Pumzika Time!!

First things first, here’s a pro tip to anyone looking to study abroad: go in the fall because, while it’s tough to miss out on the changing leaves and apple-picking, getting a full spring break in both the fall AND spring makes up for it! Though I’m not sure every study abroad program offers this, …

One Time, on a Safari in Tanzania…

Ever seen The Lion King? Ever felt like you were on scene, just waiting for Timon and Pumba to pop out from behind any bush? No? Me either, until this past weekend! This weekend our group packed into two safari cars and traveled down long, bumpy dirt roads to Ruaha National Park for our much-anticipated …

And It Was Very Good

“Mambo, Caspert!” my friend Lyric and I say as we climb into the back of his bajaji outside of our campus’s gate. A bajaji is a three-wheeled, quick and easy form of transportation in Tanzania with an appearance quite similar to the cars I used to race back in the Mario Kart days. Caspert picks …

A Day in the Life

I open my eyes to bright sunlight beaming in through the barred windows of my dorm room. The sun rises at about 6:30 every single morning, and by 7 it’s bright enough to wake me up. I climb out of my mosquito net, and grab my water bottle and toothbrush and take two steps across …

Far From Home But Never Alone

Before coming to Tanzania, I had a lot of questions about a lot of things, and so did most of my family and friends considering I had never traveled to Africa before and the longest I had ever been outside the U.S. was two weeks.  One of the most common questions I was asked before coming …

Learning the Comical Way

I think it goes without saying that East Africa is a very different place from West Michigan and the U.S., in general, and this is something I knew coming in to my study abroad experience. However, I wasn’t sure in what ways specifically, but I am quickly learning. A lot of cultural differences can’t be …

Karibu Tanzania!

I’m currently sitting in my tiny 3rd floor dorm room on my mosquito net-covered bed as the hot African sunlight streams in through the barred windows onto my face. “Did I put on enough sunscreen today?” A question I’ve been asking myself a lot, along with other questions like: “Is this the right way to take …

Wading in Wadis

This past weekend, I jumped off a cliff! Well not exactly, but it was still really high. Our group went out to a place called Wadi Shab on Saturday. We also visited a place called the sinkhole. Suffice it to say, there were a lot of rocks and water involved. A wadi is a stream …

Arabian Nights

Arabian Nights Last weekend, my classmates and I got the wonderful opportunity to attend a show at the Royal Opera House in Muscat! The show had performances of traditional Arabic music. Although I couldn’t understand a single word of it, it was amazing! The upbeat rhythms and the syncopated accompaniment of the harp-like instrument and …

A Once in a Lifetime Chance

Earlier this week my group and I had the wonderful opportunity to travel to the United Arab Emirates. We were there to witness and participate in the Papal mass in Abu Dhabi! It was the most surreal experience I think I have ever had. Getting there and returning back was really difficult, but I would …