Flight and Arrival

I began travelling on Friday morning when we left Cedarburg for the Chicago O'Hare airport. I flew to Spain with Iberia; a seven hour, not-so-comfortable flight with grumpy flight attendants. I was sitting next to what I think was a tortured musician. He was in probably his late 50's and he spent a lot of time with his Bose on and humming, whistling, and tapping his fingers. Then I was dumped rather unceremoniously in the Madrid airport, which was beautiful, but even beauty begins to fade after seven hours of feeling ill and exhausted, not to mention bored and apprehensive. But I watched 'A Bug's Life' and had some very tasty food and boarded my plane to Dusseldorf. That flight was short, cramped, but relaxing. When I landed my friend Ollie picked me up and we hopped on the Autoban to Hilden. We stayed with Ollie's parents, who were very nice and made us very delicious meals. The cheese! Oh the cheese we ate....the stuff of dreams, I tell you. That night we went to his friend Najla's birthday party and we drank a lot. There was also a buffet table full of salad, CHEESE, desserts, bread, and meat dishes. Everybody seemed to know my brother Steve, which was funny, and I ended up having a lot of very interesting conversations with the Germans.

That night I slept from 3 am to 1 pm, and when I woke up I was fed a delicious breakfast and then Ollie and I were on our way to Dusseldorf. We basically spent time recovering there, and then he dropped me off at the train station so that I could ride to the Frankfurt airport. The Frankfurt airport was large but unusually empty and I made it to my gate without incident. It turns out my plane was a huge Luftansa airbus, a massive double-decker miracle of flight equipped with screens in every seat, a good selection of movies and tv, and cameras on the plane so that you could watch it and then chart the progress we were making flying over Europe and Africa. I met two gentleman on that flight who proved to be very helpful when it came to catching my next flight. One, and American doctor from California named Larry, was flying to Namibia, but he helped me race through the airport, skip lines, and make it to my gate on time. Yay Larry!

The flight to Botswana was short, sweet, and full of other CIEE participants. Now I am sitting int he Oasis Motel in a crowded room full of chattering Americans and a few local students who have come to keep us company. I am sharing a room with a girl named Megan, and the room (I will post pictures soon!) is spacious and nice. The whole place is full of beautiful open courtyards, tall palm trees, and wooden and stone furniture. So far the weather is warmer than I expected, but I have been informed that it is unusually cold and cloudy. I am so looking forward to a shower, dinner, and a good long sleep in a real bed.

Online Orientation Session

I just completed an online orientation session with one of the program leaders in Botswana. It was chock full of great information about the program, Botswana, and the culture. Now I am all fired up about the trip! Not that I wasn't before...it's just that now I have a better understanding of what I am getting into and it looks fantastic. Only ten days until I leave. Time for some last minute running around and preparations.

Final Vaccination

I finally got my Yellow Fever vaccination, and I am currently working my way through my oral Typhoid vaccination. That's all that I have left, apart from the medications for things like malaria that I just have to take when I am in a malaria zone. Gaborone, luckily, is not one of these zones as it is in the dry and dusty Kalahari desert area. Yellow Fever is also not an issue there, but if one were to leave Botswana and not have had the vaccine then they would not be able to get back into the country. Since I am entering Botswana from South Africa, and since I will be so close to the South African border I thought it would be a good idea to get the vaccine. It is one of those vaccines that people only get for a certain reason and only certain clinics have it, so you must let them know ahead of time that you want it so that they have time to prepare. Then, when you are all primed and ready for the shot in the little room, they have you read a happy packet all about the dangers associated with the vaccine. Did you know that 1 in 250,000 people who get it will have organ failure? And over 50% of those with the organ failure will die. The more you know, I guess.

One Month Marker

One month from today I leave for Europe/Africa! That is simultaneously exciting and scary. Also, I have decided that I want to research the Honey Badger because they seem really fascinating.

Flight Change

One of my Iberia flights- the one from Madrid to Dusseldorf- canceled. My lovely travel agent (Lindsay) called me and offered me several options and so I decided to take a later flight out of Madrid. This means a layover from 7.40 am to 3.50 pm. Airports make me nervous, especially after the hell of a time I had trying to fly into San Francisco last October, and foreign airports in countries I have never been to make me pretty wide-eyed with terror. I am not exactly great at handling things like airports and finding my way around and dealing with strangers. I'm not really a people person....despite my communications major. Oops. Anyway, this long lay over time allows me to figure things out and have time to explore a little. I even have time to leave the airport and set foot in Spain if I so choose. Or I can safely hang around the terminal and buy airport things. Oh, the possibilities. Thanks Denver airport, because of you I am experienced in the ways of lay over entertainment!

Getting Ready

The first post. I'm not in Africa yet, not by a long shot. I am here in Madison, WI working and preparing to be gone for four months. Truthfully, at this point the work of trying to organize one's self to study abroad has slowed for the moment as the paperwork is in, both to my home university of Edgewood College, and the required CIEE paperwork. CIEE is the middleman- the institution which is facilitating my trip. I have been working towards this since August, when I first walked into the study abroad office at Edgewood and began to tackle the mountain of paperwork and planning. Before that even happened I had to make up my mind to even begin, and once I did I had to chose a country. Let me just say that I am one of those people who dilly dally over making decisions all the time.

But I am done with all that. I still have some hurdles however, such as getting my Yellow Fever inoculation(it's the big bad shot nobody ever wants to get), getting adequate outdoor covering to protect against the elements and the bugs, and of course, trying to mentally prepare myself.

The fun all begins on July 22 when I take off from Chicago and fly into Madrid, Spain. From there it's on into Germany for a brief excursion, and then to Johannesburg, South Africa. The last and shortest leg of the journey is into Gaborone, Botswana on July 25 to begin orientation. Whew, that's a lot of airports and flying!

The purpose of this blog is to keep a record of my experiences in Botswana. I also want to share my photos and stories with friends and family back home whom I will miss very much! This blog is my written means of communication as well as a way to organize my thoughts so that I can look back on it all when I come home in December. The last month and a half will probably have no more than a few posts from me (trust me, you don't want to hear about more paperwork) but be sure to follow along and check back in from time to time. I would love to hear from you! Oh yes, that reminds me; if you want a postcard just email/facebook/post me your address.