Zanzibar!!!

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Hello everyone! After a cancelled flight and sprinting through two airport connections, I made it (with my luggage!) to Zanzibar! It was 52 1/2 hours of travel time, but being able to fly with all the girls from the program made it a lot of fun. We arrived last night, checked into our hotel, and went out to an Indian dinner before crashing into bed at about 8:30. We were so tired. We had breakfast this morning, did some more paperwork, and then got to go on the "dropoff". What was the dropoff? Well, we divided into teams of two and were randomly dropped off around Stone Town (the main city in Zanzibar) and had to do a scavenger hunt all though the city. It was so much fun! The buildings here are beautiful, and everything has really ornate carved wooden doors. The streets themselves are really more like alleys, barely wide enough to have a bicycle and two people passing though. On either side of the walkway three story buildings made from coral stone rise up, colorful shops on the street level and homes above. I am getting used to being a a Muslim culture where dress is so conservative. I am going to start wearing a head covering tomorrow because you really stand out without one. The women here are totally covered in beautiful kangas and headscarves. My partner and I wandered for about 3 1/2 hours through the city, had lunch (curry), and stopped into a ton of little shops. We are so excited to have a day to shop at some point! These little stalls are so neat! I am already picturing a hard time deciding how to pack stuff to get gifts home!

We have also started dividing up projects and "school stuff". Each group of 3 people is in charge of surveying something at each place we go, and I am on the fish team. Yay snorkeling! Should be fun.

Tomorrow we check out of our hotel and head to a little fishing village called Kimkaizi for three days where we will camp on the beach and start some snorkeling survey techniques. Then on Sunday we get placed with our host families. We will live with this family for about 2 1/2-3 weeks, then move on to something else. We have a total of three homestays with different families during the program.

The temperature is not too bad. I would say it is about 90 degrees maybe. Not really sure. But it is not unbearable by any means. All the girls are really nice and we have been having a lot of fun together already. Lets see, what else? Oh, you may be wondering about malaria. Well, so am I. I am taking malaria medication, and the good news is that the malaria outbreak here has decreased significantly in the past 12 months. The last semester less than half the people contracted it! Basically, chances are pretty high that you will get malaria, but do not worry. We have a group doctor, and usually you are only out from class for one afternoon. It is totally treatable. Still kinda unnerving though. We are sleeping in mosquito nets all the time.

Well, that is about it. I guess you will hear from me again when I get back in Stone Town next weekend!

kwa heri,

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Photos

Dinner at Mercury's
Freddie Mercury (Queen) was from Stone Town