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...