Tanzania! Day one.

February 23, 2012  4pm Maine time 12am Tanzania time

This is the day I went on my very first trip across the sea, and although its not my first trip out of the U.S., it is the farthest from home I've ever been. I'm going to an entirely new continent, a new ecosystem. In two weeks I'm about to see much more of the world than I ever had believed I would see, and I owe it all to the decision to finally get out of my small hometown and go to college.

At the University of Maine I was given a rare and amazing opportunity to go to Tanzania for a tropical biology class. How could I possibly pass that up?

Only 20 or so people could go, and a LOT of people applied to get into this class. I thought very hard about the short essay I submitted with my application, insanely hopeful they would pick me, because I knew so little about the world outside of my back yard.

As luck would have it, I was one of the lucky few to get into the class! (I'm sure that part was a given, otherwise this blog would be titled "I turned in an application to go to Tanzania for a class but was rejected so I spent spring break moping in bed."

So, we left Boston around 6:25 pm on Wednesday, Feb. 22, got to Amsterdam at 9:40am, and arrived (exhausted and smelly) in Tanzania at 12am.

It was dark when we got off the small plane, disembarking the plane via a tiny ladder to walk into a tiny and cramped airport. Lights flickered on and off and an oppressive heat sank around our tired shoulders, while we waited in a disorganized line of people waiting to get their visas stamped. It took a good two hours to get out of the airport, where outside we clamored into a medium sized bus that had exactly enough seats for all of us.

Despite being tired, hot and smelly, we were squirming with excitement. We weren't tired, hot and smelly just anywhere, we were tired, hot and smelly in AFRICA!!!!!

We were so pumped in fact, we quickly mistook a common house cat for a serval, and anticipated wildlife to simply pop out of every palm tree and shadow.

After driving down the dark and mysterious streets of Arusha, we arrived at Twiga lodge. The gates opened up like the gates to Jurassic park, to a medium sized building that was the main office with lodges on the side and in back.

My friend Annie and I shared a room together, and somehow, despite the excitement and the eerie sounds of howling dogs we managed to fall asleep, our first night in Tanzania.