Ready... Set...

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It's Go Time!

After months of waiting, I'm now finally less than 36 hours away from getting on a flight that will (eventually, after a stop-off in Amsterdam) take me to South Africa! Yes, I am packed already, although I reserve the right to re-pack for fun.

I get to go to South Africa with a UW Exploration Seminar-- a one-month study abroad experience that will count as credit towards the students' degrees. As part of the course, we had pre-departure sessions all last week, meaning we were in class, in very hard chairs, from 8:30am-5pm Monday through Thursday. Besides the fact that I haven't had to sit in a classroom desk for years, the week was really informative. We had some amazing guest speakers, watched some interesting movies-- check out Tsotsi sometime!-- ate a delicious South African lunch of Bobotie and got to know all of the 37 people going on the trip (34 students, two professors and me).

While in South Africa, I'll be visiting Johannesburg (including Soweto), Pretoria, and Krueger National Park with the group, and then flying on by myself to Cape Town to meet my friend Courtney, who's pictured in my profile pic on this page. At the moment, I think I'm looking forward to our service projects in Soweto as well as looking for elephants and lions in Kruger National Park, and some adventure time with Court in Cape Town.

For now, I have US dollars, Euros (for Amsterdam) and South African Rands ready to go... I have everything packed (and it actually fit into carry-on bags!), and I have a great travel pillow for the long flights. I'm excited and anxious to get there, even though I know once I'm there it will all go by too quickly.

I'm hoping to update this as much as possible, so check back when you can and travel with me! Thanks go out to my family and friends for all of the support, and especially to my UW co-workers who are picking up my slack for the three weeks I'll be gone!

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Photos

South African Rand
Oooh... lions and elephants and buffalo!

Packing
It WILL all fit in that bag... right??

Patricia and Jared
Enjoying a typical South African meal before we left campus.

Comments

[Mom]

Enjoy the adventure!
Dear Jen, You know that I will be following along and looking forward to hearing about all of your adventures. Be safe. Love you, Mom

[kelly]

prep
I hope you watched "power of one" several times in prep for your Johannesburg visit ;) Good luck and be safe...no ostrich eggs! They'll bloat ya beyond all belief!

[CJ]

Have fun!
Have a ton of fun Jen! I can't wait to hear all the stories in person in 10 days!!! Stay safe, Love CJ