5 days and im peacin'

Live simply that others might simply live.

Elizabeth Ann Seton

My first blog, hopefully I can continue this throughout the next 3 and half months. 6 days from now, I will be heading to the airport to begin my journey to Uganda. I can't believe I'm leaving so soon. I vividly remember back in august my constant, indecisive, worrisome mind running a mile a minute trying to decide what program to apply to, which country to study in.  CIEE or SIT program? To Kenya? Uganda? No, maybe Ghana. What about Switzerland? And now here I am, less than a week away from going to Uganda on SIT's program for Development studies.  I'm ready to go, I honestly just want to be there right now. I've had a long winter break and I think it's made me more nervous just waiting to leave. It has been so nice to be home though, i know i will miss my family more than anything.

For those of you who support me going, I thank you and am grateful for your kind encouragement (more than you know). For those who think im crazy for going, well, i agree with you. It is pretty crazy to be going to an African country a week before their presidential elections begin, to a country with a history of 17 years of civil war within the northern region, and to a country that is trying to pass the death penalty in banning homosexuality. Believe me, I know it's a little crazy, and I'm still uneasy about it. And I can't explain how, but I have a good feeling about this chapter in my life.  Ever since I was little, I've wanted to travel the world, Africa being the first stop, hopefully numerous stops.  I've had this obsession with African culture for years now. There is only so much one can learn about a culture through books, classes, news, videos, etc. I need to see it with my own eyes, to live within the culture, be with the people, and try to just understand a little bit of what life in Uganda is like.  That's why I am so happy I chose to go through the SIT program, where they believe in learning through a experiential, field-based approach and actually being immersed within the culture.  I have a feeling I am going to be challenged to stretch myself a lot within these next three and a half months.  I would like to say I'm ready, but I know I'm just saying that to try to make myself believe I'm ready. I'm terrified, excited, nervous, sad, anxious, grateful, ready, and not ready all at the same time. Right now, Uganda is this star marked on my world map in my room of places i want to explore. Its the statistics I studied in global health this past semester. Its the Invisible Children adverstisements ive seen over the years. It's not... real, not tangible, if that makes sense.

I think my world's about to be flipped upside down. About time. Ready or not Uganda, here I come.