Travel = the search for illumination

Tick, tock...tick, tock... Time winds down ever more quickly as my departure rapidly approaches. Last minute details are added to the checklist, which still seems only to be increasing rather than diminishing. Two minor assignments are left to complete and how much I dread them, as they represent that last bastion between the academic ties of my life here and the journey beyond.

I've been bombarded by a singular question as of late..."Are you excited?!?" The answer is yes, of course, but the true feeling of excitement still eludes me. I don't think that the full impact of what I'm actually embarking upon will hit me until I touch down in Johannesburg and step into a new world. I am however, vitally aware of how privileged my participation in this project is, and again I believe the full importance of it will only reveal itself to me once we actually begin work.


My thoughts will receive proper organization as I picked up my travel journal at Barnes & Noble yesterday. With the plethora of types and choices available to me, one would think that selecting my journal would be a simple decision. Journaling means you write on paper, journal contains paper to write on, therefore pick journal with paper in it. Fairly straightforward. But no so for me. I have the tendency to surround myself with items that, even in their minutia, represent me or an aspect of me. My journal had to be functional but still represent the essence of my journey. As a closet romanticist I have always been drawn to the travel images of those from the early 20th century. Old leather suitcases in tobacco brown laden with travel stickers, ladies in their crisp linen travel suits, the steam rising from the coal black trains engines, the gleaming silver wing of a prop airplane...all of these are what I still see when I think of traveling. I know that things are much different but this is what I envision - and as such, my journal should reflect that. I was pleased that the final choice embodies that feeling and will also suit my purpose well.

As it is my understanding that we will not have continuous access to the Internet the entirety of the time that we are in South Africa, I will do most of my journaling by hand and then transfer my entries to this venue. For those who think that I won't be able to keep up a daily rhythm of my days there, I say to you "Fear not!" I have done this type of writing before on separate trips and I find it helps not only to capture in ink my impressions but to remind me of great memories that I may have forgotten. And as the days pass by where more time needs to be filed away within the confines of my brain, I know I shall look to these pages as testaments of the great experiences I was able to partake of.

My coming weekend will be spent finishing the travel prep as well as my apartment prep. In the true spirit of spring-cleaning I am overhauling my dwelling and am determined to have it spic-n-span for my return, thus making my arrival home easier. That...and the fact I'm tired of living out of Rubbermaid containers. I am determined to keep the drudgeries of everyday life at bay as much as possible during this trip, even if it means planning quite the ways ahead.

Postal correspondence becoming a relic of past communication, I've the mind to reinstate it's romance by collecting roughly 60 addresses from friends and family for postcards. The librarian in me looked up the cost of postage from South Africa for an internationally sent postcard and has calculated how much I might need to set aside in my travel budget. One might assume that attempting to send that many postcards smacks of insanity, but I beg to differ. As a lover of postcards myself, I understand the simple joy they bring to others once they're received, even if it is only for a moment. Postcards are a tangible reminder that someone was thinking of you. That such a small thing could bring such happiness seems silly, but I've found that it is usually the most simple things that will matter the most.

You should know that I have a separate "journal" that I've been keeping for years now. In it are my confessions during moments in my life ranging from good to bad, but it also contains quotes and passages from books that have spoken to me in some way. Being an avid fan and reader of travel essays, I've collected quite a few pertaining to journeys and coming home and thought to end this entry by sharing a few with you.

"He who does not travel does not know the value of men." ~Moorish proverb

"I think I would be happy in that place I happen not to be..." ~ Baudelaire, Any Where Out of This World

"Territory, you see...is not necessarily the place you feed in. It's the place in which you stay...where you know every nook and cranny...where you know by heart every refuge...where you are invincible to the pursuer." ~"Lorenz" in Songlines

"But at times I wondered if I had not come a long way only to find that what I really sought was something I had left behind." ~Thomas F. Hornbein, Everest: The West Ridge

"And there was a restlessness: a desire to know better the outposts of my limitations" ~ Riding the Demons

"The things I wanted to happen were things that only happen if you don't plan them" ~ Where the Pavement Ends

So many things and so little time...

