, England. We spend an amazing day in London, walking about the gorgeous city – I cannot believe how much history and culture in ingrained into the city.
London is unbelievable! The people here are all well dressed and there isn’t a lot of obesity, haha! We bought a day pass on the underground and got to see all different parts of the city – Trafalgar Square, Big Ben, St. Paul’s Cathedral. We also had a good tour of some different pubs and restaurants and spent our afternoon in Green Park. We sat on the grass drinking wine (or beer for others), doing some yoga while watching the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace.

I feel like I caught up in this whirlwind adventure. Even know as I sit on our twelve-hour flight from England straight down to Johannesburg, South Africa I still cannot wrap my head around the fact that Africa will be where I call home for the next three months! I am so excited and yet a little bit fearful. The beginning of this trip is going to be surefire enjoyment – we are a fun bunch of people are going to be doing some amazing sight seeing and learning! After that though, I am going to have two and half months with only my Batswana peers and me. There is so much for me to learn and so much for me to experience. I cannot wait to see how this all unravels and plays out – and I think that is where I have some trepidations… what if I don’t fit in? What if Africa isn’t all that I have built it up to be?

This summer is going to be hugely stimulating in every sense. I know that my body is going to have to brave the challenges of a completely difference climate, host of new organisms and a very different diet. Mentally I am going to be working and learning a completely new way of life and a new way of thinking. Emotionally I will be hear twenty four hours a day, seven days a week – completely immersed and surrounded by both beauty and devastation…. enough of these serious meanderings though – basically I am going to need some sleep to handle all of this…so I am going to stretch my legs, put back on my face mask and get some shut eye before we land.

When I wake up we will finally be in Africa! We will be starting out by visiting Victoria Falls…I can’t wait!