Hi everybody. This will be the final post on this blog for my semester abroad. I'm going to keep it active so you and others can look at it and the pics. Yet it will also stay alive because I will continue to post on it. Likely when I travel, this will be the place where I update yall but I also might do a couple Lancaster editions too (plenty of adventures there too ya know). As always, thanks so much for reading. Hope that you've enjoyed reading it as much as I have enjoyed writing it. Hope you've tried to [View Full Entry]

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"Hooray he's alive!!!" I know most of you are saying that right now. Its been seemingly forever since I last posted here. "Oh darn, he was better off missing" is what my enemies are saying right now, dissappointed to hear that I have, in fact, survived my three weeks in Muungoni, Zanzibar and month long research project. But I am alive, I swear. Also, I have no idea why my enemies would read my blog. Ok, so studying traditional medical practices and medicinal plants in Muungoni was, in short, awesome. Learned so much, not only about my project but just about [View Full Entry]

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A couple misc notes. First, a word to the seniors (and the super-super seniors) at F&M, fear not, I think I'll be at your graduation. I'll be the one with a box of tissues, balling my eyes out. Second, a shoutout to Eagles Nest, I miss everybody a ton. Glad to hear you are enjoying the blog and hopefully you are learning some stuff. I hope all the 5th graders are having a great spring and excited about Middle School. I hope everybody is still loving Eagles Nest and telling Janelle and the volunteers how awesome and fantabulous they are each [View Full Entry]

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I'm staying with another student in Muungoni, though we're studying different things here. Maggie is studying birds on a nearby island, (appropriately named Bird Island) which is a pretty cool project. Every morning, hundreds (maybe thousands) of birds leave this mangrove island in the middle of this large river and every night, they return. So she goes out there in the morning and in the evening to observe the different species, watch their activity, and count their numbers. I've gone with her twice now, seen lotsa birds and two beautiful sunsets over the island and river. On Thursday, we [View Full Entry]

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I'm staying with another student in Muungoni, though we're studying different things here. Maggie is studying birds on a nearby island, (appropriately named Bird Island) which is a pretty cool project. Every morning, hundreds (maybe thousands) of birds leave this mangrove island in the middle of this large river and every night, they return. So she goes out there in the morning and in the evening to observe the different species, watch their activity, and count their numbers. I've gone with her twice now, seen lotsa birds and two beautiful sunsets over the island and river. On Thursday, we [View Full Entry]

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Back home…..well, sort of….. I wouldn't normally consider a small economy hotel/motel in Stone Town "home" but we've been staying at Mwauni Inn between all our trips around Tanzania—and its starting to feel nice. During my time in Zanzibar, we've stayed in Mwauni Inn maybe five separate times, each time for a couple days. Slept here my first night and it seems to be as close to "normal" as I get. Maybe that's why it's like home: a little boring, ordinary, and mostly adventureless. But certainly not last week. Only adventures during our safari, strictly enforced. A re [View Full Entry]

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I'm going MIA for a few weeks tomorrow. I'll be returning to Mungoni and Zala Park to continue my study on traditional medical practices and medicinal plants for my month long research project. Two (maybe as long as three weeks) in the field, a week or two writing my 30ish page paper. This time, however, I'm planning to go much more in-depth. Hopefully, I'll be able to do case studies of sick or injured villagers: interview them, observe their treatment and follow their recovery. Unless I take an off day and return to Stone Town 45 minutes away, you might not [View Full Entry]

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I'm going to tell you about my day on Thursday, rarely here have I had such an awful day. It's all very sad because I know other people probabaly had great days, being on spring break and such. It started at 5:45 when my alarm went off and I dragged my tired ass out of bed. After breakfast, as the sun was still just rising, we were herded onto a cramped bus for a 45 minute drive. I expected we were going some place awesome, but apparently not. When I got off, I realized we were at the beach - absolutely [View Full Entry]

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Hi again, posting again en masse. Internet here in Dar is surprisingly scarce and so I write up my blogs on my computer and then us my flash disk to post them when I get webnet power at internet cafes. So I'm here in Dar Es Salaam and it just has not been what I expected. This seems to be a common theme on my trip. I didn't expect a complete lack of a touristy downtown area. I didn't expect the DC-esque rush hour traffic. I didn't expect that Dar and its reputation of a modern city would look a dirty, [View Full Entry]

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So its Friday afternoon, I'm back in Stone Town after living in the small, rural village of Mungoni for three days earlier this week. Absolutely some of the coolest stuff that I've experienced thus far on my trip. It has made me very happy that I've become an anthropology minor. I apologize in advance for the long post but there aren't many things I can omit from my last few days. Please, if you do have 10 or 15 minutes, read the whole post. Its as long as a book, I know, but I promise its worth it. Recap: I'm wrote [View Full Entry]

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