So many things and so little time...

Why is it, when I make a checklist to complete all the necessary tasks, that every time I check off something, it seems I think of three more things to replace it? I'm in the process of wrapping up small details for the voyage. I arranged for my digital camera purchase today, as well as picked up my most technified gadget to date - a new ipod. Now I've just got to add all my music to the playlists so that I will have plenty to listen to on my trip. I'm not eagerly awaiting the long flight from IAD (Washington-Dulles) to JNB (Johannesburg), nor am I looking forward to the heat.

I checked today and Pretoria was 90 degrees. It was my understanding that we were going to be traveling there in the Fall, but I guess maybe there 90 degrees does equal fall weather. It'll be quite the temp change for me. As many may know - I'm not exactly a sun friendly gal as evident of my near-translucent complextion (my make-up foundation color isn't called alabaster for nothing!) but I'd play the role of Icharus to have this experience so I really can't complain.

Spring Break has crept it's way onto the UWM campus leaving parking garages and computer terminals blissfully bereft of bodies. An entire city's worth of people have up and gone. In preparation for the upcoming slew of academic feats that I intend to perform this coming week, I have done nothing remotely intellectually challenging for this St. Patrick's Day weekend. I actually decided to unpack and settle into my apartment more fully. I figured that six months or so of living out of boxes was a bit much.

With so much to do still before I leave I wanted to make sure that I stepped up to the proverbial classwork plate with a clear head, so I did nothing. I didn't crack a book or look over notes, or even so much as empty out my backpack from Friday. Reality will come all too soon when I wake up tomorrow, and I already plan to spend all of Tuesday and Wednesday in the library prostrating myself before the knowledge gods in hopes that one of their cohorts, the muses will strike me with grand inspiration both in writing and researching. Whether or not that actually happens will remain to be seen...

Anticipation

So this is my maiden voyage into the whole blogosphere...



I've created this as a way for me to bring my mostly convoluted thoughts about my trip to South Africa to the mass of people who wish that they could be going with. To connect with those I'm not exactly connected with. We'll see how long this lasts or how far it may go...



The countdown is on. Less than three weeks remain before I set foot on my third continent...Africa. I'd always thought I'd get there but I saw myself landing more in Egypt with a cruise down the Nile way before I thought I'd travel to South Africa. It's a land I know virtually nothing about outside of the words Nelson Mandela, Apartheid, and Charlize Theron. I'm not exactly the most educated person on the country but I'm eager to learn. It's a new and exciting world to me and I love nothing more than to set foot on foreign soil.



I've been terminally bitten by the wanderlust bug for as long as I can remember. Always yearning for what lies beyond the next curve in the stream or bend in the road. I relish the time I've spent away from the US because I feel it brings me more understanding of my homeland and just how lucky I am to be living here. I come back refreshed and renewed. A sort of Phoenix reborn from the ashes of disillusionment with her place in the world. Traveling reminds me of my purpose in life...which is just simply enjoy what I can, when I can. All the random worries and trappings of existence seem to fall away. I am never more myself than when I'm on a new voyage into the unknown.



On April 6, 2007 I'll be off on a very long flight to a final destination of Pretoria, South Africa. I'm traveling with two other students from my master's program and an administrative chaperone. We're traveling to work for approximately a month with a professor at the University of Pretoria on compiling data for world report for IFLA, for their world conference in Durban, South Africa this summer. It should be a great experience, socially, educationally, and professionally. While our days will be spent wading through the multitudes of compelling documents, our evenings and weekends will be free to explore our new surroundings. I'm hoping that we get to the nearby national park or diamond mines. Just as long as we get to see our new posting.



Friends and family warn me to be extra careful, tidings of ill-fated receptions of the American foreigner have been sent to me via e-mail. I thank them for the concern and while I will be cautious, but I will also have faith. Faith that an open-mind will show me the delights and not the drudgeries. I know they all mean well...but until I get there and experience it all for myself I'm just gonna keep the faith...